Настучать в бубен / Hit the tambourine: Глава 5

Chapter 5

Camrad_RIP 14.04.24 в 20:43

* * *

Camrad_RIP 14.04.24 в 20:43

It must be said that by the time he returned to the house Stepan had cooled down, and his rage and thirst for revenge had reduced the degree of absurd cruelty. All the curses of gut decay, bones growing spikes into the body, bloody vomit, and unquenchable hunger that would make you literally burst in the process of gluttony, of course, it's good and cool. However, the entities that can provide an unpleasant death of this caliber, can also bite the summoner. Not to mention that stealing and, ahem, violent acts of a sexual nature don't carry the death penalty, though sometimes you'd like to. No, if he had been beaten with whips, whipped with a strapon, or given to the village men for use, Stepan would have turned himself inside out, but he wouldn't have left the village alive at all, except for very small children and teenagers.

Camrad_RIP 15.04.24 в 10:16

But he didn't feel enough hatred in himself to nail the treacherous mother and her daughter. He didn't have it. And it was simply unpleasant to imagine how a woman, whom you had recently caressed and adored, even if not entirely of your own free will, would die. But there was no forgiveness, no forgiveness at all, rather the determination to take revenge properly became even brighter, even bigger, even more voluminous, and Stepan did not intend to give it up out of Christian principles. He's a shaman, what the fuck else is Christianity? Only revenge, only hardcore and evil laughter in the style of Dark Overlord. There's gotta be some of those plasticines in this world, right? If not, he can take the vacant seat, build a radically black tower in the Gothic style, gather a harem of elven women, and defy the gods. Stepan had no doubt that such bullshit had never been done in this world before.

Camrad_RIP 15.04.24 в 10:21

The idea of using charms as a means of revenge had come quite obviously and quickly. He'd been thinking about it in one form or another for quite some time while he'd been walking back. After all, he should somehow use a significant part of his status and magical knowledge, not keep it dead weight. He couldn't find a more worthy target for a test anyway. And, most importantly, no questions of morality or anything like that - the bitches themselves lifted all the restrictions from him. That's why it was decided to work with the charms very tightly, making the revenge truly symmetrical, only multiplied a hundred times.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:55

And here began serious questions, because weak charms, yes, from a great distance, gave not quite the result he wanted. Super Spirit, a specialist in charms and correction of consciousness, was also not suitable, because his effect was one-time and even if he made a mother and daughter a dozen times to fuck with a random man who said "good morning" to them, it would not be the same. Simple charms in his execution were either too unreliable, weak, rough, or required being very close to the target, or, more often than not, several items on that list together. Again, charm magic works not so well on the gifted, albeit weak, untrained, and very insolent, and would require an additional infusion of power.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 11:25

The young man thought back and forth and remembered the old adage about revenge and cold pizza, and decided to find or get a suitable tool. And, instead of immediate payback to a couple of mean bitches, he began to level with redoubled vigor, as the Korean nerds had bequeathed to earthlings. He called day and night, with breaks for lunch and toilet, and then tried to communicate with the spirits of dream realms in his dreams, with varying success. And sitting on the toilet he also, at times, looked with a spiritual gaze and thought of calling some shitspirit, just for the love of art and the memory of arguing on the Internet. The gift property and invested talent made these dialogues very easy, and the guy now understood spirits much better than people, especially locals, however, it often seemed to him a problem even before he got there.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 15:42

He strengthened the guardian spirit of his cabin, weaved a dozen of his colleagues into a network of patrols for the surrounding countryside, spelled a stream nearby, and made a deal with the spirit of the forest, or rather the nearest part of it, to call the guardian to his aid once or twice in case of trouble, if it was near the cabin or not too far away. The young man made several contracts with very strong entities, among which were those capable of creating an air-battering ram, breaking bones and lightning from the sky in the style of old Zeus Perunovich Baalenko. Beforehand, he made deals with a couple of spirits-whisperers, which are most often chosen for love magic, and also put a whole series of dreams on Gozb, in which he served a variety of cuisine, but invariably delicious, and dreams made memorable and health-enhancing, adding to the dreamer and the spirit-healer. Let at least someone have pleasant dreams, yes.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 15:44

