Chapter 53: Powers, Powers Galore!

The tea-drinking and chatting wore to its natural end, and Sammy rose, which triggered Tashome to rise as well. Sammy began to try the unique bow she’d seen the man perform once, but his face broke into a huge smile and he held his arms out wide in the offering of a hug.

Sammy gladly took the offer, embracing someone for what seemed the first time in ages, at least in such a physical way. It was the cherry on top of a wonderful, needed experience with someone she was really starting to adore as a friend very quickly.

“It’s weird, you know,” Sammy said as she disengaged. “I feel like I’ve known you my whole damn life, already. Or in a past life, I guess? But that’s silly since I’m a Transplant.”

Tashome shrugged amiably. “I have one of those faces.”

Sammy reached a finger over to poke his shoulder, smirking. “Or one of those souls, hmm? Old man.”

His face had a twitch, then he took on a look of mostly-faux woundedness. “I’m not that old. Hmmph.”

Laughing, Sammy held up her hands. “I take it back, I take it back! Young man.”

“That's more like it.”

“Thanks again for this. It was perfect. I needed it.”

“Oh, I know. A goddess doesn’t summon ten Followers into her dreams — in variously skimpy states of dress to match her desires of disarmed comfort and relaxation — if she didn’t need a friend.”

Sammy winced and rubbed at her neck with a hand. “So embarrassing, ugh… I hope you’re the only one that remembers that…”

“Hard to say. Some will, some won’t, I bet. Those that really, really want to, will, on some level.”

“Great, so Bast will remember all the girls in their swimwear. And especially Azure’s butt.”

“Who could forget.”

“Hey!”

It was his turn to hold up his hands. “Apologies, Goddess. Erasing memories now.” He held up a finger to his temple, tapping it repeatedly, making ‘chuck, chuck’ noises, clearly with his mouth.

Sammy squinted her eyes at him, half amused. “Suuuure. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. We’ll have to do this again sometime. Actually, do you do this sort of thing a lot?”

“Remain conscious while dreaming? Not often, lately. Sometimes. Better to do it when not exhausted. And by the way, don’t think others can do this. You’ll have difficulty if you jar them from whatever they’re dreaming. They’ll just wake up, usually. You’d have to flow with the dream, somehow.”

“Right. So never, ever Bast.”

“I’d assume not. Unless of course you want to explore your-”

“No! Whatever you were going to say, that’s a big ole, fat, super no.”

“Understood. Take care, Samantha.”

"Sweet dreams!" Sammy more or less just bampfed back out and back to her throne.

Entering dreams… I guess it isn’t that crazy considering all the other crazy shit I’ve done. And I can bring people into mine. Probably give those with strong connections visions with me in it? Someone holding a relic especially. Psychic meetings, not just memos.

She spent the remainder of the night on rune study. Dolamashe’s Arcane Principles and The Big Fat Book of Runes, first flipping through for what drew her eyes and inspirations, noting the pages, then eventually coming back to read and study runic spell formations. They were almost all informational segments, concepts vaguely like ‘read’ or ‘glean’ or ‘know’ in almost infinite varieties.

Rune by rune, she added the sequence in her head, constructed her unique code for Identify. It grew almost to the tip of her tongue, then the last several final missing pieces resisted fitting. She realized she had to meditate on what she had for a while: memorize and perfect. So she went back through the segments again and again, then closed the books as well as her eyes and focused inwardly on it.

Know the spells… glean the magic… see the purpose… seek the truth…

She was fairly confident she could finish the whole spell by herself with another session, thanks to the constant bursts of inspiration from the adaptive helper runes. It all fell into place like a puzzle, and her strengths in creativity and visualization seemed to naturally take advantage of the aid. She could only hope that carried through after her first two spells.

It’s too bad there isn’t some way to keep getting helper runes. They make the whole process kind of exciting.

When morning came, Sammy was quick to get Estara, Carlisle, and Finley to catch up on prayers for the 3 FE. Merril was still asleep, and Dax was not in a great mood. She had Estara and Finley speak to Bob in private, to explain some of the actual truth of their goddess behind the ruse, though the name and mirror aspect was withheld. He found it hilarious.

