Sarachim:
Wow there was an actual loading time
GM Lilith:
i said it was a big map :v
BJ Earles:
Oooh, Lilith's breaking out the vision blocking. Could be interesting.
sylae:
Yeah, that was my thought process too. "Fog of War? Shit's going down today" :P
Sarachim:
Let's ruin her hard work by talking our way through this one!
Audrey Martel:
sorry am late
BJ Earles:
You're not that late.
dintiradan:
Remember, Bekora, this time, you need to rant about a Valkyrie attacking, not a dragon.
BJ Earles:
Let's try to *not* get ourselves almost killed this time.
BJ Earles:
Just for a change of pace.
Sarachim:
That hasn't happened in, like, three sessions!
GM Lilith:
i mean you did just save a bunch of them from a robot death squad so in theory they should be predisposed to think well of you now
Sarachim:
Anyway, everyone's here, right?
GM Lilith:
looks like it!!
BJ Earles:
So are we not seriously thinking of assassinating their leader?
GM Lilith:
are we all ready to start?
BJ Earles:
Yeah, I'm ready-ish.
Audrey Martel:
they do serve ammat-xan
Audrey Martel:
so we will probably kill them all
Braidvine Bow:
Let's do this.
GM Lilith:
bj if you need a few more minutes that's fine
BJ Earles:
nope, nope, I'm good.
GM Lilith:
Okay then. Who's got a recap?
BJ Earles:
(Just needed to pull the character sheet out.)
Sarachim:
We explored Lentoir and met some Lost Ones who dumped some backstory about the Firmament on us. We also learned that they (shockingly!) have a leader with a parasite.
Sarachim:
Then we fought some police robots.
Sarachim:
And now we're in the Lost Ones' creepy underground city.
Sarachim:
Did I miss anything?
GM Lilith:
Sounds about right.
GM Lilith:
You all climb down the ladder and descend into a cramped underground room, dimly lit by glowing panels on the walls. A sturdy-looking metal gate blocks the path ahead, and to your right is a slightly larger room with cabinets and basins of some sort attached to the walls. The Lost Ones file into the room and gesture for you to follow.
Lost One:
"Important to shower after being above ground. You know how to work shower, yes? Go into room, press button by door to close, stand under head, press button on wall, wait for water to stop. Good idea to wash clothes too. Change of clothes in cabinet if you need."
Leila Rithorn:
"You all seem very afraid of the surface."
GM Lilith:
He gestures to the next room ahead of you, a small, damp, slightly mildewy room which features what looks like drainage holes in the floor and cone-shaped metal apparatus sticking out of the walls a little above head height.
Rokhsana:
"Huh. Well. Who's first?"
Lost One:
"Surface is death. You have seen for selves. Valkyries and poison."
Audrey Martel:
"Poison surface or not, I've been on a boat for way too long to say no."
Leila Rithorn:
"You first then."
Audrey Martel:
Audrey stumps into the showers
sylae:
I sigh. "Y'all just want to see me naked" I enter the chamber
GM Lilith:
Okay, so you two are going in together, then?
Audrey Martel:
Audrey's got no shame :p
GM Lilith:
Audrey and Bekora step into the shower room and follow the instructions given by the Lost One. Once the door to the room closes, they each stand under a shower head and press the button they were directed to. The sound of rushing water can be heard from behind the walls, and a few seconds later the two of them are doused in an impressive volume of lukewarm water.
GM Lilith:
After about two minutes, the flow of water dies down to a trickle and eventually stops completely.
GM Lilith:
I assume once they're done and out of there, the rest of you are going to do the same?
Leila Rithorn:
Yeah, I guess Rokhsana and I are next.
sylae:
poor lonely jared :(
Rokhsana:
Well, fine, since you're interested :p
GM Lilith:
You all take turns to wash yourselves as best you can under the showers. Apart from each of you being soaked in a deluge of water, nothing particularly eventful happens. Once you're done, the Lost Ones file in to do the same.
Jered:
(At least I get a quiet shower. Had James been here, he probably would have sang.)
Rokhsana:
(That, or freaked out because the shower is clearly magical.)
GM Lilith:
There are towels and clean (if heavily patched-up) clothes in the cabinets in the room adjacent to the showers; any of you who want to get dried off and/or changed can do that as well. Meanwhile, the goblin who seems to be the de facto leader of this party of scavengers steps over to the large closed gate and taps a series of buttons on the wall to one side of it. It slides noisily open.
Rokhsana:
I'll look through the spare clothes and see if there's anything interesting.
