You continue sailing, glance back and attempt the TK pulse, but you lack concentration and do not get it into focus on this attempt. (Because this is akin to an attack, you can try again in the next minute.)
A few points on your spell before I process it.
- I see nothing in what you say or do that would limit this to a sailing ship, as opposed perhaps to a car or a spaceship or even a horse-drawn buggy. Those would all be new uses if the spell were not limited now; but it might be that you intend it to be so limited, in which case that should be included in the description.
- I'm afraid that the function of "full body involvement" is that it prevents you from doing anything else simultaneously. In this case it is clear that you are doing something else simultaneously--you are piloting the ship, a distinct skill. Now, it is possible that you could make "piloting the ship" the necessary action of the spell, which is probably full body involvement, but then you would have to make a(n additional) skill check for piloting the ship, which if failed would prevent the magic from working as well. (Generally, having a mag skill dependent on the success of a contained skill is good for a +10 sit-mod, but the risk that the required skill would fail balances this.)
--M. J. Young
I will accept limiting it to a sailing ship, as it really wouldn't occur to me to do this with anything else. As of the casting, I'm envisioning it as a gust of wind, but trusting the gods.
I will not involve the separate skill check - I don't trust my piloting skill enough to use it for this.
I will indeed TK pulse them as disruptively as possible, once per minute so long as I'm not casting, from now until they catch up with us. Pushing them back, pushing them sideways, lifting the ship and dropping it, whatever seems the most hindering and/or destructive.
You continue piloting brilliantly while you pray.
As you finish your prayer, you turn to see the pursuit ship coming up alongside. There is a thunder of cannon from your deck, and grapples clatter on the gunnels. You use your TK pulse, and the enemy ship lurches sideways; one of its crew--clearly pirates now--falls into the surf between the vessels.
--M. J. Young
For the moment, I'll stay my ground.
I'll say my Accuracy and Armor prayers while the pirates are recovering from that TK pulse. It should take their pilot more than a couple of seconds to correct from that, especially considering that precision-maneuvering a ship of any significant size is, well, not easy. Even if they're beginning to board by the time I'm done, it should still be okay - we have men on deck and I'm not that far from hand.
Speaking of their pilot, I'm going to look across at their aftcastle and see if I can get a good look at my erstwhile counterpart. Surely he must be over there - their ship is moving and maneuvering, after all. Once I get a good look at him, I'll draw my pistol, pump up some Psionic Accuracy (one really must love the interaction of my divine magic accuracy enhancer and a psionic accuracy enhancer; not for the first time I'm glad the Multiverse doesn't follow D&D-style stacking rules), and take a shot with my Gunslinging.
It occurs to me before I fire that he may well be out of range, even though mine is a fairly good pistol and two ships in base contact can't be that far apart.
That said, I wonder if it would be possible, upon taking that shot, to actually combine three different skills.
1: As an application of Psionic Accuracy, I'd like to keep track of the bullet as it's fired.
2:I'd like to use that track (if keeping track is even necessary) to then TK Pulse the bullet closer to my target. If I understand TK Pulse correctly, it influences neither the object's velocity nor its momentum, so the combined effect should be a shot from my pistol that, for all intents and purposes, seems to originate significantly closer to the enemy pilot than it actually did, but with the same degree of accuracy, established by...
3: using my Gunslinging skill to aim, with psionic and magical bonuses added in.
(Theoretically this could all be expressed much more elegantly as a TK Pulse variant that simply extends the range of a gun by channeling the TK Pulse through the gun itself to establish the bullet's location (a sort of telekinetic Gauss effect), or a Psionic Accuracy variant that is telekinetic rather than meta-sensory in nature, but as I've given you a lot of dice-rolling already, I'll leave that up to you.)
