Follow the others up to the second building. Start examining the idols alongside everyone else.
Name: Auft Kindheart
Description: Standing 3'10", with even fluffier than usual snow-white fur, this Ethral radiates adorable innocence even by the standards of her kind. Her porcelain-white mask is a circular shape carved into slices, each bearing a smiling face with eyes and mouths arched in joy, and adorned with pink blush marks. Her cloak is similarly pure white and a little too large for her, adding to her cute and defenseless appearance.
Goal: To amass and improve loyal pets and slaves.
Stats
Str: 8
Dex: 13
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 8
Cun: 16
Kno: 13
Ner: 10
Skills
+1 Medical
+1 Translate
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Persuasion
+1 Stealth
+1 Animal Handling
+1 Archeology
+1 Biological
+1 Chemical
+1 Occult
[1 Skill Point]
Inventory
82 Fathoms
Ethral Rifle [7/7]
Doctor's Bag
Dodecahedron Spider-Thing: Fist-sized dodecahedron body, long unjointed legs that move in very slow cascades. Ceased moving upon being picked up. Can be trained in simple commands via clear hand signals, bops, and repetition.
2 quarter-inch cubes of impossibly heavy black stuff: Estimated 50 lbs weight total
Thug with metal teeth in his mouth and on his arm
Mediocre Skull Mug: A mug made from a skull. It works, but it's pretty meh considering it's made from a skull.
Shitty Bone Pan Flute: Several long bones crudely strapped together, long to short. Despite this, the actual notes are arranged randomly, out of tune, and lack much range.
Inanimate Vertebra Scarab: A bug-thing with a single human vertebra for a body, fingerbones for legs, teeth for mandibles, and so on. Needs an appropriate sacrifice to animate, like a "large" insect.
Relic Team
AsHul will go into the red building and examine the idols. If he finds nothing interesting about them, he'll head on into the mountain.
"Looks like one way forward: into the mountain."
Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent
Goal:To find God
Stats
Str:10 Dex:9 Spe:9 End:11 Awa:12 Cun:11 Kno:11 Ner:16
Skills
3 Diving
2 Animal Handling
1 Survival
1 Weapon skill: Guitar
Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
3 Silent Night
6 Worm Blood
100 ft of rope
1 knife (cut/pierce 2)
2 Occult Junks
59 Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore, one "shiny," 57 standard)
168 Fathoms (Team Account. Kept on AsHul's person for safekeeping. Stored separately from his personal funds.
Stored at warehouse during Relic Vision:
Firing Control Module (Brass Brain)
Book of sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of about 100 pages bound by three brass rings along the top of the sheets]
his former bomb collar - made of something like demagnetized neodymium.
One Bone-fretted haunted electric guitar
One mundane acoustic guitar with wave patterns in abalone and turquoise
Notes:Anvil: Local parish: currently looking for 8 to do a communal vision with a minor relic to extract the relic core.
Travellers' guild is offering a relic retrieval job. Local hazards ('living').
a small garden or sitting area, hemmed in by a wooden fence painted bright red.
You're sitting on low stone benches arrayed in a circle around a two meter tall cairn.
Beyond the red fence are carefully tended trees.
Snow lies on the ground in an uneven layer.
Your garden is surrounded by stone walls.
A path made of smooth river stones laid into the earth curves out of the garden, through an arched entry in the stone wall and out onto a thin, carved rock path that immediately curves away to the right.
The entire place seems to be situated on a mountain peak;
on the opposite side of the archway there lies the gray black mass of the mountain and you can see further buildings up there, connected by a spiraling path that was cut into the stone. Structures cling to the rock or are carved directly out of it. It all looks quite idyllic and calm.
The entire massive chunk of stone-buildings and all- is bouncing down the side of an unimaginably vast mountain.
The idols are made of some kind of black-gray stone, about a foot tall, and carved in a way that leads far more towards style than realism. The humanoid entities depicted are all compressed into a sort of tubular shape, as though they were carved from a thick rod of stone. The angles are hard, sharp and geometric, demi-gods as envisioned by cubists. There are 6 in total, all masked men, but one is different. It is broken, snapped right in half and laying in two pieces in the alcove. The inverted triangular mask of the being it represents has a crack running straight through the center of it.
Examine the idols with Ashul, see if there's anything out of the ordinary about them. Also take a look at what they're standing on, if they're attached or if there's other security measures. Don't touch them yet, though.
Then follow the team into the mountain.
