DIG MORE PITS FOR THE PIT GOD.... and for the future kills. The trihorns will return, and then my reward shall be great.
Name: Jian
Appearance: This, but replace the staff with a sword.Magic Path: Ascetic Hunter
Mana: 0
Strength: d4
Speed: d8
Endurance: d10
Knowledge: d8
Will: d4
Senses: d10
Ongoing effects: Gored arms, fucking deer.
Materials: Blood
Inventory: Grand:Quality Longsword (d8)
Great:2 Shortswords (d6)
Mundane:Longsword Sheath (d4)
2 Shortsword Sheath (d4)
Return to base with the rest of the gang. Check my ghost charm as I go.
Name: Prism
Appearance: Kind of like a hippy. Talks like one too.
Magic path: Servant Sculptor
Mana: 5
Strength: 1d4
Speed: 1d4
Endurance: 1d10
Knowledge: 1d12
Will: 1d10
Senses: 1d4
Ongoing effects:
Good vibes
Inventory:
Ghost Charm
Scoop up or otherwise gather important looking gore bits or organs if any are intact from the gorilla bird "corpse", or just lots of gore bits, to alchemize for Thaum. Then go alchemize them for Thaum. Try to catch some more bugs on the way, if possible. Name: Aurum
Appearance:
I am the alchemist.Magic path: Alchemist Sculptor
Mana: 0
Strength: d4
Speed: d8
Endurance: d10
Knowledge: d8
Will: d10
Senses: d4
Ongoing effects: None
Inventory: Magical Material (Grand Item)
Alchemist's Gear (Great Item)
A drop of Thaum
Box of Glass Vials (Mundane Item)
Backpack (Mundane Item)
Bang takes the eggs back to base, nest and all. Bang makes a cursory check to see if either he or anyone else knows how to raise and tame Gorilla Birds.
Also bring the corpse of the gorilla bird he killed. Harvest a suitable and recognizable souvanier from the creature, like its skull.
Bang also ponders where to seek more Flesh Scroll materials.
Name: Bang
Appearance: This seems sufficiently Anime.
Magic path: Flesh-Scroll Hunter
Mana: 3
Strength: D12
Speed: D8
Endurance: D8
Knowledge: D4
Will: D6
Senses: D6
Ongoing effects: None.
Inventory:
Grand:
1. Quality Weapon: My own limbs. Bang is fucking R-R-R-RIPPED D8
Great:
1. Tatoo Kit
2. Medium Armor
Mundane:
1. Backpack
2. Lantern
3. 10 Foot Rod
(List your items here. If you don’t have a bag to carry things, you can only carry 2 objects until you find a way to carry more. Armor you’re wearing doesn’t count against that. If you have a weapon or armor, make sure to list the die it has after it, like this: Shortsword D6)
Jian: You dig pits. Lots of pits. A frankly absurd number of pits. Enough pits to create a freaking groundhog hotel. It might in fact be too many holes...its gonna be quite hard to walk around here like this.
Prism: Your ghost charm doesn't read any presences around here. Hm.
Aurum: You grab the parts you think would be most valuable. Brain, heart, claws, that sort of thing. You make a heck of a mess in your backpack but you stuff all the bits in and then head home and render them down. You get thaum worth 3 mana.
Bang: You can't pick up the nest as a whole object; its just a bundle of sticks and bones on the ground. You take the eggs though, and ask Aurum about raising them. He reckons that you can raise them like any egg; just keep them warm and protected. Training he's not sure about, but he makes the guess that the creature might imprint upon the person that raises it. You take the bird creature's skull as a trophy, just as soon as Aurum has cut it open and taken out the brain. As per flesh scroll materials, ruins are the most common place to find them in the wild, so to speak.
This is a gathering place for hunters, yes? Thank the barman and then look around at what hunters are currently present. In particular, I want a very self-assured boasting sort, maybe someone bragging to others. If such a person is found, go sit down with them and ask of their exploits, imply being a potential employer, maybe buying them a couple drinks with gold. Once they've told some stories, start asking about the local terror, asking if they're skilled enough to have ever encountered it, see its tracks, etc.
In the likely scenario that all the locals are boring and unwilling to talk about such things, instead I'll go catch up with the hunters from the capital and discuss what I've discovered. Ask them about their merchant employers, and what exactly happened to the lost caravans.
