Northern Lights - A Celestial Gacha Story - Semi-SI-ish, Worm, MI UP

[Inkyfoxxo]

Notes on Threadmark categories.

Extras: The proper, edited version of the turn, meant to be the best story reading experience. Will update slower than the others.

Threadmarks: The original version of the turn, most likely a bit stream of consciousness. This is where the story will be at any given point, the most turnlike turns. Probably the closest to a or quest experience.

Appendix: Notes, explanations, and Oracles. After each turn in Extras, I will post the Oracle, transcribed or screenshotted or both from my Oracle, and my thoughts on interpretation of the oracles and where the story is going. Please feel free to chime in about different interpretations or how you think it could go. This is probably the closest to a game like experience. I like the puzzle of it all. Likely also character sheets/perk lists etc.

The typical flow will be the turn Extra, immediately followed by the next turn's Appendix Oracle. Rinse and repeat. Then, later, as time and energy and the muse allows, the Threadmark, incorporating foreshadowing, proper plot structure more, pacing, details we learned from a later turn but really should have been present earlier, etc.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

So! You've never heard of the Celestial Gacha.

That makes sense, it isn't a thing.

Or rather, I'm using the Celestial Gambler to roll my perks, with focus on lewd, cooking, and growing things. This is not a combat build, deliberately.

And because of that, I'm not picking perks by what I or the character would want most. I'm picking perks by what would make the most interesting *story*. I might get that wrong. Many turns powers will be irrelevant... until they aren't.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 30
Event: Take Repulsive Merchant
Mythic: NPC Action Harm Pain
Sensory: The hiss of escaping gas, flames in the distance, a gut-wrenching acceleration.
Rune: Thurisaz ("Thor/Giant") • reactionary, defensive destruction, instinct, willpower, regeneration, lightning, electricity
Tarot: Ace of Coins, Reversed • miserliness, too much concern with money
Virtue: Humility
Vice: Greed
Thoughts:
So whatever was supposed to happen, I get sold to... The ABB? Oh! The food is drugged. Instead of getting knocked out, nothing happens. They suspect parahuman, bring in Krieg. Krieg demands she tell him. Because they have uses for parahumans. If not, the ABB is always willing to buy young women, and she's not worth saving. She explains. He force-feeds her bleach. Nothing happens except her complaining about the taste. She gets tortured to see if she has any other powers. She doesn't. Instead, he contacts gesselschaft.
Perk Roll: Superpower Potion
A vial of potion that gives the drinker great strength, toughness, flight, resistance to magic, the ability to see the invisible, and the ability to shoot telekinetic beams, paralyzing beams or hypnotic rays from their eyes. The only downside is that the potion only lasts for a few hours. Once used you receive a new vial after a week.
d6: Telekinetic beams.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 07
Event: Travel Bewildering Tool
Mythic: NPC Action Adversity Wounds
Sensory: A stone slab slamming to the ground, hideously serrated teeth, tired and irritated, moss and old earth.
Rune: Thurisaz ("Thor/Giant") • reactionary, defensive destruction, instinct, willpower, regeneration, lightning, electricity
Tarot: Two of Cups • union, romantic relationship, joining of two things
Virtue: Compassion
Vice: Fear
Thoughts:
Travel bewildering tool. She wasn't properly subtle (she went in a straight line in radar past cities, then down and continued in that straight line. She did... pretty much nothing to hide her identity and was pretty clearly visible to anyone who saw her and then called someone further forwards in her path with binoculars.)

But the MRI to check for head injuries came back positive for slight concussion and negative for corona pollentia and gemma. So she's not a cape. But she obviously flew here. What tool did she use to travel here? Bewildering.

The sensory, npc action adversity wounds, thurisaz, and the 07 tell me that there's going to be a cape fight that injures her. Probably nothing to do with her, and very unusual for the area. Maybe a grudge match between clustermates that were not expecting to find each other on vacation. (or at least one of them wasn't)
Superpower Potion d6: N/A
Oh COME ON.
Perk Roll:
Martian Blood
It seems you have been injected with the blood of a Martian, this allows you to transform into any non-sapient animal you have seen before, even those who are from outer space. You gain their abilities, and powers, although this transformation can be overwhelming if an animal has innate rage issues.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 55
Event: Unearth Stealthy Trial
Mythic: NPC positive Delay Pain
Sensory: The frightened neighing of horses, a strange city in the distance, slimy goo, a clinical, hospital quality
Rune: Kenaz ("Beacon/Torch") • creativity, inspiration, harnessed power, world-changing ability
Tarot: Justice • fair-mindedness
Virtue: Compassion
Vice: Fear
Thoughts:
Superpower Potion d6: N/A

Perk Roll:
Black Book
Totally unmarked, save for a blood red clasp that holds the covers closed. Capable of teaching the reader one lust-based spell. Slight chance that they become slightly more intelligent as well. (Heal) A/N - Eventually changed to a die roll on what the spell is.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 73
Event: Discover Treacherous Goodness
Mythic: NPC positive Arrive The innocent
Sensory: A one-sided conversation. A vicious, stabbing pain. An exotic, floral aroma
Rune: Kenaz ("Beacon/Torch") • creativity, inspiration, harnessed power, world-changing ability
Tarot: Eight of Coins • successful artisan, workaholism, poor work-life balance
Virtue: Charity
Vice: Wrath
Thoughts:
Superpower Potion d6: N/A

