Eight feet from the surface of the Flux huh? Ishould be able to reach it standing on the catamaran deck, maybe. anyway climb up and in and secure my boat so it doesn't drift too far away. Then have a look around, and poke anything that looks interesting.
The Ascetic Ghost Shepherd
A thin, wiry guy. Hazel eyes. Black hair. Long fingers.
Stats
6 str
6 spd
10 End
8 Know
10 Will
4 sense
Mana: 5
Materials: Porcelain, Black Flux
Inventory:
Inhabited by a Spirit - a little shepherdess girl. Likes dolls. Adventurous. (Current request:?)
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
5 gold
You bring the boat in as close as you can. Hmm, nothing to tie it up to here...In any case, you try to get up to the window. You can just make it by hopping up and grabbing the bottom ledge, but its not easy. You take some rope and tie it to the boat and then carry the other end with you up through the window, with the intent of tying the boat up to something inside. You nearly fall to your death as you climb into the room; the window is nothing but a sill maybe 2 feet wide that then drops off straight into the dark. Your yelp of surprise reverberates oddly and echos as though the room is far larger than it can be. You notice that, despite the window and sunlight, the room inside is totally dark. You stick your head into the room and its like putting your head through a curtain.
You're up maybe 20 feet in the air, near the roof of a large room. The room is entirely empty save for green glowing crystals held in solid stone torches along the wall and a huge bowl in the center of the room. Its easily 15 feet across and looks to be 10 tall. Its also completely smooth and featureless, apparently made of the same stone as the rest of the room.
We just got hard proof that the exorcists from this specific town aren't particularly good, so we're probably continuing on our way until Alkahest. Like that guy said: "If not, there's gotta be someone in Alkahest who can help. Maybe a mage breaker if nothing else."
Name: Randolf Osborn
Appearance: Ugly as hell. Smells like rotten fish. Very brutish.
Magic path: Channeler Ascetic
Mana: 7!
Strength: D6
Speed: D6
Endurance: D12
Knowledge: D4
Will: D12
Senses: D4
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Sealer Suit D4
White Robes
Shield
Wooden Club D6
Backpack
Lantern
100 feet of rope
29 gold coins
2 silver coins
Air bladder
Aqua Vitae
Ferry ticket
Alright. Well I can tell you thats the exorcist they were talking about so if you wanna skip him, next chance is the mage breakers in Alkahest. We can assume you make it there without issue, however how you want to go about contacting them is up to you. They have a headquarters in Alkahest so you can just go straight there and talk to them, but spirits are not generally their deal.
After that, I'll put the patients off for a few days and try to dig up more information. Some questions I want to answer:
-How often does this happen?
-How long has this been happening for?
-Does anyone survive it?
-Does anyone know anything about what causes it?
After all that, I think I want to see if I can find people who have lost somone to it. I'd like to end this, and if I need to kill something, I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. Talk to someone and discuss what is happening, and see if I can get a hug. I'll probably need a fair amount of mana to fix things regardless of what I decide to do.
I'll probably see what I can gather for the duration until the next attack. If it's more than a few days I'll probably work in healing the patients before doing so. In any case, I'm going to try to gather a lot of mana, so will try for several visits, discussions and hugs a week. There might be some gear or other preparations depending on what answers I turn up, too. (Like if I need to go underwater, finding a fish word would be good.)
Japanese girl with a long black braid and a white and red dress with long gloves and stockings.
Invoking Empath
Str d4 -> d6
Speed d8
Endurance d10+1
Knowledge d4+1
Will d10+1
Senses d8
Items:
4 mana
47 coins (gold) {paid 10 gold deposit on a cougar/red-tailed hawk griffon familiar and 35 gold for bounties.}
d6 armour: The outfit, naturally. Weighs as if it were d4
Backpack
100ft Rope
Waterskin
Compass
Hat
Sun Goggles
Surgical Tools
Materials: d12 Ape, d12 Grow, d12 Strengthen, d12 Expand.
Location: Lunare
Status: Fine. Burn scars on arms.