Name: Clate
Race: Shluck
Description: Being a Shluck, Clate is rarely seen outside of his environmental suit. Inside, he is the standard albino mollusk, with his only true defining characteristic being the alternating white/borwn pattern of his beak, much like on a nautilus shell. His environmental suit and exoskeltons are full of scuff marks and small blemishes from work, but the knowledgable observer will notice that it is mechanically kept in tip-top shape. He wears a toolbelt and a satchel to store his tools and other knickknacks, and has a blue cap perched on top of his helmet.
Goal: To create great works of craftsmanship and become filthy rich in the process.
Stats
Str: 8
Dex: 11
Spe: 9
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 16 (+3)
Kno: 12
Ner: 11
Skills (1 point unused)
Electronics 1
Mechanical 1
Biological 1
Chemical 1
Occult 1
Weaponsmith 1
Armorsmith 1
Stealth 1
Steal 1
Explosives 1
Inventory
Clothing: A tool belt that can be modified to fit the exoskeleton, a satchel and a blue cap with "If it ain't broke, fix it" embroidered on.
Mail shirt (Made to integrate directly into the exosuit, protecting surface that houses Shluck including head.Protect 3)
Bladed Shovel - handle coated with Pseudomagnetic mortar
Knife (cut2, pierce2)
Rifle (pierce2, 10/10 magazine)
TNT x5
Dynamo lantern
Field lighter
Path markers x10
"Muggy"(skull mug scrimshawed with "can we fix it?" on the side, "No, it's fucked." on the bottom. Has trigger on the inside of the spine-handle that, when squeezed, caused the mandible to open and close)
2 Octahedrons - supposedly replicate materials
1 container of Pseudomagnetic mortar
labradorite/Obedience rod
100ft silk rope
3 structural junk
30 chemical junk
1 gold ingot
143 Fathoms
Crystal Babies
2. 8 sided diamond (looks like Ramiel from EVA and floats). 8 inches to an edge
3. Crystal snake. hiss. 18 inches long.
Warehouse/bore storage:
1. Dodecahedron, no limbs, rolls. Fist sized.
4. Spiky daddy long legs like Irony has. 1 foot legs, fist sized body.
5. Thing looks like (see pic). about 8 inches to a side.
7. Wheel sort of thing that has a fat inside edge and tapers to a sharp edge on the outside. Foot and a half in diameter.
1 corpse (missing: skull, neck vertebrea, some bones)
Bomb Collar
Slate box with multicolour crystal toothpick - supposedly turns someone into a gemperson.
Spool of thermoreactive wire.
Acoustic guitar (Metal + guardbone, totally mundane.)
Box with "kidnapper bell"
6 Octahedrons - supposedly replicate materials
The idols are sitting in the alcoves, which are made of the same painted cob as the walls. They don't look like they're attached or secured in any way, just sitting there.
You follow the others into the mountain.
Go down into the mountain.
Name: Alex Wells
Description: A middle aged man standing 5'7" feet tall. He has short brown hair and an unkempt beard.
Goal: Exploring the depths and collecting its wealth.
Stats:
Str: 11
Dex: 11
Spe: 10
End: 11
Awa: 11
Cun: 12
Kno: 11
Ner: 11
Skills:
Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
1 Skill point
Inventory:
Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
5 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
Mail Shirt
39 Fathoms
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
Black Flame (Cut 3)
Rifle (Pierce 2) 10/10
8 Structural Junk
Grappling Hook
Follow follow. Admire all the scenery, maybe I can see something hiding/hidden while I do it?
Character Sheet
Schitter leans down and examines the face of one the idols.
"We could probably sell one of these off for a pretty penny..." Schitter says still leaning down. "But I doubt it will be more than what we're gonna get if we grab the core relic, and I'm not gonna be taking the risk of upsetting this vision if it so happens that one of these Idols here are the keystone."
Continue down the path with Alex.
Name: Schitter
Race: Shluck
Description: A Shluck, hided within a rust red mechanical exo-suit. His exo-suit stands squat and lop-sided, one side almost completely unarmored, the clockwork workings of a thin arm is laid bare to the world. The other arm is an exact opposite of the first, nearly twice the width of a human arm, covered in rusted armor shell, and ending with a clamp rather than a hand. A external system of wires and pulleys is installed in order to help support and move the large limb.
