The spell works; the rock heats by a fifty Celsius (one hundred Fahrenheit). Since it's probably around eighty-five degrees in the jungle, that gives you a 185 degree cooking surface on one casting.
Since there seems little difference between casting it again and rolling again to see if you can change the temperature, I've gone with repeat castings to change the temperature. Oh, and if I forget, please remind me that I have to do a summary write-up of the spell on the character sheet--out of time at the moment.
--M. J. Young
I'll see what I can do with cooking the bird. I'll probably need to turn up the heat at least once.
While I'm tending to it I consider the trouble I had cutting the thing. It is pretty inconvenient that my penknife doesn't work well here considering how often I use it in a normal day. I'll have to come up with a spell to trim my fingernails! I guess I'd be better off developing a general penknife spell and not get into specific function spells - I'd never remember all the words or I wouldn't be able to move for all my spell components!
Once the bird is cooked, I'll eat it. All the while wondering why this cat has taken such an interest in me. I can't help wondering if it is more intelligent than usual animals or if it's just tame for some reason. If animals here are more intelligent, then I sure hope I don't have to deal with whatever turkey tribe this bird came from.
I guess it lets me get fairly close to it. Can I see anything that might indicate it is someone's pet - like a collar or a tattoo of some sort?
The bird does not cook. It slowly burns away, layer by layer, from the outside, but remains raw behind the charred part.
There is no indication that the jaguar is a pet; it just seems to regard you as a superior but benevolent creature. You have done nothing to threaten it, and you shared food with it, and it's acting very like a local alley cat that's found someone willing to put out food scraps for it, but that it's less skittish about letting you near it. Approaching slowly, you are able to pet it, and it purrs and licks your hand.
--M. J. Young
I shake my head in disgust as I push the ruined meat off onto the ground. What a weird place this is. I suppose I'll survive as a vegetarian for a while - if I can convince Pixie to give me one of his bananas for breakfast.
So, I've got some work to do spell-wise. Cooking, some kind of utility tool, and improving upon my shelter.
But I've just had an H1N1 vaccination and I'm too worn out to continue. I'll be back.
The cat sniffs at the bird, looking to you as if asking whether you still want it.
--M. J. Young
I push the charred remains of the bird towards the cat with my toe. I have an idea for building things with magic but I'm going to need some spell components. I dig out my flashlight and turn it on to see if it works here. Not expecting it to, if it does not work I'll unscrew the head and take out the mirror behind the bulb.
I'm going to attempt to create light using the mirror as a spell component. I hold the mirror in one hand and wave the other over top and say "Illuminate" in latin. The spell takes 6 seconds to perform and I expect the duration to be 1 hour. The surface of the mirror will shine with full spectrum light. The mirror is not consumed.
Perhaps the world just wants to confuse you. The flashlight lights without any difficulty, and produces a clean, bright beam.
Do you still want to proceed to create the light spell? You probably can't be certain of anything here, and with how many technological and scientific approaches have failed, the fact that the flashlight worked hardly means it will work next time.
--M. J. Young
I blink in surprise at the bulb illuminating. Go figure. I won't carry on with the spell just yet. I'll switch the flashlight off for the time being and hunt around in the stream for more gemstones. If I can't find any I'll use the ruby I found earlier and take a diamond off the flamboyant vest I got in B-Movie world. I also gather up a few seeds - probably from the fruit we've been eating.
At this point I try switching on the flashlight again. If it doesn't work after a couple of tries, I'll attempt the above light spell.
I want to create a spell that accelerates the growth of plants. I take the seed in the palm on one hand and sprinkle a pinch of earth over it. Then I add a drop of water. I clap my hands together and shout "Grow!" and point to a young seedling at the edge of the campsite. The seed, earth and water will be consumed. At that point I will hold up the light source and shine it on the plant. I figure that takes about 12 seconds. I want the plant in question to grow extremely rapidly into a healthy adult. I don't want it to become full grown instantly, but over the course of several minutes (does years = minutes work?) such that I could react to the growth if need be.
And I do need be! I want to hold the gemstones I have against growing branches such that the wood will envelop the gemstones. I'd prefer it if I can partially see the gemstones poking out of the wood but if not I'll deal with that later.
