Take the rock with me
[5]
You attempt to rewrite history so that instead of ignoring the rock earlier, you picked it up. Nothing seems to happen, though you notice Jadesea glaring at you with disapproval.
Jump down the pit, attempting to flare up just at the end to soften the fall.
[19]
Who needs those snobby air elementals!
Real mages fly with fire! You rocket down the vertical tunnel, your magnificent glow lightning it up in a truly artistic display of pyrotechnics.
"Fear is for people who aren't me!"
Jump down from ledge to ledge using the combined agility of an otter and a weasel.
[1]
You scrabble uselessly at the edges of the shaft, attempting to seek purchase on its perfectly smooth and ledgeless surface. Worse, your efforts cause you to shoot around wildly, bouncing against the edges of the pit all the way down. The sickening crunch of bone sends you into hazy pain-filled daze, which you are forcefully brought out of as space weeps purple ivory. You feel you're mind beginning to crumple, and then you're through, having survived a few moments at the edge of a spatial tear, though it seemed so much longer.
[Gained Minor Spatial Horror Trauma]
[Your arm is broken]
[You have bruises over your entire body]Mordenor steps out and talks to a gargoyle:
"Hey! Stupendous work you are doing right here, I can see. As your job is to take care of us, wouldn't you mind helping me to go down?"
Convince the gargoyle to fly me down.
[18]
The gargoyle rumbles something abashedly that you don't quite catch, then picks you up, diving into the pit. While not exactly
gentle, you're having a far smoother ride than the otterweasel, whose misfortune you take a moment to chuckle at as you speed past the spatial tear it's stuck inside.
Your keen perception notices that you don't seem to moving straight down, or at least not moving entirely through boring vanilla euclidean space. The pit curves through some of the local dimensions, inevitable heading to some sort of local dimensional nadir, intriguing!
[Gained Gargoyle sweetheart]"Lord Jadesea, I'm afraid that my specialties lie in static arrays and item crafting so the likelihood of me making it down unharmed is rather minimal. I would very much like to help you with your projects, but I'll need to be intact for that so a bit of aid would be much appreciated."
Ask Jadesea for his aid in getting down the pit unharmed.
[8]
Jadesea grins evilly, then punts you into the hole, massive green foot shining with rainbow lightning. You realize you're screaming when you feel your throat becoming raw. Your eyes see an insane kaleidoscope of
writhing smells as your tongue
tastes the rainbow.
Your loyal forge hurriedly scuttles after you, its spider legs easily clinging to the side of the shaft.
You eventually come to facedown on the ground, groaning, but otherwise not that much worse for wear.
"Are you kidding me."
Thomas is basically petrified with fear.
You freeze in place. This is crazy! That golem is crazy! Everyone is crazy!
Before one of the gargoyles can give you some 'encouragement', the kindhearted(?) ogre grabs you and jumps into the pit. Fuuu-
Me Grab Thomas and Jump Down because This look Fun!
[11]
Fun! You grab the little funny man, then jump into the big hole! Little guy scream in joy! You try to let him go but, he cling tightly, like little barnacle thing! You must have made a new friend! Or perhaps you are becoming a whale, just like you always dreamed of!
Whee! Falling is fun!
Climb down the pit
[10]
Just like weasalotter thing-thing before you, you fail to find any handholds, sliding down the hole. Fortunately, you are clever-clever and skilled-skilled, so you merely enter freefall rather than bouncing around like a marble. Gnoll superiority has been proven once more!
You're all in freefall just long enough for it to become monotonous, when suddenly the walls disappear, and you're falling into the open sky. A audible twang echoes across the plain as gravity realizes you're falling the wrong way. You hang motionless in the air for one precious moment, gods in heaven, before gravity reasserts itself, pulling you into a fast landing with the increasingly hard and unforgiving looking ground.
[2]
Despite Jadesea's dubious assurances, it seems clear to anyone with an rudimentary idea of how physics works that those colonists are falling way too fast and are soon going to squish against the ground in a giant fleshy mess.
