Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Grek]

It doesn't seem especially likely that Vitality->Heat is something that we can learn to do.

[monk12]

I think we would be better off not bringing up necromancy beforehand, and instead when we show him the golem we should say we think that the golem magic is the same type of magic that necromancers use.

I think our telling him strategy was pretty much decided on pages and pages back.

And we should wait until we are into human lands, away from people. Our first day in the wilderness - may it come quickly.

When you awaken the next morning, you resolve to wait until you are in the wilderness of Human lands to tell Omo- surely no more than a few days from now. Crawling out of the tent, you find that Omo has snared a pair of rabbits, and tuck in to an enjoyable meal.

Your second day out from Yicelafo starts foggy, but warm. Spring is in full swing, and summer is on its way. You and Omo speak only a little, the fog muffling your quiet conversation, and soon you lapse into an amiable silence as you enjoy the serene quality of your journey. The fog burns off as the afternoon wears on, helped along by a cool breeze along the riverbank. As you travel, Omo grows more and more perturbed, sometimes stopping and peering at the trees uneasily. After the third such pause, you turn to him quizzically.

Omo, what do you think you're doing?
I've been seeing a lot of trailsign in the trees.
Trailsign?
Yeah, it's a Ranger thing. Little ways to communicate with other Rangers. Like, you see that flower and leaf tied to the branch with a vine?
How do you know that's a flower? Looks like a stem to me.
Yeah, it's a rose stem actually. Wouldn't do to leave the petals on the stem, you'd see it from a mile off.
If it's communication, isn't it supposed to be seen?
Yeah, but not by civilians, or enemies. It's kindof a Ranger secret. Anyway, my point is that I've been seeing a lot of it. A lot more than I'd expect to see.
So... what? I'm guessing this is a bad thing, from your tone.
Well, and I'm not sure, which is why I didn't mention it yet, but I think that there's a big Ranger presence on the border. The things I've been seeing seem to be patrols communicating with one another- normally I'd expect there to be one patrol on duty at a time, and with the Necromancers I was expecting there to be two or three, but I think the trailsign I've been seeing is between at least three different groups.
Didn't you just say you were expecting three?
Yeah, but we're not even at the edge of the forest yet. If there's this many patrols here, near the heart, how many are going to be out on the actual border? Are you sure the Elders weren't sealing the border yet?
I thought so. Maybe they decided to get a jump on the end of the Fair.
I hope not. This could get tricky.

Omo sets off, and you follow, somewhat troubled. You'd rather hoped to avoid any run-ins with the Rangers- you doubt they'll track you down once you're gone, but they'll probably try to stop you before you get clear of the Vale. That night, Omo insists on a small fire and a campsite away from the river, and you don't feel inclined to disagree. After inconspicuously Sensing Vitality to take the edge off your mana pool, you go to sleep.

You arise early the next morning and head out, digging into your trail rations for breakfast on the go- with luck, you'll be in Thrimesdur by sundown. Omo is visibly tense, and every few hours points out another piece of trailsign- a warning about a bear den here, a guide to delicious honeycomb there, and apparently a heap of Ranger humor everywhere judging by Omo's snorts and dismissive gestures.

You make good time traveling along the riverbank as the Great River curves to the south. As the afternoon wears on, Omo starts stopping more frequently, holding up a hand for silence. Eventually, he calls for a halt altogether, and leads you to a secluded little clump of shrubs. You are more than happy for the rest break, for while you are no stranger to long walks you normally recover from your exertions in your comfy bed, not the cold bumpy ground. As you lean against a tree and dig into your provisions, Omo informs you that he's going scouting and slips away through the trees.

You finish your meal, and stretch, waiting for Omo to return. The minutes seem to drag by, alone in the woods- it feels like hours, but by the sun it is only about 30 minutes later that Omo comes back, a grim look on his face.

