Delvers
For eons, humanity, along with a few other races of sentience, has been trapped in the underground. Due to reasons unknown, the life-giving Light has become a indifferent executioner, a existence that is solely to write the last page of a man. And when the Light grows stronger, everyone knows the Dark out there is even deeper than before. The underground holds many dangers, even excluding the problems of food and drink. Unknown beasts composed of pure darkness often attacked the miners and scientists and mages of humanity. Scores of poor men were killed off without being able to resist against the Dark. It seemed like the Dark especially preyed on mages, and they died out, though technomages are still common; they tend to focus on using magic only where science fails.
Eventually, a breakthrough is made. Two breakthroughs, in fact. One, the discovery of a material called float stone enables crafty technomages to create a pleiad of interesting and useful items that passively float, including the ingenuous lightcube and a useful inventory that naturally floats at arm's reach for the user. Float stone is also used for transports that normally would require much power to be moved easily by the push of a finger, though the amounts of float stone needed for such transports is extremely expensive.
The second breakthrough is the discovery of the Void. Sitting at around thirty hundred feet below ground level, it is apparently a joining point between worlds. Special gateways were installed that sent and retrieved delving teams between worlds, sometimes for more of that precious floatstone, so rare on our world, and sometimes for pure science. Some of the destinations are aboveground, so ventures into the Light are done too. Though every delver has dreams of finding a world without the killing Light, none have found a single one. Every world had the Dark, the Light, and the Shadow. They were universal.
Even to the present day, delves are committed in teams. Each delver usually has one or two positions they fill, and each has a tool or two made of float stone. Some are young, and some are old, and some are hardly more than boys and girls. None are unable, though, as only the best are sent. Delve teams are usually multi-racial, with little racism between the delvers.
Delve teams have the following positions
*.
: Reeler
Reelers are the combat masters of the team. Specialized towards dealing maximum damage in close combat, they take a float stone item called an Arms Inventory, or a Reel for short. They float within arms' reach of the bearer and respond to his thought. Weapons are slotted onto the Reel. The Reeler can quickly swap weapons for situations, such as Light pistols for chasing off Hounds, or good old steel swords to kill cave dwellers like giant spiders. The most distinctive feature of the Reel is the small reel of strong cord at one end. With a quick action, the Reeler hooks a weapon to the reel and may use it as he wills, such as retrieving a weapon after throwing it, or preventing a speared creature from escaping. The reel unwinds and winds as the Reeler wills.
Default equipment includes one [common] Arms Inventory and a spear, a Light pistol, and a dagger.
: Lightkeeper
The Lightkeeper uses Lightcubes, again made from float stone, to safely illuminate the dark. The Lightkeeper also facilitates communication between their team members, and can use the Lightcubes to watch what is happening from afar. The light Lightcubes give off can be dimmed or turned off at the owner's whim. Lightcubes fail when the owner falls unconscious and become merely pretty colored cubes.
Default equipment includes one [D] Lighthouse, two [D] Lightcubes, and one [C] Lightcube.
: Extractor
The Extractor is the most profit-related position on a delve team. He has three major tasks: one, the extraction of float stone, which is taken by the delve headquarters upon return, two, extraction of other precious materials, which may be sold for funds, and three, acting as an extra set of eyes for the Lightkeeper via sentry floaters. The sentry floaters also can be used as mining helpers. Sentry floaters may be equipped with weapons.
The Extractor has default equipment including two [D] sentry floaters, one [common] Armor Inventory which stores sentry floaters and mining equipment, one rock gun which shoots either waste rock chunks or metal, and an automated magitech drill.
: Searchers
Searchers use searcheyes to scout the area around them. The Lightkeeper also can see through the searcheyes, but cannot control them. Searcheyes float, being made of floatstone, and are small enough to avoid notice from most creatures, unlike Lightcubes which are very visible. Another advantage of Searcheyes over Lightcubes is that Searcheyes do not fail even if the owner is knocked unconscious or goes out of range. Some searcheyes are customized for seeing normally invisible creatures, or for spotting ore deposits. Searchers themselves are able at combat, but focus more on not being hit than anything else. They do not have a Reel.
Default inventory includes five [D] searcheyes, one dagger, one spear, one [common] Dark cloaker, and one [common] Light cloaker.
:Warders
Warders employ ward generators that shield either an individual, or a whole area. The ward generators float, of course, being made from trace amounts of float stone, among other things. The wards generated block all energy attacks, and physical ones, but at a cost. The damage is reduced and channeled into the Warder, wearing him down until he's a brink away from dying. At that point, wards turn off unexpectedly, shattering beneath blows. Better generators have a better damage-to-health ratio.
Warders also have the means for long-range support. They can throw spears, and use railguns for a one-use punch of power. A Spear Inventory holds spears and other longish items, and has reels to retrieve thrown spears.
Default equipment: Three [D] ward generators, one [common] Spear Inventory, five spears with iron tips, one +9 Railgun.
Delve teams have the following default equipment for use by the whole team:
Small delvecart, [50] inventory. Delvecarts are enclosed boxes that are self-propelling, and are equipped with float stone to travel the Void and its gateways. They are extremely expensive.
Each starting delver has fifty credits for use to provision personal equipment.
d6 all the way. :3
Items with a letter grade on them provide bonuses depending on the grade. D = 0, C = +1, B = +2, A = +4, S = +16. Some items have intermediate grades such as D+ or B-.
Weapons have '+'s on them to denote damage.
[C] versions of whatever items they have cost 15 credits. So, a [C] Searcheye or a [C] Lightcube will cost 15 credits each.
Additional [D] versions of the Lightcube, the Searcheye, and the Ward Generator cost 8 credits each.
Shield discs, which provide either deflection or one negation, cost 5 credits each.
Potions of HP cost 3 credits each.
+1 weapons cost 5 credits, +2 9, and +3 15.
A +9 Railgun can be bought for 10 credits.
An [uncommon] cloaker of either dark or light can be bought for 35 credits. Compared to [common] cloakers, they last slightly longer and have a +1 to the activation roll.
Misc. items can be bought for cheap, such as lanterns, ropes, chain, pickaxes... can be bought for a credit each.
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Appearance:
Other:
15 points in the following:
HP (1 point = 5 HP)
Attack
Defense
Swiftness (5 points = 1 Swiftness. Each action point lets you attack once more each turn, concentrate one more per turn, or gather more a turn. Reelers get 1 Swiftness for 3 points.)
One Affinity:
Light
Shadow
Dark
(explained below)
Note: The player is expected to keep track of inven and stats, along with the name of his character.
Note 2: "Concentration" is needed to place items like ward generators, searcheyes; or move lightcubes and sentries from afar. The player can do other actions that are not Concentration freely. Eg: Bob the Extractor has 1 Swiftness. He can gather once, remotely move a sentry closer to a sentry, observe the ground, and quaff a potion all in one turn.
Note 3: This game might be lethal or not. I don't know either!
A secret known to few: some humans are born with a natural affinity to either Light, Shadow, or Dark. They are resistant against those aspects, and can mold them to their will. Light is destructive, flashy, and full of negative bias, meaning Light-touched cannot use their ability freely. Shadow is a blessed affinity that may heal, hide, or deflect. It is easier to conceal. Dark ... seems to be a mystery.
Author
Topic: Delvers The First Mission (Read 11927 times)