"W-wow, there's a lot of people here, isn't it? I think... I'm going to leave this in your hands. Maybe find a nice spot to read..."
Lokam, feeling anxious because of being in such crowded place, quickly goes find a nice and comfy room in which to rest and calm himself. Preferably away from loud places and other rooms.
Name: Lokam Pilgrim
Description: Lokam is an Ethral Aspirant of the Tenebrous Chruch currently on pilgrimage. His soft fur is pale yellow, his large and fuzzy mane is golden and antennae and wings are dark purple with white details. His antennae, unlike most Ethral, are also very long and fluffy. Most of the time, he's wearing his silky church robes, which also have a hood included. His mask is very dark purple, with bright yellow spirals and curves, similar to tentacles.
Goal: His goal is to just complete his pilgrimage and ascend in the chruch. He wishes to go as deep as possible and someday become a Living Saint, Stygian or even a member of the Council. But his dream is to someday go deeper than everyone, reach the center and finally find God.
Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 13
Kno: 13
Ner: 13
Skills:
Diving: 3
Caving: 1
Navigation: 1
Survival: 1
Translate: 1
Inventory:
The Black Book (Real)
Black Flame
Bag of Path Markers
Silk Aspirant Gray Robes
Purple Mask
You wander downstairs and into one of the many empty rooms, closing the door behind you. Its quieter down here, for the moment.
Drett sighs, itching at the collar just.below his neck. I am all too familiar with these collars...
He steps aboard his new home, and asks the man who cut his restraints, since we only have twenty four hours, how long is it to the destination?
I am fine with the direct route. Dont want a TPK on the first mission after all!
One for the direct route.
AsHul finds a suitable room and does a knowledge check:
1) how are these bombs typically detonated?
2) how are the 'bosses' keeping an eye on us
3) do these bombs prevent diving?
4) do these bombs have failsafes against tampering via diving?
5) is there something important about the bombs that AsHul knows that he hasn't thought to ask in the above questions?
Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent
Goal:To find God
Stats
Str:9 Dex:8 Spe:8 End:10 Awa:12 Cun:10 Kno:10 Ner:16
Skills
Diving: 3
Animal Handling: 2
Survival: 1
Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy)
2 Silent Night - calming. gives advantage on diing rolls
4 Worm Blood - steadies nerves
2 Occult Junks
2 Fathoms
[5,1,17,19,16]
1) A radio signal or one of several internal triggers that are set to go off when the collar is tampered with or loses certain functions or signals.
2)You kept an eye out on your way down to the room and you saw no cameras so they must just be relying on the goons in the ship to physically keep watch on everyone. Which means one of them will probably following you and busting in soon to make sure you're not fucking around.
3) Shrug
4) Shrug
5)Also Shrug.
"Greetings my surprisingly varied friends, pleased to make your acquaintance. Adam Blavatsky Darvaza, at your service.
Now, I would have to agree that following the Journeyman's Path and then veering off before we stumble into Mason and accidentally knock over the village. From what I heard, that path is wide and easily traversable for a bore.
Either way, my first question would be, who of us is the most proficient at driving a boring machine? Any of you got any relevant expe-"
Vikkan energetically rolls the tips of his mustache back into place, their symmetry somewhat ruffled after his head was smashed against a desk. "No need for that kind of happy violence either, I just love driving bores and I could do without the threats."
"Hello there, fellow kidnapees, I'm Vikkan. I drive bores and maintain furnaces for a living, and I agree that we should head down Journeyman's Path. We're on a time limit set by our employers, so I'd say we worry about fulfilling their conditions first and visiting Mason in a more pleasant situation." he said, noticing the amount of people escaping after saying little or nothing at all.
The human lifted his cap and rubbed the back of his neck a bit. "Oh well. I'll head to the control room and get us on our way since it looks like voting's about done. I'll be there if anyone needs to chat, hide or want to help."
Start moving the bore towards Journeyman's Path and down towards our objective. Time is of essence!
"Ah, I see we have found our driver already, excellent! Tell me captain, would you mind if I observe you for a moment while you drive the bore? Sheer curiosity, you see, I've never seen one of these at work before."
Hopscotch along to the command center and take a looksie at how it looks and how our driver does his thing.
While we are moving, browse through my copy of the black book a little.
