Inspect the door for weak points or rot, and look around the room for a metal bar to act as a lever - perhaps one of the metal tables has a loose leg or something. If I find no good prybars or even a big stone, then push on the door with [Force]
The Ascetic Ghost Shepherd
A thin, wiry guy. Hazel eyes. Black hair. Long fingers.
current status: fine
Stats
6 str
6 spd
10 End
8 Know
10 Will
4 sense
Mana: 12
Materials: Porcelain, Black Flux, Force, Toxin
Inventory:
Inhabited by a Spirit - a little shepherdess girl. Likes dolls. Adventurous. (Current request: cute and furry)
Currently hosting a Scarab ghost in muh brains. (Currently wants a religious relic that has been buried with the dead for some time)
One catamaran sailboat
Ghost Charm
Doctor's Kit
Lantern, Rope, Backpack
(1) rolling horse toy
shiny orb from the ruins on the lake (light blue glow. 1 mana invested.)
haunted obsidian and wood knife (with cold, light metal box)
0 gold
[2v4]
You attempt to simply force the door open with your weight and some shoving but it doesn't work. However, you can tell by the minor flexing and shifting that the door isn't locked, simply stuck or perhaps barricaded.
[8]
You grab some of the larger debris and proceed to use it as a battering ram, charging with it into the door, right at the edge of the opening side for maximum leverage. The blow smashes the door open and, as a result, causes several of the large stones from the top of the doorway to fall in, along with some loose silt and dirt. Apparently the doorway had sunk down over time and the weight of it resting on the door had held it in place.
You step forward, waving the dust aside, and check what lies beyond. Its another room, or at least part of one. A fissure has cut this room in half and beyond the few feet of stone walls is a yawning black abyss stretching up, down, left and right as far as you can see. However, straight ahead of you, maybe 10 or so feet, is the other side of the fissure. You can see, against that stone wall, a cross section of a complex of stone encased buildings. Other severed rooms are visible down the length of that wall, like a slice of honeycomb, some of them even lit by dull blue lights.
Try again, hand it off to someone else if I fail to find anything a second time.
Name: Robert Grant
Appearance: A stocky, tall man with black hair.
Magic path: Hunter Sculptor
Strength: d10+1
Speed: d6
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d8
Will: d8
Senses: d4
Ongoing effects: Cut palm (treated), deep gash in the side (treated)
Mana: 3
Materials:
Shrink
Inventory:
War axe d8
Doctor's Bag
Leather armor d6
Bandages
Backpack
Lantern
223 gold
76 silver
Shield
Sword d6
Crossbow d6
20 crossbow bolts
Helmet d4
Leather gloves
Crowbar
Rope
Iron thread
8 lead weights (in storage)
Rifle d8 4/5
28 rifle rounds
2 single shot pistols d6
8 pistol rounds
Harness
200 feet of rope
3 wyrm scales
[4v2]
You dive back down and flail about, swimming along the length of the barge making wide movements until you smack your forearm into something. A quick pat down reveals what you think is....a giant metal finger?
interesting. Ask him for a recounting of the last and first things he remembers on either side of the memory loss gap, thank him, and proceed pn to another victim to check for consistency in what im seeing and Adam's seeing.
Name: Nina Morellis
Appearance: A young, red-haired woman, green eyes, somewhat unkempt. She's had Adam for as long as she could remember, and has a bit of a reputation as a harmless nut. The town guard are okay with Nina though, occasionally getting her help keeping a mage secured by having her drain their mana so they can't cast. Since they don't have a proper magehunter available, having a local civilian channeler they can bring in as needed is a big help. And Nina tries to be on her best behavior with them to keep their relations good. Nina herself works as a healer, living out in the poor part of town, and has an erratic schedule based on the needs of those who want her help. so she has a lot of free time, but also gets woken up in the middle of the night a lot. add in Adam's occasional antics and she doesn't get to have a stable sleep schedule.
Magic Path: Channeler, Invoker.
Materials: Sound
Mana: 3
Strength: D4
Speed: D6
Endurance: D10
Knowledge: D8
Will: D10
Senses: D6
(Locked up) Inventory: Backpack, padded cloak (D4 protection, Light armor), Lantern, doctor's bag, waterskin (air), hammer, 2 silver, air bladder, white robes, aqua vitae.
(current) Inventory: a red gambleson, gray pants, metal bracers, shin guards and a sallet helm (d6 armor). Other than that there is a kite shield (d6), a long sword (d6) and a catch pole, along with 3 small bombs and a pair of manacles.
