You are Drusila the Archmage. You enjoy a good reputation in the kingdom, living in the spire palace surrounded by the garden of white acacias, a retreat for tired souls. In actuality, it is the center of your spy network. People from all walks of life come here to meet from all over the kingdom and beyond, and the entire place is warded against external scrying while at the same time monitored by your petal elementals, who dutifuly record everything in thin acacia paper in the archives underneath your palace. Every morning and every night they give you a report on what is going on in the kingdom. One night, you receive a report that a group called "The Red Hand" discovered a way to summon a demon lord. Intrigued, you decide to research further. An old acquaintance of yours, a mage by name or Zerlok, who adventured alongside you briefly in your early days, seems to be responsible for the attempt. You believe they are going to attempt the summoning in a few short months and have mobilized massive resources in order to do so!

Your first and most important decision is this: will you help Zerlok summon the demon lord or attempt to stop him?

> Help Zerlok summon the Demon Lord
> Attempt to stop Zerlok
> Stay out of this
> Write in

MAGIC

Magic in this world is tied to elemental beings. You must bind some kind of elemental in order to do any kind of magic.

Elementals come in at least seven Magnitudes, from zero to six. The scale is logarithmic.

Elementals of Magnitude 0 can be bound by regular peasants and produce very minor effects, little more than harmless coincidences.

Elementals of Magnitude 1 can be bound by skilled apprentices and decent mages. They produce recognizably magical effects. Most mages can only bind these.

Elementals of Magnitude 2 can be bound by powerful mages. They produce high magic effects.

If you can bind even a single Magnitude 3 elemental, you are considered an Archmage.

Elementals of higher orders are almost impossible to bind even to the most skilled magicians. It is possible to do so for very limited time in very special circumstances.

You have a Petal elemental of Magnitude 3 bound to your will. To manifest its effects, you need a suitable amount of petals. Its favorite petal is the Acacia.

You have mastered the following rituals for the Petal elemental:

Longevity Ritual: By sleeping in a bed covered in acacia petals, you reduce your aging speed by the magnitude of your Petal elemental, which happens to be three - so you age 1000 times slower. You can produce similar effects for other people, but the maximum magnitude for that is 1.

Regeneration Ritual: you speed up the natural healing of a person according to the magnitude of your Petal elemental. With Magnitude 3, you can speed up healing 1000 times. However, the person ages proportionally to the speed in which they heal.

This has been the bulk of your research for the past several years.

Besides the Petal elemental, you also have bound from your time as an adventurer:

A Bark elemental of Magnitude 2: you can magically make paper, you can turn skin into resistant barklike armor for some time, and you can teleport in an out of a tree up to two kilometers.

A Thorn elemental of Magnitude 1: you can use a thorn whip, you can entangle people in thorns and you can shoot thorn spikes up to a certain distance.

You could bind other elementals, but it would take time.

>>6257454 (OP)
>Help Zerlok summon the Demon Lord

>>6257471
>Find out why Zerlok is trying to summon a demon lord and make your decision based on that

>>6257537
>+1
ai slop, but I'm interested in this

>>6257454 (OP)
>Help Zerlok summon the Demon Lord

>>6257537
>>6257540

You gonna be trying to find that out regardless.

But you must choose a stance in the mean time.

I will not consider these votes, but you can change them if you want.

I'm gonna post the first update while keeping the vote open, just so you know how the game loop gonna be.

>>6257553


RULES

You must sleep at least 8 hours a day to regain your magic. If you don't, you do everything at half efficiency the next day.

Mobilizing an Asset takes at least 2d6 hours. You can mobilize as many as you wish, provided you have enough time. Roll 2d6 with each asset mobilization choice.

The quest will progress largely through write-ins of what you want to do with your assets.

If you wish to go somewhere personally, it will take 4d6 hours. The only exception is if you want to go somewhere within your palace grounds or the nearby city, Amkresh - it only takes 2 hours.


