The Party Farsiac, Forest Outskirts (Mining Town) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"My men? I'm a gods damned co-pilot," the soldier says as you make your way toward the building in the rear.
As you walk closer to it, you notice that most of the other buildings show signs of either being abandoned for some time, or have been boarded up. The words of encouragement from Vandel seem to help the man move a little faster.
"He's turning, sir!" the man at the door seems rather panicked, causing the lieutenant to walk faster.
Back by the airship, Ewan inspects the vessel.
Could you roll a perception, and an intelligence please, Ewan.
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Eron, Saurin, Vandel Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Inside the Town Hall, the first thing that you notice is the smell. The man at the door's clothing is in rags, and clearly hasn't washed in a very long time. The lights are dimmed, and you count at least five humanoid looking forms slumped against the walls within the main atrium of the hall. Along the upper level, there are more doors that have been boarded shut.
You follow the lieutenant as he, guided by the man, limps up the stairs and through one of the unblcoked doorways. The upper level seems to have been broken out into several wings. Even here, the doors have been sealed off. You can hear a faint scratching sound behind some of them. Finally, you get to the last room in this hallway.
A man sits against a wall, his eyes covered in bandages. Beneath the rags of clothing he wears are unusual lumps, and the front of his clothing is covered in a brownish stain that you easily surmise is dried blood. Flecks of what you guess is glass are also scattered about. The man begins to growl.
Ewan, Keegan Farsiac, Mining Town (Interior) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Back outside by the airship, Ewan inspects the nacelle. There are a few large chunks of greenery inside the machinery, but the corestone looked to be intact. A few parts are missing, no doubt having been removed. Moving into the interior of the airship, you notice that the damage done is severe. The piloting controls on the right side are completely absent, the consoles and seat having been ripped out along with the whoever was unfortunate enough to have been sitting in it at the time. It looked like not all the repairs had been completed though…
So long as Premier Vacchana has possession of the Red Stars, the world of Zephyr is in jeopardy. In a matter of minutes he was able to destroy nearly all of the Zephyr Coalition's fleet of warships. The true extent of the power of the Wonder in the Premier's possession was demonstrated with the destruction of an entire drift, Foehn. This was no chance attack, as Foehn was once the location of the central command center of the Zephyr Knights, the primary fighting force of the Zephyr Coalition. Chaos and fear now dominate the world and it is only a matter of time before the Premier will be able to capitalize on this turn of events.
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Farsaic Mines
As the war progressed and metals and other resources were lost at rates higher than the salvage culture could maintain, alternatives were needed. This would bring about a dramatic increase in mining in many areas of the Lands Below and even on some drifts. However, not all mines are what they seem. Based off intelligence provided to you by Lady Merkaba herself you've discovered that one of the mines under the oversight of Pharun's men has its workers digging up something unusual: deadstone.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
Leveche Research Facility
Thom Huxby, former Guild Mage is renowned as a distinguished alchemist, artificer and expert in organic transmutation. One of his prime works was the domestication and modification of various monstrous creatures. However, the man felt that his true calling lay in the weaponization of such creatures and upon his disassociation from the Mage's Guild and subsequent affiliation with the Merkaban forces he has been a very busy man.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
Vault Excavation
Reports from another spy indicate that Pharun has found another ancient weapons cache. The vessel, known as the "Vault" at the very least may hold a fairly sizable collection of inactive Black Knights. Highborne military intelligence states that a single Black Knight can be comparable in power and effectiveness to ten Merkaban soldiers. The brutality and ruthlessness of the Wonders is unmeasurable. As the war progressed, many of the Black Knights were damaged and the replacements that the Merkabans seem to have been able to produce are far inferior to the original production lines.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
This is the quest template.
Sidequests
Settlement (Completed)
Upon their arrival on the island of Surant, there were indications that the settlement on the island had been attacked. Not one to abandon those in need, the group has set out to investigate the settlement.
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
The Party - Farsiac: Stragglers.
You've discovered a group of Merkabans that seem to have been left behind in the mining town. They don't look very healthy either. A lone pilot also remains onsite, but he is injured and his airship is busted.
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“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
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TheMadjaiSir Madjai of SanSanMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited December 2010
Ewan picks up a tool and does what he can to assist in the repairs, working primarily on the thrust distribution system. He does his best trying to make his hands do what his brain is telling them.
Eron looks at the man and frowns, then asks the pilot "What's been going on here? None of you look to be in good shape." Eron keeps a wary eye on the growling man as he awaits the answer.
"Eron, what is wrong with him? Is it even something that can be cured now?" Vandel asks quietly, concern in his voice as he looks at the man and draws on his training both as a healer and in detecting magic. Heal + Arcana: 1d20+9221d20+1019
"I'm afraid not. This looks like the end stages of longterm deadstone exposure." Eron frowns and lightly kicks the 'glass' on the floor away from him into a corner.
"Has any work been done to clean deadstone out of this part of the village. If people are expecting to take shelter here, we're going to have work to limit our exposure. I have some knowledge of how to mitigate the effects for people who aren't in the advanced stages like this. I'll do what I can to help."
Eron digs through his mind to see if in addition to the mental discipline to maintain selfimage, there was some material that could be used to provide shielding for the building.
Eron, Saurin, Vandel Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"Take shelter? I'm just trying to fix that damn airship so I can get out of here, man." knight says after Eron presents his grim diagnosis. "and the sooner I find the part I need, the damned sooner I can. But since you tourists pulled all those Marauders, I can't even leave to try and find what I need."
You doubt that the soldier would get very far with his leg messed up like that. (AArcana - Eron -OR- Requires DC 21)It was highly unlikely that there was much you could do to stave off the spread of dead stone in this area. It was, much like the rest of the energies you'd felt so far, coming from below.
Ewan, Keegan Farsiac, Mining Town (Interior) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Keegan's attention wanders as Ewan vanishes inside the airship. There, the ranger does his best to well make his hands do what what his brain tells them to. A few minutes later, he finishes up. The thrust distribution system looks like it would be able to keep the airship level. The only thing that was necessary now was a functional starboard nacelle.
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
TheMadjaiSir Madjai of SanSanMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited December 2010
After Ewan finishes up, he casually strolls around, and eventually goes and sits down very close to where Keegan was hiding. He sits facing the cabin the rest entered, not looking at Keegan directly.
"The bear has eaten the salmon." He says to no one in particular, and very quietly.
TheMadjai on
"Yeah, TheMadjai knows whats up." --Lardalish
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
Meanwhile... Farsiac, Forest (Ranstead) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"I'm surprised," Arlen's words come out rough and raspy as he leans against the bulkhead wall. "Sounds like they're going to help out those Merkabans. Thought you Knights hated them." He walked into the passenger section and stood across from Mari. The central console continued to project the local topography, a beacon indicating the party's current position within the town.
