Fine, go back down and try to craft the sword. Again, use material from the barrel, and use the knife.
Inform comrades about not being allowed in the bore.
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 cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
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
[16]
You use up all 8 units of structural junk plus your chunks of blue crystal in an attempt to make a sword. By the end of it you have nothing to show but a bunch of vaguely sharp shards of crystal, all too small or awkward to even be used as a knife. You effectively whittled your supplies down into shrapnel.
Assemble the golem by attaching the flat disc to its bottom and the hooks to the front. Carry the box of golem limbs with me for now and continue exploring with my newly assembled golem buddy.
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
Broken Bladed Shovel (Handle and Shovelhead)
Mail Shirt
8 Fathoms
Stone and crystal samples (including a diamond, black opals, quartz and goldlace marble)
You carefully place the parts onto the main body and they snap into place as though pulled there by magnets or some other unseen force. Once you have the bottom and the two limbs on, the thing begins moving; hovering several inches above the ground on the flat base. It follows you as you walk around, though doesn't seem to do much beyond that, at least for the moment.
[15]
You and your newly assembled friend wander around for a while, opening doors, but can't really find anything very interesting.
"There can be no growth without risk. If I am to escape this collar, I may as well harness it to our benefit, as well. Nyw, with your permission I will borrow your sword and reinforce it through Diving."
Pick up that golem. Borrow Adam's artifact fragment and the sword I made for Nyw.
Take all this and move to a place a short distance away from the others. Still within sight, preferably.
Estimate the material and action reinforcements needed to use Balarim and Sige for the purposes of modifying the crystal murokumo's structure, making it sharper, more durable, and more balanced.
If an estimate is available, make reinforcements accordingly when I dive. Otherwise, use the values listed.
- Confirm that I am in the Focused state. If not, abort.
- Sacrifice the golem and the collar.
- Sacrifice 1 point of Strength.
- Dive via pathway 6 to Balarim.
- Reinforce the Balarim connection 2 times.
- Dive via Passage 20 to Yengenze.
- Dive via Passage 14 to Es.
- Dive via Passage 22 to Sige.
- Reinforce the Sige connection 6 times.
- Recall to Akhmah.
- Modify the crystal murokumo as described above.
If I'm still alive and in control of my body, return the sword to Nyw and the shard to Adam.
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:
Ethral prison collar
Silk cloak
Copper mask
Ethral revolver 6/6
Caterpillar crystal golem
1 Fathom
You carefully set the sword a good 10 feet from you before sitting down with your sacrifices. [10] You figure out what you think would be the right amount of power to add to each sphere and close your eyes, placing a hand on both the Golem and on the Collar. You open the way and sacrifice them both.
It is at this point that our humble skeleton narrator will step back and explain how the anti-diving failsafes on this collar work. As you know, the explosive is here in the back of the collar, in perfect position to sever the spine. However, around the entire circumference of the collar are sensors of a sort. These do one thing: they emit a constant signal to let the collar know that no one has cut into or through it. If the signal from two or more of these sensors is lost, the collar automatically detonates. When Everyone's favorite moth girl decided to sacrifice her collar in an attempt to both free herself and use her captor's tools to her advantage, it meant that she was making a gamble. She can't control how the Collar phases out once sacrificed so she had to hope that it just phased out all together or at least in a way that didn't sever the connections of the sensors and detonate the bomb. She got close. The collar melted like a candle, dissolving from the top down. The good news is that by the time the sensors were tripped about half the material of the bomb itself had melted into the ether, reducing its explosive force. [13] The bad news is that even thus reduced, Wiellste has the neck of a tiny baby and is no match for a blast.
The bomb goes off with the sound of reverberating metal and a bone shaking bang that reverberates dozens of times in the confined space. Wiellste is throw face first to the ground and her collar splits into two halves that bounce away, smoldering until they vanish entirely, the sacrifices still being absorbed even if the diver is dead. Wiellste lies face down and unmoving in a widening pool of dark blue ichor.
"...It is your creation, Little Artisan. If you believe you can improve it without endangering yourself, I have no complaint. Do be careful." Nyw says, before reluctantly placing the heavy murakumo on the floor in front of Wiellste.
Relinquish the murakumo to Wiellste. Watch anxiously from the sidelines while she dives and works on it.
((If sacrificing the collar actually works without killing you I'll be amazed and greatly amused.))
Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:
((Only one murakumo, but hey! Dual wielding them is stupid anyway.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for "Appreciating this
damn fine sword".
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]
Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
Ornamental Mask of the Child
"
....Y'all right?"
