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[closed] [PBP] [DW] The Merry Freebooters of Ditchwater

2456715

Posts

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    It could only be a multi-layered magical array, Dermond's Anatomy clearly shows there are loopholes and edge cases that can be combined and amplified to trap souls. The problem with metaphysics is that loopholes and edge cases make up the bulk of known methods.

    Still, to Koba's mind the only way to tie such esoteric practices together would be an animate logograph- a semi-sentient spell imbued into written words (most likely in the blood of the Aspirants) which rewrites itself to compensate for fluctations in the other layered enchantments.
    --

    @Capfalcon Let's go with Ashcrown, Tyranthis Far sounds like somewhere we'd need rations to even get to.

  • CapfalconCapfalcon Tunnel Snakes Rule Capital WastelandRegistered User regular
    "Well, if you think it's a good idea, I'll go back and get the request." Leaving, I head back to the obelisk to do just that.

    ...Hopefully, nothing weird happens when I take it.

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    You get the request just fine, Etana. It isn't actually a part of the intentionality of the obelisk, just kind of floating in the way, but you touch it with the same mindset and it becomes willing to be taken.

    So let me tell you again about Ashcrown. It is distant, and Dis can easily take more than one day to traverse. In this case, it definitely will take more than one day to traverse. Ashcrown is hard to miss, unless you're in an enclosed space like Neversky or in sufficiently deep warrens, but knowing where it is and actually getting there are two different things. Dis shifts and moves as though it were a living thing, and two parishes adjacent one day may find themselves looking at each other over the length of Dis the next. Usually shifts aren't that dramatic - they're slow and subtle but do add up over time, meaning maps of Dis are more things of memory and suggestion than reference.

    But, I mean, Dis isn't trackless wasteland or wildland or anything, it's full of places to buy food. How are you on... actual currency, though? There's the wine (and let's say you have six measures of it, where a measure is an arbitrary unit that I can say is used up), but most places that make use of it are houses of worship and not that big on producing or packaging food. You could probably convince them into letting you share the dinner table and stay the night in addition to some other minor service, but that whole process would probably involve at least making some kind of supply roll.

    The Church of the Rogue Moon is completely willing to do that (no supply roll required), but Calypse Tower isn't that much closer to Ashcrown that you can use it as a way-station.

    Anyway, you've got some journeying to do, so I want two volunteers. (Skoll, Glory, just for the record, the Last Gatesmen operate throughout Dis and it's not outside the realm of possibility that you can drop the bones off on the way to take care of this Ashcrown thing.)

    Somebody's going to scout ahead, roll +wis.

    Somebody's going to navigate everybody else, roll +int.

    Again, if you don't want to volunteer for those duties, but instead help the person who does, you can chime in first and say you're helping, then they'll roll 3d6k2 and you can see who it was and assign an appropriate bond. If you don't speak up in advance, you'll only get the opportunity to help if the die result is exactly 6 or 9. (I will let you know if that restriction is lifted, like in the multidimensional montage scenario that was "resolving the previous job".)

    And a last note to Koba: I make a sort of "progression roll" for everything else outstanding when you come back from a job. Anything you secure through The Spects will not make that roll until it's actually hit the public consciousness, which coincidentally also takes about as long as it does for you all to do a job. I've taken the liberty of updating the second post again.

    ---

    tags: @Capfalcon @jdarksun @wildwood @Grog

    Glazius on
  • CapfalconCapfalcon Tunnel Snakes Rule Capital WastelandRegistered User regular
    I'll help the scout ahead by sending Quark along. Lighting the way for wayfarers is a duty of Sola's clergy.

    ...Probably.

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    Glory contemplates the Duke, as he's being prepped for travel. The inner workings of flesh are so fascinating.

    By his estimate, he could carry all of the Duke himself, but he would have to leave behind just about everything but his rapier. It may be a foolhardy venture, or it may just need a Daring Plan.

    But first he needs some idea of where the Last Gatesmen might be found. What did the old stories say about them, again?

    Geth roll 2d6 for Spout Lore

    Spout Lore:
    2d6 5 [2d6=2, 3]

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Koba climbs inside the Stygian Conquerer Mk VII, slamming the breastplate shut with a clang. Though muffled, her voice is pitched to a deep echo. "If memory serves, there should be some shortcuts through the under-lanes that lead to Ashcrown."

    "Or was it the over-lanes..." She mutters to herself, without realising Glory is standing right next to her.

    --
    Geth, roll 2d6+2 for Navigate Everybody Else

    edit: I'm going to die the first time we get in a fight, aren't I.

    Navigate Everybody Else:
    2d6+2 13 [2d6=6, 5]

    Grog on
  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Well, good news, Glory. Of a sort, anyhow.

    Ordinarily the Last Gatesmen don't really go in for distinctions of rank or things like that, seeing as how on the other side of the Last Gates, those things don't really matter. But in any organization of a certain size somebody's got to be responsible for making sure everyone works together and learns the proper chants or whatever else the Last Gatesmen need somebody to be in charge of.

