When the time comes, it will be explained, but you haven't yet gotten something to allow it.
Ooh, mysterious, I like it.
Try to use flammenvision to get a general outlook of the area and in what direction there are places of interest or things going on (zoom a bit if needed). For example, can I make out anything in the direction that arrow is pointing?
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: 12
End: 11
Awa: 11
Cun: 10
Kno: 10
Ner: 14
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)
207 fathoms (payment from pilgrim escort)
438 fathoms ('payment' from cargo transport)
2 unspent skillpoints
[8]
Hmmm. You can't really make out much but...in the direction of the arrow there are things that are mundane by the look of them. You think there are people there too.
"Hmm. This is probably some sort of giant room. We could search around in the dark cracks of the floor, hoping we find something valuable that fell to the floor or was lost by some previous expedition or any of the local wildlife. Or we could risk using the bore to dig higher, which could be much more rewarding, but without any way to defend ourselves we'd be left without transport, so I'd rather we take the first option."
Climb on top of the wall to get a bird's eye view (pun intended) of the room. Remember my racial advantage, caving skill and rope with grappling hook. Forget my missing arm.
Edit: You rolled for this on discord and asked me to remind you:
I got [9, 17] at advantage and got [5] fate.
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:10
Dex:13
Spe:13
End:8
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:12
Ner:11
SkillsRifle: 1
Medical: 1
Translate: 1
Acrobatics: 1
Caving: 1
Machine Control: 1
Stealth: 1
Geology: 1
Archeology: 2
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 (with hood)
Metal Card with the address of the Gilded Crow (corven Gangsters of Goldshore)
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
[
15 6]
Using her climbing gear and some avian skill Kara climbs up the wall of the canyon, scrambling up the rough mortar until she can peak her head over the top. The inside of this place has an odd almost fogged appearance to it...it must be something caused by the size, things far away are vague and hazy. However, from her position she can see several things. First the position here is very near a pair of double doors; these ones are of course far larger than the one you came through. They are absurd. If you had to guess they're two kilometers in height and the ceiling of the wall they connect to is at least twice that, maybe three times. They look quite ordinary as doors go, aside from their proportions, and there is archway window above them which seems to stare out onto...darkness. Directly or roughly directly above is a chandelier of sorts, more of a glass cage containing glowing electric lights, each of which has to be as large as the bore if not bigger. To the left, in relation to the doorway you took to get in, there is a staircase leading up to a visible second floor and to the front a dinning table. To the front left is a sitting area with several seats, another table, a fire place and....a cat.
The cat is in scale with the room, sitting on one of the arms of a couch, eyes closed and curled up. But one ear is pointed at you.
Beyond the large and seemingly in scale things there are many objects that are not quite right. Rubbish and random junk that is massive but still too small for the room. Remnants of other groups no doubt.
I accidentaly deleted the part of my previous axtion in which I followed Kara inside the door. Do I assume I'm with the rest of the group? If so:
"...You know, I'm kind of a skilled climber, and quite strong too. If you want, I think I could carry us both to the top... I mean, I would understand if you don't want help, but..."
"I think I could lend you a hand... Please don't take it as an insult, I'm just... Concerned, you could say. This is unknown territory after all."
Offer to help her in the climb to the top.
If I'm not actually where the rest are, just enter the door and follow after them.
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:9
End:13
Awa:12
Cun:10
Kno:10
Ner:12
Skills:
Unarmed: 3 (2+1 Mole-Man Claws)
Defense Skill: Mechanical arm Block: 3
Caving: 2
Inventory:
Mechanical arm (Right arm, claw weapon)
Grappling Hook
Silk Rope (100 feet)
Field Lighter
Martial Arts Gi
You're with the rest of the group but it seems your climbing help isn't needed. You still stand below Kara, in case she falls.
“With respect to the hungry door, and rumors of canibalistic giants, could we not proceed in the direction that someone, or something, obviously wants us to proceed in?”
What does the Voice think about the arrow? What about the rest of the room in general? What does my normal eye see in each of the four directions?
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:13
Kno:10
Ner:12
Skills
Weapon smith (3)
Mechanical (2)
Occult (1)
Lucky Shot (1)
1 unassigned
Condition
Hand has been severed, then reattached (fully healed).
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
[20]
You can't focus on it at all, your eyes keep crossing it feels very weird. You have to close your eyes and rub your temples to make the sensation stop.
Play song #3 from the songbook.
Name: AsHul
Description:Former human. Awful, ugly, indifferent.
