โจโพโจShortly after leaving the mountain of sorcery in Arcana, Apotheosis was back on the move. He held the first volume of the tome of the dragon in his hand as he crossed through the glades of Arcana. His cloak billowed behind him as he returned to Vathek where his sorcery tower was. He walked into his home and climbed the stairs of the tower before stepping into the laboratory. Apotheosis placed the book of dragon lore on the center table and table peeling through the pages obsessively. The book contained forgotten tales of the dragon Asmodeus as well as draconic taxonomy. Apotheosis dusted the pages off while hanging off of every single word in the ancient tome. I might be the first sorcerer to set eye on these pages in centuries. It was no wonder that it was sealed away and so well protected by advanced arcane magic.
โจโพโจWhen he reached the end of the book he flipped it back to the middle and raised his hands over it. Red arcane magic left his hands and allowed the book to levitate and be fully unlocked. Fire escaped from the book's pages and formed a dragon's head before dissipating. Arcane symbols were magically projected from the book's pages as he unlocked new meanings. He took pensive notes to gain as much insight as possible. He needed to learn how to access the second volume in the series. That would lead him to deeper insights until he could ultimately access the great Book of Eibon.
โจโพโจThe tome began rising higher abruptly as the arcane magic ceased. It was replaced with a surge of some other kind of energy. Apotheosis could not quite place what it was, although he was sure it was not magic. It was pure madness incarnate and it showed images of goblins and other strange hallucinations. Anyone who was well attuned to madness would feel this incredibly powerful signature of magic emanating from the sorcerer's tower in Vathek. He watched as another dragon head formed but it was made from madness rather than magic. It roared at Apotheosis as he tried, unsuccessfully, to contain the madness with arcane circles. Pages and books swirled around the library in his tower as he continued to hold steady with his arcane magic.
On his own little search for power, Decus had figured that coming through Arcana in order to locate more power would be fine. Madness was everywhere after all, and with two witches under him his passage to Arcana was quite the easy one. Of course, that also meant he had to be careful of some things while he was here...well in any normal situation. Decus himself wasn't particularly afraid of anything akin to being discovered as not a witch. The man was far from afraid to take on anyone and everyone who deemed him an enemy. Besides, the more he could take out the more power he could gain. Of course he also wasn't stupid, if he were to try to take out masses of witches within Arcana he would surely grab the attention of the Witch Queen and that was not something he needed right now. One of the three people he felt...he knew he couldn't take on...at least not yet that is.
His face twisted with disgust at the thought of being weaker than certain beings, however he quickly regained his composure. However that was when suddenly he felt it, a shift in the air around him. He knew this place was quite the naturally magical place. He could feel that in the air as well, all around him was ambient power. However something somewhere shifted it, initially unable to tell where. Then something changed it, the magical air around turned into a thick feeling of something else. Something not magical at all. Something he himself was quite versed in. A smile grew across his face for but a moment as he made his way towards where he could feel the madness coming from.
Walls that might have impeded a normal person simply did no such thing for him. Coming through the walls into the area where he saw what seemed to be a book. Madness extending from it into a lizard like head. Arcane circles surrounding it and struggling to suppress the power flowing from the tome. The figure was a familiar one, they had been at city hall back then right? One of the witches no doubt...especially considering that they were here using magic in order to attempt to suppress madness. He shook his head. "No no no." He repeated for a bit, before he himself would begin to exude his own madness. His form distorting, shifting into that of a non-distinct indescribable beast of madness as well. One that would grasp the draconic head of madness with a roar of it's own and attempt to devour it. At least that's what it would appear as. What was actually going on? Decus himself was attempting to absorb the dragon head of madness himself while the witch was suppressing it. What better time to do that after all? What better way to deal with madness than to take it in?
โจโพโจApotheosis watched as a man phased through the walls of his tower. He began devouring the draconic head as Apotheosis held fast with his magic circles. It continued to surge with madness even as the non-witch tried to subdue it. While he was dealing with the dragon head, Apotheosis targeted the arcane magic in the sorcery tome. His arcane circles were removed from the dragon head and tampered with the book. This weakened the dragonhead just enough for Decus to finish absorbing it. The pages swirling around the room stopped and fell to the floor as the book was pacified.
