Waterfall? It seems the "plan inevitable" should include word "death". So... uh, going with the flow doesn't work very favourably. It may be better to fight the river and get to the shore. Unleash the dolphin. The sober dolphin this time. Don't forget Lee.
Of course, the plan INEVITABLE failure success is still there in case my inner dolphin fails to manifest.
Well, most waterfalls aren't exactly terribly tall. So perhaps not death. But terrible discomfort at the very least, especially given the forcefulness of this stream.
[Unleash the Dolphin: 1]
You orient yourself into something like a position fit for swimming laterally. This results in you starting to tumble along the river, as predicted. Lee does not quite follow your lead as soon as she sees what's happening, though she does nearly trip over you as she swims past.
[Call of the Deep: 4]
Fortunately, you don't quite start to drown yet. Nevertheless, you have a bad feeling about this. Maybe probability needs a bit of a nudge.
INEVITABLE
[Word: 3]
All you need to do to maximize your safety, you realize, is to reassume the stable position, which you manage with quite a lot of entirely abstracted trial and error. The waterfall, you realize, isn't terribly tall. Four meters or so, with an equivalent depth of water beneath it. Through several attempts you manage a dive that does not injure you in any particular way, and then from that you extrapolate a few realities where Lee doesn't break her skull on anything either. Satisfied with this result, you continue to flow along.
[Sinister Geography: 5]
The river widens a little at this point, the stream growing calmer and more manageable, the water becoming shallower. This proves an adequate opening for you to finally swim ashore, followed relatively closely by Lee. You take momentary solace in the fact that she is just as cold, wet and miserable as you, if perhaps less beaten and bruised. As she shakes some of the water off her dress, she gives you a very suspicious look.
"Huh. She hide in the walls in any particular spot, or just everywhere kinda?"
I heard that. Once I've got my answer from the guard, go make my way towards where that Word came from.
There are a
lot of walls to hide in, the guard elaborates. This place has been around for quite a while. It's a wonder there's any room for masonry with all the secret passages around. Like living in a slab of cheese sometimes. You nod at this answer, then look back at the walls. Seems like the Word came from there. And there do seem to be some bolts raining down presently. You figure you'll go take a look.
SEA
There it goes again. You walk up to the battlements between volleys of incoming bolts, and find the exquisitely robed Ms. Minett ducked behind a parapet, pondering her tactical options. A volley of suppressing fire from a platoon of crossbowstoats impresses upon you the wisdom of getting into cover yourself. She doesn't seem to be doing terribly well, whatever it is she's trying to do.
Talent? Sales have already failed, and it's probably not likely they want to insure their tents. A strange itch came back at the corner of his hearing, but it is ignored.
Perhaps the guards know something.
Find a likely guard. Inquire what can be done about the siege.
[A Likely Guard: 6]
Walking through the hallways you find a patrolling guard who entertains your question with a thoughtful smile. What could you do? Indeed, what could anyone?
Truthfully, breaking the siege is an unlikely prospect. But the stoatmen have taken considerable losses over the past two days. The Child of the Sun and Moon did quite a bit of damage to their ranks with his strange sorceries, but he seems to have disappeared somewhere. Curious, that.
Perhaps, she posits, the stoatmen are not as terrible an adversary as reports would indicate. They are, after all, an assemblage of manic peasants with stolen weapons and armor. And if the holding pattern and their seeming lack of siege expertise is any indication, perhaps the current nine-to-one numbers advantage they have is not as decisive as one would imagine, especially given the destruction wrought upon their ranks. The encirclement really poses the most trouble, as does the...
unfortunate shortage of horses, as it were. A unit of cavalry could likely make short work of most of these stoats in their current state of organization, yes.
You consider asking where you might fit into all this, but the guard pays you no mind, continuing to consider tactical scenarios with a gleam in her eye.
"Ah. Dark Powers. Right. Have there been any other occasions where they've taken an interest, then?"
Take a closer look at the stone circle whilst expressing skepticism about these dark powers. 100% foolproof way of seeing if they exist, right?
Plenty, actually. You didn't see that bit where this man just up and ate a stoatman right here at the stone circle? Had an extra mouth on his belly and everything. This isn't exactly conjecture she's dealing with here, you know. Anglefork's bloated with nightmares from top to bottom. That's why Rule One exists.
SEA
The circle, meanwhile, looks quite mundane as far as you can tell. Has a certain savage aesthetic, granted, intimidating in a sort of primitive way. It feels ruined in some strange way, as if there was something more here once. You suppose that might have something to do with the way somebody stole its sacrificial slab.
Maybe I need something smaller and more focused to start with. I imagine a spring of sorts, a trickle of bright nothingness pushing its way up through the cracks of the earth and bubbling to the surface directly in the middle of the stoat squad. Then I shout "SEA!" and duck in case there's any return fire.
You peek out from cover and point at a particular mound of earth in the forming fault line, trying once more to coax out the ancient sea.