Yes, you find more gems in the river. They are, of course, uncut, but you can see the transparent red of quite a few rubies. You find a few clear stones as well, although I'm not certain whether you can identify them as diamonds (that might be something you would know that I don't know you know) as opposed to other clear faceted stones.
You take out the light again, and although the beam is a bit dimmer this time, it works again.
I was not certain whether "if it doesn't work after a couple times" meant "if I can get it to fail eventually by repeatedly trying it" or "if I cannot get it to work again even if I try to use it a few times", but the next roll was a success, and I think that turning it on and off in rapid succession should logically be a single use.
I've hesitated to crunch the numbers on your new growth spell for a couple reasons.
First, there's some uncertainty as to whether you want to develop the light spell because it might be more reliable than the flashlight, or whether you're just going to use the flashlight given that it worked twice in a row.
Second, I'm thinking that your targeted sapling must be a tree of some sort, but I was not certain at first that it was not a bush so I want to be certain I understand what it is you are trying to make grow, and how big it is initially.
Third, I'm not certain whether I should answer your question, but I don't know that I actually can. The baseline suggests a doubling of size/mass in one minute, concurrent with the casting time. The size of the "sapling" is thus significant, since a very small tree will double several times over the first year of its life, but once its trunk is an inch in diameter the percent of growth per year is considerably slower. But then, I don't want to tell you to define the growth in my terms; I just want you to help me translate my terms into your terms.
--M. J. Young
(Sorry for the long absence. Things have been kind of crazy around here.)
I would not be able to identify a diamond from another clearish stone, unless I was able to try its hardness against other things.
I'm just looking for a light source, so since the flashlight worked I will use it. I was only going to try the light spell if the flashlight failed.
I don't want to limit the target to a specific type of plant. In this case I'm looking for a woody tree so I can embed the gemstones in it.
As far as accelerating growth and size, I guess the simplest thing would be to forget about including time. My intention is to cause the plant to grow bigger very quickly. So, let's just say 5 doublings in size and put on the qualifier that the plant must still be naturally capable of growing larger and it will stop at the plant's natural adult size. Thus, I would have to pick a young tree for it to grow but something like a blackberry creeper would have vines that would grow regardless of age.
You put all that together, and your light shines brightly on cue, and the plant quivers as if something is happening--but then nothing happens. The seed, dirt, and water do vanish in the process.
I'm trying to keep images clear in my mind, so I've decided it will help for me to ask whether you are trying to cause the trunk to grow large enough for a staff/walking stick, or trying to cause a branch to grow sufficiently for a wand in which jewels are embedded, or something between these.
--M. J. Young
I curse the failure of my spell but deep down I know I've been getting sloppy in my magic since arriving here. Time to slow it down a bit.
I'll add the following modifications to my spell:
-I will etch a circle in the dirt around the plant in question
-I will walk once around the circle while brushing my hand along the plant
-I will take the dirt to be used from inside the circle
This will increase the time for the ritual to 2 minutes.
I'm going to try to make a pair of wands with a gem embedded in each one, so I'm really after a branch or two.
The flashlight almost fails on you this time, but it glimmers enough to make the spell work. The plant grows a bit erratically and unevenly, but the magic is working.
For your next trick, you intend to press gems against two of the growing branches and have them become embedded in the growing wood, correct? Are you putting the gems near the trunk or near the tip of the branch, or between the two?
--M. J. Young
I'm holding the gems next to two growing branches. Once the wood starts growing around the gems I'll let go and stand back.
You hold the gems against the branches. The tree is growing it spits and starts, but it grabs hold of the gems in a moment and you get your hands free with only a bit of a pinch of your skin. The process continues for a few more minutes, and then stops.
One of the branches has almost completely surrounded the red gem; only a bit of it is visible.
The other has the clear gem loosely stuck to the outside; it will hold, but could be pried loose without too much difficulty (in a world in which prying was a lot easier than it is here).
--M. J. Young
I admire my work from below for a moment before getting down to the next job at hand. I need some sort of cutting tool. I think the most flexible method would be to put a magical energy edge onto my own hand and fingers. That way I can weild it easily.