Leila Rithorn:
I'll take a towel to dry my hair at least.
Rokhsana:
(I kind of assumed I was already dry. That's kind of a normal part of taking a shower. :P)
Audrey Martel:
(the very best in Vault fashion!)
Jered:
(Doesn't showering imply the exact opposite? :P )
Audrey Martel:
Audrey dries off, changes clothes, etc.
Jered:
I will also rinse off my clothes, and switch into new ones if there are some available.
GM Lilith:
The clothes are apparently sorted into different cabinets based on the type and thickness of material used: presumably there are outfits for warm and cold weather. The winter outfits are lined with wool or something like it, while the summer ones seem to be made of some kind of thin, smooth felt. They're plain and show signs of heavy repairs, but the Lost Ones have generally done a reasonable job of keeping them in usable shape.
Rokhsana:
I guess I'll change, too.
sylae:
I towel off but keep my own clothes
GM Lilith:
Okay. Those of you who are willing to do so change into the Lost Ones' spare clothes. The Lost Ones themselves, meanwhile, are starting to leave the room through the previously closed gate, taking the scavenged wood they collected from the surface with them.
GM Lilith:
The Lost Ones take the wood into a storeroom filled with tree branches, empty sacks, various rusty tools and other miscellaneous items: nothing immediately strikes you as particularly unusual or valuable, although you do notice what seem to be some parts of valkyies here and there. Some of the wood is immediately dumped into a deep pit in one corner of the room, while the rest is stored for whatever later use it's meant to be put to.
Lost One:
"Good. Furnace should stay lit for longer now. Work done for day. You hungry? Need food?"
Rokhsana:
"Thank you, but perhaps we'd better speak to your chief first."
Leila Rithorn:
About how long can we last on the food we have now?
Rokhsana:
FOur days. Just enough to get back to the ship.
GM Lilith:
Correct. You've used up about half the food you brought with you.
Leila Rithorn:
Ah, okay. Accepting food would be a good idea then.
GM Lilith:
The Lost Ones lead you into what must be their dining area. Bowls and spoons are stacked in cabinets against one wall, and there are nozzles against the opposite wall, a little like the shower heads but smaller, each with a pair of buttons above them.
Leila Rithorn:
I look at the nozzles with interest.
Lost One:
The goblin holds a bowl below a nozzle, presses the button on the right and a thick pink paste is dispensed into the bowl; another of the Lost Ones holds her own bowl below a different nozzle, presses the button on the left and a thick brown paste is dispensed into hers.
Leila Rithorn:
I quickly lose my interest in the nozzles.
Rokhsana:
"So, what's good here?"
Lost One:
"Take pick. Pink or brown food. Some like one better, some other. Both keep you alive."
Rokhsana:
I consider it for a moment, then opt for pink.
Audrey Martel:
Audrey picks brown.
Lost One:
"Also water from over there if you need." He gestures to a separate bank of nozzles with one button each.
Lost One:
"Food. Only thing good to eat on Lentoir."
Leila Rithorn:
I try some of the brown stuff.
Jered:
"No, like, what kind of food?"
sylae:
I get a little of each
GM Lilith:
You each select your chosen flavour of paste. The brown paste is a confusing mess of flavours, like stale bread that's been left in a kitchen long enough to pick up the flavours of everything else there: the main single familiar flavour your taste buds manage to grasp from it is salt. The pink paste is much the same, but sweet instead of salty.
Lost One:
"Not as good as your food. We know. Sorry. All we have."
Audrey Martel:
"At least it's a change from hardtack."
Rokhsana:
"It's all right. Thank you."
Jered:
"No, I mean, where's it... oh, never mind." I grab some brown.
GM Lilith:
The good news is, none of you exhibit immediate symptoms of poisoning after consuming the paste. The Lost Ones are eating the stuff as well, so it seems to at least be edible.
Rokhsana:
"Could we take some of this stuff with us when we leave? How much do you have?"
Lost One:
"Hmm. Can take with if you want, but only stays good for maybe two days after it comes out. After that, rots fast."
Rokhsana:
"We'll wait until we're ready to leave, then. So, your leader?"
Lost One:
"You mean Prophet? Not really leader, just... well, yes, kind of leader. Yes, we bring you to him now."
Rokhsana:
(Thanks for reminding me what he's called. I totes forgot.)
