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Author Topic: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Eighteen: Wrong Number.  (Read 16714 times)

Toaster

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Can I "fix" this wound by thought?  Try to do so.  Break off if it just gets worse.

Continue inward.
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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

Vivalas

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Skylark spreads her wings, taking in the magnificent view. Landing back down she examines Zanda.
"I am confused, why is your appearance such, Zanda? I come on behalf of my people, we seek help from the evil that preys among us."
Fly around, talk.
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"On two occasions I have been asked,—"Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
- Charles Babbage

The Imperial Question | Stranded Among Stars

Nunzillor

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Hmm, some kind of formless entity?  This was a little different from his last seasoning-induced trip.  Fewer indescribable colors, for example.  Even despite the discrepancy, this probably was just a hallucination, but... what if it wasn't? 

Maybe, just maybe, the other birds hadn't been chanting at him to commemorate his great value to the community, as he originally concluded.  Perhaps he had got himself more than just seats to the summoning, Khaal reflected, or perhaps not.  He would have to find out...

"Yup, that's me.  Nice to meet you.  Are you by any chance a god?  It sounds silly, but I thought I would ask.  If you are, I think I might be here on behalf of my race.  Personally I think they're making a big deal about nothing, but some defeatists apparently think we birds might be on the verge of complete annihilation at the... appendages... of beings called swiftrunners.  Do you know of any way I can make my countrymen stop complaining so much?"
« Last Edit: January 22, 2015, 07:15:19 pm by Nunzillor »
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Devastator

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(Sweet, fast turnover.)

(For the record, each swiftrunner has four legs, two arms, and a head)
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Devastator

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #94 on: January 26, 2015, 11:18:11 pm »

First of all, check what I know of this place, what seems intuitively sensible, yet what I cannot link to any immediate perceptions thus far. What do I feel I will find here? Examine this perception carefully, and seek insights inwardly.

Secondly, I should have some perception of magnetic fields, considering I am something like a petrel or an albatross. Move my head around while keeping my eyes closed and try to sense the magnetic field's direction. Maybe I can tell where north is, or at least get a clue of the general inclination of the field.

Thirdly, look for unusual hints of something more than the typical in all of my senses, even the rather limited ones like taste and smell. Anything unknowably strange showing up on those?

{Intelligence check -> Success}  You begin by examining your senses.  You can see.  You can feel, which is why the stillness strikes you so oddly.  Hearing..  you can't hear anything.  You knock your talons on the surface of the cornice on which you are perched.. and don't hear anything.  You chirp, and you can't even hear the chirp resounding through your head.  Hmm.  You then close your eyes and spin yourself a few times, trying to see if you can tell what new direction you are facing.  You do okay with that, so that instinct seems to be working.  Taste and smell..  you take a big sniff of the air, but that's not conclusive, as you smell dry air.  You stick your beak into your feathers and try again.  The same, more dry air, but you have no way to tell if it's your body not having a smell here or your sense not working.  Taste is more difficult, as you'd have to find something to eat, and there is nothing obvious around here, not even pebbles or dust.

What you know is that you were heading out here to find the diety Replop, whose domains cover healing and construction, although you didn't expect the fire.  You've come here.. and something seems to be wrong, as everything is utterly still, as if something is absent.. or dead.

Hmm.

Can I "fix" this wound by thought?  Try to do so.  Break off if it just gets worse.
Continue inward.

You try to fix it, but run into the difficulty of controlling your thoughts.  The more you try to not think about your horrible wounds, the more they dwell on your mind.  When you look next at yourself, they seem to be more or less identical to the real world, and perhaps even worse.  In better news, you cannot feel them and they don't seem to be restricting your movements.

Moving on..  you walk inside, through the tunnel.  After a few moments, you enter another chamber.  This one is more eclectic, you can make out several objects on the wall, a large metal apparatus, a set of several transparent disks, and a workbench, which has what appears to have a blue jellyfish on it.