Goal: To meet with God
Stats:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 10
Speed: 8
Endurance: 10
Awareness: 9
Cunning: 16
Knowledge: 12
Nerve: 10
Skills:
Persuasion: +3
Occult +2
Hooked Cleaver +1
Inventory:
Hooked Cleaver
Slave Trap
Worms Blood
16 Fathoms
The path into the mountain is not roughly carved but it isn't smooth either. It is a well made tunnel with an arching top about 8 feet at the apex. The stone has the texture of unfinished concrete, somewhat jagged but still roughly even, with two exceptions: On either side of the tunnel are thin sections that have been worn perfectly smooth, so much so that their surface shines as though wet. They are at the exact height that, if you were to walk down the tunnel in the dark with your hands out, following the tunnel walls by touch, your hands would follow that smoothed path. You realize that this smoothed section must be the result of countless people over tens or hundreds of years doing exactly that, following the wall in the dark. Now, though, the hall is lit by small candles tucked into the corner of the wall and the floor. Their light is quite dim but in the utter darkness of the tunnel, its enough to find your way. The tunnel goes for maybe 20 or 30 feet, snaking around erratically until it comes to a circular room. The room is quite small, utterly bare, and is basically identical to the tunnel in design, though there are far more candles here, lighting the room better. From this room five additional tunnels branch off, each seemingly identical to the one you entered through.
"We probably don't want to disturb these creatures. Let's just back off a little more before we drill down, shall we?"
Does Adam recognize this species of cave ant? If yes, what can you tell us about them (things like aggressiveness/territoriality, how large their nests usually are, are they capable of piercing bores with heir mandibles or secretions, ...).
Could we use the bore's sensors to see if there's another ant tunnel below (perhaps by reading the temperature below us and comparing it to the temperatures of the other surrounding walls)? If yes, try doing that.
Name: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza
Description: A young man of slightly pale complexion and eternal 9 o’clock shadow, he was raised in a small village. While the village priest and passing mystics droned with endless sermons of the Church and their teachings, what had always captivated young Adam’s attention more were the stories of his Granny.
Old stories of the world as it once was, before people were forced to flee to the caves and crannies of this damp hell. Of warm days where pleasant green plants tickled your feet as you walked through them and a cool breeze blew through your hair. Where food was plentiful, nature was benign and endless vistas reached as far as they eye could see.
Adam was nominally a card-carrying member of the church, though he mostly did it for the connections and perks that brought. They were powerful and had ancient lore, all things he would need to fulfill his true heart’s desire: to return to the surface, vanquish the madness that tainted their homeland and reconquer paradise.
Goal: Plunge the secrets of the depths below to find an answer to the horrors above.
Stats Str: 10
Dex: 10
Spe: 11
End: 10
Awa: 11
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 13
SkillsDiving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Inventory1 soldier chestplate
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements
1 ethral rifle [10 rounds] (pierce 2)
2 black flame
2 Silent Night
5 worm blood
1 minor artifact
1 beaker artifact (found in crystal ruins)
1 crystal construct
Transport mission papers
1 black book copy
1 black book
1 field lighter
1 radio
38 fathoms
-loaned 40 to Cara (Tiruin)
1 unspent skillpoint
[10]
You don't recognize this species but you know of other species of giant cave ants. You think the best solution would probably be for the bore to remain still. As is the ants probably won't recognize that the bore is something "Alive" in their minds. Its just some big metal object that hit the tunnel somehow. They'll likely ignore it and just fix the tunnel as long as no one gives them reason to get defensive.
You have Vikkan check the instruments but there's no method, at least with these instruments, to see that. However their advance and movement does make a fair amount of noise, so maybe you could hear them moving before you hit their tunnels....assuming everything isn't being drowned out by the sound of the bore.
"Please, stay still. Maybe it won't attack if we don't provoke it." Kara whispered, as if the ant could hear her through the bore.
"I think they're trying to close the hole. We should be safe after they do."
Run and grab the TNT from storage and head for an airlock. If I have time, use rope to tie self to airlock. If the thing charges, light the TNT and throw it. I don't care about killing it, slowing it down or collapsing the tunnel should hopefully be enough to let us escape. I mean, it's probably a protector, not a hunter.
Inform others as I meet them of what's going on so they can help if they want. Tell them to keep quiet. No noise, no panic, keep the Pilgrims locked.
Name: "Kara" is what most humans call her, though the closest pronunciation would be Kr'ra-Kax
Race: Corven (advantage for climb, disadvantage for falls)
Appearance: She is a crow-like Corven with matte-black feathers. A bit short. Constantly moves her head around, examining her surroundings. Moves her tail up and down whenever she's excited.
