Alright, first order of business Start a Project
Someone murdered Overseer Grouse, and it's frankly taken far too long to start an investigation into who (*cough* Driscoll *cough*).
I believe we should have enough evidence to charge him in 3 weeks.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited June 2022
Contempt for blaming Driscoll without due process, or even existing evidence!
The project shouldn't take more than 1 week, because this is a bald-faced sham; if our Overseers are going to fabricate evidence, the least they can do is do it quickly and not waste our collective time.
Yeah, @Nips the project is to determine who killed Overseer Grouse, not to specifically condemn Driscoll.
The culprit is absolutely to whoever resolves the project.
But if that happened in the course of the investigation, we would not be surprised.
Or rather, that's why the project is so heavily loaded against him.
But all contempt happily accepted otherwise.
Really just wanted to tease apart the project description, and the 'obviously it's Driscoll's voice.
1 week is the usual process time for an investigation and a trial. Got to see the masters about sharpening the execution katana and setting up the proper area. Figure out where the gong is at.
Outsiders arrive in the area. Why are they a threat?
How are they vulnerable?
The traveling merchants arrive, with their carts heavily laden with all sorts of curiosities.
Heading East, they navigate the marble cliffs to the south and set up camp on the flat land around the curious metallic hole.
Some 15 or so caravans set up within sight of the scaffold, but still significantly surrounded by the featureless surface exhumed by the tornado.
Wandering the markets, these merchants are willing to trade a wide variety of salvaged self contained pieces of technology.
Most look like they were pulled from larger wrecks, but all are meticulously labelled as to their form and function, even as they are now liberated from their original purpose.
A fair few can be identified as various widgets and components from our sister camp across the wreck heap, but the vast majority are not familiar.
Worryingly, the most prominent display features large quantities of 'water clarification solute' promising to purify any sludge into drinkable water.
It looks suspiciously similar to the potion Driscoll concocted.
And after several attempts at pushing the liquor fall on deaf ears, the entire display is whisked away.
The caravans themselves consist of large canopies extended over wheeled abominations of frankensteined technology.
It seems entirely too probable that these mechanised vehicles would be capable of defending themselves if attacked, or perhaps if attacking.
However they appear ill-equipped to traverse water, as otherwise they would have likely pulled up closer to town.
If we perhaps flooded the metallic indent with brine, why we could see how effective their 'clarification solute' really is.
As for the trial.
It seems that the community has little faith in the judicial process that will find Driscoll guilty.
As much as we believe the trial to have a foregone conclusion, we must find out the true perpetrator of this heinous crime, and we must have faith in the process if any Overseer is to sleep well at night again.
So, in the interests of making this as transparent a process as possible, we're extending the proceedings out to 5 weeks.
In the meantime, Driscoll will be taken on as a charge of Master Diesel, so he can at least stay out of any more trouble, and maybe learn a thing or two of our ways.
Someone new arrives.
Who?
Why are they in distress?
Noon, the farmers spy a shape moving through the crops. Someone screams. A creature scrambles, hands outstretched, grasping for the fleeing boys and old men.
Not a person. A dead thing. A burned thing. From long ago. It still walks. It tries to mouth words in mockery of us. A hungry ghost.
Some kid, Leaf, runs over and wraps it in cloth and gives it water. Hungry ghosts carry with them poisonous air, infect all they touch. He has doomed himself. Will he doom us?
—
The silence followed the boom of united “Ra! with each strike is remarkable. Lines of men and woman perfect the art of punching at dawn, and move on to each individual move, together, before sparring as the sun sets.
We have an abundance of kung fu!
—
Mud is dead. She was found wearing an ancient device, like a helmet, sat upright, her body withered from malnutrition. The battery is long spent.
Why would she choose to die like this?
We have a scarcity of escapism.
—
Action: Discussion.
What should be done with the hungry ghost and the boy?
“Put them to sword and bury the bodies far from here. Touch neither with your bare hands.”
Endless_Serpents on
+1
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
A portion of the community agrees, with deep sadness, that the creature should be destroyed and the fate of Leaf is dire.
