Poisoned Depths

[poisonedepths]

At some point while searching my room, I had realized that my clothes smelled like alcohol, sweat, and I think a hint of blood and smoke. So I had peeled myself out of them, made sure I didn't have any wounds or injuries. I didn't find any and noted that my body seems about what I remembered from...my past life? my dream? whatever it was.

I did find what I can only describe as a suitcase under the bed. It had several sets of spare clothes, four books- which i can't read btw -, a knife...so the world probably isn't 'I can walk around unarmed safe' I guess, and a pouch of metal dice. Though the dice weren't actual dice, they were about half the size I would've assumed a twelve sided dice to be and rather than faces it had holes and was hollow on the inside...I guess they weren't like dice at all...more like the frame of a dice? Anyways, there was script and markings along it and the inside and outside of the frame is made of different materials, depending on the denomination.

This really made me concerned, Vitalis had a currency system that was described similarly. Something about requiring skill to manufacture them making counterfeiting difficult? But there was also a weird law that there were no counterfeits if they had the proper markings, assuming they were the correct shape, size, weight, and made of the proper materials. There was an NPC you could recruit that would make these for your party given time and/or materials. Anyways, they were called 'Symbols', they were extremely common- near worthless honestly-, and often used in place of traditional dice for betting dice games.

Vivien's Cross and Vitalis...no, there still is something that isn't clicking right there...anyways, compared to my player characters, I'm absolutely impoverished. If this inn was nearly as nice as I suspected, I would need a thousand bronze symbols for a single night here...was it ten or a hundred to increase in denomination?

I had a single wood? Worthless garbage...I must really be doing poorly to hold onto that... five bronze, two iron, and I had a steel. They are named on the material on the outside, on the inside the bronze is some variety of quartz, the iron is an opal, and the steel an alexandrite. Oh and the wood's inside was ivory or some sort of bone?

In the game, there was another step up, a final denomination, enchanted steel. It was effectively a steel, but effectively irradiated. Man...this game has some awful world building, doesn't it?

Anyways, you would think that the materials and skill required would make them super valuable, but apparently with the death of a vast majority of humans during the breach and scavengers running rampant, inflation absolutely destroyed their value- wait...Mortia's Edge was the first breach that opened right? The name changed after...no...you have to be joking. Why is my brain lying to me and saying that Vivien's Cross was what it used to be called?

The only two answers are that I either came into the game before the game actually starts, or I'm dying...it has to be one of those. So, I won't go quietly into the night if its the latter.

I hurriedly and haphazardly put on my new clothes and rush downstairs.

[poisonedepths]

I only lightly panicked...for three hours...look, I never said I was 'well put together' or 'a composed individual'.

I came up with a few answers as to what is going on:

I am currently dreaming. Its a bit realistic, but possible...though, since I can't now suddenly change the world or 'story', I don't believe that to be the case.

My prior life was a dream...if so then...well I simply must have psychological issue to separate from reality that much.

I'm actively dying and hallucinating in my final moments...unfortunate but reasonable.

...this isn't real, I don't want to consider that my past life was real and this is also real...that would indicate some sort of bullshit isekai shenanigans...hopefully if that were the case, it would be one of those with a bright ending and multiple other people in a similar situation. That way I wouldn't have to fear for my life nor would I have to do protagonist things.

Unfortunately, I heard a knocking on my door shortly afterwards. My 'completely calm' and 'measured response' to suddenly being in a medieval inn, I think attracted some attention. I answered the door after I took a bit of time to compose myself.

Apparently the kindly, yet obviously concerned, woman is the innkeeper. She was checking in due to a number of other guests, some people outside, and the people downstairs wondering what is going on with me. Like if I was being murdered or something.

I explained that I had some minor issues and that I'm better now. She said that it was good that I was not being harmed but to kindly 'shut the fuck up, you are scaring my customers away'.

I apologized and not so subtly- directly -asked where I was. She did look at me concerned as if I had hit my head, and something about where I apparently am itched something in my brain. Vivien's Crossing...not sure why that is sparking some memory in my neurons, but I thanked her and returned to the room.

With the initial shock over, I should investigate my immediate surroundings...but...Vivien's Crossing. Something kept bugging me about that...

[poisonedepths]

Vitalis is my favorite RPG of all time. The Isometric game just had a really- in my opinion -cool spell crafting system. Core, Shape, and modifiers.