Name: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza
Description: A young man of slightly pale complexion and eternal 9 o’clock shadow, he was raised in a small village. While the village priest and passing mystics droned with endless sermons of the Church and their teachings, what had always captivated young Adam’s attention more were the stories of his Granny.
Old stories of the world as it once was, before people were forced to flee to the caves and crannies of this damp hell. Of warm days where pleasant green plants tickled your feet as you walked through them and a cool breeze blew through your hair. Where food was plentiful, nature was benign and endless vistas reached as far as they eye could see.
Adam was nominally a card-carrying member of the church, though he mostly did it for the connections and perks that brought. They were powerful and had ancient lore, all things he would need to fulfill his true heart’s desire: to return to the surface, vanquish the madness that tainted their homeland and reconquer paradise.
Goal: Plunge the secrets of the depths below to find an answer to the horrors above.
Stats
Str: 10
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 13
Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Inventory
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements
1 minor artifact
1 black book copy
1 black flame
1 Silent Night
1 field lighter
23 fathoms
Its difficult to hopscotch up a ladder but you make a damn good effort at it. You notice as you go that the former inhabitants of the bore seem to have hung ribbons on the legs of the ladder; most of them are gone but there are a few left that were apparently knotted too tightly or at too hard of an angle to bother with. The command center of the bore is a glass domed room at the very top of the machine. Its got a great view of the world outside, which at this point is just stone with the bright circular end of a tunnel a few hundred feet above you.
In the center of the room, taking up a lot of it, is a brass cylinder. It has cutout holes here and there for access to control panels; through gaps between the outer casing and these controls you can see the massive churning clockwork nightmare that is the bore's "Brain". The sound of what must be hundreds of thousands of metal gears all working at once is like the trickle of running water amplified and made metallic; countless tiny bells ringing.
The actual controls of the ship are quite elaborate; at least they seem that way. There are about a billion little buttons and gauges and knobs and levers and lights and nixie readouts. Seems like controlling this thing totally manually would be a nightmare.
((The black book isn't finished yet, I intend to stick it out for people to read soon, but for the moment its not ready, I'll give you an overview.))
The book you have is a copy, a reproduction rather than an original, so its contents are iffy. There are a lot of copies and none of them are authorized, many are made only by compiling what others say is in the book rather than actually copying the text. Like all of them, including the original, its divided into chapters called strata, organized supposedly from the basic to the most obtuse. However you've heard that the true book has 10 strata and this copy only has 5, strata I through IV and then , oddly, VIII.
I'll also join you in the Bore control, if''n you don't mind, Vikkan. Not much of a mechanic or operator, generally deal with rock tunnelin' and caves on foot, but it seems everyone else is scurryin' to the darkest corner they can find in here, so may as well join you. Who knows, might even learn something new.
Frax follows the two humans to the Bore Control. He doesn't move to touch any of the controls, but sets himself where he can see things as Vikkan works.
Name: Frax
Description: A somewhat larger example of a mole-man standing at around 6'5". Also a bit on the thicker side, the normally-defined musculature of the typical mole-man muted under a few layers of blubber. His short, rust-colored fur is starting to be streaked with silver. His clothing is sturdy and festooned with straps, retaining loops, and pockets, but otherwise plain - befitting one who's job is to go out of the bore and find things in the rock.
Goal: Money, dear boy. Gobs and gobs of money through mineral wealth (and possibly a touch of adventure along the way).
Stats:
Str:13
Dex:10
Spe:8
End:14
Awa:10
Cun:9
Kno:9
Ner:10
Skills:
Weapon Skill - Tungsten Toothpick: +2
Unarmed: +1
Caving: +1
Explosives: +1
Geology: +2
Archaeology: +1
Inventory:
Tungsten Toothpick (10 rounds)
0 Fathoms
You head up to the bore controls and do a circuit around the circular control room, examining the controls with your paws held behind your back. You bend down low to get a good look at a few things, squinting at readouts and displays, trying to make heads or tails of them and generally only getting a rough Idea, if any idea at all.
Kara was a bit overwhelmed with the number of people around her. She had no idea who was competent or not, who could be trusted, who could be useful, who was a threat. It was going to be hard remembering them all. But it was also kind of exciting. She was on the opposite side of the local area, traveling in a bore, meeting interesting people, going on an adventure in ancient ruins... It was basically everything she wished for! And yet now that she had it, she couldn't enjoy it fully. Not with that thing around her neck. She tried not to think about it and tried to ignore that nagging voice telling her 'be careful what you wish for'.
