Magicka Triquerta – Main Campaign Over

Yes, finally! A post with some content worthy of this blog! Well, frankly, I’ve just lost the touch lately and therefore I haven’t written anything. But well, need to try to acquaint myself with this process again. Or at least write when I actually have something interesting to write about…

So, after about 40ish sessions (give or take a couple) we’ve finally reached the end of the campaign. It has been a varied trip. But at least we got here. Some of what made the campaign float so slowly was because of its rocky start, lack of focus in the campaign, and (for me) the unexpected fact of actually two groups to keep track on.¹

Well, nonetheless we’ve done it. Now it’s only to move forward. And to do this we need to both discuss some things as well as decide some important stuff about your group and characters. Questions might be needed to be asked and other stuff needs to be cleared out.

So what to begin with?

Triquerta

You are now bonded, through magical means to a Triquerta. The essence of what you’ve done is to bond your magical affinities and magical souls to each other. This will allow you all to be able to work together, and change things on a fundamental level which cannot really be called anything else than Trimutage Amalgamation or Tricasting. It’s similar to all the three basic magic forms, but it’s not either of each. It’s closer to Dragons Magic or Demonic Magic than anything else.

You have three bonds which hold you together. These bonds are called Unbreakable Bonds but they are all but unbreakable. Actually they are pretty frail, especially for you – as players that is. They cannot be broken by any direct outside influence. They can’t be altered, and they can’t be touched or seen/sensed. So nobody can affect them directly, but you three. You can, at any moment, release the bond to the others. And as quickly as that, you will forever forsake the Triquerta powers you hold together.

But this isn’t necessarily done by choice. In fact, it will be done even against your will. And you cannot forge another bond like that through any mystical means known on the planet. If you want to do it, you need to forge them yourself. This is hard to say the least, especially for you as players.

So what does this mean to you?

It means that you all need to act your bonds or it will weaken and in the end shatter. It’s a whip and a carrot for you to play out a more convincing role against each other which isn’t identical to how you treat each other in reality. You all need to interact more and get more in-game. Well, I will do this with a loyalty meter so you can know how well you fare. And the better you act, the stronger your spells are and so on.

Anyhow, to how you feel and what’s different instead.

You can now all feel each others emotions, physical conditions and in limited forms even thoughts. In Thaethilis case, he can, when you let him, enter your minds, dreams, and in essence even possess your body without using direct magic. And the strength of this, as all else with the bond, will depend on your level of empathy and acting with your characters and the bonds. I will try to make it as concrete as possible. Giving you level-abilities so to speak.

Keep the level this high, and you are able to do this, and that. Keep the level that high, and you cannot do this or that. The higher you are, the stronger you’ll all become. Not only in the Tricasting Art, but also in the passive abilities and benefits of the bond. I hope this will serve as the carrot previously mentioned. And the lowest level, will serve as the whip, and the warning before I terminate the bond.

Back to the feeling of the bonds then. Your minds sometimes sync, meaning that you all think and feel the same. In this essence, if Rogark grows mad, so will all of you. But in a weaker sense, mixed with the feelings your character has previously shown. This will be a little confusing in the beginning for your characters, and instead of having you all trying to play this out, I will largely make the confusion and all around this less, and less obvious with time. And yes, this will greatly affect you all when say Katja has premenstrual syndromes, PMS, or when Rogark is in Rage, Frenzy or Fury. As for that, I’ll leave that to PaFO.²

Other than that, you all have a little of each others innate abilities, such as the sensations of particles and waves. You do not however, have the sensation of strings since this is more an active feeling than one you sense just by being. You can however sense the mood of the forest and nature around you and in small senses feels strong natural spirits or guardian spirits.

You can all cast spells normally, and when you channel it will feel like you are in a magical circle already. This is due to the fact that you actually are, to the others in the Triquerta. This is both a benefit as well as a deficiency. You are one magical entity, so none of you can be a circle without all the others being part of it. Most mages, that aren’t strong enough³ will not be able to channel with any of you. And you cannot channel to more than 1 other magical person at a time without a conduit or a channel made out of Archon, i.e. a Race Mage is needed for a real circle. This isn’t all; you all suspect that other limitations on your channelling are present as well.

The benefits though are that you can always channel to each other within an instant and even help each other in spell casting as long as you have your attention there. Things will go faster than normal and you will be more efficient as mages alone as well as a group. More is distant Tricasting is possible to do thanks to this. Distant tricasting is when you channel through one in the group to with your own form of magic enhance the casters spell. This limits somewhat what you can do, but it still will be very, very effective.

