She opens up a bit as you practise your active listening on her.
"I did not learn magic in my homeworld, but I was in one world, the third, to be precise, and I was seeking the secrets of power. And my quest took me to the Ancient Aliens who built the Pyramids as a means to drain that Earth of magic energy and project it to their homeworld. Since then, they had died, and Earth was recovering, but they left fascinating notes on the walls of the Pyramids and other places."
She laughs as you make your point about God.
"In one world, they called me the Dark Mistress. I was Queen of the World. Do you think your God would allow someone like me to rule if He was real?"
I smile a bit as I answer her.
"I believe He did. If I understand it correctly, He even placed you there. It was your responsibility to lead them rightly. He gave you the authority with the responsibility. In the end ..." I press my lips together for half a second, "... whenever that may come for us, he will hold us accountable for what we did with what He gave us, and how we did it even more."
I look her in the eyes with earnest and silently (without even a whisper) pray that she may get it and get convicted of sin, whereupon she could be led to repentance, conversion and a new life, for her sake and for the glory of God.
If she wants to know more I will expound with the example of Farao as a 'Dark Ruler' who was placed by God and David as a just and holy leader of the people.
"Perhaps you're right." She says thoughtfully turning from you. "But I've been so bad. Why I once had an entire village that had been built on a site for two thousand years, razed, and the people left homeless because they would not sell to me. They insisted on their 'ancient rights', and so I found a loophole in their law and left them without money or home."
She turns, and she's laughing.
And in her right hand is a spitting tangle of green fire that she thrusts at you. It leaps from her fingertips and wraps around you in sparkling cords that make you scream in pain.
"Preach to me? Little man, I am Stephanie, Dark Mistress and a Terror to millions! Now fall on your knees and worship me, and I will be merciful."
OOC: Botch. '99'.
Just as I thought she converted and I was thinking of a right way to answer her/lead her to Christ, she zaps me.
"Jesus protect me", I whisper/groan. (Penalize Hostile Magic SAL 1@2...this is a 2@ skill. Vocal, but quiet, appropriate, short time "Jesus protect me." )
If I'm free: I shout "I bind you in the name of Jesus!", holding out my arm an clench my hand to a fist on the word 'bind'. I believe her power comes from demonic forces, so I'm attempting an exorcism here. If she is immobilized or falls down manifesting I will ask God to show me the evil spirits in her or attached to her and to reveal/name them to me (as he's done before in vision, there were no manifestation at that time). This will be by laying my hand on her head or shoulder and praying out loud until God shows me or there is something interrupting (I need to keep concentrating)
If I'm not free: "I will only bow to Christ!"
ooc: wow, unexpected and awesome story-material!
White light flowers around you, and you feel an assurance in your heart that He who stood with the Hebrew children in the fire can stand with you. The cords eat themselves into non-existence, and you're free.
She does not respond to your attempted exorcism.
You hear running footsteps and a few shouts of 'What's going on?' from Ron, and 'Don't know.' from Bahdur.
"Burn, baby, burn." She snaps her fingers, and throws a spark at you which misses and hits the wall of the ship. It roars into flame.
"She's freaking crazy!", I think as I dodge the next spark and see the ship catch on fire. "She must be stopped!", it goes through my head.
"FIRE!", I yell out to Ron and Bahdur.
I don't want to kill her, ever, so there is one option left that I think about.
I stretch my hand out to her face (general direction) with my palm facing her, a bit nervous, but confident in the power of my God. "Lord God, show Your power. As with Saul on his way to kill more of your people, so do with her. Let her inside become her outside, make her as blind in her body as she is in spirit. In Your holy and mighty name, amen!"
I then start mumbling in tongues.
EDIT: Could I argue that the penalize magic skill got a new use by using it on a spell already cast as opposed to before a spell was cast?
OOC: Indeed. +@1 mark to PM skill. I think you get the skill even if she beats it back with willpower so 1@2 Curse with Blindness which is a 2@ skill I guess. Loud voice, appropriate, major (not full) body involvement with hand outstretched, in tongues, fifteen seconds of reasons for the prayer (this allows it to be customized per target), will only work in the open air, target gets a willpower check.
