Tranquil Air - 5

My plan slowly came to fruition. The rocks I collected were feather-light once broken from the ground, just as the dirt had been. It was no great task to collect what should have been a literal ton of rock - and it all fit neatly into my pocket.

Satisfied that I had enough stone, I embraced the waters once again, sliding off the edge. I kept myself at a level just under my platform through sheer effort, and stuck stone after stone to the underside of the dirt. Stone, once placed, seemed to be immune to gravity, just as the dirt was. I soon discovered that the stone was happy to stick to itself, as well.

I could do a lot with such tools. I used to consider myself an artist, back before my impossibly potent magical talent in magic took over my life - and here were the most responsive materials I'd ever worked. I would make this world a work of art, I decided. My masterpiece.

After all, I had nothing but time and empty space.

Tranquil Air - 4

I was lucky. I managed to catch myself in the swift-moving waterfall several blocks below my platform.

The spirit of the water - welcomed me. I can't explain it any better than that - it sensed me, and I sensed it. I felt its movements, and it showed me how to move with it, even climbing against the current.

So, slowly, I climbed back up onto my platform, through the waterfall itself, soaked thoroughly, but alive.

The water spirit was disappointed, I think, that I had left it.

For my part, however, I knew that what I had just done was completely impossible without magic - in my world.

But, as I said before, gravity seems to be entirely arbitrary here. With nothing more than the screaming terror of the void below me - well.

All I knew then was that I did not want to fall into that gaping abyss. I knew, without knowing how, that it was death.

I sometimes wish for that early innocence.

The things I know now ....

Golden Rose: Environmental Hazards and Perks System

Perk System!

Perks are advantages your character has over other characters. How's it work? You pick four, leave a response to this thread and write them into your MRP/TRP. Note that non-combat perks (except Pacifist Prodigy) do not "stack" on a single roll. Also note that a roll of 1 will invalidate any roll-based bonuses and you will suffer the full consequence.

Non-Combat Perks

Agile: Adds +3 to all rolls based on fast movement and balance.

Charismatic: Adds +3 to all rolls based on speech.

Charmer: Adds +3 to all rolls based on seduction.

Deft Hands; Adds +3 to all rolls based on lockpicking and engineering.

Nimble Fingers: Adds +3 to all rolls based on pickpocketing and other feats of sleight of hand.

One With the Shadow: Adds +3 to all rolls based on stealth.

Uncanny Strength: Adds +3 to all rolls based on using body strength.

Master of Cantrips Adds +3 to all rolls based on using magic out of combat.

Keen Senses: Adds +3 to all rolls based on vision and/or hearing.

Virtuoso: Adds +3 to all rolls based on playing or identifying music.

Pacifist Prodigy: Adds a stacking +2 to any roll, but you take -6 to any combat roll.


Combat Perks:

Precise: You gain a +4 on all combat rolls, but deal 0.5 less points of damage. (Minimum damage is always 0.5)

Berserker's Rage: For every 1 health you are missing, you deal 0.5 extra damage on a successful attack.

Ranged Specialist: Add +1 to all rolls, and add +3 to all failed rolls when attacked by a melee combatant.

Stalwart: Add +3 to any failed roll when blocking.

Evasive: Add +3 to any failed roll when dodging.

Sneak Attack: Add an additional 1-3 damage to a successful attack made from stealth.

Heightened Senses: You will not receive additional damage from a sneak attack.

Unstable Power: Permanently take -2 on all rolls, but deal 1 extra damage on any successful attack.

Heavily Armored: Take 0.5 less damage from any attack. (Minimum damage is always 0.5)

Lightly Armored: Add +2 to any failed roll.

Exploit Weakness: Deal 0.5 extra damage to unarmored or lightly armored opponents on a successful attack roll.

Blunt Force Trauma: Deal 1 extra damage to heavily armored opponents on a successful attack roll. (This is applied after the orginal reduction)

Brutality: Add an effective +1 to any sucessful roll when determining the effect of your success.

Rending Strikes: Your attacks cause your target to bleed for 0.5 damage every two rounds until they are healed or die.

Companion: You are allowed the use of a combat pet or companion. They deal half damage to enemies and have half health. Companions do not gain any perks or benefit from yours. (Minimum damage is always 0.5)

Cheat Death: Any attack that would bring your health to 0 would instead bring it to 0.5 (This effect can only occur once per event)

Clever: You never suffer penalties to your rolls from enemies' abilities.


Ability Perks:

When using an ability perk first roll d20 to see if you will be taking damage in addition to using your ability. You will not attack while using an ability, however.