"I guess that means we're going to try to remove our collars one by one?"
Did I see any other doors in the room we found the Artifact or was the tower just one big room?
Can I try translating the last entry in the diary again? I mean, do I only get one shot or do I get another shot?
Look at the removed collar. Does it look like it has any ways to adjust its size or do they look custom built? Any other easy ways they could be removed made apparent when examining their inner side?
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
You don't remember seeing any other exits, no.
You can take another shot, at a disadvantage.
[19] Moku thrusts the collar into your hands. You turn it over to look for size adjusting knobs and it falls right out of your hands. It hits the ground and flattens out like it was nothing but a thin membrane filled with jelly. You squint down at it and then look at your hands. They're equally soft and floppy, fingers slurping and slorping about bonelessly. You look at Moku and scream. Moku screams back, voice gurgling down to inhuman pitches as the skin and flesh of her head rolls back off her skull like the hood of a jacket.
Looks like nothing's happening for now. Observe the construct for a minute or two, see if it does anything. If it doesn't, pass through the now syrupy door and check out that barrel.
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 - supposedly replicate materials
2 gold cubes
1 container of Pseudomagnetic mortar
labradorite/Obedience rod
Slate box with multicolour crystal toothpick - supposedly turns someone into a gemperson.
7 structural junk
30 chemical junk
5 Fathoms
The construct stays right where it is, foot in the door, so to speak. You shrug and walk in, peaking into the barrel. Empty except for a large, raw cluster of crystal on the end of a metal rod.
Try again.
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
Stick to Adam and continue exploring the place. Examine the walls and furniture of these ruins.
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 wander around for a bit until you find a door you like the look of. It's nothing special, mind you, but it seems to have something...unique about it. You can't put a finger on what. You use the construct to enter the room and find...well its a box. About 4 feet long, 3 wide, 3 tall. And its sitting here, all alone, in the center of the room. Hm.
"Well, I'm up for an escape plan as long as we are freed from our collars or they are made non-explosive, though like I said I am no fighter and I'm too weak to be of much use even out of that. I can lend my mail shirt to anyone who wants to be part of the fighters." Vikkan told Kara.
Loot life with Garos.
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
"At least now we have our own key, now we can wander further to look for valuables."
Just keep looking for loot, and wait for Vikkan to open new rooms for them to examine.
Name: Garos Ellon
Description: Garos is a 4 feet moth-creature, with a black fur coating his body, the only different colors standing out on his form are located on his wings; blue circular marks that do give him two "eyes" on the back. Aside from the mask his kind naturally wears, he is also wearing a worn kettle helmet, which while doesn't provide the protection it normally should due to its current condition works like his lucky charm. The mask Garos wears is somewhat plain looking, all black aside from some blue marks along the "cheeks" and a crudely drawn star on the forehead area.
Goal: He is just hoping to gather himself a fortune and hopefully some fame too, just in case the hiring-and-shooting business becomes a necessity.
Stats
Str: 7
Dex: 12+2
Spe: 10+1
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 13
Kno: 13
Ner: 10
Skills
Weapon Skill: 2
Stealth: 2
Acrobatics: 2
Defense Skill: 1
Inventory
(40)Ethral Rifle [7/7]
Silk Cloak
At this point most of the rooms you're finding have clearly been opened already...if you're going to find anything new you'd have to traverse the walkways and find a new building.
"Ah ... it looks like another of us has freed herself from the collars. Well done, Miss. How many of us remain?"
AsHul checks on the Star Dragon, and contemplates the Depth he would need to Dive in order to issue a new command to It: a command to obey AsHul permanently.
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 (currently at -1)
Skills
Diving: 3
Animal Handling: 2
Survival: 1
Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy)
1 Silent Night - calming. gives advantage on diving rolls
3 Worm Blood - steadies nerves (restores to max)
2 Occult Junks
3 Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore, one "shiny," one standard)
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 walk outside and onto the balcony where you can get a good look at the star dragon. You're considering the reasonably of a dive when something unexpected happens.
There is a sound like gunfire but far FAR too massive and loud. Everyone, everywhere in the structure, hears it. But only AsHul, out on the balcony and looking at the dragon, sees the source. A crack appears in the wall the dragon is eroding, a fissure That must be several feet wide appears in the stone and races out in stuttering bursts, zig-zagging along the wall and up towards the ceiling. Dust and stones begin to fall from the cave ceiling and there is a sound like distant thunder rising all around. More cracks begin to appear, spreading from the first or from other places in the wall. One rips its way down into the magma and the sea of molten stone pours in for several seconds before settling.
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 384596 times)