Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Parisbre56]

"Adam? What happened? Is that what was supposed to happen? All we sew was a flash of light and then you went unconscious. Did you have a vision? What did you see? Do you know how the world was created? Do you know the future? Are you okay? Are you in pain? Were you blinded by that flash of light? Or were you already unconscious by then? Do you need anything? Do you still feel like yourself? You look a bit... different. Do you feel different? Are you still Adam? Or do you have a new name? Do you have any new abilities? Can you fly? Or maybe you have been cursed? Does the light hurt? Do you want us to close them?"
Kara kept excitedly cawing her stream of questions while furiously bobbing her tail. Normally she'd be more apprehensive but seeing Adam getting licked like that and not exploding the offender filled her with confidence that he was not possessed by some bloodthirsty monster. Which meant he was now a valuable source of information. Very valuable, judging from the radio chatter.

[syvarris]

"Hmm.  I do not favor our chances of all surviving against such a creature, not under the open sky where it is free to manuever however it pleases.  It is doubtful that all of us could make it to cover without being spotted, as well.  I am not small, nor fast, nor quiet, if nothing else, and would surely give away our movement.  Pray tell, do any of you possess food?  It seems to be consuming something, perhaps a second feast could distract it while we move to the temple. Alternatively, if it does not respond to food, I could willingly enter its vision, and likely engage it, while all of you make your way to the temple... though such a plan is certainly not without risk; if it lives by the same rules as the previous guardians, it is most likely fully capable of carrying and cleaving me, which will surely spell my doom if I do not vanquish it with a single blow.  Hmm.  Quite the conundrum."

"...Perhaps, perhaps one of you who possesses a firearm could make your way to the temple, alone?  Once you are safe in cover, you could fire the weapon to attract its attention, and while it searches for the source in the temple, the rest of us could move closer.  Hrm.  Still not safe.  Best to try the food, if possible.  Or perhaps simply engage it together, as one.  Any thoughts?"

Spoiler: The Unpronounceable Undead (click to show/hide)

Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:

((Only one murakumo, but hey!  Dual wielding them is stupid anyway.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for "I forget to change this thing, way too often".

Stats:
Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:14
Cun:8
Kno:7
Ner:10

Skills:
Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Murakumo: +1


Inventory:
Full Plate Armor [Protective 4]
Ornamental Mask of the Child
Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
Giant Guardian Hatchet [Chop 4, ]

Probably left in the warehouse:
A hooked cleaver [Cut 3]
Two knives [Cut 2, Pierce 2]
Guard rifle [Pierce 2]
A bunch of bloody guard garments, to be used as raw material.

[Ozarck]

"Those beams of light from it's eyes look significant. I wonder if it won't acknowledge anyone as a threat unless the light sweeps over them. Perhaps blinding it would be of use. Is it even a guardian? It seems to fit the pattern, but is that a mask?

Perhaps this buzzard draws power from the building below, as the previous guardian seemed to do with that tree. I wonder if some action like stopping the prayer wheels would give us an advantage."

[Caellath]

"So what happened?"

Get close enough so that Adam can be retrieved, make sure he isn't exploding into black flames, then get on our way.

Spoiler: Vikkan Laerthe, Human Bore Driver (click to show/hide)

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. He doesn't have a right hand.

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: 11
Dex: 11
Spe: 10
End: 11
Awa: 13
Cun: 10
Kno: 11
Ner: 11

Skills (1 point unspent)
+3 Vehicle (Bore)
+2 Navigation
+1 Defense (Mail Shirt)

Inventory
-Conductor's Clothes
-Dynamo Lantern
-Black Book (Copy)
-Field Lighter
-Mail Shirt
-Short Sword
-Rifle
-Knife
-100ft silk rope
-142 Fathoms
-Neck chain (that used to hold a black flame that actually never existed)
-Black Flame
-Clockwork arm

1 Mission and counting
Level 0: +3 Awareness
Level 1: +1 Str, Dex, End, Kno, Ner. 1 skill point unused.

[Hotfire90]

"If we're going to confront it, then I think our best bet to defeat the creature would be with the magic of my moon blade, only problem is that I haven't figured out how to use it yet.
We also have plenty of TNT, we could lure the thing into a trap and blow it up with some TNT."

[Ozarck]

Inspect the bird carefully. Is this thing the next guardian? Do I recollect it's idol? Is the path to the temple in it's line of sight? what is it eating up there? Are it's tiles thematically the same as the temple it stands on? do the eye lights act as a sort of spotlight? is it masked? does it move in rhythm with the sound of the prayer wheels? Are there other, lesser versions of it out and about somewhere that we might be able to spot?