"Their leaders and knights may be murderers, but they're just civilians," Mari says while narrowing here eyes toward Arlen. His body language suggests he is about to say something, but then he simply sighs.
"Fair enough. Shame there's so much interference. I'll see what I can do to help out."
"You? Offering more than limited help? Now that's surprising…"
Arlen will help you in some fashion.
Eron, Saurin, Vandel Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"First, let's seal this room off. I can't bring myself to kill these things. I mean, part of them is still alive in there, right?" The lieutenant looks toward Eron briefly before limping his way out of the room. He calls down the hall for some boards for the doorway.
If you want to euthanize this man, you can. Otherwise you can return to the hallway and continue the conversation about what you need to do to help him fix the airship. You don't have to RP returning to the hallway, letting me know in the OOC thread that's what you wanna do is fine!
Not sure what Keegan and Ewan are doing at this point after Ewan finished doing his repairs to the ship. I'm assuming he'll come inside eventually since it's raining though?
So long as Premier Vacchana has possession of the Red Stars, the world of Zephyr is in jeopardy. In a matter of minutes he was able to destroy nearly all of the Zephyr Coalition's fleet of warships. The true extent of the power of the Wonder in the Premier's possession was demonstrated with the destruction of an entire drift, Foehn. This was no chance attack, as Foehn was once the location of the central command center of the Zephyr Knights, the primary fighting force of the Zephyr Coalition. Chaos and fear now dominate the world and it is only a matter of time before the Premier will be able to capitalize on this turn of events.
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Farsaic Mines
As the war progressed and metals and other resources were lost at rates higher than the salvage culture could maintain, alternatives were needed. This would bring about a dramatic increase in mining in many areas of the Lands Below and even on some drifts. However, not all mines are what they seem. Based off intelligence provided to you by Lady Merkaba herself you've discovered that one of the mines under the oversight of Pharun's men has its workers digging up something unusual: deadstone.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
Leveche Research Facility
Thom Huxby, former Guild Mage is renowned as a distinguished alchemist, artificer and expert in organic transmutation. One of his prime works was the domestication and modification of various monstrous creatures. However, the man felt that his true calling lay in the weaponization of such creatures and upon his disassociation from the Mage's Guild and subsequent affiliation with the Merkaban forces he has been a very busy man.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
Vault Excavation
Reports from another spy indicate that Pharun has found another ancient weapons cache. The vessel, known as the "Vault" at the very least may hold a fairly sizable collection of inactive Black Knights. Highborne military intelligence states that a single Black Knight can be comparable in power and effectiveness to ten Merkaban soldiers. The brutality and ruthlessness of the Wonders is unmeasurable. As the war progressed, many of the Black Knights were damaged and the replacements that the Merkabans seem to have been able to produce are far inferior to the original production lines.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
This is the quest template.
Sidequests
Settlement (Completed)
Upon their arrival on the island of Surant, there were indications that the settlement on the island had been attacked. Not one to abandon those in need, the group has set out to investigate the settlement.
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
The Party - Farsiac: Stragglers.
You've discovered a group of Merkabans that seem to have been left behind in the mining town. They don't look very healthy either. A lone pilot also remains on-site, but he is injured and his airship is busted.
[12/28/10] Moved with pity toward the dying Merkabans, you have decided to help the Lieutenant repair his downed airship.
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Saurin is filled with a sense of unease looking at the thing that was once a man.
“Is part of him still alive? Yes, but being alive is not the same thing as living whole. This abomination must be put down for his sake and ours.”
Turning to the creature Saurin lift’s his Trantyr and with a quiet prayer to the Raven queen, “Go now to her embrace and let lose the things that bind you to this world”, brings the point down at the base of its neck.
Eron grimaces as Saurin does the deed. Quietly he says "Some years ago, a group of wizards at the academy tried to save a colleague who'd suffered deadstone poisoning due to his experimentation. The best they were able to accomplish with their magic was to slow the rate at which his mind stopped working. It was worse than nothing. He could feel and understand what was happening to him. The report journal was one of the most disturbing things I've ever read."
"May your soul find rest..." Vandel says quietly. "Pilot!" he calls to the man. "Can you give us any idea where the device you're missing may be? We'll search for it. You should stay out of the rain--and away from the deadstone."
Eron, Saurin, Vandel Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
The Lieutenant makes no effort to stop Saurin as he puts Kaspal out of his misery. Even after the trantyr exits his body, gurgling sounds come from the man's throat. The dirty rags he wears become stained red with his own blood, and after a few more seconds of shuddering, he finally dies.
"One of the solenoids is busted," he says to Vandel while pulling out the part that he'd removed earlier. What was supposed to be a tightly wound was a mangled strip. Stuck inside the coil was also a chunk of vine. "You can probably strip one off any of the airships that crashed in this gods forsaken forest," he finishes.
At the doorway a man lets out a loud yelp, drops the hammer and boards he was carrying and runs back down the hall.
"I'll... talk to him. Just find that part. Some of the survivors around here may know a little information about this forest too, heh."
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Before heading out to begin the search, Eron stops in the downstairs room and makes a round, talking to the people, trying to boost their morale and help them maintain confidence in their notdeadstoneness. When he's done, he joins the others outside.
Following behind Eron, Vandel walks around the room as well, inspecting wounds, and letting the soldiers know that they'd be looking for the airship parts. He spends the most time with the worst cases, asking them about their lives outside of the military, and assuring them that they'll be able to return home soon and see their loved ones.
"The river is more abundant," Keegan whispers, "No, wait, that's for a fire. Shoot, what was ... Oh that's right," he clears his throat, also somehow in a whisper, then says, "The fruit tree hangs low (I'm ready to go when you are.)"
The Party Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Eron and Vandel spend some time delivering encouraging words to the merkabans inside the town hall before finally making their way toward the exit. In the back of Eron's mind, he knew that at the stage they were in, there wasn't anything to be done but comfort them until the end. But the wizard ignores his inner pessimist. IF they got them out of this area, there had to be some hope for them! If not, then their efforts would simply be in vain.
"Be careful out there. If the plants didn't take out the Knights, they may try to engage you as hostiles," the Lieutenant warns. "This is the only safe area..."
Moments later all of you regroup back at the entrance to the mining town. The rain changes over toa steady mist now, and the gates sway in the wind.
Lemme know what you want to do! IE: Where you want to go. If you're just backtracking throw the usual nature/whatever for transport rules as below. Yes, you can throw arcana up there and have arcana assists to somehow discern where a functional magic solenoid is despite the entire forest being a hotbed of deadly magical energy that's slowly corrupting your mortal flesh. Or you can try and ping the ranstead, up to you! Or do something else entirely different from those options. Will need a confirm on destination though.
(Travel Mode)
Travel Map
N/A
Travel Overview
Destination: ?? Time of Day: (Morning) Terrain: Difficult Weather: Humid, Warm, Sunny Est. Travel Time: ~10 Hours.