SEA
[Word: 3]
You're fairly sure something happens. You don't really stay uncovered long enough to find out what exactly. You hear a few shouts from the stoat lines. No screams of pain or death or anything, so you assume that while this is likely a step in the right direction, it's not quite the effect you were looking for.
Your shouting meanwhile seems to have attracted the attention of a very naked Mr. Daniels who takes up position behind the parapet next to yours, examining you thoughtfully. His eyes feel like a dozen scalpels running over your skin.
Leif Erikson, Miner
- A Word: INEVITABLE
- Wounds: 3
- Moth Dagger
- The Queen's Guard: A Roaring Good Time
- Reappropriated, Clean Skirt
- 1 gp
- Anglefork Castle: A Free Man
- The Box: ?
- Tower of the Mind: Convenient Relocation
- Induced Inebriation: Comfortably Drunk
- Induced Lucidity: A Concert For The Gods
- Elongated Affairs: Cheerio!
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Cormick's Condescending Riddle
- Tricks of the Mind: Perceptual Rebuke
- Tricks of the Mind: Erikson's Inexplicable Grapefruit
- Tricks of the Mind: Speak With The Mob
- Party in the Courtyard: Celebration in Earnest
- Never In: Swallowed By The Pit
- Gods of the Underground: Did You Just What
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Tunnel-Literate
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
- Moth's Flight: Force of Devilry
- Army of the New State: 454 Suspicious Stoats
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- Wounds: 1
- Traces of Mischief: A Bubbling Scar
- Reclaimed Hooded Robe (worn, torn)
- Giant White Mushroom
- A Word: SEA
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Word: CHAOS
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- Rat Pantheon: Disliked
- Origins: Witness to Dissolution
- Tower of the Mind: There's Something To Remember
- The New Queen: And Something To Forget
- The Queen's Guard: Bringer of Doom
- Touch of Flame: the Secrets of Flammability
- The Voracious Dark: Three Connections Given
- The Voracious Dark: A Special Offer, Limited Time Only
- Body Count: 1
- Never In: the Obvious Candidates
- Labyrinths of Anglefork: Tunnel-Literate
- The Impromptu Prophecy: ?
- Sweet Little Children: Fond Farewell
- Army of the New State: 454 Angry Stoatmen
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Naked
- Army of the New State: 454 Angry Stoatmen
- Dusty Wooden Speaking-Trumpet
- Crossbow Bolt (in throat)
- A Word: REND
- A Word: SILENCE
- A Weapon: Murder-Thought
- Traces of Mischief: A Bisected Left Kidney
- Traces of Mischief: Ruined Left Hand
- Uncoupled: Strength
- Wooden Door (held)
- The Majordomo: ?
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: the Armor of God
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: A Master of their Craft!
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: A Sliver of Perfection!
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: A Glimpse of the Unknown!
- Tower of the Mind: Endless Well of Mystery
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Elongated Affairs: Enemy of the New State
- Doomstones: ?
- A Place In History: Coming Out Of The Walls
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Serpent
- The Obsolete Class: Suggested Victims
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Touch of Flame: the Second Degree
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- The Impromptu Prophecy: There's A Mountain Higher Than We Knew
- The Voracious Dark: Three Connections Given
- The Good Doctor: A Recommendation
- Body Count: 2
- Wounds: 2
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- A Word: ABSENCE
- Traces of Mischief: Nausea's Depths
- A Bowl, Black and Knobby
- Anglefork Castle: From Another Time, Another Land
- Gross Incandescence: Partly Illuminated
- Tight Leather Pants (worn, wet)
- Incredibly Tight Blue Dress (worn, mutilated, mildly provocative)
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Saturday, July 24th, 409 S.D.
- The Majordomo: Busy Morning
- The Good Doctor: House Call
- The Queen's Guard: Okayed by the Queen
- The New Queen: Strategic Meeting
- Tower of the Mind: Advice Given
- The Obsolete Class: Let Them Be
- Cruelty-Free Foods: Treats Survived
- Body Count: 2
- Army of the New State: 454 Stout Strangers
Oscar Wilde, Chemistry Teacher
- Wounds: 1
- 1 rat, skinless and smoked
- 6 gp
- Poor Misshapen Dice
- Lock of Hair (unidentified)
- Iron nail, unused
- An Inauspicious Key
- Burlap Foot Wrappings (worn)
- Burlap Hand Wrappings (worn)
- Moth-Eaten Hat (worn)
- Respectable Brown Skirt (worn)
- Old Brown Waistcoat (worn)
- Bright Yellow Tunic (worn)
- Blue Shards of a Probable Bottle
- Blue Glass Shiv
- A Wealth of Burlap Ribbons
- An Obsolete Class: Trustworthy Individual
- The Flip Side: Tales of the Bizarre
- The Doom Guard: the Inquisition
- Tower of the Mind: An Interruption
- A Frightening Door: An Understanding
- The Voracious Dark: Backed Away