I meant go talk to my actual friends, you dumb skeleton. And now I can't because everything's locked down. Great.
Oh well, sit in the control room and check the instruments. Could we use the bore to knock down enough stone that the magma would be blocked off? Seems like we could drill the ceiling of the tunnel that the magma is coming from and block it off with a barricade of fallen boulders.
If that plan seems plausible, tell Vikkan to do it and radio what we're doing to anyone who is listening.
Name: Wiellste Gunsmithy
Description: A young Ethral, no taller than 4 feet. 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: 8
Dex: 12
Spe: 10
End: 9
Awa: 7
Cun: 15
Kno: 13
Ner: 11
Skills:
SKILL 1
Weaponsmith 2
Diving 2
Pistol 1
Bore 1
Translate 1
Stealth 1
Inventory:
Silk cloak
Copper mask
Human-made revolver (Pistol 3) (6/6)
Notes
1 Fathom
[5]
It seems like a reasonable plan, as far as you can tell. You let Vikkan know and then proceed to stare at the Bore's instrument panels. You don't really know much about what they're displaying but...eh its probably fine.
Shut the door, go back inside and find warm bodies to throw on the cuddle puddle
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 shut the airlock and wander up to the cockpit. There you wrap yourself around Wiellste and begin patting her head with your tongue.
Continue waiting inside that safe room I was, inside the bore. Can't really punch molten stone, so I wouldn't be helpful in the current situation.
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
You continue to avoid the roaming cuddle beasts.
Is there enough molten stone that blocking it off here would let it flood up all the way into Twin Falls and then flood that town instead?
If yes, stop Vikkan from collapsing the tunnel for now.
If no, just hang around the control room and stay ready in case of trouble. If it would be of help, use flammenvision to help direct Vikkan where he should drill for maximum effect. If not and he knows what to do, try to calm and center myself in case diving will be required. Maybe skimming a little through my book about artifacts will help with that?
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.
After his encounter with a Word of God, the edges of his vision are flickering with black flame and his skin is extremely pale with what appear to be black veins instead of the normal blue ones. It also forced him to reevaluate his views on the cthonic church and god.
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
SkillsDiving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Flammenvision!
Inventory1 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
You don't think so...more than likely it will just back up to the new tunnel and then flow back down it.
[13] You use your vision to direct the excavation as best you can.
Try once again to explain the situation and what our bore is doing and get the moths to help.
If that doesn't work, then try to find information and help the team on my own (assuming the shielding doesn't block radio).
If that doesn't work lead a moth to a dark corner and seduce it.
If that doesn't work, then I guess I could just browse the archives looking for information on the following subjects (any will do):
- Where do Gemstone People usually build their structures? Is there particular geology or other things? (hoping that it will have clues to Gemstone People superweapon)
- How previous Gemstone People ruins were discovered and how to do it better (e.g. are they near ancient roads? Do they have some signal or property one can track if they are close?)
- Were there any security systems encountered in Gemstone People ruins? What do they look like? How dangerous are they?
- What sort of weapon is the 'Tiny Eater of All' Adam found in the ruins?
- Is there any way to bring back or recreate things lost to En if you are able to realize that they're gone?
- What happens to sacrificed things? Is there no way at all to bring them back?
- What happens to replacement limbs on sacrificed limbs?
- Can limbs lost to En be replaced?
- Are there any recorded cases of people coming back from being sacrificed, like Polyantha Ret?
- Could Giant Ants be fooled by rubbing people or even the bore with pheromones extracted from them? (Probably a combination of anatomy and behavioral texts)
- Did the humans really come from the surface?
- Was the surface like the humans say it was?
- Are there any records of the human's arrival?
- Are there any records of the Church's formation?
- What are words of God?
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).
StatusSacrificed left arm to reverse time (eaten by giant Shluck-like thing). Bandaged and given spider venom for the pain.
StatsStr:9
Dex:13
Spe:13
End:7
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:12
Ner:11
Skills1 unspent
Rifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 1
Navigation: 1
InventoryRadio
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 DiaryIn StorageCrystal 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
You explain as best you can to the moths but after you finish they politely inform you that they are very grateful for your help but at least as far as the archive is concerned, help isn't needed. The archive is now as secure against attack or disaster as the great spires in Empyrean, though no one can go in or out till the all clear is sounded and the defenses lowered.
You attempt to get in contact with the team but what comes through the radio sounds like
thisSo you shrug and go off to do research.