The encroaching lava from the West is more concerning.
We should isolate both boy and ghost and see if we can't learn what curses both the land there and this blighted soul.
Else we may be yet forced to abandon our home.
The boy’s parents and several of their friends have indicated that they will fight to the death to prevent their son being harmed. They point to several other recent instances of outsiders being welcomed. They plead that, perhaps, with the increase in our knowledge and technical capabilities, there might be a way forward with the outsider that does not require it’s death, as well.
The hungry ghost, the boy and his parents are forced to live slightly north of the main settlement. They are visited by healers and the religious in heavy suits from time to time, in the hopes of understanding the ghost through testing. If any more such creatures are found, here is where they will be isolated.
@Nipsyou draw the Five of Diamonds! Your choice is as follows:
A project finishes early.
What led to its early completion?
OR
The weather is nice and people can feel the potential all around them. Start a new project.
Pick a choice, explain it, and take an Action.
Steam: TheBrayster
PSN: TheBrayster_92
0
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
The weather is nice and people can feel the potential all around them. Start a new project.
The wind shifts just so, for the first time in recent memory, and faintly pleasant scent of the numaize buds floats into the settlement for the better part of a week. It refreshes minds and spirits across the settlement, and sharpens our collective focus on the problems and threats facing us.
Using this newfound energy, an idea begins to quickly grow among the community: we grew this town from the shattered nothing of the desert, we are salvagers, even more we are reclaimers. The plight of Leaf weighs heavily on our collective conscience, and so this idea turns quickly to addressing his situation.
We will use whatever means we have, physical, philosophical, and scientific, to heal and rehabilitate the being that Leaf showed mercy, and in doing so grant a stay to whatever grim fate both the creature and the boy may have come to without intervention.
This project is daunting, as we do not yet know much about the entity that wandered into our settlement. This project will take a minimum of six weeks; there will be no discussion on this point. But we will persevere.
A portion of the community starts a different project, to help Driscoll prove his worth to the community.
A young up-and-coming leader among the now-trained martial artists, named Chorath, leads a small group of fellow practitioners to petition Master Diesel to allow them to train Driscoll in our deeper philosophies. Diesel agrees, but only if they all work under his watchful eye. The training will be rigorous, both Chorath and Diesel agree, but what choice does Driscoll have? He must prove himself, body and soul, to the rest of our community, and the Master and Star Pupil both agree this will demonstrate his commitment.
The stable agrees that a focused, four-week training regime should be enough to find if Driscoll can manage the trial set before him and begin to prove his dedication to our community. (This project is intended to complete the same week as the Murder Investigation, out of respect for the symmetry of the growing situation, and so I will also not entertain discussion on its length.)
I find your arguments for the length of each task compelling, and agree with them, but take Contempt for the HEAVY HANDED way in which you have gone about it.
Just to clarify before I move on - @Nips are you using Contempt for this particular bulldozing?
If so, I will move us swiftly on. If not, I would still hear the opinions of @discrider and @Endless_Serpents , even if you don't plan to entertain them.
Steam: TheBrayster
PSN: TheBrayster_92
0
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
The Ghost project is like whatever sure.
It needs doing and we don't know what we don't know, so we agree with the outcome, if not the process.
But we're taking Contempt for expecting anything more out of Driscoll before the end of the trial.
He's already getting tutelage in the basic forms, this is just wasted effort.
@Elvenshaeyou draw the King of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
A natural disaster strikes the area.
What is it?
Choose one:
• You focus on getting everyone to safety. Remove an Abundance and a project fails.
• You focus on protecting your supplies and hard work at any cost. Several people die as a result.
It is early morning on Thirdday when it happens. The numaize fields are full of workers as the end-of-summer crops are being harvested. Sticks clack against each other, occasionally punctuated by a cry, as the students train in the dojos. Bricks are being carried up to the wall that, even now, almost completely encircles the village. Life is proceeding ... normally.