Perk Roll:
Bonds of Sisterhood
A true harem is more than just a collection of people you have sex with: it's a family, and family hangs together through thick and thin even if they don't like each other. Your harem is empowered by the strength of that bond, and the tighter the bond the tighter the harem will be in turn. This perk helps your haremettes cooperate with each other more effectively: given two girls whose only relationship is with you, they'll find it much easier to make their individual efforts click together and support each other instead of tripping their partner up. Take the same two girls and make their relationship as strong with each other as it is with you, whether as friends or lovers or romantic rivals, and they'll laugh off mind-control or even the most insidious attempts to turn them against each other. This works for all group activities, from singing a duet to cooking a meal to group sex.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 64
Event: Antagonise Restrained Prophecy
Mythic: NPC Negative Control Disruption
Sensory: Roiling, oily smoke. The heady aroma of wine.
Rune: Uruz ("Auroch/Wild Ox") • energy, health, strength, tenacity, courage
Tarot: Page of Coins • open-minded novice, learning from her surroundings, studying to achieve growth and abundance
Virtue: Loyalty
Vice: Envy
Superpower Potion d6: N/A
Book Respawn: 03-29-2010
Next Endbringer attack: 04-07-10
Perk Roll:
A Bottomless Heart
For an ordinary person it may be enough to only have one other person to spend your life with, but there's nothing ordinary about you, is there? Love and emotional attachment comes to you easily and you find it more difficult than most to let go of those you care about, to the point that choosing one woman over another when you love them both is unthinkable to you. Luckily, this is not without its benefits. You have a perfect photographic memory for information about people you care about, no matter how many of those people you might have. You'll never forget their birthdays, favorite meals, erogenous zones, etc. and can easily keep track of their needs and desires without even thinking very hard about it.
Thoughts: Cast for the restrained, and then something happens to disrupt Julia's control. Maybe the scent of wine, she drank? She's certainly stressed enough but I don't see her doing that when she has so many plates spinning. Maybe a problem with Dan's estate? Envy, maybe someone is trying to get the hotel from her? Means she has to go into the city to take care of it, maybe even drive out to Houghton. That disrupts her control over the hotel because she's not there to spin plates, and Alice skips school to run the hotel. Alice steps up. Page of coins, uruz, loyalty. But it would be a catalyst for Julia seeing how much she's been relying on Alice.

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 55
Event: Delay Metaphorical Relative
Mythic: Introduce a new PC Disrupt Liberty
Sensory: Your stomach drops, clean breeze
Rune: Gebo ("Gift/Exchanges") • generosity, balance, contracts, relationships, partnerships
Tarot: Ten of Coins • final result of cumulative efforts
Virtue: Courage
Vice: Pride
Superpower Potion d6: N/A
Book Respawn: 03-29-2010
Next Endbringer attack: 04-07-10
Perk Roll:
Utilimancy
You have mastered the art of utilimancy. An oft forgotten school of magic, utilimancy is more commonly known as household magic and is used for maintenance and upkeep, including cleaning, repairs, a minor form of telekinesis, and, most importantly, cooking. Utilimancy can be used to replace a wide variety of utensils and tools meant for the cooking process and can replicate many modern day tools used in the kitchen. It also gives a very minor form of elemental magic in each of the four main elements. The equivalent of creating sparks to light a fire.
Thoughts:

 

[Inkyfoxxo]

Encounter: 20
Event: Restore Impressive Foe - Oh dear.
Mythic: PC positive Oppose the Physical
Sensory: A pained bellow, backed into a corner, lemon and soap
Rune: Othala ("Birthright/Home") • Inheritance, property passed down, house, home, spiritual heritage, fundamental rights, source of safety, that which is most important
Tarot: The Star • communion with the soul, celestial mandate, destiny, fate
Virtue: Humility
Vice: Pride
Superpower Potion d6: N/A
Book Respawn: 03-29-2010
Next Endbringer attack: 04-07-10
Perk Roll:
Omnilinguistic Assimilation
You can learn any human or alien language through lip-to-lip contact. Girls will likely have an easier time using this power than boys.
Thoughts:
SO! This gets uh... The oracle is practically SCREAMING Empire. But honestly I kind of like the idea of it being another white supremacist/neonazi group being put in touch with Gesselschaft? Rural Michigan has its share of that sort of thing, and the UP is mostly rural.

Okay, Rural neonazi compound, contact with gesselschaft, the perk... Bree kissing a nazi to learn German? Kissing the daughter of the clan who is a top student, multilingual, in an attempt to find a way out of the clan? And said clan getting pissed off about said kiss?

PC oppose the physical to me says superpower potion. Bree is... underwhelming, in terms of combat prowess. Unless somebody reminds her that her martian blood power lets her turn into any animal, such as a snake, and she could have gotten out of that cast at any time. Or a bear, which do live around there and could plausibly do an interrupt with the daughter caught in a corner.

But... To me this feels sort of triggerworthy, and I think having it resolve in a single turn would be doing the plot a disservice.

Dunno. OR! Monica is back, for Reasons:tm:. Maybe Mr. Van Man tries to stay at the hotel? Maybe Monica got away/killed Mr. Van Man, and is now in the hotel? Her power works mostly on concrete, so the Northwoods would be less susceptible to it.

Or maybe the ice lady? Dunno. Thoughts?