We've got a problem Nym. There's a lot of Rangers here, and I'm not sure we can slip past them.
What? How many is a lot?
Enough to repulse an attack from the river, and more than enough to catch us if we aren't careful. It looks like this is a local staging point for the Rangers, protecting the ferry at Larathor.
The ferry?
Yeah- it's how the Caravan crossed, and how I was planning to get to Thrimesdur. From what I can tell, there's a picket watching the ferry at all times, and lots of Rangers in the treeline up and down the Great River.
You saw all that? Are you sure you weren't spotted?
I'm sure- they were too busy looking out to keep more than a cursory eye on the Walled Jungle behind them. The real question is, what do we do now.
What are our options?
Well, we could try to make it to the ferry. We'd almost certainly be spotted, but if we can get across the guiderope before the sentries catch up we should be alright. We could try it under the cover of darkness, which would be much more dangerous but might let us make it unseen.
Alright, so when you say "get across the guiderope"...
I mean that there's a rope that runs from one bank of the river to the other. The ferry almost certainly won't be on our side of the river, and we can't wait for it to come to us, so we'll have to do it the old fashioned way. Hand over hand.
Yeah, I'm not feeling that plan. What else you got?
My only other idea would be to go around- we could go north and try to find a spot we can swim across or ford, or we could go south and try to wave down a boat- if we go south far enough we'll hit another town sooner or later. Either option would take us days out of our way, and we'd still have to worry about Ranger patrols while we're traveling.
Yeah, I'm not crazy about that option either.
I say we just make a run for it. You got a better idea?

It's a tough situation- Omo seems confident in his ability to outrun the Rangers, but you are somewhat less sure. What should you do?

Spoiler: You (click to show/hide)

Vitality- 10/10
Mana- 12/12
XP- 19/20
Inventory- Belt Pouch (86.2 Silver Pieces), Elven Traveler Garb, Elven Cloak, Belt Knife, Leather Backpack(Bedroll, Flint&Steel, Weak Mana Potion, Scroll Case(4 blank Parchment, Charcoal), Trail Rations Fishing Equipment, Spare Traveling Clothes x2, Prestidigitation for the Beginning Practitioner by Joddo Meadtrust, Crystal(5oz))
Abilities- Sense Necromancy(Passive)
Skills- Competent Fisher
Status- Tired
Seventeen days since Manifestation

Spoiler: Spells (click to show/hide)

General
Detect Magic- 1 MP - detects spells and magical items near you
Calm Animal- 1 MP - causes wild animals to become peaceful
Sense Vitality- 1 MP - you can detect the Vitality of living things, with a bit of effort
Brew Mana Potion- A Mana Potion takes twice the potions potency in Mana cost, and requires 1/2 hour per point in brewing time

Necromancy
Raise Zombie- ? MP - You can take the formerly living body and turn it into a zombie, but you lack understanding or even much knowledge of the particulars. It seems the mana cost is related to the overall quality of the corpse, and maybe the size?
Command Undead- 2 MP - You can merge your awareness with an undead creature, gauging its general condition and issuing explicit orders it will obey to the best of its ability. You can also give orders that will persist beyond the end of the spell.
Steal Vitality- 3 MP - Range: Line of Effect. You can suck the Vitality out of living things. This spell removes up to 6 Vitality from the target and gives 1/3 of it to you.
Animate Object- 4 MP - You can force Vitality into inanimate objects, things that were never alive to begin with. It seems to be more complicated than Zombification though- your Rock doesn't do anything, which is hardly useful. You'll need to experiment with this more.
Alter Golem- 2 MP- You can make basic alterations to an existing construct or animated object.

Spoiler: Omo Thunderjaw (click to show/hide)

Vitality- 13/13
Mana- 3/3
XP- 20/30
Inventory- Elven Tunic, Elven Cloak, Belt Knife, Leather Backpack(50' Rope, Hatchet, Camping Supplies), Masterwork Elven Staff
Abilities- Track, Survivalist
Skills- Novice Observer, Competent Ambusher, Competent Staff User, Poor Liar
Status- Edgy

Spoiler: Notable Figures (click to show/hide)

Your Parents- Your mother is a prominent Mage serving in Yicelafo itself, and your father is a Ranger Lieutenant, currently patrolling the borders.