It begins slowly, with no one quite sure that anything has happened at all, except for the sudden silence of the animals, the plate that falls to the floor from the table - was it just misplaced? Curtains sway a little more than they should in the nonexistent breeze.
The second and third tremors hit in quick succession as a massive series of earthquake shakes the village. The numaize whips wildly back and forth, and several houses crack, falling down. The hands run from the field, screaming in panic as the earth splits, a crevasse opening.
Soon, the tremors end as discipline re-exerts itself, and the people put their kung fu skills into practice - keeping their balance on the shifting ground, dodging items that fall. Survivors are quickly pulled from the wreckage of various houses. The wall surrounding the village is miraculously intact - one worker was thrown from the top when the quake hit, but was able to save herself by catching a ladder and riding it to the ground.
The traveling merchants, out in the open and away from the fields, are little affected. Dust's radio tower continued to broadcast throughout the event. Driscoll's science lab suffered some broken glass, but is otherwise fine.
In the afternoon, amidst the wreckage, the realization dawns that no one has heard from the team exploring the Underground. The village pours, en masse, to the entry point, which has filled in with rubble. A desperate rescue effort, fueled by our on-hand stocks of Accelogel, begins and continues for several days before the team is located, huddled together in a central room: dehydrated, hungry, scared, but alive. The further reaches of the facilities, however, are nigh-completely wrecked. Apart from a few trinkets that they had in-hand, the wonders the team had been working on are ruined. Any effort to salvage them must start again, and will be harder for the wreckage in which they are now buried.
But the worst is yet to come as, from the west, a rivulet from the lake of fire rushes down the new course created by the earthquake. Moving faster than a person can run, a wave of fire and smoke crosses the Saltsands. When it finally reaches the village, it has mostly spent its fury - but it retains enough might for the flowing fire to slop over the walls of the crevasse.
The numaize fields closest to the new river of fire burn.
The community works to save what it can, digging quick firebreaks, shoveling salt-laden earth onto the flames to prevent their spread. But when the river of fire retreats hours later, a significant percentage of the village's crops - and the nigh-irreplaceable seedcorn they came from - are just gone. The crevasse smokes and stinks and shimmers with residual heat. Who knows what devastation has been wrought upstream? The trickle of water running through the western fork of the arroyo now disappears into the depths where it is split by the new crevasse, a tiny, furtive waterfall.
The Underground Salvage project Fails. Numaize is no longer abundant.
I wish to hold a Discussion.
Our position here is suddenly more precarious than ever. Why should we remain in this place?
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited July 2022
"It is clear from the encroaching natural dangers that our settlement's location is not safe. We should begin converting the entire town for mobility, and prepare ourselves to move the settlement to safer land."
It is hard to imagine leaving this place, after all we've accomplished here.
Nor can we stay moving without allowing the Numaize to put down roots.
But we did it before when we came to this place, and we can do it again.
We cannot guarantee a sustainable place can be found, and how many die from exhaustion on the way to this fabled new home? No. We stay. We make do unto the end.
If we are to go somewhere, we must have somewhere to go. We should determine what has happened to the tech village to our west, to the machine scrapyard - there may be survivors who need our help. We should stay until with cooler heads we can make the disciplined decision.
I'm aware of the damage described last turn, however, I'll not update the map just yet, as we have not yet determined the fate of those that lay in the way.
Resources:
Numaize (Stable)
Kung Fu (Abundant)
Historical Knowledge (Stable)
Technology (Stable)
Water (Stable)
Escapism (Scarce)
Projects:
Settlement Wall Construction: Complete!
Murder Investigation: 2
Rehabilitation: 5
Driscoll Training: 2
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x2
Elvenshae x2
Week Twenty Five
@discrideryou draw the Two of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
Someone returns to the community.
Who?
Where were they?
OR
You find a body.
Do people recognize who it is?
What happened?
Pick a choice, explain it, and take an Action.
Project: Settlement Wall Construction has Completed! Tell us what happens.
The refugees from the Western camp start rolling in midway through the next week.
Where the molten river had incinerated our crops, it had also made their encampment unlivable.