Edit: Oh, and leave them immediately after that question is answered. The hunt should really start soon, and I'd hate to accidentally hold it up because I was gathering information.
Name:Zruril Zaszurs
Appearance: Zruril is a tall, middle-age man, with thinning gray hair and a calm, warm, smile that never seems to leave his face. He wears heavy robes that look much like what a priest might wear, and a perceptive individual might notice the glint of a small handgun carefully hidden in their folds.
Magic path: Empath Invoker
Mana: 0
Strength: 1d4
Speed: 1d8
Endurance: 1d4
Knowledge: 1d12
Will: 1d12
Senses: 1d4
Ongoing effects: None!
Inventory:
Heavy robes (d4 light armor)
Pocket pistol (d6 ranged)
324 gold coins
4 silver coins
Pet Zill. Wait for something interesting to happen.
*sigh* "Why does there always have to be the boring waiting part?"
Name: Zackerine Harsolt
Appearance: Young woman with red hair, braided, green eyes, darkish skin, with a few scars from combat. Not necessarily attractive; it's obvious that she could easily cave a man's skull in with her bare hands. Leather duster over a colorful skirt. Steel breastplate and arm guard, but nothing else in order to avoid encumbrance. Messenger bag. Short brimmed and absolutely not pointy hat. Quite fond of knives, and will seek them out even to the exclusion of more powerful alternatives.
Magic path: Channeling Flesh Scroll
Mana: 0
Strength: 1d12
Speed: 1d6
Endurance: 1d6
Knowledge: 1d4
Will: 1d8
Senses: 1d8
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Bag
Tome
Carving Knife (d4)
Medium armor (d6)
Tattoo Kit
Combat Knife (d6)
Mini Crossbow (d6) (30)
Companion: Zill the Riphound familiar
Appearance: Large dog of the "Riphound" breed. As you might guess, she has a large jaw with lots of teeth. Despite her fearsome appearance, she's friendly to people who aren't enemies, and smart enough to tell the difference.
Strength: 1d8
Speed: 1d8
Endurance: 1d6
Knowledge: 1d6
Will: 1d4
Senses: 1d4
Ongoing effects:
Keep hunting gazelles for now. I'll try to stay in a fairly small area and pick off stragglers, if I can't bag more than one in a small area, I'll go to a different area. When all is done, I'll pile the bodies up close to the river, but not close enough to be seen by boat men.
Name: Zamia the Lost
Appearance: A cryptic figure, wearing a solid bone mask, and covered head to toe in furs and leather reinforced with bone, antler, tooth, horn, and all other manner of once living material. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that this figure has hundreds of beads and talismans, again made of bone and like materials, threaded on as well. This person also carries a wicked barbed spear, that seems to inflict pain just by looking at it.
Venandi Zamia is a hunter, once scouring the lands for greater and mightier beasts (and men) to fell. Zamia now uses their skills just to survive; but is always looking for path back to glory.
Magic path: Hunting Gut-reader
Mana: 0
Strength: 1d10
Speed: 1d6
Endurance: 1d6
Knowledge: 1d8
Will: 1d4
Senses: 1d10
Ongoing effects: N/A
Inventory:
Barbed spear (1d8)
Hunting trophy armor (1d6)
Atlatl and javelins (1d6)
Backpack
Bandages
Box of thaumic junk
Zruril: [10v4] The bar is filled with braggarts, though most of them of the white haired "Back in my day" sort, the kind that will gladly tell you of their great feats back in the day. You find one, already plenty pickled, and sit down next to him. You ask him about his past actions and then, after politely listening a few moments, immediately ask him about the current beastie stalking the land. He spits and blusters about the local superstition and his training in Alkahest and all manner of things before saying that he's never encounted it, but that he's heard that it likes to hide in the trees, moving between them, and that it hunts at night.
The Capital hunters say they've yet to pin down something that is undenibly true; its all just supersition and rumors for now. They haven't seen the lost caravans either, only have reports of what locals found. They reported that the boats the caravans were on were overturned. Bits of the cargo were found down the length of the river and the bodies that they DID find seemed to be the victim of either a creature with great scything claws or a blade. The leader of the team says, under his breath, that he half expects this to be the work of some group of bandits using the "Tree shadow" as a cover.