"three guardians to go, correct? This one took us rather by surprise. It would be good to go into the next area fully prepared. I seem to have lost control of a Dive, but I think we are okay to continue, unless you all feel the risk has shown itself to be too great? Well, if we do continue, I offer to attempt to shield the group again, before we face the next guardian."

Spoiler: Not so much a character, but a mistake (click to show/hide)

Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent. Currently a dream robot
Goal:To find God
 
Stats
Str:9  Dex:8  Spe:9  End:11  Awa:12  Cun:11  Kno:11  Ner:16

Skills
3 Diving
2 Animal Handling
1 Survival
1 Weapon skill: Guitar

Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
2 Silent Night 
6 Worm Blood
100 ft of rope
1 knife (cut/pierce 2)
2 Occult Junks
59  Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore, one "shiny," 57 standard)
168 Fathoms (Team Account. Kept on AsHul's person for safekeeping. Stored separately from his personal funds.

Stored at warehouse during Relic Vision:
Firing Control Module (Brass Brain)
Book of sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of about 100 pages bound by three brass rings along the top of the sheets]
his former bomb collar - made of something like demagnetized neodymium.
One Bone-fretted haunted electric guitar
One mundane acoustic guitar with wave patterns in abalone and turquoise

Notes:
Travellers' guild is offering a relic retrieval job. Local hazards ('living').

[Aigre Excalibur]

Help Kara evacuate Adam back into the bore. Reform the cuddle puddle if we are going for another bore ride.

"Where is this creature anyway?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Aigresaur
Description: A sexy lizard with a serpentine head, smooth pale scales, a slender velociraptor's body with lanky arms and legs...
Goal: it just wants to snuggle
 
Stats Shang-Gei
Str: 8
Dex: 15
Spe: 12
End: 8
Awa: 12
Cun: 10
Kno: 8
Ner: 10

Skills
shotgun: 3
acrobatics: 2
Unarmed: 1

Inventory
Tunnel Clearer 5/5
4 shells
Mail shirt (3 protect )

[randomgenericusername]

Try to see from the bore what happened to Adam. Once he's brougth inside, stay away from him until the bore crew confirms that it's safe to stay close.

Spoiler: Kalagony (click to show/hide)

Name: Kalagony

Description: Kalagony is a short but muscular Mole-man. He's a martial arts fanatic, and willingly replaced his healthy arm with a mechanical version just to improve his lethality in melee combat. He has a particularly large tentacled star-shaped snout and a small pair of black, beady eyes. His hair is dark brown.

Goal: His life goal is to challenge and fight against the best warriors in the world, to crush his opponents and claim the title of the strongest fighter.

Stats:
Str:15 
Dex:11 
Spe:8 
End:13 
Awa:11 
Cun:10 
Kno:10 
Ner:11

Skills:
Unarmed: 3 (2+1 Mole-Man Claws)
Defense Skill: Mechanical arm Block: 3
Caving: 1
(1 Unused Skill Point)

Inventory:
Mechanical arm (Right arm, claw weapon)
Grappling Hook
Silk Rope (100 feet)
Field Lighter
Martial Arts Gi

[Radio Controlled]

You wake up to a face full of lizard tongue and push it away as best you can. Once Aigre stops licking you, you examine yourself. The edges of your vision are flickering with black flame and your skin is extremely pale with what appear to be black veins instead of the normal blue ones. Otherwise though, you don't look or feel any different.

As Adam woke up after the intense experience with the Word, two thoughts entered his mind:
"I have a lot of thinking to do."
and
"OH GOD IT'S IN MY FACE DROOL EVERYWHERE OH GOD."

After overcoming his lizard tongue ordeal, he regained his composure and straightened his back. He still felt a little groggy, but at the same time, his mind felt much clearer now, any lingering doubt he had before burned away by the knowledge the Word had gifted him with.

Addressing the rest of the crew, Adam spoke up so the various people standing around could hear him.
"Well, that was quite something, wasn't it? Thank you all for your patience. I apologize for the delay, or any distress, this may have caused. Now then, shall we be on our way again? We still have a client waiting eagerly for our return, after all!"

