"Hey, I'm going to try to get those tablets. We need to know what that artifact is before we consider if we should hand it over. Anybody wants to help me?"
Follow Drett and Vikkan. Once I reach the first room, leave the artifact in some safe spot and try to climb up to the tablets.
Ask for help. If somebody volunteers, have them sit below me and use my shirt to safely catch the tablets as I drop them (assuming they aren't so heavy they will pierce it when they fall). Hopefully they'll also catch me (or at least act as a fleshy pillow) if I fall.
Otherwise, get as many as I can safely carry and climb back down.
If they're stuck and I can't move them, then try reading one or describing then to the others, if I can.
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).
StatsStr:8
Dex:13
Spe:13
End:6
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:8 + 3 = 11
Ner:10
SkillsRifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1
InventoryFire Orb Artifact (in backpack-like thing made from shirt)
Ethral Rifle (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Crystal Friend
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Simple Clothes (no shirt)
Kara's Diary
[18/10][1]
You hand the artifact off for safe keeping and then make a running leap into the wall. You run a few paces up until your momentum runs out then leap towards the shelf. You catch hold of it in a very awkward position, both hands clinging to the middle divider of the shelf. You start slipping but swing yourself up and wedge your leg into the space between the mid shelf and the top, locking yourself in place. That done, you start pulling tablets out. It takes some effort, almost like they're magnets stuck to metal; they resist but as you pull the resistance grows rapidly weaker and then gives out. You yank them out one by one and drop them down to your helpers.
Assist with the looting. Consider medical uses of loot.
Drett Medizin, Ethral- Str: 07
- Dex: 12
- Spe: 10
- End: 08
- Awa: 07
- Cun: 14
- Kno: 15
- Ner: 10
SKILLS:- Medical +2
- Biological +2
- Mechanical +1
- Chemical +1
- Occult +1
- Archeology +1
INVENTORY:- Doctor's Bag x1
- Field Lighter x1
- Cave Spider Venom x6
- Fathoms x10
Not bolded but you have the highest dex among would be loot catchers so lets try you first.
[14] Nope. Lets try Clate.
[6] Good.
"Yes, friend Kara, I'll assist you. I don't want to mess too much with the final barrel anyway, since there's a fairly dangerous snake artifact thing trapped inside of it. "
Can I get a knowledge check on the artifacts I gathered? Specifically: the labradorite rod, the golden cubes and the crystal toothpick in the slate box? Maybe an extra one to figure out what the chrome foil is for.
As for my actual action, Help Kara out with gathering the tablets.
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: 10
Spe: 8
End: 10
Awa: 9
Cun: 16 (+3)
Kno: 12
Ner:10
Skills
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.
Bladed Shovel - handle coated with chrome stuff
Silk rope (100ft)
TNT x3
Dynamo lantern
Field lighter
Path markers x10
8 Octaherdrons
2 gold cubes
1 container of chrome foil
labradorite rod
Slate box with multicolour crystal toothpick
7 structural junk
30 chemical junk
5 Fathoms
You already failed a check on the rod so no, you can't for that. But you can for the cubes and toothpick.
[7,1]
The cubes appear to be exactly what they look like, small cubes made out of gold. Valuable but not exactly exotic. As per the tooth pick you're pretty sure its one of the much rumored conversion crystals. One of the theories involving the Gemstone people is that they weren't always made of stone. That they used some form of miracle to change themselves into stone. There's some evidence in that a handful of explorers have been changed into what appear to be gemstone people via exposure to an artifact called a "Rainbow Pin". They always exposed themselves accidentally and the pin was destroyed in the process so there are no examples of it, just descriptions.
That done, you walk over and catch the tablets Kara is dropping down, stacking them off to the side as you do.
Wiellste's theories made him raise an eyebrow. It was a really weird thing to hear, but then again he wasn't too familiar with the effects of diving. He also didn't want to sound doubtful or suspicious and come off as rude, specially when she seemed to mean well and his memories did get scrambled with.
"So the spell made my right hand disappear and erases my memories of ever having one?" he asked, looking down at his pendant-less chain. "If that's the case, then maybe they did something else. I have this chain but I have no idea why, there's nothing on it. Could some have taken what was here?" The arrival of more people cut Vikkan's theorizing short.
"Empty chain? Interesting. Not all sphere-related effects come from diving, it's possible that you wore something there, aligned with En, that erased itself along with your hand."