The skills I see which fit those names are listed as
- 1@1 Bonus Strike M1@2 0:06 whispered prayer "Thor guide me. Put strength in my hands and rage in my heart, to defend my friends and break my enemies" while holding intended weapon in weapon hand RS/10 minute duration RS/10 minute bonus to attacks with weapon +6SM
- 1@1 Defensive Bonus M+1@2 penalize all incoming attacks by RS/10 for one minute, TF 0:06, say "Thor protect me", -5SM, +10 if prayed before/while engaging in a risky action in honorable combat (for +5SM total)
- 1@2 Reduce Attack Success M+1@2 say "Thor Protect Me" sword in hand during battle, RF1 Duration RS/4 penalizes incoming attacks RS/10 +0SM
There is no reason why you cannot TK pulse a bullet if you think it is off course and want to put it on course. If you are looking to accelerate it, that is a more difficult maneuver.
I'll wait for your thoughts on the combat spells before doing the calculations.
--M. J. Young
I have my pistol. I had intended to draw it. It counts as a weapon.
Those spells just require a weapon, not my named unique sword, so just say that I draw my pistol, cast, and fire.
As for the Defensive Bonus, I'll hold off on that until I'm actually ready to dive into the fray on the deck. I hadn't realized that one only lasts a minute. Ah well.
I want to know if I can TK Pulse the bullet to extend its range. I would consider that a relocation, given the nature of TK Pulse, rather than an acceleration - plucking it and putting it over there, then letting it continue on its merry way, rather than making it move faster, which as I understand it TK Pulse cannot actually do (it neither imparts nor removes momentum - a coin "flung" with TK Pulse off a table will simply fall when released rather than continuing on, as MJ himself told me).
But that's just me, and I've said repeatedly that TK Pulse as a concept makes no sense, so, do it however the numbers make it numerically most advantageous to me, as in character I would logically do it by the path that requires the least exertion.
The ultimate goal here is to be able to hit a victim who would normally be a bit too far away.
The spell does not seem to take in the midst of all this. You fire the shot, but don't manage to focus your mental energy quickly enough to nudge the bullet.
Still, it sails through the jacket of the pilot of the other ship; he recoils and grabs the spot with his other arm. His ship veers slightly away, but he grabs the wheel and shakes his fist at you.
--M. J. Young
I answer him with a grin and holster my pistol.
I'll take a moment to size up the situation on deck. If it looks like the men there are doing well enough without my blade, I'll stay up here.
Specifically, I'll TK Pulse the enemy ship again. I know TK Pulse can change the orientation of objects from my practice with it, and I know I can hit big things from... a minute ago. Now I want to change the orientation of a big thing. Specifically, I want to capsize their boat by rolling it over away from us.
If this succeeds, I'll wave to my erstwhile counterpart as his boat goes over.
It looks like the best thing for you to do is keep at the helm; you see the other pilot and your pilot commander manning the sails, along with several navigators, as the deck hands are arming up with security to repel boarders.
You try to focus on another TK pulse, but before you can do it there's a shift in the wind and the wheel pulls hard against your hands, so you have to return your attention to the ship.
The enemy is closing again.
--M. J. Young
Ah, well. Third time's the charm.
I can't do much else for my men from up here, so I'll hold the wheel steady and make a mental note that the next time we have a couple of days of down-time I'm Holy Grounding the sodding DECK next. (Remember when I said I had that image in mind of the Mary Piper covered in runes?) Bugger all if these pirates are going to catch my crew without the full weight of the gods behind them again.
Incensed for the moment with religious frenzy and feeling the wrath of my warlike gods in my heart, I'll dig my hands hard against the wheel - holding it still and using the pain in my fingers to focus my will - and lash out with another TK Pulse, this time using my 37% to (if it works) try again to roll their ship away from ours.
You catch the ship and give the main mast a push, and the ship lists about twenty degrees, then swings back, swaying and bobbing for well over a minute. Pirates are grabbing for anything they can hold, and a couple more go into the water.
A few suddenly drop from lines that have swung out over the Piper from the swaying, landing on the deck below behind the security teams; the men respond quickly to repel them.
--M. J. Young
At this point I would like to try something new with my Bod-bias pistol gunslinging. I'd like to see - perhaps as a new use, perhaps as a new skill, I'm not really sure - to Quick Reload my pistol. I have an example of this, in the movie "The Last Samurai," (one of my favorites before I Versed out) Captain Algren goes takes this Japanese soldier through a brief training sequence where he shows them how to reload blackpowder rifles in double-time, until they're able to take three well-aimed shots in a minute. I figure if they can do it with rifles, I can quick-reload a pistol.