You start to pray in tongues...lightning flashes through the air, and she swats it aside with a scowl, stumbling backwards.
She stares at you in shock.
"Not so nice now, are you?" You can tell she's trying to get under your skin as she's begun to fear. She begins to work her hands in a more complicated fashion, to speak words, and you feel the gathering of great powers.
You hear Ron cussing next to you, and then the flapping of his jacket as he begins to pound on the flames. Bahdur joins in a few seconds later as he skids past you.
"Should I help you kill the witch, Niko, or the fire?" Bahdur asks from behind you.
ooc: I'm curious why the open air requirement is used.
"You can still stop this fight.", I tell her. "I do not want to harm you. You leave me no other choice.", my face is one of concern, for her.
As I feel the power building for her spell I once more ask Jesus to protect me. This time I take it a step further, speaking loud and using an example which I think is from Zachariah ... 2 or 5, let me check. Yep, Zachariah 2:5, saying: "The Lord himself has promised to be a protective wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem, and he will be its shining glory in the heart of the city." I will remind God that in Him I am part of His people and that I ask for his protection now, that he will be my wall against this magic." I will have my hands stretched out to the heavens and end it with more praying in tongues (probably as part of the 'skill').
(Incidentally I've prayed this a lot over myself and others, but I've no way to know that it 'worked', other than that no harm happened to those people, but I prayed for dangers to come which I received by vision back then.)
As Bahdur pipes in I reply to him: "Fire, the fire. It's me or the ship, we are all on the ship. Help with the fire. No killing. Not even when you are done. I don't want a death here.", if I'm able to give him a reply as lengthy as this.
She looks doubtful for a second, but then presses on, giving you a dirty look.
She speaks a name that you're quite sure is not alien, even if she thinks it is, and thrusts out both her arms your way. Something horrific tries to crawl through from some horrid, other place, but there is a flash of golden fire in the air, and a dazzling burst of light with the song of harps, and its gone.
She turns and runs for the staircase up to the next level.
Ron and Bahdur are beating at the fire with all their might. You think they're winning.
You see Yasmin running your direction from the bow of the ship with a look of fury on her face directed toward Stephanie. You've seen Yasmin mad, but never in a killing fury. And around her, the air seems to ....boil.
OOC: Well, its a lightning bolt from the sky?? Thats my interpretation of the Damascus Miracle....it was partially a lightning bolt with something else to cover the eyes with scales, and a vision from Heaven. But I could easily be wrong.
I'm going to say this is another Penalize Hostile Magic, but a more effective version. Comments are invited.
I could expound on my spiritual understanding or revelation of this, including symbolism etc. I'm not sure whether or not it's all needed for the game though. This is what I might call an 'advanced mystery', but I'm not sure whether I want to call it that. Christianity is not some kind of mystery religion in which, as you progress you get new and different information for which you were not ready, overriding the previous. In Christianity you do get greater revelation, including in the spiritual realm, but without contradiction to the basic and the hart. The core mystery or secret, which is to be told to all, the Gospel.
This all to say that I'm not sure whether I should include my explanation, since it could be taken wrong and cause a distorted understanding (of the spiritual) if not connected and focused on the glory of the gospel.
Game-mechanically I'd say that it is a barrier for those who are 'living in' the Kingdom of God that are targeted by this skill. Right now that was one person (my character), but it could include more, if wanted. Or the multiple could be a separate skill, if that works better. The barrier would hedge out (and possible damage (fire)) the enemies of the Kingdom trying to enter, which in this case would also mean enemy magic, since most battles I have already done are in the Spirit/spiritual.
Inside the wall it is a place where the Spirit dwells. Maybe you could say that it is holy ground? I'd say the duration is until after the confrontation or until the trust of the targeted group falls or something? Like a concentration, but faith based instead of intellectually based. Does that sound reasonable?
I always imagined it being in the presence of God. You remember the column of fire as God leads Mozes and His people through the desert, right? Imagine being in the center of that, like being in the eye of a storm, but the storm is divine fire. And this could lead to whole other kinds of symbol-revelations.