I remove the rings from my left hand. With my right hand I will drag my fingers along the edge of my bare left hand as if shaping edges while chanting "Mucro". I do this over and over for one minute. At the end I snap the fingers of my right hand and quickly straighten the fingers of my left hand while saying forcefully "Chalybs!". I expect there to now exist a glow of energy around my left hand that is as sharp and strong as a steel blade. The duration will be 10 minutes. With this, I expect to be able to chop with the side of my hand, but also whittle with the edge of a single finger and gouge with my finger tips.
Your idea works quite well; you've got a blade on your hand. You observe that it can cut through wood at the rate of five seconds per inch, or more slowly if you're careful.
--M. J. Young
(I'm pressed for time; please remind me that I have to write up that skill and add it to your sheet. It's really very nice.)
--M. J. Young
(...trying to remember what I was up to.)
I took the liberty of writing up the spell for you:
1@2 Hand cutting tool M6@6 Cutter. With my right hand I will drag my fingers along the edge of my bare left hand as if shaping edges while chanting "Mucro". I do this over and over for one minute. At the end I snap the fingers of my right hand and quickly straighten the fingers of my left hand while saying forcefully "Chalybs!". Glowing energy field around left hand that is sharp and strong like a steel blade. Can chop with side of hand but also whittle with edge of single finger and gouge with finger tips. Cuts wood at rate of 5 sec/in. or more slowly if careful. SM+36
After the spell wears off, I'm going to climb up my new tree and find the branches with the gems stuck in them. Once I've located them I will use the cutting spell to remove the branches such that I have sections about 18" long with the gem at one end. These I will take down to camp. I plan on carving them into wands with the gems prominent at the tip. I want to do a good job so I will probably work on them over a few days.
Over those days I will also go out scrounging for food, etc.
Apparently you've never had to climb anything in my game; I don't have a climbing skill for you. How good are you at climbing trees, or should it be a skill under climbing something else (ropes, walls) at which you are better?
Food is not a problem; there are plenty of fruit and nuts around.
--M. J. Young
I would say I'm very good at climbing. Climbing trees was a favourite past-time in my youth. I also did a lot of rock climbing all through high school and university (including lessons). Ropes were involved in rock climbing but I didn't much climb them without special gear until basic military training where it is a popular obstacle. In addition to that I've had to go aloft on many mass in my career in the marine industry but that usually involves some kind of ladder - except they don't stay still.
We're going to give you 2@2 climb (rocks) and 2@5 climb (rigging) either of which incorporates a 1@10 at climbing just about anything else, including trees. They're B1@3 skills.
Oh, I'm also giving Pixie 3@1 Climb (trees) while I'm at it. (But don't ask for it for Heph....)
You climb the tree adequately, although it's a bit thin. Then you call up your hand blade, and with a bit of effort remove the branches as desired. (You drop them to the ground below, but it's soft ground so that's not going to be a problem.)
In your wand carving, what features are you intending to incorporate?
--M. J. Young
Both wands will be about 18" long and slender with a 4" handle section at the base. On the wand with the diamond, I will carve leafy vines, sun rays and water drops. On the wand with the ruby, I will carve a moon, some sparse, thorny twigs, and a Roundup bottle.
As John Cross would say, you got the coveted "Made the Referee Laugh" award on that
Over the next several days you manage to do the carvings. The diamond and sun wand comes out adequately, but you do a very beautiful job on the ruby and moon wand, impressing yourself.
The heat rises significantly during this time; the sun baking down on the canopy is creating a sweltering humid area below. Your water is not threatened, but you're drinking a lot of it.
--M. J. Young
Now I'm finally ready to try to improve upon my living conditions. I'm going to use my new pair of wands to create a spell to control the growth of plants.
The spell will begin with holding one wand in each hand, standing up with my arms over my head with wands together. I will say loudly "Flora Imperium!" then point the wands at the plant I want to control. The diamond will glow but in balance the ruby will go dark with absorbed light. Plants will now grow towards the light wand but will repel from the dark wand. I will have to actively use the wands to control the plants for the duration of the spell (waving them about, etc.). The spell will last 10 minutes.
Now, I won't normally notice much an effect on normal plants but if I can get the spell to work (the diamond lights up) then I will try it on a plant I've accelerated.
