Ah. That other stuff sounds like it'll work itself out. Hopefully. At least there's probably nothing I can do about it, so why worry?
Point is, I'm home! Feels good to be both alive and where I belong, right? Better go let everyone know I'm alright.
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: 8
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 9
Awa: 7
Cun: 15
Kno: 13
Ner: 11
Skills:
SKILL 1
Weaponsmith 2
Diving 2
Pistol 1
Bore 1
Translate 1
Stealth 1
Inventory:
Silk cloak
Copper mask
Human-made revolver (Pistol 3) (6/6)
Notes
1 Fathom
You wander up to the cockpit and Vikkan.
"Hey, just checking in, letting you know that after a few days of staring at a wall, I've reawakened!"
"Yeah, real neat."
"So, whats going on?"
"Potential death."
"What flavor?"
"Lava."
"Pretty standard, really."
[11]
You look out in the direction of the noise and focus. The fire moves and covers your vision once again and you see the wall of the room your in. And then its almost like your vision is drifting forward, or that you're zooming in. The wall becomes cloudy and then transparent, then the walls beyond it, then the buildings in the way, then the cavern wall. You look out and out and out until you see it. What it is you can't tell; its like a blind spot in your vision, not like a blur or a hole, but no matter how hard you try to see it, you can't process it. You stop trying and look around it. Behind it is a tunnel, a new pathway, flowing with molten stone. Whatever the non-thing is, its burning through the stone like its paper, moving towards the path of the cord. You can see people in the pathway, other bores and crawlers and people on foot. Not a lot of them, but some.
After his normal human vision returning to him and taking a moment to reorient himself, Adam grabs his radio and starts talking quickly over the general frequency the bore uses.
"Friends, I have some good and some bad news. The good news is, a Messenger of the lord is building a brand new tunnel for us to use in the future! The bad news is that this endeavor will take him past the Path of the Cord, and all of that molten rock that is trailing in its wake is probably gonna come flowing downhill somewhat fierce. I'll be trying to warn the people still on the path, could one of you warn the people of this city? Perhaps they know how to deal with something like this. If not... well, then we'll have to work quickly if we don't want this day to end with a lot of dead Ethral."
Get on the radio to the bores and crawlers and other fools standing around on the path and tell them to get away from there, preferably going uphill instead of down. If they won't believe me mention I just absorbed a bloody word of god so yes I know what I'm talking about NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE YOU IDIOTS AND TAKE THE PEDESTRIANS WITH YOU.
After that, try to infer how long it will take for the messenger to reach the cord path, and then how long it would take for the flow of magma to reach Knot. Also, does it look like the messenger is coming to Knot itself?
Should I manage to work out a rough timetable, would it be doable to dig out a tunnel between the cord path to the caverns/underground river below it to direct the magmaflow away?
If not, could redirecting the magma flow into the existing magma reservoir below the city work? Or would that just get flooded and still spill magma everywhere?
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.
After his encounter with a Word of God, the edges of his vision are flickering with black flame and his skin is extremely pale with what appear to be black veins instead of the normal blue ones. It also forced him to reevaluate his views on the cthonic church and god.
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
Flammenvision!
Inventory1 soldier chestplate
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements
1 ethral rifle [10 rounds] (pierce 2)
1 black flame
1 Silent Night
4 worm blood
1 minor artifact
1 beaker artifact (found in crystal ruins) => in locker
1 crystal construct
Transport mission papers
1 black book copy
1 black book
1 book "Artifacts of Faith"
1 empyrean city map
1 field lighter
1 radio
6 fathoms
-loaned 40 to Cara (Tiruin)
297 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
1 unspent skillpoint
You get on the radio and tell them whats happening. [10] They seem to believe you and say they're redirecting.
You think about the movement of the messenger, the length of the path, make guesses about how fast magma moves...[9]You think that maybe there's 30 minutes to an hour until it reaches the city? You're not really sure. But you don't think the messenger is coming for Knot, not unless it suddenly changes its direction.