He also set up a small shrine in the clearing where he had appeared seemingly an eternity ago, having carved a three-foot-tall idol out of an old and long fallen log that had not rotted away. He bound some of his combat contracts to this idol and the place and often attached other spirits to the territory, which he did not take as his personal retinue. He drove away several quite dangerous predatory entities, which began to parasitize on Stepan's labor, eating the spirits who came to his call. Another three he ostentatiously restrained, and then forced into service, which for dark creatures was analogous to normal working relationships. Nothing as complicated as the source and its guardian or the curse of Knoss, but a lot of labor, interspersed with system quests.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 15:46

The contents of the carved wooden chest he had found on his return home helped a lot with all of this. There was nothing really great, no valuable relics, just a lot of special stones, bones, feathers, powders, dried mushrooms (use with caution, or you could become an elf), twigs, and all sorts of things that could easily be used as billets for a spirit house, a totem, an amulet, or something similar. In a separate column were classic ritual knives in two copies: bone and obsidian, as well as billets for larger totem idols. Alas, for a full-fledged small altar, they were, well, a bit small, or he would have used them first of all, instead of fiddling with all sorts of fallen logs.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 15:54

The renewed arsenal and the list of contracts, new perfumes, and new jewelry on his clothes, which made him resemble a savage of the Tumba-Yumba tribe, as well as the constantly restoring reserve could not but bring results. And now, after almost a week and a half of continuous binge since his return - he had habitually refused another task to masturbate to the Autogoddess - the system rang with a message about the taken level, and after that came a "message" from the higher authority, giving him new knowledge. It was a minor knowledge. A summon contract, a level no weaker than the previous one and just as useless. Well, this time even his uselessness is for Stepan's benefit because he has a task for revenge given to himself personally. And for this problem such entities, which Her Milfeischestvo sends him on the contract, are quite suitable, oh how suitable.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 15:56

Received: "A contract with the elder spirits: The Shroud of Touch and the Creator of Decisions".

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 11:42

The acquired talent is added to the overall Player status.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:50

Each of the spirits was weaker than the last, but together they were comparable, if not stronger. However, they could only be summoned together. Or rather, if you could cope with it, you could summon one of them separately, but according to the contract of service, they would only come together and perform a very narrow list of tasks. Just like last time, in short, Stepan wasn't even surprised or surprised, not offended or upset. However, there was still pity for the missed opportunities, especially when understanding the techniques and nature of the Shroud. This spirit was quite exotic and not specific to any particular realm, but it worked with life only so much, especially with nerves and feelings, including pain.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:21

One call of such an asshole for 24 hours and there will be no animals and robbers left in the forest, because he can easily bring a painful impulse to heartbreak, stop the heart, paralyze respiratory muscles, and a hundred more options for killing living creatures available to him, and he can kill non-living ones completely. Only masters of magic will be able to fight back, and only masters can confidently break the spirit in response, and even then with a successful specialization (or shamans, but shamans are simply out of competition in such a battle). Strong, very strong creature, and really useful in battle, in the real battle of the material world.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:23

The second spirit resembled the Sleepwalker in some ways, but it worked with the victim anywhere, not in dreams, so it was easier to notice its actions, as well as the consequences of those actions. He could do a lot of things in combat, but he was no match for Shroud of Touch. He could do a good job of removing curses or restoring people's brains from senile dementia or mental trauma, which was what he specialized in, and Miss Milforator had contracted him to work a little off the beaten path. But, like last time, he would have to be summoned separately, and outside the contract and agreement, he would simply not hear Stepan's efforts, because he was too deep and too accustomed to filtering out weak appeals. To summon such a thing according to his contract and then start trying to make a new one - this is a very big problem, he will naturally get angry because the spirits to such trifles are terribly sensitive and equally terribly vindictive.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:25

The contract is similar to the previous one, but instead of calling twenty times a year, those calls are only five, but with a cycle of one season, interrupted at the time of the change of seasons. The transfer of the right of call to blood heirs is also possible but involves additional difficulties, because it will be necessary to placate both spirits, and they will not accept whatever kind of offering. But the terms of their contracts, oh, they made Stepan shudder at the thought that the Autogoddess was somehow watching him, though it could have been a coincidence. And if that lady had realized that she had made a mistake with the Chosen One, she would have let him know... probably. Returning to the topic - the spirits were just perfect for the revenge conceived by the Earthman, which made the young man involuntarily smile a very anticipatory smile.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:34

Payback was close.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:50

Spirits in general often act outside the usual laws of magic. That's why they are spirits, entities of another plane of existence, which breathe and live magic, and therefore interact with it freely and often arbitrarily, sometimes even weak entities able to do things that another magician can not. It was not easy to formulate exactly what these spirits did according to the contract, the images were drawn in broad strokes, and for a couple of hours, Stepan had been conscientiously trying to figure out what they could offer him. If he didn't have an increased talent for dialog, it would have taken him a week to understand the images and translate them into a format accessible to the human brain.

