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Details

A few months has passed since your time with Modeus and the Letan ruins, and that poor, poor avilli. If you tried to explain it to others, they’d brush you off with a ‘haha, yeah time is going by way too quick these days’. This is different, though. That transformation, that angry and wild werebeast that was once a fellow sits weird on your thoughts, even after all this time. All this lack of time. You are jolted out of your revelry by massive talons scraping against stone walls… no, by a little beak tapping against glass. An aierbis,white plumage like fresh snow, twitches it’s head curiously at you from just outside your window. It bounces slightly, trying to balance itself on the windowsill while holding a letter with one talon. You open the window and accept the letter, the aierbis quickly glancing around for treats before flying away. The daydream felt like ill foreshadowing when you see the wax bearing the fancy seal of the Academy of Crystal Sight. 

Salutations!

I hope the weather has been finding you in as good spirits as I am in currently. Since our last correspondence I have been hard at work on theorycrafting and testing. That broken skull that has proved quite difficult has had it’s secrets ripped from it’s long forgotten brain, and I have had a breakthrough! The details are too much for poor Royali to try and lift in a single letter, so I would invite you again to join me at your earliest convenience to share in this mighty discovery. No need for a blade this time, I assure you. I would be very pleased by your company again.

Best Regards,

Modeus

Despite the residual weight in your gut, you prepare for the trip. You finish what duties needed attending to, find sitters for your pets, and wrap up anything that couldn’t wait, and head for the old ruins of Letan. You find signs of him in an inner chamber of the ruins, discarded books and vials tossed around the openings to an altar room, twilight seeping in through a few arched windows. The dread that clung itself to you for so long rose out as you entered this room, like it was reaching out and found a hand to grab. You can sense the mana in this room, clinging to it’s stones like moss, and it isn’t good healthy energy. It’s touched and tainted, in a way you have unfortunately become more and more familiar with. 

Modeus is at the end of the chamber, up a small flight of stairs and standing in front of a small podium, which bears the skull of the Grave Isles. His face is lit up by excitement, a huge open mouth smile plastered on his face, ignorant or uncaring about the mana all around you both. 

“Good good! You made it safe I see!” he says joyously as his eyes find yours. He’s pacing, like there’s something he can’t hold in. “I told you there were too many details to explain, so I shall show you!” 

Before you can get a word in edgewise, he closes his eyes and concentrates hard. His mana sigil glows, and it’s larger than you’ve ever seen it. It glows so bright that it’s hard to look at. The light shoots out in a large radius, lighting up the whole chamber, fractals of light from old broken windows danced across the room.. For a fraction of a moment, you thought you could see the mana of this room, too, the lingering darkness in the cracks of the stone pointing their tendrils towards Modeus. The light glows brighter still, surrounding Modeus and forcing you to avert your gaze, until suddenly everything goes dark again like a thunderclap.

Before you where Modeus stood, is a figure. It wears Modeus’ clothes, but it stands on two legs. It’s body is slim, and furless, except for Modeus’ tail, now looking very large by comparison. It’s front paws now hang at it’s side, manabone now forever extruding from digits in small pointed nubs. It’s ears and horns are still Modeus’, though all the fur on the face has gone away. The things that were his front paws are holding the same objects Modeus was holding with his mana sigil when he lit up.

“Achievement!” Modeus exclaims, fumbling with his pen as if to take notes on the spot. “I was able to do it! By searching the mana inside of the skull, and pry through the history of the object like a lost tome I forced it to remember! I took it’s memory and attuned myself to it, and found our long lost history! What you see here before me is a much older species that walked the surface of Kyvalore!”

He turned around and sweeped up the skull, pushing it towards you.

“What I hold here in what is no longer paws but hands, is the same kind of skull I have now, inside my body. A connection to what was, what used to be! The potential is incredible, this breakthrough cannot be understated! I want to share this with you, I want to share this with the world! What wonders we could make, what advancements in history we could make, seeing everything in a different light, experiencing life as a whole ancient civilization did! How might we contextualize the ruins of Old Kyvalore by using the bodies of the souls who inhabited it!”

“Please, let me teach you the rites, the proper method to make this primordial magic your own, so that you too can increase your abilities, your possibilities, and your future! Let me share with you this ancient world!”

His voice began to quiver slightly, his speech faster. Manic, almost, in his excitement and need to share the skulls mana with you. You had been taught the history of the Beginning, of Old Kyvalore, what little of it was known. The humanity that took magic and used it to curse the land and lead to its total destruction. The humanity who’s ruins you now inhabit, who’s monsters roam the lands. The humanity, who’s now standing right in front of you, holding an ancient skull. A voice whispers in the back of your mind,a unique but strangely familiar mana tied to it,.”If you do this, you cannot undo what has been done. There are other ways to gain knowledge.” The soft presence dissipates, and you feel the weight of the ruin’s aura once more. 

You are different though. You weren’t humanity. The form isn’t the corruption, it was the choices humanity made. This mana around you is just a means to an end, it cannot control you.

Right?

 

 

This is a main story quest!
This means that you write how your character would react to this situation.
You can have your character do anything with this information and this intro does not need to be 100% canon for your character as this is still your story to tell as long as it covers the base requirements. Depending on which direction the majority of the community takes, it will determine shifts, changes, and events going forward in Painted Relics, and change how Rhea's story plays out in the next quest.

You can submit this once per character. That means the more characters you have complete the story quest, the more weight you hold ont the story of Painted Relics.

Choose wisely, Kyvalore’s fate rests within your story.

 

Draw or write about your character coming to the ruins to find Modeous. How do they feel upon enterng the ruins and feeling the weight of mana? How do they react when they see him change shape? Are they scared or intrigued? Do they accept Modeous' offer?

 

Options:
Accept the knowledge and attune to the mana
Refuse the knowledge and plan to try to find another way to seek knowledge

Boith of these options count as a vote, the votes at the end are tallied up and that will change how the next part of the story plays out. In many cases each option will also garner you a special item unique to that option.
Please note in the comments of your submision which choice they make.

Drawing Requirements:
A fullbody character, and an advanced background

Writing Requirements:
1200 words

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Rewards

Reward	Amount
User EXP	15
Character EXP	15