For now she decided to focus on what was most important. And for now that was getting the bore moving. That Vikkan person looked competent, but she knew looks could be deceiving. If he was incompetent or malicious, then he could cause serious harm. If he was competent, then that gave him power and influence and all her training told her that it's always best to befriend those with power and influence. Not to mention that other competent people should have come to the same conclusion, meaning she could also get to know them better as well. Either way, going to the bore control room was the most logical choice.
Examine the bore control room. What does it look like? How do we see the outside world? Is there a window or do we stare at instruments? Or do we use the window for walking around but close it when drilling?
Edit: Oh, how does the bore's AI communicate its status? Does the control room have something like a multi-purpose screen (maybe something like a split-flap display they have in some departure boards) it can use to speak? If not, would I be able to program it with certain vague responses to certain conditions/commands to give the GM a way to sass the driver and other players?
Name: "Kara" is what most humans call her, though the closest pronunciation would be Kr'ra-Kax
Race: Corven (advantage for climb, disadvantage for falls)
Appearance: She is a crow-like Corven with matte-black feathers. A bit short. Constantly moves her head around, examining her surroundings. Moves her tail up and down whenever she's excited.
Age: Adult, but just barely
Goal: Wants to find artifacts and experiences that she can use to make an (under)world-famous museum. Wants to prove herself to her mother and piss off her brother with her success (both financially and socially).
Stats
Str:8
Dex:13
Spe:13
End:6
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:8 + 3 = 11
Ner:10
Skills
Rifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1
Inventory
Simple Clothes
Ethral Rifle (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Silk Rope 100/100 feet
Grappling Hook
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
You look around the control room, specifically for how to view the world when drilling, since the big window seems a rather poor design choice. You find a few things: first you find controls for blast shields on the windows- which makes sense- and then a bank of periscopes that give views from all sorts of angles on the bore. Also makes sense. There's a map system as well, a sort of giant paper map embedded in the wall with big dials that let you scroll the view around since the map is extremely large and zoomed in. The mapping seems entirely manual, the map in the machine is all hand drawn, seemingly by several people since the quality varies.
You wander over and examine the Bore's clockwork brain. You really hope nothing in there breaks because getting in to fix anything would be an absolute nightmare. Its got several readouts, lots of nixie displays churning through numbers and those rotating split flap displays outputting text occasionally. Right now its outputting "STANDBY".
Name: Clate
Race: Shluck
Description: Being a Shluck, Clate is rarely seen outside of his environmental suit. Inside, he is the standard albino mollusk, with his only true defining characteristic being the alternating white/borwn pattern of his beak, much like on a nautilus shell. His environmental suit and exoskeltons are full of scuff marks and small blemishes from work, but the knowledgable observer will notice that it is mechanically kept in tip-top shape. He wears a toolbelt and a satchel to store his tools and other knickknacks, and has a blue cap perched on top of his helmet.
Goal: To create great works of craftsmanship and become filthy rich in the process.
Stats
Str: 8
Dex: 10
Spe: 8
End: 10
Awa: 9
Cun: 16 (+3)
Kno: 12
Ner:10
Skills
Electronics 1
Mechanical 1
Biological 1
Chemical 1
Occult 1
Weaponsmith 1
Armorsmith 1
Stealth 1
Steal 1
Explosives 1
Inventory
Clothing: A tool belt that can be modified to fit the exoskeleton, a satchel and a blue cap with "If it ain't broke, fix it" embroidered on.
Bladed Shovel
Silk rope (100ft)
TNT x3
Dynamo lantern
Field lighter
Path markers x10
5 Fathoms
Clate heads over to the control room, poking his head inside.
"Hello, gentledrivers. Name's Clate, I'll be your resident handyman. Be sure to yell at me if something on the bore's broken. I'm sure you don't mind if I go stake out a room for our workshop?"
Go explore the rooms other rooms in the bore, and be sure to pick up any junk the previous occupants and/or our captors have left behind. Then, select a suitable room to later build the workshop in.
The bore is set up on a multi-story layered cylindrical design, like most bores. The drill and engines make it bottom heavy so the legs are affixed at the same level as the engine, about where the center of gravity is. Thats all down almost at the very bottom, with only a half-story of sorts between the drill and the engine room. Not enough space to do much more than get in and weasel about, fixing things. Other rooms higher in the bore are larger, all shaped like horizontal arches around the central core supports and ladders. You search through several rooms but there's little of value left. Some trash (+1 structural junk) but not much else.