The Two Trispells
In the Triquerta Tome, there are a lot of very difficult demonical theories and structural formulas and other magical stuff that are ideas and blueprints to Trispells. You have only been able to translate and make two of these spells work. These should be the most basic of spells possible to do with Tricasting. But since it’s not explored, nobody knows for sure.

Triquerta Crest

This spell is a mystery. You haven’t yet found out the practical use of it, and it more seems like a prison than anything else. It was very easy to make though. For the spell to work you all must either hold each others hands in a ring or in a triangle and just willing your magic into the centre of this ring creating a minor explosion of light. Not even blinding, more like a temporary flash from nowhere.

When the spell is cast you will all stand in the middle ground of the Triquerta Crest. Only able to move out in each wing⁴. You cannot dispel it – as far as you know – but need to wait for it to dissipate on its own; around 1-2minutes⁵. Anybody else seems to be able to cross the magical symbol on the ground without effect and even attack you in the middle without effect. They can even use it as a wall to smack you up on. Since you will not for any force in the world leave the ground or the symbol. The only benefit you’ve found so far is that the ground or whatever material you cast the spell upon, is seemingly impervious to damage of any kind, or modifications.

Whatever the purpose of this spell, and how it should be used, is up to you to find out. It seems that many other spells require this spell to work. How, you don’t yet know.

Triquerta Energy Beam or Tribeam

This requires you all to be within three steps of each other. Touching makes the spell twice as effective.⁶ If you perfectly sync your mind and actions you all must shoot a pure beam of energy so they meet together and can conjoin into one. This spell has several variations you’ve found out so far.

The spell changes nature depending on who is on the right or left respectively in the middle. The one in the middle seems to control the spells main shape and physical force as well as the main effect of the spell. The one to the right seems to give the spell a secondary effect and determine its qualities. The one to the left is the one with less visible effect, giving the spell its secret composition as well as the impact and splash effects.

This spell is very dangerous. You’ve tried it limited times but you have no way – yet – to control the spells effect. You cannot “hold back” so it always has full effect. It’s most destructive and also easiest to avoid and counter when having Rogark in the middle. When having Katja there, it will be a slow spell, but unpredictable and unrelenting. It also has most properties. Taethilis in the middle will make a very fast spell that seldom misses and is impossible to counter, avoid or block. It also seems to effect the mind as well as the body, leaving magical scars.

You’ve tried this spell on Zeon and he nearly died. He was the one to goad you to it. But nobody expected the effect it had. Rogark was in the middle that time and the spell became a beam of not molten stone but liquid stone that from it’s cracks sprouted whines that shocked him and strangled him, while he was covered/frozen in a block of stone. He survived, but with ticks. He now and then shivers suddenly and explosively like someone poked him in the sides with sting-nettles.

One other side effect of the beam is that where it hit him, it left an unhealing Triquerta Crest as a scar that always itches and burns. He jokes about it, but scratches it frequently. It’s no bigger than a crown⁷ and the scar seems to be infected and fresh.

If you were to miscast that spell, you don’t want to know the consequences.

Well, well, lets move on to the next topic.

What now?

You were all apprehended in the end of the Ritual. First you were brought to a Magickan camp in the vicinity before you were transported to one of the trade outpost mostly controlled by Magicka. From there you were soon transported by flying beasts in a large cage to the closest Teleportation Site. From there you were teleported with magical bonds to Magicka and the Core where you all were separated, healed, fed and interrogated/debriefed – in that order – before you were put in cells, or comparing to the standards you have had, luxurious rooms with protection.

Days of more detailed interrogation followed where you never were let to see each other. You were all treated well otherwise. Given books and even allowed a pet⁸. But nobody visited you other than the same men that were in charge of you all. The interrogation was extensive and led back to the very first day you arrived in Arcadia and it was performed by three mentalists of the highest grade. Not much slipped them by, but you were able to hide many facts. Most facts though you weren’t able to hide.

You later, unexpectedly were released from the confinement and met with all the others. 6 of the Octals, Cornwald and Krom. Wenheart obviously had deluded them and escaped with the Octal Stronghold together with the others. From there all of you, except Shiela and Cornwald, were released with confinement to Cornwald School. Then occpupied by guards and mages. Cornwald had allowed this and most of the others present had been interrogated as well.

