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Author Topic: DIG: Heresy  (Read 410470 times)

piecewise

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2565 on: January 17, 2020, 12:58:08 pm »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Take the opals and enter the gap
Hmm. Let me do a bit of math. Opal is 2.09 g/cm3, the barrel's internal volume is 158987.3 cubic cm, so we've got a total weight of...332 kg or roughly 730 lbs.  Call me crazy, but I don't think you can put that in your pocket. We'll assume you stuff a few handfuls of the stones into your bag.

Now, if this is the gap I think I'm thinking of, its a hole in the ceiling so...[8] You actually somehow manage to scrabble your way up to the hole in the ceiling and up into the higher room without either falling or massively shredding yourself on crystal. Good for you.

This room contains something very odd. It appears to be a telescope of some kind, like the kind they use to do long distance viewing across caverns or down shafts or for measurements along bore paths. But its far larger than those instruments, taking up the majority of this room and being set into a huge gimbal system that allows it to rotate and move in all directions. Whats even odder is that it seems to be partially of foreign make because it has metal in the construction as opposed to the ubiquitous crystal this race seemed to love.


Stump along northward then, unless the terrain gets difficult.


You scramble through the tunnel until it suddenly opens up into a large cavern. The cavern, like the tunnels, is illuminated by the twisting veins of luminous metals. Stuck in the heart of this cavern is a stepped pyramid or maybe a Ziggurat, seemingly half sunk into the stone. A waterfall of purple liquid is cascading over the ziggurat, flowing down its tiers and pooling at its base before spreading out in tiny streams through the cavern. This would be quite pretty, but normal, if not for the fact that the entire scene was inverted. The waterfall is flowing up, splashing into the Ziggurat on the ceiling. Motes of cool colored lights are drifting about like neon snow.

Is the location the same one the other guy gave me? Question him about how he came in contact with the Enlightened and who specifically recruited him to sell haze for them. Take him back to the bore once we're done questioning him.
Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)
It is not.

He says that he heard about it through a friend; apparently word of the group circulates through certain artistic and scholarly circles fairly regularly. There are group "Forums" where their message and philosophy is outlined.  They're recruiting people to their side, but their drug game is apparently something most don't know about.

Are you sure you want to drag a citizen of the city, kicking and screaming, out to the bore? Its a pretty long walk and Might cause a bit of a stir.


"Fascinating. I never suspected such things could be."

Search for anything that could teach me how they managed to control the giant animals. Finding what they fed their animals is unlikely but maybe I can learn something from their equipment.

Also, is there any sign that could tell me which of the various species I saw were the owners of these trading goods? See if I can figure out which of those trade goods belonged to those bird-people. I'm interested in seeing what someone without hands could craft, for obvious reasons. If they're Corven-like then it's likely they were trading for beautiful shinies! Or maybe some form of currency? I wonder what one could use instead of fathoms.

I'm also curious about their weapon technology. Caravans would need protection, especially from the various monsters of the caverns. Did they have things like cannons and rifles? More archaic things like arrows and crossbows? Or maybe they didn't use any sort of weapon that would leave a trace. Maybe they relied on diving or on the abilities of their beasts.

Finally, is there any sign of what happened to them? I can't imagine a trader willingly abandoning their trade goods. Were they expelled or killed? Were they trapped here to die? Did they succumb to the same illness as the Crystal people?

Generally, archeologist birb is gonna do her thing.




Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)
[9]
The saddle has a combination of complex brass parts connected to its front, and after some examination you believe you can guess their purpose. The insects were clearly trained and domesticated to some degree but the actual guidance of them involved blinders and the manipulation of their antennae through metal cuffs that appear to be manipulated by foot pedals.

It would be hard to say which species did what definitively without some evidence related to that species. However, attempting to discover the goods of the early birds seems like a good place to start. Much of the goods here are so ancient they crumble away when you touch them but some, those made of stone or metal or ceramic, remain. You believe the Carapace containers, along with the saddle, are the work of the moles, judging from the things you dig from them. There are decorative covers for the giant digging claws and various metal jewellery and finery depicting them and...some kind of beast you haven't seen before. Hmm. There are also ceremonial knives, decorated cups and bowls, and other metal works.  If you had to guess the birds...you think its the animal skins. There's very little in them that survived, mostly stone workings. But that which survived is rather crude and clearly designed for use with overlarge and not particularly dexterous digits. There are some interesting clay figures though, two legged as you'd expect but they don't really resemble birds otherwise. They're sort of impressionist, all flowing shapes and bulges and faces that look like everything from upended crescents to bug eyed cylinders. They're quite complex and beautiful, but clearly also made via the use of some sort of tools instead of pure hand work. There are, occasionally, signs of talon marks in the clay though.