I am intrigued. If I'm reading this aright, you're suggesting that the spell will cause the targeted plants to grow at their normal natural rates, but favoring the direction you have chosen, so that for example undergrowth will move away from the defended area toward the chosen area. The growth rate is not at all affected. Is this a correct assessment?...a spell to control the growth of plants....I won't normally notice much an effect on normal plants....
--M. J. Young
Yes, the growth rate is unaffected but the defended area and chosen area are continually being updated as I move the wands around. They will move towards the diamond wand and away from the ruby wand.
I'm beginning to pull this together; sorry it's taken me a while to wrap my head around it. I'm taking it as a combination attract/dispel targeting "non-sentient servants" (those doing your bidding, the lowest category for attract skills). The light is an incorporated manipulate light skill, which is a minor thing. I've already encountered one question, so I'll start a list and see how many more I have to ask.
- Such a skill would probably be ranged (the dispel component suggests that it needs a range). Baseline ranges would mean that you are at "point blank" if you are within twenty feet of the target, that you're penalized a bit for distances greater than fifty feet, and again at seventy-five feet, and cumulatively as you pass one hundred feet. You've described this casting as if you're going to be right up close and personal to the plants you're trying to move, but I'm guessing that you aren't touching each plant and thus you need some range, even if it's only a few feet. So what are you seeing as the ranges of the effect?
- Concerning the wands, I think I have a couple questions.
- First, are they specific to this spell, or do you envision using them for other spells in the future?
- Second, are they so unique that you could not replace them if they were lost, stolen, or broken, or only unique in that you yourself would have to make replacements, or could you use copies which were made by someone else or by some other means (e.g., if you created a skill that would duplicate an object, would the duplicate wand by a legitimate component)?
--M. J. Young
Range: basically point-blank without touching. 20 feet seems more than I need but it sounds like a good limit.
Wands: I don't envision using them for something else. I built them specifically for this spell. However, I could see myself building them into future plant-related spells. They are not unique. I built them once so I could build them again. I wouldn't get the carvings exactly the same but I wouldn't want that to limit me. I hadn't considered the possibility of them being copied but since I intended the labour involved in the making of the wands to count towards the spell I reckon mass-produced wands would lose their magical value. Wands that were crafted to my specifications by a craftsperson would count - except they would probably find it difficult to find wood with embedded gems to make them from.
You pronounce your command words and begin waving your wand at targeted plants. The ruby has gone dark so dark it is almost like a hole in space, and the wood immediately around it is not visible, not as if it were black but as if no light were coming from it at all; the diamond, at the same time, is glowing brilliantly, sufficiently that the light shines visibly on the plants even in the day.
--M. J. Young
Looking good, I think to myself, as I wave my wands about getting the feel for them. I tuck them into my waistband for the time being.
I will now cast the spell on a seed or sapling of a tree that will grow to be very large. (If it's a seed or very small then I may need another application of this spell to reach full potential.)
M13@5 Cause Growth, limited to plants of all sorts.I will etch a circle in the dirt around the plant in question. I will walk once around the circle while brushing my hand along the plant. I take the seed in the palm on one hand and sprinkle a pinch of earth (taken from inside the circle around the plant) over it. Then I add a drop of water. I clap my hands together and shout "Grow!" and point to a young seedling at the edge of the campsite. The seed, earth and water will be consumed. At that point I will hold up the light source and shine it on the plant. The plant in question will grow, over the course of 5 minutes, into a healthy adult, 5 doublings in size. The plant must still be naturally capable of growing larger and it will stop at the plant's natural adult size. TF 2:00 SM+31.
Upon completion of the Growth spell, I will whip out my wands and cast the Control Growth spell on the tree. I will put the repulsion wand over the tree and draw circles around it to make it short and wide, until it is about 10 feet in diameter. Then I will allow it to grow up but I will push the repulsion wand into the centre so it will have to split and grow around it. I want to hollow out a tree cave to live in, then grow the tree up some more so it is up off the ground.
This may take multiple applications of the spells. If the tree won't hollow out under the application of the wands, then I'll have to do some transplanting and just grow multiple trees and vines and shape them together into a house.