Temporary Effects:
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.
From what you can find out, talking to locals and travelers:
1. Once a month, on the full moon.
2.Unknown, but a long time.
3. Sometimes they return on the next full moon. Sometimes the full moon after that. Sometimes never. Those who return have no memory of what happened.
4. You get a lot of people saying they do, but their stories are so varied and inconsistant that you're going to assume its simply their theories or ideas dressed up as knowledge.
There are both people who have lost someone and people who have come back. Which would you like to see? Or both?
"Hey you. Are you in charge here?"
Move defensively. If he appears to cast something, dodge it and absorb the mana.
Name: Zavirius En-Drani Haver, Painter
Appearance: A girl of unknown but apparently foreign descent. She claims to be the last surviving member of a long-dead ancient race, kept preserved in some kind of magical stasis, but this is likely untrue. Though her skin is a strange shade not normally seen on the continent, and her hair is bleached white with a slight green reflective tint. She is not very tall but stout like a dwarf and startlingly strong. The clothing that she wears is very minimal.
Mana: 4
Method: Flesh-Inscribed Channel
Materials: Lightweight, Explosion
Strength: d10
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d8
Will: d8+1
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects: Okay?
Inventory:
Needlessly ornate painting guardian sword
The man stares at you for a long moment, his face going from angry to unreadable. Then he smiles.
"No. Would you like me to take you to them?"
I assume we had set something up. I’ll look for him at the place I last saw him, and look around in places I know he’d be at. If all else fails, I’ll ask around for him, but not say why I’m looking for him.
Edit - Apparently the innkeeper knows where they are, so listen to him and go to them.
Name: Venandi
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 is a hunter, once scouring the lands for greater and mightier beasts (and men) to fell. Venandi now uses their skills just to survive; but is always looking for path back to glory.
At one time Venandi joined a Cabal, and was known as Zamia the Lost. That time is now as lost as the the rest of the past. And that name is now as forgotten as Venandi once was.
Magic path: Hunting Gut-reader
Materials:
Rope
Diamond
Mana: 5
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
10 gold
Map
Magic compass
Octopus Core
Since he went back to the Inn, We'll assume you found each other.
Gather a few guards to accompany me, then charge towards the direction of the sound.
Name: Robert Grant
Appearance: A stocky, tall man with black hair.
Magic path: Hunter Sculptor
Strength: d10
Speed: d6
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d8
Will: d8
Senses: d4
Ongoing effects: None
Mana: 0
Materials:
Shrink
Inventory:
War axe D8
Doctor's Bag
Leather armor D6
Bandages
Backpack
Lantern
2 gold
Shield
[1v2]
You jerk your thumb at a few of the guards and then rush out into the darkness towards the noises. You find yourself face to face with a bandit a few seconds later. He's a tall but scrawny man in leather armor with a ragged beard and wild eyes. You swing your war ax at his head but he side steps and slashes his blade across your stomach. Your armor protects your flesh but is torn open in the process and hangs limp.
Convert 500 gold into thaum (20 mana, 5 for the flammenwerfer, 5 for Ecalir, 10 for Darwin) in our room at the inn.
I mean, we could do poison bullets but their effectiveness would be a bit of a crapshoot. Your best bet might be a dartgun like they use to knock out animals, but with poison darts. Damage from it would be basically unimportant since it wouldn't be designed to actually harm anyone, just deliver the payload.
Cool, how much for this weapon and its ammo? Also how much does ammo for my d8 gun cost here?
Take a good hard look at that golden sword and that gladiator pin. Do either of them seem fishy in some way (eg. cursed or allowing that old guy’s thugs to track us or something) or have some sort of special function/status? (I’m assuming the gladiator button is to prove he can take on the more difficult fights).
If not, consider how much either could make in gold if we sold them or in thaum if I brewed them.
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: 22
Ongoing effects: None
Magical materialsVacuum!