Rolls!
Rolls may be made either with IC content or rolls only in the OOC. The following skills may be used to improve time and effort required to get to your destination.
Required Rolls: A percentile!
Optional
Nature: This skill helps you get a better handle of which way is which, and how to better overcome terrain obstacles. Perception: Perception helps keep you from being ambushed, or notice other things along the way. (Successes reduce travel time) Stealth: Stealth determines how stealthy you are. This includes leaving a trail behind as you travel. (Increases travel time, reduces encounter chance and awareness, increases advantage chance) Athletics: Determines how well you keep your pace if you hurry. (Successes reduce travel time by more, reduces perception and stealth.) Endurance:: If you're going across rough terrain, environment and/or pushing yourselves via athletics then an endurance check is necessary (This will be called. Failures may result in loss of healing surges via exertion.)
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Hours later... Farsiac, Forest (Ranstead) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"Hm, I never knew a halfling could climb like that." Mari says as she watches the party return to the town.
"I'm just surprised they got through it all without a single moment of awkward sexual tension," Arlen adds. "That Vandel guy is, well..." He motions his head and makes a gesture with his wrist, to which Mari frowns.
"What you did with the Ranstead was pretty helpful, Arlen," she says "it really saved them a lot of time."
"Yea, I guess I can be pretty damn awesome if none of the players are around. And how many times am I going to ask you people to call me En?"
"Lady help me."
...CUZ LOL TIME SKIP Farsiac, Mining Town (Exterior) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
After going to the ship and some other miscellaneous hijinks, the group has recovered the solenoid and returned to the entrance of the town. The rain has long stopped, and much of the day has been burned away, but rescuing these people was well worth it. The interior of the town was silent save for the flapping sound of the damaged airship's covering.
Just going to skip that challenge and progress the plot a little more.
So long as Premier Vacchana has possession of the Red Stars, the world of Zephyr is in jeopardy. In a matter of minutes he was able to destroy nearly all of the Zephyr Coalition's fleet of warships. The true extent of the power of the Wonder in the Premier's possession was demonstrated with the destruction of an entire drift, Foehn. This was no chance attack, as Foehn was once the location of the central command center of the Zephyr Knights, the primary fighting force of the Zephyr Coalition. Chaos and fear now dominate the world and it is only a matter of time before the Premier will be able to capitalize on this turn of events.
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Farsaic Mines
As the war progressed and metals and other resources were lost at rates higher than the salvage culture could maintain, alternatives were needed. This would bring about a dramatic increase in mining in many areas of the Lands Below and even on some drifts. However, not all mines are what they seem. Based off intelligence provided to you by Lady Merkaba herself you've discovered that one of the mines under the oversight of Pharun's men has its workers digging up something unusual: deadstone.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
Leveche Research Facility
Thom Huxby, former Guild Mage is renowned as a distinguished alchemist, artificer and expert in organic transmutation. One of his prime works was the domestication and modification of various monstrous creatures. However, the man felt that his true calling lay in the weaponization of such creatures and upon his disassociation from the Mage's Guild and subsequent affiliation with the Merkaban forces he has been a very busy man.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
Vault Excavation
Reports from another spy indicate that Pharun has found another ancient weapons cache. The vessel, known as the "Vault" at the very least may hold a fairly sizable collection of inactive Black Knights. Highborne military intelligence states that a single Black Knight can be comparable in power and effectiveness to ten Merkaban soldiers. The brutality and ruthlessness of the Wonders is unmeasurable. As the war progressed, many of the Black Knights were damaged and the replacements that the Merkabans seem to have been able to produce are far inferior to the original production lines.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
This is the quest template.
Sidequests
Settlement (Completed)
Upon their arrival on the island of Surant, there were indications that the settlement on the island had been attacked. Not one to abandon those in need, the group has set out to investigate the settlement.
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
The Party - Farsiac: Stragglers.
You've discovered a group of Merkabans that seem to have been left behind in the mining town. They don't look very healthy either. A lone pilot also remains on-site, but he is injured and his airship is busted.
[12/28/10] Moved with pity toward the dying Merkabans, you have decided to help the Lieutenant repair his downed airship.
[01/26/11] You've found the solenoid and returned to the town.
[/indent]
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
The Party Farsiac, Mining Town (Exterior) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Standing at the gates, Keegan cautiously glances about. It was almost as though he were certain that this would be the moment where things would just go crazy, zombified armored kruthiks that spat yellow jigglers that attached to his face bursting from the doors. Tendrils of gods-know-what bursting out of the ground and into assorted orifices as the sky became consumed by random explosions... but no, it was only Thursday.
The inner perimeter of the mining town looked exactly as you had left it, only darker due to the sun's travels. Water dripped off the roofs of some of the buildings into large muddy puddles, and the airship just sat there.
Directly behind the airship, the town hall continued to stand. Light peeked out from between the boards on several of the windows.
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
// Script
echo '"Thanks," the lieutenant takes the solenoid from {EngagingMember.Name}.';
switch (EngagingMember.Name)
{
case ("Keegan"): echo '"You're an interesting fellow."';
case ("Eron"): echo '"You're not all that bad for a Wizard, but you keep strange company," he says as he shifts more weight onto his good leg.';
case ("Ewan"): echo '"You have a problem?" he asks. The man easily picks up on the ranger's thinly veiled hostility toward him, being that he was a Merkaban soldier';
case ("Vandel"): echo '"Thanks, I guess," the lieutenant gives a brief glance at Vandel, before turning his attention to everyone else.';
default: echo 'Thanks.';
}
echo '"With this, I should be able to finish the repairs to ship, but I guess this leaves the question of how are you going to get out of here?" he asks.';
SetQuestStatus('CH7Q3',6,'02/03/2011');
include_once('postFooter.lul');
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Eron hand's the solenoid they worked so damn hard to get to the as yet unnamed lieutenant, hoping that all that effort was worth it. Maybe now they could get a move on and blow up some caves.
"We need to find that elf community, so we'll take shelter here while we wait for the tree monster to disappear," Vandel explains, hoping that it makes sense to the man. He is half delirious anyway! he tells himself. He'll believe anything!
The Party Farsiac, Mining Town (Interior) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
The Lieutenant looks at the Eladrin for a few seconds after he explained his plan to wait in the town. The words but didn't you see what happened to the people here seem to form on his face but are not voiced. Instead he shrugs and nods at Vandel.
"There's not much left here, but if that's what you people want to do, I'm not going to stop you," he nods toward the group and limps his way to the airship, to complete its repairs.
Having already removed the damaged part, and done most of the preparatory work on the nacelle long before the party arrived, making the repairs are as simple as inserting the piece and screwing things on.
