Click This

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR

Narkissa could perhaps taken a more proactive attitude towards experiencing and learning magic, after the incident with Leannah she had become far more cautious towards what she’d try, at least initially. Even if it meant that she’d be learning somewhat slower than the rest of them, it’d likely be worth it. Rome (or London) wasn’t built in a day, after all.

Either way, it seemed like molesting the earth with the palm of her hand actually did pay off dividends. It certainly felt strange, but for a brief moment, it felt like she was watching an embarrassing sparring match between the two girls still in the house. It was a feeling that was strange and bizarre enough that it jerked her out of her meditation, but on trying it again, it seemed like by partially integrating her mana into the earth around her, she could get some sort of extra sense. Like a third sight, maybe?

How strange. But if she could do something similar with water and the wind, then what sort of opportunities awaited her at sea?

Narkissa felt like that was enough progress for the night, though, and decided that it was probably for the best to turn in for the first night in this new world. Lazhira had graciously prepared sleeping quarters for them in her house, and with all of them being women and none of them being Malphas, it seemed all of them would be sleeping relatively soundly for the night.

-

She had been quite exhausted by the whole experience, even with a new body, and it seemed like Narkissa was the last to wake up, and groggily, at that. Awoken by the sounds of everybody moving about, when she was up, she gave a sleepy “Good morning,” to anybody that greeted her. The sight of food finally awakened her, and when she’d finally had her fill of fish and vegetables, the fact that Lazhira was not around also dawned on her.

“I haven’t,” she responded, when Leannah asked, and decided to step outside to have a look. There seemed to be quite the flurry of activity in the northern part of the village though, and that was what Narkissa pointed out. “Maybe she’s there? Feels like a market or somesuch. Let’s have a look, shall we?”

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR

If magic was as dangerous as it as it she just saw… or as destructive as the things she’d once seen in Hollywood blockbusters, then practicing indoors was definitely not safe. Narkissa nodded at Leannah; if she was able to quip in such a manner, she was alright. It was certainly getting late though, not that it seemed to matter to her or anybody else in the room. With so many unknowns in this world to still uncover, sticking to a native who was friendly, had a house, and even was willing to teach and guide them in practicing something as esoteric as magic was nearly as much as a miracle as the goddess giving them new lives and bodies.

That said, Narkissa stood up, excusing herself to follow after the quiet foxgirl, but not before reassuring Leannah that she’d be sticking around nearby to make good on her earlier promise. Seeing the two girls bonked on the head with a greasy soup ladle, she decided to avoid making the same mistake and left to practice in an environ that was less prone to catching aflame. She decided if she had any questions after messing around with it herself, she’d just pop back inside to pick Lazhira’s brain. As an added benefit, she’d get some private time with the mysterious fox girl to get a better read on who she was, too.

“I hope you don’t mind if I practice nearby with you?”

Following Misaki out to a suitable spot, she gave a nod to the girl before plopping herself on the ground in a cross-legged position, recounting both the points that she’d learned from both Lazhira and her ragged book on magic. Briefly meditating, she pondered similar theories to those that the foxgirl had in her mind. What else could be manipulated? They’d been explained on how the basic principle of magic worked, but what was it still, exactly? Was it still beholden to the laws of physics, or did it depart from it entirely and violate entropy? For that matter, what other fundamental elements could be manipulated, and to what end? If a combination of wind, fire, and earth could be manipulated with magic, for example, there were wondrous opportunities for creating new tools and industry in this otherwise seemingly barren civilization.

Narkissa gave the earth in front of her a healthy pat. It wouldn’t hurt to start trying there. Hopefully she wasn’t so unstable as to cause an earthquake, or something ridiculous as that.

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR

Narkissa paid attention. She’d put honest effort into learning her entire life, and she wasn’t going to stop now that she had a new one. Especially when the topic was as esoteric and fantastic as magic, even if she had a book for it.

She nodded attentively; since trying to ‘put’ magic into running earlier did seem to have an effect, did that mean her body was natural source? As it turned out, she didn’t need to ask, as Lazhira interacted with her own mana. It was a strange feeling, if not a bit uncomfortable, but Narkissa could get the idea. It was almost as if it were its own invisible appendage, in a way.

Since it made sense to her, she began playing with it more actively, now that she had an actual chance to practice. Pushing and pulling said extra invisible organ was how it was done, right? She tried to flick up a little flame of light, in fact, trying to put in some flair doing it to, by mimicking the operation of a lighter. She needed brownie points with everybody for coolness, of course.