“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, that’s a riot, alright. If you really want some fool like me involved, I’ll swear. I’ll never be the same after what happened down there. I’m already wrapped like a ribbon in all this.”

Many of us are all too close to The Fool, Bob. You have no idea. Maybe I don’t, either.

He was sworn through Greenleaf, assured that the illusion would eventually be lifted.

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1 FE gained due to user belief/acknowledgment. Note: not yet a Follower.

Follower conversion successful. 1 FE gained. 1 Daily FE gained (total: 22).

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It was then that she felt a massive surge of power and information flood her mind and spirit…

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1000 FE obtained. The quest “Gather the Faithful” is complete. +1000 maximum FE obtained. Level 2 Goddess granted.
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Obtained status: Minor Deity. Domain slot 3 unlocked.
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Powers Grant Invisibility, Mirroring Duplicates, Reflect Force, False Auras, Dazzling Spectrum, and Mirror Maze gained.
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Mirror Sense upgraded. Create Illusion upgraded with: Partial Independence and Minor Persistent Illusion (Object).
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New Quest unlocked: “Minor Deity: Building the Flock” — Reach 25 total Followers.
● Rewards: +350 FE, +500 Maximum FE, +3 exp in [Goddess], Create Servitor unlocked, 1 free Create Servitor use granted.

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There was certainly the feel of new connection points through the mirrors opening up. It was difficult to pick what to partake of in curiosity first, but she went with Mirror Sense.

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Mirror Sense (at will): Open mirror faces in the material world are a part of you, your sense of them increasing with their clarity and your deliberate focus. You can see and hear through them. Subjects can be focused on to narrow a search. An enshrouded or hidden mirror can only be very vaguely sensed and provides no input. Level determines versatility and sensitivity.

Level 2: See/hear through mirrors of moderate or better reflection quality and manufactured design, or other not-roughly-disturbed mirrored surfaces at least able to show a 15x15 centimeter square picture (such as a polished shield or reflective water surface). Passive awareness is minor, requiring significant engagement or activity. Familiarity (with a mirror or subject) increases sensitivity.

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Alright then… I can show up in the wilderness somewhat. Ponds, even a puddle if it’s still… and reasonably clear I guess? Or maybe that doesn’t matter…

She drew up her Create Illusion upgrades next.

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Partial Independence: You may hand off up to two 'sections' or 'layers' of an illusory system to your subconscious to maintain, at (eventually) half total levels of believability (rounded up). This degrades from full levels at a rate of 1 level per 10 seconds and may be refreshed with one attentive adjustment.

Minor Persistent Illusion (Object): For 1 FE (Illusion) or 2 FE, you may create a persistent illusion on an object, having it appear as something else or altered, lasting for 24 hours. It must maintain the same basic shape and apparent mass with minor variations. If you cast this 3 days in a row for the same exact effect, the duration becomes permanent (but may be canceled or dispelled).

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Ooh, multitasking aids and permanent illusions, me likey! I could do this for weapons and make them not appear as such. Or slightly off, making them harder to defend against. Partial Independence… that suggests there is full eventually, too. Hmm.

It was time for the New Hotness powers. There were apparently 3 new Illusion powers, 2 new Mirrors powers, and 1 synergistic Mirror/Illusion one. She started with Illusion.

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Grant Invisibility

Once per day for free, or for 1 FE (Illusion) or 2 FE, a target at touch range (or self) becomes invisible. This only affects normal vision and lasts 1 hour per deity level. Any act of violence or non-informational spell or spell-like ability use (i.e. 'overt') by the subject ends the effect immediately.

This may be used on an object as well, in which case attacking with it specifically ends the effect immediately.
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Dazzling Spectrum

Once per day for free, or for 1 FE (Illusion) or 2 FE, you may cause an especially intense flash of illusory imagery, in a variable but concentrated direction. At maximum effect, this is a cone to a distance of 2 meters + 2 meters per deity level. Targets that do not resist will be stunned senseless for 5 seconds and completely blinded for 1 minute (alternatively, the blinding effect may be removed).