Services available in Amkresh:

> The Veil Registry (Magical Oversight Office) - Keeps meticulous records of all legally registered mages, their known affiliations, spell permits, and alchemical imports.
> The Grey Spindle (Underground Market) - An illegal market operating out of the lower cistern tunnels.
> Order of the Blooming Palm (Healing Monastery) - A serene monastery known for powerful herbal and spiritual healing.
> House of Glass (Information Parlor) - A lavish tea-house where nobles, scholars, and spies gather under the illusion of safety.
> Civic Clock Tower (City’s Arcane Timepiece) - A towering mechanism enchanted with minor chronomancy.
> Academy of Natural Philosophy (City’s Main Magical School) - The intellectual heart of Amkresh’s arcane community.
> City Mortuary and Crematorium - Where most of Amkresh’s dead are processed.
> Bathhouse of Whispering Steam - A luxurious, mist-filled sanctuary where secrets are spoken and forgotten.
> Write in

>>6257556

Day 1

Morning Report – Secret Code: “Petals Whisper in Dawnlight”

A minor border skirmish between the Duchy of Rivan and the Northern Clans.
High Priest of the Temple of Flame has gone silent for three days.
A suspiciously large order of red cinnabar pigment (demonic alchemical component) placed in Blackglass Market under Zerlok’s alias.
A vagrant mage in Gloomspire claiming the “Red Hand is watching the stars wrong.” Executed by town guard for public madness.

Day 1 – Asset Overview
> Duchy of Rivan: “A minor border skirmish between the Duchy of Rivan and the Northern Clans.”

Assets:

Sir Helbryn, a disgraced knight turned tavern owner. Loyal due to a bark-healing favor you once granted. Reports troop movement and noble gossip.
Nyla, a barmaid with latent empathic abilities. Passively feeds emotional climate of visitors to your petal relay.
Gordel, a merchant who sells military rations. Trained by one of your apprentices in secret codes.


> Temple of Flame: “High Priest of the Temple of Flame has gone silent for three days.”

Assets:

Thassil, a lowly acolyte who once bathed in your Regeneration Ritual. Utterly devoted.
Petal-Spored Rat, modified by your thorn elemental. Dwells in temple crypts, carries passive scry-blocking spores and recordings.
None currently in the High Priest's inner circle – the silence is suspicious. Surveillance heightened.


> Blackglass Market: “A suspiciously large order of red cinnabar pigment placed in Blackglass Market under Zerlok’s alias.”

Assets:

Mordane, a blind pigment vendor whose paper scales were enchanted by your Bark elemental to record all transactions.
Jalia, a courier girl who trades messages for safety and warmth. Innocent but observant—unwittingly carries coded packets.
Apprentice Faros, embedded in the local alchemist guild, has instructions to track all mineral shipments and any Red Hand markings.
> Gloomspire: “A vagrant mage in Gloomspire claiming the ‘Red Hand is watching the stars wrong.’ Executed by town guard for public madness.”

Assets:

Eram, a drunkard astrologer whose observations are too accurate to be ignored. Keeps his visions in chalk on alley walls. Loyal if you bring him apple wine.
“Snip,” an urchin who feeds your petal-mice and guides strangers. Trained to identify magical runes and hand-draw symbols from memory.
Nahara, a flower vendor who grows acacia for her perfumes. She unknowingly guards a petal-linked ritual circle under her stall.

I'm gonna (try) to update once a day, but I might miss a few days now and then.

>>6257454 (OP)
> Stay out of this
Neither help nor harm. That's my stance fr now. However...

+1 to >>6257537 insofar as we should still visit and chat.

>>6257559
Are we deploying these guys now, in addition to the main vote?

>>6257589
>>6257590

It works like this.

The day has 24 hours.

You must allocate your time in activating your assets.

You can choose any asset you want, but it takes 2d6 hours to activate any single one.

Alternatively, you can travel somewhere. By teleporting around, you can reach most places within 4d6 hours.

The exception is the nearby city of Amkresh, which you can go back and forth within 2 hours.

The game will be you activating your assets to accomplish your goals.

It will end once the demon lord is summoned or the summoning prevented.

>>6257593
So is the "Stay out of this" vote no longer viable?

Anyway, I guess I'd just deploy the rats or barmaid for now, since they're passives and we need more intel to know what we even ought to be learning about.

>>6257605

It is viable, but doesn't change the fact that successfully summoning a demon lord is teotwawki. You just don't commit to either path, but your action may still influence the outcomes.

It is the "I'd rather go do subquests" stance.

OP ?

>>6263322

Do you wanna play this?

I assumed people dropped out of the quest because it was too complicated.

If you wanna play, determine your actions and roll 2d6 for each Asset Mobilization (thats how many hours it will take).