โจโพโจApotheosis allowed his magic circles to dissipate as he looked over at Decus. "Who ar- Wait a moment, I remember you, from the City Hall attack!" He said as he snatched the book off the table, worried that Decus had come to steal it. He put more arcane magic into the sorcerer's book to keep it safe and subdued. Magic filled the room as it was cleaned and restored to its original state. Brooms magically flew in and began sweeping the floor on their own while floating dusters cleared off filthy surfaces. "What did you just do? Is that what brought thou to my tower?" The sorcerer asked as he put the large book under his arm and stared at Decus.
Having finished absorbing the madness of the dragon head Decus stood for a moment. Honestly he was a little confused at where something like that even came from, the madness of it was quite potent. It was very odd that it came from some weird book as opposed to a person. He could feel any madness coming from the book anymore either, perhaps it was something else about the book? Well Decus wasn't here to figure all that out either. His form turned to look at the red haired male. Who seemed to show signs of worry that he was there to take his precious book. However as Decus had suspected he did indeed see this person at City Hall as that is where he was recognized from as well. "I absorbed it obviously. It was valuable power that I could use so why not? So I guess yeah that's what brought me to your tower." Decus explained himself a bit.
Looking around for a moment before his eyes once more came upon the book he wondered. "Did you make that and it go out of control or something? Practicing your own madness experiments or whatever?" Honestly, Decus wasn't quite sure and that was the only reason he was asking the man himself. In the event this guy was some sort of madness experimenter maybe he could use him for some of his knowledge. Honestly it was also kind of the only option he himself could think of being unsure of what the book was. As far as he knew there was a distinct difference between a witch's magic and a witch using madness.
โจโพโจApotheosis kept an eye on the creepy man who stood in his sorcery tower. Decus's explanation made sense, he supposed that absorbing madness to increase power was usually the goal of Kishin eggs. On top of harvesting innocent souls, that is. "No, I didn't create this. The madness was...unexpected." He placed the book back on the table and opened it carefully. He needed to examine the magical runes in the chapter that manifested the madness. "This is a sorcery tome. It was made by a powerful sorcerer who could conjure dragons. It's ancient and contains information about dragons, arcane magic, et ceterrrrrrra." Apotheosis rolled his r's furiously as he explained the book with enthusiasm. "I had no reason to expect madness in this tome. Fascinating." He continued to conduct research over the book as he read the arcane magic. He took a quill and paper before writing down the transcription of his observations.
โจโพโจOnce he took the notes on his parchment he slid it across the table to Decus. "Hopefully that explains it succinctly enough. I doubt you could comprehend the details." Apotheosis condescended as he formed more eldritch circles in the room. He was collecting as much magical information as possible. "Sorcerer witches derive their power from objects called demon tools. Most demon tools are spelltomes that the sorcerer materializes after years of intense study. This is a dragon tome that was believed to have been lost to the ages, but I found it." He attempted to summarize the background knowledge. Apotheosis's arms swayed around as he gesticulated his theories. "This powerful magical tome was once an ordinary demon tool, long ago, that is. It changed into a dragon tome when its sorcerer found the Book of Eibon and absorbed part of its knowledge into his own demon tool, like a sponge of arcane power. The Book of Eibon is the most powerful demon tool ever created. It's also believed to be destroyed. I doubt that as well, arcane knowledge can never be permanently erased." The sorcerer's obsession with this subject was showing as he went on a long lecture.
โจโพโจHe caught himself going out on tangents and realized that he was in the wrong company for such a conversation. He was getting far too carried away. "Rrrrregardless, the point is that I'm collecting as many dragon tomes as possible because each one has a clue that might lead me to find the Book of Eibon for myself. When I find it, I will absorb it into his pyromancy book and have the draconic power of a god." Apotheosis showed his own book that was attached to his hip by his belt. He then pointed at the page of notes that he gave Decus before explaining the rune that was drawn on the page as well as the arcane script. "Since a demon tool is the source of a sorcerer's power, perhaps the sorcerer who created this tome was skilled with madness. The arcane magic of the book tells me that there is a larger source of madness in arcana. The magic circle there is like a map for sorcerers only." Only a sorcerer might understand the seeming gibberish that was on the page. He took the parchment from Decus again and began analyzing it.