    Some examination of the various documents handed to Octagonia reveals that, whatever she wanted to do with these bodies, it apparently needed personal approval from someone fairly high-placed in the Last Gatesmen's organization, and so they have to be returned to that person.

    So the good news is that you know exactly where to take the bones.

    The bad news is that the headquarters of the Last Gatesmen -- the parish of Imscatha Tor, which everyone calls the Last Gates -- is pretty much on the opposite side of Dis from Ashcrown.

    Now, you have two options.

    You can head out there right away, using Koba's navigation roll to get you all there and back within the day, and then spend a measure of wine to eat for the night at Calypse Tower. But, you know, you'll need a new scout and navigation roll to actually get to Ashcrown, and also the message probably won't appreciate the delay.

    Or you can lug the bones all the way to Ashcrown with you and swing by to drop them off on the way back. You'll almost certainly need to secure some kind of travel rations at Ashcrown in order to do that, though.

    Koba, you're welcome to weigh in on this one way or the other as well.

    ---

    tags: @wildwood @Grog

    Glazius on
  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    --
    @wildwood Calypse Tower's a known quantity, Ashcrown isn't. We're better off charting a new course from somewhere (relatively) safe than trying to scrounge rations in a war torn parish.

  • jdarksunjdarksun Struggler VARegistered User regular
    ---
    Hey Glazius, I should drop out. Sorry dude. I keep thinking I have more time to devote to games on the boards than I do - we're only like four days in and I'm already a dozen posts behind.

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    jdarksun wrote: »
    ---
    Hey Glazius, I should drop out. Sorry dude. I keep thinking I have more time to devote to games on the boards than I do - we're only like four days in and I'm already a dozen posts behind.

    Sorry things turned out like that. Since everybody's still just kicking around Ditchwater and you do have a notional place to crash, there's really no dropout roll to make.

    If your schedule changes, feel free to rotate in, but for now we are three.

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    --
    Grog wrote: »
    --
    @wildwood Calypse Tower's a known quantity, Ashcrown isn't. We're better off charting a new course from somewhere (relatively) safe than trying to scrounge rations in a war torn parish.

    Ok, that makes sense. Just so I'm clear, you're advocating using Koba's navigation roll to get the bones to Calypse Tower, and then re-roll for Ashcrown when we get back? I'm good with that.

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    --
    @jdarksun Sorry to see you go, I was waiting to get my revenge for springing that "Lojainne owes me her life" bond last game.
    wildwood wrote: »
    --
    Grog wrote: »
    --
    @wildwood Calypse Tower's a known quantity, Ashcrown isn't. We're better off charting a new course from somewhere (relatively) safe than trying to scrounge rations in a war torn parish.

    Ok, that makes sense. Just so I'm clear, you're advocating using Koba's navigation roll to get the bones to Calypse Tower, and then re-roll for Ashcrown when we get back? I'm good with that.

    Yep, let's do this.

  • jdarksunjdarksun Struggler VARegistered User regular
    ---
    @Grog yeah, i'm bummed, but i've been super delinquent in staying abreast of forum games and things aren't going to slow down for a couple weeks. i'll check back in august

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Right, so. Navigating Dis is an odd mix of looking too powerful to be an easy mark, not looking powerful enough to be worth ganging up on, and just outright avoiding the parts of the city where there are no easier answers. If you tuned the Conqueror to pick up on the imminently deceased, Koba, it'd probably be as able a guide as any around the last part.

    When you enter Imscatha Tor, all the lights go out. Well, the backscatter lights from the other parishes and the lambent glow of the Rogue Moon, anyhow. Only the flickering lamps of the Last Gatesmen burn here. You might expect Imscatha Tor to be tomb-silent, but there are as many rites for seeing the dead off as there are peoples to die, and while the Last Gatesmen give each one their space (you still can't place all the instruments in the riotous wake-song that came spilling out into the corridors as a visitor opened and then closed a distant door) together there is an undercurrent. Almost a conversation, but not quite. Almost a song, but not quite. Always something missing.

    Delivering the bones themselves is no particularly daunting task; there are no secrets beyond the Last Gates. Presented with the proper documents anyone could point you the way to Jouret, the Bride of Stone, who the bones are ultimately entrusted to. She takes them in two of her four arms and, with the other two, reaches into the bundle Octagonia packed. Then there's a sound like a guitar-string snapping and the wire falls in loose coils on the ground.

    You're welcome to keep 1-weight of coiled clockwork wire around if you want, Octagonia has never asked for any of it back. You're not sure when, exactly, the cerement seal broke, but Jouret leaves you with an odd jagged half of that as well, calling it the proof of what was done.

    (Being in Jouret's presence was kind of a trip - it felt like she was demonstrating rather than speaking, like the entire experience was intended for the education of someone else, somehow watching her, unseen.)

    Etana, something I feel I should mention is that the Last Gatesmen generally tended to address the other members of your little band, even when you spoke to them or they wanted to ask you something. Was something about your divine spark disquieting to them? Or maybe it was the message, which refused to stay inside of anything you put it in for very long.