Then Pyrriete's fire blooms outwards like a flower, slowing down not only her own descent, but creating a massive updraft of hot air that preserves the lives of most of the colonists. Miraculously, there's only some scrapes, bruises, light singing and a couple of broken bones. The colonists are beginning to look at the fire elemental with eyes filled with reverence
[61 injured colonists]
[Pyrriete has gained minor cult!]
As all the mages finally safely stand on a solid surface again, though some more battered than others, they begin to take in their surroundings. Above, the sky is inky black, ghostly light shining from the gigantic turtles that sometimes swim overhead providing the only ambient illumination. By the turtlelight you make out faint distortions in the air from which the turtles sometimes emerge or disappear into.
Around you seems to be endless scrubland, scarce patches of transparent grass growing here and there in the fertile, yet strangely barren, loess. You sometimes notice massive shadows lumbering across the ground just beyond the range of your sight, the vibrations they send through the ground the best proof of their realness.
The air tingles with wild magic. A biting wind howls hungrily.
Then Jadesea shoots out the hole, riding on a bolt of bucking lightning, laughing wildly as the gargoyles follow behind him, carrying what supplies of the expedition that hadn't been forced into backpacks on the colonists.
As the last one exits, the hole gives a mighty crack, sealing up in a single fluid gulping motion.
"Welcome colonists, to the hollow center of the earth, your new home! You may have heard of it. Space isn't quite right here, which is part of the reason most teleportation hops off the edge of this place as a shortcut on the way to their destination. Some of the more useless teleporters end up here instead. In fact, we just went through something like that, except much less lethal than that normally is! It's much worse when you're inside though. You'd have to be a spatial magic archmage to get out of this teleport trap instead of just making things worse, which the Undying Court made sure none of you mages are. Needless to say, it's an even worse idea to mess with time here than with space."Jadesea pauses here, raking a glare over the assembled mages. Gerod whimpers in pain from broken bones.
"This place is also filled to the brim with ravenous titan tortoises, strangely successful wolfpacks, banished demons, sealed ancient evils and so on, so I strongly recommend not trying to escape the colony. Earlier mapping expeditions have failed, since apparently terrain changes when you aren't keeping an eye on it, incidentally the reason we brought the gargoyles along, which is why we're going to be setting up camp right here. It's a prime metaphysical location to receive supplies and new prisoners.
That'll be all. Get to work you slackers!"
The gargoyles have taken up sentry positions on large boulders that they dragged from a nearby hill, encircling the camp of hastily set up tents. Jadesea is deadset on having the colonists build some fortifications, and seems to be leaving the mages largely alone for now.
You may take two Major Actions and a reasonable amount of minor actions. Please clearly mark your major actions, as they will be processed at the end of turn 1.Thomas Wane (FallacyofUrist)
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+4 Adept Plant Mage (0/16)
+4 Adept Channeler (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Herbalist (0/8)
+1 Novice Gardener (0/4)
+1 Novice Cook (0/4)
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Wooden staff: This staff, inscribed with motifs of botanical power, can boost plant magic, at the risk of losing control of the magic.
Two robes: The patterns on these robes allow them to blend into forests surprisingly well.
Trolley: Some sort of strange four-wheeled barrow. The pots it is filled with rattle when it is pushed.
Two pairs of sandals, worn belt with several pouches.
Blorgath War Spell (crazyabe)
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+4 Adept Thaumaturge (0/16)
+4 Adept Channeler (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Bridge Constructor (0/8)
+1 Novice Leader (0/4)
+1 Novice Liar (0/4)
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Large Dwarven War-Pick: This hefty pick, big even for an ogre, can easily pierce through metal and stone. It has mysterious origins.
Silk clothing: Dyed in all the colours of the rainbow, and even some who got kicked out of that elitist club. Who says ogres can't be fabulous?
Backpack: A quaint backpack made from the skin of Blorgath's previous supervisor. Ah, ogreish culture.