GM Lilith:
The goblin leads you through the narrow corridors of his home to what might be some kind of office, meeting room or small library. Shelves of books and papers line the walls. A middle-aged dwarven man is sitting at the head of a long table, thumbing through a stack of papers. He's covered with the same scars, lumps and discoloured marks as the rest of the Lost Ones, but not quite so severely as most. However, he has a band of raised, reddish-purple skin around one wrist -- you've seen enough people with similar marks by now to recognise a sign of the influence of Ammat-Xan.
Lost One:
"Prophet Arnaud! I bring outsiders to see you! Very strong! They kill valkyries to help us!"
Prophet Arnaud:
"So, is true. Still other islands with life. But your home must be very bad place, if you come here."
Rokhsana:
"That's. . . well, that's pretty perceptive, actually."
Leila Rithorn:
"Actually, my home is lovely. I'd like to return to it one day. That's not why we're here."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Then why? To help kill valkyries, defeat Zeymir?"
Leila Rithorn:
"To learn. We have questions about the Firmament. What exactly is it, why was it put in place? Quesitons like that."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Yes, we have many stories of this. I am keeper of records. Not understand everything we find in them, but enough."
Leila Rithorn:
"Tell us what you know. Perhaps we can help fill in any holes."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Long ago, long, long ago, were two peoples: people of Lentoir and people of Zeymir. Many others also, but these are important ones to story."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Lentoir and Zeymir talk to each other, visit each other, trade. Good food, many comforts, able to live on surface. Better times than now."
Rokhsana:
"What happened then?"
Prophet Arnaud:
"But surface not enough for Zeymir. People of Zeymir want to live in sky. Build great city to rule over world from above, and great wall to stop us following. City is Hyperborea. Wall is Firmament."
Prophet Arnaud:
"People of Lentoir from back then say if Zeymir can live in sky, Lentoir can live in sky too. But Zeymir say no. Wall keep Lentoir down on surface."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Lentoir try to break through wall. Zeymir declare war." He sighs. "Guess who win."
Rokhsana:
"I can see you've lost a lot since then." I try to look sad
Prophet Arnaud:
"Yes. Zeymir call us vermin, because of what they make us into. Have to live down here, in hiding, or valkyries kill us. Only go up to get wood for furnace, to keep lights on and food working."
Prophet Arnaud:
"But one day, we defeat Zeymir and reclaim surface. Justice always done in end."
Rokhsana:
"You said you have records. Could we read them for ourselves? We might understand them better."
Audrey Martel:
"Where's Hyperborea?"
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hmm. Lots damaged, lots of words we not understand any more. But can try, if you want. Careful with pages. Old. Easy to tear."
Rokhsana:
"Don't worry. I'm a librarian."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hyperborea is city of Zeymir in sky. Maybe above old island of Zeymir. Maybe above us, to watch us."
Leila Rithorn:
"Where is the old island?
Prophet Arnaud:
"Across sea, to south. Nobody go there and come back. Same with everyone else who leave island. Maybe better place, maybe place of death. No way to know."
GM Lilith:
"What information you want from records? History of Lentoir? History of Zeymir?"
Leila Rithorn:
"Both, I would say."
Rokhsana:
"Both, and information about the Firmament especially."
Audrey Martel:
"For the record, it is much nicer off of this island. Whether any of them made it anywhere, who knows."
Rokhsana:
"Audrey's right. And if you help us enough, we might bring more of your people back with us."
Rokhsana:
"If they want to go, I mean."
Jered:
"If we've got the food for them."
Jered:
"And it's not like things are great for us either. At least you're safe from lava monsters here."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hmm. Maybe this help?" He looks through the materials on his table and digs out a stack of large papers held together with rusty metal fasteners. They're covered with faded writing in an ancient script, in text of various sizes.
Rokhsana:
I take it carefully, and hold it so the others can read too. Can I understand it?
Leila Rithorn:
I try to read it.
GM Lilith:
Everyone who's got Knowledge(History) or a similar skill can go ahead and roll it. :P
Audrey Martel:
| History Roll: 7 |
Wild Roll: 3 |
| You Aced! | |
Rokhsana:
| Religion Roll: 1 |
Wild Roll: 5 |
| Religion rolled a 1 |
Leila Rithorn:
(The closest thing I've got is Arcane Lore, and I don't think that's close enough.)
Rokhsana:
Arcane Lore might help with understanding old language, though.
Rokhsana:
Presumably this is written in an older version of whatever Mote people speak.
GM Lilith:
Hmm. I'll apply a penalty, but you can still roll it.
Leila Rithorn:
Okay, I'll try it.
Leila Rithorn:
| ArcaneLore Roll: 2 |
Wild Roll: 3 |
GM Lilith:
I guess I might as well let Bekora do the same with Geography while I'm at it. :P
Leila Rithorn:
Heh, yeah, that's not gonna help.