    ---

    You made it back to Calypse Tower in time for the evening meal, which despite the generally less ditch-watery (lower AND upper case) surroundings was still fairly spare and plain, though there was an interesting little ceremonial bit near the end of it all where part of the measure of emerald wine that was your defacto admittance fee was poured into something half-brazier and half-hookah. Something else in the device was lit, an odd actinic flame that dazzled you for just a second. The room smelled faintly of age, of secrets and emptiness, and one of the higher-ranking priests took a draw from the device's mouth-pipe. He blew out a cloud that drifted across the moon -

    - oh, will you look at that, an emerald smoke -

    - and what had been the moon's reflection in the polished stone table was now a bowl of the same stone, with little round white cakes the size of a child's cupped hand. One for everyone. The priests ate with no particular reverence but maybe a little wistfulness. If you took one for yourself, it was sticky and sweet but with no particular taste, after- or otherwise.

    You were welcome to sleep in Calypse Tower for the night, but your quarters at Octagonia's were in the proper orientation to permit sleep as well, so take your pick.

    ---
    ---

    When you frantically mash the Skip Cutscene button, yeah, yeah, okay, guilty as charged. The impression I got was that this was just, y'know, an errand that you made the decision to run, so cutscene ahoy. But, I mean, you actually did go to those places and do those things, so if you want to activate a basic or character move to try and get some information about something you care about, let me know what you did when and I'll backmask it. Try and keep it down to one a person, though.

    In addition to that allotment, there are two more moves that you might want to make before you do the whole scout + navigate thing tomorrow.

    First, if you want more out of the priests at Calypse Tower than a night's meal, make your demands and roll +1. No stats, just +1. One party member only, please.

    Second,

    ---
    ---

    Etana, no matter where you sleep - or, you know, whatever you do to relax at night, but tell us if it's not sleeping because it'll probably be cool to find out - the message is decidedly not restful. Roll +wis.

    ---

    tags: @Grog @Capfalcon @wildwood

    Glazius on
  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    Intent on the undercurrent that saturates the Tor, Koba recalls a lesson on Negative Space and Auditory Steganography. Surely there is some message hiding in the gaps between funereal rites.

    --
    I'd like to discern realities about Imscatha Tor, specifically as relates to the undercurrent mentioned (because it sounds rad). I'd also like to hold on to the odd jagged half to inspect later.
    Geth, roll 2d6+2 for Discern Realities

    Discern Realities:
    2d6+2 5 [2d6=2, 1]

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    --

    Emerald smoke... I'm going to need to go all "beautiful mind" on this, to keep track of all the different pieces... red string... it's all connected...

    Glory will take the wire, if only to take it back to Octagonia. She presumably has lots of it, and it might be useful for something Daring in the future.

    Glory wants to Tell the Greatest Story to the priests at the tower before they leave. Do I just roll to determine heritage hold, and then describe how Glory uses it?

    Also, @Glazius - the "Anything You Can Do..." advanced move triggers whenever we Make Camp. Is that the same as finding a place to sleep for the night, or is it less frequent than that?

    As for where to sleep, it would be good to crash back at our regular quarters for the night.

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Koba, ask me one question from the Discern Realities list and tell me how you were trying to work out the answer. Mechanical process or theoretical foundations, I ain't picky.

    ---

    Tags: @Grog

    For future reference, that's the preferred method. If you get more questions you don't need to go into separate details for them.

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    --
    I'll ask what here is not what it appears to be? with a basis in the theoretical, naturally.

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    wildwood wrote: »
    --

    Emerald smoke... I'm going to need to go all "beautiful mind" on this, to keep track of all the different pieces... red string... it's all connected...

    Glory will take the wire, if only to take it back to Octagonia. She presumably has lots of it, and it might be useful for something Daring in the future.

    Glory wants to Tell the Greatest Story to the priests at the tower before they leave. Do I just roll to determine heritage hold, and then describe how Glory uses it?

    Also, @Glazius - the "Anything You Can Do..." advanced move triggers whenever we Make Camp. Is that the same as finding a place to sleep for the night, or is it less frequent than that?

    As for where to sleep, it would be good to crash back at our regular quarters for the night.

    Yeah, Glory, roll +wis to determine your starting hold for the session. I've given you some suggestions about how I might interpret a particular move, and you'll tell me what you're trying to do, but ultimately, as a monster move (because everyone is someone's monster), barring any additional prompts on my part I'll just tell you what happens.

    So you tell the part of the story about the blanket of the sky, with that poetic interlude you liked about the ancient fortress shattering into a thousand shining stars, but you pull up short of the part where the trickster misplaces the moon and uses a river rock to replace it. That might be a bridge too far.

    It goes over pretty well, and whoever in the party wants to make demands of the priests can roll 3d6k2+1. (Congratulations, you made an aid roll for a "whole-party action" where it normally wouldn't make sense.)