Goal:To find God
Stats
Str:9 Dex:8 Spe:9 End:11 Awa:12 Cun:12 Kno:11 Ner:16
Skills (1 point unspent)
3 Diving
2 Animal Handling
1 Survival
1 Weapon skill: Guitar
Inventory
Relic Fragment
Black Book (Genuine)
Black Book (copy, strata 1,2,4)
2 Silent Night
4 Worm Blood
100 ft of rope
1 knife (cut/pierce 2)
2 Occult Junks
Firing Control Module (Brass Brain)
Sheet music (from Balaram) [stack of ~100 pages bound by 3 brass rings along the top]
Songs (~15 in book): 1) Find gold/money 2)? 3)?
former bomb collar - demagnetized neodymium
1 Bone-fretted haunted electric guitar
1 mundane acoustic guitar with wave patterns in abalone and turquoise
175 Fathoms (+ One magnetically welded to the wall of his room in the Bore)
343 Fathoms (Team Account: 168 +175 for Vision.)
Notes:
Travellers' guild is offering a relic retrieval job. Local hazards ('living').
[12]
The song is a fairly nice one. However, you're missing some of the elements of it. It seems to require a...hmmm a string instrument of some kind. Cello? Violin?
Transform!
After transforming, open the crystal barrels I got from the church and check their contents.
Also take a look at my crystal babies. Is anything different with them? Can I communicate with them or command them without the rod or something?
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: 12
Dex: 8
Spe: 9
End: 12
Awa: 12
Cun: 8
Kno: 14
Ner: 15
Skills
12 skill points total.
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
Box with "kidnapper bell"
8 Octahedrons - supposedly replicate materials
1 container of Pseudomagnetic mortar
labradorite/Obedience rod
100ft silk rope
3 structural junk
30 chemical junk
1 gold ingot
243 Fathoms
Crystal Babies
1. Dodecahedron, no limbs, rolls. Fist sized.
2. 8 sided diamond (looks like Ramiel from EVA and floats). 8 inches to an edge
3. Crystal snake. hiss. 18 inches long.
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.
Warehouse/bore storage:
1 corpse (missing: skull, neck vertebrea, some bones)
Bomb Collar
Slate box
Spool of thermoreactive wire.
Acoustic guitar (Metal + guardbone, totally mundane.)
New stat/skills
Str: 12
Dex: 8
Spe: 9
End: 12
Awa: 12
Cun: 8
Kno: 14
Ner: 15
Natrual +3 Caving
Natural +3 Geology
Natrual Mute
Natrual No clothing
Natural Stonesenses
Natural Stoneshaping
Unarmed: +2
Weapon skill: Stone Blade +2
Stealth: +1
Archeology: +2
Weaponsmith: +2
Navigation: +1
Armorsmith: +1
Chemical: +1
The change is surprisingly quick; the instant the toothpick pierces your flesh it petrifies you into crystal within maybe 2 or 3 seconds. You feel yourself cease to be for a moment and then you are something else. Your exoskeleon suit has been smashed away, destroyed as you expanded. The form you take now is not dissimilar to your original shluck shape but is far larger. You're roughly the size of a man in height but with more mass, a sort of crystaline lump of a body with thick tentacles spreading out widely below it. You no longer see or sense at all in the way you used to. Now things are sort of like...all you could say is that it is as though all the stone around you is your skin. You feel things moving on it and can sense the shape and size and movement of those things through that contact. it is very odd.
You crawl over to the barrels and check them. The first contains two crystal babies, as you like to call them, A pyramid with stumpy limbs and a rolling orb. It also contains a small knife of sorts and a bowl. The second contains 3 more of the seed things, what appears to be a roll of very thin and flexible stone, a small cube of the extremely dense material, and a sharp pyramid shaped wedge thing.
The babies do not appear to directly listen to your instructions or act differently but you...sense their commands sort of?
Go back to the warehouse and open the box there.
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: 12
Dex: 11
Spe: 11
End: 12
Awa: 12
Cun: 12
Kno: 12
Ner: 11
Skills:Explosives 2
Mechanical 1
Survival 1
Caving 1
Chemical 2
Geology 1
2 Skill points
Inventory:Dynamo Lantern
Field Lighter
4 TNT
Bladed Shovel (Cut 3)
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,
?)
Box containing "The Path of Remembrance"
The box contains what appears to be a silk shirt. It is fairly large, a little oversized on you, and completely red. Not the nice even red of careful dyeing but the splotchy, uneven, patterend red of being completely bloodstained.
I'm looking for injectibles. Easier to work with than powders. Physical stimulants, barbituate/tranqs, and local anethetics. We already have a paralytic a la venom. Also maybe a powdered or pill-form mental stimulant.
Also, visit the Ethral archives. See if I can't access translations of the books I'm holding in trade for possession of them.
Drett
All three of those exist in injectible form. The Tranqus and Anethetics are based on various venoms and poisons, just diluted. They have a reasonable margin of error for how much to use before you start getting really dangerous OD effects. The only injectable Stimulant they have that actually boosts stats is...dangerous. It have a very small margin of error between giving someone a good boost to their abilities for a short time and giving someone a huge boost for a very short time before they stroke out.
Mental stimulants are...well the one thats easy is a "Vision" drug that can enhance cognition OR cause hallucinations OR both.
The Ethral tell you that there is a chance of translating, but that it will take time. They have a limited knowledge of old human dialects so the translation is going to be pretty blunt force and trial and error.