"Good, good!" he says to no one in particular, before limping into the cockpit and starting the vessel up. Slowly but surely it rises off the ground nice and level-like. Moments later, with your help all of the Merkabans are loaded onto the transport. Some of them are in fairly bad shape, and they smell absolutely horrible, but at least all twenty of them would be safe. You push aside the thought that the mining town could have easily housed hundreds of people though. When all this is done, the Lieutenant stands before you again.
"We're heading to Gennaux, the base there should have something to help these men. I hope," he says before turning back toward the airship. He pauses in mid stride to face you once again, and begins to pull something out from under his shirt. "Here you go," he holds out a Well Worn Amulet on a string for Eron to accept. Although the relief that was once etched into the surface of the amulet has been long worn away, the magic within remains.
"For good luck, or at least to help cover your costs for paying your men. If you ever stop by Gennaux, look me up. I'll buy you a lager, and maybe even have the missus cook you up some of her best." Without giving the wizard a chance to refuse his offer, he moves into the airship. The vessel begins to stir and rise from the ground, rapidly gaining altitude before it finally jets off to the northeast.
"N$w w3 can blow up the %!AzL9 a (34cc~44, %#1?", you feel a garbled message come from Arlen.
As you stand around for a moment longer, you can hear the sound of distant thunder ring out. It was going to rain again.
At any point, upon closer inspection you would discover that it is a Periapt of Cascading Health (Level 10, Uncommon), Enhancement: +2 Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, Power (Encounter): Minor Action. You end one condition that a save can end.
So long as Premier Vacchana has possession of the Red Stars, the world of Zephyr is in jeopardy. In a matter of minutes he was able to destroy nearly all of the Zephyr Coalition's fleet of warships. The true extent of the power of the Wonder in the Premier's possession was demonstrated with the destruction of an entire drift, Foehn. This was no chance attack, as Foehn was once the location of the central command center of the Zephyr Knights, the primary fighting force of the Zephyr Coalition. Chaos and fear now dominate the world and it is only a matter of time before the Premier will be able to capitalize on this turn of events.
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Farsaic Mines
As the war progressed and metals and other resources were lost at rates higher than the salvage culture could maintain, alternatives were needed. This would bring about a dramatic increase in mining in many areas of the Lands Below and even on some drifts. However, not all mines are what they seem. Based off intelligence provided to you by Lady Merkaba herself you've discovered that one of the mines under the oversight of Pharun's men has its workers digging up something unusual: deadstone.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
[02/07/11] Realizing that the town was in ruins and the inhabitants were all dying from deadstone poisoning, you help a pilot repair his airship so that they can evacuate. Now it was time to move on.
Leveche Research Facility
Thom Huxby, former Guild Mage is renowned as a distinguished alchemist, artificer and expert in organic transmutation. One of his prime works was the domestication and modification of various monstrous creatures. However, the man felt that his true calling lay in the weaponization of such creatures and upon his disassociation from the Mage's Guild and subsequent affiliation with the Merkaban forces he has been a very busy man.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
Vault Excavation
Reports from another spy indicate that Pharun has found another ancient weapons cache. The vessel, known as the "Vault" at the very least may hold a fairly sizable collection of inactive Black Knights. Highborne military intelligence states that a single Black Knight can be comparable in power and effectiveness to ten Merkaban soldiers. The brutality and ruthlessness of the Wonders is unmeasurable. As the war progressed, many of the Black Knights were damaged and the replacements that the Merkabans seem to have been able to produce are far inferior to the original production lines.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
This is the quest template.
Sidequests
Settlement (Completed)
Upon their arrival on the island of Surant, there were indications that the settlement on the island had been attacked. Not one to abandon those in need, the group has set out to investigate the settlement.
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
The Party - Farsiac: Stragglers.
You've discovered a group of Merkabans that seem to have been left behind in the mining town. They don't look very healthy either. A lone pilot also remains on-site, but he is injured and his airship is busted.
[12/28/10] Moved with pity toward the dying Merkabans, you have decided to help the Lieutenant repair his downed airship.
[01/26/11] You've found the solenoid and returned to the town.
[02/07/11] With the airship repaired, the Lieutenant is able to carry the civilians to safety.
[/indent]
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
"I'm pretty sure we've already stayed longer than is healthy. This whole place seems trying to kill us." I really hope we didn't just let our escape vehicle take off without us.
Tofystedeth on
0
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TheMadjaiSir Madjai of SanSanMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
edited February 2011
Ewan watches the ship rise into the sky and fly away. "Yes, that's done." He shoulders his pack and prepares to leave. "Time to finish what we came here for."
TheMadjai on
"Yeah, TheMadjai knows whats up." --Lardalish
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
The Party Farsiac, Mining Town (Exterior) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
With mixed feelings of dread and accomplishment, the group gathers their things and begins to move out once again. Although they had a vague idea of what direction to head in, a sign that reads "To Mines" also helps to point out the way. However, the condition of the road looks to have be somewhat overgrown, no doubt because of the distance, terrain and abundance of plant monsters to reduce its viability.
In the skies above you, a drift moves in between yourselves and the sun, at just the right angle to cast an ominous shadow onto the road ahead as you begin to press forward. Happy Travels!
Meanwhile... Farsiac, Forest (Ranstead) Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"What is this?," Mari asks Arlen as she gazes at what looks to be a interconnected boxes slowly rotating above the read console of the Ranstead.
"That's the mining facility," he responds via the overhead.
When his voice rings out Ceeteedee shudders and stares about, still unaccustomed to random disembodied voices coming from all around him. Mari smiled reassuringly at the the poor goblin, but felt the same, especially since by all her medical knowledge the man doing the talking should have been dead. Her attention is focused back on the projection once several columns of light begin to poke through some of the boxes.
"The same thing that happened at that other place happened here," Arlen says, reminding Mari of the hole and cavern they'd traveled through after dropping down to the Lands Below. Back then they ended up helping a bunch of random Lowborn too. Was it just coincidence or was the Lady looking out for these people? "We should be able to travel down one of these shafts to get to the mines. Are you listening?"
"Yes, of course. But why didn't we just fly the Ranstead down one of those holes before?"
"Security."
"Security?"
"Well, ultimately. I just found the damn things," he replied. Helpful, but not too helpful Mari thought to herself. The projection zoomed into one of the boxes, showing what looked to be the interior. More boxes of various shapes and sizes came into view, no doubt more Wonders. "These places were probably attacked, and according to this in a state of lock-down. Once they get down there, our Justice Squad is going to have to find a way to open those doors so we can get out before the whole place blows up or whatever the hell that damned waif and her creepy friends have planned for it."
"Aren't you... one of them?" Mari asks while inwardly regretting dignifying his remarks on the Caretakers.
(Travel Mode)
Travel Map
N/A
Travel Overview
Destination: The Mines Time of Day: (Afternoon) Terrain: Moderate Weather: Humid, Warm, Cloudy Est. Travel Time: ~6-8 Hours.