There might be enough time if you go quickly but there are other issues. Steam explosions and accidentally flooding the town with water instead of lava are the two highest on your list.
Possible...but that would require redirecting a hell of a lot of molten stone through the buildings hanging in the way and down into the magma. Tricky.
Use the radio to tell the Ethral of Knot to evacuate the city emmediatly. Tell the about the messenger and the magma and everything else. Suggest that they evacuate to the Salt Path and the Path of Bells. 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)
6 sturdy glass bottles
14 fathoms
[9]
You get on the radio as soon as Adam is done with it and immediately announce across all channels that a torrent of molten stone is coming towards Knot and that everyone had better get out of town right now if they don't want to die.
No way this is going to go poorly.
: The Ethral say messengers stay on their path, even after a word is absorbed! Focus on the magma, ignore the messenger! Try to warn the Ethral near Path of the Cord first, tell them to warn anyone they can to stay away from it! Shoot in the air a few times if you have to! : Kara shouted on her Radio before turning to frantically address the Ethral.
((Sorry if it's a bit too much but I don't know how long the turn will last.))
Explain the situation to the Ethral and give them the exact coordinates of the intersection point (I assume it's the same place we found the Word of God). Make it very clear that at the very least they need to evacuate the area near the Path of the Cord and have firefighters on standby. I promise they can admire Adam all they want once this is over, but right now saving them takes priority.
Ask them to inform the proper authorities and direct me to those authorities or at least give me a damn radio frequency I can contact them at. And bring me a damn map of the town and the surrounding area so I can direct the Bore!
Coordinate with the Nomad's crew (and any other bore or crawler that hears Harm's transmission and is willing to help) and the library Ethral/local authorities (dunno about Ethral government, are those two the same thing?). Use radio to pass on the team's questions and requests to the Ethral ((mainly the things Radio is asking about)).
Also ask the Ethral once more, now that they hopefully understand the situation, to tell me if the bore can help evacuate anything. Maybe there's a hospital or a nursery or an archive or some other thing with valuable and hard to move things near the Path of the Cord.
Use the radio to tell the Ethral of Knot to evacuate the city emmediatly. Tell the about the messenger and the magma and everything else. Suggest that they evacuate to the Salt Path and the Path of Bells.
Note that we also have the speakers from the intercom system so we can also use the bore to address nearby Ethral.
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
InventoryRadio
3 fathoms
Ethral Rifle (scope+bipod) (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 6/7
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Grappling Hook + Ethral Silk rope 100 ft
Simple Clothes
Kara's DiaryIn StorageCrystal Tablets (diary about All-Eater and Great Destroyer, 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
So you get as far as starting to tell everyone whats going on and asking for help when a small group of Ethral run into the room and tell the ones you're talking to that a giant tide of magma is coming down the path and is set to wipe out the whole city. They immediately stop listening to you and scatter, doing their own things and not listening to you. Almost immediately the red glow of the outside world is cut off as what appear to be metal shutters cover the windows. You attempt to leave and find the door has been blocked. You grab one of the moth archivists scurrying around and ask them whats going on. As they start to speak the entire building vibrates and the lights flicker. Along the walls and floor and ceiling and every cabinet and display, strange lights begin to dance.
"Lock down." the moth says, "Multilevel shielding, physical and metaphysical."
Guard the door against any dangers and lick any friends that come in.
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 cling to the door, tongue waggling.
Vikkan came to the conclusion about the molten rock but had no time to warn the rest. Since they were already in the know, he simply returned to driving the bore. "Oh well."
Move towards safety while considering ways to help with the molten lava problem. Help if necessary and possible.
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.
You maneuver the bore over to the path of bells. [1] Wait a sec, all this crap only matters if the magma gets here. Why not just block off the path? There's gonna be a lot of rock coming but if it can be held off for a while it will cool and form a plug and start backing up instead of flowing down into the city.