Camrad_RIP 21.04.24 в 20:32

In fact, the spirits connected a certain type of physical stimulation and no less certain type of change of thoughts and intentions, even life plans. It is much easier to describe by example than to give a term, but if this example is still given.... For example, there is some woman, - only a lady, on men, again, spirits will work only for a separate fee and under a new contract, - which good shaman pleases with the visit of this couple. After the visit, it is only worth someone to scratch her, this lady, behind her ear, like a cat, and she immediately begins to feel more and more like a cat (with a very erotic bias), purrs, begins to caress, and so on. At first, she will still resist, or rather, verbally express her thoughts and make some movements, which in fact will not prevent scratching.

Camrad_RIP 21.04.24 в 20:39

But even after the victim has been a cat and returned to normal, the situation will not improve. The same influence on decisions and life position. She will want to repeat what she has experienced, she will begin to look for a reason to be a cat again, but, on the contrary, she will not notice anything strange in her actions and decisions. You never know why she decided to relax just like that, she’s an adult and an independent person, yeah. Or she will notice but resist deliberately clumsily and weakly, so as not to let the spirits achieve success in that resistance. And let her consciousness begin to return to the usual every time, but in the same way, each time not completely, to a lesser and lesser extent, until she becomes a cute cat forever, and even new scratches will only make her even more of a cat, but there is no way to return her usual thinking rest won't help.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 11:24

It is not necessary to scratch behind the ear and turn into a cat. You can turn a modest nun into a tough dominatrix with a slap on the buttocks, or turn a formidable warrior into a little girl who wants to suck her daddy’s lollipop by pulling her pigtail. The point is precisely the combination of physical contact of a certain kind and a gradual change in the paradigm of thinking then a partial rollback, but the connection has already occurred. In one way or another, the victim will look for a reason to bring himself to the final transformation. It's very perverse, extremely complex, and incredibly cleverly executed, but just as stupid and useless.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 11:49

Moreover, for this couple, even the traces of their influence are much more noticeable and obvious. If the influence is not visible from the aura, then an examination by a healer and/or mentalist will show the result. Even if both of these magicians are illiterate morons. What can he say? What is happening can be easily revealed simply by behavior, changes in which, especially in the final stages of the fall, will become obvious. This, by the way, is already a reason for Stepan to ask the spirits not to be so harsh, so that the changes will go smoothly and slowly, without arousing suspicion among the rest of Ronna. Although, how much disguise do the villagers need, who don’t really like Truda anyway, if you believe her?

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 12:08

Summarizing all the thoughts in the earthling's head: this gift was much more suitable for a retaliatory blow to the insidious bitches who had punished him for his faith in his neighbor. Stepan did not immediately rush to the call, preferring to think a little more and even in all seriousness forced himself to consider the option of simply forgiving both of them, spit and forget. Usually, this option is used in cases when there is no strength, courage, and means for revenge, but you need to comfort yourself somehow and prove that you are not a lowly pussy, and magnanimously forgive the offender. But Stepan has all the means for revenge, and if he forgives, it is really from kindness, and not by making a noble face with full pants of shit.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 13:13

Only there was still no generosity.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 13:14

The rapid marathon of gaining system experience had dampened irritation, anger, and even resentment, but such things didn't go away completely. He didn't want the bitches to die and suffer, didn't even want them to suffer much, didn't wish them misery or grief, but to repay them in the same coin, multiplied by a hundred - why not? Any conscience and understanding of what he condemns this couple to, is broken by the realization of what they did: they could have agreed, they could have asked, they could have invited him to bed, and he would have jumped in, because what normal guy would refuse such a threesome with a milf mother and a modest daughter? He would have helped, given that damn tongue even at a loss to himself, because he'd been warmly welcomed in that house, welcomed with pleasant conversation and warmed his soul, stale from solitary survival, with the warmth of cheerful companionship. Instead, they chose to take him against his will (or, rather, without his will), rob him, and send him away with a distorted memory, to spit on his soul, which had been opened in pure trust.

