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[HugeNerdAndProudOfIt]

agree to the majority plan, as long as there is a less than 1 in 20 chance of it directly causing harm to me in my estimation.

[ziizo]

Mine coal, unless people wants to go trough a tunnel in that case follow them

[Coolrune206]

Frank puts on the glove, then pulls out the whip. And he hopes and prays that it doesn't soak through. Apart from that, he votes to pursue Lootington down his corridor.

[FallacyofUrist]

"And what would we do to him when we catch him?"

[TankKit]

[Innocence][/Innocence]

[Coolrune206]

"Depends on what we decide our system of judgement to be. Eye for an eye? Extreme punishment to discourage any acts of violence? Or lenience, in hope that he will appreciate the kindness and not do anything again. Each system has its merits. I would be happy to end his pitiful existence. He's a damn fool.
Oh. And he tried to kill me. Just saying."

[Sir Knight]

(The faster we kill you people, the faster we can let waitlisters in . . . )

(But seriously, I just hope to keep the adventure moving along and all you folks having fun, whatever the form of said "fun.")

[ufo]

(ugh i really want to enter)

[Starver]

(I don't mind the waiting, so long as something happens for me to watch...  )

[Sir Knight]

So now we need only Dustan (Dustan Hache)'s input.  We could also use further word from Overseer (FallacyofUrist): I mean, I'd assume you were convinced by the answer, given how this "team" has worked so far.

And I was going to list more people who had yet to vote.  But then I remembered that Sir Lootington (TankKit)'s lack-of-vote is, of course, part of the scene.

P.S.:  Frank (Coolrune206) used to be "the crazy one."  Now it seems more a competition to see who can be the most outlandish.

[Sir Knight]

Tum te tum, still waiting.

I'll be in contact with TankKit privately once I know for sure how the main group is proceeding.  So I'll get final input from folks, then talk to TankKit, then update everybody.  It may be a little slow (like I said, I'm busy now), but I got lots of things typed out in advance, so we should be able to work it all out.

[Dustan Hache]

Just follow the rest of the team, and tend to their wounds as best I can without bandages.

[Sir Knight]

Erm . . . I guess that means the group is heading north?  Let's do a vote recap:

Durenadal (HugeNerdAndProudOfIt) - Don't wanna die.
John (ziizo) - Follow people if they leave.
Frank (Coolrune206) - North!
Overseer (FallacyofUrist) - Let's talk about this.
Sir Lootington (TankKit) - Tee hee . . .
Lazarus (ufo), Dwain (Starver) - We wanna play!
Dustan (Dustan Hache) - Just follow them.

So I'll send you north.  Gotta get some things handled on my end, then you'll go.

[Sir Knight]

Previous -- Next

I've been waiting a long time for today.  This'll need to be a double post, and I updated the thread title for it, even.  Makes current events rather interesting . . .

The group has broken!  It only took the combined antics of Frank and Sir Lootington.

After some time spent on bantering and risk estimation, not to mention finding space to cram the last hematite, the group follows Lootington into the depths.  He's long since out of sight.  You can't even see his lantern in the distance.  Still, this crevice in the shale takes you on a straight line, so you should be sure to find him eventually.

You camp later in the night.  Aware of dangers, Dustan sizes up the group's injuries.  He concludes they're at a point where everyone just needs to rest.

Spoiler: Camping overnight in two groups (click to show/hide)

Food (various cooked meats or, for Sir Lootington, travel food) +1 HP
Water +1 HP
Bedding (blankets) +1 HP
Warmth (1 kg of glowstone) +1 HP

Total +4 HP

Everyone's now at full health.  You have consumed all remaining meat on the standing jellyfish carcasses (though there's still stuff to sell, like hides), and a tiny amount on the wall tiger.  Knowing that you'd have spare weight afterward, I was polite and tossed the remaining two chunks of hematite in a wheelbarrow.  See inventory in the first post.

Day 6, Morning

Marching onward in the new day, you come to a variable upward slope.  You slow down when you spot a distant light.  You also feel a breeze.  And you hear . . . voices?  Lots of them?

Surmounting the slope and exiting the tunnel, you see . . . !



It's a miracle!  You have escaped the depths!  Not all the way to the surface, no; but you are on the floor of the gigantic sinkhole where you were first lowered on a scaffold.  Tunnels back down appear in giant stalagmites nearby, and you see that your group just came out of one yourself.  Sheer space opens into the distance . . .

Well, that's just one of the sights.  The other is civilization!  The town you spotted from above, dotted with lanterns and magenta-glowing fires and filled with milling people.  There seem to be guards at the edge; at least you presume this is what "battle axe in hand" means.  One does a little half-nod at you when you arrive.

"Newcomers.  You missed the rush.  If you're here to work, then you're welcome in Rock Bottom until tomorrow morning.  Take a look around and try not to step on anyone's toes."

Another guard tosses in "Hey, you're in luck.  Someone just turned in keys.  Check out the lockboxes in the bank before you go."

There's no sign of Lootington.  It looks like what happens next is up to you.

(I'm sure you have priorities.  I have a list of opportunities waiting for you: buying and selling goods, of course, but here you can also practice that old profession you claimed when you signed up for this game.  Let me do a whole separate post with the new game rules for this area!)

[Sir Knight]

Previous -- Next

Here we go.  New rules and stuff.  Plot.  You can interject wherever, but there are specific opportunities (and limitations) everyone should know.

Staying in Rock Bottom

You can't.  The only people allowed a home in Rock Bottom are those who carved the slabs of rock themselves . . . or inherited from their powerful family.  But the locals know the value of the resources you sell them, so you may stay until tomorrow morning, at which point all folks like you will be kicked out to let in the next crowd.  Use your time well.

So what's here?