You can no weapons here, other than what looks like the mount for some sort of gun on the saddle. Its entirely possible the traders just didn't leave any of their weapons when they dropped off their goods. Honestly it makes the most sense. There are some weapons in the goods, but mostly ceremonial or decorative stuff, as you saw earlier.


I forget, did we ever figure out how to translate the slabs? If yes, start looking around for an index, or else just try to get an idea of how the library is organized.

If no, start cataloguing the library as best I can to get some overview/insight into this place.


Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)
I cannot honestly remember either, but I feel like we figured out how to do it, it just took a while. Never mind, Clate is right there and we'll assume he can speak it.  According to him, the slabs are chronological in ordering, starting from the corner of the left wall, moving round and ending at the corner of the right one.  This is the only organization system they have applied to them.

Naturegirl1999

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2566 on: January 17, 2020, 01:33:00 pm »

look through the telescope
(Yes I wanted to take a few handfuls, so 3-10 handfuls? Let’s go with 4 handfuls if that’s ok.}
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syvarris

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2567 on: January 18, 2020, 08:07:55 am »

Are you sure you want to drag a citizen of the city, kicking and screaming, out to the bore? Its a pretty long walk and Might cause a bit of a stir.

Of course not!

We'll knock him unconscious and restrain him first, of course.  No kicking and screaming then.  Also, Nyw will handle the guy, and carry him, because he's the honored dead.  Presumably it's less weird for giant undead warriors to go around kidnapping criminals than for short middle-aged men to do so.

After he's secured at the bore, go head to that meeting location.


Radio Controlled

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2568 on: January 19, 2020, 04:29:06 am »

Start reading the library, but go in hops and skips to try and identify the major events in this recorded history. Try to sketch out a rough timeline which includes the biggest events this way. Try to find the point where Adam starts to recognize the events from what he knows from history/where there is any overlap with what he knows. 

Spoiler: Adam Blavatsky Darvaza (click to show/hide)
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Parisbre56

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2569 on: January 19, 2020, 07:31:52 am »

Kara stared at the idol.
"Just animal products and these statues. They were so different from us..."
She picked up the little thing to look at it from a different angle, running one of her fingers over a claw mark.
"And yet..."
She gently hugged the little idol. A few seconds later she realized how terribly embarrassing it would be if someone walked in on her while she was like that so she gently set the idol down and prepared some space for it in her pack.
"I'll make sure your beauty is seen by others. Your creator intended for it to be so. I'll fulfill their ancient ambitions and make them famous beyond famous, even if they're no longer able to thank me for it."

Take some of the Bird-people idols and some of the mole-people jewellery, especially the ones that depict that unknown beast.

Also take notes on the insect saddle, enough to hopefully be able to reconstruct it (with the proper materials).

Finally, how would I say those ancient mole-people compare to the modern ones? Do the modern ones still use the same technology and art style? It would be impressive if a society managed to survive for so long and remain more or less unchanged while the rest of the world changed so much around them.

When done here, try to get Crystal Friend to dig me an entrance to the vehicle Depot just like he did for the trade Depot and see if any of those "great movers" Clate said are in there looks like it could drive/walk/dig/flow out of here. If we're able to escape with all those wonders we've discovered here... The greedy archeologist birb in me can't accept leaving all those treasures behind for the moths to exploit and hide, not without at least trying to do something about it first. It belongs in a museum. My museum, to be precise.


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

Hotfire90

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2570 on: January 19, 2020, 04:01:27 pm »

Help with restraining the guy and keep watch for any shady characters running off following the arrest. Head to the other meeting place once our newest prisoner has been brought to the bore.
Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)
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Pancaek

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2571 on: January 19, 2020, 04:32:42 pm »



Keep helping out my teammates with exploring, translating, opening stuff, etc.
Be sure to keep an eye out for things of interest that they might miss with their fleshy eyes, but I can notice with ym crystal sense.