Plumes of white ash had settled on everything the western camp had in the open.
Their fields untenable.
Their air unbreathable.
And so, they have gathered as much as they could of their stockpiles and belongings, and set their mechanical beasts to work chasing east.
When they found that the desolation was only on their side of the scrapheap, they made camp directly west of our village, on the other side of the river.
They plan to only stay as long as is necessary to salvage and regroup what is left of their settlement.
And besides, that bridge is still broken, and they are unsure if they can navigate the broken marble cliffs safely.
It becomes clear in the following days that the western village is not simply our neighbors, but a splinter of our previous tribe.
The way they say it, there was a big fight in the old days between two brothers.
One was stoic and wanted to devote himself to the martial arts, free of material concerns.
The other wanted to devote himself to harnessing technology, to ameliorate the same.
Then they say that the stoic brother tried to impose on the less focused one, so their leader upped sticks and left.
In any case, they offer to accompany us to wherever we are all headed.
We are leaving, right?
The wall, however, is completed.
Yak is very proud about the meter to two meter high lump that he has circumnavigated our village with.
It has no gates.
While it is amusing watching people's heads bob up and down over the roofline through the day as they attempt to leave for the fields or to pack up around the hole, it does hamper our ability to move anything in or out of the village significantly.
Our Mobility is now Scarce
Start a project
Diesel comes up on Driscoll, still failing to master even the first five forms of the Desert Devil style.
Diesel spits.
'Ok, magic man. It's time to end this farce.'
Driscoll half-heartedly protests as Diesel directs him from his training and out into the burned fields.
It is at least not more training.
'Things changing around here. And as much as I'd like to watch you disgrace our art for another two weeks, there's more important work to do.'
He bends down and clenches a fistful of charred chaff.
'This entire field is ruined. Ain't much you can sabotage here.'
He claps his hands and scatters the ash.
'You have three weeks to gather usable seed stock out of this field. We might be heading out, and even not, we still need to replant.
Do it, and we might begin to think that all this ain't your fault.'
Diesel blinks.
'Well, this here is the fault line's fault.'
That's about as much of a joke that you'll get out of Diesel.
1 Contempt spent.
Driscoll's training fails.
Seed stores are also set to Scarce.
We expect we'll be able to harvest the NuMaize to get to Stable easy enough, if we want to travel.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Oooooo......kay.
Contempt for the completion of Wall resulting in a new scarcity.
Contempt for the at-will killing off of an active project (Driscoll's training) [Which is not supported by the active card draw or the rules at-large!]
Contempt for at-will declaring another Scarcity in the process of Starting a Project.
I was going to write a whole big thing about rules, backed up by references, and blah blah blah, but fuck it. I don't have the energy, time, or patience. Bottom line: Projects, even foolish ones, are supposed to be a boon for the community, help the community solve problems and make forward progress.
Discrider, I think you're taking too much narrative control in this post, control that the game does not expressly allow for. All three of the Contempt I've listed above are in reaction to going outside of the rules or spirit of the game, and honestly I'm upset by the gameplay presented here.
It's starting to feel a little to much like Calvinball in here, and I don't like the trend.
Sorry, have I misinterpreted what a foolish project is?
I just assumed Yak's wall would be flawed and cause issues in some way.
And I was using contempt to move Driscoll from and cease the project that generated the contempt to some other project.
I also didn't think it would be appropriate for the new project to generate an Abundance on completion, so I started an appropriate Scarcity.
It would actually probably be more appropriate to have the effect decided on project completion honestly.
So I can scrub that Scarcity.
... Although the seed-corn shortage had already been mentioned in the week before.
But yeah.
I'm just working off the rules in the OP.
So, just went and found what looks to be a PDF of the rules.
Scarcities get updated when it feels appropriate to do so.
The fields were burned last week, and the seed-corn there destroyed, so it seemed appropriate to start a new Scarcity.
Moving Driscoll from one project to a better project seems like a fair use of Contempt, especially as the Contempt was generated due to the expectation that Driscoll could even train proficiently in our fighting style in a short time as an outsider.