Age: Adult, but just barely
Goal: Wants to find artifacts and experiences that she can use to make an (under)world-famous museum. Wants to prove herself to her mother and piss off her brother with her success (both financially and socially).
StatusSacrificed left arm to reverse time (eaten by giant Shluck-like thing). Bandaged and given spider venom for the pain.
StatsStr:9
Dex:13
Spe:13
End:7
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:12
Ner:11
Skills1 unspent
Rifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1
Inventory14 fathoms
Ethral Rifle (rifle 3, pierce 3) 6/7
2 Ethral Rifle magazines 7/7
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Ethral Silk rope 100 ft
Grappling Hook
Simple Clothes
Kara's DiaryIn Storage1 TNT
Crystal Tablets (diary about some construction project, inventory, obedience rod instructions, construct assembly instructions)
Church Documents (document ownership and events, and recommend favorable treatment)
Cot
Book (Adventures of Pilgrim)
Deck of Cards
Mechanical Arm (not installed)
Crystal Friend
Bomb collar (unlocked)
All bomb collar remotes
You prepare yourself but I am going to assume you don't open the airlock yet, you stay inside and wait to see if you need to act.
Escort team
Run around the bore and check all the air locks, also check any weak points. Make sure there aren’t any openings. After that I’ll put myself in the room with the nomads.
Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop. She wears a mail shirt underneath her clothes.
Goal: Overall, Harm would like to find a place where refugees and travelers could seek refuge without dealing with the dogmatic influence of the church. Right now, though, she just wants to get away.
Stats
Str:11
Dex:11
Spe:11
End:10
Awa:11
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:11
Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)
1 unassigned
Inventory
Radio
Mail shirt (protect 3)
Crystal cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
6 Octahedrons
Gold ingot (100-120)
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Lucky Shot (6/7)(14 rounds)
Short sword (cutting 3, pierce 2)
Voice in the Eyes- and intricate mechanical eye
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units mechanical junk
2 mechanical arms (belong to Kara and Vikkan)
14 fathoms
Escort Team
Join Harm in his search of the Bore, provide any backup if needed, then join him waiting with the Nomads.
Name: Aigresaur
Description: A sexy lizard with a serpentine head, smooth pale scales, a slender velociraptor's body with lanky arms and legs...
Goal: it just wants to snuggle
Stats Shang-Gei
Str: 8
Dex: 15
Spe: 12
End: 8
Awa: 12
Cun: 10
Kno: 8
Ner: 10
Skills
shotgun: 3
acrobatics: 2
Unarmed: 1
Inventory
Tunnel Clearer 5/5
4 shells
Mail shirt (3 protect )
You run around and double check that every door is sealed and that there are no holes. Everything seems ship shape so you go and sit with the pilgrims, who seem curious but not worried about whats going on.
"Yeah, it looks like they just want to close the hole. I have a feeling we might be better off staying still and waiting until the hole is fixed, unless someone can remember if that's not a good idea to do due to their behavior."
See if Vikkan remembers anything about those ants. Turn off the drill's motion to avoid drawing attention, in case it's still on. If we're attacked... Try to escape in a sensible way, I suppose.
Name: Vikkan Laerthe
Description: A human from Anvil and a moderate Chthonic who was born and raised close in the neighborhood of the Hammerfall boreyard, where his parents were employed as menial workers. Being so close to a place so filled with machinery and boring machines left a lasting impression on Vikkan, who became a furnace helper, then a drivemaster's apprentice until he finally reached the controls of a bore. He's quite good at conducting driving bores and, most importantly, he deeply enjoys his work.
Bore love aside, Vikkan is also generally quite friendly and good-humored even when he's not behind a bore's controls. He is, however, aware of his limitations out of the control room, and he'd rather leave most other matters to more skilled people. What he lacks in intellectual education he displays in polite curiosity, and he tends to be interested in listening even to topics he can only vaguely grasp, making for a good talking and drinking buddy if nothing else.
At odds with his friendliness, he looks rugged, if young. His hair is dark brown and cut short, and he has a well-groomed handlebar mustache (though he's been known to let it grow and style it into a horseshoe at times). A small diagonal scar moves from his right eyebrow to the bridge of his nose. His skin is brown and displays a few burns thanks to a few years of furnace and boiler work. He's fairly hairy, with his shirt's sleeves covering hairy arms and a few spots of scar tissue. His uniform is made of thick cloth and utilitarian, overalls, a long-sleeved shirt and a cap. His major concession to vanity is keeping his uniform and mustache impeccable.
