I'll spawn in Fearce, as a somewhat wealthy store owner (don't dig for gold, sell shovels!)
What are my materials?
Name: Harold
Appearance: Moderately obese middle aged man.
Magic path: Alchemist Ascetic
Mana: 0
Strength: d4
Speed: d4
Endurance: d12
Knowledge: d6
Will: d12
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Lantern
Thaumic Junk
Book
Alchemist's gear
100 gold
Magical Material
Lessee...Your materials are the concept "Seal" and the substance "Honey"
Your holdings in Fearce are not grand by any means. Fearce itself is odd; built into a crater created when some manner of war machine of great size slammed into the hard packed dirt of the wastes. The machine was the site of the earliest scavenging and everything of any value had been torn from it, leaving only the metallic skeleton, upon which much of the town had grown. At this point you can only make out the vague shape of the structure, iron ribs and braces hundreds of feet wide rising up and peeking out of the hundreds of scrap metal shacks and complex but crumbling catwalks erected during the initial scavenging. The slums and machine shops and scrap cutters stretch out below like spreading rust, the flicker of their thundercutters like purple blue stars in the early evening. Your shop, one of any number of independent machine shops aimed at creating replacement parts, is a two room metal shack located just off the landing of one of the main catwalks. Its a good location, nice and out in the open, but you're just one part seller in a great and over-saturated market. You make a living, but you're no tycoon. Its around 5 in the afternoon and the sun is coming in sideways, its light filtering through rust-holed metal plates and reaching you as nothing but tiny shafts of scattered amber light. You're sitting at the shop's front counter, elbows on the counter and head in your hands. Bored. Waiting.
The shopkeeper hands the rats back and tells you that someone in the noble quarter might pay for it; but it would need to be preserved and without some expert saying it is genuine, it might be hard to find a buyer. He offers you a deal: He'll fix this up for you and sell it, giving you 50% of the profits. In return, you agree to sell any pelts you get to him exclusively.
Agree. Collect mad dosh. Make investigations about Living Bronze in Alkahest.
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: 6
Strength: d6
Speed: d12
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d6
Will: d6
Senses: d8
Ongoing effects: Has a spirit in him
Inventory: Soil from a mountaintop, three vertebrae probably from third sons, red candle Needs: living bronze, live snake
10 silver
Mundane: Backpack, 100 feet of rope, Lantern
Great: Marsh Hog Leather Armour (d6 protection), Marsh Hog Bone crossbow (d6 ranged damage)
Grand: Spirit (Wants stone guide from the towers around Kaolin)
Materials: "Grand Lode Stone" or rare earth magnet in our terms
You agree to the deal and he tells you to check back in a while to see if he's found a buyer. He estimates it will take him a week or two. Before you go, you ask him about living bronze. He thinks a moment and then tells you to try one of the specialty smiths. Living bronze has the powers of both self movement and memory but is rarely used outside of the constructions of Fearce, except for either bragging rights or special circumstances. He cautions you that any significantly sized piece of it will be quite expensive. And indeed it is so when you follow his advice and find a fist sized piece of the stuff. Its not even a polished ball or anything, just a rough-hewn chunk of metal. But when the smith struck it with a small hammer to prove its authenticity, the metal rung with a pleasant tone...and continued to ring. It didn't stop till the merchant grabbed it with both hands and smothered it for a minute while talking to you. He wanted the thing's weight in gold, and said that was a discount.
Well then, lets take his advice. Talk to the people at the church.
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, 4 silver.
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: Phaganeda, a town on top of lake Limus
Cabal: None at this time.
The church is a massive stone protuberance, almost like a stalagmite, rising straight out of the water and soaring up at least 100 feet in a sharp, conical fashion. The stone, clearly natural, has been carved to partially resemble a church, with the natural points of the stone made into towers and spires. It over all gives the impression of a church whose stone has continued to grow, expanding like baking bread and consuming some sections of it while the more prominent parts like the front and spires remain uncovered. The main doors of the church are made of twisted and darkened drift wood, fit together tightly by iron bands. The handles are huge conch shells bolted to the door so that one's hand can grasp the inward curve of the shell's opening like a handle. You pass into the church and find it to be strangely dark within, lit not from above but below. The church's interior is just as conical as the outside, but far more organic in design. The walls have designs like the spiraling of bisected nautilus shells and the crinkled shape of clam shells. What would be spikes on a normal shell flow up and connect to other bits of the wall to give the entire thing a fluid, inteconnected look. The floor is like a pier, wooden planks but left with a good two inches of space between them so that the water below is easily visible. The entire place smells of water and the sea. The light shines up from below, through the water and these gaps, and paints the whole room in flowing, flickering blue light.
As soon as you walk in you are immediately surrounded by a half dozen people in dark bluish robes. They have some sort of symbol embroidered in gold on the robe, but its so complex and meaningless that you can't even form a coherent idea of how to describe it.
"May we help you with something?" The one directly in front of you says. He's a good foot taller than you, but not threatening in his behavior.