Once it's loaded, Accuracy prayer, Psionic Accuracy, and snipe a pirate off our deck.
The ability to reload the pistol is part of the skill to use it. The standard repeat factor on one of these is listed as 1/6 (flintlocks are slower than cap-and-ball, but faster than matchlocks), which means in a combat situation it takes six minutes for an amateur to load, aim, and fire the weapon. However, both your skill ability level and your ranged strike value shorten this time--divide by level. Thus when you are professional, it's 1/3, and when you are an expert it's 1/2; if you achieve a 2@ RSV that divides it by 2 again, and a 3@ RSV (very difficult to achieve) divides by three instead. Thus for the combinations:
- 1@, 1@: 1 shot in 6 minutes
- 1@, 2@: 1 shot in 3 minutes
- 1@, 3@: 1 shot in 2 minutes
- 2@, 2@: 2 shots in 3 minutes
- 2@, 3@: 1 shot in one minute
- 3@, 3@: 3 shots in 2 minutes.
Your trained samurai already had high 2@ RSVs from using their bows; they needed to train their skill with the rifles to 3@, and they probably had faster loading weapons and better equipment.
You may reload your weapon and fire it; it will take six minutes to do so, provided you are not distracted by trouble piloting the ship.
--M. J. Young
Unless it were an antimatter shotgun, 6 minutes is far too long to ever be worth taking a second shot with.
Put the gun away, and reassess the situation.
If the men on deck seem to have their pirate counterparts in check, I'll stay put. In this case, I will focus on their pilot and flick him with TK Pulse. Flick.
If not, I'll continue attempting to cast the battle spells I've been begging to cast for three rounds, and dive in WITH SWORD DRAWN and have at whichever pirate is closest at hand.
That's why people in this milieu enter the battle with their guns loaded and draw their swords after they've fired them.
Well, you lose sight of the opposing pilot just before you get the focus for the next pulse, and a tug on the wheel tells you that the wind has just changed in the sails and needs your attention, so it's piloting for the next minute before you get back to looking for your vic--er, adversary. This time you see him, focus on him, and manage to shift him slightly. He looks startled, but is still in control.
--M. J. Young
With the wind shifting, I will attempt to pilot our ship away from theirs, taking advantage of the shift in the wind and the imbalance of my - indeed - victim to buy my boys on deck some time to mop up. As I roll the wheel away, I'll begin to pray. If I can impede their movement, no reason why I shouldn't be able to quicken ours - it's all energy after all - but the gods know best. So I will call upon the gods - and this time I will make it contingent upon successful piloting check - with appropriate words. I'll pray for three minutes such that the words matter and the sounds, in English, with the ultimate result being that we should be able to open the distance. Whether the gods grant us speed or afflict them with sloth is not in my hands.
You steer the ship well, taking the wind and widening the lateral gap between the vessels. Your prayer does not get you any velocity advantage. However, the few pirates who boarded have been driven overboard, and the enemy ship is dropping lines to try to grab as many of them as they can.
--M. J. Young
Good, now it's time to ... what's the word... out-of-character I don't remember the words for the order I need to give, but basically it's when you pull in your sails to go for full speed ahead, to try to out-distance them while they're busy recovering their men. Hopefully we can make this a difficult enough pursuit that they'll lose all taste for it.
That said, I won't stop messing with them until they're really too far away to matter. Every minute we're still within my normal vision - let's say until we've widened that gap to a distance of about a half-mile - I'll continue to TK Pulse their ship, with an eye towards setting it rocking side to side harder and harder each time (I almost feel sorry for their man in the crow's nest... almost).
You catch the mast with a solid push and get the ship rocking impressively, throwing the men off their feet. They are losing ground on you. However, on your next four attempts you either fail to get hold of anything solid or fail to launch a pulse at all.
You are outdistancing them now, though, and it seems likely that they will give up pursuit. You can continue your pulses if you like, or just keep sailing.
