Alan drags Zech along with him as a part of his ongoing quest to un-emoify him, unless there's opposition in which case he's probably easily persuaded out of it.
"Do we have any comwires left to keep in touch?
Going with Ike's group.
You do, but unless you Tsar them or otherwise empower them, their range is limited. Normally they've got the range of an OK quality radio, enough to let you talk from one side of a small town to another when the signal is good. Then again, you haven't tested them in this mostly flat and empty terrain, maybe they'll have a better range here, especially if you can get to high ground.
Alan, Linguist
Just general knowledge is fine, I'm interested in seeing how Rickman responds to those questions.
"So, Rickman, can you tell our audience a bit more about yourself?"Rickman makes a questioning squawk.
"Let's start with a little bit about your origins. Where are you from?"Rickman considers this for a second before answering "WarmHere."
"Well, yes, I can see that you're here. I meant where is your home planet?"He takes a bit longer, but eventually answers.
"WarmThere. HomeNest."
You somehow know the general direction he is speaking about. Roughly towards the west, where you came from.
"Ah, good, good. Is it nice there?"Rickman just stares at you. Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it?
"Ah, I see. A sensitive subject then? Is it bad there? Are you the last of your kind, like superman?""AlienRickman!" he states decisively.
"Well, yes, I know you're not SuperMan. But really, can you tell me about what went wrong in your home?"It takes a while for him to answer and when he does he sounds quite... thoughtful, maybe?
"TeethMouths. CrushFoots. NestChompers. EggDrillers."
"Oh, I see. That doesn't sound pleasant at all. I can see why you left. But there must have been some good things about it.""HumanFood." he says in response.
"Ah, I hope that means that you enjoyed human delicacies on your home and not that you actually eat humans." you say jokingly.
"RareHuman." Rickman responds seriously.
"See, now this could be interpreted as you liking your humans cooked rare or humans being rare in your diet.""FewHuman. FlyingHuman. BurriedHuman. ManyFood. PlantFood. AnimalFood. FireFood." Rickman clarifies.
"Aha. So you enjoy spicy foods then? I've known to enjoy some Indian myself. Although the ones around me never seemed to enjoy me eating it for some reason."Rickman makes a displeased squawk.
"Haha. Yeah, that's usually the reaction I get."Rickman makes a small jump back, just in case, making sure to keep himself between you and his nest.
"So, have any family back there?"Rickman makes a sad negatory squawk.
"Oh. But there was one or...?""NestMate." he responds sadly.
"And... what happened to her, if you don't mind me asking?""BigAir-BadAir-MonsterAir. SnatchClaw-CrushWind-CutClaw. Un-nestMate." he says rythmically. It kinda sounds like rapping, in a way.
"StrongPull. MateUn-help."
"Oh. That sounds terrible. I'm so sorry for your loss."Rickman stares at you.
"Well, then. Moving on to a more pleasant subject. Night life. What's the most in place for a dashing young alien this time of year.""NestSleep."
"Wow. That's a pretty strict bedtime schedule you got there. Surely there must be some nights that you just go out and have a wild time, eh?""NestSleep. RickmanSleep."
"Oh, I get it! You're diurnal! That makes total sense. So, tell me, what sort of exciting adventures do you have during your day?""FoodSearch. FearRun. NestFight. NestClean."
"How interesting. Now, for my next question..."...
Harry BaldmanWhile on the road, one of the men comes to warn you that Alan might have gone crazy and started squawking at a bird. Hm. That's strange. It doesn't sound like squawking to you. Anyway, you reassure him that it's perfectly normal because Xan can talk to certain animals, apparently. Besides, he's done talking to Rickman for now. Now he's just addressing the men, telling them what a wonderful audience they've been and how this is going to be the last giveaway for one of those juicy G6s and how- Wait a second... You know where this is going!
"Emergency Ike Tackle Attack! Go!" *thump*
...
"And that's quite good, because I've seen the disaster that you attempting to act diplomatically tends to result in. It is decided, then!"
Alan and I head to the monastery with the troops, Irine and Theri split off, Nik can go either way and Zechariah continues to occupy negative space.
"-telling you, they would have really enjoyed their new cars. I could see the joy building. They-""Ssshhh."But I think you really hurt my head and I-""No, I want to listen. We're here."Oh. Cool."The "monastery" looks more like a castle or fort. The entire thing appears to be made out of a great monolithic pillar rising out of the ground. Close to the ground the rock is barren and dark grey, but higher up the rock gets covered by vines and shrubs while the top is obscured by thick fog. Part of the fog appears to be coming from a small stream falling off the top of the pillar, the water almost completely dispersing in the wind and the face of the rock before it reaches the ground. The rock has been barely dug by the flowing water, leading you to think that either magic is involved or the flow formed quite recently.
Close to the ground the stone has been carved into the walls of the monastery, tall and imposing, decorated by statues of old important-looking men as well as smaller colourful carvings that shine golden in the dying light. You can see holes with points of dim light flickering in them in the stone, signs that its at least partially dug out. The faint orange glow on the stone pillar hints on fires being alight in the courtyard beyond the wall as well.
