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Spoiler: Harm (click to show/hide)

Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. One of her eyes is covered with an eyepatch. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop. She wears a mail shirt underneath her clothes.
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:11
Dex:11
Spe:11
End:10
Awa:11
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:11

Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)

1 unassigned

Condition
Hand has been severed, then reattached.
Healing cut on hand (1).

Inventory
Eyepatch
Radio
Mail shirt (protect 3)
Small Obsidian Knife [cut, stab 3. Fragile]
Crystal cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
Obsidian arrowhead (cut 4, fragile)
6 Octahedrons
Half a ton of obsidian
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Lucky Shot (6/7)(14 rounds)
Short sword (cutting 3, pierce 2)
Voice in the Eyes (in eye socket)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units mechanical junk
2 mechanical arms (belong to Kara and Vikkan)
6 sturdy glass bottles
Preserved severed eye
94 fathoms

Done, butter buns.

(consider it fueled as long as the money gets take out from somewhere.)

Done.

They seem to be about a meter and a half on all sides. There are 16 of them. The cost of rope you find locally is 100 feet for 4 fathoms.

Does it seem like tying rope around the boxes (all around so a 'cross' of rope is on every side) would add much in terms of containing whatever is inside, or do the boxes seem sturdy enough that some extra rope wouldn't help much? And can I see any sort of release or opening mechanism?

Also, is this city connected to the landline communications network? If yes, could we contact the guy who hired us?

@Radio Controlled: "Sorry for saying those things to you and about humans in general, but I wanted them to keep thinking that I'm in charge, that I'm fine with the situation and that you didn't matter. Didn't want them thinking we were a threat. I'm sure you realize that, right?"
"So, what exactly did you see? And what do you think we should do about this?"

"No offense taken, given the circumstances. But don't do that again. Right now I think we should first ensure they won't be a threat to us and that we aren't getting ourselves into massive trouble ferrying these, which means finding out what the hell exactly we're dealing with. These corpses have diving upon them, but I can't say what exactly. We could open one up and take a closer look, but that's not something to be done lightly, I'm sure you all understand.

I'm also gonna look into contacting the man with whom I negotiated this deal, see if that teaches us anything. And maybe see if we can up the pay he owes us, since this isn't what we signed up for at all."

"Oh, and by the way," he added, turning to Vikkan, "Got someone to refuel the bore for us. Is she good to go otherwise? If we need any maintenance done now would be a good time, before we set off again."

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.

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

Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Can see things in great detail as well as look through objects such as walls. Rolls Nerve.

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)
207 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
1 unspent skillpoint

Honestly if the welded metal won't contain them you feel like a few lengths of rope aren't gonna do much.  You check over the boxes  but can see no sort of hidden latch or handle or anything that would allow the box to open. It really seems like they've sealed them in as well as possible.

You check the landline connections but get an automated message that the connection to basically the entirety of the western side of the map has been cut off thanks to what they're calling "Unforeseen geological interference."

Do I know of any monsters or other bad things that are attracted to necromancy or diving? Or could the corpses cause effects related to their sphere to manifest, similar to how objects retrieved from dives do? I mean, could it be that we could face danger not from the corpses themselves but whatever follows them?

Then it's time to go shopping! First up, how much for some good quality, beautiful yet functional clothes, something fit for a Corven mercenary?

Second, is there something that could help protect from diving effects? I mean something that really works, not useless charms and trinkets they sell to trick gullible superstitious people.

Third, if I wanted something like a slave trap but more deadly, would it still be 10 fathoms?

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
Radio
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
Metal Card with the address of the Gilded Crow (corven Gangsters of Goldshore)
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

[6]
Its possible that these things could draw bad stuff in. If they draw sphere manifestations depends on their nature but its possible. And its possible that something else could be looking for them...but that's such a wide category of possibilities that narrowing it down without extra info is hard.

