ctrlsaltdel

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

I thought about that, but I figured you'd have at least a few minutes while the staff figured out what to do about that.

"Is that a crow?"
"I think it's a raven, actually."
"How can you tell?"
"I unno."
"Well, can you get it out of here?"
"No dude, it's your turn, I dealt with the lady who put her bearded dragon on the table last week"

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

Sorry if it feels like I'm pushing things too quickly--I like the direction things were going but I also wanted to get past that first bit with Santana, and I wasn't sure when we were going to have another off-ramp from that scene.

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

As the party trades introductions (and verbal jabs), Santana checks his wrist; an obnoxiously large gold watch sits there, though you couldn't say whether he was wearing it a minute before. "Well, I'm glad we're all friends, but now that you've all accepted my deal we're in a bit of a crunch. Time works different in the world of dreams, except when it doesn't. I'll let you finish this conversation and decide your next move in a more familiar location. Remember: be clever. Be quick. Cause as much trouble as you can." He gives them a wide smile, and his mouthful of gold teeth made it literally dazzling.

"If you need me, you have my card."

Santana snaps his fingers, and you are struck with what feels like an electrical shock from the card you are holding in your hand (or beak). It's not painful, but is is deeply uncomfortable, and you find yourself unable to release the card. The fractal pattern on the surface closest to you starts to resolve; the colors and shapes that have been moving at random now shift with purpose, revealing a picture painted in Baroque style.

Luka, in the middle of your card is what looks like the offspring of a unicycle and a penny farthing. Its single enormous wheel has eight spokes, and the four cardinal directions are marked with the Hermetic symbols of the four elements. The wheel is circumscribed on a circular map of the world, painted in green and gold. The four corners of the card are marked with different drink glasses--a glass of fine wine, a martini glass with garnish, a mimosa, and a lowball of whiskey. Sitting astride the great unicycle of the world is your likeness, hands outstretched down towards the Earth. Across the top of the card is written: X - The Wheel of Fortune.

Emily, your card is divided in half. On the left side, it depicts the front of a modern public library, in black and white. On the right, it bears the image of an old Greek temple, but the colors are all wrong; instead of stark white against green and blue, the image is a patchwork of colorful, saturated tones. Straddling the divide is you. Your likeness holds an open leather-bound book in front of her chest with one hand, its pages facing out, and her other holds an old-style fountain pen to the sky, placed directly in the middle of the card so it looks like she has drawn the divide between the two sides. On the right side, she is clad in your normal going-to-class clothing; on the left, she wears billowing Greek-style robes. Across the top of the card is written: II - The High Priestess.

Ashley, your card also depicts a library, but the inside rather than the outside. Specifically, it is the library you spent most of your time in growing up. In the background, stacks of books merge with the circulation desk merge with the computer lab merge with seasonal displays in an alien geometry. In the foreground, your likeness sits at a large wooden table. She is dressed in the rough brown robes of an asthetic monk, and the table is piled with dusty tomes. A scroll occupies the center of the table, and spills over the far side down past the bottom of the card. Leaned against a stack of books to one side is a ceremonial staff; as your depiction looks down at the scroll, finger tracing the lines and face locked in concentration, the carved sculpture of an eye that sits atop the staff looks up to the heavens. Across the top of the card is written: V - The Hierophant.

The Crow, your card, appropriately enough, has a metallic sheen to it. The border is decorated with the various objects you have appropriated over the years; a parade of coins, tie clips, credit cards, bottlecaps, and so on in alternating shades of copper, silver, and gold. The background is the New York City skyline. The tops of the buildings glitter in rainbow colors which vanish as you go down, eventually becoming solid black. Imposed on top of them is an iron-grey cocoon which has split open at the top; your likeness emerges from the top of it, your wings akimbo. You are flying upwards in the scene, forming a silouette against the dazzling buildings, except where your white feathers are etched in pearl. Across the top of the card is written: XIII - Death.

The sensation leaves as swiftly as it came, and when you regain your senses, you are all once again sitting in a booth in Mario's. This time, however, you are all sitting in the same booth. Each of you has a cup of coffee in front of you, and a small plate of creamer sits in the middle of the table. A small scrap of paper is tucked under the plate; upon closer examination, it's a bar tab slip, and scrawled on it: "A little pick me up, on the house ;)"

The hour is early, and the restaurant is almost empty, but the smell of cooking grease and strong coffee hang heavy in the air as the staff prepare for the coming breakfast rush. A waitress behind the counter watches the few patrons for empty coffee cups, while they in turn tend to their meals with various levels of lethargy. In short, the scene is all too familiar. Danger is around the corner--literally, in all likelihood--but you have a few precious minutes to talk among yourselves before you have to act. Your only advantages are a feeling of pressure--of potential--that you can now sense hovering in the back of your mind, and the fact that now, you know what's coming.