I seem to have missed copying that spell to your sheet, although obviously I remember you learning it. Do you remember your SAL in that? I'll work with 1@1 unless/until I hear otherwise.
You identify a seed freshly fallen from a very large tree, broad and tall. You can place it where you want it.
It takes you two minutes to cast the growth spell, and the seed starts growing visibly before you. You switch to your wands and start your control spell, and for perhaps four minutes it struggles to grow, spreading outward and downward (into the ground) from the size of the seed to something like a thick silver dollar pancake.
You repeat the process, and (noting that you have a 2:00 casting time on the growth skill and that the other skill runs ten minutes against a five minute duration for this one) in maybe ten to twelve minute intervals you continue to grow the tree in this strange way, increasing to discus, then thick manhole cover, then a huge tractor tire size but solid, and I'll let you guide me a bit more from here. I'm assuming there's an opening somewhere; I don't know if this is wide enough; I don't know how far above the ground you want the floor.
--M. J. Young
I attempt to hollow out the tree by pushing the repulsion wand into the centre (while keeping the attraction wand above) so it will have to split and grow around it. If that doesn't work, I'll have to grow the platform up to about 20 feet above ground, then grow other trees alongside to form walls.
What I envision from this arrangement is that the hollow will take the form of a water droplet or a single flame--wide and rounded below as it curves away from the lower wand, narrowing to a point above as it moves toward the upper. You will see this happening, so if you want something different you'll have to think of how that might be achieved. Also, you've not mentioned an opening.
--M. J. Young
That shape is fine by me. The opening is created as I push in to the centre from outside.
The opening is created as I push in to the centre from outside.
I must be missing part of the process. Let me describe what I'm envisioning, and you can tell me where it's wrong. You are probably chaining the skills, but that's not the critical point.
- You first grew the tree short and wide, such that it was maybe two or three feet tall and six to eight feet wide and rather flat on top.
- You then stepped on top of the growing tree and held the repulsive wand down toward the surface on which you were standing. This caused the growth of the tree to curve perhaps parabolically beneath your feet and the outer shell to continue to grow upward; holding the attractive wand above your head caused that shell to move toward that point, creating the aforementioned teardrop shape.
From what I see, you have to step into the center of the tree by stepping over the outer wall, and once you are in the center your technique holds down the floor in the center while growing the walls evenly around the outside.
Since you perceive something different, I must have missed or misunderstood some part of the process. (From what I see you doing, you will eventually be enclosed inside the tree--and it won't take more than an hour or so to do that, if that long.)
--M. J. Young
OK, I'm happy with that. Once I create the room I'll pause to use my magical hand tool to cut a door before continuing with building my shelter.
You continue growing the room, and suddenly you are engulfed in darkness as the tree seals above you.
You set the wands down and begin rubbing your hand as you cast the cutting spell, and the cutter comes alive with a faint glow along the edge of your left hand. In a moment you have cut through to the outside, admitting light and fresh air.
--M. J. Young
I guess that pretty much does it for my shelter for the time being. I'm not sure it was any easier than it would have been to build the thing with hammer and nails in my home world. Oh well. I'll probably have to grow some furniture but that can wait for now.
What I never managed was a cooking spell. The hot plate didn't work - maybe I need to go the crockpot route.
I will spend some time with my carving spell and whittle myself a large platter with a voluminous domed cover (like one of those fance silver things you see in hotels in the movies when they lift it to reveal the magnificent cooking beneath). I'll attempt a nice design of pumpkin vines around the rim and maybe a fish for the platter.
The spell will involve putting some raw food in a closed container meant for food (such as my covered platter, a pot with a lid, an oven). Then I will hold it closed and say, "Sing a song of sixpence, pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie." After 10 minutes, the raw food will have been properly prepared (gutted, chopped, marinated, etc.) and be cooked to perfection in a manner that is appropriate to the food (beef is roasted, vegetables steamed, rice boiled, etc.). Everything required, including water and spices, must be put in the container. Waste materials will be consumed by the magic.
You manage to create a very lovely deep platter with lid, a good eighteen inches long and a foot wide and high (plus the handles) with some of your best carving work on it; it almost seems a shame to spoil it with food--but that is the purpose of it.
For this first run of the spell, what raw food are you placing in your container?
--M. J. Young