Inhabited by a spirit which takes the form of a floating disembodied limb that constantly melts and reforms into other body parts. She calls it "Adam."
Cabal: None at this time.
The first victim recounts that the last thing they remember is walking home from their job and crossing through a section of older and largely abandoned buildings. They remember hearing something to their right and then being tackled from the left, but after that there is nothing. The next thing they remember is waking up near their own home, in their current state, wearing the same clothing though it was badly damaged, dirty, and literally crusty with sweat.
The next victim, another young man, evokes similar responses. He was walking near the intercity railway when he was taken and woke up on the steps into his home, similarly dirty and exhausted. Adam says much of the same thing, though he adds "Desperation" and "Regret" to the pile of words.
"You are a good man Darwin, still trying to save these people. But I really wish you'd just let me shoot this guy and be done with it."
While he's focused on Darwin, try to get behind him and disarm/restrain the man, so that Darwin can tie him up via his rope magic. If this fails, say fuck it and cut him down with my sword.
Name: Écalir Speedwagon
Appearance: barbarian, think Arnie from Conan the Barbarian
Magic path: Hunting flesh-scroll
Strength: d10+2
Speed: d10+1
Endurance: d8+1
Knowledge: d4
Will: d6+1
Senses: d6+1
Mana: 25
Ongoing effects:None
Magical materialsleft Arm: wood
Right arm: Insect
Stomach: Strong acid
Chest: White Phosphorous
Left buttcheek: Electricity
Right buttcheek: Lightning
left leg: multiply
InventoryMare's Leg: Lever Action, d8, 5/5 magazine, 45 spare bullets.
Quality weapon (Spear): d8
Longsword with glowing runes
Springy metal warpick: d8
Springy metal knive: d6
Springy metal sword: d6
9 smokebombs
Thaumic flamethrower (5/50 thaum tank, d10 str requirement, armored fuel tank) + extra canisters with compressed gas
Poncho
Sombrero
Fitted armor: d8
Sealer Suit: d4 vs magic
Shield (+1 to protective rolls from armor)
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Bandages
Tattoo Kit
199g worth of gems
doctor's bag
Gladiator Badge
Jade tablets (48-number of words)
binoculars
Thank you for being precise in the amount of materials and such that were consumed.
Welp, back off and let Ecalir deal with this bloke (nonlethally, if possible). While he is working on that, do that d6 rope spell and see if it can restrain the guy easily (we'll want to try and get as many of them as we safely can before the boom).
Try to get an estimate of the amount of people that are in these fields.
Name: Darwin Zeppeli
Appearance: An old medicine man.
Magic path: alchemist gut-reader
Strength: d4
Speed: d6->d8
Endurance: d6->d8
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d10
Mana: 27 (15 to ecalir)
10 thaum in bottle
Ongoing effects: None
Magical materialsVacuum!
Reanimate
Sharpen
Viscera
Diamond
Rope
Inventory1 sedated bugman
6 mercenaries (currently at edge of cavern)
1 ranged and 1 melee merc, stay with Ecalir and watch his back
3 melee mercs and 1 ranged merc stay with Darwin, 2 of the melee mercs stick close to him at all times and act as bodyguards
dissection knife: d4
Springy metal knive: d6
Springy metal sword: d6
Springy metal halberd: d8
Curved blade: d6
Icepick: d4
gun: d8 [50 rounds left]
9 smokebombs
Thaumic bomb (currently empty)
Ecalir's old armor: d8 (in use)
shield (+1 to protective rolls from armor)
Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
Alchemist’s Gear
39 gold
5 silver
Octopus core
A glass slab with a topographical map of the kingdom carved into it
a bottle of glowing blue sea water, inside protective box with lock
a glass orb with barely visible lotus inside of it, inside staff assembly.
magic coin
Small book
magic compass + map
book on normal plants and animals
book on magical plants and animals/creatures
handbook on making weapons&armor, including a list of known types
a detailed account of the Artifacter war
map of the old world
good quality book&pen
good history book
Paradox snail (inside jar) and things to keep them happy and fed
Doctor's bag
set of ingredients (plants, chemicals and the like) for making poisons or antidotes (23 uses left)
High quality backpack
donkey named Yvonne for carrying
Zomboraptor head
Lantern
several hundred feet of rope
climbing crampons
a grappling hook
iron stakes
net made of rope
several vials with imp fat
20 vials
2x Collapsible rod
10 oil flasks
300 feet of really big, thick, strong rope
100 feet of metal chain
box of metal spikes
pair of binoculars
4 boxes of rags
Medium armor: d6 (not in use)
[3v5] [-5 mana]
Darwin's spell fails, but together he and Eclair make short work of disarming and restraining the man the old fashion way. He's stronger than he should be normally but not superhumanly strong or even as strong as Eclair. His enthusiastic but awkward attacks are worth very little against a trained warrior.
