A Jaded Life

Hours passed as I sat on the log opposite of the Grandmother, asking questions, often getting useful answers - but far too often for my taste getting the answer 'find out for yourself'. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about magic, not about my specific magic skills but general information giving me ideas and paths how to develop further on my own. She kept true to her word, never trying to tell me how to use my magic, or even telling me something was impossible. The worst outcome of a question was 'I don't know' or 'Find out for yourself'.

“Now, child. It is late so I want to impart you a few things before we end our day.” the Grandmother spoke, a lot more serious than our previous, spirited discussion.

“When you first came here, you carried a soul-prison. The soul-prison contains an ancient being, slowly fading from existence and destiny has made you the keeper of it's future. The simple, safe way would be letting it fade, by simply doing nothing. The being will be gone for ever and the goddess who imprisoned it will be pleased but will not care about you or your part in it. After all, you meddled in her affairs, disrupting her seal and her guardian.

Yes, I scryed your acquisition of the soul-prison. Quite well done I have to say, even if it was done with either luck or destiny on your side.

The other option is to grab your destiny and run with it. To free the soul in the prison, you will need a fitting Nexus. No, not the one outside - that one is taken, and either Kallista or I would kill you if you tried to use it to free the soul.

You would have to travel to the other side of this Nexus, high in the mountains of Arbotoma, between the frozen peaks you can find the counterpart of this Nexus. Kallista and I have used a lot of time and effort to coax this Nexus into providing us with positive power and energy, in turn shifting its counterpart to negative energy. The soul you are carrying is one of Darkness, to be precise it's attuned to Death, Poison and Ice. The Nexus used to free it will become tainted by its power and if you did it here, it would kill Kallista and maybe kill me.

However, saving the being in the soul-prison will be an opportunity few have; if you help an elder being on a task of vital importance like that, it will return the favour - and a favour of that magnitude can be earth-shaking.”

Quest Update!

The Soulprison

Quest Difficulty Divine

You found an ancient Soulprison. Find out what soul is imprisoned within and decide it's fate. There will be consequences, no matter what action is taken.

The Grandmother has explained possible actions. To do nothing would consign the soul to oblivion and yield no rewards. To save the being, you have to use the suitable Nexus, located high in the mountains of Arbotoma. Doing so will earn you a favour of the imprisoned soul.

Quest Reward Gratitude of an Immortal

I blinked for a moment, trying to sort the information out in my head. Arbotoma was this world's South America so the Nexus I would have to use was literally on the other side of the planet. Well, she said 'the other side' I guess that was literally.

It would be a challenge and Hell, did it sound cool. At the end of the day, the negative was that I would seriously piss of a Goddess, maybe even the complete Norse Pantheon but it was beta and if I managed the quest in the remaining 20 months, it might be close to the reset. But it would be an epic achievement that was certain. Shit, I guess that means Do or Die.

“I...” I started to talk, only to be interrupted by the Grandmother.

“Don't tell me. I don't want to get into open conflict with Sunna and her compatriots. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. You will leave this place soon, I know that. What happens after, I don't know, but I will watch with bated breath.”

“I'm glad I can provide entertainment. Maybe, I should teach you how to make popcorn.” I said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. The long discussion had made me a lot more comfortable with the ancient power in front of me.

“As you don't want to continue talking about the soul-prison, why don't we talk about Sigmir? How exactly can I heal her? And do you have any ways to evade or break a divination-compass?” I asked, changing the topic.

“To fully and safely heal her, you will have to merge your soul with hers. That is one of the reasons there needs to be trust between the two who do the ritual. Your souls are very compatible, making it quite easy to merge them. Within the merged soul-space you can use your magic to purge the parasite within her. I can't tell you exactly what will happen, it will be a fight within your soul-space and in there, the mind and the soul rule over reality and matter. Magic is part of both so it is a starting point for you.” she stopped, lost in thought. I waited for her to continue, at this point I was not sure what to expect. Sadly, when she continued it was on the other question I had asked.