That is what caused me to obsess over the single player experience for years, though the game had tons of replayability. I may or may not have played through it fourteen or fifteen times, one for every 'class' of magic...I do have a problem and I'm not ashamed about that fact. But just that wasn't what gave it so much replayability.

It utilized a new 'story teller AI', something which took the game's history and took the general three endings possible and filled in the blanks based on how you built your player, what actions you took, and where you went. Two PCs could even illicit different reactions from the same NPC for simply looking different. Some of the funniest were when your character was small and you had a massive might stat or when you made your character extremely threatening looking but chose kind dialogue options- or at least in my opinion again.

Anyways, the plot was that...I think it was five years ago at the game start? Anyways, a number of years ago a breach in the ground enabled humans to go into what is essentially radioactive caves for magic. There many treasures could be found and mages could be born and learn arcane secrets. The end result for a vast majority of the playthroughs for everyone was for the world to end, but the other two endings were finding a solution to the end of the world or keeping a small pocket of humanity alive through some method.

Those endings were rather difficult to achieve, I naturally got the 'survivor' ending with a few characters, but the 'savior' ending I had to spend nearly three weeks of playing, save scumming, and restarting. I only did it for this stupid achievement...tomorrow I will take a break from Vitalis, now that I've finally 100%ed the game.

I wake up in the morning, colder than I should and less comfortable in my bed than I should for how early it is. Padding over to the window, I yawn and look outside. Unfortunately for me, I didn't notice that my room looks far less modern than it should and that the floor is now a hardwood rather than tile of my apartment. The view which is suddenly not a busy city though, I do notice that.

[poisonedepths]

Soft Reboot (not as soft as I may imply)

[poisonedepths]

Magic has been, best described to me, as 'weaving strands of reality into the fabric of existence as a specific complex pattern in your mind'. Something which I obviously do not understand enough to even attempt to doubt.

However, something which I can comment on is the mana generated from such spells. The attribute 'requirements' were chosen by the mages guilds not simply because of safety for the practitioner, but as a benchmark for how much mana the spell produces when it unravels. Yes, the spells when woven and released have to unravel and fray before the mage can utilize the same shape and type again.

Why? That is a great question that they have yet to explain satisfactorily, but that is the common belief amongst mages.

Weaving these spells can be done in shorter and shorter timeframes with practice, but to make them unravel faster, a pattern must be explicitly woven into them. This 'pattern' does two things. It increases the amount of mana coming out of the mage in both quantities as well as shortens the spread in which the mana comes out of the mage.

Luckily, mages can reabsorb some of the mana their spells produce by holding their breath, and they are usually also given containers to contain the mana and allow it to decay naturally.

The reabsorption by the way, as best as I can tell, is why they seem to often be naturally enchanted much of the time and why I believe they unlock many mana resistance achievements. Though...none of the mages I've asked have been willing to confirm for me...

Anyways, as useful as magic can be despite the potential danger mana poses, magic is generally less useful against monsters than it is against beasts. At the upper reaches of the Breach, this is less noticeable, monsters are lower-tiered. But deeper in, they become more dangerous, like the difference between a Tiger and a House Cat, and they become more and more resistant to magic. Similar to how beasts become more and more resistant to physical attacks. This creates this weird and honestly frustrating paradox, where mages seem to want to delve but are less capable, and where warriors are not geared to go into the Breaches that far yet are required to a degree.

- Journal of Kaydir the Lost

[poisonedepths]

Scourge of the Breach

Ergo watched the monster floating in the middle of the tunnel. Appearing as three unconnected red crystals that are somehow made of flames, one a head with a fanged maw and holes for eyes, and two disembodied hands with two claws. From the crystalline pieces trail thin lines of red mist, the clawed hands orbiting slowly around the head.

What. a. useless. distraction.

This monster, a Scourge he thought, is not only not guarding a vein of Arcanite, but it's only a tier 1 monster. Unlike beasts, the only worth this thing has is the experience from killing it. If only it wasn't so stupidly difficult to kill. The mana coming off that thing could decrease the time he could stay underground, their damage bypasses most of his armor achievements as most monsters did, and finally...they were just plain weird to deal with.

It's so strange to determine how to harm them, sometimes a strike to a claw will be fatal, and sometimes it takes shattering practically every part of them to destroy them. "Anyone have fire or arcane armor achievements?"