Camrad_RIP 21.04.24 в 20:42

For what is there to forgive?

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:34

For not killing him?

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:35

To be honest, at the moment of his decision, he was annoyed not by the situation, but by the fact that he had to take revenge for it. If Truda and Lashka had just drunk him with spells and sent him away without memory, he would have confined himself to the fact that he would have inflicted some crazy passion on them too, that they would have played a grown-up version of Mother-Daughter or just wonking for a couple of hours, and forgotten about it. And would have scored, too. They probably would have also taken his return hint and that would have been the end of it, just an exchange of banter in a magical and erotic way. But he had been robbed, thrown in the best feelings, treacherously deceived his faith in man! And this he could not forgive, he did not want to force and compel himself.

Camrad_RIP 22.04.24 в 18:19

Every sentient being, even in the most grievous crimes, even in the most grievous sins and vices, still has the right to leniency and can earn forgiveness.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:58

But those who push that phrase somehow forget to say that every sentient being, who suffered from those sinners and criminals who reveled in their vices, has the right not to forgive.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:59

* * *

Camrad_RIP 19.04.24 в 18:35

Stepan personally could not have afforded to call upon such old and self-respecting entities for many more days and levels, and he would not have been able to do the call itself. But now, after receiving the agreement, he had no need to perform the ritual, to call correctly, and to spend the rarest reagents, without which these immaterial beasts would not even move a leg, let alone come to the call. Well, or they would have come to eat the insolent caller so others wouldn't have the same idea. As much as such creatures think differently, they often resemble mortals in matters of economy and reputation. As well as in questions of racketeering, fraud, cunning with the clauses of contracts, and the ability to evade the unbreakable obligations taken and ironclad assured to fulfillment.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 13:16

Fortunately, he didn't need to call according to the rules. He just needed to send a signal. Then the spirits would appear on their own because all possible costs had already been covered by the System, or the Autogoddess, or her superiors, or forty-two, because how could Stepan know the answers to such questions? No, he still showed respect by conducting the summoning outside, under the moonlight, by the light of a very large fire, on which it took a very long time to pile dead wood, and by smoking incense - bought, by the way, from the very bitches he was going to punish - even if for such strong entities these were not gifts, but a mockery. From his point of view, backed up by his knowledge of this particular pair of spirits, it was better to show respect, even if it seemed tiny against their power than to show none, though the opposite was true.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 13:19

The arriving entities suppressed, crushed, and morally destroyed him by their very presence, and if it were not for the mark of the spheres, if it were not for the talents and experience he already had, he could have been simply smeared, struck to the point of madness, but as it was, he only felt like a chicken standing on the train track. The train will fly higher, will fly in a blurred image over the frozen little chick, but it does not become less scary. The most frustrating thing is that the spirits themselves were not pushing and even the opposite. They tried to be as careful as possible with their VIP-client, but they still pressed, simply because of the difference between a newly minted adept shaman (a full-fledged shaman worthy of being called a shaman is usually at the adept level) and these two.

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 13:24

The spirits were not in reality, they hovered at the very edge of manifestation, so as not to disturb the magical picture of reality and not to harm him. They looked formless and eerie, immense and all-encompassing, ancient beings, and he was a little embarrassed that such powerful inhabitants of the spheres had been summoned for such a stupid reason, but, on the other hand, it wasn't his fault, but hers. If she had hired them, she must have paid them well, right?

Camrad_RIP 24.04.24 в 13:25

...ask...

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:21

It was not said, but still understood by Stepan and he sent his images in response, trying his best not to confuse them with each other so that the wish could be understood without double interpretations and as clearly as possible. His efforts were successful. He felt it, as he also felt that the spirits nonchalantly accepted his task-wish, understood, realized, and gave an answer. Moreover, they made every effort available to them, only to perceive these human endeavors as fully as possible, sincerely being ready to break into a lump for the sake of this goal. In the case of such powerful spirits, flocking in obsequiousness, albeit within the framework of indifferently proud stay, the young shaman directly twisted from cognitive dissonance.

Camrad_RIP 22.04.24 в 18:08

...it will be done...

