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[Sir Knight]

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Okay, just this one update and then things should move . . . if I weren't about to be away for a couple days.  Various family- and friend-related events.

Spoiler: To gather information via dice rolls (click to show/hide)

Kinda like observation rolls, but more linguistic:

Result: 3, Succeed weakly!
Result: 5, Succeed greatly!

Errand-running, information-gathering.  The group splits to meet up again in the end.

John heads toward shopping and the bank, and along the way you wonder about the missing haulers Etrigan had mentioned.  Their job was to move raw materials from the Halfway House to Rock Bottom--all the stuff you sold out there, surely.  You'd know them because "the lead man had something alchemical done to his hair so it's this bright blue."  Word among the merchants is that, yes, haulers from the Halfway House made a drop-off an undefined amount of time ago, so if they're lost somewhere then it's on the way back to the Halfway House.  Not that this helps you.

Tohil was unable to find religious answers.  Dwain keeps asking religious questions.  Specifically, what's up with the "Ω" symbol you took from the hoarding wastrels?  Look, there's one right there with all the others in this very temple!

It turns out that this represents "voidstone."  "Voidstone?" you ask.  "Yes, voidstone," answers the priestess.  "There are a few among us who find meaning in it.  It is perfectly healthy; you can touch the void so long as you do not look too closely."

Speaking of health, Gary is doing his best to wreck it this afternoon.  Ahh, the local brew: the Aegir family runs this tavern, and apparently they turn the grains of cavereed into their two flagship creations, Almost Ale and Barely Ale.  To use them in a sentence: "Try a tankard of 'A' and 'B'!"

The tavernkeeper, in fact, fills up your waterskin with a mix of "A & B ale" and subtly suggests you take a walk about, pace yourself, enjoy the flavor a bit longer.  You'll have credit for your opal when you come back.  Look, there's your friends over there!

Oh, yes indeed.  John, Tohil, Alyssa, Dustan, and Dwain are all heading by in the company of a bunch of people with swords.  At least one of them spots you through the doorway.

Out in the street, Solde claps his hands.  He is leading the moving mass toward the edge of town.  "Are we all assembled then?  Fantastic!  Our salt mines are rarely further out than the Halfway House; we should expect to be there tomorrow and perhaps back again the next day."

. . . I do hope somebody scoops up Gary (Coolrune206) or otherwise you return to the team.  It would be a mess to coordinate play across split time streams.

John (ziizo): I made your sales and put nine units of food into your inventory.  This took up all your money.  Gary (Coolrune206) still has one day's worth of food, and no one else has any.

A reminder: any non-permanent bloodbinding effects will fade when you head out (i.e., the ability to levitate will fade, but the enhanced weapons are permanent), and you'll have to let me know when you want to use them again.

[Coolrune206]

Gary waddles after the team, with no clue of where they're going, and trying out this "A and B" mix to see how it measured up to surface alcohol.

[Starver]

(Ok, I'll be the one to notice. And I've probably seen/experienced over-inebriation enough.)

"Brother Gary, I think you need to walk that off a bit, and it seems we're off on a mission."

Take by the elbow, sniff at the waterskin and keep Gary moving so he can't properly swig from it. (At some point, I'm sure I can get him to have some of my plentiful water, but let's not rush things.)

[randomgenericusername]

Tohil is ready to travel to the mines. He helps Dwain bring Gary along without saying a word.

((You know, I have been kinda disappointed with how all of these pray and meditate actions don't even get results or rolls, but that's probably because Tohil is still the knight class. ))

[Dustan Hache]

"well, let's get a move on before the stupidity of others drives me murderous."
follow salt family to their camp. Be prepared to heal people.

[ziizo]

"I believe we are ready. Also if we find a blue haired corpse we were asked to retrieve a key from it"

advance with the rest of the group.

[Rautherdir]

"Onward we go."

Continue on with the others

[Sir Knight]

((You know, I have been kinda disappointed with how all of these pray and meditate actions don't even get results or rolls, but that's probably because Tohil is still the knight class. ))

Oh?  Hmm.  My first instinct is to answer "which actions?" . . . and that probably reveals the matter.  I hadn't seen anything that I felt needed The Hand of GM to address.  If you're talking about situations where, say, I might roll some dice and then dictate that your character has a religious transformation, then I didn't do any because I judged this to belong on the roleplayer's side.

However, there is a second option: you might have been hoping for me to roll dice to indicate divine intervention.  The fact that I did nothing of the sort is itself revelatory.  I have been rolling dice whenever mysterious powers might take hold in your life; see the bit in The Story So Far under "Recent events" where I state "Multiple mystical forces seem at play simultaneously."  I've rolled for these, but never for the gods of the surface realm.

Basically, the GM is a stand-in roleplayer for all the non-player forces.  Unless I know for a fact that the force is at play down here, I've gotta leave it up to roleplaying.

. . . And we have everyone now, yes?  I just wanted to give you all a chance to confirm you were okay with advancing the plot, and then get on the task of prepping adventuuuuuuuure.  So (I'm still busy but) I'll get on that.

[magmaholic]

remove me from the waitlist please,i am not going to get time for this anytime soon 

[Sir Knight]

Aw, okay.  Will do.

And to the rest of you: I'm writing, but it'll take an undefined time still for the update.  The next map needs preparation, for one.  Whee?

[Sir Knight]

Previous -- Next

You are with a group, but I will quietly roll for random encounters for the flavor of it.

. . . Yup.  Totally rolled right there.

The more difficult part has been getting the map right, but now we're ready to go!