He does, however, caution you about being near the edge of pools like that. He holds his hand against his ribs as he tells you this, perhaps reflexively soothing an old wound.
Ask the man about what happened, if he's willing to discuss it. Don't push if it seems like it's an uncomfortable subject.
For going down, go for option 3: secure a rope to the wall, let Écalir go down without much gear but with the lantern tied to him. Once he gives the all clear, we use that rope to lower down the gear stuffed in the backpack and the rest of us go down. We'll leave the rope for later so we can climb out again easily later on. By the way, be sure to leave markings on the cave walls from time to time.
Oh, and I don't think you have given a name to these npc's yet. Care to think of some?
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:
Small or rudimentary weapon (dissection knife): d4
Lantern
small amount of thaum
Alchemist’s Gear
Medium armor: d6
Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
several hundred feet of rope
climbing crampons
a grappling hook
iron stakes
Magical materials: Vacuum!
Congratulate her on taking her sense of adventure and for taking her destiny into her own hands. Ask her what exactly she used to scribe, out of curiosity.
For our next plan of action, follow Darwin's plan for option 3
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
Tattoos:
Arm: "wood"
Radio: Rufus, for that is his name, tells you he'd rather not talk about specifics, but warns you that the deep places of the Earth are cruel and hungry. Many men have entered and never returned.
Pancaek: Behiar (She pronounces it "Bear" but tells you its spelled funny before spelling it aloud to you) tells you that she mostly keeps trade records, but occasionally does some work in drafting and map making. Just a "pen for hire" as she puts it. She seems pleased by your approval of her life style.
Together: You secure the rope around the nearest large stalagmite and lower it ( the rope, not the stalagmite) down the crevice. Eclair ties a lantern to his belt and squeezes himself into the crack. The squeeze goes straight down for a good 30 feet before it starts angling and swerving about and Eclair finds himself climbing down at a 60 degree angle. He makes it out of the squeeze after 20 minutes or so of careful scrambling; the hole ends abruptly and opens out into another cave through the ceiling. He climbs down just far enough to loop his leg through the rope and shine the lantern around. The dark here is complete and though he can see the ground is solid, 10 feet further down, he cannot see the walls of the chamber on any side. He can hear rushing water, but it is muffled and distant, and the cave smells of nothing but damp earth.
He climbs down and puts his feet on solid earth before giving the rope a few tugs to signal his safe landing. The rope is yanked back up and for a long time he has to wait in darkness, biding his time as the supplies are lowered down. It takes twice as long for the backpacks to reach him; no doubt they got caught up several times in the less vertical sections. The rest of the team follows after, and soon they are standing together as a little pool of lamplight in a sea of darkness. Darwin scratches a symbol into several stalagmites around himself, to mark the way back.
"I think this is a plain..." Rufus says, looking at the map. "Reconnects with the river up head, down a breakdown slope. " He squints at the map and then tucks it back into his bag.
Eat and drink. Thank the monks for their generosity. Ask the monk about gods and spirits related to magic. See about getting a tour of the temple. Keep an eye out for empty hour glasses or children's drawings.Name: Aurum
Appearance:
I am the alchemist.Magic path: Alchemist Sculptor
Mana: 3
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) (Set up at home)
A drop of Thaum
Box of Glass Vials (Mundane Item)
One bug
A large cricket
A large beetle
Another beetle
Several ants
Small albino praying mantis
Bigass worm
Hercules beetle larva
Yet another beetle
A small cricket
Some coins from a no longer existent empire
Backpack (Mundane Item)
Consume food with gratitude! Inquire as to the myths surrounding the bird. Do they describe it's abilities?
Both of you eat the food provided with gusto. Only after the first few bites do you realize how truly hungry you were. The food is different from what you've had before; there are small, circular things that have been fried and are filled with some sort of bean paste, strips of something red and slightly sweet, and a bowl of amazingly transparent noodles that taste of only a very mild starchy flavor on their own, but are covered in thick black sauce that has a savory taste. Its all new and different but none of it is bad. As you eat, Bang asks about the bird and Aurum asks about magic and the gods that control it.
The monks seem confused by Aurum's question, as though he had spoken gibberish. After a few moments they state, quite bluntly, that magic is the domain of all gods, but certain gods govern certain magic. As to Bang's question, they say that all they know is that the bird is said to be extremely fast, sharp and cruel, a flying knife with ill intent. They relate myths of thieves who climb to the mountain top in search of plunder from the old temple, only to be flayed alive and sent screaming down the mountain without their skins. Aurum asks about a tour of the temple and the monks agree to show the public areas of the temple, which they were planning on doing anyway. They explain that this temple is dedicated to the wandering goddess and her blessing and hospitality are extended to any wayward soul who finds themselves on the temple's doorstep. This anteroom is just part of the public section, as it turns out. There's a bathing room with a heated pool, surrounded by large cushions, and a sleeping room, as well as dining area and outdoor garden. They tell you that you are free to stay for up to a week without cost.
Author
Topic: Cabal: Wizard Open World Game (Read 359760 times)