Rokhsana:
| burns a bennie ♦ ♦ |
| Religion Roll: 2 |
Wild Roll: 5 |
Audrey Martel:
Audrey Martel, best scholar of mote
Rokhsana:
I'll take that result.
Bekora Tiquo:
| Geography Roll: 2 |
Wild Roll: 5 |
Rokhsana:
Don't you have Investigation, Bek? Would that help more than Geography?
Jered:
I start idly pacing the halls close to the room while the eggheads sort everything out.
GM Lilith:
Audrey and Rokhsana are able to recognise the script: it's in your language, but a very old dialect. Between the two of them, they piece together enough to make sense of it. There are some words that are unfamiliar to you, but you mostly manage to make educated guesses from context and etymology. At the top of the stack of papers seems to be an informational article about current events, or rather, events that were current at the time it was written:
GM Lilith:
"Today's planned launch of the (unfamiliar word) Hyperborea proceeded on schedule, with Zeymir's Jarl Einar Bjarnason confirming that the overpopulated nation's space colonisation project will continue despite international protests. Hyperborea is intended as a permanent (unfamiliar word) habitat, carrying not only the resources needed for the long-term survival of its population but the materials and equipment to build further (unfamiliar word) colonies. Critics, including Lentois Secretary of State Georges D'Allerac, fear that the launch is the first step in the militarisation of space, and may lead to increased tensions with..."
sylae:
(I guess so, yeah)
GM Lilith:
The paper is faded and torn enough that the rest of the article is mostly unreadable.
Leila Rithorn:
I look very confused. "Well, that's..."
Rokhsana:
"What space are they talking about? You'd think they'd specify."
Rokhsana:
Is there more, or just this article?
GM Lilith:
Paging through the rest of the stack of papers, you find other articles that seem to be about music, business, and some kind of unfamiliar sport. Few of them appear immediately relevant to your situation and goals.
Prophet Arnaud:
"Was helpful? Can find more if you want, maybe."
Rokhsana:
"Hmm. This reads like it was written about recent events, for people who already knew most of what was going on. They must have had to print a new one all the time."
Rokhsana:
To Arnaud: "Could you bring us more from right after this one?"
Audrey Martel:
"I think it goes without saying that anyone capable of building a flying city has a lot of power we don't know anything about."
Rokhsana:
"Like the power to make a new book every day?"
Prophet Arnaud:
"Can do." He rifles through the shelves and cabinets on the walls, and finally comes up with another stack of bound papers similar to the first, but bearing different text.
Rokhsana:
I take it and read.
sylae:
"Hmmm...how often do you have to fix things here? Things like that furnace, the food nozzles..." I ask. "And how do you fix them? Are there manuals or something?"
Prophet Arnaud:
"We do what we can. Things work usually but break sometimes, maybe something every few months. Instructions for some things. If no instructions, or not understand instructions, or instructions ask for tools or parts we not have, we do without."
Rokhsana:
("When no have parts, must send lone lost one to surface to look for parts. Very dangerous. Not let them back in afterwards.")
Audrey Martel:
"How long have you lived down here?"
GM Lilith:
What the Prophet has given you does indeed seem to contain another informational article, dated (if you understand the dating system correctly) a couple of weeks after the first.
GM Lilith:
"Jarl Einar Bjarnason of Zeymir announced this morning that his nation was officially declaring war against Lentoir, in response to Lentoir's recent attempt to develop (???) to bypass the Firmament and build its own space-based colonies. With Zeymir having exclusive access to (???) weaponry and its political and military leadership currently stationed in Hyperborea beyond the reach of Lentoir's current technology, many voices, including anonymous sources reported to be high-ranking members of the Lentois military, are urging Lentoir to seek an immediate truce. However, Lentois President Gilles Magnier stated..."
GM Lilith:
The rest of the article is unreadable.
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hard to say how long. Not always keep track of time underground. Hundreds of years, for sure. Maybe more."
Rokhsana:
"Fascinating, but not useful. We need something explaining what the Firmament is, or how the Zeymir built it, or how the Lentois tried to bypass it. . . " I trail off.
Audrey Martel:
"Or how Ammat-Xan factors into it."
Rokhsana:
I kick Audrey under the table..
Prophet Arnaud:
"Ammat-Xan? You know Ammat-Xan?"
Audrey Martel:
"This history is. . . unexpected, but our curren-oof!"