It's a little awkward retrieving Gary from the tavern.  Dwain enters and gently pulls his elbow in the direction of the exit.  It so happens that Gary's elbow is connected to the hand with the waterskin, his eyes tracking the thing as it goes in an arc past his mouth.  Following thereafter is a visual like a horse led by a carrot, but with Tohil's added help you all bring your group back up to a solid six-count.

Looks like nine other people-with-pointy-things here, plus Solde.  Your horde clogs the path as you head out of town, where usually people are going the other way at this time of day.

You head back under the floor of the sinkhole, pointed vaguely west.  Time passes.

Spoiler: Observation rolls (click to show/hide)

Selected at random from people in this group one after another, meaning you're outnumbered . . .

Result: 2, Fail!
Result: 6, Fail by succeeding!
Result: 6, Fail by succeeding!
Result: 4, Succeed!
Result: 4, Succeed!
Result: 2, Fail!
Result: 3, Succeed weakly!
Result: 3, Succeed weakly!

. . . One of those successful results is for Gary, but see next spoiler

Spoiler: A word on alcohol (click to show/hide)

I dunno, people.  Was he in there long enough to do much drinking?  Should I give penalties?

Well, after the stuff that prompts the above observation rolls, you get to sleep overnight before any new challenges.  We'll say you've used up any penalties by the time you reach the salt mines.

But first:

Gary's sneak-a-sip-and-another-sip-and-another-sip roll: 1, Fail terribly!
Dwain's stop-drinking-you-goof roll: 5, Succeed greatly!

. . . Dwain keeps you from drinking the waterskin of ale.  Looking to the previous spoiler, I'll presume that this back-and-forth and its rolls keep you from taking advantage of the successful observation roll.

(Hey, you can use the alcohol as a medical supply!)

You watch the dynamics of the group.  As far as you can tell, most other members are from the Salt family themselves.  Though armed, these are not the same people whom you see guarding the "gates" of town.  Camaraderie is evident.

Come evening, the shale tunnel widens enough that the group can spread out a bit more, and Tohil thinks he hears movement.  What, another ambush?  No, Alyssa spies the cause: scaled turkeys on the move, a whole family!

Spoiler: Alyssa Alpine (Rautherdir) vs. Scaled turkey (click to show/hide)

Alyssa Alpine's combat table, fine phasestrike javelin:

1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Succeed weakly
4: Succeed
5: Succeed
6: Succeed
7: Succeed greatly

Alyssa Alpine's attack roll: 2, Fail!

Ah, well.  After this, there are so many non-player people acting it's not worth my time to roll.

Alyssa's hunting background (and money-seeking pragmatism) primes you to claim what you can, and you fling your newly-refined phasestrike javelin at the skittering prey.  You miss!  By this point, others among the group catch on to the commotion, and the targets are quickly mobbed by people waving swords.  Scaled turkeys are mowed down to collective cheering and heaped onto wheelbarrows . . . everyone's but your own.  Solde beams.

Ugh.  You retrieve your weapon and your exile group gets ready to resume marching.  Is this how the whole outing will go?

At the end of the day, you all settle around a couple glowstone fires.  Your new companions are so pleased with themselves that they roast up the scaled turkeys, even though Solde himself said that he was bringing travel food for the group.  They share with you in their largess.  Solde beams.

Spoiler: Camping overnight (click to show/hide)

Food (scaled turkey) +1 HP
Water +1 HP
Bedding (blankets) +1 HP
Warmth (12 kg of glowstone) +1 HP

Total +4 HP, and now you're all at full health!

(Solde provides the water and glowstone so you expend nothing)

Day 19, Morning

You are ready to go promptly in the morning.  Conversation turns to the task.  Solde explains that the problems began when one or more breaches opened up in the walls of the mines, completely unrelated to their mining activity.  With this new access, the beasts of the depths bypassed the watchful eyes of those on guard and flooded in.

"The problem is animals know the value of rock salt; they'll lick it for nutrition.  And we managed to create an emergency well in an older mined-out area.  Salt, water, and each other to prey on; they're not leaving unless we kick 'em out."



You arrive at the periphery of operations.  Rubble and lost crumbles from months of wheeled minerals mark it out.  Also clear is what looks like torn-up building foundation; the people from Salt explain that this was an early operations area, since moved so it wouldn't get in the way of the work.

The older pit, with the well, opens to the south.  The armed individuals are setting down their wheelbarrows and making grim (yet determined) glances that way.

[randomgenericusername]

"So what are we waiting for?! The enemy is ahead and we're just standing here doing nothing! We have traveled here to fight, there's no turning back now! C'mon, let's show these mindless beasts the taste of our steel! This is the time we, humans, fight back against the monsters! We'll end their lives and feast on their remains! For this is our home now and we're here to stay!"

Noticing their grim glances, Tohil tries to give an inspirational speech to increase the morale of the soldiers! To glory and death! He leads the charge towards the enemy, alone if no one decides to follow him!

[Coolrune206]

Gary follows Tohil's charge, making sure that he's behind the zealous man so that any danger will not target him first.

[Dustan Hache]

"So what are we waiting for?! The enemy is ahead and we're just standing here doing nothing! We have traveled here to fight, there's no turning back now! C'mon, let's show these mindless beasts the taste of our steel! This is the time we, humans, fight back against the monsters! We'll end their lives and feast on their remains! For this is our home now and we're here to stay!"

Noticing their grim glances, Tohil tries to give an inspirational speech to increase the morale of the soldiers! To glory and death! He leads the charge towards the enemy, alone if no one decides to follow him!

"Hold it numbskull, we need to know what we are up against first! Let us scout ahead before you go bellowing and drawing attention!"
try to stop them from blindly charging in without checking what we are up against. Better to know what we are up against first.

[ziizo]

"Did they forgot that we arwn't in charge here?"

Just follow the orders of the guy paying us.