The only way through the walls is a small (compared to the walls) gate, maybe wide enough to fit two wagons side by side. It is currently closed, with only a small wicket gate left open. The area around the monastery is muddy and slick, with water pools forming where the water has not drained or evaporated. You have no idea where all that water came from and neither do the men. From what they know, the monastery always had a bit of water around it, but never this much. Luckily, the stone road is still in a good enough condition that your wagons can keep going for most of it a while without risking getting stuck. Closer to the gate, wooden boards and stones have been placed to indicate a safe area partially covered in water, some sort of plaza just outside the main gate from the looks of it. While it's safe to walk on, it's not pleasant. The water has already started to cool and you bet in the night it could get quite chilly.
As you approach, a middle aged man, his clothes as worn as his face and hands, comes out to meet you.
"Greetings travelers. The monastery of Chizra welcomes you, as it does all people of all races. If it pleases you, you may enter and seek the blessings of the holy water. However, we must insist that you leave any weapons you may be carrying outside. This is a place of peace and meditation and we ask that you respect that."You can hear people walking and speaking inside, most of them curious to know who the strangers are, what are they doing here and why are they armed. You can also hear the sounds of water running and firewood cracking.
"I'm following Irine on this--however if we can spare the time, and I don't believe this may take longer than a couple of days stay to hinder our progress, I'm all for taking this as something we can go with.
"But for practicality, we can split the party for this. I can stick with Irine and scout with her ahead, you can lead those who agree with you over there. Given that note, we can cover more ground."
Vote to split the party; alongside that, arrange a way we can signal each other.
Hmmm... How
would you signal each other? Well, I suppose you can make fire. So let's say you agree on some sort of smoke signal to indicate that you are in danger or that danger is going towards your friends or that you have a new Pope.
"Actually, Irine said the entity is avoiding River. If we entrust his soulstone to you in that meantime, and scout in that direction (alongside the perimeter following a curve anyway), that'll fulfill both tasks alongside giving us an idea of what's around here. I'm also wanting to check out the area San (the kid back there, playing with one of your spearmen) mentioned as it's along our route. Also let me test out something--I don't want anyone being pressured by time so...I'll check out that soulstone.
"Besides that, I can go alongside Irine alone and we can take care of ourselves unless you have people there who would like...extreme survival training. I'm protecting the kid anyway, so he's tagging along unless the location is nearer to your path."
Test integrity--how 'stable' is it and knowing my connection with River, approximate how stable we can last out here in regards to it.
I'm sorry, I'm not certain about what
it is. If you mean your connection with River, not that stable. It's just a feeling, a very weak sensation that comes and goes. Then again, River has been hurt pretty badly and transformed into a soulsphere, so maybe that's why you're feeling the way you're feeling. Maybe if you asked Irine to give you River's soulsphere for a while you could create a more stable link.
Times were these in Ike's tone that Theri would like to interject, but she decided that they would come to mutual understanding later on.
This was time for her and Irine though! Much fun with her and learning--maybe she could ask about magic or something along the way!
"And that's quite good, because I've seen the disaster that you attempting to act diplomatically tends to result in. It is decided, then!"
Alan and I head to the monastery with the troops, Irine and Theri split off, Nik can go either way and Zechariah continues to occupy negative space.
This
This, but also get Zech and the others into places where you think are best!
((How are the other folks on our Campaign by the way?))
Do you mean what happens to inactive characters? I assume they help around with manual labor and other simple stuff or background actions, but I tend not to involve them in combat or make choices for them if I can help it. Obviously if they are in combat or some other life and death situation I'll have them act to save their lives. And if someone else wants to take an action in their stead, I'm fine with that.
"And that's quite good, because I've seen the disaster that you attempting to act diplomatically tends to result in. It is decided, then!"
Alan and I head to the monastery with the troops, Irine and Theri split off, Nik can go either way and Zechariah continues to occupy negative space.
This
You get as much supplies as you can comfortably carry and set off towards the east.
Me and my foxgirl
With a dream and a sword
I'm hoping my foxgirl don't point that sword at no human
Me and my foxgirl
Like Butch and the Sundance Kid
Trying to understand why she did what she did
Why she did what she did
...
We went forward exploring. Kept getting two and three.
Couldn't help notice this wolfman just staring at me.
Or was it my foxgirl? I couldn't be sure.
It's not like you've never seen a foxgirl with a flamesword and three fluffy tails before.
Now don't test my patience, cause we're not about to run.
That's a bad ass foxgirl boy and she wields fire for fun.
'My name is Rrriver.' he says with death in his eyes.
'I've been chasing you for a long time amigas, and now your foxgirl's gonna die!'
Me and my foxgirl
left in search of the sun
Now me and my foxgirl
We don't wanna kill no warewolf-man
But we've got four twitchy tails
and one thing to declare
When the foxgirl is angry
you do not stare, you do not stare
you do not stare...
...
Your little group stays on the road in order to move faster. You travel until the sun sets and then travel a bit more until you are too tired to keep going. The ride is fairly uninteresting. All you find is signs of a former campsite on the side of the road. The remains of a fire, the depressions made by stakes being driven into the ground and a bag half-buried in the sand, filled with some clothes, some food and a few golden coins, probably forgotten by one of the camp's inhabitants.
Unless you want to keep going through the night despite your tiredness and sleepiness, now would be a good time to rest. Do you make any special arrangements for the night? Or just find a secluded spot where the three of you can camp and sleep?