A full set of high quality, custom fitted, effectively showoffy clothing can cost between 20 and 50 fathoms depending on what materials are being used. Glass gems instead of real ones, gold plating instead of solid, that sort of thing.

The general method, so far as you know, involves diving to produce a sort of interference field that prevents resonance between similar plane objects. Its used by the church in places with a ton of diving artifacts or effects.  You're not sure if they sell it as a premade object of some kind, but they might.

Like a normal beartrap? 6 fathoms since it doesn't need to be designed as carefully.

"Allright, just be ready if anything happens."

Calmly approach the creature in a non-threatening manner.

Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)

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
4 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
Mail Shirt
39 Fathoms
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
Black Flame (Cut 3)
Rifle (Pierce 2) 4/10
8 Structural Junk
Grappling Hook
Moon bladed staff (Cut 4)
5 ancient human books

Allow Alex to go forward, he's prooobably less intimidsting than a giant man in plate armor.  But do be ready to charge forward and yank him back if bad things start happening, and to attack the lizard thing.  Preferably both simultaneously, but getting Alex out of danger would take priority.

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

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

((No murakumo anymore.  ))
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, which is held in a little cloth bag: 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.

Observe for now, staying behind Nyw. Be ready to dive for cover should the thing come charging my way.

((I'd add a clause to shoot if it attacks, but we're all a bit bunched up so I don't think that's the best idea right now.))

Spoiler: Clate (click to show/hide)

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)
1 Bow from weird eyeball creature. Produces a bone arrow when drawing the string.
3 weird picture books


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

Ready to assist Nyw in pacification efforts. Mostly, AsHul will attempt to tackle the creature if it attacks physically. If it responds in a different way, AsHul will either remain where he is or make a dash for the lived in room that's next in the chain, depending on how obviously dangerous the act is. (i.e, if it starts screeching, he might stay where he is. if it shots tendrils of pitch black out into the room, accompanied by the screams of the damned, he'll dive for it))

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 (-1)

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

Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
1 Silent Night 
3 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').

Alex carefully approaches  the creature, moving very slowly. The creature shifts its attention away from Ashul and to Alex, remaining still except for its eyes. Alex approaches right up to the edge of the room, without stepping into the "show" room that the creature is in. He's only about a foot from it now but it hasn't moved or reacted. Everyone behind him stands at the ready, practically on their toes, ready to dive head long into the fray and aid Alex. Well, everyone but Clate.

"Should I...stick my hand into the room or something?" Alex asks, looking back at the rest of the group. "It seems docile till now but...I have a feeling that might change..."

[The Lupanian]

Explain to my fellows what is going on with my new eye gizmo. Try to see if I can remember anything that might explain what this thing is.
(If any other players with good occult knoledge want to help with identification [or should I say, eye-dentification] I would appreciate it)

Spoiler: Harm (click to show/hide)

Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. One of her eyes is covered with an eyepatch. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop. She wears a mail shirt underneath her clothes.
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:11
Dex:11
Spe:11
End:10
Awa:11
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:11

Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)

1 unassigned

Condition
Hand has been severed, then reattached.
Healing cut on hand (1).

Inventory
Eyepatch
Radio
Mail shirt (protect 3)
Small Obsidian Knife [cut, stab 3. Fragile]
Crystal cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
Obsidian arrowhead (cut 4, fragile)
6 Octahedrons
Half a ton of obsidian
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Lucky Shot (6/7)(14 rounds)
Short sword (cutting 3, pierce 2)
Voice in the Eyes (in eye socket)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units mechanical junk
2 mechanical arms (belong to Kara and Vikkan)
6 sturdy glass bottles
Preserved severed eye
94 fathoms

[Ozarck]

"I am in favor of moving on, once again through the lived in rooms. But if you really want to poke the unknown probably voraciously hostile son of the sixth guardian, I will be most interested to see what happens."

[syvarris]

"I agree, if we can leave the creature without interacting with it, that is for the best.  Alex, please stand back, I am more suited to testing its nerves."