    ---

    Ooh, hadn't read over "Anything You Can Do" before making the new bonds rules. So, one obvious change given that dynamic is that you'll start with at least 1-hold and gain additional hold as you dynamically create bonds. Making Camp does not necessarily happen every time you eat and sleep - it's generally a notable waystation on a journey. Tonight I would not consider you to have Made Camp, but for purposes of that move you can completely start out the game already one-upping somebody.

    So, just say who and what.
    Grog wrote: »
    --
    I'll ask what here is not what it appears to be? with a basis in the theoretical, naturally.

    You listen, then, Koba. It's kind of like... trying to place the song a stage musician is playing in a particularly noisy bar. You get more and more esoteric trying to work out what might be providing the accompaniment. Something like the old sculptor's trick where you tune a room's echo to provide a harmony from nowhere? Something acting on a frequency the Last Gatesmen might tune into, beyond the casual ear?

    Nothing seems to work, and when Glory takes a moment to repack the wire for easier transport or maybe just flourishy deployment, you take a seat in a park to clear your head, and deliberately don't think about the problem you've been beating your head and sensor suite against.

    After a while, you realize that nothing's bothering you. Which is odd. Haven't you always had kind of an unsettling feeling when someone was keeping secrets around you? And you're near enough to one of the rites in progress to listen to the whole sound rather than the shape of it, and you understand.

    What you were looking for couldn't be found. It was gone. Dead and gone, if you will. Above all else, the Last Gatesmen believe that the Last Gates close. Their public face is not in a particular hurry to push everyone through, though the sizable number of free-willed undead or people controlling the unfree undead means that you've heard the occasional rumor of a sinister side that steals even the unwilling away to their final rest. But the public face acts by request, and one of the things they find themselves having to do is help the requestors come to terms with their loss.

    There are songs that will never be sung, and words that will never be said. And the words behind the words of the funeral rite say: don't think that's wrong.

    For a moment, you find yourself thinking of all the things you've never gotten to say, and the people you wanted to sing with. The communicator's right there, you could just reach out and--

    Shit. SHIT. No. Wait. Shit. Wait. Breathe. You stopped, right? You didn't send the signal, right?

    You are almost entirely sure that you didn't send a coherent signal.

    ---

    The countdown on the legacy of the Stygian Conqueror Mk. VII, which has always totally been a thing shut up, has advanced to 3:00.

    tags: @wildwood @Grog

  • AustinP0027AustinP0027 Registered User regular
    edited February 2017
    Ajax the Weaponmaster
    Oz0xWsR.jpg?1

    Look: Eager Eyes, Wild Hair, tanned skin.

    Stats
    Str: 16 (+2)
    Dex: 12 (+0)
    Con: 13 (+1)
    Int: 8 (-1)
    Wis: 16 (+2)
    Cha: 9 (+0)

    Damage: d10
    Armor: 3
    Max HP: 23
    Current HP: 22

    Drive: Crusader - Defeat a worthy opponent

    Heritage:
    Tell me the thing one parent most wanted to pass onto you and why.
    My father wanted me to always extend my reach past where it currently lie. There was no settling for petty successes or small achievements. If I wasn't reaching for greatness, I was wasting my life.

    Tell me the greatest thing another parent ever did and why only they could do it.
    My mother gave me the courage to leave them behind. Even with my fathers pressing for achievement, without my mother's grace and love, I would have been trapped by my love for them to remain and help them live their life. Instead my mother showed me her love and encouraged me to let myself be free.

    Without her, I never would have left them to start my own life.

    Tell me the one thing you'll always remember about the parish where you grew up.
    The populace's general complacency. Each person was content to live their boring life the same as their parents, and their parent's parents. No one stepped outside the bounds of their societal norms, and no one ever considered attempting to achieve the impossible.

    It is a thought I carry with me constantly as a push away from allow myself to be content with small victories. Everything must be measured against it's worth, and everything that isn't worthy is not an achievement.

    Heritage Moves:
    Your pop's move: lay low the mighty. Find the biggest guy, punch him in the snoot. If it's at all possible you can strike a weak spot, find a blind angle, or just time it right, and connect. Or, you know, create one moment of embarrassment, one moment where they look weak. But the thing with the mighty is that when they're knocked down, they tend to get up again, and the same trick might not keep them down.

    Your mom's move: call on family ties. They don't have to be literal. Don't tell me you haven't got a sworn brother/sister/sibling somewhere who's nothing like you. But the thing about family is that everyone has their own problems, and there's always an expectation of give and take.

    Your parish's move: earn the attention of one or more powerful forces. You know how to stand out. But, uh, while "attention" will in the long run break for good or bad, you don't exactly know which it's going to be ahead of time.