โจโพโจ"Now then, if you're hungry for more madness energy then you can come along with me on this quest. Besides, i have very little experience in the subject myself. You'll need me with you in order to lead you through Arcana as well." Apotheosis proposed this arrangement and wanted to gauge Decus's receptiveness to it. "The only reason I'm following this madness is that I think the madness construct is guarding another dragon tome. You get the madness, I get the tome of sorcery, everybody wins!" Apotheosis continued to propose working together although he would probably just head that way regardless.
After clearing up what seemed to be the small misunderstanding of why he was here the witch he was currently in the company of. Writing something out and showing it to Decus he stared at it for a moment, and sort of just didn't care honestly. Whatever bit of an explanation the flame haired man wrote out would be taken in by Decus but then locked away in the deep recesses of his mind. Inaccessible just because it wasn't what he cared about just this moment. Of course though, that didn't matter much, as the man began to suddenly rant about the arcane, theories, the dragons, these books, demon tools. So much so that it seemed the flame haired male hadn't even noticed that the madness eater simply...wasn't listening. Not something he cared about much, some magic book? He supposed that if all of these books had some deeper connection to madness then he would be a bit more interested in it. It seemed Apotheosis realized what he was doing soon enough and quickly became less of a ranty magic man.
To Decus this man, was at least a little bit like himself. While their methods might be different they remain generally the same in the long run. Power of so called gods. It was interesting to say the least, to be so engrossed in the idea of dragons and to associate it with the powers equating to that of the closest things that they had to gods. Decus' own goal was a lot like this, gathering madness in order to assuredly become stronger. He needed to be stronger, stronger than the gods. It seemed Apotheosis at the very least understood the kind of power Decus was after. As he quickly explained that the demon tool likely had a skilled connection to madness or some mumbo jumbo. The simplest terms that the witch had brought up though. This was indeed a mutually beneficial agreement for the two of them. Absorbing madness would lead to his own advancement. He didn't care whether or not this man had another power that might be considered equivalent to their so called gods....in fact he welcomed it.
If there were more so strong, strong enough they could stand up to the Witch Queen or Lord Death, all the better. The more the two of them had to worry about the less they would have time to deal with Decus if they ever figured out what he was doing. After all, the madness eater's goals were rather against the two of them. "You rant a lot about stuff I could care less about..." The young man said to the flame haired witch. "But, as long as you're helping me find the madness I desire and empower myself and not hindering me I'll consider you an ally." Stretching a bit and yawning before looking around. "Well, lets get going. I'm sure you have plenty of time to waste but I don't."
โจโพโจThe sorcerer rolled his eyes almost to the back of his head. How could someone not care about the arcane lore? It was one of the most important aspects of magical theory! "Hmph!" Apotheosis huffed as he grabbed his book and his staff. He floated to the bottom of his tower with Decus before leaving the tower and eventually the land of Vathek in general. He raised a magical circle detailing an arcane map to the location in the madness-imbued book. "You seem like a bad listener, but the point is that madness in these books is highly abnormal. As a result, I have no idea what we're going to face. Usually, sorcery instruments are found among arcane magic. This might be different, I'm unsure." He wanted to give his rude travel companion some idea of the peculiarity of the situation. Also that it was unclear what they may be facing. "There's probably something powerful to it. Great risk, great reward." Decus would see the arcane circle above him beginning to zoom in on the routes with greater detail. "You're not a Witch, clearly. But you have some affinity for madness. Do you think you can handle more where that came from?" Decus had some use for him if this was the case. Perhaps he would be lying but Apotheosis did not have any other choice on such short notice. After an hour or so of journeying across the magical realm, the two would reach a massive canyon. In the far distance, there was a red cloud of swirling energy. "Well, that's not arcane magic, I can tell you that. How should we approach this?" Apotheosis clasped his hands together as the arcane map that led the way disappeared.