Magic foci, Acidic Acid, Large Elf-Leather Sack, Elf-leather tent, 3 pounds of food and a questionable bottle.
Goggmagog (Detoxicated)
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+4 Adept Animist (0/16)
+4 Adept Channeler (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Spirit Binder (0/8)
+1 Novice Socialite (0/4)
+1 Novice Ritualist (0/4)
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Skullstaff: It binds ancestor spirits. Filial piety is for suckers!
Shaman Clothing: Very tacky. Much skulls.
Spiritstones: They attract spirits. Keeping the spirit-flies off them is somewhat annoying though.
Basic Shaman Tools: Basically skulls.
Pyriette (DigitalDemon)
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+4 Adept Alchemist (0/16)
+4 Adept Channeler (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Pyromancer (0/8)
+1 Novice Firestarter (0/4)
+1 Novice Intimidator (0/4)
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Alchemy Book: Somehow singed despite it's supposed immunity to fire. This book is filled with all kinds of alchemic recipes, and has some obscure beauty product recipes that even the Imperial Library lacks!
Fire-warded Satchel: Careful observers will note that it is bigger on the inside than the outside. The medicinal smell of herbs, minerals and chemicals and the clinking of flasks emanates from within.
Mordenor (Tomcost)
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+4 Adept Demonologist (0/16)
+4 Adept Caster (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Speaker (0/8)
+1 Novice Fleshshaper (0/4)
+1 Novice Cook (0/4)
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Ancient book of Unholy Summons: A manual made of charred leather, the stench of sulfur and the occasional wail of souls can be felt near it. A metallic horned skull embellishes the cover. The book itself is more or less like an encyclopedia of demons and a manual of the different rituals to summon and bind them.
Red Robe: Embroidered with threads of black and purple. Somewhat dirty. No, it isn't a dress. No I'm not gay. Shut up.
Sacrificial Dagger: A birthday gift. Bog-standard carved demon bone with with a dark iron handle, like you'd find tucked into the belt of any imperial officer to use for emergency auguries or sacrifices on the battlefield.
Cooking Utensils: In a container marked "TOP SECRET DEMON STUFF"
Vlad Numar (adwarf)
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+4 Adept Runesmith (0/16)
+4 Adept Caster (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Enchanter (0/8)
+1 Novice Blacksmith (0/4)
+1 Novice Engraver (0/4)
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Magic Portable Forge: This large magical forge is enchanted for easier magicing and moves around on its massive spider legs. One wonders how Vlad got his hands on this masterpiece. It seems disturbingly intelligent at times.
Blacksmith Tools: Stored in the forge.
Engraving Chisel: Tucked behind a ear
Simple clothes: Turnips are more interesting than these clothes
A plain steel sword: As plain as something made from the supermetal steel can be. Even some nobles can't afford these.
Gerod Ald'age (Froggy Ninja)
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+4 Adept Ritualist (0/16)
+4 Adept Caster (0/16)
+2 Apprentice Runesmith (0/8)
+1 Novice Alchemist (0/4)
+1 Novice Enchanter (0/4)
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Ritual Knife: Cuts through stone like mud. Cuts through mud like mud. Also flesh, iron, bones, cloth and some other things.
Alchemically Infused Chalk: Illegal since it's potential uses in time-rituals was discovered.
Arcane Paraphernalia: Probably not illegal when you last checked.
Talisman of Ioun's Eye: Symbol of an obscure religion.
483 Rebellious Farmers
240 Petty Criminals
100 Gangsters
60 Tax-dodging Artificers
10 Smuggling Miners
20 Corrupt Bureaucrats
40 Corner-cutting Masons
20 Insubordinate Channelers
40 Gargoyles
?? Supplies
400 tents (everyone is doubling up in tents, or in the case of the unlucky, trying to squeeze into a tent with two other people)
Morale: Rock-Bottom
Author
Topic: Penal Mage Colony (7/7): Turn 0, Turtles all the way down. (Read 6226 times)