    Bonds:
    I have sworn to protect Glory
    Xeno owes me their life, whether they admit it or not

    Starting moves
    Eye for Destruction (Str)

    When you use pure strength to destroy an inanimate obstacle, roll+Str.
    On a 10+, choose 3
    On a 7-9 choose 2.
    • It doesn’t take a very long time
    • Nothing of value is damaged
    • It doesn’t make an inordinate amount of noise
    • You can fix the thing again without a lot of effort

    Battle Instincts (Wis)
    When you confront a worthy foe, roll +WIS. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 1. Spend 1 hold
    at any time to do one of the following:
    • Negate a move made by your worthy foe as it is made
    • Discover a way to exploit the environment to your advantage
    • Discover a previously unknown strength or weakness of your worthy foe

    Lichtaneur's Interposing Strike - so long as you have hold against a worthy foe from Battle Instincts, Hack and Slash against them will serve to interrupt one of their moves, without spending hold. (You deal with the consequences of Hack and Slash, as normal.)

    Armored

    You ignore the clumsy tag on armor you wear.

    Iron Hide

    You gain +1 armor

    Signature Weapon

    This is your weapon. There are many like it, but this one is yours. Your weapon is your best
    friend. It is your life. You master it as you master your life. Your weapon, without you, is useless.
    Without your weapon, you are useless. You must wield your weapon true.

    Unblemished Sword, Close range, Sharp (+2 piercing), serrated edges (+1 damage)

    Equipment:
    Unblemished Sword - Signature Weapon (+2 piercing, +1 damage, 2 weight)
    Reinforced armor (2 armor, 3 weight, clumsy canceled out by Armored)
    "The Fold" Shield (+1 armor, roll with advantage if standing in defense of something, 2 weight)
    1 Healing potions (0 weight)
    38 coins

    Exp:
    8





    The artifact retrieval from Neversky went smoothly enough, or, as smoothly as you could considering they went through all their rations. It put Ajax in a tough spot, however, as he had planned on taking a quick stop off in Rum River on their way back. An old teacher resided there, someone with which Ajax had spent years training with. Still, as the road diverged between returning to the Kip or heading to Rum River, without much real thought his feet found themselves heading back towards his past, a quick goodbye voiced to the others with a commitment to return by the next day.

    Ajax entered the Steading without fanfare, no one here knew him, and the sword strapped to his back wasn't out of the norm for any wanderers who found their way from town to town to ply their wares or just get a break from the road. He nodded silently to the guards in a non-threatening way, a simple greeting, but a message of acceptance they he knew they saw him, and for himself, an agreement to the implicit notion that inside their realm, he wouldn't cause trouble.

    Soon he found himself absorbed in memory, the same buildings in the same places as he traveled down the same path to the last house on the left at the end of the row. For most, it would be a fond bit of reminiscing, a touching of their memory that brought them back to a happy place they had been. For Ajax, however, it brought tension.

    The escape from this place hadn't been a happy send off. There wasn't a group of people who had all gathered together to wish him the best as he headed off into the distance. This place had been a training ground, meant to grind unworthy recruits into a fine powder that would be sent back to their parents in a jar, and to spit out the few rare pupils who survived, now finely honed for battle, and prepared with skills that should catapult them towards something greater.

    It was a bit of an informal agreement that if you survived and made it out in the world, you would return one last time. Ajax hadn't decided yet, however, whether his return would be a signal of respect for the man teaching him, or a brazen show of arrogance that he had secured a future for himself that was outside the expected realm of possibility, even for a school like this.

    And so, he stepped up to the red door, took a deep breath, and knocked.


    Geth, roll 2d6+1 for a one-day hunger strike (+con)

    Edit: Always a good way to start out.....

    Ajax tended well to taking care of himself without rations, but made a complete mess of his return to the school.

    a one-day hunger strike (+con):
    2d6+1 6 [2d6=3, 2]

    AustinP0027 on
  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    --

    @Glazius - Cool, sounds good. I'll start by copying Etana's Bend Light. The possibilities there for creating a spotlight (on Glory, of course) are just too good to pass up.

    Geth roll 2d6 for Heritage hold

    Post-Roll: Still one left.

    Heritage hold:
    2d6 7 [2d6=4, 3]

    wildwood on
  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    Glory will throw good effort after bad, and spend the goodwill with the priests to ask them about Seriously, where are the good stories at? Being a statue at heart can make it hard to let things go.

    --

    Geth roll 3d6k2+1 for stubborn statue story search

    stubborn statue story search:
    3d6k2+1 9 [3d6k2=[5, 3], 1]

  • CapfalconCapfalcon Tunnel Snakes Rule Capital WastelandRegistered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Etana, something I feel I should mention is that the Last Gatesmen generally tended to address the other members of your little band, even when you spoke to them or they wanted to ask you something. Was something about your divine spark disquieting to them? Or maybe it was the message, which refused to stay inside of anything you put it in for very long.

    It's not surprising that they're unwilling to speak to a devout follower of Sola. Even though Sola offers her divine illumination to all, those who idolize the dark of the crypt see nothing to gain from her gifts. It's truly a shame.
    Etana, no matter where you sleep - or, you know, whatever you do to relax at night, but tell us if it's not sleeping because it'll probably be cool to find out - the message is decidedly not restful. Roll +wis.