Rokhsana:
"Yes, we do. We hear she's a friend of yours."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Friend? One way to say it, maybe. Find strange red thing moving on surface. Normally just walk past, but hear voice without sound. Say messenger of Ammat-Xan, promise to give power and help lead us to time of safety and plenty."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Not much to lose."
Rokhsana:
"There might be more to lose than you realize." I explain about the lava titan.
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hmm. Not good news. Maybe wrong to trust strange thing from surface. Much argument when first found. But hard to say no to promise of better future."
Prophet Arnaud:
"No volcano on Lentoir, though. Probably not have to worry about lava titan, at least. But maybe something else instead. No way to know."
Rokhsana:
"Ammat-Xan deals out blessings and curses without a thought for anyone but herself. When the Firmament is gone and you're not longer useful, she'll discard you. She is not your friend."
Audrey Martel:
"Many islands have had similarly destructive problems."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Maybe true. Sound like you know more than we do. But even so, Ammat-Xan want to destroy Firmament, yes?"
Rokhsana:
"Yes, that's true."
Audrey Martel:
"It's curious. You say that Zeymir built Hyperborea to rule over Mote, but they don't seem to have made themselves known anywhere but here."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hard decision. Work with Ammat-Xan, not know what happen. Not work with Ammat-Xan, nothing change."
Rokhsana:
"If you renounce Ammat-Xan, we'll help you as best we can. We can kill Valkyries, and we know the way to other islands."
Prophet Arnaud:
The Prophet scratches his chin thoughtfully in response to Audrey's words. "What you thinking? Something happen to Zeymir?"
Audrey Martel:
"That or they changed their minds."
Rokhsana:
"Ammat-Xan might have killed them by now. I would, if I were her."
Audrey Martel:
"It's possible, but they've apparently had hundreds of years to make some kind of impact. If something happened, I suspect it happened long ago."
Audrey Martel:
"You may well have already outlived them."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hmm. If true, then she do us great favour. Still, as you say, maybe not on our side either. Poison kill friend and foe alike, as saying go."
Prophet Arnaud:
"If you can find safe place for us to live, with good food, no poison, no valkyries, we not need to work with Ammat-Xan any more."
Jered:
(All the rulers on Mote are secretly Zeymirian reptoids!)
Rokhsana:
"Hmm. How many of you are there, anyway?"
Audrey Martel:
"How, exactly, do you serve Ammat-Xan, anyways? How do you wound the sky from down here?"
Prophet Arnaud:
"Less than two hundred. Used to be many more. Each generation smaller than last."
Prophet Arnaud:
"I go up to surface. Not far from home, not for long. Just long enough to find high place and attack Firmament."
Prophet Arnaud:
"In return, Ammat-Xan make time go faster, until day when surface clear of poison."
Prophet Arnaud:
"That was best plan, until you come here."
Jered:
"Time go what now?"
Rokhsana:
"He mea- actually, yeah, I'm confused by that too."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hm. Could show you. Maybe easiest way."
Audrey Martel:
"That might be the scariest gift from Ammat-Xan I've of heard so far."
Rokhsana:
"Could you show us without wounding the sky? We frown on that, as you know."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Can show you a little bit without that, maybe." He pauses to think. "Come to kitchen. Easiest place to show you."
GM Lilith:
The prophet leads you back into the kitchen area, sits down and instructs you all to link hands in a circle.
Rokhsana:
I do as he says.
GM Lilith:
Once you've done so, he lowers his head and concentrates.
GM Lilith:
Other Lost Ones begin to zip in and out of the room at lightning speed, dispensing and eating their miserable meals too fast for your eyes to follow.
Rokhsana:
"Okay, stop! We get it!"
GM Lilith:
He lets go, and the world around you abruptly returns to its normal pace.
Rokhsana:
"I mean, I don't get how it works, but I get what's happening. Magic, I guess. Anyway, we don't have a lot of time to stay here."
Lost One:
"One day, when have enough power. take all people of Lentoir thousands of years ahead, to better time when poison clear from land. Hope so, anyway."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Yes. That is plan. Or was, until you came. Now, maybe you have better plan?"
Rokhsana:
"I hope so. Could my friends and I talk this over somewhere private?"
Prophet Arnaud:
"If you want. Lots of empty rooms around."
GM Lilith:
Sure enough, it doesn't take you long to find an unoccupied area where you can have some privacy. A few minutes of exploration are enough to convince you that this underground building is massive, far bigger than needed for the couple of hundred people the Prophet said live here now.