So I stand by those decisions.
And yeah, projects are meant to be boons to the community.
But the wall was meant to be a foolish project.
So I'm having a hard time seeing how the wall could be completed without causing a Scarcity of some description.
I suppose it could generate an Abundance of something else as well.
I don't see how a foolish project could be a boon honestly.
Was anything sacrificed to start it?
I guess if it hurt to start then it could be a boon to end.
To be completely honest, I had no idea what to do with the wall.
It's
- one guy
- using salt and sand and sludge and ash
- to make a 'wall' around the entire town.
I guess if more people joined in at some point, it could be an actual wall with Scarcity: mobility, abundant: Security.
Or if not, it could just be an amusing bump with no effect.
Posts
Resources:
Projects:
'Desert Devil' Training: 1
Settlement Wall Construction: 4
Underground Salvage: 4
Search for Mud: 1
Contempt:
Nips
Discrider
Elvenshae
@discrider you draw the Six of Diamonds! Your choice is as follows:
Outsiders arrive in the area. Why are they a threat?
How are they vulnerable?
OR
Outsiders arrive in the area. How many?
How are they greeted?
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Start a Project
Someone murdered Overseer Grouse, and it's frankly taken far too long to start an investigation into who (*cough* Driscoll *cough*).
I believe we should have enough evidence to charge him in 3 weeks.
And then the card, when I have time
@Nips @Elvenshae @Endless_Serpents
The project shouldn't take more than 1 week, because this is a bald-faced sham; if our Overseers are going to fabricate evidence, the least they can do is do it quickly and not waste our collective time.
Our biases nonwithstanding.)
The culprit is absolutely to whoever resolves the project.
But if that happened in the course of the investigation, we would not be surprised.
Or rather, that's why the project is so heavily loaded against him.
But all contempt happily accepted otherwise.
Really just wanted to tease apart the project description, and the 'obviously it's Driscoll's voice.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Outsiders arrive in the area. Why are they a threat?
How are they vulnerable?
The traveling merchants arrive, with their carts heavily laden with all sorts of curiosities.
Heading East, they navigate the marble cliffs to the south and set up camp on the flat land around the curious metallic hole.
Some 15 or so caravans set up within sight of the scaffold, but still significantly surrounded by the featureless surface exhumed by the tornado.
Wandering the markets, these merchants are willing to trade a wide variety of salvaged self contained pieces of technology.
Most look like they were pulled from larger wrecks, but all are meticulously labelled as to their form and function, even as they are now liberated from their original purpose.
A fair few can be identified as various widgets and components from our sister camp across the wreck heap, but the vast majority are not familiar.
Worryingly, the most prominent display features large quantities of 'water clarification solute' promising to purify any sludge into drinkable water.
It looks suspiciously similar to the potion Driscoll concocted.
And after several attempts at pushing the liquor fall on deaf ears, the entire display is whisked away.
The caravans themselves consist of large canopies extended over wheeled abominations of frankensteined technology.
It seems entirely too probable that these mechanised vehicles would be capable of defending themselves if attacked, or perhaps if attacking.
However they appear ill-equipped to traverse water, as otherwise they would have likely pulled up closer to town.
If we perhaps flooded the metallic indent with brine, why we could see how effective their 'clarification solute' really is.
As for the trial.
It seems that the community has little faith in the judicial process that will find Driscoll guilty.
As much as we believe the trial to have a foregone conclusion, we must find out the true perpetrator of this heinous crime, and we must have faith in the process if any Overseer is to sleep well at night again.
So, in the interests of making this as transparent a process as possible, we're extending the proceedings out to 5 weeks.
In the meantime, Driscoll will be taken on as a charge of Master Diesel, so he can at least stay out of any more trouble, and maybe learn a thing or two of our ways.
Resources:
Projects:
'Desert Devil' Training: Complete!
Settlement Wall Construction: 3
Underground Salvage: 3
Search for Mud: Complete!