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

ultimately it's going to be up to y'all, but at this early point i feel like the first phantom fight is probably going to be luka or the crow, and i'm already looking forward to some snark from whoever doesn't have their eidolon turn on them.

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

Luka, Ashley, and The Crow--as you pick up the cards in front of you, that sensation of sympathy you felt coming from them intensifies. In your mind, it feels like the the thrumming of some great string under tension. Power--energy--change--held fast but straining against its bonds. Like a bridge cable, supporting the weight of a hundred speeding cars--or, it might be better to say, a dog straining its leash when it sees its owner.

Santana considers the two holdouts for a second with unreadable yellow eyes, then shrugs. "Why you? Well, it had to be someone. And today? You're someone." He chuckles at his own remark, then his expression turns serious. "I'm jokin' with you, but that's the truth. How I brought you here, offered you a second chance at life... Well, that might have given you some more grandiose ideas of what I can do than are borne out by the facts. The truth is that, at the moment, I'm at my nadir. Even if I weren't, there are rules that beings like myself have to follow. Proprieties to be observed." He meets Ashley's eyes. "You talk like I could have picked anyone I wanted but, at the end of the day, I couldn't have picked anyone else, any more than I could make you take my offer now.

"Still, I get where you all are comin' from. And I have no intention of throwin' you to the wolves unarmed." He reaches out, grabbing Emily's card and setting it standing upright on a corner, then flicks it, sending it spinning on that tiny point. Emily, you feel an uncomfortable fluttering sensation in your chest as the coruscating colors flicker back and forth. At first, you think you see an image in the shifting patterns--a woman, holding something aloft--but it's hard to focus on it, and you lose it after only a brief moment. After a few seconds, the card slows to a stop, and falls gently down to rest where it started.

"This place--not just my domain, but everything around it--is at the intersection of reality and imagination. Between mind and matter. It's real 'cause your minds make it real. Not 'you' you, everyone. The collective unconscious of humanity is a force like gravity, and it holds together both my world and yours." He places a lime and a cocktail cherry on the bar a couple of inches away from each other. "Just like the Earth and the moon, the force of humanity's shared emotions keeps this world and yours linked." He starts moving the cherry in an elliptical orbit around the lime. "Chugga chugga, choo choo, it keeps looping around. But the effect ain't just one way--just like the moon affects the tides, the world of dreams pulls on the collective unconscious." He spins the lime, and it begins to rotate in time, keeping one end pointed toward the cherry's orbit.

"For the most part, that's all for the good. Everything in balance, et cetera et cetera. But sometimes, people break free of the spin. For some, all it takes is bein' made aware of the cycle. Other people need... more of a push. Either way, when that happens, some of that energy they contributed to the cycle is redirected. It becomes a representation of their soul, and provides some protection against the pull of the dream world. Not just that, but it lets its master exert some of that gravity I mentioned to make changes in both worlds.

"The people you'd be goin' up against already have this power. Different people have given it different names over the years, but they call it 'Eidolon'." Santana folds his arms and nods at the cards. "If you accept my deal, that's the power you'll have too." He shrugs. "Will what you gain be enough to do what I'm askin'? Well... I'd say that's up to you. I won't lie to you--your opponents will be more numerous and better trained than you. You're gonna have to be quick and clever if you want to survive, much less succeed. I guess my question is: what do you really have to lose?"

Paranormal: The Awakening

bummer, but heard

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

stopping the plot for a few hours so santana and the party can give this bird a crash course in comparative religion

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

The bartender smiles at Luka. With a few deft motions, he produces three plastic cups full of ice. A bottle of unlabled clear liquor appears in his hand and he pours a double shot in each, then fills the cups the rest of the way with a can of lemon-lime soda from under the bar.

"Sorry this is the best I can offer right now. As you can see," he gestures at the club in general, "we're kind of tapped out at the moment. Hoping to get restocked soon, if the checks clear and the providers come through. But not to worry! I can always find a little something extra for Mr. VIP." With a flourish of his hand, the bartender produces a cocktail sword on which a cherry and lime have been speared, stabs it into Luka's drink, and slides the cup across the counter to him.

"Right." The smile fades; he slaps his hands on the edge of the bar, leaning forward towards you. "Matters at hand. Yes, it is very much possible that you are dead. And you two are right that this is neither heaven nor hell. Tell the truth, I, uh..." He gives Emily and Ashley a look that seems almost apologetic. "Well, this ain't really a normal part of the process."