More immediately noticeable is the creature in front of the workbench.  It appears to be a bird, but smaller than yourself, with longer wings relative to it's body, standing on a pair of hind legs with short talons, and a third pair of limbs holding the jellyfish in place.  You are noticed, and what you presume to be Drolson drops his tools and turns towards you.  Different species or not, there is no mistaking what is an inquisitive glare.

Skylark spreads her wings, taking in the magnificent view. Landing back down she examines Zanda.
"I am confused, why is your appearance such, Zanda? I come on behalf of my people, we seek help from the evil that preys among us."
Fly around, talk.

As you speak, you notice that Zanda has taken on a form similar to your own, rather than the form of the runner which greeted you first.

"It's fun, Skylark.  There are many creatures in the world, and each has it's own joy in being.  A runner has it's own experiences, and it can be quite a thrill feeling the patter of a brisk rainstorm on your back.  It is quite tedious, however, to be eating as much as they need to.  That's always going to be a burden for them."

"As for your own problems, well..  it looks like you're going to come to an end, assuming you don't starve before the runners decide to wipe you out.  You're outnumbered more than a hundred to one, and quite honestly, each runner is a stronger warrior than one of your own people.  You have those humans with you, sure, but there's only about five hundred of them on your side of the sea, and most of them want to follow their fellows and build boats and leave, rather than fight."

"So... what's your plan?"

"Yup, that's me.  Nice to meet you.  Are you by any chance a god?  It sounds silly, but I thought I would ask.  If you are, I think I might be here on behalf of my race.  Personally I think they're making a big deal about nothing, but some defeatists apparently think we birds might be on the verge of complete annihilation at the... appendages... of beings called swiftrunners.  Do you know of any way I can make my countrymen stop complaining so much?"

This time, you watch as the words appear in front of you.  Instead of being wiped out and drawn anew, the lines fade and are replaced simultaneously by the new ones.

"Remind me.. which people are you again?"

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« Last Edit: January 26, 2015, 11:19:54 pm by Devastator »
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #95 on: January 27, 2015, 04:21:36 am »

I can distinguish directions? What direction is the pyramid? Try to move around it, check if it's not a pole of some kind.
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Vivalas

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #96 on: January 27, 2015, 08:14:15 am »

"I... don't really have a plan.... I came to you to seek assistance. 3 others of our kind came too, we came because you were our last hope."
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"On two occasions I have been asked,—"Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
- Charles Babbage

The Imperial Question | Stranded Among Stars

Devastator

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #97 on: January 27, 2015, 10:15:25 am »

I can distinguish directions? What direction is the pyramid? Try to move around it, check if it's not a pole of some kind.

You're perched on the corner of the rooftop of the pyramid right now.  You know from your earlier flights over the pyramid that it's working normally.. it lets you keep on a straight direction in the air, and you can tell when you're headed back along that path, but it's not really infallable.  It doesn't seem all twisted around the pyramid.

"I... don't really have a plan.... I came to you to seek assistance. 3 others of our kind came too, we came because you were our last hope."

Zanda looks at you.  "Well, I could just bundle you up with a magic weapon or some kind of sacred blessing and send you back home to reach an heroic end, but it sounds like you're in need of the true black art of warfare..  Strategy."

You could swear there was some thunder when those words were spoken.
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Nunzillor

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #98 on: January 27, 2015, 10:47:58 am »

"Eh, the big birds?  Eat fish?  Live near the sea?  We used to live all over, but I guess we got tired of that and let the swiftrunners have most of it. 

If you want, I could bring you to my village to help refresh your memory.  Trust me, I know retracing your steps can be helpful.  Or cause delusions.  One of those two.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2015, 10:49:41 am by Nunzillor »
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #99 on: January 27, 2015, 12:41:00 pm »

No, no. I mean my magnetoreception. It lets me tell what direction north is. I can sense the magnetic field, you see. Where is it pointing me?
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Devastator

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #100 on: January 27, 2015, 07:44:23 pm »

No, no. I mean my magnetoreception. It lets me tell what direction north is. I can sense the magnetic field, you see. Where is it pointing me?