You can declare as many actions as you want, but the day only has so many hours, so once they run out, you stop and go to sleep. (you have 16 hours or so, so declare between 1 and 8 actions, probably just 2 or 3)

Your capabilities >>6257471
Nearby city >>6257556
Morning Report for day 1 >>6257559

Rolled 3, 6, 2, 4, 5, 5, 2, 5 = 32 (8d6)

>>6257559
>Gordel will gather info on the duchy while trading with them

>Thassil will try to get in contact with others in the temple who heard something from the inner circle

>Mordane will try to find who's helping zerlok with the purchase based on his records.

>Snip will try to find where did the vagrant mage came from

rolling a 2d6 for everyone then
>>6263393
I see, I'll give it a shot.

so is my vote ok ?

>>6263645
>>6264694


Night Report — The Petals Whisper in Twilight

Gordel’s inquiries at the Duchy of Rivan confirm troubling signs: the border skirmish may be a distraction masking more insidious movements. Supplies, notably military rations and red cinnabar pigment—known for demonic alchemical use—are being funneled clandestinely through unofficial channels linked to the Blackglass Market. These shipments appear connected to the Crimson Talons, a mercenary band whispered to have ties with shadowy patrons within the kingdom. Murmurs among nobles suggest that some of them might be quietly financing or tolerating these forces, perhaps drawn by promises of power or personal gain.

Meanwhile, Thassil’s discreet probes within the Temple of Flame reveal a disturbing fracture. The High Priest’s unexplained silence coincides with the arrival of a red-sigilled envoy bearing the marks of the Red Hand. Whispers of secret midnight rituals in the crypts circulate among the lower clergy, and my petal-spored rats report traces of demonic spores and faint summoning magic deep beneath the temple floors. A faction within the temple’s inner circle has evidently been corrupted, embracing a heretical belief that “divine purification through fire” justifies the summoning of dark forces.

The Red Hand’s influence is weaving through the kingdom’s veins—mercenaries, merchants, nobles, and even priests. Their campaign advances under a cloak of secrecy, and the path to summoning the demon lord draws nearer. I must decide which threads to pull tighter and which to sever before the darkness becomes unstoppable.

>>6264730


Day 2 Morning Report – Secret Code: “Thorns Bloom at Dusk”

Whispers from the night bring fresh shadows to light.

The Crimson Talons have been observed recruiting fresh mercenaries from nearby villages, offering gold and strange amulets bearing the Red Hand’s mark. Their camp lies hidden in the dense Valecress Woods, an uneasy border zone between the Duchy and the Northern Clans.

Within the depths of the Temple of Flame, faint but persistent magical vibrations suggest the summoning rites are accelerating. A newly discovered hidden chamber beneath the crypts may hold forbidden artifacts fueling the ritual.

Rumors speak of a discontented noble house, the Valmaris, rumored to harbor sympathies for the Red Hand cause and to have secret meetings in Amkresh’s House of Glass.

Unusual activity has been detected near the Civic Clock Tower; arcane signals reminiscent of minor chronomancy weave through the city’s magical currents.
Day 2 Asset Overview

> Near the Crimson Talons:

Jarik, a former mercenary turned informant, recently escaped their ranks. He knows their camp location and recruitment patterns but fears retribution.
Lina, a scout with keen night vision and natural stealth, skilled in forest navigation and silent observation.

> Deeper in the Temple of Flame:

Brother Elion, a recently initiated novice skeptical of the corrupted inner circle, discreetly passing messages to Thassil.
Petal-Spored Rats (Enhanced), upgraded with thorn elemental spikes, capable of limited defense and faster reconnaissance within crypt tunnels.

> Additional Assets:

Eranis, a noble spy from the Valmaris household, positioned in the House of Glass, feeding information on secret noble meetings.
Kelen, a clocksmith apprentice at the Civic Clock Tower with access to its arcane mechanisms, able to monitor unusual magical currents.

===

Decide what assets you want to mobilize and roll 2d6 for each.

Or roll 4d6 if you wish to go somewhere personally.

Rolled 2, 6, 6, 2, 2, 5 = 23 (6d6)

>>6264732
>Jarik will be offered protection for giving info to a trustworthy commander in the duchy so that the crimson talons will be struck.

>Petal-spored rats will try gather more info about the secret crypt and see if they can recognise anyone coming into it

>Kelen will keep an eye on suspect people coming to the tower

OP ?