Reanimate
Sharpen
Viscera
Diamond
Inventorydissection knife: d4
Springy metal knive: d6
Springy metal sword: d6
Springy metal halberd: d8
Curved blade: d6
Icepick: d4
gun: d8
9 smokebombs
Medium armor: d6
Ecalir's old armor: d8
Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
shield (+1 to protective rolls from armor)
Alchemist’s Gear
2724 gold
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 Loaned to Lupanian
Doctor's bag
set of ingredients (plants, chemicals and the like) for making poisons or antidotes (15 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
good quality book&pen
good history book
Alright.
Gonna say 50 for the weapon, a box of empty darts for 5, filling depends.
The pin is proof of his status so melting it down would probably be a poor idea. The sword on the other hand is just a gold trinket and would probably be worth its weight in gold (Har Har) or a fair bit of thaum. Maybe 300 or more in gold.
The sword isn't enchanted but there's something about the pin. It seems to carry an enchantment but it doesn't feel like a tracking spell. Maybe some proof that the pin is legit?
Trenchgun doesn't really work for me, the idea was to get an option for longer ranged. Any chance I could get a d8 revolver/pistol/rifle(bolt or lever action) instead?
Stick with Darwin. Allow him to check my items if he so wishes.
Also, question: in our cave adventure we found a bunch of Jade tablets, some with words. We carried a whole bunch of them out there, but somewhere along the way neither of us have them edited into our inventories. Now, we know of several that have words, but there were also "dozens" that we couldn't recognize words in. Could you tell us how many there were exactly? Also just letting you know this so you don't have to wonder where these tablets came from. Link to the post where we found them: tablets
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
Mana: 3
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
InventoryQuality weapon (Spear): d8
Longsword with glowing runes
Springy metal warpick: d8
Springy metal knive: d6
Springy metal sword: d6
9 smokebombs
Thaumic flamethrower (50 thaum tank, d10 str requirement, armored fuel tank) + extra canisters with compressed gas
Poncho
Sombrero
Fitted armor: d8
Shield (+1 to protective rolls from armor)
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Bandages
Tattoo Kit
249g worth of gems
doctor's bag
Gladiator Badge
Small golden sword replica
Rifle is fine, though the bullets might be expensive considering the caliber. But fuck it, right? You're rich. 40 for the gun, 5 shots for 1 gold.
Did you actually bring them with you? You looked through them to see what they contained but did you bring all the non-word ones with you?
Deep breaths now.
"Okay. How well can you shoot?"
Bear trap and live bait it is. Worst shot (probably me) is the bait, the other gets to stand back with the rifle in case things go wrong.
Name: Frick Varmer
Appearance: An enthusiastic, young-middle-aged man. Between his
ridiculous magnificent hat, the strange bird always perched on his shoulder, and his unbridled curiosity for arcana in all its forms, he is clearly either a wizard or an eccentric fool. Or, more than likely, both.
Magic Path: Alchemist Invoker
Mana: 0
Stats:Strength: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d12
Will: d8
Senses: d6
Ongoing Effects: None
Materials: Alcohol (d12)
Inventory: Pointy hat (-)
Thick winter clothing (d4)
Stout walking stick (d4)
Hunting rifle (d8)
Backpack
Lantern
Tent
Climbing gear, 200ft rope
Spyglass
Iron rations (6 person-weeks at start of journey)
Net
Bear Trap
Box of thaumic junk
Empty book and ink pen
Alchemist's gear
Glass vials, box
Urn w/ ashes, bound for Kaolin temple.
29 Gold
3 Silver
Companions: Familiar: A small crow, which shares its master's inquisitiveness.
Strength: d4
Speed: d8
Endurance: d4
Knowledge: d6
Will: d6
Senses: d8
Grant: A mountain trapper who lost his wife and child to an avalanche. He is...withdrawn, quiet, terse and seemingly quick to anger if asked repeated questions.
You set the trap somewhere you can see it and get to and then go after the lizard as Grant gets into position. It hasn't gone far.
How you wanna get its attention? How you do it is rather important to how big of a chance it has to disemboweling you before you get back to the trap.