It's not that well-developed, Harry, and it's more instinctual.  You guys aren't migratory to the degree where it would have been a developmental advantage.  You could call a direction north, and it's working as normal.. there doesn't seem to be any polar effects going on.
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Harry Baldman

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #101 on: January 28, 2015, 04:14:17 am »

((Aren't albatrosses and petrels the birds who have the actual magnetite-based orientation organ? Well, not really important. I just found being able to tell apart directions interesting, since that'd imply a background magnetic field at the very least similar to that of a planet.))

EDIT: can I see a horizon?

Seek entrance to the pyramid. As low an entrance as I can find.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 06:38:47 am by Harry Baldman »
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Toaster

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #102 on: January 28, 2015, 11:55:05 am »

Realm of the gods... must show deference.  But not fear.  Drak adopted a deferential pose.

"Great and powerful Drolson... I, Drak Flyson, represent our people.  We come seeking your aid.  Doom is nearly upon us.  We request the aid of the divine in stopping the threat to our kind."

Assume position of respect and deference, but do not fear.  Speak.

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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

Devastator

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Ten.
« Reply #103 on: January 28, 2015, 01:15:29 pm »

((Aren't albatrosses and petrels the birds who have the actual magnetite-based orientation organ? Well, not really important. I just found being able to tell apart directions interesting, since that'd imply a background magnetic field at the very least similar to that of a planet.))

(You do have something like that, it's just not as good as birds that need to find particular reef islets in the middle of the pacific, and you don't really know how it works.  Also, your character missed a few Int checks.)
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Devastator

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Re: Roll to Save the World. [4/4] Turn Eleven
« Reply #104 on: February 01, 2015, 02:17:15 pm »

"I... don't really have a plan.... I came to you to seek assistance. 3 others of our kind came too, we came because you were our last hope."

Zanda looks at you.  "Well, I could just bundle you up with a magic weapon or some kind of sacred blessing and send you back home to reach an heroic end, but it sounds like you're in need of the true black art of warfare..  Strategy."

You could swear there was some thunder when those words were spoken.

"Eh, the big birds?  Eat fish?  Live near the sea?  We used to live all over, but I guess we got tired of that and let the swiftrunners have most of it. 

If you want, I could bring you to my village to help refresh your memory.  Trust me, I know retracing your steps can be helpful.  Or cause delusions.  One of those two.


As you finish up, the words change again.  "I remember.  Bad sacrifices, have enough fish already.  Would be nice to move again."

{Wisdom Check, Failure}
"I come with you.  Stay right there."

You hear a rumbling sound, followed by a very loud crack.

EDIT: can I see a horizon?

Seek entrance to the pyramid. As low an entrance as I can find.


Sort of.  It's quite dark in the distance, and you can make out what might be hills along the edges.  You can't see a clear horizon.

You take off, and enter the building on it's lowest floor, though what appears to be an arched window.  You pull up, land on the threshold, and walk into what is a very small room filled with a pile of straw.  You can see a doorway leading out of the room, but it's blocked by the straw.  The room is lit up with a burning lamp, high atop one of the walls.  The other walls have what appear to be farm implements and tools made for humans.

Realm of the gods... must show deference.  But not fear.  Drak adopted a deferential pose.

"Great and powerful Drolson... I, Drak Flyson, represent our people.  We come seeking your aid.  Doom is nearly upon us.  We request the aid of the divine in stopping the threat to our kind."

Assume position of respect and deference, but do not fear.  Speak.

"I care not for the hazards facing the living, as the living care not for us any longer.  If thee desireth a boon, then thou shalt be of service before asking for preferment."

With that, you feel a quaking wave of fear as Drolson's gaze falls upon you.  You begin to panic.


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