Take a closer look at the plain chain that Vikkan wears around his neck. What could have been there before?
Name: Wiellste Gunsmithy
Description: A young Ethral, no taller than 4 feet. Her fur is unpatterned and a milky white. Usually wears a rather plain quilted brown silk cloak, and a polished copper mask with symmetrical, spiraling lines etched on the sides.
Goal: Wiellste is like many Ethral in that she seeks to gather knowledge about the world before all else. Though being an Ethral from Knot, her skills are largely more on the practical building side than the scholarly side. She isn't particularly invested in the teachings of the Tenebrous Church, but the idea of the spheres intrigues her, especially Balarim, with it's writings and technology.
Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 15
Kno: 13
Ner: 11
Skills:
Weaponsmith 2
Diving 2
Pistol 1
Bore 1
Translate 1
Stealth 1
Inventory:
Silk cloak
Copper mask
Ethral revolver 6/6
1 Fathom
[9] The silver chain he's wearing is identical to those the church gives out with their "Black Flame" pendants. You're certain of it.
"I don't have or had any occult artifacts as far as I know. Never had any interest in them. Then again, I guess my memory isn't the same as it was." Vikkan still had a faint smile on, but he was obviously less prone to good humor right after having almost bled to death. Figuring out the team was going to stay longer, he decided he might as well give them a hand (his only one) to speed things up.
Provide assistance to any low-effort task to make the looting process go faster.
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: 10
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 13
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 10
Skills+3 Vehicle (Bore)
+2 Navigation
+1 Defense (Mail Shirt)
Inventory-Conductor's Clothes
-Dynamo Lantern
-Black Book (Copy)
-Field Lighter
-Mail Shirt
-2 Fathoms
Everything honestly looks like a lot of work so you just sort of sit back and let it all happen. With your back against this cold stone and your front pointed towards the heat pouring in from the doorway out to the balcony, its actually rather pleasant here.
Help with retrieving those damnable tablets already, then look them over and try to glean what information I can from them.
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: 10
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 13
Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Inventory
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements
1 minor artifact
1 black book copy
1 black flame
1 Silent Night
1 field lighter
17 fathoms
(loaned 6 fathoms to aigre)
1 crystal construct
You sit down on the ground near the pile of Tablets Clate is making and pull one off the top. Its about 8 inches across by 12 high by an inch thick, and as hefty as you would expect for a slab of crystal. You can tell immediately that their language and writing system isn't like your own; its almost like a form of braille, with both faces covered in little raised points, ridges and branching growths. [19]
You have no idea what it says.
Look around and try to find the dream thing that is watching me. Is the void completely empty or only devoid of light?
Name: Lokam Pilgrim
Description: Lokam is an Ethral Aspirant of the Tenebrous Chruch currently on pilgrimage. His soft fur is pale yellow, his large and fuzzy mane is golden and antennae and wings are dark purple with white details. His antennae, unlike most Ethral, are also very long and fluffy. Most of the time, he's wearing his silky church robes, which also have a hood included. His mask is very dark purple, with bright yellow spirals and curves, similar to tentacles.
Goal: His goal is to just complete his pilgrimage and ascend in the chruch. He wishes to go as deep as possible and someday become a Living Saint, Stygian or even a member of the Council. But his dream is to someday go deeper than everyone, reach the center and finally find God.
Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 13
Kno: 13
Ner: 13
Skills:
Diving: 3
Caving: 1
Navigation: 1
Survival: 1
Translate: 1
Inventory:
The Black Book (Real)
Black Flame
Bag of Path Markers
Silk Aspirant Gray Robes
Purple Mask
You turn in the void, spinning around in all directions only to suddenly be shaken awake by Ashul.
Test the knife to see if it can cut crystal. Then inspect the entombed barrel. Is there any evidence of the snake, dead or alive as it may be? Then inspect the crystal from the tree, does it seem like pure lead in crystallized form, or like a crystalline substance that is diluted with lead?
If it hasn’t already been reflected, I also take the loot that Clate said I could have
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.
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:10
Dex:11
Spe:10
End:10
Awa:10
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:10
Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)
Inventory
Crystal utility knife
Silver/Tin wire spool
3 gold cubes
7 Octahedrons
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Several large chunks of blue crystal
Lucky Shot (6 rounds)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
8 units structural junk
2 units mechanical junk
You grab one of the chunks of broken crystal and press your knife to it. It cuts easily, letting you shave a small piece off like it was made of wax.