--M. J. Young
Better to focus on the sea ahead for now. I will keep sailing and leave them alone. They've obviously learned their lesson, right?
If they continue to pursue, well, I'll have to continue injuring them until they stop.
If they don't, we sail away. Yay.
Once we get to free waters again, I'll finish my shift, but then I want to talk with the captain about having tomorrow off.
Why?
I want to do something that will help the ship to repel these invaders. It seems like we get attacked multiple times a year, and I think I can do something that will help our boys in fending them off.
What, exactly?
Well, that's what I'm going to spend my off shifts tonight planning exactly.
It's going to be big.
I'm going to spend a full eight hours casting my Holy Ground spell on the entire deck from one end to the other, just like the first one. Appropriate words. I am going to claim full-body involvement for this one as it involves words, and walking, and gesturing, and I couldn't effectively do anything else while casting it. This one I am not going to limit in terms of what it can be used for, but I am going to include having to activate it, just like the others, discharged upon use. I am going to use my specific named-unique sword as part of the spell just like I have been all along. As usual, this Holy Ground will de-power itself if I am for any reason permanently dismissed from the Mary Piper's service (including Versing out).
One thing I would like to add to this one, just as a visual effect. This is certainly NOT imperative to the spell - i.e. if the spell would fail just for including this, then by all means may the gods leave it out! - but it would be nice. I want this Holy Ground - that is, the perimeter of the deck - to glow green with something visually similar to St. Elmo's Fire* when active.
I will then proceed to spend the next sixteen hours weaving a spell into the Holy Ground.
This is kindof unusual, in that I want to spend sixteen hours laying a spell into the Holy Ground, that I can later activate on a moment's notice. The actual casting time will be sixteen hours, one minute, with the sixteen hours being now and the one minute when I need it.
For the duration of the ritual, I will request that anyone coming up on deck for any reason do so armed, and include as part of the ritual "must have at least five armed men in the holy ground for the duration."
I will call upon Thor to grant protection (rather like my protection spell) and Odin to grant accuracy (much like my accuracy spell) to all who fight to defend this deck. I will call upon Baldur - the dying-and-rising god - to hold this spell, as he holds the world, until the moment it is needed.
Appropriate words such that sound matters, and at full volume this time, standing, arms raised, chanting such that I can't do anything else, not even piloting, my named unique sword in hand in an active Holy Ground.
However, rather than make it so that I cast the spell and it lingers as long as it does, I would like to make it so that this spell will last for as long as I continue to chant it - singing prayers of battle and songs of war while the battle rages around me.
My goal here is to be able to bulk-cast my Accuracy and Protection spells on all the security men of our ship with a single spell.
The Holy Ground (and thus the St. Elmo's Fire) discharge when this spell's duration ends (when I stop singing it).
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire
OOCly I had a dream of this last night, standing on deck, arms raised, sword in hand, surrounded in green light while my friends fight around me.
The captain doesn't set your work schedule. Pilot Commander Stanis does--and since he has to staff the helm twenty-four/seven with just you, Rob, and himself, you don't get a day off unless medical has you confined to bed or quarters or the ship is docked.
That's going to put a pinch on your plans, perhaps. Also, the other pilot does not normally carry weapons, as he is not trained to them.
I need to discuss the other parameter behind the screens, as it is a mechanics issue.
--M. J. Young
That said, I'll leave out the light effect for now. (The D&D player in me insists that there's always a chance for standing magic to be visible, but, eh.)
Given that I can't get a full day off, I'll do the holy ground before my shift, work, then do the other spell. Seeing as I go, what, three days at a time between casting my Remove Fatigue ritual, this shouldn't put any damper on my plans at all, provided we have two days of nothing weird happening.
Before I set to work on either one, I'll explain what I'm doing to the Captain, Stanis, and the other department heads. They've all seen the miracles I've worked with healing myself, keeping food fresh impossibly long, and at least the Captain and Stanis have seen me go three days at a time with only two hours down-time, so when I say that it's in everyone's best interest for them to play along, they know exactly what I'm up to. I'll even tell them what the ritual is for so they'll be absolutely certain.