Whispered Medris, a level 20 Expert Greatswordsman he believed, one of the more experienced members of this small group. She had the requisite achievements, she's just asking for this opportunity to earn one for anyone who's missing one. Ergo would not make that mistake again despite lacking any achievements for either. The last 'opportunity' to get an achievement she offered he was shocked by a Wisp for five hours straight.

Five.

Hours.

Those monsters shocked him to five hours and he just barely got the achievement 'Shocked by Wisps VI' before he would've lost all his hit points. Way more lightning armor than he would ever need. He was stuck with mana burns for three weeks after he got out of the Underground. He's leveled up twice since then, he's absolutely not going to endure that torture again.

[poisonedepths]

Has you or a loved one suffered at the hands of negligent mages or enchanters?

Have you been exposed to mana here on the surface?

Guild mages are to be held responsible for their actions. Head to your local delver guild office branch building and submit a formal complaint.

You could be entitled to up to three gold in damages.

[[The local posting on the town's board is colorful and garish despite the subject matter. It itself covers a recruitment flyer from the guild asking for curious unclassed to inquire how to unlock the mage class.]]

[poisonedepths]

Updates

Humans possess a fourth attribute and I added that attribute to all of the spell-casting components.

[poisonedepths]

Look for the Signs!

Exposure to mana is dangerous and will occur when adventuring in the Breach or dealing with Mages. In rare cases, faulty enchantments can also leak mana.

Mana Sickness

Mana sickness results when humans (or other animals) are exposed to very large doses of mana.

Mana exposure can occur as a single large exposure (acute). Or it can occur as a series of small exposures spread over time (chronic). Exposure may be accidental or intentional.

Mana sickness is generally associated with acute exposure and has a characteristic set of symptoms that appear in an orderly fashion. Chronic exposure is usually associated with delayed medical problems such as cancer and premature aging, which may happen over a long period of time.

The risk for cancer depends on the dose and begins to build up, even with very low doses. There is no "minimum threshold."

Symptoms of mana sickness may include:

Weakness, fatigue, fainting, confusion

Bleeding from the nose, mouth, gums, and rectum

Bruising, skin burns, open sores on the skin, sloughing of skin

Dehydration

Diarrhea, bloody stool

Fever

Hair loss

Inflammation of exposed areas (redness, tenderness, swelling, bleeding)

Nausea and vomiting, including vomiting of blood

Ulcers (sores) in the mouth, esophagus (food pipe), stomach or intestines

Mana Burns

Mana burns, unlike burns from heat, can present themselves weeks after exposure to mana.

What do mana burns look like?

First Degree Burns: These appear as red, dry skin with moderate pain or itch at the site.

Second Degree Burns: These appear as red, moist skin with blisters (small or large) and moderate to severe pain. Skin may begin to slough off in small spaces with a second-degree burn.

[poisonedepths]

Human Advantage

Humans have a natural advantage over the beasts of the surface. Possessing classes and levels appears to not be that advantage, as beasts seem to get them as well...well they at least get levels, the greatest Human scholars are still unsure if they have classes and what those classes would be. No, it is our innately high-cunning to use and manipulate the levels and classes we have access to as well as actively seeking Achievments.

They used to fall into three broad base classes 'Leader', 'Soldier', and 'Worker'. Since the Breach, a fourth class was added, 'Mage'. These classes are unlocked when a Human reaches the age of 17, with a guaranteed option of Worker, the other three requiring the completion of unlock conditions, usually achievable through various Achievements.

Vocational or charismatic Achievements will lend themselves to unlocking the Leader class. Damage resistance or weapon training Achievements will likely unlock the Warrior class. Cunning or mana survival Achievements will likely unlock the Mage class. These classes affect the base attributes of the Human and can later evolve into more advanced classes with more significant attribute increases or with new 'free' achievements.

Each level increases each attribute by 1% until the class evolves, and thus, the level is reset back to 0.

Achievements are passive benefits, stat increases and innate armor are the most common forms of these Achievments. They are gained by pushing yourself to the limit. Surviving certain circumstances is the 'easiest' Achievements to get, though the most risky as no Achievement is ever truly easy to get.

Attributes are something that grows over the course of the life of a Human, until they get their first class. The growth is related to training, innate aptitude, and minorly from interest. It is rare to see a Human with total attribute scores greater than 30 or so when unlocking a class.