Spoiler: Clate (click to show/hide)
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Ozarck

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Re: DIG: Oops
« Reply #2572 on: January 20, 2020, 08:27:45 pm »

Can I reach any of the motes of light? Try to collect some light motes, and head toward the place the water is falling up from. Taste the water.

piecewise

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Re: DIG: Electric Boogaloo
« Reply #2573 on: January 22, 2020, 01:12:17 pm »

look through the telescope
(Yes I wanted to take a few handfuls, so 3-10 handfuls? Let’s go with 4 handfuls if that’s ok.}
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
(sure)
You look into the eyepiece. Instead of getting a good look at the interior of this cavern, you find yourself staring straight through stone. Its only in the center 60% or so of the view, but no matter where you turn it, you can peer straight through as though the lens is boring a hole straight off into infinity. You try messing with the adjustment dials and find that they can do things like adjust the depth of the "hole", its width, the standard zoom, etc. Oddly, living creatures (like the Moths hanging around in their structures on the edge of the cave, are not penetrated, nor are their equipment. Just the rocks around them.

Start reading the library, but go in hops and skips to try and identify the major events in this recorded history. Try to sketch out a rough timeline which includes the biggest events this way. Try to find the point where Adam starts to recognize the events from what he knows from history/where there is any overlap with what he knows. 

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


Keep helping out my teammates with exploring, translating, opening stuff, etc.
Be sure to keep an eye out for things of interest that they might miss with their fleshy eyes, but I can notice with ym crystal sense.



Spoiler: Clate (click to show/hide)

[7]
You begin reading through -or rather you have clate read selected slabs to you- and try to create a sort of rough timeline of the crystal race and their interactions with the outside world. Clate dutifully translates but you immediately have issues. There are many things named, places, people, times, races, but you recognize none of them. 

"Jallus Uthgaurd, Son of Underlord Malric Uthguard, brought war to the Hydine in his year of DYU 128."

What are any of these things? Ugh. Still, you push on and through effort and pattern recognition manage to work out a few things.

There are 5 races listed aside from the crystal race, which just refers to itself as "The Crystal" for both the entire entity and individuals.

The Archae are the "churning amalgamations of fluids in a humanoid shape", apparently complex colony forms of some sort of bacteria. They are apparently rare, appear out of nowhere, and trade their seemingly infinite secrets and knowledge for piles of sugar and other simple things. They have no interest in material things beyond this and their concepts of time, life, death, and value are extremely hard to understand for other species, though the Crystal states they have a sort of kinship with them due to their "Correct thinking".

The Hydine are the Lizardmen. Their place in history seems to be that of occasional trade partner but most often brutish raider of outer settlements. They seem to have very little in the way of established society and appear nomadic with no central governing figure. Not much is said about them other than what amounts to "And then the Hydine raided another settlement" or "And then we killed a bunch of Hydine for raiding settlements". And so it goes.

The "Cluster of Slugs" appears nowhere in the record, at least the abbreviated version of it that you read.  Or at least that you can make out. There is reference to a place called "The Slime" so they might be more of a location than a race.

The Armored Crabs are referred to as the "Eternals". They are apparently immortal, at least to age, and occupy a sort of mix of Corven and Honored dead roles, acting as a giant military for hire and police force. They trade mostly in weapons, armor, and mercenary services and are actually much larger than their statue when full grown. There are hints at a strange underwater society and individuals of such massive size that they spend most of their time in hibernation.

The "Stack of Crickets" are the Jombux. Their entire society is based around rapid evolution and specialization, with hundreds or thousands of subspecies or breeds handling different work. Or even singular aspects of work. The "Stack" recorded in the statue was apparently their "Negotiator collective" consisting of a base which carried them around and various other individuals that did things like make the correct gestures for each race or remember everyone's names.  The Crystal states that the Jombux were a slave race created by some other dominant power, but after that dominant power died out the Jombux just continued muddling on. They are apparently running on a sort of autopilot; they maintain the empty palaces and empire of the former slave masters mostly through trade, but they don't inhabit them. They stay in their caves and adapt to the work that needs doing.  The Crystal considers they may be useful sometime in the future

Of particular interest are the Birdmen, the Korax. They are remarked on in an almost dismissive way as being "Timid" and "Creatures born for different age". They apparently have a hard time in the underground, with few places to really stretch their wings in a literal sense. They are treated as a good natured but inherently primitive group, willing to trade what they had for shiny baubles and food.