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:21

It was not said but assured, and then both spirits not hurriedly, but without unnecessary delay shifted from almost reality to not-reality, hiding in the depths of another plane of existence, and the young man was not at all eager to follow them with spiritual perception, no. Likewise, he was not going to check - how were his two "favorite" herbalists without him? Maybe sometime later, he would either send a watching spirit or go to Small Ronna himself, but right now he just didn't have the energy, nor the desire. There could be no doubt. They would not be able to fight off this couple. They wouldn't even be able to notice the attacks.

Camrad_RIP 21.04.24 в 20:45

Stepan had his revenge, and, finally, for the first time since that night, when the shroud of alchemical oblivion had fallen, he relaxed and felt a weight fall from his shoulders.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:22

He didn't get any experience for summoning such chthonic bogeymen, or rather he did, but it was so little that he got more experience for ordinary calls. It was not surprising, because most of the work was done by the System, having previously provided a ready contract, and of his personal work was only to send the call, to prepare a fire with incense, and not to slip into an epileptic fit at the sight of the spirits.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:23

Each call, successful and not so successful, leaves peculiar marks on the spiritual body of the shaman, and then their quantity, quality, and nature serve as a kind of additional leverage in negotiations. A CV and credit history, if you will. Some types of marks can make it difficult to work with the spirit world or some of its inhabitants, especially if the entity that put the mark has enemies. From this point of view, //the property of the mark of spheres is just an additional entry in the same credit history, only more extensive, concerning all spirits and spheres at once.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:25

And this couple did not mark Stepan, who had sent them to work, although the call itself and their very presence had an effect, raising their affinity with the spiritual world in general. And not a bad one at that, judging by his rough calculations. Not as much as the certified fact of summoning and dialog with an elder spirit, and a strong and in two samples, not so much, not even approximately, but still good news. Such an undocumented way to cheat with summons that are useless in practice, though. This way you can summon \\\Blower on rollback, sending it to whoever you have to, and then get this kind of intangible profit from it. Except for jokes, but if Stepan gets bottleneck in pumping, he will definitely use this option too.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:44

Stepan even smiled at how Munchkin-like he was thinking. It seems the system was spoiling him. He thought about it and went to bed because even with a full reserve his brief communication with the summoned shit had exhausted him so much that he had no working mood at all. Before going to bed, he would check his talents, see what he could choose, and how to invest it properly.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:45

He thought long and lazily, going through the options and even considered strengthening his meta-skill to get access to more advanced assignments, since the current ones brought much less than at first, but he chose something else. The talent went into knowing the "basic fundamentals of fast calls", which complemented the existing skills and properties, especially combat calls, in a very harmonious way. The knowledge base was focused on how to make certain types of invocations or other influences extremely fast, at the expense of general skills and additional expenditure of energy accelerating the invocations to instantaneousness. In some cases it is much more convenient, and in others it can simply and uncomplicatedly save a life. And without instant caste, as gamers would say, there was just a general acceleration of rituals, calls, and some elements of shamanic practice. Somewhere stronger, somewhere weaker, somewhere compensated by the price of costs, somewhere by the consumption of reserves, somewhere by the clarity of execution, and somewhere by the increased consumption of rare reagents. Sometimes, if the pressure is too great, all this together and a dozen other weaknesses, but speed, speed can pay off everything. Or not, but here you will have to choose the optimal way.

Camrad_RIP 18.04.24 в 10:49

And no saves, what a shame.

Camrad_RIP 15.04.24 в 11:13

Stepan fell asleep pacified and restored so important for the shaman's peace of mind, only for a second distracted to assess the changes in his status with his inner eye.

Camrad_RIP 15.04.24 в 11:13

Name: Stepan

Level: 5

Class: Shaman

Characteristics: (free: 0)

Talents (free): 0

Constitution: 1

Sensitivity: 5

Power: 4

Control: 1

Source: 3

Spirit: 7

Resistance: 1

Camrad_RIP 16.04.24 в 19:03

Knowledge acquired: speaking and writing: Free Cities, academic Neirat, Island Kingdom; advanced basic shamanic practice; advanced fundamentals of spiritual dialog; wilderness hermit; basics of working with healing spirits; advanced basics of casting shamanic charms (GIFT); basic techniques of dream-inducing and dream correction (GIFT); basic practice of combat calls; basic techniques of interaction with magical sources; basic techniques of countering curses

Camrad_RIP 16.04.24 в 19:27