You inspect the barrel but you can't really see inside it; there's too much crystal lead blocking your vision. You walk over to the pieces of the crystal tree and kneel down to inspect them. They appear to be pure lead, though of a form you're not familiar with. You've seen crystal lead before and its an ugly lumpy starburst sort of thing, not the elegant, fragile branching form that this takes.
I assumed that as soon as you two decided on a split, you took it.
"This seems like a chest of sorts, I wonder what's inside it. Mind helping me open it?"
Knock on the obsidian cube to check whether it's hollow or not. Should it be hollow, try to open it with my shovel.
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: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 12
Kno: 10
Ner: 10
Skills:
Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
Inventory:
Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
3 TNT
Bladed Shovel
Mail Shirt
8 Fathoms
You tap the cube with your shovel and it is so damn unyielding that even a few relatively gentle taps with vibrate your arm uncomfortably. It doesn't sound hollow. It sounds more solid than the ground its sitting on.
The lizard monster takes this opportunity to start collecting the broken remains of the barrels that the other looters broke open.
Also ponder the recipe for creating a mechanical arm.
Name: Moku Youkou
Race: Abomination Shang-Gei
Description: A female Shang-Gei cloaked in a heavy and rough looking worm wool coat. Underneath the clothing, is a heavily mutated figure. Her scales has been coat in plastic, giving each one a iridescent sheen to them. Spikes of melded plastic, metal and circuitry are studded haphazardly, the largest one is a foot long, spearing right above her pelvis. Her tongues have been replaced with metal tendils that sneak in and out of her mouth when she is not paying attention.
Goal: To "find" her mate.
Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 8
Speed: 8
Endurance: 10
Awareness: 12
Cunning: 12
Knowledge: 11
Nerve: 9 (temp -4)
Skills:
Medical: +2
Machine Control: +1
Electronics: +1
Mechanical: +1
Armorsmith: +1
Occult: +1
Diving: +1
Stealth +1
Inventory:
Fathoms:16
Relic fragment
Bladed Shovel
Clothing with ? Balarim Jal
I've been told to stop handing out recipes. Instead, we're supposed to tinker.
"Wake up, Aspirant. I have returned, and I have an idea. We must meet with the rest of the Collared ones to discuss it though. I need your help to extend my bridge so we can cross over to the ruins."
Wake the Aspirant up, and work feeling back into my body before attempting to Dive again. If I feel that I would be at disadvantage, do not Dive. Otherwise:
Akhmah -> Es -> Hel (2 rolls)
Reinforce Akhmah 3x, reinforce Hel 2x (5 rolls)
7 rolls + final nerve + final Akhmah roll
Transmute a portion of the bridge into aluminum. Goal is to make several long rods to help with structural integrity.
Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent
Goal:To find God
Stats
Str:9 Dex:8 Spe:8 End:10 Awa:12 Cun:10 Kno:10 Ner:16
Skills
Diving: 3
Animal Handling: 2
Survival: 1
Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy)
1 Silent Night - calming. gives advantage on diving rolls
4 Worm Blood - steadies nerves
2 Occult Junks
2 Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore)
One Brass sphere with clockwork innards (From Balaram)
Book of sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of about 100 pages bound by three brass rings along the top of the sheets]
You wake the Aspirant up and shake your limbs out. You've been rolling at disadvantage for a while now, but if you don't want to, then we won't.
Clate mentioned a snake. Go over to the barrel and grab the snake, then break it in half. Repeat as necessary on the halves until it ceases to be a danger.
Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:
((Without the murakumos.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for "Explicitly stated goals are a boring way to get across what should be plain by roleplay".
Stats:Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:13
Cun:8
Kno:6
Ner:10
Skills:Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Inventory:
Full Plate Armor (Protective 4)
Ornamental Mask of the Child
The barrel is completely filled with crystal lead so the snake is pretty damn embedded and unreachable for the moment. If you smash the barrel open though, you could go snake grabbing...so to speak.
Experiment with my new pet to see if I can figure out his purpose.
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: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
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
Inventory
2 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.
[3]
You look at the thing and let it walk around a bit. You think it might be some kind of vermin killer; those spear feet could really murder the heck out of rats or bugs or snakemaggots.
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 385269 times)