1.They seemed to like volcanic areas or wet caverns. Seems to be no real distribution parameters beyond that, at least that anyone has found.
2. They seem to follow natural caverns instead of placing themselves in artificial pockets in the earth. SO following caverns might be an effective way to find them.
3. Varied. Those of normal cities are minor, but some installations are still unexplored because of the level of hostility and danger. Warnings of concentrated energy weaponry and Diving insulation.
4. Unknown.
5. No. Even time travel won't do it. Because En doesn't "Destroy" things in a traditional fashion. Things effected by it don't cease to exist. They NEVER existed. The effects the object had on the world still remain, so killing a father won't erase his son, but every hint or memory of that father would be gone from the world. If confronted about it the son will know he didn't have a father but he won't be able to explain that. This is the only way EN manipulation can be discerned: Violations of causality. The ripple in the pond without a stone to cause it.
6. Depends on the object and the sphere but effectively they are traded to something from that realm. It is possible they still exist but to bring them back or find them would be monumentally difficult and has never been done.
7. Malfunctions, unintentional actions, sphere bleed over effects.
8. Yes, but at your very great peril.
9. You find nothing about Polyantha returning. Or anyone else for that matter.
10. Possible.
11. Signs point to yes. They do not seem particularly well suited to the depths so their natural evolution here seems unlikely.
12. Unknown. 528 expeditions have been launched in recorded history and none have returned in any capacity once they venture beyond what is called "Halon's Point" a particular depth measure.
13. None aside from myth. Histories of all civilized races seem to start in roughly the same epoch. Why is unknown, though it lines up with the human faith's explaination.
14. Plenty, though they are oft contradictory and mythical. Difficult or impossible to tell what is really true among them.
15. Unknown, but anomalous energy formations of great power. Many who touch them are destroyed, others are granted abilities. Why is unknown. Those of the church seem to have a higher rate of survival though.
"Is anyone against trying to block the flow of lava? Because I'm going to try my hand at it." Vikkan announced via the radio to his companions.
Drill, drill, drill. Block the path of the lava with a controlled dropping of rocks then retreat.
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.
StatsStr: 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.
You maneuver the bore back to the entrance of the the city and begin moving about, scouring rocks off the roof and walls with the drill and piling them up. Getting them to stay wedged in place is difficult on this slope though; you can get it up to maybe half the height of the tunnel but any more and they just slide out. Several of them have fallen down into the city itself but by sheer luck haven't hit any buildings and just tumbled into the lava below.
"We need something to hold the rocks back....also I need to make sure to be on the city side when I finish this off otherwise I'll wall myself in with the magma."
20 Minutes till Lavafall.
Assuming there are rocks laying about:
Rwlazch -> Hel. Reinforce Telazch x 3, reinforce Hel x3. 3 path, 6 reinforce. 9 rolls + final nerve and Telazch (Endurance stat:11 + diving 3)
Transmute the head/brain of this bird into air.
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').
(15 + 16 + 15 + 17 + 2 + 9 + 14 + 20 + 9) (-1 nerve)(12,5)
You dive and attempt to transmute the entire upper part of the bird's head into air. You're not entirely sure what happens but a moment later when your vision refocuses the bird suddenly jerks and then, very noisily to you, sneezes. The force of the sneeze rips your slick metal body out from the stoney beak and sends you tumbling out through empty air. You luckily don't go flying off the mountain, but you do land hard and flat on the flat stone expanse. Your left arm, already damaged, tears free entirely and goes spiraling off as you impact, bits of mechanical and organic gore spraying out behind it. You vaguely recognize that you must not be entirely mechanical because there's blood and flesh in the severed arm. Huh. The landing doesn't hurt but your body doesn't want to respond. You try to push yourself up and your limbs are about as stable as a newborn foal's.
You skipped my action.
Wield the moon blade with one hand and shift my grip nearer towards the blade so that I can comfortably swing it with one hand.
Stay where I am and swing the moon blade towards the bird, try to use its magic by thinking really hard about how I want to kill my target.
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: 11
Spe: 10
End: 11
Awa: 11
Cun: 12
Kno: 11
Ner: 11
Skills:
Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
1 Skill point
Inventory:
Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
5 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
Mail Shirt
39 Fathoms
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
Black Flame (Cut 3)
Rifle (Pierce 2) 5/10
8 Structural Junk
Grappling Hook
Moon bladed staff (Cut 4)
Don't do the above, just shoot the damn bird.