"Hard to listen to something so boring. I got what I needed from it though." Decus said to the witch who was still prattling on about magic and the like. Madness being abnormal to something like thwas should be commonplace, madness was after all heavily feared by most. Of course if something ancient had madness associated with it that probably also meant madness perhaps wasn't always so feared? As Apotheosis asked him a question though, a fairly twisted smile had grown across his face as he answered. "I can handle, so, much, more." The thought of gathering more madness excited him. Even if he had to continue to work alongside this boring witch guy.
After about an hour of travel, and what was probably either literally no conversation or Decus ignoring Apotheosis, the red cloud in the distance came into view. The brown haired boy whistled as the red haired witch spoke. "Pretty obvious if you ask me." He said, both referring to how the large storm of red was not exactly very hidden. He was a bit surprised that no one dealt with this by now. How long had it even been here? As well as obvious in regards to what they should do. "We just walk up, I absorb the madness like planned, you get whatever magical nonsense you need, we move on to the next one if there is a next one. I thought that plan was clear?" His head tilted to the side, and his plan showed clear lack of true thought behind it....or perhaps just pure confidence that there was nothing that could possibly go wrong with their endeavors in the first place. Not in them as a group, but in just himself.
โจโพโจThis Decus was a piece of work and it was already getting on Apotheosis's nerves. At least it seemed that he could handle himself in a highly dangerous battle. [colo=#FC8A17]"Fine, fine." It seemed that Decus could only think of the direct approach. The sorcerer supposed that it was as good of an idea as any. He then walked deeper into the canyon with Decus. Madness seemed to emanate from the mountain more and more as they drew closer. As they walked along, they were intercepted by a group of men in red clergy robes. "Oh grand." Apotheosis huffed sarcastically as the group of men blocked their way. "Halt! The ground on which you stand is holy. There is a dragon god within the mountain. What business do you have in our holy lands?" Apotheosis put his hands over his face in frustration before responding. "I'm a sorcerer from the Grand Coven and I'm here for the dragon tome that's in that mountain." He spoke directly if not pompously about his intentions. The group of priests immediately became defensive. "We'll not let you touch our holy book!" The archpriest spoke up as his draconic pendant glowed with madness. Apotheosis turned to Decus and asked a question skeptically. "Are these fools real?" What with all the madness going around he was wondering if they were just constructs. Suddenly, they each hurled blasts of madness at the pair. The priests had insane expressions on their faces. Apotheosis then frowned as the madness was fired at him. "That won't do!" Apotheosis unleashed a ball of flame that destroyed two of the madness blasts and slammed into two of the priests.
โจ Madness Sting | Level 4 | Tier 1 | Mana The user holds a hand out and shoots a condense beam of Madness out. The aesthetic appearance of the attack can change into anything the user desires. The sting inflicts a raised tier of Madness on the opponent.
โจโพโจ ๏ผก๏ผฐ๏ผฏ๏ผด๏ผจ๏ผฅ๏ผฏ๏ผณ๏ผฉ๏ผณ โฆโฝโฆ Level IV | โโโโ | Witch | Sorcerer | Magician | 550/600 Mana
๐ ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ โพ Fireball | Level 5 | Tier 1 | Mana The pyromancer generates a ball of flame and shoots it at the target. A scaled amount of mana is applied to create the fireball. The fire will destroy any enemy technique or spell that is lower level than it. The fireball is also ten feet wide per level of the spell to a maximum of fifty feet at level five. ๐ ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ต๐ค ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฒโโโโโ
As they draw closer and closer and closer to the mountain Decus would slightly change. Very minor things, that perhaps Apotheosis would notice if he paid attention, but would probably be more noticeable to someone who knew him better. Decus usually walked with little to no interest nor interesting things going on. He was more like a marching soldier in a way than a normal person. However the closer they got to the madness the more his walking became a bit erratic. A skip or so every so often mixed in with his steps. Sudden half second pauses that seemed almost like he stopped functioning for but a mere moment before continuing on like nothing changed. Then eventually they were stopped by men in robes, clergymen? Decus face visibly contorted, his bored expression changing to one of annoyance, and perhaps anger. Even before they started to speak it was clear that Decus didn't like them in the slightest. Holy ground, dragon god? While Apotheosis attempted to handle the situation with words, thoughts traveled through Decus' head. If they're claiming something to be a god, perhaps it was strong? As strong as the Witch Queen and Lord Death maybe? Otherwise how would a group such as this even survive in a place like this? Well...lots of people avoid madness in the first place, maybe that's why. However it was at least interesting, and infuriating.