Grab one of the books, while holding the hatchet in the other hand.  Step forward until Nyw's in the front of the group, then toss the book past the creature, ready for it to attack.  If it still doesn't move, and there's enough room to easily go past it without touching it, try doing so, while expecting it to attack.  If there is no room, poke it with a non-pointy part of the hatchet, and then push it aside with a book if it doesn't react.

If at any time it attacks, respond in kind.  If it never attacks, and there's room to pass, gather the books up again and proceed past.

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

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

((No murakumo anymore.  ))
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, which is held in a little cloth bag: 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.

[Egan_BW]

^{_{"If it's just walking corpses, I think we could handle them fine without traps. But what if it creates a diving effect? Traps won't help at all if it kills us without leaving the boxes."}}

Spoiler: Wiellste? (click to show/hide)

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: The spheres remain intriguing, but it's become clear that it would not be good for Wiellste's health to become a diver. And... neither Ethral or Corven culture demand it, but Wiellste feels that she owes Kara something. There's a difference between someone who saves your life and someone who brings you back from the dead.

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

[Parisbre56]

"I can understand feeling confident in your ability to fight, but I've read about how the honored dead can survive wounds that would kill other creatures and still move with almost no loss in their ability to fight. If these are even a tenth as durable as an honored dead, then they could very easily overwhelm us with numbers. Not to mention that if this is some sort of puppet spell instead of normal undead, then even removing the head or destroying the brain might not work, we might need to disable each individual body part."

"And I've considered the possibility of diving effects or them attracting something, but seeing as shielding from that requires diving and that would most likely involve the church or some expensive diver, I don't think we can acquire such protection. We're better off making some traps so that we have a first or last line of defense (depending on where the threat comes from). And if we make some remote explosive by combining the TNT and the bomb collars we can at least have a way to destroy them from a distance. Not to mention how helpful an explosive weapon could be against any large monsters."

"There's my plan anyway. I'm open to suggestions."

[Caellath]

"Finishing the job means risking whatever these things might cause either through magic or problems chasing 'em, not doing it and getting rid of the corpses means we'll receive retaliation from whoever's rich and powerful enough to have set up this chain of events. Why can't things be easy?"

"No need for maintenance. We could use some preparing for trouble, since it seems our best shot is getting the job done, hopefully with an added bonus. Then again the employer might want us dead if we know too much. Who knows? I'll hole up in the control room to relax." Vikkan twisted his mustache in a decidedly stressed way as he headed upstairs to the bore's control room.

Prepare for non-boring bore action, refuel if necessary, etc.

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.

[Ozarck]

"Oh, God below."

Shoo our tag-alongs into the next lived in room while Nyw pokes the dragon in the eye. remain in the current room, but at the passage to the next lived in room, ready to assist Nyw should his experiments prove disastrous.

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 (-1)

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

Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
1 Silent Night 
3 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').

[Gentlefish]

I do not see why you wish to "test its limits" as it were, seeing as it is not currently hostile. Perhaps, like the last guardian, if we continue to follow its rules it will not attempt to bring ruination upon us.

Next room please. Also, is that lizardthing in the showroom, or in the threshold between?

Drett

[Parisbre56]

Well, I don't have occult knowledge but I have knowledge in general. Maybe I'll be able to help Harm? Hopefully this won't be a repeat of the arm incident. I don't want to be known for pecking my teammates' eyes out.

Also, this interference pattern thing sounds dangerous and/or expensive. Are there any ways to throw the otherworldly beasties off our magical scent, so to speak? Or a way to get a bad feeling when magic fuckery is about? Besides Adam's eyes I mean.

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
Radio
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
Metal Card with the address of the Gilded Crow (corven Gangsters of Goldshore)
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

[Radio Controlled]

Is there a way we could store the boxes so that in case of emergency we can easily and quickly jettison them out of the bore? Something like a plate with a motor to push up one end so it's diagonal and have the boxes slide out of the bore door perhaps?