Bless: Give an ally +5 on their next 2 rolls. (Can only be used once per event. Using more than one bless on the same person will extend the duration, but won't increase the modifier.)

Inspire: Grants all allies +2 on their next roll. (Can only be used once per event.)

Focus: Pass your turn to gain +6 on your next roll. (Can only be used once per combat encounter.)

Waves of Life: Heal all allies for 1. (Can only be used once per event.)

Ultimate Defense: For the next three rounds add +8 to any failed roll. (Can only be used once per event.)

Overwhelm: Pass your turn and deal 3 damage to an enemy as your next action. (Can only be used once per event.)

Grand Aegis: Grant all allies a protective shield that absorbs the next 0.5 damage dealt to them. Can last up to 3 rounds until it expires. (Can only be used once per event)

Find Weakness: Cause an enemy to take 1 extra point of damage from all sources. (Can only be used once per event)

Take Flight: Add +6 to any failed roll or +10 to any failed roll when being attacked by a melee combatant for 3 rounds. (Can only be used once per event. Only applicable when able to fly.)

Recharge: Refresh the cooldown of an ability. (Can only be used once per event.)

Selfless Defender: Use your successful roll to save any ally from a failed roll. (Can only be used twice per combat encounter. You will take damage based on your success relative to their failure if any.)


Note that all ability perks can be used by anyone and that you can redescribe them in combat as you want. I ask only that you keep the original name of the perk for OOC purposes.

Tranquil Air - 3

I couldn't stay here, of course.

My thoughts turned to that first rock I'd discovered, and I decided to search for more.

It seemed like almost every time I searched through the dirt, I found another pebble, and before long I had enough rocks to make a block of stone as large as the dirt it had come from. Disconcertingly, the dirt cube was in no way diminished.

A plan came to mind, then. I held the stones together, and they fused into a block,just as I suspected they might. I ever-so-carefully held the block against the side of my dirt 'island' for a moment, two. I released my hold - and the stone stuck there.

Now I knew what I could do.

If I was stuck here, I could at least make it more comfortable for myself - I could expand the island by quite a bit in this fashion.

I looked once more off the side of my domain. There were thick roots jutting out of the bottom, and I was certain I could do something with those if I could only reach them.

Steeling myself, I reached for the magic that would make me lighter than air, out of reflex, and I jumped.

Only the magic wasn't there.

Tranquil Air - 2

I despaired.

For a while, I didn't know what to do.

I sat on the edge of my little self-imposed limbo, my feet dangling off into the void, and contemplated how very peaceful things were. No one could reach me here.

I'm confident, to this day, that it was my own power that brought me to this place. Of course I had made enemies. But no one, in the entirety of my world, had the power to do - this.

Except me.

Gravity is an arbitrary force here. I was pinned to the ground, my normal means of flight lost to me. However - the ground itself was a few yards of dirt floating in a void.

Idly, I combed my fingers through the grass. To my surprise, I found a rock. I dug a bit deeper, ripping away the foliage, and an entire cube of dirt pulled loose from the ground.

A cube, not a pile.

That was my first discovery. Whatever this world was, it was not the same as my own.

It seemed that this world was - compressed, somehow. Things were condensed down to their basic essences, such that I held a chunk of dirt, now no larger than my hand. I focused, and the dirt became even smaller, enough that it could fit in a pocket, with room for more. Setting the dirt down, I focused again, and it grew back to its original size - but no larger.

I broke the dirt once more - and this time, a large creature appeared in its place. Startled, I shoved the thing away, and it fell off into the void.

So, now my island was one "block" smaller.

Thus ended my first day. I watched the sun set beyond some distant horizon, and without really meaning to, I slept.

For the first time in years, I fell into true sleep, instead of some meditative trance. Perhaps I should have worried more about falling off into the void, but I was tired, and the sound of running water soothed me.

When I woke, I realized that such a sound could only mean one thing: I had water.

I looked down to confirm this. Flowing out of the side of my island was a seemingly inexhaustible waterfall. I dug into the island, always wary that another -creature - would appear, and found the source.

Like everything else in this world, it felt somewhat - blocky. But although it was refreshing to drink from, I couldn't scoop more than a double handful out at a time, and at the core of this source block, I could sense some kind of raw life. I'd need something that could capture the essence of this 'creature' to really have any effect here.

Part of me wanted - for science alone - to put a block of dirt into the water, to see if the dirt could obliterate that core when it returned to full size.

The rational side of me reasoned that I'd need this water to survive, and so I didn't try that.

Instead, I drank my fill, and turned my attention to what I could do here.