Zackrine: Pet pet pet
Zamia: You track another group of trihorns, but spook them before you can get a throw off. You throw your javelin and the thing hits it, but only shallowly. You have to chase it for a long time and great distance before you manage to tire it and finish it off. You only manage the one kill in this time.
So sy, you want to tell the hunters its time to go and then head out now or what?
Youch. This is the sort of scenario where the Mercury component won't help at all. Not that they're uncommon or anything. Guess I just have to try and club the thing in the arm. Aim for in front of my head, so I can loosen its grip and get out of range of it, and other holes in the ground. Also, ask my spirit for advice on the situation.
Name: Ma'o Ewhak
Appearance: White hair black skull-like mask (not intimidating, almost charming), vibrant azure eyes, white cloak over chain armor, black shirt underneath, white boots that go halfway up heel, long grey socks. Average body, save being slightly tall and lean.
Magic path: Invoking Servant
Mana: 0
Strength: D8
Speed: D6
Endurance: D8
Knowledge: D10
Will: D6
Senses: D6
Ongoing effects: Possessed by Upside-down Hourglass.
Inventory:
Decent Mace D6
Ghost Charm
Backpack
Light Armor
100 feet of Rope
Name: Brine Boneater
Appearance: An wrinkled old man with a pale face, slight build and cruel, dark eyes.
Magic path: Hunting Gut-Reader
Mana: 0
Strength: 1d4
Speed: 1d12
Knowledge: 1d6
Endurance: 1d6
Will: 1d4
Senses: 1d12
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Familiar ((not really an object but yeah...))
Wooden Crossbow (d6)
Mail Shirt (d6)
Box of glass vials
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Familiar:-
Name: Big White
Appearance: A huge albino bear, with sharp white fangs and bright red eyes.
Strength: 1d8
Speed: 1d6
Endurance: 1d8
Knowledge:1d4
Will: 1d6
Senses: 1d4
Brine waits for Xod to catch up, before travelling the cavern path with him.
Xod will rush up to meet Brine in with the cavern path, safety and numbers + we both of have familiars, seems like a decent idea to go visit this town of Matrass
Name: Xodius Xerium
Appearance: This is a tall young chap standing at around 6'3, and wears thick glass goggles on him. He has short dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a pale tone of skin. He has a large scar crossing his left eyes as it was his experience when he had to tame the majestic raven. His armor is a type of thick black leather with metal studs surrounding as its designed to handle the wear and tear of the workings of an alchemist. He acts a loyal, submissive servant to most nice people and administrators and doesn't really mind anything, unless the conflict is that of aggression and tension which result in him having a cold and calculated approach to remove the desired threat.
Magic Path: Invoking Alchemist
Mana: 0
Strength: 1d4
Speed: 1d10
Endurance: 1d6
Knowledge: 1d6
Will: 1d12
Sense: 1d6
Inventory:
-Backpack (Mundane Item)
-Box of Thaumic Stuff (Mundane Item)
-Iron Hatchet (D4 Weapon)
-Alchemist's Gear (Great Item
-Studded Black Leather Armor (D6 Medium Armor)
-Familiar (Grand Item)
Companion: Xornian the Omniscient Raven
Appearance: A enchanted purplish feathered raven with a large amethyst amulet surrounding its neck. The raven is ever cautious and always on alert as it's magical eyes have a 360-degree of vision even if its physical appearance states otherwise.
Strength: 1d4
Speed: 1d6
Endurance: 1d4
Intelligence: 1d8
Will: 1d6
Senses: 1d8
Ongoing effects: None
Ma'o: [6v7] You flail and fight, beating on the hand while pulling back. The hand is boneless but strong, and resists your attempts to escape, your weapon glacing off its rubbery flesh. However, you manage to stop it from dragging you any further towards the hole. Your spirit recommends tying yourself to something here, to make it harder to be dragged underground.
Brine+Xod: You head off, skirting the edge of the slopes down into the cave mouths. You make it about halfway to Matrass before you come across something. Its wreckage of some sort, wedged into the rocks maybe 100 feet down the slope around a cave. It looks like the wreckage of a large boat but, metallic and surrounded by a shroud of silvery material. Brine doesn't recognize it, but Xod does. It's the wreckage of a Mini-Zeppelin, one of the flying machines the Artifacters used during their invasion. It's incredibly far north though; far beyond the range of the battle.