    Since we already paid, I'm planning on staying in Calypse Tower. I don't really sleep, of course. Thankfully, my celestial heritage is often enough to sustain me without such frightful measures. Honestly, the idea that most beings have to lose conciousness and stay in one space for hours at a time just to function is quite disturbing. Personally, if I sit around and simply relax for long enough, I can recover my energy just fine. If I'm particularly exhausted or injured, I'll lose consciousness in what would appear to be sleep to most mortal beings. But, it's not something I HAVE to do. It's just my body shutting down, so it can recover enough to get my back on my feet quicker.

    But, as I clear my mind for evening prayers, I feel like there's something else trying to talk to me...

    2d6+1 5 [2d6=3, 1]

    Capfalcon on
  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Dammit, Geth, quit powerleveling these guys! (incidentally, I might occasionally do an audit at a break point but for the most part you should keep track of your own XP.)

    ---

    Something I should mention, in case it wasn't clear from the setup, is that Dis is a city of cities, and each of its subcities - each parish - more-or-less abuts another city, the lines being delimited occasionally with walls or borders but more often with a sudden change in architecture. This isn't to say there isn't the occasional, well, fallen city, the odd area of ruins or wastes, but every part of Dis seems to have begun as a city. Its neighbor planes can harbor more conventional fantasy geography, in addition to geography of every other kind.

    Incidentally, Glory, and anyone else looking at moves related to "when you enter a town you've been to before", each parish of Dis counts as its own town for those purposes.

    ---

    So, Ajax, your call whether Rum River is a parish of Dis proper or just located in a particularly enduring neighbor plane.

    Anyway, paying attention to, you know, not starving, gathering scraps or finding a mark to share a meal with, takes up more of your attention than you expect it does. As such, you don't pay particular heed to the banners, or the graffiti, until, well.

    It seems that in your absence a gang overran Rum River. Or perhaps I should qualify that as a different gang, depending on how influential and heavy-handed the old sellswords' academy was. Anyway, tell me what their distinguishing mark is, a particular animal or a colored bit of clothing or a strange geometry. You remembered it very well, afterwards.

    After you walked into the central meeting hall, which they had taken as their new headquarters, with the only thing to introduce you your own boast about how great you had become.

    It's a good thing you still knew the back ways better than they ever bothered to, or that might have been your last mistake.

    ---

    Anyway, Glory, there are some faiths that prize themselves on being troves of lore. The Church of the Rogue Moon is not one of them, and very few of its members have much of an interest in stories outside their own scriptures, which you've heard already. Certainly nothing that they think would satisfy someone who told the story you did.

    It's as you're getting ready to leave, as you stand at the base of Calypse Tower and look up at its other spires, wondering if it's worth waking up those elder priests who turned in for the night early, that Szatotae approaches you. Well, if I'm being strict about things, when the maroon-scaled slender creature half your height, who was listening appreciatively to your tale of the sky from a table by the warming-hearth, approaches you, and introduces herself as Szatotae. She heard what you were asking the priests and had an opportunity you might be interested in...

    That night, you hold the odd prism of purple resin she gave you up to a light, for what must be the tenth time, and read again the message its hidden inner facets twist onto the wall. A standing invitation from Amnopoquerius of the Leaves, to contribute a story of note to the Living Library and be given the chance to browse its halls in return. You don't recognize the name of the author, or the outlier plane they purport to be from, though there are several varying forms of directions there, enough to find your way from almost anywhere (though traveling in safety is never a guarantee).

    And, I mean, there's that little bit at the bottom that says Amnopoquerius will require compensation if your story is not found to be of note, but really, what are the odds of that?

    ---

    Etana, as you let your consciousness slip away, you contemplate the message. Well, messages. The one from Ashcrown and the one from the Aspirants, on some level tangled together and inseperable. You watch how they flow, almost like living things.

    And you can kind of see what Koba was saying about the logograph. The coded orders are very nearly of a piece with the message spirit, to the point that you can't tell where or even if the separation is.

    But the Aspirants' message is different. You can see... fragments of what seem to be, maybe, four different spirits, each taking their turn to flow through the plea for help. But there's a fifth flow, which is... corraling them. Keeping them in check. Every once in a while, one of the Aspirant spirits tries to muster its strength and breach the surface, but the fifth flow outmaneuvers it, overwhelms it, and forces it back inside.

    There isn't a lot you can do to help them, not without shredding the original coded orders. It's a shame, really. You wish they could break free...

    Suddenly you start into a higher state of wakefulness. You're not sure how much time had passed. The message isn't anywhere obvious, but after a few seconds of casting about for it, you see it lying fairly inanimately, tucked under the wire that still straps one of your desks to the walls. You give it a quick once-over, wondering if it had been damaged somehow, but nothing has changed from how you remember it. The coded orders are still intact, and the traces of the logograph are still forcing the three spirit fragments through their endless plea for help.

    Three fragments? For some reason that strikes you as odd, briefly. Must be a little lingering fatigue. There were always three fragments.

    Etana, the spirits of the Aspirants have 1-hold on you. At some future time I will spend it to compel you to action.

