Prelude: Questions and Answers"I would like to claim the 8th world as my destination."
Try to determine what preparations we are allowed to make, in regards to materiel, manpower, information gathering, etc.
If you recall your boring guidebook right, the answers are mostly none, none, none, and none, respectively. The purpose of an initial expedition is to prove shoving any of those other things through wouldn't be a waste.
That said, they do have something called a Fabricator that can produce simple items for you. It has a weird white, cloudy translucent substance you'd loosely assume is pottery for solids, while its fabric-analogue is an ashy dark grey something made of what you think are overlapping long flexible scales. The device is pretty stingy about the fabric, but will happily produce any reasonable amount of pottery.
Mi-Suzume breathed out. A small smile on their face relaxed at peace ultimately despite their little tremors. Their face confident. Bold and reassuring.
They were a bastion of protection. They knew they were. They were favoured after all though its meaning had certainly dulled over time and most likely its effects.
Either way. Suzume had her magic and thought it was different. She felt..useful. Like she had a purpose. Ever since that day. God her cheeks were flaring up in a blush now? She hadn't grown as much as she had thought. Eventually after a few moments. She moved to speak.
Her voice held a soft tremor to it almost as if natural the confidence in her voice and the warmth in it managed to balance it out. Nervous sounding but not frightened. Confident enough that they didn't need too much support. This short woman wasn't afraid and the smile they flashed the
"Alright. So Miss? Do you have any advice for the starting locations perhaps? I-I would like to know if t-that at all p-possible I would prefer to not go in without s-some advice! Also D-does the supplies have mapping equipment.
Say the above.
"My advice would be to go somewhere pleasant!
As for mapping equipment, try hardness and color settings on the Fabricator."You recall the Fabricator being a fancy device nearby that can produce simple items for you. It has a few advanced settings, so presumably you could get it to make something to draw on and something much, much softer and more colored than normal to write with.
Karen raps her fingers against her chin thoughtfully.
"All things considered, the 9th and 8th worlds seem the best candidates.. Pardon my asking, but what is a "tomb" world?"
The bug makes a rather musical trilling sound of concern or disappointment.
"Do you not place tombs completely underground? They said you'd get that... Well yes, Tomb worlds are, as far as the probe can tell, entirely or almost entirely encased in relatively solid materials."I'll leave for World 12 as soon as I've prepared some things; follow me if you want to, but I won't save you if you get into some trouble you've made for yourself.
Get some water for the initial trip.
[4] You use the Fabricator- fancy bug device, looks like an alcove with shiny bits to you- to get yourself a hefty jug complete with a cork. It's of the weirdly almost-translucent white stuff the Fabricator always uses, but oh well. You then fill it up in the feasting hall and are ready to go.
Under his breath, Blu quickly mutters,
"Highly value our existence my ass."
After taking a quick glance at his fellow "volunteers", and upon hearing a few of them declare their intended destinations rather quickly, he speaks aloud,
"As eager as we all seem to go our separate ways to worlds unknown, we should really consider sticking together. Strength in numbers, and all that."
Ask the liaison for more information about Worlds 8 and 9. Also try to determine what exactly they would be bringing with them in terms of supplies.
"I'm sorry, please consult the tablets for all known information. You may bring any supplies you have access to and feel necessary."The latter is code for "food, personal possessions, and whatever the Fabricator spits out."
"Eight and Nine seem like a superlative start. I'd just like to thank our wonderful employers on behalf of everyone here for taking so much care over our destinations."
Brian glances significantly round the room, expecting nods of assent. Whether he hears the overwhelming silence or not, he goes on.
"Three seems like a very safe and unadventurous choice, but we're here to put ourselves on the line, not waste valuable resources. I'd prefer Eight, all in all."
Brian prepares to enter Eight, collecting mountaineering equipment and sturdy protective gear if any is available. Otherwise, he just wanders around in a colonial fantasy.
[3] You get some decent climbing spikes out of the Fabricator, but it proves stingy with rope.
[1] You try to get some protective gear out of the thing, but it turns out getting armor that protects, fits, doesn't fall off, and doesn't use more fabric than this damned thing will give you is nigh impossible. You leave the Fabricator dejected and knee-deep in white modern art.
Karen nods assent to Brian, and assists him in preparing to go through the portal.