Speaking of the attributes, Human Attributes are few and simple. Whether or not beasts, monsters, animals, or Deep Ones possess additional or different attributes is unknown; Might; Corrisponds to physical strength, and modifies physical damage with melee weapons. Vitality; Corresponds to maximum hit points, and offers slight resistance against mana. Cunning; Corresponds to 'intelligence' and processing power. It is 'required' for practicing magic. Concentration; Corresponds to the ability to shut out or ignore stimuli as well as the ability to think along multiple lines concurrently. This is also considered to be 'required' for practicing magic, but the reason is so that the mage's mind is not solely focused on weaving the spell, to the detriment that they don't register their surroundings, or so that they don't get distracted when placing the magic together and causing an 'accident'.

[poisonedepths]

Known Types

Humans believe that they have discovered all of the known types of magic, however, we are not particularly sure about that. This record is a list of the known types and shapes discovered by Humanity thus far.

To explain, the spell creation process. It is entirely within the the mind of the mage, with the cumulative cunning requirements for the spells being a strong suggestion rather than a true requirement. These requirements are mostly to avoid cerebral damage and to allow basic cognitive awareness while weaving spells. Some individuals are capable of weaving beyond these limits and a few require significant increases to these requirements to be ‘true’.

The Types of magic seem to correspond to cataclysms that have plagued the surface in the past, however, until a new cataclysm occurs which generates a new type of mana, we can not know for sure as The Deep opened onto the surface recently. Given this assumed connection, through cross-referencing the histories that were salvaged from the Breach, we are fairly confident that we know of each type of magic that exists as of now.

Fire

Mana Color: Red

Cunning requirement: 5

Concentration requirement: 2

Lightning

Mana Color: Blue

Cunning requirement: 5

Concentration requirement: 2

Frost

Mana Color: Light, almost white, blue

Cunning requirement: 5

Concentration requirement: 2

Water

Mana Color: Dark blue

Cunning requirement: 5

Concentration requirement: 2

Stone

Mana Color: Orange

Cunning requirement: 5

Concentration requirement: 2

Strengthen

Mana Color: Yellow

Cunning requirement: 10

Concentration requirement: 4

Weaken

Mana Color: Purple

Cunning requirement: 10

Concentration requirement: 4

Illusion

Mana Color: Pale green

Cunning requirement: 10

Concentration requirement: 4

Emotion

Mana Color: Pink

Cunning requirement: 10

Concentration requirement: 4

Shadow

Mana Color: Black

Cunning requirement: 10

Concentration requirement: 4

Gravity

Mana Color: Almost grey, blue

Cunning requirement: 10

Concentration requirement: 4

Time

Mana Color: Almost grey, green

Cunning requirement: 15

Concentration requirement: 6

Healing

Mana Color: Green

Cunning requirement: 15

Concentration requirement: 6

Draining

Mana Color: Light lavender

Cunning requirement: 15

Concentration requirement: 6

The Shapes of magic are why many scholars are not confident that we have truly discovered all magic, as the shapes do not seem to possess any relation to cataclysms. They seem fairly random in how they actually appear within the minds of mages, but there is a clear progression in the pattern's complexity.

Shapeless

Technically, this does not create true spells, but creates minor effects in line with the type of mana utilized around the mage. This is the type of magic used to actively enchant objects.

Cunning requirement: 0

Concentration requirement: 2

Touch

Creates spells that affect someone within the physical reach of the mage.

Cunning requirement: 15

Concentration requirement: 5

Bolt

Creates spells that have a long range and fires a bolt of magic.

Cunning requirement: 30

Concentration requirement: 8

Cone

Creates spells that affects targets in a cone in front of the mage.

Cunning requirement: 40

Concentration requirement: 10

Weapon

Creates spells that affects the weapons of the target. Interestingly, it will affect whatever the cast upon intends to use as a weapon, such as fists or mouths in rare or desperate times.

Cunning requirement: 50

Concentration requirement: 12

Armor

Creates spells that affects the armor of the target. It also affects exposed flesh.

Cunning requirement: 60

Concentration requirement: 14

Trap

Creates spells that lie in wait in a location, to be triggered by individuals being in proximity to it. These can be cast under targets and will assumedly outlive the mage who cast it unless triggered.

Cunning requirement: 65

Concentration requirement: 15

Line

Creates spells that affects in a line.