The bartender pushes off the edge of the bar and begins making himself a drink with that same mysterious liquor.

"But I'm being rude. I already know the four of you, but I haven't introduced myself. I've been called a bunch of names, but you bunch can call me Santana. This," he makes a little circular motion with one finger, "is my domain, E*D*E*N. Which you may have noticed is a little trashed at the moment."

Santana stirs the drink with a finger, then flicks the excess liquor off.

"I'm sure the question on your mind is, 'if this isn't the afterlife, then why are we here'? Well, I short-stopped you on your way to the final rest because I wanna make a deal with you." He takes a sip of the drink, pauses, and shrugs. "I've got some personal beef with the people who killed you. They're mostly responsible for the sorry state of what you see around you. That's why, when I noticed one of them had punched a bunch of tickets to that big train in the sky, I figured it was a good opportunity.

"Those cards you have in front of you?" He nods at the card currently under The Crow's talon. "Think of it as a mulligan. You take the card, you pop back to life, ehh... five or so minutes before you bit it. Enough time to do something about the whole part where you blow up."

He knocks back the glass, drains it in a single pull, and overhand tosses it at an overflowing trash can at the end of the bar. It bounces off the garbage sticking out the top, and ice cubes scatter across the ground. If Santana notices, he gives no indication.

"What I want from you in return--and I think this is a pretty good offer--is to use that second chance I'm giving you to completely fuck up their plans."

Shards of the World(D&D/Hunter X Hunter Inspired)

EDIT: Didn't mean to make a new post =V

Shards of the World(D&D/Hunter X Hunter Inspired)

Herman Hoenemaeker

Hermannus "Herman" Honemaeker

Art

"I always use every tool at my disposal"

O V E R V I E W

_{N A M E}

---

Hermannus "Herman" Hoenemaeker

_{A G E}

---

28

_{G E N D E R}

---

M

_{A P P E A R A N C E}

---

More than anything else, Hermannus looks like the human equivalent of a cluttered workshop. His build is short and slight--just clearing 5'4" and 115lb--and his hunched posture makes him look even smaller than he is. However, his long hair and whiskers are dark, coarse, and except for the occasional brushing mostly unkempt; round, lightly tinted glasses cover the small portion of his face that his hair doesn't, and the whole arrangement gives him an owlish demeanor.

His typical outfit consists of a simple but serviceable tunic and leather breeches suited for traveling, but he adds on to that a great leather coat meant for someone taller and wider, whose pockets are stuffed with wands, crystals, nuts, bolts, screws, and other bits of bric-a-brac. Looking closely, one may be able to see thin copper wires threaded into the stitching. Leather pouches ride on his belt, holding more of the same, with one dedicated to a small selection of tools he finds frequently handy. He also carries with him a large backpack for his traveling gear, as well as larger items which don't fit in his coat pockets.

His left leg is gone below the knee; he uses a magical prosthetic made of polished wood and brass, which is usually hidden underneath his clothing. It has no special features, except that it responds to his unconscious commands to act with most of the dexterity of a natural limb.

_{P E R S O N A L I T Y}

---

Herman is:
- Not a particularly warm person; though he's not unmoved by the suffering of others, he's often too practical a soul to attend to their emotions in the way they might like, and despite being creative when working on his creations, he is frequently too literal-minded in social situations
- Scatterbrained and absentminded; once he locks in on a task he often forgets tangential matters, like grooming, eating, and keeping previous obligations
- Determined; despite his tendency to forget about "trivial" matters when locked into a task, he is willing to power through hardship and pain to achieve his goals

_{B A C K S T O R Y}

---

Herman was born the son of a manor servant in Port Marian. His family--father, mother, and two older siblings--were comfortable, if not wealthy. As a child, he was attentive but quiet, and often faded into the background. Though he showed signs of a precocious intellect, he had few interests or hobbies, and generally preferred to sit and read quietly rather than chase his fellow children down the halls of the house. Yet, when the lord of the house looked to his staff for someone who could serve as a lab assistant for his arcane experiments, those same qualities were all the qualifications he needed to be recommended for the position above the other children his age.

For the most part, that position involved sitting on a stool in the corner of the room, waiting for the master to call out over his shoulder something he needed. Though most 10 year olds would have considered that torture, Herman was delighted. The first couple of weeks had been awkward, but once the master had gotten used to his presence, he resumed his habit of narrating the experiments to himself, and Herman absorbed that information like a dry sponge. Five years passed, during which his life followed a simple pattern: House chores in the morning, school in the afternoon, attending to the master in the evening, and--if the master dismissed him before the hour grew too late--nights in the library, pouring over whatever texts of magical theory he could get his hands on.