    ---

    And then morning comes. I need someone rolling +wis to scout (with an assist from Etana still pending) and someone rolling +int to navigate. Ashcrown is waiting.

    tags: @AustinP0027 @wildwood @Capfalcon @Grog

  • AustinP0027AustinP0027 Registered User regular
    Ajax cursed his own stupidity. As he fled, the signs were all over the place that this wasn't the same place that he had spent so much time in.

    In addition, there were literal signs all over the place. Broad banners, black background, with a yellow snake threatening anyone who observed them.

    Ajax was lucky that this was just a parish of Dis and not another plane, or else his return trip would have left far too much time for him to dwell in his stupidity.

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Right, Ajax. They called themselves Medusa's Column. You think someone named Tyrol was giving out most of the orders. Or possibly someone titled Tyrol?

    Anyway, one more sound for The Noise.

    ---

    tags: @AustinP0027

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    Koba needs a little time to process what happened in Imscatha Tor (or what didn't happen, or-) so volunteers to scout ahead. Engaging the Conqueror's ectophonic scanners, she tries to avoid any of the most imminently deadly areas.

    --
    Geth, roll 2d6+2 for Scouting Ahead

    Scouting Ahead:
    2d6+2 11 [2d6=5, 4]

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Not that you exactly needed it, Koba, but Etana volunteered to help whoever made the scout roll, so you weren't alone out there. Though I can't fault you for not noticing the light.

    Also, she's writing a bond with you.

    Geth, roll 1d6 for a forgotten die.

    ---

    tags: @Grog @Capfalcon

    a forgotten die:
    1d6 4 [1d6=4]

  • AustinP0027AustinP0027 Registered User regular
    Koba and Etana went ahead to scout the way, which left Ajax and Glory behind.

    The Weaponmaster was always comfortable with the living statue. Dis was an oddity in and of itself, so a living being that used to be a statue wasn't something that really raised all that many eyebrows, at least as far Ajax was concerned.

    Still, of the two of them, the statue was more likely to chart a better course, so the Weaponmaster stood ready to assist where he could

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Alright, Glory. Looks like you're on navigation duty by default. Ajax, write Glory's name in one of your bond slots and tell us all what it was.

    ---

    Koba, the bulk of your travels to Ashcrown takes you through the parish everyone calls the Sultana's Gardens. It wasn't originally built by the Sultana - the original ruler's silhouette still survives in some of the stonework and possibly also a couple particularly hardy species of decorative flower. It was built as, well, a garden city, planters on every terrace, trees on every avenue. These days it looks almost like an oddly geometric forest, but dig up an inch or so of soil and you're as likely as not to hit stone, or possibly break through an old skylight or stairwell.

    The shallow and unpredictable soil means that very few of what you might consider staple crops are grown in the Sultana's Gardens. Ornamental flowers are a common sight, but most of the money flowing into the Sultana's Gardens comes from the sale of spices. And, uh, more recreationally-oriented plants too.

    There are a few paths that the Road Wardens keep clean and well-patrolled. But you're not exactly going that way, at least not for most of your journey.

    So, Koba, here are some options. Pick two.
    • You will get the chance to prepare for any hostile encounters unseen. You didn't fail this or anything, so if you don't pick this option you'll start out on more even footing.
    • You find some minor useful feature in the landscape - a source of shelter, or a shortcut, or a tactical advantage.
    • You find traces of some notable secret the Sultana's Gardens hides. Tell me how you find them and I'll tell you what they point to.
    • You find traces of some hidden danger the Sultana's Gardens poses to the unwary. Again, tell me how you find them and I'll tell you what they point to.

    ---

    Etana, still need a bond from you with Koba.

    ---

    tags: @wildwood @AustinP0027 @Grog @Capfalcon

  • AustinP0027AustinP0027 Registered User regular
    Glory is soft, but I will make them hard like me.

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    • Get the chance to prepare for any hostile encounters unseen. Preferably with some vantage from above, as Koba's been looking to try out the polterkinetic functions of the suit.
    • Find traces of some notable secret the Sultana's Gardens hides. Looking for signs of the undergrowth having been dug up or disturbed, as the Gardens are often used to hide contraband (or victims) from the Road Wardens.

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    Navigation... navigation... Glory has gone from parish to parish plenty of times. How hard can it be?

    --

    Geth roll 2d6 for Navigation roll

    Navigation roll:
    2d6 11 [2d6=5, 6]

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Glory, pick another option from the list I gave Koba. Well, maybe you'll want to see this first.

    ---

    Koba, as you navigate from spire to spire, though they might be snapped off or crumbling or swathed in greenery, a thought strikes you.

    This isn't a particularly odd way to take to Ashcrown, is it? I mean, it's not the way you'd run a carriage from Ditchwater to Ashcrown, but it would make sense to come this way if you were self-confident and in a hurry.

    You've never met any Aspirant who those two didn't apply to, at least a little.

    So you keep an eye out for traces of passage, and possibly of struggle.

    Of course, you do see the occasional instance of "fertilizer", too, of some body dragged deeper into the gardens, to let the hungry plants take from it what they can and avoid the senses of the Road Wardens. It doesn't initially strike you as odd to be seeing them out here, but... this is kind of a long way to come.