As per the timeline, there is a great deal of it. But in general it is just a sort of back and forth of wars and trade and various goings on. No great world shattering events are recorded. But that might be due to the rather dry and matter of fact way the crystal records things. It would probably record the destruction of Empyrean as "Human city destroyed".

Can I reach any of the motes of light? Try to collect some light motes, and head toward the place the water is falling up from. Taste the water.

You reach out and grab one of the motes. It feels slightly cold and vanishes in your hand. You try to collect more but they all fade away upon being touched. Oh well.

You slowly scramble down the rocks until you reach the bottom of the cavern and then walk along raised sections until you reach the mouth of the inverted waterfall. You stick a hand into the running water and begin to fall up as well. You pull your hand back immediately and drop the few inches you had rose back to the ground. Hmm. You taste the water on your hand. Its an odd taste; not just water but...well you cannot place the other flavor. Not bad, mind you, but just...its not like anything you've ever tasted before. You can't make a comparison. Slightly sweet.




Are you sure you want to drag a citizen of the city, kicking and screaming, out to the bore? Its a pretty long walk and Might cause a bit of a stir.

Of course not!

We'll knock him unconscious and restrain him first, of course.  No kicking and screaming then.  Also, Nyw will handle the guy, and carry him, because he's the honored dead.  Presumably it's less weird for giant undead warriors to go around kidnapping criminals than for short middle-aged men to do so.

After he's secured at the bore, go head to that meeting location.


Help with restraining the guy and keep watch for any shady characters running off following the arrest. Head to the other meeting place once our newest prisoner has been brought to the bore.
Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)
[18]

The retrieval goes well enough. You knock the guy out with a flick to the face and carry him back to the bore. You tie him up and toss him in one of the unused rooms and head back out, with the intent to go check that meeting place. You open the hatch door and....down on the ground, about 20 feet from the hatch, is a group of 5 Ethral. Their masks all have a little golden eye symbol set into their foreheads.  Oh and they're all pointing very nicely made machine guns at you.
[2,8]
Both Alex and Nyw dodge back into the hatch as bullets tear through the air all around them. Alex, covering his head as bullets hiss and ricochet around the small room, kicks the hatch door shut and the rest of the gunfire clangs off it like high speed hammer blows.


Kara stared at the idol.
"Just animal products and these statues. They were so different from us..."
She picked up the little thing to look at it from a different angle, running one of her fingers over a claw mark.
"And yet..."
She gently hugged the little idol. A few seconds later she realized how terribly embarrassing it would be if someone walked in on her while she was like that so she gently set the idol down and prepared some space for it in her pack.
"I'll make sure your beauty is seen by others. Your creator intended for it to be so. I'll fulfill their ancient ambitions and make them famous beyond famous, even if they're no longer able to thank me for it."

Take some of the Bird-people idols and some of the mole-people jewellery, especially the ones that depict that unknown beast.

Also take notes on the insect saddle, enough to hopefully be able to reconstruct it (with the proper materials).

Finally, how would I say those ancient mole-people compare to the modern ones? Do the modern ones still use the same technology and art style? It would be impressive if a society managed to survive for so long and remain more or less unchanged while the rest of the world changed so much around them.

When done here, try to get Crystal Friend to dig me an entrance to the vehicle Depot just like he did for the trade Depot and see if any of those "great movers" Clate said are in there looks like it could drive/walk/dig/flow out of here. If we're able to escape with all those wonders we've discovered here... The greedy archeologist birb in me can't accept leaving all those treasures behind for the moths to exploit and hide, not without at least trying to do something about it first. It belongs in a museum. My museum, to be precise.


Spoiler: "Kara" the Corven (click to show/hide)
You carefully pack away some of the artifacts and take some notes on the saddle.

You don't know a whole lot about the moles, no one really does, but you can say that their art style is...mostly different. You can see the roots of the modern style via these things, but they did not remain unchanged. At least in terms of what you've seen. Their technology has also grown more complex.