His quiet demeanor meant that few realized what he was up to, and they mostly let him be, except where his personal studies interfered with his duties around the house. The master certainly didn't realize that his able assistant was beginning to follow his experiments--at least until one fateful day, when Herman spoke for the first time without being directly addressed, to let him know that one of his solutions was unstable. The master's initial reaction was a mixture of surprise and irritation, that a common servant would speak to him as if he knew the craft. His second reaction was shock and outrage, as the slight teenager tackled him to the ground. His third reaction was terror and shame, as the flask exploded and took several other items on the workbench with it.

The study half-collapsed around them, and everyone--especially the master--agreed afterwards that only Herman's quick actions had saved them both.

The master escaped mostly unharmed, but the same was not true for Herman, whose lower leg was crushed in the wreckage and had to be removed. In recognition of the debt owed--and of Herman's now obvious intellectual ability--the master of the house made the young man his apprentice, and hired a tutor to oversee his arcane study.

For a time, Herman occupied a position of importance and respect in the household--though true to form, he seemed to barely recognize it, and focused mostly on his studies and work. Before his 20th year, the apprenticeship had become more of a partnership between the two men, and the master of the house--Baron Damien Erkens--became his first close friend.

Unfortunately that idyllic existence was shattered when General Guanyu's forces launched their attack. Both Herman and the Baron threw themselves into the defense of their city, but when the conflict ended Port Marian was under the boot heel of the invaders, and the Baron--along with most of Herman's family--were dead or captured.

With his hometown crushed under the weight of the General's occupation and everyone he knew either in a grave or scattered to the winds, he was at a loss of what to do next, and spent most of the six months idling in the manor house, while the occupying administrators tried to decide what to do with it.

Then, as if by serendipity, he received the letter from the Arnmagne City Academy alerting him to his admission. The Baron, it seemed, had enrolled him and paid his way prior to the fall of the city, then perished before he could spring the surprise. Letter in hand, Herman gathered what objects of use and significance he had left and set off from Port Mariam, intent on making the most of this last gift.

_{S T R E N G T H S}

---

High analyical intelligence and creativity

Strong grasp of magical theory and mechanics

Talented and experienced at creating and using magical artifacts

Tenacious and determined; high tolerance for his own discomfort and pain in pursuit of his goals

_{F L A W S}

---

Short and scrawny; will lose a purely physical contest to most people

Bad at people; can sometimes read them ok, but consistently fails to identify what they want, or how to get what he wants from them

Not a trained combatant; he has some "military experience" from the fall of Port Mariam, but that basically amounts to logistics and supply work, with one or two frantic back-alley confrontations near the end

Abilities are mostly dependent on his equipment; he has a couple of useful cantrips under his belt but given his training, anything more complicated needs to be channeled through a focus or a pre-prepared magic

Determination paired with physical frailty often leads him to exceed his own limits

A T T R I B U T E S

_{C L A S S}

---

Artificer.

_{P R O F E S S I O N}

---

Artificer/Arcanotech researcher

_{A B I L I T I E S}

---

Has the ability to cast a couple of minor spells on his own (mage hand, prestidigitation-style effects)

Can produce magical items that create larger/more powerful effects, given time and materials

_{E Q U I P M E N T}

---

Battle Coat - Leather coat designed and crafted by him; incorporates channels for magical energy that increase its protective effect, and can allow him to control the movement of the coat

Staff of Fire - Arcane implement he "borrowed" from the defense forces during the fall of Port Mariam. Primary purpose is offensive, but allows a skilled user to manipulate heat and flame, within reason.

Journeyman's Wand - Arcane implement used for creating magical items. Provides a variety of useful functions, including magic detection (to help diagnose issues with items), heat (to fuse or cut small pieces of metal), steam (to help put out fires), electricity (to energize items), and so on. Can also be used as a general-purpose magical focus, though not as effective in this role as a dedicated focus.

Miscellaneous - Herman carries with him an assortment of small magical items intended to produce specific effects, including: enchanted feathers (to slow a fall), salves (to heal minor wounds), talismans (to defend against magical attacks), and so on.

_{N E N}

---

Emission type; final ability would be focused on remote sensing, maybe with a focus on sensing and understanding magic effects

_{N O T E S}

---

Relationships

Baron Erkins - former master, partner, and friend. Paid Herman's way to the academy.

Hermannus Hoenemaeker uses 7ca4ba.

Ok thanks, I'll just put this back then. Feel free to let me know if anything needs changing!