I'm going to ask that, whether trained or not, everyone who comes on deck during those sixteen hours - even if they're just scrubbing the deck - have at least a belt knife on them.
Their guns don't have to be loaded, their knives don't have to be sharp.
Even a mop can be a weapon in the right hands.
They just have to be symbolically "armed" with something rather than not. I'll lend the other pilot my unloaded pistol if he can't grub up a weapon any other way.
You explain to the officers what you intend to do. It leads to a significant debate among them.
Doctor Evan is strongly against this. He says it is superstitious nonsense that will frighten the crew. Chief of Deck Roman is particularly concerned, since he trusts the Doctor's opinion and his men are the ones who are going to have to move through the area you will supposedly have enspelled. Pilot Commander Stanis and Chief Navigator Donald both know you, and are aware of your extraordinary abilities, but that doesn't mean they believe in magic or gods, only in the fact that you are an extraordinary man. Still, Stanis argues that if it gives you confidence to do your job as pilot, it can't possibly hurt anyone since it's all, as the Doc says, nonsense.
At this point, the captain says you should wait until there is a consensus, and promises to try to reach one soon.
Security Chief Balcon and Chief Engineer Dermott are both neutral on the matter. They don't want anything done that will create trouble on the ship, but they don't see any harm in the ritual itself--only in the effect it will have on morale. The Doc says that won't be good, but as Dermott observes, probably most of the men will think the whole matter silly, the foolishness of someone who thinks that a particular pair of underwear should be thrown overboard because he was wearing it when the pirates almost killed him. First Officer James is keeping tight-lipped on the subject, and he's a hard man to read, but you don't think he's a believer.
Everyone agrees, though, that it's important that the crew not get any idea that this is being considered, at least until it's decided, and probably not even then. If Doc Evans is right, it will disrupt things severely for the crew to think that the officers are condoning superstition, whether the crew thinks it nonsense or desperation.
--M. J. Young
I'm getting sick of the stalling involved in things like this. Why is there no decisiveness? Still, nothing to be done for it.
Seeing that half of the officers still don't believe me, I'll invite them to go with me for a little demonstration.
I'll go down to the galley, and ask the cook if he has any spoiled food.
Theoretically, nothing should have spoiled since we left Emerald and I consecrated the food hold, as I've been restoring that food all along, which should strike him as unusual - surely something ought to have spoiled by now! His testament to the remarkable durability of our food since leaving Emerald (and since my ritual) should serve to influence them.
If he has anything - even a single piece of fruit - I'll take them all with me to witness this as I cast a Restore Freshness ritual in the food hold (where there is more room and a more formal setting for all of them than my quarters).
There, I will cast said ritual, restoring the spoiled food, and eat of it in front of them as proof of the power with which my gods have invested me, and I'll deliver a dramatic speech, something to the effect of, "You've heard of back-wood superstitions among the natives. I assure you I am no backwater hick. I am not an idiot. And I am not. kidding," and then chomp the apple or whatever it was I restored.
If after that they still don't believe me, I'll invite them to linger for another hour, in which time I will cast my Remove Fatigue spell to let them ALL spend the next three days in perfectly lucid wakefulness.
The Doctor is the cook (actually, the medical department are the cooks, but the Doctor is chief officer of that department), and the ship doesn't carry any rations that are terribly prone to spoiling--it happens, but it's very unusual.
There is no spoiled food aboard at the moment.
It appears that your remove fatigue skill is not designed to work on a group of other people:
1@1 Remove Fatigue M+2@1 must be lying supine in bed within an activated casting circle (holy ground) appropriate words spoken quietly but sound matters, invoking Tyr god of duty and valor, Thor god of strength, and Hugin and Munin symbols of vigilance, removing fatigue, 1:00:00TF reinvigorates such that caster will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work, +91SM.I am not certain how you would adjust this to work on others, but it appears that both the caster and the subject must be in bed within the circle at least, and probably that the caster must be the subject.
Next plan?
--M. J. Young
Actually I'd always intended that all of my spells that require holy ground target every viable subject IN the holy ground, just as I don't have to cast Restore Freshness for each plum in the box.