As Apotheosis turned his head to look at Decus and ask if they were real, Apotheosis would notice a twisted and almost excited expression on Decus' face. "Well, if there's something strong enough for them to refer to as a god," He began just before the priests fired off blasts of madness at them. "Maybe they're not completely insane." He finished, and as he did his body contorted. Shifting again to a still humanoid but much more monstrous form that roared an angry and loud battle cry at the clergymen. At least, what was what the priests would see. Apotheosis, now an ally of Decus, would instead see that it were merely an illusion that surrounded Decus' form. The blasts of madness fired at the two of them, Apotheosis dealt with them rather normally, while Decus would just....walk through them. Taking the hit from the blasts of madness and seemingly going unaffected by the Madness. His own innate resistance to being afflicted by Madness he didn't wish to be afflicted by or that was simply...too weak. "Pitiful" He spoke loudly, however at the same time his form would appear directly behind the cultists. Another illusion no doubt, but one perhaps a bit too real to be comfortable. While Decus actually stood still, his illusory form behind the cultists would speak. "I'm going to kill you," It spoke, grabbing the throats of two of the firce priests in question. While it was an illusion, it couldn't actually physically touch them...the priests would feel almost as if they were indeed being choked. The feeling of their throat being constricted and air not getting to travel to their lungs would wrack the two bodies. "then I'm going to devour your so called dragon god." The monstrous form of Decus' illusory self continued speaking staring at the other priests whom it did not seem to grab. "Then my companion is going to take your book and desecrate any sense of holiness you fools think it might have."
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Ephemeral Ozymandias
The Meister Log
In-Effect Perks Regardless of the Madness tier of any opponents (or lack thereof), the user can generate horrifyingly violent illusions that harass the opponent. These can generate sound, smell, and even taste; if they appear to interact with the opponent, the opponent will feel a phantom sensation there and their hairs will likely rise. This generation isn't an ability and doesn't cost an action, but it induces one tier of Madness and causes great distress. If using the Phantom Play ability, the illusions will distort all Soul Perception information to be incorrect or non-existent. Requires "Hallucinogenic"
Technique Activations/Uses โจ Phantom Play | Level 3 | Tier 2 | Stamina, Mana, or Spirit The user's illusions are so powerful that the opponents' senses, mind, body, and soul will treat them as real. This allows the user to generate tornados that don't physically suck the air out of the opponent yet stills their lungs anyways, or monsters that can't quite shred a Meister to pieces but can force their body into shock as if their guts are falling out. These illusions are up to the user's imagination, and get worse if the user is familiar with the Unreality perk line. If the user is a Meister of the Soul Mirage skill tree, those perks may influence this technique if the Meister so chooses.
โจโพโจApotheosis glanced at Decus after the cultists were roundly defeated. When Decus mentioned that there is an entity in the volcano that is strong enough to be considered a god. "Or they're just a cabal of loony cultists. That's my hunch." The sorcerer spoke dismissively as he stared down at their charred corpses. "Though, I suppose if there's something protecting the tome then simpletons may believe it to be of divine providence." Apotheosis shrugged although he did enjoy Decus' taunting of them. "Look at you." The sorcerer giggled before walking closer to the volcano. "I get the feeling there's more of those fools around here." Apotheosis practically scoffed through his words as he looked around.
โจโพโจIn no time, one of the large caves near the volcano began glowing with red light from some source of magic. Loud chanting could be heard by Apotheosis and Decus. He pointed at the entrance of the cave and shrugged again. "Shall we go in there and slaughter some more fanatics? Or just head up to the volcano?" He was unsure if they should just challenge the remaining cultists or try to find the book immediately and leave.