Omo Thunderjaw- Your best friend, brave and true. He is currently an aspiring Ranger, and is eager to leave the Vale.

Elana Foundwasps- An old flame of yours, she is currently studying with the Mage the next town over.

Pevo Zephyrtempest- The village Sage- you can ask him for knowledge of what history the elves possess. He is somewhat absent minded and easily distracted.

Ari Wetdawn- The village Mage, here to cure ills and bless crops. He knows much of Life magic as well as magic in general, but is also most likely to discern your true nature.

Curo Nightroar- The Necromancer of Thrimesdur, said to be insane, he controls a massive army of the Undead and threatens the Cremated Empire.

Pirate King- The Necromancer operating along the Jeweled Coast, he commands a mixed force of human and lizardfolk pirates along with his undead minions.

Luki Revereorder- a Merchant who possesses many strange things

Spoiler: Planned Experiments (click to show/hide)

-This one's a bit morbid, but bear with me. Take two crayfish. Shell one, leaving the meat inside as intact as possible. Remove the flesh from the second while leaving the shell as intact as possible. Attempt to revive both and compare the results. Is vitality in flesh or in bone? In both? Neither? Regardless of what we find, it should prove instructive.
-Try to find out if zombies have a memory, if they can be made to recognize specific objects. I recomend starting with a ball or something, and instructing a zombie to follow that specific ball wherever it goes. After testing it to make sure it works how we expect, substitute in another ball that has a different colour or a different size, and see if the zombie knows it isn't the right ball to follow. We can move to more abstract things from there, like having if understand things like "any ball" "any non-red ball" "the biggest ball" and stuff like that, or even to sort a pile of pebbles into stacks by colour.
-Attempt to raise a pile of ashes from a cremated corpse.
-Raise an earthworm and then, once it is raised, cut it in half at the border between two segments. Which ends, if any, are still animate? Continue cutting into halves at segment lines until all parts are dead or it has been divided into a prostomium, peristomium, pygidium and a pile of ordinary segments.
-See how much damage a dead body can sustain before it is unraisable
-Also, it seemed interesting that the loop was recognized as the center of life. We should test raising different rope Golems, some who are linear, some who are looped or knotted in different ways. How does the golem react to music, and what if we made one out of clay, with more distinguished features?
- Test Command Undead by commanding something you've raised to self-terminate.   A further test of this would be if it could work on the undead that other necromancers have summoned.
- Test Command Undead, and see if can you over-ride commands given to a zombie summoned by another necromancer.  Does the zombie respond to the most recent order given, or does it have loyalty to whomever summoned it?  Or maybe it is under the control of the more powerful of the two necromancers.
- For Animate Object, see if you can make an object levitate, or move to your will.  Maybe this could develop into telekinesis..
- we should try pricking our finger, and stealing the vitality of an insect or something, and see if it will heal the cut.
- Another thing we need to play with is fire. Fire golem? HELL YES.
-Play with blood. Maybe that's what the golem needs. Blood. Mix some of your own blood into the clay.
-Like we tried to be the ropeman when we raised our first golem, we can try to be the earth when we make a clay or earthen golem, etc.
- Try to infuse vitality into the crystal to see what it does.
- See what happens if you infuse Mana and Vitality into the same crystal.
- Steal Vitality on self
1. Imbue a small, uncrushed mana crystal with mana. Cast Detect Magic on it, comparing it to a mana potion.
2. If successful, turn the imbued mana crystal into a golem using 2 vitality. It is important to later experiments that we use exactly 2 vitality. Continue observing with Detect Magic.
3. If successful, attempt to Alter Golem in order to imbue the mana cystal with the ability to cast a cheap spell using the mana stored within it when commanded to. I recomend Detect Magic, since that should be easy to test.
4. If successful, continue to have the crystal cast Detect Magic even after it has run out of mana, in order to see if it can cast the spell using vitality like a mage can. Assuming this works, we will be able to discern the conversion ratio between vitality and mana.
5. If successful and the conversion ratio is > 3 mana per 2 vitality, have a mana crystal that is able to hold at least 3 mana wrapped in thick leather with a single small hole. Firmly attach this leather-covered crystal to a stick that is suitable as a handle
6. Imbue 3 mana into the crystal before turning it into a 1 vitality golem that will cast Steal Vitality as quickly and often as it can on anything that comes within 4 feet of it, draining the vitality into itself.
7. Note to ourselves that, because Steal Vitality works on line of sight, only things that come within line of sight of the single hole in the leather will be drained of vitality.
8. Enjoy our new lightsaber.