    You decide to take a closer look.

    And it probably still wouldn't seem odd if not for your suit. There are no traces of the sort of unquiet soul that might be created by murdering someone and leaving them forgotten in a shallow grave.

    There ARE traces of a different soil. Older. Drier. And pushed up from... below?

    You don't cut yourself off from your companions in order to investigate, not yet, but you do trace out a rough pattern, referencing it against the existing architecture and your knowledge of the logographic process.

    There is a tunnel complex out here, a warren running for an unknown distance from what must have been a sturdily built ancient structure - an armory, or a high-test laboratory, perhaps. Its entrances are camouflaged as the kind of hasty spade-work done by people wanting to hide a secret, trusting in people's unwillingness to tick off some unknown force by digging up its dirty laundry. And you have a choice to make. You know enough about this place that you can guide people one of two ways.

    You could lead them to skirt around it entirely. It would be a significant detour, and you'd have to worry about finding some kind of sustenance for the night, but you'd reach Ashcrown without passing by any of this place's secret accesses. If they decided you were worth stopping, they'd have to run up on you in the open -- and if they didn't stop you, when Ashcrown receives the message it will be unbound from the spirits of the Aspirants and coming back to rescue them will find the place ready for intruders.

    Or you could lead them to drop right in on what seems like the most logographically favorable environment. You'd all be fairly fresh, you'd have the element of surprise, and while the earth would probably close over the opening and you'd have to fight your way out, this is an opportunity that won't be there if you just press on to Ashcrown.

    ---

    tags: @Grog @wildwood

  • wildwoodwildwood Registered User regular
    The raw tunnels that Koba points out fill Glory with disquiet. Like a stone being asked to return to the earth.

    Still, delving underground to face the unknown is a well-worn theme in the stories of most of the planes. Glory looks around, comparing everything to the old stories, looking for anything like what the old heroes used to prepare themselves, or to fight off the enemy horde.

    --

    Choose to find some minor useful feature in the landscape.

  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Glory, you skirt the edge of the dangerous region Koba outlines for you, looking for... you're not sure, really. Another way in, maybe? Somewhere to shelter when you escape? Eh, you'll know it when you see it.

    At first you don't know it. But after the third abortive tunneling attempt, you get a little curious about these tubers you keep digging up. They look substantive. Possibly edible? They seem to be growing wild, so maybe that last isn't quite a sure thing, but a little woodcraft would surely be able to tell the difference. Now, who do you know with a little woodcraft...?

    ---

    While generally you can't forage for food in Dis, someone could attempt to do so here by rolling +wis. If you want to take the long way or have a place to rest after going for the throat, keep this in mind.

    Tags: @wildwood

  • GrogGrog My sword is only steel in a useful shape.Registered User regular
    ---
    If no-one's opposed, I'd like to drop right in.

  • AustinP0027AustinP0027 Registered User regular
    --

    I'm all for dropping in. Ajax's skills outside of combat are likely to be minimal.

  • CapfalconCapfalcon Tunnel Snakes Rule Capital WastelandRegistered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Etna snaps back aware of her surroundings. The last job must have exausted her more than she had thought! After frowning at the spirit shards in consernation for a moment, she shrugs and goes on her way with the other.


    I whisper to the others, "Before you go on, let me take a look at those plants."

    I will show Koba the light of Sola.

    Also, I'm going to take a moment to see if anything's edible, but after that, dropping in works for me.

    Geth roll 2d6+1 for food

    EDIT: Oh dear.

    food:
    2d6+1 3 [2d6=1, 1]

    Capfalcon on
  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Etana... yeah, you find some likely-looking tubers. Man, these are going to be great roasted up, after you've cut the Aspirants free. They will taste like victory. Mark XP and collect 1-weight of them.

    (Next time you Make Camp, if you hold onto these things, everybody else will get the chance to mark XP too. It's gonna be great, trust me.)

    ---

    Koba, sorry, but I realized I can give you one more choice. You could, potentially, have an easy way out. But it'll cost you.

    Basically, logography central here is a large, soil-covered dome, and you know it's got to be unoccupied space within for proper reification of the logograms. What you don't know is exactly how far down the structure extends, but if you crashed through the side of the dome, you and everyone else could, with only a notional hustle, fairly easily ride the wave of soil that would fill in the hole and make it to the ground unscathed.

    However, inside the dome is a magically active area, so if you rode the flows arcane you and your suit and three of your closest companions could probably drop any distance and land safely, plus or minus a little turbulence. So, if you cracked through the very top, you'd have a clear hole to go back out, assuming everyone could manage to find a little time to climb back up, or scrub the more active arcana so you could ferry people out with a great leap. But you'd definitely be Defying Danger (+str) in order to keep the load balanced while you descend, and of course there's whatever ramifications might come of dealing with only this room and paying minimal attention to the rest of the complex.

    Your call, then: through the side (safe in, risky out), or through the roof (risky in, safe out).

    ---

    tags: @Capfalcon @Grog

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