Rolls!
Rolls may be made either with IC content or rolls only in the OOC. The following skills may be used to improve time and effort required to get to your destination.
Required Rolls: A percentile!
Optional
Nature: This skill helps you get a better handle of which way is which, and how to better overcome terrain obstacles. Perception: Perception helps keep you from being ambushed, or notice other things along the way. (Successes reduce travel time) Stealth: Stealth determines how stealthy you are. This includes leaving a trail behind as you travel. (Increases travel time, reduces encounter chance and awareness, increases advantage chance) Athletics: Determines how well you keep your pace if you hurry. (Successes reduce travel time by more, reduces perception and stealth.) Endurance:: If you're going across rough terrain, environment and/or pushing yourselves via athletics then an endurance check is necessary (This will be called. Failures may result in loss of healing surges via exertion.)
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
"I have mixed feelings about our plant juice running out," Keegan says as the group starts on the road to the mines. "On the one hand, it kept us pretty safe. On the other, those leaves itched like crazy." Keegan sighs, then trots ahead a bit to help scout. "It ain't easy being green."
The Party Farsiac, Mountain Path Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Cautiously and courageously the group continues its advance through the forest. With Ewan at point and Keegan a little behind him, Saurin lets out a sigh. The humidity of the region, combined with his armor and weight of the container he carried made this trip doubly uncomfortable for him, but by now he was used to this sort of thing. But this was no time to grow complacent. With a watchful eye the fighter scans the area around them. Nothing but shadows and greenery. The incline that they were going up had begun to increase too as the terrain gradually changed over from forest to valley.
Despite the conditions though, at least he'd done something worthwhile down here. The look on the those civilian's faces as they boarded that airship reminded him of why he was doing all this. It made their earlier run-in with the vile abomination (The Lament you fought in the town where everybody was slaughtered.) hurt a little less. The inescapable sensation that humanoids were the cause of that made him feel sick inside. That monsters and men had the capacity for such evil made the mission all the more important. But what of those who created the Wonders? Were the gods just as flawed as men? His crisis of faith was interrupted when he noticed something unusual ahead.
(APerception - Ewan, Keegan, Saurin -OR- Requires APerception DC 19)Further in the distance, you notice a lump of clothing slumped over some rocks. From your collective experience, you already knew what it was.
(Travel Mode)
Travel Map
N/A
Travel Overview
Destination: The Mines Time of Day: (Afternoon, +4 Hours) Terrain: Moderate Weather: Humid, Warm, Cloudy Est. Travel Time: ~4 Hours Remain
Rolls!
Rolls may be made either with IC content or rolls only in the OOC. The following skills may be used to improve time and effort required to get to your destination.
Required Rolls: A percentile!
Optional
Nature: This skill helps you get a better handle of which way is which, and how to better overcome terrain obstacles. Perception: Perception helps keep you from being ambushed, or notice other things along the way. (Successes reduce travel time) Stealth: Stealth determines how stealthy you are. This includes leaving a trail behind as you travel. (Increases travel time, reduces encounter chance and awareness, increases advantage chance) Athletics: Determines how well you keep your pace if you hurry. (Successes reduce travel time by more, reduces perception and stealth.) Endurance:: If you're going across rough terrain, environment and/or pushing yourselves via athletics then an endurance check is necessary (This will be called. Failures may result in loss of healing surges via exertion.)
tastydonuts on
“I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
Posts
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
Farsiac, Forest Outskirts (Mining Town)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"My men? I'm a gods damned co-pilot," the soldier says as you make your way toward the building in the rear.
As you walk closer to it, you notice that most of the other buildings show signs of either being abandoned for some time, or have been boarded up. The words of encouragement from Vandel seem to help the man move a little faster.
"He's turning, sir!" the man at the door seems rather panicked, causing the lieutenant to walk faster.
Back by the airship, Ewan inspects the vessel.
Could you roll a perception, and an intelligence please, Ewan.
"It's Kaspal!"
"He's turning, sir!"
With a knot in his stomach Eron follows the lieutenant into the building, having an idea of what awaits them and the unfortunate Kaspal.
Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Inside the Town Hall, the first thing that you notice is the smell. The man at the door's clothing is in rags, and clearly hasn't washed in a very long time. The lights are dimmed, and you count at least five humanoid looking forms slumped against the walls within the main atrium of the hall. Along the upper level, there are more doors that have been boarded shut.
You follow the lieutenant as he, guided by the man, limps up the stairs and through one of the unblcoked doorways. The upper level seems to have been broken out into several wings. Even here, the doors have been sealed off. You can hear a faint scratching sound behind some of them. Finally, you get to the last room in this hallway.
A man sits against a wall, his eyes covered in bandages. Beneath the rags of clothing he wears are unusual lumps, and the front of his clothing is covered in a brownish stain that you easily surmise is dried blood. Flecks of what you guess is glass are also scattered about. The man begins to growl.
Ewan, Keegan
Farsiac, Mining Town (Interior)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Back outside by the airship, Ewan inspects the nacelle. There are a few large chunks of greenery inside the machinery, but the corestone looked to be intact. A few parts are missing, no doubt having been removed. Moving into the interior of the airship, you notice that the damage done is severe. The piloting controls on the right side are completely absent, the consoles and seat having been ripped out along with the whoever was unfortunate enough to have been sitting in it at the time. It looked like not all the repairs had been completed though…
(Objectives Updated.)
(Q: Farsiac Mines Updated.)
(SQ: Stragglers Added.)
Game Information
—Action:
—Status:
Ewan HP: 67/67 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/20/18 HS: 9/9 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status: *Wounded (Moderate - Vulnerable 3 Damage)*
Keegan HP: 59/59 AC: 23 F/R/W: 18/23/20 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Saurin HP: 72/72 AC: 26 F/R/W: 21/19/17 HS: 12/12 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Vandel HP: 52/52 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/19/17 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Current Objectives
Secondary
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
Heal + Arcana: 1d20+9 22 1d20+10 19
"Has any work been done to clean deadstone out of this part of the village. If people are expecting to take shelter here, we're going to have work to limit our exposure. I have some knowledge of how to mitigate the effects for people who aren't in the advanced stages like this. I'll do what I can to help."
Eron digs through his mind to see if in addition to the mental discipline to maintain selfimage, there was some material that could be used to provide shielding for the building.
Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"Take shelter? I'm just trying to fix that damn airship so I can get out of here, man." knight says after Eron presents his grim diagnosis. "and the sooner I find the part I need, the damned sooner I can. But since you tourists pulled all those Marauders, I can't even leave to try and find what I need."
You doubt that the soldier would get very far with his leg messed up like that. (AArcana - Eron -OR- Requires DC 21) It was highly unlikely that there was much you could do to stave off the spread of dead stone in this area. It was, much like the rest of the energies you'd felt so far, coming from below.