What wasn’t cool was Leannah doing it wrong and blowing up her spell. The force of the bang nearly knocked her over, and she could feel the heat hit her face and nearly singe her hair as she reflexively looked over at her to see what was going on. The sudden explosion had blown over all sorts of things, and a piece of debris even smacked right into her shoulder, which was particularly painful. It didn’t break her skin or even her clothes, but she was pretty sure she would be bruised and sore tomorrow. She shot her companion an unamused look.

At the very least, Leannah had embarrassed herself before she had her own chance to cock up her own magic.

“Ehh… are you alright? It’d probably be a better idea if we practice outside. Since we’re all beginners, it would look poorly on us if we destroyed your home,” Narkissa finally said, with an apologetic look on her face. Despite the setback, she really wanted to learn more about magic.

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR

“I see…” Narkissa didn’t sound convinced when Lazhira gave her answer on the curse. Her nervous stutter didn’t do much to inspire confidence, after all. She paused for a moment, considering the facts. From a brief glance, her companions were doing the same. At this point, she was also considering the possibility that these ruins could also be, in some way, related to the ones that she and her companions had awoken in.

It was a theory worth considering, at least.

While she was less interested in the mythology of the gods and such similar things, from the relatively advanced pod technology that were in the earlier ruins, she felt an overwhelming curiosity in what other sorts of technology she could find in new ruins. At least to her, that was far more interesting compared to deciphering some dusty stone tablets. What, exactly, was the pinnacle of technology in this world?

Did it lie in ‘magic’?

As if on cue, Lazhira even mentioned it, asking if they’d have experience with magic, and then offering to teach them magic as well.
“Ah, somewhat?” She sheepishly held out the tome that she continued to clutch: the book on how to learn magic.

“I’ve only got some of the basics down since I only just started reading, but I’d love some practical learning experiences.”

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR

Aside from the native girl who amicably introduced herself as Lazhira, it seemed like it would take some time for the new group of people to warm up to her and Leannah. It was certainly understandable, though; back in the ruins, it took Donovan building an entire staircase up to her level until she decided on communicating with the others. And then, there was the nutcase known as Malphas, who she was glad had gotten lost somewhere else, or he’d slowly erode her sanity, or even worse, scare away this new group of earthlings.

Once she had been given permission to inspect the relics from Lazhira, however, her mindset quickly changed as she set back into her old work routines. Crouching down, she allowed the wary girl to helpfully rearrange the artifacts, taking the time to look over the objects as she did so. A small part of her inwardly cringed at how casually everybody had been treating them, but this was another place, in another era. The techniques and the advanced equipment to facilitate them to preserve such things simply didn’t exist here.

As she examined the artifacts and especially the stone tablets, she scrunched her face, unable to make heads or tails of the items. As a marine archeologist in the UK, her main focus was on early to late modern finds from coastal areas and the sea. Stone tablets were simply not a thing she usually looked at. Besides, if the native Lazhira couldn’t make out the language on them, she wouldn’t—Narkissa was far from a linguist. What interested her more at this point was Lazhira’s words. Curse? Temple? Ruins of a temple sounded interesting, but if monsters and magic existed in this world, she shuddered to think about the existence of tangible curses.

Deciding to ignore mention of the tablets, she spoke up as well. “I’m not sure if I like the sound of a curse. It does sound… intriguing, though?” Unlike the others, Narkissa wasn’t so ready to jump into the role of tomb raider. Especially when it was still their first day or so in this world. Instead, she shot at look at Leannah.

Still… if the runes were supposedly from the God of Knowledge, and could impart said god’s knowledge, it was a tempting risk proposition.

Seeing Lazhira nibbling on the fish though, she felt her stomach growling.

TOP 10 GREATEST RP FAILURES NOT CLICKBAIT YOU WON’T BELIEVE THESE TRUE STORIES 😱😱😱

Can't fail to GM an RP on RPG if you've never GM'd an RP on RPG.

Taps temple

Why Is No One Joining My RP (General Advice Thread)

@Click This apparently you don't have the whole story at all.

The staff there don't understand how emotionally frustrating that is as they have sticks up their asses and they abuse their power while not wanting to understand the side of anyone's story, they just jump on someone willy-nilly without taking a damn thing into account. Staff is supposed to be fair, not power hungry corrupt excuses of their title!

@rebornfan320

For what it's worth, I was there for what happened and was privy to all the details. Every other public post of yours was a complaint or rant about other roleplayers. (Does this sound familiar?) I'm the last person who would want to kick somebody off a site, but at some point even I had to agree the complaints and the reports had to stop. Pretty sure you were warned off multiple times, too.

I'm not trying to bully you, but the point I wanted you to consider was that if your behavior was bad enough to warrant people reporting you on sight, what does that mean for the chances people want to create stories with you? I'm probably beating a horse here at this point, but what you need to do is to stop posting and set aside time for some ample self-reflection.