Murder Investigation: 5
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider
Elvenshae
@Endless_Serpents you draw the Two of Diamonds! Your choice is as follows:
Someone new arrives.
Who?
Why are they in distress?
OR
Someone leaves the community.
Who?
What are they looking for?
Project: Search for Mud has completed! Tell us what happens.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Who?
Why are they in distress?
Noon, the farmers spy a shape moving through the crops. Someone screams. A creature scrambles, hands outstretched, grasping for the fleeing boys and old men.
Not a person. A dead thing. A burned thing. From long ago. It still walks. It tries to mouth words in mockery of us. A hungry ghost.
Some kid, Leaf, runs over and wraps it in cloth and gives it water. Hungry ghosts carry with them poisonous air, infect all they touch. He has doomed himself. Will he doom us?
—
The silence followed the boom of united “Ra! with each strike is remarkable. Lines of men and woman perfect the art of punching at dawn, and move on to each individual move, together, before sparring as the sun sets.
We have an abundance of kung fu!
—
Mud is dead. She was found wearing an ancient device, like a helmet, sat upright, her body withered from malnutrition. The battery is long spent.
Why would she choose to die like this?
We have a scarcity of escapism.
—
Action: Discussion.
What should be done with the hungry ghost and the boy?
“Put them to sword and bury the bodies far from here. Touch neither with your bare hands.”
We should isolate both boy and ghost and see if we can't learn what curses both the land there and this blighted soul.
Else we may be yet forced to abandon our home.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Resources:
Projects:
Settlement Wall Construction: 2
Underground Salvage: 2
Murder Investigation: 4
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider
Elvenshae
@Nips you draw the Five of Diamonds! Your choice is as follows:
A project finishes early.
What led to its early completion?
OR
The weather is nice and people can feel the potential all around them.
Start a new project.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
The wind shifts just so, for the first time in recent memory, and faintly pleasant scent of the numaize buds floats into the settlement for the better part of a week. It refreshes minds and spirits across the settlement, and sharpens our collective focus on the problems and threats facing us.
Using this newfound energy, an idea begins to quickly grow among the community: we grew this town from the shattered nothing of the desert, we are salvagers, even more we are reclaimers. The plight of Leaf weighs heavily on our collective conscience, and so this idea turns quickly to addressing his situation.
We will use whatever means we have, physical, philosophical, and scientific, to heal and rehabilitate the being that Leaf showed mercy, and in doing so grant a stay to whatever grim fate both the creature and the boy may have come to without intervention.
This project is daunting, as we do not yet know much about the entity that wandered into our settlement. This project will take a minimum of six weeks; there will be no discussion on this point. But we will persevere.
A portion of the community starts a different project, to help Driscoll prove his worth to the community.
A young up-and-coming leader among the now-trained martial artists, named Chorath, leads a small group of fellow practitioners to petition Master Diesel to allow them to train Driscoll in our deeper philosophies. Diesel agrees, but only if they all work under his watchful eye. The training will be rigorous, both Chorath and Diesel agree, but what choice does Driscoll have? He must prove himself, body and soul, to the rest of our community, and the Master and Star Pupil both agree this will demonstrate his commitment.
The stable agrees that a focused, four-week training regime should be enough to find if Driscoll can manage the trial set before him and begin to prove his dedication to our community.
(This project is intended to complete the same week as the Murder Investigation, out of respect for the symmetry of the growing situation, and so I will also not entertain discussion on its length.)
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
If so, I will move us swiftly on. If not, I would still hear the opinions of @discrider and @Endless_Serpents , even if you don't plan to entertain them.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
@Endless_Serpents @discrider
It needs doing and we don't know what we don't know, so we agree with the outcome, if not the process.
But we're taking Contempt for expecting anything more out of Driscoll before the end of the trial.
He's already getting tutelage in the basic forms, this is just wasted effort.
Resources:
Projects:
Settlement Wall Construction: 1
Underground Salvage: 1
Murder Investigation: 3
Rehabilitation: 6
Driscoll Training: 3
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x2
Elvenshae x2
@Elvenshae you draw the King of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
A natural disaster strikes the area.
