Alex looks at Lokram with a bored expression.
"Seems to be the case, let's go."
Alex exits the bore, lantern in hand.
Name: Alex Wells
Description: A middle aged man standing 5'7" feet tall. He has short brown hair and an unkempt beard.
Goal: Exploring the depths and collecting its wealth.
Stats:
Str: 11
Dex: 10
Spe: 10
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 12
Kno: 10
Ner: 10
Skills:
Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
Inventory:
Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
3 TNT
Bladed Shovel
Mail Shirt
8 Fathoms
”Alright people, we’re already 8 hours in. We have 16 hours left before this place gets a nice new coat of paint. No time to mess around. Anybody who wants to put their neck on the line should get on the outside ASAP. Anybody who doesn’t should get to doing something useful. I’d suggest we get ourselves organized before heading our way out that door to certain doom.”
Check viewports to get an idea of what the immediate area looks like. After I’ve done that, head to the door and wait for teammates to form a exploration team.
Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop.
Goal: Overall, Harm would like to find a place where refugees and travelers could seek refuge without dealing with the dogmatic influence of the church. Right now, though, she just wants to get away.
Stats
Str:10
Dex:11
Spe:10
End:10
Awa:10
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:10
Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)
Inventory
Lucky Shot (7 rounds)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units structural junk
2 units mechanical junk
"I reckon we've reached our destinashun. 'Bout time too, ah was aching to set foot outside. 's pretty cramped in here." Rick said, visibly relieved.
"Now less get down tah bidness, if ya will !" He then excitedly exclaimed.
"I'll go out here and check for danger. Feel free tah tag along if ya feel like it." He finally declared before leaving.
Exit the bore and scout around without getting too far. Try to not get seen by whoever or whatever might lurk out there.
Name: Rick. No last name, just Rick.
Race: Mole-Man
Description: Rick is muscular and tall, even by mole-men standards. His fur is black and generally messy. His body bears many scars from past battles, most notably one over his left eye.
Goal: Rick's goal is to become stronger, maybe even strong enough to one day face the horrors of the surface.
Stats
Str: 12 + 1
Dex: 10 + 1
Spe: 8
End: 12 + 1
Awa: 10
Cun: 9
Kno: 9
Ner: 10
Skills:
Unarmed + 3
Survival + 1
Navigation + 1
Acrobatics + 1
Animal Handling + 1
Inventory:
7 + 4 + 7 = 18 + 20 = 38Ordinary Clothes (-0)
Mail Shirt (-20)
Grappling Hook (-10)
Cave Spider Venom (-3)
100 feet of Silk Rope (-5)
Time to see if I'm still any good for fieldwork, I suppose.
And I'd say groups of three at least, if'n we have enough manpower. Groups of two, one person goes down, you have no support if you care enough to haul them t' safety. Three, you might have at least one person still fit an' unburdened, and they can hand off to each other as needed.
I can go with jus' about anyone as a decent close-up fighter and maybe even be useful lookin' at the ruins. Don' have a light myself, though. Could stick with you if you want, Vikkan.
Frax follows the others out of the bore and looks around with them as they reconnoiter the area outside the Bore, seeing if this particular ruin has any familiarity to bits he's seen before.
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
Vikkan ran a finger around the edges of his mustache, taking a moment to think while grooming his facial hair at the same time. "Since it seems we don't have many combat-capable people I say we stick together at least for the moment. We don't need to be huddled together, mind you, but keeping the entire group at least in visual range of each other will work well enough."
"Who knows? Maybe that relic will be easy enough to find. In case it isn't, we could split in two groups for ease of searching. We only have two people with a doctor's bag and no radios, so any group without our Ethral friends might be in trouble in case of a medical emergency."
"Hence, two groups at most." he added with a smile.
((We should probably try to keep this simple for both players and GM and not split up just now unless the place's layout is conducive to it. Let's explore a bit first.))
Let's walk around a bit and get a good feel for the place. Are there branching passages? Many paths? An enormous amount of ground to cover that'll require several teams bumbling around?
"Your w-way? Are you from... t-the church too?"
"Oh, a fellow Chthonic are you? Splendid! Say, what is your favorite chapter in the Book of Truth? I never got my hands on the real deal, only this copy, unfortunately." he says, showing his inferior copy of the holy book.
"Wow, you sure know a lot about bore naming! I am fairly green when it comes to bore stuff, but I know my way around the church and the deep."
"Ah, well, you know, like I said, it's mostly stories. I bet sir Vikkan knows a lot more than I do. But you say you know about the church? Then um..."
Kara got a bit closer and lowered the volume of her voice.
"Do those people look familiar to you? I've heard the church is the most powerful organization amongst humans and whoever kidnapped us appears to be both wealthy and powerful and human."
Adam huddles conspiratorially to Kara and whispers "I have no idea who those people are. They might be connected to the church, but this isn't their modus operandi that I am aware off. We'll have to play this cautiously."