Spoiler: Maps (click to show/hide)

World Map


Yicelafo

[GlyphGryph]

Think - There HAS to be a better way than hand over hand, and risking going into the river. Can we work up any sort of harness and hook, some way we could put the bulk of our weight directly onto the rope so we can use our hands and feet to do all the work? Obviously something we'd be able to get out on the rope quick. Then we hand underneath and slide ourselves along as quickly as possible. We've got fishing equipment - I don't know if we have any big strong hooks, but that will give us anchors. Then we have some rope - tie it to one backpack strap, toss the rope over, anchor it with a line of hooks, and GO.

I think running through is our best bet - they won't be expecting it, and most of all they won't know what to DO about. They'll have no orders for such an event, I'm sure, and I doubt they're going to risk hurting us or sending us into the river. And if they do, yell at them that they're going to get us killed. That should slow them down.

They're used to combating threats, I'm sure, not preventing escapees.

[fergus]

I think running through is our best bet - they won't be expecting it, and most of all they won't know what to DO about. They'll have no orders for such an event, I'm sure, and I doubt they're going to risk hurting us or sending us into the river. And if they do, yell at them that they're going to get us killed. That should slow them down.

Seconded.

[GlyphGryph]

Second plan - Ask Omo what an official letter to leave looks like.

If he knows, see if we can recreate a passable fake.

If he doesn't, well then, it shouldn't be too hard to create a passable fake, since he's a ranger too.

And if things don't look like they're working out, we might at least have the raft closer or ourselves be closer to the rope. (still going with the hook loop plan for faster crossing).

How wide is the river and how fast is the current, btw?

[Grek]

Running probably isn't going to work. Yeah, Omo could make it, but we're tired and we've never gone hand over hand on a rope in our entire lives. We will fail comically if we attempt it at any significant speed and our dad will find out and we will be grounded until we're 50.

Here's my suggestion:
0. This is something that we should do regardless of which plan we choose: Look through Prestidigitation for the Beginning Practitioner for basic waterproofing spells that are safe to apply to the book and to our writing materials. It would seriously suck if we managed to get across the river only to discover that our one and only source of general magical knowledge was ruined by the water.
1. Go find that bear that the trailsign warned about before and use a combination of Calm Animal and knowledge of the location of delicious honeycomb also mention by the trailsign to wheedle the bear into serving as a distraction for us by screwing around in the ranger's tents. Time this so that the bear is at the camp after dark.
2. While the rangers are being distracted by our bearstraction, cross the river under cover of darkness.
3. Run like hell.

[Cellmonk]

Are we an elf, or a dwarf? Why don't we just run on TOP of the rope, like a true elf, while doing various acrobatic stunts and rudely gesturing at the salmon. We could fish while we're at it.

On a serious note, do we know how to swim? couldn't we loosen a log from the shore, and paddle across? we shouldn't be too conspicuous---a log in the current. we can land further down stream.

The log would decrease both our chances of drowning and being spotted.

We could attach our supplies to the underside of the log, using our leather.