That said, how I would adjust it would be exactly that - change target from "self" to "all within holy ground." Considering my original spell - if I remember correctly - had something like a 135% chance of success that was dialed down in order to extend the duration, I feel I'll be on firm enough ground doing this, with the caveat that they'll go two days instead of three (24 hours longer than normal rather than 47) before fatigue sets in.
Also modify it so that to cast it I must be kneeling or sitting in the holy ground with both hands folded on my specific named-unique sword, appropriate words spoken aloud such that sound matters, concentration is important, and the spell ends with a flourish that requires a successful check of my smallsword fencing skill to execute, specifically cutting a Jera rune in the air with a flick of the wrist. And because my gods appreciate material sacrifice, I will sacrifice one uncut emerald for each subject to be affected.
Before I tackle this, how are you planning to persuade the skeptical officers to stay with you in that space for that duration?
Also my read of "caster will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work" is that staying up for forty-seven hours is the equivalent of a full day's time. That is, normally you would get up at six and go to bed tired at ten, but with this spell you start counting at six and reach the end of the day forty-seven hours later, five o'clock in the morning. It's designed so that you can cast the spell for one hour every other day to chain your wakefulness. You could stay up longer, but it's like staying up past your bedtime. You're not going three days with it, but two, and thus you're gaining about thirty-one hours. Taking twenty-four off that will be a gain of seven hours, which probably would go unnoticed or be explained away by most skeptics. Also, I don't know that the spell actually prevents anyone from sleeping, it just removes the need.
--M. J. Young
The way I see the effects of Remove Fatigue, is rather like someone who is not a hardcore caffeine addict having just been introduced to Guarana Extract (the active ingredient in, among other things, Amp). The result of this is a completely mellow stimulant high with no jitters or heart effects, with the exception that it is almost physically impossible to sleep until the effect wears off, because your nervous system is simply tweaked too high to ever go idle. I remember this being a fascinating feeling and a novel experience, very much unlike any other form of wakefulness - the energy you burn has a different feel to it, like you've discovered some untapped reserve and could go forever as long as you have it.
Seeing as I'm frontloading this one with more restrictions on the caster - including the sword as named-unique, including the material sacrifice, including the skill check for the runic flourish at the end - I think I'm balancing out not putting any further restriction on the subjects than that they remain within the Holy Ground for an hour.
As for how I will convince them to remain, I will offer them tangible proof of what I say. I know of no stronger instrument than the truth. I'll tell them exactly what I plan to do. They've seen how I require only an hour's down-time every other day. I offer them a taste of that. Two full days to do with as they will. Extra time to pursue whatever they please to do with an extra two-thirds of a day all to themselves.
"And that but the smallest taste of the gifts my gods have to offer, to those who do nothing but honor the words of their servant."
The captain agrees to attend. First Officer James says that in this case he will keep an eye on the ship while he does so, so he will not be there.
Your boss says that it's his shift, and he can't ask you to take it and he can't ask your sleeping co-worker to take it, so he's going to have to be at the helm. However, your former boss, Donald, says he would be interested in seeing this, and he'll make sure he's there.
The chief engineer says it doesn't matter to him whether it works or not, and he sees no reason to waste an hour watching some nonsense unfold.
Doc Evan says he absolutely will not entertain your delusions about magic, and is surprised anyone else is going to submit to this trickery. Balcon declines the invitation because he considers it important that he be ready at all times, and he would undoubtedly have to leave the hold to deal with problems during the ceremony, which would be disruptive.
Chief of Deck says thanks anyway, but whatever trick you've got up your sleeve he's not interested.
You can proceed with the Captain and the Chief Navigator if you wish.
--M. J. Young
Ah, well. The truth didn't do any particular wonders for any other religious figures, either. Not really sure why I expected better.
Still, two is better than none, and the Captain probably counts as two or three, so I'm not doing too badly as long as I've got him. That said, I'll dial it down to two uncut emeralds (one for each target being the idea) and cast it for just the two of them. Once it's done I'll invite them back whenever they start to feel tired, for another refresh.
