You're gonna trade rare books for mere copies? What kind of businessman are you?
((Of course I am. I am interested in the information within and also benefiting Ethral society. That's why I took them to the archives ))
Excellent. Hand them the books and let them know where they can reach me.
Purchase some number of tranqs and anesthetics and that stim dependent on pricing along with other goods which I will make note of when I edit my sheet.
Drett
You hand the books over and tell them to send any translations and the books back to the warehouse. They add that they'll send a bill when they do.
Tranqs are 3 fathoms each, anesthetics are 6 each, stims are 20 each.
Put on the silk shirt.
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,
?)
Silk shirt (oversized and bloodstained red)
You put on the shirt. Hmm. Nothing is happening. But you have a rather odd feeling. A feeling that...injury has something to do with this thing's power.
"Noble Schluck? What has happened to you? is this ... is this intentional? Are you harmed? Are you still in control of yourself?"
Call out to the Arfvedsonite formerly known as Clate.
If he seems not to be a threat, shrug and play song #4, while keeping an eye on The Aforementioned Calcite, to be ready to run should bad things threaten to happen.
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. Contains ~15 songs - discovered songs are on wiki]
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').
"Fascinating. I guess. Kinda."
[1]
Weapon skill: Guitar, 50% to leveling up
This song is quite a short one and rather boring really. Maybe an interlude between two more interesting pieces?
It's experimenting time!
1. Try to change my own shape. Go for something something humanoid first. Then try a spider form. How hard is it for me to do this and how fast does it go?
2. Inspect my two new crystal babies I got from the barrel (7&8 in inv). Can I tell what their function/powers are with my new stonesense/crystal affinity?
3. Inspect the small knife and bowl from the barrel
4. Inspect the cube of very dense material from the barrel
5. Inspect the sharp wedge from the barrel
6. Inspect the kidnapper bell. Since it's made out of stone, maybe I can glean some new info this time
7. See if I can use crystal baby 5 and 6 to create a new crystal baby/golem. Try to turn them into something similar to that floating diamond that shoots lasers that I have. If the diamond is a no-go, attempt to turn it into a cute crystal dog.
8. Think for a bit. Do I have any memories of the crystal people, like some hereditary/ancestral knowledge?
Name: Clate
Race: Shluck
Description: A big vaguely shuck shaped mass of crystal
Goal: To bring the crystal race back
Stats
Str: 12
Dex: 8
Spe: 9
End: 12
Awa: 12
Cun: 8
Kno: 14
Ner: 15
Skills
Natural +3 Caving
Natural +3 Geology
Natural Mute
Natural 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
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)
Box with "kidnapper bell"
Small Knife from crystal barrel
Small bowl from crystal barrel
3 of those seed things
roll of very thin and flexible stone
small cube of the extremely dense material
sharp pyramid shaped wedge thing
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.
6. 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.
7. Pryamid with stumpy limbs
8. Rolling Orb
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.)
1. [20] Anything above very minor changes that revert soon after requires effort and the greater the change the more the effort. Regardless, maintaining unnatural forms requires effort over time was well.
2. You can tell that they're all what amount to maintenance and security automata. Here, outside the crystal cities, they don't really know what to do.
3. The knife appears to be a duplicate of the stone cutting knife another member of the team found earlier. The bowl is...it might just be a bowl.
4. You know nothing more about it than before but your senses tell you it is able to be shaped by your stoneshaping. It might have been made via stone shaping actually.
5. Looks to be another of the stoneshaping tools like the knife. Maybe for splitting stone?
6. The bell is made of something like your own flesh. It...is extremely frightening. There is a feeling of unknown dread about it that you cannot pin down. You don't like it in the same way that you wouldn't like to find a severed limb just sitting in your bedroom with no explanation.
7. You can, however doing so would require a roll and could, depending on the results, destroy them. Just a warning.
8. No.
“Guys, I’m gonna be honest here. I see a lot of potential danger at no obvious gain. I would like to get this contract fulfilled and over with. I also think that we’re more likely to benefit here if we have the whole team here to aid us. You can stick around and explore as much as you want, but I’m getting a lot of bad vibes. I’ll be back at the bore.”
Gead back to the Bore, see if any of the pilgrims have any leather gloves or an empty journal to trade. If one item comes up for less than 20 fathoms, go for it. If both items are available for less that 30 total, get both.
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
[16]
You're not sure if anyone has any of those items, but at the very least no one seems willing to trade you for them.
: If you don't want to go further then I won't force you. Let's just gather up whatever we can and leave. We've got the Ethral waiting for us anyway. We can also take the pilgrims along, since we'll be drilling straight into the messenger path. :
Make a quick check for anything valuable/shiny nearby, take it if found and then get back down to rejoin the rest.
Once down there, see if there's any structural junk nearby.
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
Hmmmm....There's a fathom maybe 600 feet away that is roughly your height by the look of it but grabbing something that big and getting it back on your own would be impossible.
You scamper back down the wall and take a look around. There's a fair amount of junk around here, just trash of all kinds that was probably small when it came in but is now far larger. You think if you scraped it all up you might have 20 or 30 structural junk in this rough area.
"...Seems like everyone is just ignoring me."
Examine the "walls". How old do they look like? Try to guess the rate at which things grow inside this place.
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
Its quite hard to tell their age...the mortar here seems similar to the mortar you've seen in human buildings and the constructions....hmm...its almost more sophisticated in a way? Or rather just cleaner. Like it was done by a better mason or with better materials.
Seems like we're heading back, so go to the bore and get in contact with the Ethral city close to where that messenger appeared. Ask if they still require a bore team to open up the path again, and get a feel to what we could earn from it (don't commit to any deal yet). Mention that we can also replace the cut comms wires.
Finally, if there are any pilgrims or regular travelers (or even light cargo, but REGULAR CARGO ONLY) that are going in the direction we are (aka a city that is on our way back), we could transport them for a fee as well. Any offers there?
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
They'll hire you, however what they can offer depends on what you want. The job isn't particularly mind blowing so don't expect some really great info or something but more mundane info and some pay might be fine. Or no info and a larger amount of pay. How much would basically depend on expenses and efficency. They offer 500 as a start with more if you do it well.
No one here is looking to travel that way sadly. Even if they were, they'd be going on foot. Thats the point of a pilgrimage after all.