Out of game, if anyone fears for my salvation or finds error in this (mainly talking to Mark, Eric and Oak here, but Kyler too maybe and other Christians reading), please do correct me. I'm open to that.
About the bolt from the sky, that sounds reasonable. I never thought about it like that but that is possible. I did not include the example of the angels protecting Lot and his family by blinding the group, so yeah, I'll agree.
I freak out when I see Yasmin coming. I keep myself in God's protection, but I see her looking at Stephanie. I want to stop them but know that if the fire spreads all of us are doomed, not only one or two. We don't have water and the ship is old so the wood must be very dry. (Does it have a varnish covering/coating?)
I take out my (heavy) leather coat and start pounding on the flames with it. I am anxious to get it out quickly. Once it is so small that it's sure that two man can take it I will go up to check on things there.
"Dude, what a weird day it is today!", I think.
OOC: I'm going to need to crack open the rulebook for this. Suffice for the moment that you have been protected.
Within a couple minutes your group is able to beat the fire to exhaustion, helped by Ron using his climber's axe to rip out a table sized chunk of flaming wood and toss it over the side as you take over his part of beating the fire down, and do it better because your weapon is better than his shirt. Your leather coat is touched by soot, and hot, and smells of smoke, but seems undamaged other than that.
Once done, Bahdur looks seriously at you.
"I swore an oath to the Great Khan, the thirty-seventh of his line since the Great Genghis conquered Asia and Europe, and twenty-ninth since his descendant conquered Africa, that I would keep the Peace of the Great Khan. Justice, prosperity, the arts, teh sciences, hospitals, freedom of religion....they all flourished under this."
He pulls out his working knife.
"This is my Oath, I am a Mongol, and I will enforce the Peace. It seems to me that this Stephanie is a Peacebreaker."
Awesome. Anyway, that's what my character believes happens. It could totally be something else happening, right? It could be like flaming Cherubs, which in hindsight is actually the pillar of fire. It's not Himself, but the part under His throne (See Ezechiël). Or it can be a fragment of that.
I look Bahdur in the eye. "Alright, but does your oath tell you that you have to kill for it?" I don't wait for a response and head up. Every second counts.
You run up the staircase, and you hear a Bawhooommmm. Fearful, you come up to the second level, and look into the sail storage room.
Both females are covered in smoke, and unconscious.
Bahdur puts his knife up.
"To answer your question, Niko, I have never killed anyone before, nor am I eager to start now, but I fear we must with Stephanie."
Rose comes bolting into the room, gun out, and when she sees the two unconcious, she just starts laughing.
I look to his knife, then to him, then to her and back to him. "Maybe she can change?", I try. "We have rope from the climbing set we discovered. We can tie her up and keep her safe and fed like that?"
I'm not looking forward to making a prisoner, but if it can keep her alive, I would be willing.
You and Rose tie her up. It seems she was a Girl Camper, and had to learn the Twelve Important Knots to achieve the rank of Top Camper.
Yasmin wakes up, and approves the notion of keeping Stephanie tied up, but suggests that Stephanie be given more modest clothing.
Stephanie wakes up and begins to curse, to scream, to plead....
I look at Stephanie. I let her rant. Once she is finished with that I tell her what happened.
"You can be glad that you are tied up, you know.", I tell her calmly. As she starts ranting again I just hold up my hand and look at her. "If I had not suggested that, you would have had a knife through your hart. I just saved your life.
"Now, as you can understand, we thought it particularly dangerous to just leave you untied after what you just did. You acted very out of place. In your anger you nearly burned down this ship. You had no reason to be angry either. I was not forcing you anything. We were just having a conversation.
"I don't really know how to deal with this, but have been trained to work with kids. You act like one, but with the power to endanger us all. Consider this a severe form of time-out. Once you are calmed down, and I need to be convinced that you are calmed down, I will let you loose again. If you promise to behave like an adult human being.
"We will now be going to open more crates since we need to find water. Unless there is a problem, I will come back after we opened ten of them. I will then see whether I am convinced that you will behave."
I thank Rose and will ask her to teach me doing knots after we found some water. I will have suggested making sure the hands are tied firmly, since that's what she seems to be using to create fire and summon whatever kind of creature that was. I think it was something demonic.