A mental note: Seeing as I just made the "religious leader" connection, I really ought to try experimenting with some of the miracles I used to teach about from the Bible and other ancient cultures*. While it's possible the magic levels of Earth were stronger back then, they are a rich source of ideas. I never thought I'd find myself wishing I'd brought a Bible along! Ah, well. Live and learn.
* a subnote: water into wine seems particularly useful, as does being able to restore youth to the old (which, discounting the ephemeral nature of what constitutes life, ought not be mechanically that much different than the Restore Freshness spell I already use...) and healing the sick and injured, which I can already do but would like to be able to do more easily...
Sorry to delay. When you say, "concentration is important", is that a throwaway that has no affect in play, or does it mean that whenever you cast this spell a GE roll is made to determine whether you are interrupted and how severely, and in response you must make appropriate (simple or difficult) will power checks to maintain your concentration or the spell fails?
The former does not give any bonus, but the latter does. The latter also significantly increases the chance of spell failure not by virtue of the chance of success but by whether the requirements are all fulfilled. (E.g., if while you are casting the spell, one of the cooks comes to get something from the larder, you would have to make a successful will power check or the spell is blown, the emeralds lost.)
Also, are you destroying (e.g., crushing) the emeralds yourself or letting the magic do this? It does not make a difference to the success of the spell, but will impact the emeralds.
--M. J. Young
No. Make it a throwaway. Being an urban witch, and having never lived alone, in a house with plural people and plural cats (all too willing to pounce my ritual supplies), there's no chance at all I'm going to lose a ritual on that. I know that for a fact, and I will not have a GE roll throwing away all this work on this spell just because nothing on my character sheet reflects that I've been working under adverse conditions the entire time I've ever been working magic and physically cannot lose a spell that way. It has never happened. If I have to forego a small bonus in order to reflect that, so be it.
As for the emeralds, I'm letting the magic consume them. I have nothing in my possession I could realistically crush an emerald with - it takes rather a lot.
(I do hope this works. I notice we have a tendency to spend a week working out the details of a spell, just to be like "Well, there's a week's worth of ALL our updates thrown out all at once - shall we begin again?")
Incidentally, I was going to mention that there is a significant difference between reversing decay in that which is dead and reversing aging in that which is alive. I just thought I'd mention it; I have not actually checked to see what the bias is for reversing aging, but I do know that it is a completely different skill.
You cast the spell successfully, feeling the refreshing come over you; it also appears that your two volunteers feel it as well. (And specifically, it feels like you've just had a good night's sleep.)
"Well, Mr. John, that was certainly enlightening," the Captain says. "Thank you for showing us this."
--M. J. Young
"Thank you for staying, Captain," I answer him, "And my offer stands. If you would like, you may come to me for this at any time. I normally cast this spell for myself. The version I have used for you is far more costly..." I show him the two burnt-out husks of the sacrificed emeralds, "...but coupled with the other miracles my gods have granted me, it certainly balances out. Imagine how many days I will be able to sustain us all with the emeralds an entire cargo hold full of fresh fruit will bring us next year. It will be glorious. And it is not just sleep. The ritual I am trying to cast on deck will make us all fight better, as well..."
The captain indicates that he has to get back to work, but that he'll let you know his decision after he has another opportunity to confer with the other officers.
--M. J. Young
And so it is.
While I wait for the captain, I'll do a little preparatory work. Write down all the battle songs I know. Maybe try my hand - I do have 2@5 English Writing - at composing a nice long battle hymn to use for sustaining the mass buff effect. Yes. That's what I'll do. Sit meditatively and compose a war poem while I wait. Unless I have work. In which case I'll work. And continue to wait for the Captain.
Of course, you cast the spell to relieve fatigue and the effect is that neither of those for whose benefit you cast it will need sleep for two days--which means it takes two days for the effect to be fully observed. (It does not make them hyper or overly awake at the beginning, but works as the equivalent of sleep with a longer benefit.)
The debate continues among the officers.
The third day after your demonstration, the captain comes and tells you that the officers are not going to agree, but that he doesn't see any harm in you doing whatever it is you do as you requested. He's still not certain what it is you do, but if the doctor is right and it's all in the head, it seems to be a worthwhile thing to have in the head.