What is it?
Choose one:
• You focus on getting everyone to safety. Remove an Abundance and a project fails.
• You focus on protecting your supplies and hard work at any cost. Several people die as a result.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
It begins slowly, with no one quite sure that anything has happened at all, except for the sudden silence of the animals, the plate that falls to the floor from the table - was it just misplaced? Curtains sway a little more than they should in the nonexistent breeze.
The second and third tremors hit in quick succession as a massive series of earthquake shakes the village. The numaize whips wildly back and forth, and several houses crack, falling down. The hands run from the field, screaming in panic as the earth splits, a crevasse opening.
Soon, the tremors end as discipline re-exerts itself, and the people put their kung fu skills into practice - keeping their balance on the shifting ground, dodging items that fall. Survivors are quickly pulled from the wreckage of various houses. The wall surrounding the village is miraculously intact - one worker was thrown from the top when the quake hit, but was able to save herself by catching a ladder and riding it to the ground.
The traveling merchants, out in the open and away from the fields, are little affected. Dust's radio tower continued to broadcast throughout the event. Driscoll's science lab suffered some broken glass, but is otherwise fine.
In the afternoon, amidst the wreckage, the realization dawns that no one has heard from the team exploring the Underground. The village pours, en masse, to the entry point, which has filled in with rubble. A desperate rescue effort, fueled by our on-hand stocks of Accelogel, begins and continues for several days before the team is located, huddled together in a central room: dehydrated, hungry, scared, but alive. The further reaches of the facilities, however, are nigh-completely wrecked. Apart from a few trinkets that they had in-hand, the wonders the team had been working on are ruined. Any effort to salvage them must start again, and will be harder for the wreckage in which they are now buried.
But the worst is yet to come as, from the west, a rivulet from the lake of fire rushes down the new course created by the earthquake. Moving faster than a person can run, a wave of fire and smoke crosses the Saltsands. When it finally reaches the village, it has mostly spent its fury - but it retains enough might for the flowing fire to slop over the walls of the crevasse.
The numaize fields closest to the new river of fire burn.
The community works to save what it can, digging quick firebreaks, shoveling salt-laden earth onto the flames to prevent their spread. But when the river of fire retreats hours later, a significant percentage of the village's crops - and the nigh-irreplaceable seedcorn they came from - are just gone. The crevasse smokes and stinks and shimmers with residual heat. Who knows what devastation has been wrought upstream? The trickle of water running through the western fork of the arroyo now disappears into the depths where it is split by the new crevasse, a tiny, furtive waterfall.
The Underground Salvage project Fails.
Numaize is no longer abundant.
I wish to hold a Discussion.
Our position here is suddenly more precarious than ever. Why should we remain in this place?
@discrider @Endless_Serpents @Nips
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Nor can we stay moving without allowing the Numaize to put down roots.
But we did it before when we came to this place, and we can do it again.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I'm aware of the damage described last turn, however, I'll not update the map just yet, as we have not yet determined the fate of those that lay in the way.
Resources:
Projects:
Settlement Wall Construction: Complete!
Murder Investigation: 2
Rehabilitation: 5
Driscoll Training: 2
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x2
Elvenshae x2
@discrider you draw the Two of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
Someone returns to the community.
Who?
Where were they?
OR
You find a body.
Do people recognize who it is?
What happened?
PSN: TheBrayster_92
The refugees from the Western camp start rolling in midway through the next week.
Where the molten river had incinerated our crops, it had also made their encampment unlivable.
Plumes of white ash had settled on everything the western camp had in the open.
Their fields untenable.
Their air unbreathable.
And so, they have gathered as much as they could of their stockpiles and belongings, and set their mechanical beasts to work chasing east.
When they found that the desolation was only on their side of the scrapheap, they made camp directly west of our village, on the other side of the river.
They plan to only stay as long as is necessary to salvage and regroup what is left of their settlement.
And besides, that bridge is still broken, and they are unsure if they can navigate the broken marble cliffs safely.