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.

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

Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Can see things in great detail as well as look through objects such as walls. Rolls Nerve.

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)
207 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
1 unspent skillpoint

[/quote]

[Hotfire90]

To the other room.

Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)

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
4 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
Mail Shirt
39 Fathoms
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
Black Flame (Cut 3)
Rifle (Pierce 2) 4/10
8 Structural Junk
Grappling Hook
Moon bladed staff (Cut 4)
5 ancient human books

[piecewise]

Is there a way we could store the boxes so that in case of emergency we can easily and quickly jettison them out of the bore? Something like a plate with a motor to push up one end so it's diagonal and have the boxes slide out of the bore door perhaps?

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.

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

Skills
Diving: +3
Stealth: +2
Occult: +1
Can see things in great detail as well as look through objects such as walls. Rolls Nerve.

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)
207 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
1 unspent skillpoint

[/quote]
You don't have something like that now...about the best you could do is stack them near the door to the cargo hold so you could manually shove them out. But even then they're necessarily strapped into the floor and ceiling so you'd have to sever those ties before shoving them out. Though there's no reason you couldn't make or buy something to do this for you.

Explain to my fellows what is going on with my new eye gizmo. Try to see if I can remember anything that might explain what this thing is.
(If any other players with good occult knoledge want to help with identification [or should I say, eye-dentification] I would appreciate it)

Spoiler: Harm (click to show/hide)

Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. One of her eyes is covered with an eyepatch. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop. She wears a mail shirt underneath her clothes.
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:11
Dex:11
Spe:11
End:10
Awa:11
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:11

Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)

1 unassigned

Condition
Hand has been severed, then reattached.
Healing cut on hand (1).

Inventory
Eyepatch
Radio
Mail shirt (protect 3)
Small Obsidian Knife [cut, stab 3. Fragile]
Crystal cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
Obsidian arrowhead (cut 4, fragile)
6 Octahedrons
Half a ton of obsidian
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Lucky Shot (6/7)(14 rounds)
Short sword (cutting 3, pierce 2)
Voice in the Eyes (in eye socket)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units mechanical junk
2 mechanical arms (belong to Kara and Vikkan)
6 sturdy glass bottles
Preserved severed eye
94 fathoms

Well, I don't have occult knowledge but I have knowledge in general. Maybe I'll be able to help Harm? Hopefully this won't be a repeat of the arm incident. I don't want to be known for pecking my teammates' eyes out.

Also, this interference pattern thing sounds dangerous and/or expensive. Are there any ways to throw the otherworldly beasties off our magical scent, so to speak? Or a way to get a bad feeling when magic fuckery is about? Besides Adam's eyes I mean.

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
Radio
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
Metal Card with the address of the Gilded Crow (corven Gangsters of Goldshore)
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

[17]
Hmmm. No real idea but you advise him to try focusing on the objects more than trying to listen to the voices. Focus on the objects seems more related to the clarity of the voices, at least by how he described it.

A variety of diving based ways...and they say divers are more inclined to feel when something is going wrong or becoming dangerous...so maybe Adam should sit down here?

"Finishing the job means risking whatever these things might cause either through magic or problems chasing 'em, not doing it and getting rid of the corpses means we'll receive retaliation from whoever's rich and powerful enough to have set up this chain of events. Why can't things be easy?"

"No need for maintenance. We could use some preparing for trouble, since it seems our best shot is getting the job done, hopefully with an added bonus. Then again the employer might want us dead if we know too much. Who knows? I'll hole up in the control room to relax." Vikkan twisted his mustache in a decidedly stressed way as he headed upstairs to the bore's control room.

Prepare for non-boring bore action, refuel if necessary, etc.

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.

Refueling is done. At this point we're basically ready to go aside from this paranoia tax, so to speak.