The next day, twenty-five days out of Emerald and eleven days after your pirate encounter, you may cast the spell.
Please clarify for me what exactly you are casting where, when, and any other details that I might have missed in the confusion.
--M. J. Young
My total time is going to be 36 hours, which will be broken down like so, provided I am fresh from a Remove Fatigue (my individual casting) when I begin:
8 hours: Blessing the entire deck as a Holy Ground. This will involve me walking, kneeling at the four corners, singing praises and giving thanks to the gods, invoking them (Heimdall the Guardian, Thor who protects travelers, Odin who sees all, and Freya who guides sorcerers), and pacing the entire perimeter of the deck. Appropriate words spoken aloud in English so the sound matters, 8 hours casting time, my named-unique sword in hand, walking and kneeling. I will sacrifice six more of my uncut emeralds. If I have the capacity, I will grind them into dust and use the dust to trace a unicursal hexagram around the mainmast, otherwise I will simply let the magic itself hollow them out and cast the husks into the sea.
8 hours: Working. I expect to have to take a working shift in between one spell and the other, so I'll go take my turn at the helm. I'll activate my newly cast Holy Ground at that point, just because I feel better when I'm in one, and I figure if anyone else believes in it, they might feel better too.
16 hours: Laying the beginning of my double battle blessing. This is going to sacrifice 30 more uncut emeralds (one for every man on the ship) leaving me down by a total of 38 (out of two crates full). Appropriate words spoken (invoking Thor, god of Rage; Sif the Golden Haired, goddess of tactical combat; Njordr, god of the sea; and Heimdall who guards the gates) inside an activated holy ground. I will be pacing the deck, my named unique sword in hand, and this is the spell that requires five armed men on deck for the duration (if the officers will not agree, I'll shanghai my friends from security - the guys I've been sparring with to practice my swordsmanship this past year and a half, and if not them then the security officer, me, the captain, whoever's turn it is at the helm, and one deck-hand with a knife or a mop would make five - this really should not be hard to come up with).
The effect of this spell will be that when I begin to pray for one minute later on, everyone on the deck who fights to defend the Mary Piper will gain the benefits of Accuracy and Protection prayers, as appropriate for a spell so heavily front-loaded as this one, for as long as I continue to pray, sing songs of battle, and otherwise maintain the spell.
Ideally, I would like this to be a permanent effect that remains dormant within the holy ground, invokable at need, but if that cannot be done (if such lingering effects are curved out) and it must be re-cast each time, so be it. I trust the gods to decide.
(i.e. please do not delay to ask me if I'd like to reconsider - just cast it, whichever way will work.)
You cast the holy ground spell satisfactorily on the main deck plus fore and aftcastles, as well as adjacent ladders, masts, and rigging. Then you take your shift at the helm.
Thirty is an estimate of the crew; there are not actually thirty men aboard. The contingent is as follows:
- Captain John
- First Mate James
- Pilot Commander Stanis
- Chief Navigator Donald
- Chief Engineer Dermott
- Doctor Evan
- Security Chief Balcon
- Chief of Deck Roman
- Pilot Rob
- Pilot John (Harry--You)
- Navigator Dooley
- Navigator Stim
- Engineer Malley
- Engineer Marty
- Engineer Joseph
- Medic Palma
- Medic Pieter
- Medic Roger
- Security Officer Brown
- Security Officer Davis
- Security Officer Christian
- Security Officer Abbas
- Deck Hand Tolomy
- Deck Hand Johann
- Deck Hand David
- Deck Hand Grasso
- Deck Hand Navarre
So, who are you hoping to get for your five armed men, and how do you intend to get them to participate?
--M. J. Young
I don't care. I'll bribe the five deck hands. They don't even have to be conscious, they just have to be /there/ and /armed/ - it's not like I'm asking them to DO anything. Go sleep in some piles of rope for all I care, so long as you've got your weapon. Borrow a steak knife from the doctor, carry a mop, I'll lend one of them my unloaded gun. Whatever it takes. I just want this done. Dice rolled, spell cast, no more questions about what was supposed to be minor and easy.