As you recall, the thingy... yes, like most things, the solution is just to sort of wander into the problem, walking through the tablets to the center of the room. A thin pedestal rises up to meet you, and you fumble through pushing buttons on it before just grabbing World 8's tablet (it's not properly solid, but it has some resistance and plays along when you're careful) and stuffing it onto the thing. This primes a beeping red button which you're pretty sure will transport you and everything else on the shiny circle around the pedestal when pressed. You remove the tablet for now to prevent incidents involving the shiny button.
[3] You see him having trouble with protective gear, and manage to get some bracers and a sort of solid butcher's apron out of it. The trick is to not be so picky; it can do simple tubes a lot easier than gear perfectly suited to its wearer.
"Well, I agree with World Eight. Hot and wet, but that'll only clean the slime off us at first. Mountainously rough, but we can tame animals or such to get around. Plus, there's a bunch a' life, and the animals are my specialty. On a separate note...there seems to be a small error on the tablets. The word Sterile should be glowing purple, and it does once, but for world 7, it's in red. Lastly, what do all the asterisks mean?"
The bug gives a trilling cry of annoyance or outrage, muttering to herself as she fiddles with her bangles. You know enough bug to catch the gist of "incompetent bungling morons" or similar.
"Yes, definitely purple, definitely consider World 7's Fertility to be purple. The asterisk means the probe noticed abnormalities with its reading. No, I cannot be more specific as to what those abnormalities are."Nar shifts his steely glare from the repulsive insectoid to Brian, mentally appending the sycophant's face to his list of traitorous bug sympathizers. Things were not likely to go well with this one around.
Scanning through the tablet, Nar quickly realises that none of the available choices could be described as a dream travel destination. He is also intrigued by a couple of strange markers.
"What exactly are ironclad and sanctuary worlds? The latter seems a little too ominous to indicate a place of safety. More importantly, do you intend to provide us with any tools, or do you expect us to colonise a new world with our bare hands?"
Make inquiries. Covertly examine the insectoid's bangle and the tablet set-up. What do we know about the tech level of our overlords?
"Ah, well, Ironclad and Sanctuary refer to a level of stability that appears to be strongly enforced by external powers. Accordingly, it is likely that these powers may interfere with or, if intelligent, openly object to efforts to traverse and utilize their areas of influence.
You may utilize the Fabricator for any immediate needs, and we have great confidence in your ingenuity!"[5] The bangle, as far as you can tell, is a control device with inset gemstones serving as buttons. You notice they do not depress and the thing's delicate claws vary between simply tapping them and dragging across them in various ways, suggesting it's a very sophisticated piece of hardware. You also notice that her head tilts slightly from time to time while doing so, suggesting she's seeing things you're not.
[1] The floating not-real tablets are probably a result of vile witchcraft and child sacrifice.
You know the bugs are extremely advanced, but a lot of their advancement is turned inward. They have extraordinarily picky living standards, meaning everything has to be just right for them to even consider living in a place. Even the place you're in now, entirely sealed off from the environment and kept warm and filled with goo for them, is considered frontier territory at best.
[3] Beyond that, you know their advancement is along relatively unique lines. They have some special arts or something, so it's not just a matter of being "advanced," it's also that they have an alien way of accomplishing their goals.
Brian Keens (NJW)
5/5 HP
+5 Identifier (0/5)
+3 Manager (0/3)
-
Hardened Climbing Spikes
Small Amounts of Rope
Crude Armor
Karen (Coolrune)
+5 Stone Mage (0/5)
+3 Carbon Mage (0/3)
-
Crude Armor
Baeset Musre (OceanSoul)
+5 Mana Milker (0/5)
+3 Animal Handler (0/3)
Ogneer (crazyabe)
+5 Earth Mage (0/5)
+3 Stoneworker (0/3)
Fedelmid Cowhunter (voliol)
5/5 HP
+5 Hunter (0/5)
+3 Leatherworker (0/3)
-
Large Jug of Water
Sairian (Nirur)
+5 Plant Mage (0/5)
+3 Agriculturalist (0/3)
Nix (NRDL)
+5 Pyromancer (0/5)
+3 Persuader (0/3)
The Dilettante (ATHATH)
+5 Air Mage (0/5)
+3 Life Mage (0/3)
Suzume (Abstract)
+5 Barrier Mage (0/5)
+3 Cartographer (0/3)
Blu (Blastoise)
+5 Aquamancy (0/5)
+3 First Aid (0/3)
Nar Azzar (Atomic)
+5 Life Mage (0/5)
+3 Metalworker (0/3)
Author
Topic: Arcane Utopia RTD [Base Faff: Standard Procedure] (Read 12228 times)