He doesn't have a right hand.Goal: To deep driving bores and having fun while doing it. It's not a difficult dream, even if it can be hard at times.
StatsStr: 11
Dex: 11
Spe: 10
End: 11
Awa: 13
Cun: 10
Kno: 11
Ner: 11
Skills (1 point unspent)
+3 Vehicle (Bore)
+2 Navigation
+1 Defense (Mail Shirt)
Inventory-Conductor's Clothes
-Dynamo Lantern
-Black Book (Copy)
-Field Lighter
-Mail Shirt
-Short Sword
-Rifle
-Knife
-100ft silk rope
-142 Fathoms
-Neck chain (that used to hold a black flame that actually never existed)
-Black Flame
-Clockwork arm
1 Mission and counting
Level 0: +3 Awareness
Level 1: +1 Str, Dex, End, Kno, Ner. 1 skill point unused.
[16] No idea what these things are like but you follow Adam's advice and shut the bore down almost all the way, leaving only the most basic systems running; Life support, internal lighting, and the control systems. Then you wait.
((I wasn't really aiming for tinkering, moreso just aiming for a temporary buff that is gone when {x} situation happens and all, like 'lowers damage roll by x upon being hit once'))
Cara stood right beside Vikkan (or unless there's some unauthorized sections of the bore, right beside Pancaek's character) and...focused her attention on taking care of what was given to her.
Take care of own armor. Maybe get some temporary buff if I roll well?
Name: Custodia; nicknamed "Cara"
Description: Cara is a humanoid, fully covered in worn, rusted armor--mistaken for a living being if it were not for her mask, which comprises two eye slits and a pristine-looking talisman which covers the nasal area to the chin; inscribed on the margins of the mask is a saying of a rite to the dead, and the talisman bears a top-down inscription written in a different dialect. A weathered flag-holder is masterfully clinched to the back of her torso, with its flag only in shreds and tatters, although it is gilded with a trim.
Goal: Intrigued by the doctrine of the Tenebrous Church, her goal is to discover what lies on the surface--to investigate in their own terms what lies beyond, and to ensure that their companions do not meet as harsh an end as is preached.
Stats
Str: 14
Dex: 8
Spe: 10
End: 14 + 3 = 17
Awa: 10
Cun: 8
Kno: 6
Ner: 10
Skills
Armorsmith +1
Geology +1
Medical +1
Persuasion +1
Polearms +1
Translate +1
Navigation +1
Shield User +1
Acrobatics +1
Survival +1
Inventory: (0 money; 40 in debt to [Radio Controlled])
Polearm (E)
Soldier's Chestplate (E)
Rubber Suit (E)
Travelled Clothing (E)
Black Flame (E)
(x2) Worm Blood
No buffs without stuffs.
By which I mean no getting special powers just because you ask. Strap a rocket to your armor or something. Do it.
Do it do it do it.
Go investigate. Why did the bore suddenly stop?.
Name: Kalagony
Description: Kalagony is a short but muscular Mole-man. He's a martial arts fanatic, and willingly replaced his healthy arm with a mechanical version just to improve his lethality in melee combat. He has a particularly large tentacled star-shaped snout and a small pair of black, beady eyes. His hair is dark brown.
Goal: His life goal is to challenge and fight against the best warriors in the world, to crush his opponents and claim the title of the strongest fighter.
Stats:
Str:15
Dex:11
Spe:8
End:13
Awa:11
Cun:10
Kno:10
Ner:11
Skills:
Unarmed: 3 (2+1 Mole-Man Claws)
Defense Skill: Mechanical arm Block: 3
Caving: 1
(1 Unused Skill Point)
Inventory:
Mechanical arm (Right arm, claw weapon)
Grappling Hook
Silk Rope (100 feet)
Field Lighter
Martial Arts Gi
You walk up to the control room (WHICH SHOULD TECHNICALLY BE INACCESSIBLE RIGHT NOW BUT I'LL ASSUME VIKKAN OVERRODE THE AUTOMATIC MOVEMENT OF THE COCKPIT AND LET YOU AND ADAM IN) and get a good view on exactly why the bore stopped.
Over the next several minutes the ants repair the hole in the wall, patching it with liberal amounts of what looks like regurgitated sand and large pieces of stone. The larger ant never moves from its position until the last stones are being sealed in place. Then it and the rest of them are gone, leaving nothing but a hardening cluster of stones and ant spit.
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 385561 times)