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: 11
Spe: 10
End: 11
Awa: 11
Cun: 12
Kno: 11
Ner: 11
Skills:
Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
1 Skill point
Inventory:
Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
5 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
Mail Shirt
39 Fathoms
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
Black Flame (Cut 3)
Rifle (Pierce 2) 5/10
8 Structural Junk
Grappling Hook
Moon bladed staff (Cut 4)
"Oh no"
If I have a safe window to do so, try and shoot the bird again. If at any point I think a teammate is in the line of fire, don't shoot and instead worry about the outcome of this little kerfuffle.
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: 11
Spe: 9
End: 10
Awa: 10
Cun: 16 (+3)
Kno: 12
Ner: 11
Skills (1 point unused)
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.
Mail shirt (Made to integrate directly into the exosuit, protecting surface that houses Shluck including head.Protect 3)
Bladed Shovel - handle coated with Pseudomagnetic mortar
Knife (cut2, pierce2)
Rifle (pierce2, 6/10 magazine)
TNT x5
Dynamo lantern
Field lighter
Path markers x10
"Muggy"(skull mug scrimshawed with "can we fix it?" on the side, "No, it's fucked." on the bottom. Has trigger on the inside of the spine-handle that, when squeezed, caused the mandible to open and close)
2 Octahedrons - supposedly replicate materials
1 container of Pseudomagnetic mortar
labradorite/Obedience rod
100ft silk rope
3 structural junk
30 chemical junk
1 gold ingot
143 Fathoms
Crystal Babies
2. 8 sided diamond (looks like Ramiel from EVA and floats). 8 inches to an edge
3. Crystal snake. hiss. 18 inches long.
Warehouse/bore storage:
1. Dodecahedron, no limbs, rolls. Fist sized.
4. Spiky daddy long legs like Irony has. 1 foot legs, fist sized body.
5. Thing looks like (see pic). about 8 inches to a side.
7. Wheel sort of thing that has a fat inside edge and tapers to a sharp edge on the outside. Foot and a half in diameter.
1 corpse (missing: skull, neck vertebrea, some bones)
Bomb Collar
Slate box with multicolour crystal toothpick - supposedly turns someone into a gemperson.
Spool of thermoreactive wire.
Acoustic guitar (Metal + guardbone, totally mundane.)
Box with "kidnapper bell"
6 Octahedrons - supposedly replicate materials
Shoot again I guess. This pharmacist is a harmacist for now.
Character Sheet
[14, 18,19]
[3, 1,5]
Every shot misses. All of them. Its a bird the size of a house and every shot misses. Not only that, but clate's gun jams. Luckily Drett's shot gets close enough to the bird's eye that it causes the creature to rear back and take a flapping leap backwards.
"My sword... Damn it all! Alex! I'm taking your blade!"
Where is Alex, relative to the bird and Nyw? Close enough Nyw could run over to him, grab the moon blade off him, and then attack the bird with it within one turn? If so, do that, again aiming to sever something important. If not, take the pulped slave's knife, and then leap onto the bird, trying to stab its eyes out. It destroyed the little artisan's masterwork! Nyw is pissed!
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
"Talks like this.".
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
---Shattered to powder: Crystal Murakumo [Cut 6, Pierce 3, Fragile]
---Embedded in bird's foot: 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.
You run over to Alex, rip the staff from his off hand, and then charge towards the bird. You nearly get bowled over as it jumps back, the flap of its wings throwing out a shockwave that would make mining charges seem mild, but shoulder through. [19][16] You swing at the creature's ankle, aiming to sever the foot and get your ax back in one action. The bird sees you coming though and, with a single action of its own, lifts its foot out of the way of your strike and then drives a single talon into your chest with a vicious poking action. The talon catches you right at sternum level and you manage, just barely, to turn the blow so that it slides across the breastplate as opposed to puncturing straight through it. But the blow still tears a huge gash straight through the metal and the force of it throws you back. You skid on your back until you reach the edge of the flat expanse and barrel straight into Drett. Both of you end up a few feet down the path leading up to the expanse, with Drett trapped under you and squealing his little lungs out.
The bird leans down, picks up a frozen corpse and with a flick of its beak hurls it at Clate and Alex, the only to people still standing up. [2,10] Alex dives, and half tackles, half accidentally throws himself into Clate. The two hit the stone in a puff of snow as the corpse spins over their heads and off the edge of the mountain.
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 410829 times)