Why Is No One Joining My RP (General Advice Thread)

@rebornfan320

Dude. You were banned from Iwaku for a reason.

Consider the behavior that got you booted from there, and then reexamine why you're having problems here on RPG.

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y @VitaVitaAR

As Narkissa began to speak to the fox-eared woman, a second girl appeared behind her. For a moment, she was taken aback; while she had always thought gacha games were a scam back when she was still alive on earth, even she could recognize this lady was a ‘female Oda Nobunaga,’ from a certain game… down to her clothes. Or, at the very least, this was a person that had taken a great deal of a fancy towards the persona.

She had… questions. Either way, this person was from obviously from earth, from one time period… or version… or another. As academic as she was, this wasn’t a topic she wanted to ponder at the moment, or she was afraid her brain was going to explode from overprocessing.

Still, Narkissa was curious how they would answer. Surprisingly, the Oda lookalike answered first, in an annoyingly coy way. Well, her suspicions were confirmed, at least, but the way she immediately covered for the fox girl made her raise an eyebrow.

The fact that she’d cut off the fox girl as she was responding piqued her curiosity, even more so when the fox girl ignored the question and spoke. The way Narkissa been tactically ignored rather than being refused or looked at in a confused manner made her think the opposite of what the black-haired lady had said. If they wanted to keep the fox girl’s origins a secret, that was fine with her, though. In this strange new world, it was probably safer to keep things closer to one’s heart.

As she was thinking, yet another girl barged into the picture, but this one looked a lot more like a native.

Narkissa looked back at the fox girl, casually raising her hand up to her chest height. “As far as I’m concerned, it appears we all have similar origins,” she made a nod towards Nobunaga, “As such, I don’t see why we shouldn’t be friends.” While implying she didn’t believe Nobunaga, she simultaneously hinted she believed that they were all from earth. At this point, what reason did they have not to work together? There was no better trust and comradery to be found in the fact that everybody in this small group were the only ones from earth, in this strange, new world.

With that, she decided to follow the energetic girl along with Leannah and the rest. Walking along the way, she introduced herself. “Narkissa Landgon. May I have the pleasure of knowing your names?”

Although she had tried her damned hardest to be social and to get to know some fellow earthlings –that were not crazy cultists—once she entered Lazhira’s house, she too was immediately drawn to the various odds and ends in the house.

In fact, as an archeologist herself, this was not something she could give up on.

Raising her hand in the same manner as before, she chimed in. “Sorry if I’m also imposing, but looking at old things was actually an old profession of mine. I also can’t help but to also be interested…”

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Narkissa Langdon

@Rune_Alchemist @Cu Chulainn @Crusader Lord @PKMNB0Y

Thankfully, Malphas’ antics had not gotten them crucified on the spot. At the very least, the villagers, or the guard, didn’t seem to be the zealously religious type. Either way, it was becoming clear to her that cultist of a man was a dangerous wildcard. Sticking around with him might be interesting… but it was also likely the path to destruction. Shooting a look of distaste at the crazy man, she resolved herself to avoid the man as much as possible.

The words of the guard had some interesting wisdom. Listening carefully, she took the information in, making sure to try and memorize the details. After all, it was all they could get about the world right now. More interestingly, he confirmed the existence of elves, and more of Leannah’s kind, and enlightened them on the nature of the dead beast in the center. Narkissa didn’t immediately rush to the conclusion they were the other reincarnates she had seen earlier –she was dubious over the fact that any one of them could kill such a thing—but she remained curious what sort of mercenary or good-Samaritans these three people were. Any such people that helped a small village in such a manner couldn’t be very bad people, and as far as Narkissa was concerned, they’d need some competent, or at least martially able people to be friends with to make it in this world.

As she was thinking of going over and waiting to see who would come out, she noticed Narkissa approaching her.

“Somewhat, at least. As far as things go, definitely. We’re lucky we’re able to run into a village where we can get some proper information,” she nodded, in wholehearted agreement with the catgirl, who also started to lean in.

“…Ah.” Her eyes flicked conspiratorially towards Malphas. “Say no more. I’d rather not stick with him for much longer, either.” Smiling at the complement, she continued. “On that topic, we should speak more later… for now, I want to see what’s going on up there.”

Up ahead, it seemed, somebody had left the large wooden building, and that said somebody didn’t look remotely like a villager. Another girl with animal ears? Whoever it was, Narkissa made sure to get there before Malphas, and slid in to accost the girl. Thinking quickly, she made up an easy litmus test on the spot.

“Pardon me. You don’t look like a local… are you perhaps from a little place called Earth?”