Weeks passed on the School without you hearing a word or being able to use magic, mostly just adjusting to your new bond. When the occupation of the school was lifted and a choice was made to all Youth Mages on the school. Accept rehabilitation now, and also renounce your affiliations with Cornwald and Octal and thus escape most of the cascade punishment⁹ or be let free, but with a tracking spell on them so they when the trial and negotiations were over they could be brought back to face the consequences. If anyone took the second alternative but didn’t wish to have the Tracking Spell on them, they were confined to Arcadia. Not really a freedom, but a nice secluded prison. Living like princes comparing to most others in the world while they waited.

Here is were your choices actually comes in.

1. Choose to renounce Octal
   If you do this, you will be part of Magicka willy-nilly. That will have to jump you 5 years into the future. Jox will have had succeeded when this starts and you will just hear of its first effects on the world. Zeth has about half year left before he will become crystal and die. If you do this, he will though become a rambling lunatic that will be spoon-fed for the rest of his life.
2. Chose to stay
   This will mean that you’ll wait out the trial and negotiations. We’ll jump about 1½ years into the future. By then, Jox has become a lot stronger but not finished. You can still take him on if you still wish. Zeth still has a chance to be saved, and even restore his sanity and make it possible for him to help you as a mentor and advisor in the Triquerta Project.
3. Chose the tracker
   You might be able to escape or hide from the Tracker Spell, but doing either in a suspicious way will make you Rouge Mages, and of a very high priority since your powers are to great to treat you like untrained kids anymore. If you chose this you can go almost everywhere in the world, within your own limits that is. Zeth will still be crazy and so, but he will have minutes here and there of lucidity and you can save him if you wish. You are also free to encounter Jox if you wish, and in this way, be able to reduce your but mainly Taethilis, sentences. You are also able to start a new life wherever you want and continue to do whatever you wish to do outside the given perimeters.

These are the main choices. You must choose one of the above together.

Well, if you choose alternative 3 I have a few choices you can make, if you don’t want to make your own choice entirely¹⁰.

1. Stop Jox – Full Time
   If you do this, you will go back to Deben on a campaign, short and very focused (or at least that’s the plan) to stop Jox plan. I assure you, all of you will have interesting opportunities in this. And if you succeed you will become heroes and maybe, depending on your method, achieve first level immortality – slow aging and resistance to sickness¹¹.
2. Stop Jox – Half Time
   If you do this, you can chose some free options between as long as it’s close to, or in quick relation to Deben. This means that I will plan 3-5 big sessions that will happen a few sessions apart. These will be more critical to succeed each time, but also they will be more epical. I cannot say much more for this tough.
3. Searching for Odium – Full Time
   Doing this, you quickly find your first clue. This clue (which I haven’t figured out completely yet, just the gist of it) lead you to believe that you need to go to The Kettle Archipelago to search for more clues. This will be a campaign, and will not completely focus on Odium but give you a lot of possibilities around the main route in The Kettle. It will give you one or more clues each session to Odium and finish with him. Odium will have Sage-like possibilities in the end.
4. New start in Meno
   Yes, finally Meno is possible to play in. I have a lot more though than needs working on so this will be an open travel adventure. Not campaign. You will land in New Harbour, and from there travel through Meno for Grandica. The oldest and biggest city in the world¹². You will be mostly broke i.e. not having a big sack of gold with you, but some pocket change. And facing trivial adventures that will rise. You will see Meno from the standard perspective of a traveller too.

If you have other options, it’s free to you. All countries, except Taraien, Icea, Sancho and Aguin is possible before the trial. And after the trial Icea and Aguin is the only countries off-limits to start your new adventures in.

So, let the choosing and discussing begin!

BTW, we can have a session tomorrow evening 18-23, as usual.

Best regards,
Herid Fel

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1. The Defenders as well as the Triquerta ↩

2. Play and Find Out ↩

3. i.e. 16> ↩

4. Only the wing behind your back, not the others wing ↩

5. 5-10p or 1-2r ↩

6. Not counting damage as effective since that depends on your bonds ↩

7. In reality, 5 SEK ↩

8. Katja got to share her room with her Flying Squirrel ↩

9. Taethilis would not escape them, since they now officially count him as Number 3 and thus a part of the Octal ↩

10. Not based on any of my alternatives at all, that is ↩

11. Boosts your agespan with abouth 50-80% of your remaining age for your race ↩

12. This depending on view ↩