Take a look around, use my knowledge of the occult to see if there's anything giving off relic-y vibes, or at least what direction seems most promising to start exploring in.
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
"Right, well, I'm sure we'll divide into groups after we've exited the bore. Let's see if there's any juicy junk out there."
Make sure my lantern battery is cranked to full, then head outside of the bore. Look around where we are, what do I see. Try to spot if there's anything in the vicinity I can grab for juicy crafting junk.
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
1 structural junk
5 Fathoms
"Let's try our best!" Auft declared softly, drawing and cocking a long rifle from her cloak.
Exit the bore, follow Vikkan.
Name: Auft Kindheart
Description: Standing 3'10", with even fluffier than usual snow-white fur, this Ethral radiates adorable innocence even by the standards of her kind. Her porcelain-white mask is a circular shape carved into slices, each bearing a smiling face with eyes and mouths arched in joy, and adorned with pink blush marks. Her cloak is similarly pure white and a little too large for her, adding to her cute and defenseless appearance.
Goal: To amass and improve loyal pets and slaves.
Stats
Str: 7
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 8
Awa: 7
Cun: 16
Kno: 13
Ner: 10
Skills
+1 Medical
+1 Translate
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Persuasion
+1 Stealth
+1 Animal Handling
+1 Archeology
+1 Biological
+1 Chemical
+1 Occult
Inventory
2 Fathoms
Ethral Rifle [7/7]
Doctor's Bag
Moku notices the growing crowd of people exiting the bore, and decides to join, moving a few feet behind the group.
Name: Moku Youkou
Race: Abomination Shang-Gei
Description: A female Shang-Gei cloaked in a heavy and rough looking worm wool coat. Underneath the clothing, is a heavily mutated figure. Her scales has been coat in plastic, giving each one a iridescent sheen to them.Spikes of melded plastic, metal and circuitry are studded haphazardly, the largest one is a foot long, spearing right above her pelvis. Her tongues have been replaced with metal tendils that sneak in and out of her mouth when she is not paying attention.
Goal: To "find" her mate.
Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 8
Speed: 8
Endurance: 10
Awareness: 12
Cunning: 12
Knowledge: 11
Nerve: 13
Skills:
Medical: +2
Machine Control: +1
Electronics: +1
Mechanical: +1
Armorsmith: +1
Occult: +1
Diving: +1
Stealth +1
Inventory:
Fathoms:16
Relic fragment
Bladed Shovel
Follow mustacheguy for now.
((Silly Piecewise, Wiellste is Tali, not Mordin~))
Nyw sighs upon hearing Wiellste's explanation "Thank you, little one. It is a pity that I can't remove these collars myself, but I have faith that our allies shall suffice. Rest now, I shall sit with you while the bore travels."
The large man then leans against the wall and relaxes, but he continues to watch the doorway intently, his expression unreadable under his mask. He remains utterly still for the rest of the journey, only moving when Wiellste speaks up, or when the bore rotates to navigate some obstacle or another.
Nyw joins the discussion about team compositions late, having waited for Wiellste to get up on her own. "I agree with Vikkan. We have more than enough time to complete our task, and larger groups are safer. We do not know the capabilities of our allies, and some may be less experienced than others; we cannot rely on each individual having sufficient competency to serve in their role. That said, we have yet to even examine the area. Plans can be made once we know what challenges await us."
Once outside, he doesn't even pretend to examine the area, immediately turning to watch the bore's exit, waiting for the guards to come out. If he catches sight of either mole, or the only abomination capable of speaking, he states that it would please him greatly if they accompany him during the exploration.
Assuming it's safe, leave the bore with the others. Watch the guards, and keep track of them; are they all accompanying us? None?
Did the guards sleep during the seven hours of traveling? If not, waiting until some of them rest during the return journey would be an excellent plan.
Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:
((Without the murakumos.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for
"I don't have a clue" "syvarris is bad at modifying the master charsheet".
Stats
Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:13
Cun:8
Kno:6
Ner:10
Skills
Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate Armor)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Inventory:
Full Plate Armor (Protective 4)
Ornamental Mask of the Child
((Since almost everyone here has the same action, I'll post a single reply for all of your "Look outside" style actions and then address any specific sub actions. ))
Everyone exits the bore through the airlock closest to the ground. Its still a good 20 foot rope ladder climb down to the surface from the side of the bore. The tunnel is pitch dark except for the area straight ahead, where the drill has smashed though into a cavern. Red-orange light leaks in around the circumference of the drill; combined with the smell of sulfur and the heat its clear they've broken into somewhere volcanic. They walk to the edge of the bore's drill and sidle around it and out into the cavern as far as they can. The hole is just that, a hole drilled out through a wall; no platform or land to stand on other then the lip of the tunnel. The cavern itself is large- maybe 400 feet tall, with the entrance they made at about the mid point- egg shaped, with flowing patterns of hardened magma all across it. The bottom third or so of the shape is filled with a pool of still quite hot and active magma, bright enough that it hurts to look at. In that magma, half submerged, are the ruins. They're not stone, they're crystal of some kind, semi-transparent blue almost like ice. The structure is jagged and sharp edged, like a castle made of shards of broken glass. It looks like it has tilted slightly to one side, as though the foundation has sunk unevenly into the magma.