Nyw stands around watching the others introduce themselves, not even attempting to socialize like a functional human. Eventually he does break off, leaving to find the small white moth who called herself Wiellste.
Once he does find her, aiming a gun at a strange metallic lizard, he pauses again, waiting and watching. After a couple seconds of consideration, he begins speaking, loudly and clearly. "We are all allies here, and it would be a grave pity for any of us to inflict wounds upon another. Pray give the moth some space, friend."
((I swear I was gonna have Nyw visit Wiellste before I saw Yotta's post.))
First things first, count the number of "shady individuals" who are on the bore with us, and judge their apparent competence/attentiveness. Are they paying attention to where prisoners go, or are they just lazing around?
Second, do they stay in groups? I'm not going to ambush one alone, but if they're willing to get separated from each other, we might be able to overwhelm one before he pops anyone.
Edit: For the sake of GM positioning knowledge, RP has my char sitting next to Egan's mothkid. And letting her examine his bomb collar, if that actually happens.
Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:
((Without the murakumos.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is now code for "Guess".
Stats
Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:10 (+3)
Cun:8
Kno:6
Ner:10
Skills
Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Honored Armor)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Inventory:
Full Plate Armor (Protevtive 4)
Ornamental Mask of the Child
You count 12, all armed with both guns and melee weapons. They seem to be following people around pretty attentively, though they sort of look like they're trying to be nonchalant. They don't stare at anyone, they just sort of scan the room.
They tend to stay in groups of two, from what you can see, if not more. You've not seen one wander off alone.
Bronqui had brought himself into a corner of the first room. He barely had any time to process it all. He could hear people talking in the background, but for a while he just didn't care. He was, essentially, a slave. After this one mission, surely they'd ask for another, and another. He didn't even have a single Fathom on him. He was buying groceries and such, and the prices were higher than usual. He was going to a bank to pick up some more when he got kidnapped.
Slowly, he rose to his feet. He had to do SOMEthing, or else he might provide a reason to trigger his collar. These people he didn't know were all doing things...he didn't know them. This was a chance to know people, to build connections. Perhaps someone else was checking out the kitchen? If not, at least he'd be able to work on a meal for everyone on their way to those ruins. It might be their final meal, and they might deserve it.
Bronqui, still lost in his head, looks for a kitchen and/or pantry, to check what food is stocked in there, if any, and what appliances and such are available.
You look for food but find nothing. There are a few rooms in the bore that look like they were used for cargo, judging by some hooks welded to the floor, but they're all empty.
Wiellste seems to calm down a little given a concrete task, and an object to learn about.
"Okay, let me see, then."
Take a look at Nyw's collar. No touching. NO TOUCHING.
Just get an idea of the machine's function and how it might be removed.
Name: Wiellste Gunsmithy
Description: A young Ethral, no taller than 4 feet tall. Her fur is unpatterned and a milky white. Usually wears a rather plain quilted brown silk cloak, and a polished copper mask with symmetrical, spiraling lines etched on the sides.
Goal: Wiellste is like many Ethral in that she seeks to gather knowledge about the world before all else. Though being an Ethral from Knot, her skills are largely more on the practical building side than the scholarly side. She isn't particularly invested in the teachings of the Tenebrous Church, but the idea of the spheres intrigues her, especially Balarim, with it's writings and technology.
Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 15
Kno: 13
Ner: 11
Skills:
Weaponsmith 2
Diving 2
Pistol 1
Bore 1
Translate 1
Stealth 1
Inventory:
Silk cloak
Copper mask
Revolver 7/7
1 Fathom
[5]
You stare at the collar and stand on your tip toes to look it over, even though Nyw is sitting on the ground. You do circle around him, look at the bottom of it, and then bring your face as close as possible without touching it. This thing is well designed, you can tell. Should find the maker and congratulate them. You make a mental note to do exactly that.
Its got a radio transmitter here, in the back near the locking clasp and the timer. The remote detonator no doubt. And then you can see other switches set along the circumference, probably triggers for if someone tries to cut it off or use diving to change the consistency or form. Difficult difficult difficult. Removal dangerous, maybe impossible. But transmutation of bomb into inert substance! Possible. Unless internal switches in bomb? Unknown. Dangerous. Hmmmm.