I do not want to pin down all details of Rock Bottom, nor make a map for the whole town.  The content depends on what the players bring to it.

A key thing here is to do local work based on your past profession.  You just tell me you're ready to do it and then I advance the "plot" until tomorrow morning and grant you your rewards.

You can shop (before or after you earn more cash through local work), utilize your personal lockbox, and sleep overnight . . . or not necessarily so, in addition to talking to people or pursuing whatever personal projects you may have.

Lockboxes

You will find one for you in the local bank.  If the entire group of exiles suffers a tragic death, your progress is kept and anything you left in a lockbox will remain available to the next group.  Your lockbox is the same general capacity as your backpack (40 kg), but it's shaped deep and narrow so you can fit in things like large weapons.  No, you can't have more than one, but they will be grateful if you return any spare lockbox keys you find.

Shopping

Remember the assortment at the Halfway House?  You can always buy items made of iron or the three most basic leathers: scaled turkey, standing jellyfish, and wall tiger.

But instead of having a random assortment of special equipment, merchants in Rock Bottom will sell on a one-to-one basis: give them special materials like glowstone, you may buy the related products.  Which is why I've been telling you the ingredients in those fire skulls this whole time.

So, today, what you have assumed to be "workstone" really is workstone.  Sell it and you can buy workstone equipment.  The mysterious teal rocks you collected are called "etherstone": you're familiar with this from "ether cola."  In this case, ether cola is cheap and commonplace so they'll offer it to you no matter what, but if you sell some of the stones then you can see other weird stuff made from the same material.  Make sense?

Local work

You may use the skills from your past life to make a little extra change (and "unlock stories," if this were an app).  This is also how you earn a bed for this night, so do it.

I will assign results based on how long you are here: from today to tomorrow is three thirds-of-a-day (morning, afternoon, and evening), so I'll give you three payments each.  They're much less profitable than adventuring (like 1d6+1 opal per payment plus a chance at a bonus), but what did you expect?  This is easy mode and primarily exists to advance stories.

Some of your backgrounds translate well to town, some do not:

Dustan (Dustan Hache), I can find you work as a doctor just fine
Durenadal (HugeNerdAndProudOfIt), brewer, likewise
Overseer (FallacyofUrist), you can try to work yourself into local government (good luck!)

For those who don't have a clear career (or if Overseer would like to earn local trust before running for government), I know what the locals need, so I can assign you tasks:

Frank (Coolrune206), want me to assign something?
John (ziizo), want me to assign something, or do you really want to be a thief?  (There is no local livestock to steal.)

I hope that at least one of you agrees to be up to my whims so that I can assign plot.

And Sir Lootington (TankKit) is a special case, since he's a blacksmith.  I'm writing to him privately, but you might as well know that blacksmiths can work with the locals and use their equipment to smelt your own ores.  Any present or future player with this profession can smelt one smeltable metal ore into a bar per third-of-a-day (so that'd be three smelted ores for today).  You can see the value of bars in the minerals list in the first posts.

Sleeping

If you agree to do local work, you can sleep here with free heat, a safe bed, and water.  You've earned it.  You still have to eat your own food or spend 5 opal to buy some.  Just tell me what you do.

OR . . .

When done for the evening, you can go carousing in the local taverns at night.  It also costs 5 opal (food included), then I roll for the result.  You might restore extra HP, you might restore nothing.  You might get a dice boost (like from ether cola), you might get a dice penalty.  You might get in a fight.  And at the end, if you want, you walk away with your waterskin full of "ale."

Double the amount you spend and I'll raise the risk and reward.  That's 10 opal.  At 20 opal, I'll raise it again . . .

. . . So that's that.  Let me know what you do.  Before I show you the item lists for shopping, can I get confirmation that you will sell glowstone, etherstone, and workstone, so I can post the items they'll sell you in response?

Here are your inventories so you can judge:

Spoiler: Everybody's salable stuff (click to show/hide)

I know I haven't shown you an equipment list yet.  You can refer to the Halfway House's list if you need before I give you the updated version.  I'm posting this so you can make "informed decisions."

Dustan (Dustan Hache)
Glowstone, 2x 4 kg rough stone: 16 opal each
Etherstone, 1x 2 kg rough stone: 8 opal each

Frank (Coolrune206)
Improvised venom whip (standing jellyfish, scaled turkey leather, shale): I guess they'll give you 2.5 opal for this.  It will be worth 0 if you let it rot.
Food, two days: You already have two, but you kept these two from Helmacon.  If you want to sell them both you'll get 5 opal.
Blanket (surface fabric): 10 opal
Surface kit: 17.5 opal
Glowstone, 1x 4 kg rough stone: 16 opal
Etherstone, 3x 2 kg rough stone: 8 opal each

John (ziizo)
Coal, 3x 3 kg rough stone: 1 opal each
Workstone, 1x 6 kg rough stone: 12 opal

Durenadal (HugeNerdAndProudOfIt)
Hematite, 1x 10 kg rough stone: 8 opal each
Glowstone, 2x 4 kg rough stone: 16 opal each
Workstone, 2x 6 kg rough stone: 12 opal each

Overseer (FallacyofUrist)
Standing jellyfish, 25 kg butchered and meatless carcass: 35 opal
Glowstone, 1x 4 kg rough stone: 16 opal

The first group's wheelbarrow
Standing jellyfish, 2x 25 kg butchered and meatless carcass: 35 opal each
Hematite, 2x 10 kg rough stone: 8 opal each
Workstone, 3x 6 kg rough stone: 12 opal each

The second group's wheelbarrow
Wall tiger, 180 kg slightly-butchered carcass: 100 opal

If you sell everything everywhere, you will have 467 opal outside of what Lootington took away with him.  You can afford stuff.

Let's get the money (and information, and events) flowing!