With one down Darwin takes a moment to survey the scene and guess at the number of people probably in this field. He thinks...maybe 200? Its a large number but not absurd.
Name: Eve
Appearance: 4 ft tall female human with long hear that constantly changes color. She always wears a long sleeve shirt and jeans. She has slightly tan skin and green eyes. most of her right arm is made of aluminum, from her hand to her forearm.
Magic path: Servant Sculptor
Mana: 0
Strength: d4
Speed: d8
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d8
Ongoing effects: None
Items needed for current Sculpture
1. A smooth river rock: Acquired
2. A block of Ice: Not Acquired
3. About a half liter of mercury: Not Acquired May be found at Bromcresol
4. Silver Wire: Acquired
Spirit: None
Spirit Task: None
Inventory: Doctor's bag, Thick fur shirt D4, Thick fur leggings d4, ghost charm, Smooth river rock, 100 ft of string, a pry-bar, a spool of silver wire, 50 gold
Materials: lightsilver
try to help get people out of here
The controlled civilians are still a fair bit away and a fire wall is being erected, so you decide to instead focus on moving the injured soldiers, militia, and other allies from the front to the back and into the shelter of the passage into the cave. You get several people into shelter and direct others to help out similarly.
Try to treat the most heavily wounded people, trying to make sure nobody bleeds out. If there's nobody in imminent risk of dying, patch up more minor wounds, focus on getting wounded people combat ready. Direct some of the more mobile wounded to drag anyone incapacitated back into the main tunnel--Ekrov doesn't really have the strength to do that himself.
Name: Ekrov Trenian Vyachilad
Description: A noble's son, Ekrov is a boy on the cusp of adulthood, and barely looks it. His hands are soft, his appearance taken care of, and his bones slightly visible under his unmarred skin. He's scrawny, clearly having never done manual labor in his life, and somewhat short--though it's hard to tell whether that's due to age or genetics. His eyes are wide and constantly look around in absentminded wonderment; he's clearly out of his element in this, and gives off a tourist-y impression. He wears a clearly high-quality outfit, but to his credit it looks unusually practical for a noble, subdued brown in color and light aside from thin pieces of light leather in strategic locations, clearly intended more as protection than a fashion statement. He carries a small backpack, and wears a light cloak that's had an absurd number of little pockets clumsily sewn into it.
Magic Path: Alchemist Sculptor
Mana: 6
Magic Words: "Animate"
Stats:
Strength: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d4
Knowledge: d12
Will: d6 (Buffed to d8)
Senses: d12
Ongoing Effects: None...?
Current Sculpture Materials:
1. Human skull
2. 10 lbs of pure iron
3. a piece of complex machinery; clockwork or similar.
4. a bottle of water collected directly from the a cloud.
5. The blood of someone who has fought off a possession with their own will
Inventory:
Backpack
Lightly armored traveling outfit (enchanted to d6, from d4)
Wooden shield (+1 to armor rolls, most of the time)
Steel stilleto (d4 melee)
Ornamental spring pistol (d6 ranged) [6/6] (30 spare shots)
Alchemist gear
24 gold, 8 silver (Saeko owes him 400 gold)
Paints, a dish, sands, glitter, water, general scrying supplies.
Pencil + Paper.
Expensive medical supplies.
Sketches of:
Gyrotourbillon's workings
Benedict the Griffon
[7v4]
It is perhaps a positive thing regarding serious injuries that what you can do to treat them in the field is often very simple. You don't let yourself get bogged down and instead move quickly between patients, providing the best medical care you can to the most injured, focusing entirely on prolonging their life in the immediate sense and less about long term viability. You stuff wounds with gauze, burn shut arteries and stumps, repack innards and bandage up the hole. You direct people to take the worst injured back to the cave entrance after you finish working on them and point out others in need of assistance to anyone else trying to treat the injured. Its chaotic, but seems to be effective.
"You have my permission to take Benedict up for another attack like that, if you want."
"I'm going to see if I can make one of those machineguns strong enough to just shoot the siren, from way over here. Seems fastest and safest."
Give orders to light the barricade. Do leave a space for people to be brought in. Instead of splitting up too heavily, get only one group together with one machine gun to start collecting people, as they're actively hostile. I want to rescue at least some people, dammit.