Base classes for level comparison for resistance purposes are: [Goddess], [Bard], [Wizard], or some special classes. One additional class may add as normal, providing (level/3, rounded up) to the base class. If concentrated on one single target, add 1 Effective Level.
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False Auras

You may insert lies about all of your supernatural power or magic uses, for the purposes of divination/information abilities. If a party has reason to be suspicious, they may detect lies absolutely by a level comparison, but your lies are at +2 Effective Levels for this purpose. Additional time and investigation can reveal the truth, but this requires another 'contest' at +3 Effective Levels or it is inconclusive.

You may generically 'cloak' power or ability use as well, requiring a level comparison for even passive detection, of which you are at +1 Effective Levels. Cloaking in this way also halves the duration time of any aura to be detected.

For 1 FE (Illusion) or 2 FE, you may manufacture a false magical aura on an object or living target. This is permanent for an object or lasts 3 days on a living target. Detecting its falseness is subject to the same rules above (but in some cases may be obvious).

Excellent stuff for the Bag O Tricks, muhahaha! Nice to get something that doesn’t just fool them blind but makes them entirely so. I seem to be stacking up the need for specialist FE, though. This is expensive and might not work. I wonder how things work with an Avatar? A discount for the risk, hopefully.

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She drew up the mixed power next.

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Mirroring Duplicates

Once per day for free, or for 1 FE (Illusion or Mirrors) or 2 FE, a target at touch range (or self) gains (2 + 1/2 deity level, rounded up) illusory duplicates that (basically) mimic the target's actions perfectly, visually and auditorily. This makes it unclear which is the real combatant.

Duration is 3 minutes + 1 minute per deity level. These illusions do not offer level comparison to disbelieve and only special senses can ignore them. If 'wounded,' a duplicate will vanish. Duplicates ‘defend’ at ⅔ skill levels of the target, rounded up (minimum -1 level).

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Classic. Guess I can’t be like Naruto yet, though.

Last but not least, the Mirror offerings…

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Reflect Force

Once per day for free, or for 1 FE (Mirrors) or 2 FE, you may interpose a mirrored surface (that you are capable of communicating through) in front of an attack, and reflect 100% of the force back upon the attacker if it strikes the mirror soundly. Melee attacks suffer a wound based on the ideal of the attempted strike, but it must still penetrate any armor over the location. Ranged attacks against a mirror will literally send the attack back at an equivalent level of skill (note that surprised combatants will be at a disadvantage).

This power has a 1-minute cooldown between uses. A failed interposition does not count as a use. This power does not absorb or reflect the rest of the damage of an area of effect spell or ability, only what impacts the mirrored surface. Some exceptions apply (for example: a giant's club, if blocked at the first point of contact, will be fully reflected).

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I can definitely fuck somebody up with this. Glass cannons beware!

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Mirror Maze

Once per day for free, or for 1 FE (Mirrors) or 2 FE, you may attempt to 'maze' a target that is looking into a mirror you are looking through. This is a battle of wills.

If the target resists, they'll merely suffer a momentary distraction as they feel their mind almost slip as if into a vision (they will also feel as if they looked into a being's eyes). They are immune to the effect for 24 hours afterward. A second attempt requires your eyes visible and direct eye contact; a third requires your face. 3 resists makes them immune forever.

If they fail to resist, they are bodily paralyzed as their mind is caught in a bewildering maze of mirrored surfaces, subject to your active alterations (Note: thanks to the Illusion domain, you may alter the maze however you desire).

Class comparison gives 1 extra level to total deity levels. Base class is [Goddess] for level comparison for resistance purposes. One additional class may add as normal, providing (level/3, rounded up) to the base class — this includes [Bard], [Wizard], or some special classes.

The effect duration is for a minimum of 10 seconds per deity level. At this time, they are allowed the chance to resist and free themselves by the same level comparison (subject to the state of their willpower). If they do so, they will return to their body and be afflicted with the debuff [Shaken] for up to 8 hours.

If they fail, they are stuck within for 5 more minutes and allowed another chance, if still mentally cognizant. Failing this, the duration becomes 7 years. You may voluntarily release them at any time.

At deity level 7+ this power receives a special upgrade.

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This one just plain freaked her out. It was disturbing and potentially very powerful, especially to someone determined to break another’s will.

Sucked into the world of the mirror you face. I thought it was a nightmare for me, and I’m making it into a dream… a dream where now I can do the same — or worse — to others.

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