"Adam? What happened? Is that what was supposed to happen? All we sew was a flash of light and then you went unconscious. Did you have a vision? What did you see? Do you know how the world was created? Do you know the future? Are you okay? Are you in pain? Were you blinded by that flash of light? Or were you already unconscious by then? Do you need anything? Do you still feel like yourself? You look a bit... different. Do you feel different? Are you still Adam? Or do you have a new name? Do you have any new abilities? Can you fly? Or maybe you have been cursed? Does the light hurt? Do you want us to close them?"
Kara kept excitedly cawing her stream of questions while furiously bobbing her tail. Normally she'd be more apprehensive but seeing Adam getting licked like that and not exploding the offender filled her with confidence that he was not possessed by some bloodthirsty monster. Which meant he was now a valuable source of information. Very valuable, judging from the radio chatter.

"Wooh, easy there young Corven, please. I'm still recovering from what happened, it was quite a... trip, shall we say.

Now, I am still myself and in possession of all my faculties. And not possessed by any demons or anything, don't worry. I will try to be more forthcoming with answers later, but for now, I'd like to... meditate for a bit."


Try to get to one of the unused rooms we have on the bore alone and meditate on what just happened.

Then, try to figure out what the flickering black flame at the edge of my vision is all about. Did Adam get some sort of new vision ability? Do certain objects look different now?

Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)

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: 11
End: 10
Awa: 11
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 13

Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1

Inventory

1 soldier chestplate
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements

1 ethral rifle [10 rounds]  (pierce 2)
1 black flame

1 Silent Night
4 worm blood

1 minor artifact
1 beaker artifact (found in crystal ruins) => in locker
1 crystal construct

Transport mission papers
1 black book copy
1 black book
1 book "Artifacts of Faith"
1 empyrean city map
1 field lighter
1 radio
6 fathoms
   -loaned 40 to Cara (Tiruin)
297 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
1 unspent skillpoint

[Parisbre56]

"Oh... Okay! Just one important question then. Do you feel like having visitors? Because some people are coming and sound eager to meet you. I think they're faithful of the Cthonic religion that want to admire you with their own eyes. If you're fine with that, I could tell them we could meet at the next town. If you feel like you need to be alone for now or if you fear they are not all faithful eager to see a living miracle, then I could send them in the opposite direction."

Help Aigre help Adam.

Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)

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).

Status
Sacrificed left arm to reverse time (eaten by giant Shluck-like thing). Bandaged and given spider venom for the pain.

Stats
Str:9
Dex:13 
Spe:13 
End:7
Awa:12
Cun:10 
Kno:12
Ner:11

Skills
1 unspent
Rifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1

Inventory
3 fathoms
Ethral Rifle (scope+bipod) (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 6/7
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Grappling Hook + Ethral Silk rope 100 ft
Simple Clothes
Kara's Diary

In Storage
Crystal Tablets (diary about All-Eater and Great Destroyer, inventory, obedience rod instructions, construct assembly instructions)
Church Documents (document ownership and events, and recommend favorable treatment)
Cot
Book (Adventures of Pilgrim)
Deck of Cards
Mechanical Arm (not installed)
Crystal Friend
Bomb collar (unlocked)
All bomb collar remotes

[piecewise]

"So what happened?"

Get close enough so that Adam can be retrieved, make sure he isn't exploding into black flames, then get on our way.

Spoiler: Vikkan Laerthe, Human Bore Driver (click to show/hide)

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. He doesn't have a right hand.

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: 11
Dex: 11
Spe: 10
End: 11
Awa: 13
Cun: 10
Kno: 11
Ner: 11

Skills (1 point unspent)
+3 Vehicle (Bore)
+2 Navigation
+1 Defense (Mail Shirt)

Inventory
-Conductor's Clothes
-Dynamo Lantern
-Black Book (Copy)
-Field Lighter
-Mail Shirt
-Short Sword
-Rifle
-Knife
-100ft silk rope
-142 Fathoms
-Neck chain (that used to hold a black flame that actually never existed)
-Black Flame
-Clockwork arm

1 Mission and counting
Level 0: +3 Awareness
Level 1: +1 Str, Dex, End, Kno, Ner. 1 skill point unused.

"Oh... Okay! Just one important question then. Do you feel like having visitors? Because some people are coming and sound eager to meet you. I think they're faithful of the Cthonic religion that want to admire you with their own eyes. If you're fine with that, I could tell them we could meet at the next town. If you feel like you need to be alone for now or if you fear they are not all faithful eager to see a living miracle, then I could send them in the opposite direction."

Help Aigre help Adam.

Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)

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).

Status
Sacrificed left arm to reverse time (eaten by giant Shluck-like thing). Bandaged and given spider venom for the pain.

Stats
Str:9
Dex:13 
Spe:13 
End:7
Awa:12
Cun:10 
Kno:12
Ner:11

Skills
1 unspent
Rifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1

Inventory
3 fathoms
Ethral Rifle (scope+bipod) (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 6/7
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Grappling Hook + Ethral Silk rope 100 ft
Simple Clothes
Kara's Diary

In Storage
Crystal Tablets (diary about All-Eater and Great Destroyer, inventory, obedience rod instructions, construct assembly instructions)
Church Documents (document ownership and events, and recommend favorable treatment)
Cot
Book (Adventures of Pilgrim)
Deck of Cards
Mechanical Arm (not installed)
Crystal Friend
Bomb collar (unlocked)
All bomb collar remotes

Help Kara evacuate Adam back into the bore. Reform the cuddle puddle if we are going for another bore ride.

"Where is this creature anyway?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Aigresaur
Description: A sexy lizard with a serpentine head, smooth pale scales, a slender velociraptor's body with lanky arms and legs...
Goal: it just wants to snuggle
 
Stats Shang-Gei
Str: 8
Dex: 15
Spe: 12
End: 8
Awa: 12
Cun: 10
Kno: 8
Ner: 10

Skills
shotgun: 3
acrobatics: 2
Unarmed: 1

Inventory
Tunnel Clearer 5/5
4 shells
Mail shirt (3 protect )

You all drag Adam back onto the bore and then settle in as the bore continues on its way. They make it to Knot without any further issues. This is the first Ethral city the bore has visited and its quite a thing. There's a "Through" path for all the traffic just heading through that is fairly normal to what most humans and other races are used to but beyond it the place resembles something strangely organic. There's not a straight line or regular geometric shape anywhere; everything is curves, curls, whorls, rounded edges, and elongated or distorted shapes. Structures hang from the ceiling like massive silk cocoons with curved, elegant windmills turning ponderously between them. The roads and pathways among the buildings look like thin strands of white silk strung in a haphazard and organic way between each structure.

You wake up to a face full of lizard tongue and push it away as best you can. Once Aigre stops licking you, you examine yourself. The edges of your vision are flickering with black flame and your skin is extremely pale with what appear to be black veins instead of the normal blue ones. Otherwise though, you don't look or feel any different.

As Adam woke up after the intense experience with the Word, two thoughts entered his mind:
"I have a lot of thinking to do."
and
"OH GOD IT'S IN MY FACE DROOL EVERYWHERE OH GOD."

After overcoming his lizard tongue ordeal, he regained his composure and straightened his back. He still felt a little groggy, but at the same time, his mind felt much clearer now, any lingering doubt he had before burned away by the knowledge the Word had gifted him with.

Addressing the rest of the crew, Adam spoke up so the various people standing around could hear him.
"Well, that was quite something, wasn't it? Thank you all for your patience. I apologize for the delay, or any distress, this may have caused. Now then, shall we be on our way again? We still have a client waiting eagerly for our return, after all!"

"Adam? What happened? Is that what was supposed to happen? All we sew was a flash of light and then you went unconscious. Did you have a vision? What did you see? Do you know how the world was created? Do you know the future? Are you okay? Are you in pain? Were you blinded by that flash of light? Or were you already unconscious by then? Do you need anything? Do you still feel like yourself? You look a bit... different. Do you feel different? Are you still Adam? Or do you have a new name? Do you have any new abilities? Can you fly? Or maybe you have been cursed? Does the light hurt? Do you want us to close them?"
Kara kept excitedly cawing her stream of questions while furiously bobbing her tail. Normally she'd be more apprehensive but seeing Adam getting licked like that and not exploding the offender filled her with confidence that he was not possessed by some bloodthirsty monster. Which meant he was now a valuable source of information. Very valuable, judging from the radio chatter.

"Wooh, easy there young Corven, please. I'm still recovering from what happened, it was quite a... trip, shall we say.

Now, I am still myself and in possession of all my faculties. And not possessed by any demons or anything, don't worry. I will try to be more forthcoming with answers later, but for now, I'd like to... meditate for a bit."


Try to get to one of the unused rooms we have on the bore alone and meditate on what just happened.

Then, try to figure out what the flickering black flame at the edge of my vision is all about. Did Adam get some sort of new vision ability? Do certain objects look different now?

Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)

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: 11
End: 10
Awa: 11
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 13

Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1

Inventory

1 soldier chestplate
Clothing: simple priest robes, shortened a bit so as to less restrict his movements

1 ethral rifle [10 rounds]  (pierce 2)
1 black flame

1 Silent Night
4 worm blood

1 minor artifact
1 beaker artifact (found in crystal ruins) => in locker
1 crystal construct

Transport mission papers
1 black book copy
1 black book
1 book "Artifacts of Faith"
1 empyrean city map
1 field lighter
1 radio
6 fathoms
   -loaned 40 to Cara (Tiruin)
297 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
1 unspent skillpoint

[11]
You find an unused room and sit down in it. You look at your hand, focusing on it intently. The nimbus of black flame on your vision suddenly flows inward and tints your vision in an inverted color scheme. And you can see your hand in all its detail, every wrinkle, every cell, every artery and tendon and bone. You blink before your eyes can focus in enough to make out the molecular arrangement of things and the vision vanishes, replaced by your normal sight once more.

Inspect the bird carefully. Is this thing the next guardian? Do I recollect it's idol? Is the path to the temple in it's line of sight? what is it eating up there? Are it's tiles thematically the same as the temple it stands on? do the eye lights act as a sort of spotlight? is it masked? does it move in rhythm with the sound of the prayer wheels? Are there other, lesser versions of it out and about somewhere that we might be able to spot?

"three guardians to go, correct? This one took us rather by surprise. It would be good to go into the next area fully prepared. I seem to have lost control of a Dive, but I think we are okay to continue, unless you all feel the risk has shown itself to be too great? Well, if we do continue, I offer to attempt to shield the group again, before we face the next guardian."

Spoiler: Not so much a character, but a mistake (click to show/hide)

Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent. Currently a dream robot
Goal:To find God
 
Stats
Str:9  Dex:8  Spe:9  End:11  Awa:12  Cun:11  Kno:11  Ner:16

Skills
3 Diving
2 Animal Handling
1 Survival
1 Weapon skill: Guitar

Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
2 Silent Night 
6 Worm Blood
100 ft of rope
1 knife (cut/pierce 2)
2 Occult Junks
59  Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore, one "shiny," 57 standard)
168 Fathoms (Team Account. Kept on AsHul's person for safekeeping. Stored separately from his personal funds.

Stored at warehouse during Relic Vision:
Firing Control Module (Brass Brain)
Book of sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of about 100 pages bound by three brass rings along the top of the sheets]
his former bomb collar - made of something like demagnetized neodymium.
One Bone-fretted haunted electric guitar
One mundane acoustic guitar with wave patterns in abalone and turquoise

Notes:
Travellers' guild is offering a relic retrieval job. Local hazards ('living').

1. You think back to the guardians. They all had a unified aesthetic that the bird doesn't really fit and none of them were non-humanoid. This bird isn't a guardian, though it might be connected to one of them.

2. It could very much see anything coming up the path. From where its perched it could see just about anything around here, it seems.

3. You squint and find your mechanical eyes zooming in. Hmmm looks like its eating human skeletons. One whole body at a time.

4. The tiles and the bird feathers are not identical, but they have a similar color and material.

5. Yes. They're literally throwing beams of light that show where its looking right now.

6. No, not unless the entire bird face is a mask.

7. Well the wheels are basically in constant motion so its hard to say...the wheels don't have a rhythm so much as just a constant metallic noise as the metal drum of the wheel turns against the metal rod its on. Sounds like they could use some oil or grease; they squeak like a rusty hinge.

8. You don't see any other birds.

[Ozarck]

"It appears this Bird is not the Guardian here. I am going to step ahead and see if that provokes a reaction. Please be on your guard. I would greatly appreciate it if you readied your weapons in case it attacks me suddenly, or in case the guardian itself reveals itself."

AsHul will carefluuly advance up teh path, slowly, keeping one eye on the Bird and another on the lookout for suspicious activity. He'll ttry to stay out of the bird's spotlight vision. If he is caught in the beam, he will stop and prepare for combat, ready to dodge a sudden attack.

Spoiler: Not so much a character, but a mistake (click to show/hide)

Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent. Currently a dream robot
Goal:To find God
 
Stats
Str:9  Dex:8  Spe:9  End:11  Awa:12  Cun:11  Kno:11  Ner:16

Skills
3 Diving
2 Animal Handling
1 Survival
1 Weapon skill: Guitar

Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
2 Silent Night 
6 Worm Blood
100 ft of rope
1 knife (cut/pierce 2)
2 Occult Junks
59  Fathoms (One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore, one "shiny," 57 standard)
168 Fathoms (Team Account. Kept on AsHul's person for safekeeping. Stored separately from his personal funds.