It becomes clear in the following days that the western village is not simply our neighbors, but a splinter of our previous tribe.
The way they say it, there was a big fight in the old days between two brothers.
One was stoic and wanted to devote himself to the martial arts, free of material concerns.
The other wanted to devote himself to harnessing technology, to ameliorate the same.
Then they say that the stoic brother tried to impose on the less focused one, so their leader upped sticks and left.
In any case, they offer to accompany us to wherever we are all headed.
We are leaving, right?
The wall, however, is completed.
Yak is very proud about the meter to two meter high lump that he has circumnavigated our village with.
It has no gates.
While it is amusing watching people's heads bob up and down over the roofline through the day as they attempt to leave for the fields or to pack up around the hole, it does hamper our ability to move anything in or out of the village significantly.
Our Mobility is now Scarce
Start a project
Diesel comes up on Driscoll, still failing to master even the first five forms of the Desert Devil style.
Diesel spits.
'Ok, magic man. It's time to end this farce.'
Driscoll half-heartedly protests as Diesel directs him from his training and out into the burned fields.
It is at least not more training.
'Things changing around here. And as much as I'd like to watch you disgrace our art for another two weeks, there's more important work to do.'
He bends down and clenches a fistful of charred chaff.
'This entire field is ruined. Ain't much you can sabotage here.'
He claps his hands and scatters the ash.
'You have three weeks to gather usable seed stock out of this field. We might be heading out, and even not, we still need to replant.
Do it, and we might begin to think that all this ain't your fault.'
Diesel blinks.
'Well, this here is the fault line's fault.'
That's about as much of a joke that you'll get out of Diesel.
1 Contempt spent.
Driscoll's training fails.
Seed stores are also set to Scarce.
We expect we'll be able to harvest the NuMaize to get to Stable easy enough, if we want to travel.
@Nips @Endless_Serpents @Elvenshae
On duration of project
Also, I take, like, 3 Contempt for suddenly deciding we’re all idiots when completing the wall.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Contempt for the completion of Wall resulting in a new scarcity.
Contempt for the at-will killing off of an active project (Driscoll's training) [Which is not supported by the active card draw or the rules at-large!]
Contempt for at-will declaring another Scarcity in the process of Starting a Project.
Discrider, I think you're taking too much narrative control in this post, control that the game does not expressly allow for. All three of the Contempt I've listed above are in reaction to going outside of the rules or spirit of the game, and honestly I'm upset by the gameplay presented here.
It's starting to feel a little to much like Calvinball in here, and I don't like the trend.
I have no opinion on the proposed project.
I just assumed Yak's wall would be flawed and cause issues in some way.
And I was using contempt to move Driscoll from and cease the project that generated the contempt to some other project.
I also didn't think it would be appropriate for the new project to generate an Abundance on completion, so I started an appropriate Scarcity.
It would actually probably be more appropriate to have the effect decided on project completion honestly.
So I can scrub that Scarcity.
... Although the seed-corn shortage had already been mentioned in the week before.
But yeah.
I'm just working off the rules in the OP.
Scarcities get updated when it feels appropriate to do so.
The fields were burned last week, and the seed-corn there destroyed, so it seemed appropriate to start a new Scarcity.
Moving Driscoll from one project to a better project seems like a fair use of Contempt, especially as the Contempt was generated due to the expectation that Driscoll could even train proficiently in our fighting style in a short time as an outsider.
So I stand by those decisions.
And yeah, projects are meant to be boons to the community.
But the wall was meant to be a foolish project.
So I'm having a hard time seeing how the wall could be completed without causing a Scarcity of some description.
I suppose it could generate an Abundance of something else as well.
I don't see how a foolish project could be a boon honestly.
Was anything sacrificed to start it?
I guess if it hurt to start then it could be a boon to end.
It's
- one guy
- using salt and sand and sludge and ash
- to make a 'wall' around the entire town.
I guess if more people joined in at some point, it could be an actual wall with Scarcity: mobility, abundant: Security.
Or if not, it could just be an amusing bump with no effect.