Well, that didn't work out. Shoot the bird thing! Aim for the eyes if possible.
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, 7/10 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
Lights preserve me and don't get me caught in that light, Drett mumbles to himself.
Fire one of three remaining rounds at the bird. Aim for the eyes spotlight.
Character sheet
[15,19]
Clate and Drett both open fire on the giant bird and...miss. How they miss I don't know, its literally the size of several bars and bright red with glowing eyes so you'd think....well whatever. The good news however is that their shots, despite missing, get close enough to distract the bird for a moment, pulling its attention from Nyw
"I believe bullets may be of use, friends. As would an additional weapon."
Retrieve the crystal murakumo, and get back in there. Aim for severing blows; removing a foot, or the head, while defensively relying on rolling dodging.
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
"Talks like this.".
Stats:Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:14
Cun:8
Kno:7
Ner:10
Skills:Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Murakumo: +1
Inventory:
Full Plate Armor [Protective 4]
Ornamental Mask of the Child
Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
---Embedded in bird's foot: Giant Guardian Hatchet [Chop 4,
]
Probably left in the warehouse:
A hooked cleaver [Cut 3]
Two knives [Cut 2, Pierce 2]
Guard rifle [Pierce 2]
A bunch of bloody guard garments, to be used as raw material.
You draw the Murakumo and charge in. [18] You go for the foot, the one on top of Auft, with the aim of chopping it like you'd fell a giant mushroom. You envision the blow, one clean cut, and leap in. As you swing, the bird moves, stepping off Auft and towards Clate and Drett. Your blow hisses through thin air and strikes the stone at an awkward angle. The crystal rings like a bell for a moment, starting low and rapidly ascending in tone until it is a shrill shriek. And then it shatters like glass, practically turning into a bluish powder in your hands.
Stay very still and inedible. If the bird gets off, start treating my goon.
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 [3/7]
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.
Thug
Knife (Cut/Pierce 2)
Soldier Chestplate
Slave Trap
[2]
You immediately roll to the side as soon as the foot is off you and scramble over to your goon. He's hurt pretty bad, if this were real life you'd probably just put him down but....if he lives through this he'll return to the outside world uninjured. So you get started. You can't do much for him; bandages won't fix pulped flesh or shattered bones but you load him full of pain killers, tourniquet off the crushed limbs, and stuff gauze onto the bleeding bits. He'll live but he ain't moving.
Assuming there are rocks laying about:
Akhmah -> Es. Reinforce akhmah x 2, reinforce Es x5. Total of 8 Nerve rolls + final Akhmah and final Nerve.
Goal is to fire a double fist sized rock into the bird's eye as hard and fast as possible. Preferably smashing the eye and even the brain inside.
Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent. Currently a dream robot
Goal:To find God
Stats
Str:9 Dex:8 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)
2 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:
Travellers' guild is offering a relic retrieval job. Local hazards ('living').
You look around quickly and find a large chunk of stone on the path. You pick it up in both hands and hold it out like an offering in front of you. You close your eyes, focus on the stone, and dive. As the dizzy feeling of an instant of being out of your body subsides, you feel the stone fly free from your grasp. It streaks up towards the bird's head and strikes it just above the right eye. It hits with some force, shattering several tiles and clearly startling the creature, but doesn't do any really debilitating damage.
The bird screeches in either pain or annoyance and snaps its beak down at Ashul. [12] He very nearly make it out of the way. Nearly. The bird's beak snaps down right onto his head and upper body. Had he been a creature of flesh still, it probably would have simply removed those parts from the rest of the newly formed corpse. But his metal flesh resists the crushing stone of the beak, though not without harm. Most of the force seems to come down on his left shoulder and he can vaguely feel it get half crushed, half dislocated. He can't see anything, and is pressed face first into the roof of the bird's mouth, limbs and lower body dangling out as the bird rears back up and starts looking for something else to mangle.
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 386042 times)