Swirling, dancing, writhing and snaking around this structure in constant movement is what could only be described as a worm made of stars. Its must be huge, since its length is such that it could wrap around the ruins several times. It keeps slithering through the air, cutting between spires, diving and rising erratically, wrapping the ruins in an uneven, constantly moving embrace. It doesn't have a definite edge that you can see, its like a hazy cloud of darkness studded with bright spots of white light. A constellation escaped from the sky and come to visit terror upon the world, just like the Church says.
The Ruin is in the middle of this lake of lava thats maybe 100 feet below the tunnel, and then out maybe 80 feet across that lake away from the tunnel entrance. Getting to it from here is going to be...very tricky.
Pyro: [6] You know of places like this; you think its one of the ruins of the gemstone people.
RC: [19] You can't put your finger on it but gosh damn if this place doesn't seem pretty relicy. The space snake is making you think something is going on here.
Sy: They did not sleep and several of them have followed you guys out and are now standing at a distance behind you.
Kara decided to spend a bit more time examining the control room before joining the rest, now that she had the whole thing to herself.
"What do you think, bore? Do you know anything about this place?" she asked the machine as she checked the various readings, knowing it was unlikely it would answer her.
Check the map. Is there any information on this place? Does it look like the bore has been here before?
Edit: If it isn't on the map, then add it. I guess there's no harm in doing so.
Do I know anything about this place? What about this section of the Local Area in general?
Check the machine's instruments. Do any of them appear to be showing any strange readings?
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)
Nomad Bore
Power: 8
Mobility: 14
System: 6
Integrity: 10
Penetration: 12
15 Open Rooms
An oversized and outdated Bore formerly used by trading caravans. Its systems are outdated and its boiler isn’t the best, but its powerful drill and expertly tuned mobility systems allow it to get just about anywhere.
You walk over to the map and take a look at it. Its automatically scrolled into place, which is nice, and there is something here. Really just a circle around a section of earth with the label of "RUINS?" on it. So they knew ruins were here, or at least suspected as much. You wonder if it hasn't been raided for some particular reason. You grab a pencil and change the mark to indicate there definitely are ruins here.
[19]
You're not really sure about anything here; its near Mason and a volcanic vein. Thats about all.
You check the instrumentation; its certainly hot out there but there's no readings of poison gas and the oxygen levels look ok. No odd readings otherwise.
Lay on the floor. Arrange all my items around the explosive collar (lay head on book, place fragment under chin, all potions under back of neck, occult junks to the left and right). If I am satisfied that they will all perish with me, and if I am not interrupted by goons, Dive! I assume this is a dangerous situation, what with the explodey and the guys coming to beat me senseless. Take a Silent Night. Head to Balarim for tech, then to Hel for transmute to render the explosive bits inert. Will reinforcing the Tech sphere (Balarim) do anything? If so, spend two rolls there. If not, spend one. Reinforce transmute (Hel) with hmm. Six rolls.
So the final spell will look like:
nerve rolls:
Balarim: 1 or 2
Yengenze: 1 (passage)
Es: 1 (passage)
Hel: 7
Return: 1
Total nerve rolls: 11-12 (at advantage)
Final roll: Balarim (a 60% chance of success) because tech was the material sphere used
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 diving rolls
4 Worm Blood - steadies nerves
2 Occult Junks
2 Fathoms
Alright, first Dive of the game and of course its high stakes. You carefully lay down, arranging your items in such a way that you hope they'll be destroyed by the explosion if you fail. Once you are in position, you take a swig of silent night and immediately feel the world go quiet and calm, the edges of your vision going dark. You close your eyes, concentrate, and let the gentle pull of the artifact shard take you away.
(14 + 11 + 2 + 8 + 2 + 19 + 11 + 1 + 14 + 1 + 6)(Advantage reroll: 10). (Final rolls: 12,20)
You open your eyes. Huh, still have eyes open, this is good. The fragmented images of your traversal of the planes still so fresh in your mind that being in normal reality is rather disorienting. You blink and feel the color. Still there, along with all your items and your body. Wonderful. You try to sit up and immediately regret it when the collar doesn't move and just throttles you back to the ground. You try again, more carefully this time and still cannot get up. You try to move to the side and find that you can rotate and scoot around in different directions. So you're not welded to the ground...You have an idea.
You pull out a Fathom, one of the 1 fathom coins made with some alloy including iron, and bring it down near the back of your neck. It rips itself from your fingers and clangs onto the collar.
"Replaced the explosives with a powerful magnet. This is...lateral advancement at worst. I'm gonna call it a minor win because I'm not dead."
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 414187 times)