Rokhsana:
I lead the group off to such a room. "So, what are we going to do about this? We can't just take them all home with us, and we need to deal with the parasite situation before we leave."
Rokhsana:
"And we still haven't learned anything that can help us."
Jered:
I shrug. "Come back for them later after this is all over?"
Audrey Martel:
"There are favors we could use to organize an evacuation. We could also just leave them here after dealing with Ammat-Xan."
Audrey Martel:
"They won't be any great help past here, I don't think."
Rokhsana:
I wave my hand at our surroundings. "All this is way past anything we know how do to. Somewhere, in the records or the machines, there must be something we could use. If we leave now our whole trip is a waste."
Bekora Tiquo:
I nod in agreement, "We'd be stupid to leave this facility without looking around. I suspect, even in disrepair, we can learn much"
Jered:
"So I just hang out here while you all keep reading old scraps of paper?"
Audrey Martel:
"Zeynir seems like a much more interesting destination. If the Firmament was developed there, and they had they means to leave this world, than that seems to be our only way to strike at Ammat-Xan directly."
Audrey Martel:
then that*
Rokhsana:
"I'm sorry that saving the world is not exciting enough for you, Jered." To Audrey: "I agree, but can we get there? If we hurry back to the ship, we have 22 days before they have to sail home again. That's 11 to sail south from here and then 11 more coming back." I think. "If only we could find an old map."
Audrey Martel:
(this campaign is going to feature bekora building a spaceship, i just realized)
Bekora Tiquo:
(:bekorabeam:)
GM Lilith:
You could go back to the record room and make a more thorough search with an Investigation roll to see if the information you want is there, by the way.
GM Lilith:
But if you're still discussing strategy, don't let me stop you.
Jered:
(Lilith: What? I gave them an airship and they threw it away? Okay, time to up my game.)
Jered:
(Also, do we know how much time we skipped forward just now?)
Bekora Tiquo:
"Well, we're short on time as it is. I'll be snooping about if you need me"
Bekora Tiquo:
I'll head back to the record room, and look for any info on the old technologies used by Zeymir.
Bekora Tiquo:
| Investigation Roll: 2 |
Wild Roll: 1 |
Bekora Tiquo:
| burns a bennie ♦ |
| Investigation Roll: 6 |
Wild Roll: 2 |
GM Lilith:
(Judging by how many people came in and how fast they seemed to eat, on the order of a few hours to a day or two.)
Rokhsana:
"We still need to deal with the parasite. Do y'all think we could convince Arnaud to give it up?"
Jered:
"It's not like he's doing anything bad with it."
Rokhsana:
"He's wounding the sky! That's bad! That's why it's bad!"
Jered:
"Is he? He's stuck down here. I mean, I have a parasite and I haven't wounded the sky yet."
Jered:
"Hmm. I guess someone here has to be doing it."
Rokhsana:
"He told us he was. Pay attention."
Audrey Martel:
"We could just tell him not to."
Audrey Martel:
"He seems to be cooperating."
Jered:
"No, you guys were talking about boring stuff."
Jered:
(I legit missed him saying that he wounded the sky, but there was a stain above this island, right?)
Rokhsana:
I ignore Jered. "True, but we might not get another chance to check on things here. I'd feel safer if we took the parasite with us."
Audrey Martel:
"I'm not taking it."
Rokhsana:
(Yeah, there was.)
GM Lilith:
With translation assistance from Audrey and Rokhsana, Bekora searches through the old records again. Eventually, she discovers what seems to be a set of research notes on Lentoir's attempts to pierce the Firmament. The researchers discovered some interesting things: while the Firmament obstructs passage both of things from this world out of it and things from outside this world into it, it actually appears as if it was designed to be better at keeping things out than in. A powerful attack from the surface might be able to breach it. Attempts to develop a weapon that would pierce the Firmament were unsuccessful, but it seems the Lentois were working on a backup plan: a flying craft of some sort that could pass through the Firmament and attack Hyperborea directly.
Rokhsana:
I look resolute. "I will, if it comes to that. I've studied the creatures extensively and I think I could control one."
Audrey Martel:
Audrey looks at Rokhsana very judgementally.
Rokhsana:
"Dont do that, Audrey. Someone has to do this."
Audrey Martel:
"We could just kill him and run."
Audrey Martel:
"Less risky."
Rokhsana:
"What if they close the doors?"
Bekora Tiquo:
Is there any info on if the craft was ever built?
GM Lilith:
A prototype flying craft was being built at a facility on the outskirts of Lentoir's capital city, which you gather from other information in the records is to the east of here. As of the latest notes you can find, it was still being tested, but it looks like it was close to completion.