Ewan, Keegan
Farsiac, Mining Town (Interior)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Keegan's attention wanders as Ewan vanishes inside the airship. There, the ranger does his best to well make his hands do what what his brain tells them to. A few minutes later, he finishes up. The thrust distribution system looks like it would be able to keep the airship level. The only thing that was necessary now was a functional starboard nacelle.
"The bear has eaten the salmon." He says to no one in particular, and very quietly.
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
Farsiac, Forest (Ranstead)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"I'm surprised," Arlen's words come out rough and raspy as he leans against the bulkhead wall. "Sounds like they're going to help out those Merkabans. Thought you Knights hated them." He walked into the passenger section and stood across from Mari. The central console continued to project the local topography, a beacon indicating the party's current position within the town.
"Their leaders and knights may be murderers, but they're just civilians," Mari says while narrowing here eyes toward Arlen. His body language suggests he is about to say something, but then he simply sighs.
"Fair enough. Shame there's so much interference. I'll see what I can do to help out."
"You? Offering more than limited help? Now that's surprising…"
Arlen will help you in some fashion.
Eron, Saurin, Vandel
Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"First, let's seal this room off. I can't bring myself to kill these things. I mean, part of them is still alive in there, right?" The lieutenant looks toward Eron briefly before limping his way out of the room. He calls down the hall for some boards for the doorway.
If you want to euthanize this man, you can. Otherwise you can return to the hallway and continue the conversation about what you need to do to help him fix the airship. You don't have to RP returning to the hallway, letting me know in the OOC thread that's what you wanna do is fine!
Not sure what Keegan and Ewan are doing at this point after Ewan finished doing his repairs to the ship. I'm assuming he'll come inside eventually since it's raining though?
(SQ: Stragglers Updated.)
Game Information
—Action:
—Status:
Ewan HP: 67/67 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/20/18 HS: 9/9 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status: *Wounded (Moderate - Vulnerable 3 Damage)*
Keegan HP: 59/59 AC: 23 F/R/W: 18/23/20 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Saurin HP: 72/72 AC: 26 F/R/W: 21/19/17 HS: 12/12 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Vandel HP: 52/52 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/19/17 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Current Objectives
Secondary
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
[12/28/10] Moved with pity toward the dying Merkabans, you have decided to help the Lieutenant repair his downed airship.
“Is part of him still alive? Yes, but being alive is not the same thing as living whole. This abomination must be put down for his sake and ours.”
Turning to the creature Saurin lift’s his Trantyr and with a quiet prayer to the Raven queen, “Go now to her embrace and let lose the things that bind you to this world”, brings the point down at the base of its neck.
Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
The Lieutenant makes no effort to stop Saurin as he puts Kaspal out of his misery. Even after the trantyr exits his body, gurgling sounds come from the man's throat. The dirty rags he wears become stained red with his own blood, and after a few more seconds of shuddering, he finally dies.
"One of the solenoids is busted," he says to Vandel while pulling out the part that he'd removed earlier. What was supposed to be a tightly wound was a mangled strip. Stuck inside the coil was also a chunk of vine. "You can probably strip one off any of the airships that crashed in this gods forsaken forest," he finishes.
At the doorway a man lets out a loud yelp, drops the hammer and boards he was carrying and runs back down the hall.
"I'll... talk to him. Just find that part. Some of the survivors around here may know a little information about this forest too, heh."
Farsiac, Mining Town (Town Hall)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Eron and Vandel spend some time delivering encouraging words to the merkabans inside the town hall before finally making their way toward the exit. In the back of Eron's mind, he knew that at the stage they were in, there wasn't anything to be done but comfort them until the end. But the wizard ignores his inner pessimist. IF they got them out of this area, there had to be some hope for them! If not, then their efforts would simply be in vain.
"Be careful out there. If the plants didn't take out the Knights, they may try to engage you as hostiles," the Lieutenant warns. "This is the only safe area..."
Moments later all of you regroup back at the entrance to the mining town. The rain changes over toa steady mist now, and the gates sway in the wind.
Lemme know what you want to do! IE: Where you want to go. If you're just backtracking throw the usual nature/whatever for transport rules as below. Yes, you can throw arcana up there and have arcana assists to somehow discern where a functional magic solenoid is despite the entire forest being a hotbed of deadly magical energy that's slowly corrupting your mortal flesh. Or you can try and ping the ranstead, up to you! Or do something else entirely different from those options. Will need a confirm on destination though.
(Travel Mode)
N/A
Travel Overview
Destination: ??
Time of Day: (Morning)
Terrain: Difficult
Weather: Humid, Warm, Sunny
Est. Travel Time: ~10 Hours.
Rolls!
Rolls may be made either with IC content or rolls only in the OOC. The following skills may be used to improve time and effort required to get to your destination.
Required Rolls: A percentile!
Optional
Nature: This skill helps you get a better handle of which way is which, and how to better overcome terrain obstacles.
Perception: Perception helps keep you from being ambushed, or notice other things along the way. (Successes reduce travel time)
Stealth: Stealth determines how stealthy you are. This includes leaving a trail behind as you travel. (Increases travel time, reduces encounter chance and awareness, increases advantage chance)
Athletics: Determines how well you keep your pace if you hurry. (Successes reduce travel time by more, reduces perception and stealth.)
Endurance:: If you're going across rough terrain, environment and/or pushing yourselves via athletics then an endurance check is necessary (This will be called. Failures may result in loss of healing surges via exertion.)
Farsiac, Forest (Ranstead)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"Hm, I never knew a halfling could climb like that." Mari says as she watches the party return to the town.
"I'm just surprised they got through it all without a single moment of awkward sexual tension," Arlen adds. "That Vandel guy is, well..." He motions his head and makes a gesture with his wrist, to which Mari frowns.
"What you did with the Ranstead was pretty helpful, Arlen," she says "it really saved them a lot of time."
"Yea, I guess I can be pretty damn awesome if none of the players are around. And how many times am I going to ask you people to call me En?"
"Lady help me."
...CUZ LOL TIME SKIP
Farsiac, Mining Town (Exterior)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
After going to the ship and some other miscellaneous hijinks, the group has recovered the solenoid and returned to the entrance of the town. The rain has long stopped, and much of the day has been burned away, but rescuing these people was well worth it. The interior of the town was silent save for the flapping sound of the damaged airship's covering.
Just going to skip that challenge and progress the plot a little more.
Game Information
—Action:
—Status:
Ewan HP: 67/67 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/20/18 HS: 9/9 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status: *Wounded (Moderate - Vulnerable 3 Damage)*
Keegan HP: 59/59 AC: 23 F/R/W: 18/23/20 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Saurin HP: 72/72 AC: 26 F/R/W: 21/19/17 HS: 12/12 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Vandel HP: 52/52 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/19/17 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Current Objectives
Secondary
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
[12/28/10] Moved with pity toward the dying Merkabans, you have decided to help the Lieutenant repair his downed airship.