[bombzero]

Are we an elf, or a dwarf? Why don't we just run on TOP of the rope, like a true elf, while doing various acrobatic stunts and rudely gesturing at the salmon. We could fish while we're at it.

On a serious note, do we know how to swim? couldn't we loosen a log from the shore, and paddle across? we shouldn't be too conspicuous---a log in the current. we can land further down stream.

The log would decrease both our chances of drowning and being spotted.

We could attach our supplies to the underside of the log, using our leather.

MEDIEVAL NAVY SEALS FTW!!!

[lockman766]

well i'm for going north, but since you mentioned the bear I'm all for distraction.

[Descan]

Why don't we make a quick-and-dirty raft, attach it to the guideline, and use a sufficiently-long-pole to push ourselves over the river? Shouldn't take more than a day or two, and if we time it right, we can get across safely in the dark. It'd take longer than just booking it and going hand-over-hand, but be safer. And it'd be quicker than finding a place down or upstream to cross.

[RAM]

There will not be much time if we make a run for it, carrying a vessel large enough to support a person will likely be too cumbersome a task for the available time. Bear in mind also that learning a spell from the book would also be time consuming, and unreliable without practical experiments...

Consider the possibilities of animate object. It could look like a general spell and if it could compel a rope to move of its own volition then it may be possible to build a new rope bride at a less patrolled location.

I say ask Omo if they could offer any assistance with crossing, maybe strap you to the rope somehow, as you are not confident in your ability. If it comes down to your ability to cross a rope faster than the rangers, than go north or try to convince them to let you cross. If you can get any advantage, then make a run for it, probably in daylight.

Could you masquerade as diplomats, or advanced scouts for formal diplomats?

[forsaken1111]

Hell, why don't we just stroll down there bold as brass and bluster our way through? Its not like an elf is going to draw arms against another elf, and if we act important enough they may let us pass. I doubt anyone has reported us missing or marked us as a person to detain yet.

Or we could just wait for the caravan and get some human clothing to slip through in the crowd with them.

[Angle]

I don't think the caravan is traveling this way. And I doubt we have enough experience with animate object and alter golem to do any such thing. And Omo would be suspicious as fuck, also.

I'm for bluffing and running, I doubt we'd be able to set up a distraction very well.

[GlyphGryph]

I still think forging a document would be a good assistance to a bluff, and we should still be able to run if things go poorly.

It's either that or if Omo can find some sort of floaty log we can push into the river a bit up shore, then we can catch the rope on the way down and use it as an impromptu raft.

Actually, for even better cover, Omo could claim he's staying here, and he was just escorting us to the crossing. This will put the focus on us a little bit at least, and then
a) if our bluff falls apart and we need to make a break for it, Omo can claim that he'll "get us back, the lying bastard" and follow, potentially slowing down both attempts to catch us and him, and likely having the raft closer.
b) If the bluff doesn't fail, we can wait until the raft gets here, and as it pulls away with us on it Omo can run and jump aboard, giving us a very very good chance of success.

What's on the other side of the river townwise, by the way? We should claim that as our immediate goal, and then wandering and diplomacy trying to get a feel for the possible resistance, chokepoints, fallback plans. Basically, act like a proper diplomat interacting with a neighboring ally in a war.
But you know - Omo probably knows this potential process better than us. ASK him if this sort of bluff would work - how many elves would come down to check us out, what would be their likely responses, could they be fooled by a fake document, especially to leave the lands, which they've likely never done before, how much force are they likely to use to prevent our crossing. Omos feedback will help us determine if the plan is even viable, and if so, how best to execute it.

[MikaTheCrazy]

In my opinion we should (in order of success possibility)

A. sneak across using bearstraction (Grek's idea)  B. make a dash with the hook harness idea (Glyphgryph) C. sneak across using a log and waterproofing spells. (Cellmonk)

Trying to bluster our way across is out of the question. We would get caught in seconds. depending on what Omo knows about passes to leave that could also be a possibility.