Go fishing, then. Use my longbow or my hands, whichever is better. I have no chance finding gold without specialized equipment, right?
Name: Hamber Lohan
Appearance: A tall man with black hair, brown eyes, a well-groomed goatee and round glasses he always forgets to wipe. He is wearing a western shirt and jeans.
Magic path: Alchemist Sculptor
Material: Explosion
Mana: 0
Strength: d6
Speed: d10
Endurance: d4
Knowledge: d12
Will: d4
Senses: d8
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Backpack
Box of Glass Vials
Light Armor
Alchemist's Gear
Doctor's Bag
Reflex Recurve bow (d8)
Getting gold from the river would require a way to sift all the sediment and such and find the gold dust. So probably need tools, yeah.
You wade into the river and look for fish. Its quite a strong current here so you only go out a bit, up to your knees. [9v5] You manage to, through a strategy of sitting quietly in place and then snapping up the fish with your bare hands when the moment arises, catch several large fish.
Convert my thaumic junk into thaum, then drink it for delicious mana! Then pack up again and move into town, look for clues about the stone tablet rumor.
Name: Darwin Zeppeli
Appearance: An old medicine man.
Magic path: alchemist gut-reader
Strength: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d10
Mana:0
Ongoing effects: None
Inventory:
Box of Thaumic Junk
Small or rudimentary weapon (dissection knife): d4
Lantern
Alchemist’s Gear
Medium armor: d6
Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
Magical materials: Vacuum!
Let's tattoo the word on my left arm, that seems as good a place as any to start off with
Name: Écalir Speedwagon
Appearance: barbarian, think Arnie from Conan the Barbarian
Magic path: Hunting flesh-scroll
Mana: 0
Strength: d10
Speed: d10
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d4
Will: d6
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects:None
Inventory:
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Bandages
Tattoo Kit
Medium armour: d6
Quality weapon (Spear): d8
RC converts his crap but its not even enough for 1 mana! Guess he'll just have to hold onto that thaum and melt more things into it till it equals 1. Speedweed tattoos his word on his arm. That done the both of them go off looking for clues.
[7v8][1v7] However neither of them can find any, at least not with such vague directions and ideas.
If the cave might be locked up at nights somehow, hang around in it in a non-suspiscious way. Otherwise he hangs around out of sight nearby.
Once everyone leaves, look for an Atlas Vertebrae of a Third Son in the tombs.
Also, what does my spirit want next? And how far is it to the nearest mountaintop?
Name: Moghorn the Journeyman
Appearance: Fiftyish and very weathered. Moghorn spent his youth, adolescense, and adulthood travelling according to the voices in his head and the strange compulsions he felt. Then he stumbled across a magical spirit and gained magical powers.
Magic path: Servant Sculptor
Mana: 0
Strength: d6
Speed: d12
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d6
Will: d6
Senses: d8
Ongoing effects: Has a spirit in him
Inventory: Mundane: Backpack, 100 feet of rope, Lantern
Great: Marsh Hog Leather Armour (d6 protection), Marsh Hog Bone crossbow (d6 ranged damage)
Grand: Spirit
Materials: "Grand Lode Stone" or rare earth magnet in our terms.
[5v8] You spend the twilight hours looking for snakes in the woods nearby, but fail to find any. Once it has become dark, you return to the cave. It is deserted, so you head in and start searching around. Its pitch black in the cave though; which makes your search a great deal more difficult. There are chiseled words above each niche with a body, but you can't read them in the dark. And without them its impossible to tell who might be a third son.
As in the next item or what? The nearest mountain top is the one to the north. Follow the river up and you'll reach the top beyond where it begins.
"That's fine, long as someone gets to enjoy themselves."
Well, lets get close and see what theyre all looking at shall we?
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: 5
Strength: D4
Speed: D6
Endurance: D10
Knowledge: D8
Will: D10
Senses: D6
Inventory: Backpack, padded cloak (D4 protection, Light armor), Lantern, doctor's bag.
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."
Location: Mesothorium, a town by lake Limus
Cabal: None at this time.
You walk over to the river bank and push your way though the crowd until you get a look at what they're looking at. They are looking at a fish...man...thing. It looks like a mudskipper or lungfish, but the size of a small child and with a distinctly human head. Whats more the head has been partially shaved, resembling a monk's tonsure. It looks up at you with a beneficent smile.