The Vehicle depot is opened much like the trade depot is opened and within you find a strange place. The innards are more crystallized than the outer, but there are still things to see. The "Movers" are not unlike your crystal friends but are significantly larger. The largest, hanging from the ceiling, rivals the Bore, though it is significantly more slender. The movers are clinging to the walls and their general shape is that of a platform or large container atop a number of legs. A giant barrel on two back bending legs, a platform that looks like a walking table, a Diamond shape with 3 legs on either point, a cube with dozens of little legs on one side, and so on. The smallest of them are easily large enough to carry several men, the largest could carry dozens.

Parisbre56

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Re: DIG: It belongs in a museum!
« Reply #2574 on: January 22, 2020, 03:58:19 pm »

"Wow, look at that! It's like they're your big brothers." Kara said to Crystal Friend. She knew the thing couldn't understand her, but it was nice to have someone to talk to nonetheless.
"What do you say we free one of them, eh?"

Could Crystal Friend break enough of the wall quickly enough to be able to free one of the smallest movers? If so, have him start working on the wall while I go drag Clate here.

Go find Clate and ask him if he knows how these things work. Do they need fuel of some sort? Could I order them around with the control rod safely? Could we fill one of them with treasures and dig our way away from here, to a place where we can randezvous with the bore?




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

syvarris

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Re: DIG: It belongs in a museum!
« Reply #2575 on: January 23, 2020, 04:41:07 am »

Nyw turns to Alex and curiously asks "Do you think they might be the ethral police?"  He pauses for a few seconds, thinking and listening to the bullets pinging against the hatch.  "Hmm.  No, no.  Ethral bureaucracy isn't so efficient, they wouldn't be able to issue a death warrant before we even finished tying the man up.  Criminals, then."  Nyw nods firmly, then continues.  "Alex, would you please go man the cannon?  I'll head to the helm, perhaps the bore is agile enough to step on them, but if not I'll need you to shoot them.  Baxter, go with him, and Gus, go find Ashul and explain the situation."

Head to the helm, and take manual control over the bore.  Ideally, Nyw would like to just have it step on the moths, but failing that, maneuver it into a position where the cannon can fire on them.  Nyw has +1 vehicle skill, which I only now realize should be Vehicle Skill (Bore), as that's what I intended it to be at the start of the game.

As for the cannon, send Baxter along with Alex if Alex goes to man it, or have Baxter man it if Alex doesn't.  Baxter has orders to shoot the murderous moths.

Send Gus to go find Ashul and tell it what's going on.  OOC, yes, I know he's in a dive, but Nyw doesn't.


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Re: DIG: Oops
« Reply #2576 on: January 23, 2020, 07:46:26 am »

Ingest a little more of the water. Does this cause my gravity to invert? If I start falling uncontrollably toward the ziggarat, Dive out of here. Otherwise:
can I use one of my occult junks as a container? Call it a skull, I guess, and use that to hold some of the water. If not, then soak my rope in the water. After this move away from the waterfall and look for other paths. If no other paths present themselves, Dive out of here.


Hotfire90

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Re: DIG: It belongs in a museum!
« Reply #2577 on: January 23, 2020, 09:50:12 am »

"I didn't expect them to find us so soon, we may have to go straight for their leader next. I'll get them with the cannon if they're still a threat, try to leave one of them alive for interrogation if you can."

Lock the hatch, wouldn't want them to board us while we're getting into position. Man the cannon and fire at the moths if more than one of them is alive.
Spoiler: Alex Wells (click to show/hide)
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Re: DIG: It belongs in a museum!
« Reply #2578 on: January 23, 2020, 10:12:15 am »

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Do I find any rooms through the stone?
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Re: DIG: It belongs in a museum!
« Reply #2579 on: January 23, 2020, 10:15:51 pm »

(It’s been a while, eh? Sorry about that)

1- If I’m aware of the opals, go grab a bunch.

2- If I’m aware of the vehicle depot, check out one of the smaller ones, see if I think I could get it running? Maybe Clare could help me engineer it to have non-crystaloid controls?

3- Try to use the Voice on the library and/or the trade depot.

If that’s too much for one turn, then just do the opals.


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I only ate a few vampire hearts. Like, three tops. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Go check out Shadow of the Void!
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