“The divination-compass is a little harder. You might be able to cast a ward over the two of you - there are wards to reference in the grimoire I will give you - and it would be strong enough to break the tracking of a divination-compass made by a normal spellcaster. It might even be strong enough to evade a system-made compass for a few days but the system tries to enforce equality, so the tracking would be harder but not impossible. The precision of the compass could go down or the tracking interval could increase, something to make up for your inability to break the tracking. I will not get involved or there might be repercussions from the system and when great powers start to meddle, things get problematic in a hurry.” she explained.

Somehow, hearing her say that things get problematic when great powers start to meddle made my spidey senses tingle. Hadn't I just thrust myself in a situation between some ancient great beast, a Goddess and a meddling Grandmother? Yeah, no way that could become anything but problematic. But what would be the fun in a game without interesting situations?

“To get rid of a system-made compass, get rid of the quest that created it. Quests can be created due to strong emotions, for example a mother searching for her child or a child for her mother. Both could create a system-quest without really knowing it. Or they can be created by power, either personal power or political power. A powerful lord guarding his lands for example, or the Adventurers Guild with it's missions, both are acknowledged under the system. You will have to determine who has that sort of power over your friend or has a belief that he has.” the Grandmother told me, giving me more than enough hints to find the quest-giver.

“Now, it is late and if we send you into your friends soul tomorrow, you should rest. Follow me.” The Grandmother stood, and gestured for me to do the same.

I followed her as she walked through the tree-door into the reception room of her hut and off into another room. This room was larger than the hut should be but I was numb to the casual relationship the Grandmother seemed to have with space. I had a feeling that space gave the Grandmother as much room as the Grandmother wanted, no questions asked, reality be damned.

The room I entered was a library, large bookshelves, filled with tomes, scrolls and even some stone-tablets. The Grandmother walked to one shelf in the back while I slowly followed, marvelling at the collection of knowledge surrounding me. Even with Lenore's translation-trait I was unable to read some of the titles, making me wonder about the circumstances. Obviously, nothing could truly be universal, everything had to have limits.

I caught up to the Grandmother, as she stood in front of a single shelf, slowly moving her hands in patterns and mumbling under her breath. After a moment, I felt a slight movement in the air around me, as if a breeze was blowing but we were indoors. The Grandmother took a book from the shelf in front of her and handed it to me.

“Keep it well. The stronger your mind is, the more you can read and understand. I'm certain it will serve you well. It contains a lot of universal basic spells and a some things I researched about Ice and Death.”

The moment I took it, a glow sprung up from it, enveloping me for a second. I inspected it, curious what I had just gotten.

Zevarra Agha

Rarity Unique

Type Grimoire

Special Effect Ritual Guide – Allows you to cast the spells written within without separately learning them.

Special Effect Soul Bound – This Grimoire is bound to the Traveller Morgana. Only she can read it and she can store it within her soul.

Special Effect Growth– This Grimoire is bound to the Traveller Morgana. It will grow alongside her, yielding more secrets with growing power.

This Grimoire was written by the Grandmother. It was gifted to the Traveller Morgana as a token of remembrance.

I bowed deeply to the Grandmother, this was no small gift she had given me. Part of me was worried that it would come with strings attached later, but I remembered my own wisdom; the Grandmother was far too powerful to play games with weak mortals.

“Thank you, I will treasure this gift.” I said sincerely.

“I'm sure you will. You thirst for knowledge, just like I did when I was young. The world was different then, but I'm sure you will find your way. Just always remember, you walk your own path. Don't let anyone manage your path or you will lose your way. Be true to yourself. Don't lose yourself in your new book, remember, tomorrow will be an arduous day for you, so sleep tight.” with those words the Grandmother sent me off.

I left the house with a lot on my mind, walking back to Kallista's house almost in a trance.