Stored at warehouse during Relic Vision:
Firing Control Module (Brass Brain)
Book of sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of about 100 pages bound by three brass rings along the top of the sheets]
his former bomb collar - made of something like demagnetized neodymium.
One Bone-fretted haunted electric guitar
One mundane acoustic guitar with wave patterns in abalone and turquoise

Notes:
Travellers' guild is offering a relic retrieval job. Local hazards ('living').

[/quote]

[syvarris]

"Understood.  I am right behind you."

Follow Ashul, wielding the guardian hatchet, staying close enough that Nyw can quickly get in striking range if necessary.  Be very cautious about staying out of the lights, but keeping close to Ashul is the highest priority.

Spoiler: The Unpronounceable Undead (click to show/hide)

Name: Nyw'geuq Otin Sunam; calls himself "The Lords' Child"
Description:

((Only one murakumo, but hey!  Dual wielding them is stupid anyway.))
Goal: Inscrutable, which is code for "I forget to change this thing, way too often".

Stats:
Str:14
Dex:8
Spe:10
End:14
Awa:14
Cun:8
Kno:7
Ner:10

Skills:
Unarmed: +1
Defense Skill: +3 (Full Plate)
Vehicle Skill: +1
Caving: +1
Navigation: +1
Murakumo: +1


Inventory:
Full Plate Armor [Protective 4]
Ornamental Mask of the Child
Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
Giant Guardian Hatchet [Chop 4, ]

Probably left in the warehouse:
A hooked cleaver [Cut 3]
Two knives [Cut 2, Pierce 2]
Guard rifle [Pierce 2]
A bunch of bloody guard garments, to be used as raw material.

[randomgenericusername]

Just chill in the bore and meditate. No one seems to be very interested on staying, and I don't think there could be anything remotely threatening to fight in an Ethral town, so I'll wait until we move on to the next location.

Don't be cuddled by the lizard.

Spoiler: Kalagony (click to show/hide)

Name: Kalagony

Description: Kalagony is a short but muscular Mole-man. He's a martial arts fanatic, and willingly replaced his healthy arm with a mechanical version just to improve his lethality in melee combat. He has a particularly large tentacled star-shaped snout and a small pair of black, beady eyes. His hair is dark brown.

Goal: His life goal is to challenge and fight against the best warriors in the world, to crush his opponents and claim the title of the strongest fighter.

Stats:
Str:15 
Dex:11 
Spe:8 
End:13 
Awa:11 
Cun:10 
Kno:10 
Ner:11

Skills:
Unarmed: 3 (2+1 Mole-Man Claws)
Defense Skill: Mechanical arm Block: 3
Caving: 1
(1 Unused Skill Point)

Inventory:
Mechanical arm (Right arm, claw weapon)
Grappling Hook
Silk Rope (100 feet)
Field Lighter
Martial Arts Gi

[Parisbre56]

Explore the town a bit. Is there any sort of archive around? If I can, go there and ask about what knowledge they could offer on words of God. It would be nice to get the non-Cthonic perspective on things.

It would also be nice to know if they have any information on what could go wrong with them and if non-humans and/or non-Cthonics can eat them.

Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)

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).

Status
Sacrificed left arm to reverse time (eaten by giant Shluck-like thing). Bandaged and given spider venom for the pain.

Stats
Str:9
Dex:13 
Spe:13 
End:7
Awa:12
Cun:10 
Kno:12
Ner:11

Skills
1 unspent
Rifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1

Inventory
3 fathoms
Ethral Rifle (scope+bipod) (rifle 3, pierce 3) 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 7/7
Ethral Rifle magazine 6/7
Field Lighter (Fire 2)
Grappling Hook + Ethral Silk rope 100 ft
Simple Clothes
Kara's Diary

In Storage
Crystal Tablets (diary about All-Eater and Great Destroyer, inventory, obedience rod instructions, construct assembly instructions)
Church Documents (document ownership and events, and recommend favorable treatment)
Cot
Book (Adventures of Pilgrim)
Deck of Cards
Mechanical Arm (not installed)
Crystal Friend
Bomb collar (unlocked)
All bomb collar remotes