[01/26/11] You've found the solenoid and returned to the town.
Farsiac, Mining Town (Exterior)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Standing at the gates, Keegan cautiously glances about. It was almost as though he were certain that this would be the moment where things would just go crazy, zombified armored kruthiks that spat yellow jigglers that attached to his face bursting from the doors. Tendrils of gods-know-what bursting out of the ground and into assorted orifices as the sky became consumed by random explosions... but no, it was only Thursday.
The inner perimeter of the mining town looked exactly as you had left it, only darker due to the sun's travels. Water dripped off the roofs of some of the buildings into large muddy puddles, and the airship just sat there.
Directly behind the airship, the town hall continued to stand. Light peeked out from between the boards on several of the windows.
include_once('postHeader.lul');
// Script
echo '"Thanks," the lieutenant takes the solenoid from {EngagingMember.Name}.';
switch (EngagingMember.Name)
{
case ("Keegan"): echo '"You're an interesting fellow."';
case ("Eron"): echo '"You're not all that bad for a Wizard, but you keep strange company," he says as he shifts more weight onto his good leg.';
case ("Ewan"): echo '"You have a problem?" he asks. The man easily picks up on the ranger's thinly veiled hostility toward him, being that he was a Merkaban soldier';
case ("Vandel"): echo '"Thanks, I guess," the lieutenant gives a brief glance at Vandel, before turning his attention to everyone else.';
default: echo 'Thanks.';
}
echo '"With this, I should be able to finish the repairs to ship, but I guess this leaves the question of how are you going to get out of here?" he asks.';
SetQuestStatus('CH7Q3',6,'02/03/2011');
include_once('postFooter.lul');
Farsiac, Mining Town (Interior)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
The Lieutenant looks at the Eladrin for a few seconds after he explained his plan to wait in the town. The words but didn't you see what happened to the people here seem to form on his face but are not voiced. Instead he shrugs and nods at Vandel.
"There's not much left here, but if that's what you people want to do, I'm not going to stop you," he nods toward the group and limps his way to the airship, to complete its repairs.
Having already removed the damaged part, and done most of the preparatory work on the nacelle long before the party arrived, making the repairs are as simple as inserting the piece and screwing things on.
"Good, good!" he says to no one in particular, before limping into the cockpit and starting the vessel up. Slowly but surely it rises off the ground nice and level-like. Moments later, with your help all of the Merkabans are loaded onto the transport. Some of them are in fairly bad shape, and they smell absolutely horrible, but at least all twenty of them would be safe. You push aside the thought that the mining town could have easily housed hundreds of people though. When all this is done, the Lieutenant stands before you again.
"We're heading to Gennaux, the base there should have something to help these men. I hope," he says before turning back toward the airship. He pauses in mid stride to face you once again, and begins to pull something out from under his shirt. "Here you go," he holds out a Well Worn Amulet on a string for Eron to accept. Although the relief that was once etched into the surface of the amulet has been long worn away, the magic within remains.
"For good luck, or at least to help cover your costs for paying your men. If you ever stop by Gennaux, look me up. I'll buy you a lager, and maybe even have the missus cook you up some of her best." Without giving the wizard a chance to refuse his offer, he moves into the airship. The vessel begins to stir and rise from the ground, rapidly gaining altitude before it finally jets off to the northeast.
"N$w w3 can blow up the %!AzL9 a (34cc~44, %#1?", you feel a garbled message come from Arlen.
As you stand around for a moment longer, you can hear the sound of distant thunder ring out. It was going to rain again.
At any point, upon closer inspection you would discover that it is a Periapt of Cascading Health (Level 10, Uncommon), Enhancement: +2 Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, Power (Encounter): Minor Action. You end one condition that a save can end.
(Q: Farsiac Mines Updated.)
(SQ: Stragglers Updated.)
Game Information
—Action:
—Status:
Ewan HP: 67/67 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/20/18 HS: 9/9 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status: *Wounded (Moderate - Vulnerable 3 Damage)*
Keegan HP: 59/59 AC: 23 F/R/W: 18/23/20 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Saurin HP: 72/72 AC: 26 F/R/W: 21/19/17 HS: 12/12 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Vandel HP: 52/52 AC: 22 F/R/W: 20/19/17 HS: 7/7 AP: 1
—Action:
—Status:
Current Objectives
Secondary
Though he has the tools of the Gods on his side, you have Justice on yours! Even his wife the First Lady of of Merkaba has sided with the Caretakers to help your efforts to stop him. The current location of the Premier is unknown, although you have been provided with the locations of several projects of much interest to the madman. It is believed that the destruction of these sites will ultimately force the Premier out of hiding, at which point you will be able to stop him once and for all…
[5/18/10] After retrieving and reviewing the packets, you've made the decision to head to the Farsaic mines first.
Known to the Caretakers as "raw aether", this hazardous substance is said to be used as the source of energy for Wonders. Nestled deep within the mine's interior is a Wonder that may be able to process the material. Take this out, and you will limit his ability to power ancient devices.
[5/18/10] Concerned about the safety of the workers in the mines, you've decided to attack the mines first.
[5/24/10] You've begun to travel to the mines, arriving at the first destination along the way: underwater ruins.
[6/11/10] Having escaped some unknown horror of the deep, you've arrived at Surant. Prior to going to the next gate, you stopped to investigate a fire at a civilian settlement...
[7/21/10] …only to find that a group of monsters or worse had brutally slain the settlement's inhabitants, the trauma and brutality of the affair causing their bodies to animate into the form of a Lament. Through a a hard fight, you managed to overcome the monstrosity. But would you put it to rest?
[7/28/10] You took the time to perform the rituals necessary to bring the creature to rest. Having done that, you've ventured forward. To your surprise though, it seems that the next waypoint you've reached may just be in the Lands Above…
[9/23/10] You've arrived in the forest of the Farsiac Region.
[10/12/10] After a turbulent detour, you cautiously moved through the forest. Your deft maneuvers have allowed you to get to a village near the mines. Perhaps the elves there can provide more information.
[11/01/10] Exausted from your travels, you spend the night in the village. Nothing was better than hitting the trail with a fresh start, after all.
[12/14/10] You've arrived at the mining town that was mentioned by Katell's spy. Things here have evidently gone to hell.
[02/07/11] Realizing that the town was in ruins and the inhabitants were all dying from deadstone poisoning, you help a pilot repair his airship so that they can evacuate. Now it was time to move on.
Unable to reproduce the process which the Black Knight Wonders were created, Huxby did the next best thing; he made his own. You've already encountered the results of one of his projects in his armored kruthik. Though Lady Merkaba attempted to have his operations shut down, Premier Vacchana has provided him with his own private playground. You must put a permanent stop to his experimentation.