Cunning requirement: 70

Concentration requirement: 16

Spear

Creates spells which create a lance of magic that goes forward in a straight line. This lance is a sort of shallow cone that starts as a line and leaves a short lingering effect to those affected.

Cunning requirement: 75

Concentration requirement: 17

Aura

Creates spells that creates an aura around the target.

Cunning requirement: 80

Concentration requirement: 18

Domain

Creates spells that affects the terrain within the mage's sight, lingering for a time regardless of what happens to the mage after being cast.

Cunning requirement: 90

Concentration requirement: 20

Seeker

Creates spells which hunt for targets rather than having a specified target in mind. Each spell has their own criteria for what they seek, such as enemies with the most or least health, allies with the least achievements, allies in the least danger, etc. These spells leave behind some degree of an ephemeral trail.

Cunning requirement: 95

Concentration requirement: 21

Rain

Creates spells that afflict large areas, causing some sort of chaotic element to fall or rise, generally randomly affecting targets.

Cunning requirement: 100

Concentration requirement: 22

Next, there are additional complexities, additional patterns which can be added to the spell’s pattern in order to grant the spell additional effects or to augment the spell.

Bounce

Causes spells with this additional complexity to bounce between applicable targets of the spell within a 5-meter radius.

An additional 'bounce' per tier of the complexity. The range of the bounce is increased by the range complexity.

Cone spells are the only known spells to not be capable of using this complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 30

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 6

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirements: +20

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +4*n-1

Fray

Causes spells with this additional complexity to unravel more quickly after the energies are released. Thus allowing the spell to become rewoven in shorter periods of time.

It appears that each tier of the complexity decreases the time it takes to unravel by 9%.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 10

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 2

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

AOE

Causes spells with this additional complexity to have greater areas of effect. Increases the angle of cone spells.

It increases the area of effect by 1 meter for each tier of the complexity. Increases the angle of cone and spear spells by 10° per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 25

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 5

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Penetration

Causes spells with this additional complexity to ignore resistances against the type of magic.

It increases the penetration against armor and damage reduction by 2 per tier of this complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 15

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 3

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +15

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +3*n-1

Accuracy

Causes spells with this additional complexity to be supernaturally more accurate/more likely to effect targets in areas of effect.

This has yet to be quantified per tier. Though it is noticeable.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 15

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 3

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +15

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +3*n-1

Range

Causes spells with this additional complexity to be capable of affecting at further distances.

This increases the spell's range by 2 meters per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 10

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 2

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Impact

Causes spells with this additional complexity to generally stun those affected for an extremely short time.

This increases the 'stun' time by ~1 second per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 25

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 5

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Strength

Causes spells with this additional complexity to be stronger, more intense.

This increases the 'power' of the spell by 10% per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 20

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 4

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Duration

Causes spells with this additional complexity to last longer.

This increases the duration of the spell by 25% per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 15

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 3

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Density

Causes spells with this additional complexity increase the power of the spell at the cost of slowing down the time the spell takes to fray.

This increases the 'power' of the spell by 20% but also increases the time the spell takes to unravel by 10% per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 30

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 6

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Repetition

Causes spells with this additional complexity to 'duplicate' themselves against the same target.

This increases the number of replications/bolts by 1 per tier of the complexity.

This does not trigger on bounces, it simply triggers for the initial casting.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 35

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 7

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +20

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +4*n-1

Toxin

Causes spells with this additional complexity to be more dangerous to either the unharmed or the dying.

Up to 25 additional damage based on the amount of health missing (either lessening due to having health or lacking it) per tier of the complexity. This is affected by complexities which increase the power of the spell.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 25

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 5

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +15

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +3*n-1

Multicast

Causes spells with this additional complexity to be cast multiple times with a single weave of the spell.

This increases the number of casts per weave by 1 per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 60

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 12

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +20

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +4*n-1

Consumption

Causes spells with this additional complexity to increase its power significantly in return for harming the caster.

This increases the power of the spell by 30% per tier. The amount it harms the caster appears to be around 15 per tier of the complexity.

Tier 1 Cunning Requirement: 20

Tier 1 Concentration Requirement: 4

Subsequent Tier Cunning Requirement: +10

Subsequent Tier Concentration Requirements: +2*n-1

Technically, there are enhancements, which are theorized to be additional patterns that can be added to specific shapes or types. Unlike the rest, these are highly secretive and almost none of them are public or even guild knowledge. They are only guessed to be true due to reports on Deep Ones.