Bekora Tiquo:
"Oh, this is __so__ much better than an airship"
Audrey Martel:
Audrey just shakes her head.
Audrey Martel:
"I won't stop you. But there's no way it's as safe as you imagine."
Jered:
"It kinda worked with the cultists."
Rokhsana:
(brb, bathroom)
Bekora Tiquo:
"I'm sorry, I must have missed your better idea for how to strike Ammat-Xan"
Audrey Martel:
(no, i meant, i was talking to rokhsana
Audrey Martel:
(about taking a parasite)
Bekora Tiquo:
"If I'm reading this right, it was almost done. All we have to do is brush the dust off and hit it with a hammer a couple times"
Bekora Tiquo:
(oh, whoops :P)
Jered:
(Yeah, I'm mixing things up too. :P )
Jered:
"Anyway. Killing them's a bad idea. 'Cause there are a lot more of them than us, and I don't know how to make the doors work."
Jered:
"As for stealing the parasite... meh."
Audrey Martel:
(you know, me and leila migt be able to just use burrow to get out of here. . . :P)
Rokhsana:
I drop the previous conversation and turn to Bek. "With a regular ship, 'almost finished' means that they just have to put in the masts and rudder. You know, super-optional stuff that anybody could do. And this ancient sky-ship-thing is no doubt even simpler."
Audrey Martel:
(we can take others with us)
Jered:
(As long as there's a window to the outside, I can just 'port out. :P)
Audrey Martel:
(I doubt there is? it's an underground bunker)
Bekora Tiquo:
"I'm sure we can figure it out. I mean, they probably have manuals, and I can do my thing with the touching, and...what do you mean, masts are super-optional?"
Rokhsana:
"Well, if you think you can. . . how far east is the capital?"
Audrey Martel:
"We can't afford to not investigate some way to get through the Firmament."
Jered:
"Wait, we saw that on our roc ride, right?"
Bekora Tiquo:
"Uh..." I rustle around for a map
Rokhsana:
"I think so, Jered."
GM Lilith:
The good news is, the capital is maybe a day and a half's walk from where you are, as best you can tell. The bad news is, it's in the direction where you were warned all the valkyries are coming from.
Rokhsana:
"If we get two days' worth of food from here, we'll have enough to go there, but we won't be able to stay long. Still, Bek, if you think you can get the sky-ship or whatever flying in 12 hours, I'm willing to take the risk."
Audrey Martel:
"That seems optimistic. It is hundreds of years old."
Audrey Martel:
"But we could at least learn something about how it works."
Jered:
"All this stuff here is that old. But it still works. Kinda."
Jered:
"Still, what if they didn't finish it, like Rokhsana said?"
GM Lilith:
You also manage to find some maps of nearby islands: Zeymir seems to be some distance to the southwest. It's not exactly close, but it's closer to Lentoir than Lentoir is to Halitarn. With favourable winds, you might well be able to sail there in five to seven days.
Jered:
"Even if they did finish it, I bet the valkyries just trashed it."
Rokhsana:
"But if we went there, we could kill all the valkyries too, since it seems to be their base. And then we'd have something to offer Arnaud in exchange for the parasite."
Rokhsana:
". . . I mean, in exchange for giving up the parasite. If we decide he should do that."
Audrey Martel:
"Even if this craft is entirely lost, there may be something there, at least, that tells us something about the Firmament and Ammat-Xan."
GM Lilith:
(Man, if you're not careful, people are going to start stereotyping Wireldi people as power-hungry. :P)
Jered:
"Hmm. They did go down without TOO much of a fight. And yeah, if it's their base, there's gotta be something there, even if the ship isn't there."
Rokhsana:
I do math on my fingers. "Two days to the capital, four days back to this ship, figure another two for Arnaud's weird time thing . . . that leaves eighteen. Enough that we could also visit Zeymir on this voyage."
Rokhsana:
"In fact, it leaves us enough wiggle room that we could stay here for a short while. If you need more time to study technical manuals and things, Bek.:
Bekora Tiquo:
"It wouldn't hurt"
Rokhsana:
"What do the rest of y'all think? Does that sound like a plan?"
Audrey Martel:
"I still don't like taking more parasites. But yeah, that's a plan."
Rokhsana:
"We'll talk to Arnaud about that, then. Feel the situation out."
Rokhsana:
"In fact, we might as well do it now."
Rokhsana:
Is Arnaud still around?
GM Lilith:
He's still in the record room if you need to see him.