Go to one of the machine guns, use a temporary (1 hour) Strengthen Speed spell to increase the velocity of the bullets coming out of it enough to reach the distance to the central tower easily, and maybe penetrate the wall some. If that's below d6, use a d6 spell instead for extra penetration power. Repeat if it fails.
Then, do a temp Steel Strengthen spell on the ammunition to give the bullets hardened steel penetrators to further improve penetration and ability to do damage. Repeat if fails.
Lastly, enchant both the machine gun and the ammunition with a temp Strengthen Expand to make it into an autocannon, so each shot has more heft. Try for twice the size or so, somewhere in the 20-30mm range.
With that, and the spyglass, try to find the siren and shoot it with the buffed autocannon. Add additional spells if the gun isn't powerful enough. Add a Strengthen to the spyglass if it can't see through the wall or something.
Japanese girl with a long black braid and a white and red fitted robe with long gloves. Eyes currently shimmering with energy. Clothing is slightly dull in colour and made of metallic thread. Pointy, somewhat elfish ears. Burnt off eyebrows from spell failure. Missing fingernails on right hand.
Invoking Empath
Str d6
Speed d8
Endurance d10+1
Knowledge d6+1
Will d10+1
Senses d10, temporary. d8 base
Materials: d12 Ape, d12 Grow, d12 Strengthen, d12 Expand, d8 View, d10 Steel, and d10 Speed.
Location: Lunare
Status: Fine. Burn scars on arms. Missing fingernails on right hand. Slightly enhanced hearing.
Temporary Effects: Buff pill. (Will, Awakeness) (Super-eyes, d10 senses, 1hr)
Items:
Carried:
28 mana
33 gold
d8+1 armour: The outfit, naturally, and a shield. Weighs as if it were d6
Shield.
Backpack
Waterskin
Compass
Goggles
Surgical tools
100 feet of rope
Two amulets with week-long d6 endurance-boosting effects. Intended to help heal maltreatment, exhaustion, and restore some health to abused, dying people, to make them more likely to survive.
Jade tablets with d8 View, d10 Steel, and d10 Speed.
Left Behind:
Black metal scrap
Steel scraps
Cable-wrapped metal box of happiness.
Box of painting-golem
Familiar. "Benedict" Cougar/red-tailed hawk, adequate flyer, elephant-sized with 60+ foot wingspan.
Natural weapons d6, d8 with swooooop.
Buffed with buff pill, d8 Strengthen Ape mind bouncer.
Steel Helmet. 1d4 armour?
Str D12
Spd D8
End D12
Kno D4
Will D8
Sen D6
[Fanciful]
Notes: Improving physical stats with strengthen, d4->d6 is d6, d6->d8 is d12, d8->d10 is d20 or more.
Mental stats are possible, but harder or more complicated.
You throw out orders and watch the barricade get lit as you move towards the machineguns. You order one of them off to aid in the rescue/self defense efforts against the slowly encroaching horde of human slaves.
[2v6] -6 mana, 22 remains
[8v3] -3 mana, 19 remains.
[2v4] -4 mana, 15 remains.
[7v4] -4 mana, 11 remains
[5v1] -1 mana, 10 remains
You push your way through several minor failures, the first of which is the worst and leaves you stunned for a good 30 seconds as shimmers of mana flash in front of your half blind eyes. In the end though you manage to get the gun modified as you desire, turning an already frightening machine gun into an autocannon that can lob fist sized rounds literal miles depending on the elevation.
You pull out the spyglass and try to get a good lock on the target, to direct the autocannon's fire. After a few moments of sweeping the glass around, searching, you finally get a glimpse of the target. Its standing on what could almost be described as a balcony near the top of the tower, its 4 visible arms seemingly directing its own singing as well as the balls of purple energy. It looks a lot like the other insects around here, albeit larger and a lot more humanoid and ornate. It looks almost like the classical idea you have of a siren, except crossed with a grasshopper instead of a fish. You can't make out its lower body and the magical flux in the air makes your vision shimmer and wobble like heat haze.
[5,1,1,6,6,8v3]
Almost as soon as you get a good look at it, the siren sings out again, that same three tones as before. The third down sweeps violently across the cave and everyone staggers again, including the mind controlled humans.
The allied forces shake the song off, as does Eclair, Darwin and Saeko. But Ekrov and Eve both jerk to a halt and then turn and draw their weapons. Or in Eve's case, the closest thing she has to a weapon: the pry bar. As they start their menacing if awkward approach the great cluster of shadowy energy balls suddenly begin breaking free of their orbit around the tower and flying in towards the allied forces. Benedict takes off with a mage breaker on his back and the other full mage breaker moves to the forefront and appears to be starting some kind of spell.