I will tell Yasmin that this is a first step. One step at the time. In time we can discuss clothing, now let's just see whether she can stop the impulse of hurting/killing people.
Check out the crates for water, juice, lemonades ...
We do ten or until a crate or it's contents pose a danger to us.
"Just kill me then." She says after you tell her how you saved her life. "And who wanted to kill me? I'll need to even the score later."
She gives you a cruel smile.
"I was attempting to straighten you out, and you frightened me, so of course, I struck out." It takes a second to parse that, but you realize she's claiming to have been teaching you by torturing you with the green sparkling wires of light she tossed at you first.
"Sure I promise." She grins innocently at you, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "Now let me out, or I swear you will regret this insult for a very long time!"
=========
You open the first box. Something very fast, and metallic leaps for the ceiling, hits it, and scuttles away across the ceiling toward the door. You get the impression of a circular shape and many legs.
I do not react to her any more. Ignoring is a technique that works with kids. Let's see how she does with less to no attention. I go to the boxes and open that box. The thing jumps out.
"Oh, great ... What's that?", I ask myself. "Ah well, it seems to run away, so it's probably as harmless as a rat or a bug or something.", I think.
How do the others react to it?
Everyone jumps back behind boxes, and draws their weapons. When nothing happens, and its gone, they all chuckle, or at least take a deep breath.
And now for the next crate...
Inside is a small stand and a black, crystalline dagger. It keens an eerie song.
Safety-alarm tingling! This dagger looks possessed! I slowly and silently put the lid back on the box. To the next one.
You start to close the box, and after a slight move, you find you can't move your fingers, or arms. The song is getting louder, and you feel your legs tingling.
Rose topples over.
Bahdur shouts.
"Sonic neural interference." He seems to want to get closer, but he's afraid to do so as well.
I do the only thing I know to.
"Jesus protect me!", I pray in a whisper.
"Bahdur, what is Sonic Neutral interference?"
OOC: Success for 1@1.
You feel tingles rush through your arms, and you regain some motion.
"Some sounds affect the human body. Infrasonic sounds can cause feelings of dread in humans. Others can have unusual effects. My people found that certain sounds could disable the nervous system of a person temporarily. We used it as a riot control weapon on rare occasions." He pauses. "I'm worried if I get too close I'll be nailed too. The closer one is, the more effect by an exponential scale. But its getting louder, and perhaps it will fill the whole ship." Bahdur says. He's clearly suffering from indecision.
"Right. ... Right. Alright, let's uh, let's throw it overboard then. Who wants to try?"
We move quickly.
"Maybe this is what killed the crew?", I mused, seeing as the all died where they sat. I think about how sad af a death that must have been, very cruel, starving while the food sits right in front of you.
ooc: That was interesting!
You and Bahdur and Ron tote it to the stairs, and Bahdur hits the ground, not moving. Ron falls back too, but tries to get up, his face straining. You feel tingles all over your body as the sound penetrates through the crate. Ron gives it a solid push as you lift it up the stairs, and then he sprawls flat again.
You get it to the top deck, and Rose comes charging in, and she just topples over as she thrashes on the deck. The sound has gotten louder, and you find your arms twitching, and your fingers not moving although your arms do.
The railing is ten feet away.
The noise raises again....
Jesus protect me, Jesus protect me, Jesus protect me. I keep repeating it until finally I shout it out loud and try to throw the crate over the railing. I let out some screams, grunts and laughs of victory. (I get in touch with my inner caveman.)
"Thank you Jesus!", I finally say.
If I'm able, I'm going to check the others. "A strange day today. A very strange day indeed. What's the point of this anyway?", I think to myself.
You feel better, and then you get hit hard as the noise rachets up right as you lift it almost to the edge. It slips out of your fingers, and the crate crashes down to the deck, and the dagger spills out of the open crate. Now much louder, you feel a very disturbing sensation....your heart stops...then your central nervous system shuts down...verse out...
======================
Next world...
drat!
And the adventures continue here: http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/nikolaj-in-naunzaug?replies=2#post-28836