If Pharun were to get his hands on another legion of them, the results could be disastrous. Fortunately it seems that the Vault is incapable of activating its payload. As such during the past few months there has been a large scale excavation project going on. To supplement this, the Merkaban Forces had also began to build several heavy-duty warships capable of towing the Vault to an unknown location. Even though excavation and preparation for transit is nearly finished, there is still time to destroy the contents of the Vault before he can make use of it.
Template
[6/04/10] You've discovered the corpse of what may be one of the people who lived at the settlement. Another person seems to have ran off back in its general direction. The corpse seems to be about a day old, but conditions and weather on the Lands Below make it hard to determine this for sure.
[6/11/10] Things didn't appear to be any better in the settlement. In order to investigate the area faster, you've split into groups of two.
[7/21/10] You ran into the settlers, who appeared to have been murdered in a horrid enough way to cause their tortured flesh to rise and attack, forcing you to kill them a second time… but who would do such a thing? The visions of their demise will linger in your minds along with that question for some time.
[7/28/10] Having pacified the Lament, you've moved on in your quest, though the question still remains…
[12/28/10] Moved with pity toward the dying Merkabans, you have decided to help the Lieutenant repair his downed airship.
[02/07/11] With the airship repaired, the Lieutenant is able to carry the civilians to safety.
I really hope we didn't just let our escape vehicle take off without us.
CURRENTLY PLAYING:
Android: Netrunner, Warhammer: Conquest, Star Realms
Farsiac, Mining Town (Exterior)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
With mixed feelings of dread and accomplishment, the group gathers their things and begins to move out once again. Although they had a vague idea of what direction to head in, a sign that reads "To Mines" also helps to point out the way. However, the condition of the road looks to have be somewhat overgrown, no doubt because of the distance, terrain and abundance of plant monsters to reduce its viability.
In the skies above you, a drift moves in between yourselves and the sun, at just the right angle to cast an ominous shadow onto the road ahead as you begin to press forward. Happy Travels!
Meanwhile...
Farsiac, Forest (Ranstead)
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
"What is this?," Mari asks Arlen as she gazes at what looks to be a interconnected boxes slowly rotating above the read console of the Ranstead.
"That's the mining facility," he responds via the overhead.
When his voice rings out Ceeteedee shudders and stares about, still unaccustomed to random disembodied voices coming from all around him. Mari smiled reassuringly at the the poor goblin, but felt the same, especially since by all her medical knowledge the man doing the talking should have been dead. Her attention is focused back on the projection once several columns of light begin to poke through some of the boxes.
"The same thing that happened at that other place happened here," Arlen says, reminding Mari of the hole and cavern they'd traveled through after dropping down to the Lands Below. Back then they ended up helping a bunch of random Lowborn too. Was it just coincidence or was the Lady looking out for these people? "We should be able to travel down one of these shafts to get to the mines. Are you listening?"
"Yes, of course. But why didn't we just fly the Ranstead down one of those holes before?"
"Security."
"Security?"
"Well, ultimately. I just found the damn things," he replied. Helpful, but not too helpful Mari thought to herself. The projection zoomed into one of the boxes, showing what looked to be the interior. More boxes of various shapes and sizes came into view, no doubt more Wonders. "These places were probably attacked, and according to this in a state of lock-down. Once they get down there, our Justice Squad is going to have to find a way to open those doors so we can get out before the whole place blows up or whatever the hell that damned waif and her creepy friends have planned for it."
"Aren't you... one of them?" Mari asks while inwardly regretting dignifying his remarks on the Caretakers.
(Travel Mode)
N/A
Travel Overview
Destination: The Mines
Time of Day: (Afternoon)
Terrain: Moderate
Weather: Humid, Warm, Cloudy
Est. Travel Time: ~6-8 Hours.
Rolls!
Rolls may be made either with IC content or rolls only in the OOC. The following skills may be used to improve time and effort required to get to your destination.
Required Rolls: A percentile!
Optional
Nature: This skill helps you get a better handle of which way is which, and how to better overcome terrain obstacles.
Perception: Perception helps keep you from being ambushed, or notice other things along the way. (Successes reduce travel time)
Stealth: Stealth determines how stealthy you are. This includes leaving a trail behind as you travel. (Increases travel time, reduces encounter chance and awareness, increases advantage chance)
Athletics: Determines how well you keep your pace if you hurry. (Successes reduce travel time by more, reduces perception and stealth.)
Endurance:: If you're going across rough terrain, environment and/or pushing yourselves via athletics then an endurance check is necessary (This will be called. Failures may result in loss of healing surges via exertion.)
Farsiac, Mountain Path
Post Merkaban-Highborne War. Ceasefire Day 22
Cautiously and courageously the group continues its advance through the forest. With Ewan at point and Keegan a little behind him, Saurin lets out a sigh. The humidity of the region, combined with his armor and weight of the container he carried made this trip doubly uncomfortable for him, but by now he was used to this sort of thing. But this was no time to grow complacent. With a watchful eye the fighter scans the area around them. Nothing but shadows and greenery. The incline that they were going up had begun to increase too as the terrain gradually changed over from forest to valley.
Despite the conditions though, at least he'd done something worthwhile down here. The look on the those civilian's faces as they boarded that airship reminded him of why he was doing all this. It made their earlier run-in with the vile abomination (The Lament you fought in the town where everybody was slaughtered.) hurt a little less. The inescapable sensation that humanoids were the cause of that made him feel sick inside. That monsters and men had the capacity for such evil made the mission all the more important. But what of those who created the Wonders? Were the gods just as flawed as men? His crisis of faith was interrupted when he noticed something unusual ahead.
(APerception - Ewan, Keegan, Saurin -OR- Requires APerception DC 19) Further in the distance, you notice a lump of clothing slumped over some rocks. From your collective experience, you already knew what it was.
(Travel Mode)
N/A
Travel Overview
Destination: The Mines
Time of Day: (Afternoon, +4 Hours)
Terrain: Moderate
Weather: Humid, Warm, Cloudy
Est. Travel Time: ~4 Hours Remain
Rolls!
Rolls may be made either with IC content or rolls only in the OOC. The following skills may be used to improve time and effort required to get to your destination.
Required Rolls: A percentile!
Optional
Nature: This skill helps you get a better handle of which way is which, and how to better overcome terrain obstacles.
Perception: Perception helps keep you from being ambushed, or notice other things along the way. (Successes reduce travel time)
Stealth: Stealth determines how stealthy you are. This includes leaving a trail behind as you travel. (Increases travel time, reduces encounter chance and awareness, increases advantage chance)
Athletics: Determines how well you keep your pace if you hurry. (Successes reduce travel time by more, reduces perception and stealth.)
Endurance:: If you're going across rough terrain, environment and/or pushing yourselves via athletics then an endurance check is necessary (This will be called. Failures may result in loss of healing surges via exertion.)
r: 1d20+4 22