"I agree, if we can leave the creature without interacting with it, that is for the best.  Alex, please stand back, I am more suited to testing its nerves."

Grab one of the books, while holding the hatchet in the other hand.  Step forward until Nyw's in the front of the group, then toss the book past the creature, ready for it to attack.  If it still doesn't move, and there's enough room to easily go past it without touching it, try doing so, while expecting it to attack.  If there is no room, poke it with a non-pointy part of the hatchet, and then push it aside with a book if it doesn't react.

If at any time it attacks, respond in kind.  If it never attacks, and there's room to pass, gather the books up again and proceed past.

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

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

((No murakumo anymore.  ))
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, which is held in a little cloth bag: 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.

You carefully push everyone behind you and then toss a book towards the creature, aiming to have it go spinning past the critter's head. The book flies out in a relatively gentle arc and the creature's hand blurs upwards. It catches the book without taking its eyes off you or moving in any other way.  Then, carefully, it lightly tosses the book back out so that it lands nice and flat in the lived in room.

To the other room.

Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)

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
4 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
Mail Shirt
39 Fathoms
Crystal box of golem limbs
Golem buddy
Black Flame (Cut 3)
Rifle (Pierce 2) 4/10
8 Structural Junk
Grappling Hook
Moon bladed staff (Cut 4)
5 ancient human books

I do not see why you wish to "test its limits" as it were, seeing as it is not currently hostile. Perhaps, like the last guardian, if we continue to follow its rules it will not attempt to bring ruination upon us.

Next room please. Also, is that lizardthing in the showroom, or in the threshold between?

Drett

(Showroom)

"Oh, God below."

Shoo our tag-alongs into the next lived in room while Nyw pokes the dragon in the eye. remain in the current room, but at the passage to the next lived in room, ready to assist Nyw should his experiments prove disastrous.

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 (-1)

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

Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
1 Silent Night 
3 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').

Ashul shoves everyone into the next room but stays behind to see what happens. He watches the entire exchange with intense concentration.  It seems to him as though that lizard has some sort of reverence for the book; it caught it and gently returned it. Not the actions of an animal at the very least.

[Parisbre56]

Well, I suppose there's nothing left for us to do but head back.

Set up a watch schedule so there's at least one person watching the boxes (but preferably not in the same room as them) and one person watching the bore's surroundings at all times, if possible.

By the way, do I still feel my missing limb cold and numb and occasionally moving? Any changes?

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
Radio
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
Metal Card with the address of the Gilded Crow (corven Gangsters of Goldshore)
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

[The Lupanian]

Take out one of the glass bottles from my inventory and focus on it very intensely. Explain what happens as it's happening to somebody who knows occult, and get them to offer advise on what I should do.

Spoiler: Harm (click to show/hide)

Name: Harmony “Harm” Li
Description: Lean and broody looking. This woman has short black hair and is partially covered in interlocking black tattoos. One of her eyes is covered with an eyepatch. She wears simple black clothes, with a knee-length Maggot Wool Coat overtop. She wears a mail shirt underneath her clothes.
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:11
Dex:11
Spe:11
End:10
Awa:11
Cun:12
Kno:10
Ner:11

Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Lucky Shot (1)

1 unassigned

Condition
Hand has been severed, then reattached.
Healing cut on hand (1).

Inventory
Eyepatch
Radio
Mail shirt (protect 3)
Small Obsidian Knife [cut, stab 3. Fragile]
Crystal cutting utility knife (free to borrow)
Obsidian arrowhead (cut 4, fragile)
6 Octahedrons
Half a ton of obsidian
5 Large branches of crystalline lead
Lucky Shot (6/7)(14 rounds)
Short sword (cutting 3, pierce 2)
Voice in the Eyes (in eye socket)
Field Lighter
10 Path Markers
2 units mechanical junk
2 mechanical arms (belong to Kara and Vikkan)
6 sturdy glass bottles
Preserved severed eye
94 fathoms