Vikkan energetically rolls the tips of his mustache back into place, their symmetry somewhat ruffled after his head was smashed against a desk. "No need for that kind of happy violence either, I just love driving bores and I could do without the threats."
"Hello there, fellow kidnapees, I'm Vikkan. I drive bores and maintain furnaces for a living, and I agree that we should head down Journeyman's Path. We're on a time limit set by our employers, so I'd say we worry about fulfilling their conditions first and visiting Mason in a more pleasant situation." he said, noticing the amount of people escaping after saying little or nothing at all.
The human lifted his cap and rubbed the back of his neck a bit. "Oh well. I'll head to the control room and get us on our way since it looks like voting's about done. I'll be there if anyone needs to chat, hide or want to help."
Start moving the bore towards Journeyman's Path and down towards our objective. Time is of essence!
Name: Vikkan Laerthe
Description: A human from Anvil and a moderate Chthonic who was born and raised close in the neighborhood of the Hammerfall boreyard, where his parents were employed as menial workers. Being so close to a place so filled with machinery and boring machines left a lasting impression on Vikkan, who became a furnace helper, then a drivemaster's apprentice until he finally reached the controls of a bore. He's quite good at conducting driving bores and, most importantly, he deeply enjoys his work.
Bore love aside, Vikkan is also generally quite friendly and good-humored even when he's not behind a bore's controls. He is, however, aware of his limitations out of the control room, and he'd rather leave most other matters to more skilled people. What he lacks in intellectual education he displays in polite curiosity, and he tends to be interested in listening even to topics he can only vaguely grasp, making for a good talking and drinking buddy if nothing else.
At odds with his friendliness, he looks rugged, if young. His hair is dark brown and cut short, and he has a well-groomed handlebar mustache (though he's been known to let it grow and style it into a horseshoe at times). A small diagonal scar moves from his right eyebrow to the bridge of his nose. His skin is brown and displays a few burns thanks to a few years of furnace and boiler work. He's fairly hairy, with his shirt's sleeves covering hairy arms and a few spots of scar tissue. His uniform is made of thick cloth and utilitarian, overalls, a long-sleeved shirt and a cap. His major concession to vanity is keeping his uniform and mustache impeccable.
Goal: To deep driving bores and having fun while doing it. It's not a difficult dream, even if it can be hard at times.
Stats
Str: 10
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 13
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 10
Skills
+3 Vehicle (Bore)
+2 Navigation
+1 Defense (Mail Shirt)
Inventory
-Conductor's Clothes
-Dynamo Lantern
-Black Flame
-Black Book (Copy)
-Field Lighter
-Mail Shirt
-2 Fathoms
You look across the controls, memories of how they were made, diagrams and schematics flowing through your memory. This is an old bore, before your time. Maybe before your parent's time. But you know it. You start pressing buttons, flipping switches and pulling leavers, going through the startup sequence. You can feel it as the boiler heats up, the soft thrum of pressurized fluids running out into the legs, the rattle of the engine starting up. The entire machine shifts several inches up as the legs come online. You check the displays behind you and the computer is rapidly scrolling through the split flaps, displaying things for a moment before moving on.
You double check everything before putting your hand on the drive lever. You squeeze the safety catch and take a deep breath. Then you throw the lever. There is a tremendous reverberation as everything in the drive system catches. The blast doors above you iris shut and the machine rocks back and forth, automatically synchronizing the legs. And then with a sudden lurch it begins to move, rising straight up with enough force and speed that you need to lean on the console to keep your balance. Displays, running dim and quiet on reserve power until a moment ago, flash into brilliant light and whirl with energetic life. The Bore clears whatever hole they had it in within a few moments and jerks hard to the east, running towards the Journeyman's path. You carefully sync the map and the thing's movement up so that it will reach the path and move automatically.
The Journeyman's path takes three hours to navigate, spiraling downward to Mason. From there, you drill west, Towards the ruins. It turns out that the entire cockpit can rotate to align correctly but the rest of the bore can't so everyone in the lower decks find themselves sitting on the walls. It takes five hours of drilling to finally reach the spot indicated on the map. You can feel it when the drill breaks through into a hollow area and you pull the main breaks to stop its movement.
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 414343 times)