Rokhsana:
"So, Prophet Arnaud, we've talked it over and we think we have a plan. We'll go fight the Valkyries for you, and we'll tell you the way across the ocean to islands that aren't poisoned. I know it's not much, but it's the best we can do for now."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Better than nothing. If you can really defeat valkyries, maybe we have chance to leave island, find better place."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Anything you need from us to help? Not have much, but do what we can."
Rokhsana:
"Well, food would be nice, and we'd like to stay a couple more days and study your records some more, but that's not the main thing. See, we need to be sure you won't wound the sky any more."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Can do first things. Last thing not so easy. If I go too long without going to surface, feel strong need, like hunger but worse."
Rokhsana:
"As it happens, we can help with that. We know a ritual that would move the parasite you have our of you and into one of us. If you don't think you can resist, we can do it for you."
Prophet Arnaud:
"Hmm. If you do this, I lose powers also?"
Rokhsana:
"I'm afraid so. But you'll be helping to protect the world from Ammat-Xan."
Rokhsana:
"Of course, if you're *sure* you can control it yourself, then you don't need to. . . "
Prophet Arnaud:
"But you promise to give us new hope in return? Show us safe way to leave island, safe place to go?"
Rokhsana:
"Yes. I promise."
GM Lilith:
(I _thought_ BJ had been oddly quiet for a while...)
Rokhsana:
(Yeah, oops. In retrospect, I'm surprised he hasn't tried to stop me by now.)
GM Lilith:
(Uh, hm. Well, do we want to wait and see if he reconnects?)
Jered:
(I'm fine with waiting.)
Rokhsana:
(Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time Leila said or did anything. It's been ages.)
Jered:
(Yeah, scrolling back and checking now.)
GM Lilith:
(If it looks like he's not coming back, we might want to wrap up the session a little early, I guess.)
Jered:
(Leila participated in the newspaper deciphering.)
Rokhsana:
(Crud, that was an hour ago.)
GM Lilith:
(Yeah, that's... not a positive sign for him coming back soon, huh.)
Jered:
(Disconnects don't normally take an hour, do they?)
GM Lilith:
(Not... usually.)
Rokhsana:
(Yes, this is weird.)
Jered:
Well, I'm fine with waiting (though I'll probably break for a bit to grab some food).
Jered:
Also fine with ending it here.
Jered:
(And deciding what to do next in the thread?)
Bekora Tiquo:
(I gotta get ready for werk in like 30-45 minutes, so i'm whatever)
GM Lilith:
(I mean, I'm happy to wait if we think it'll help. But if he's not gonna show then we might as well call it a night. It's been close to 4 hours, so.)
Rokhsana:
We might as well wait a bit, if otherwise we're just gonna end.
GM Lilith:
Yeah, I guess we'll give him, say, 20 minutes, then?
GM Lilith:
If nobody has anywhere to be in that time.
Audrey Martel:
I can wait.
GM Lilith:
Oh well. These things happen.
Jered:
Grabbing some food then, back in a few minutes.
GM Lilith:
(I guess we could continue without him, but I think we'd probably want to end the session after you leave the bunker in any case, and it seems like consensus is it'd be sorta rude to have Leila do the ritual without consulting her player.)
Audrey Martel:
The nice thing about laptops is i have had plenty of food this entire time :p
Rokhsana:
Yeah, especially since he previously said Leila would be against it.
GM Lilith:
(i had a big ol' thing of microwave popcorn before the session so i'll be okay for a while)
GM Lilith:
mmm, popcorn :9
Audrey Martel:
ew popcorn
Rokhsana:
Hey, is it possible *I* know the ritual? It could plausibly have come up in my pre-party-joining research. :P
Audrey Martel:
Didn't we learn it from Halitarn, and it was adapted from some other ritual not connected with Ammat-Xan?
Rokhsana:
Hmm, I think you're right.
GM Lilith:
Yeah, it was a healing ritual that Vicar Cormac adapted for the purpose.
GM Lilith:
I mean, I'd maybe let you take it as a power if you wanted, but you'd have to spend an advance on it. :P
Rokhsana:
Never mind. I'm pretty sure Rohksana can sweet-talk Leila into helping. :P
Jered:
back with teh fuds
Jered:
The parasite question is tricky, because aside from all the narrative pros and cons, they give you nice and interesting bonuses mechanically.
Rokhsana:
I know. I want one.
Rokhsana:
Was that not clear? :P
Jered:
So it's a balance between OOC wanting people to have fun and IC thinking they're bad.
Rokhsana:
Well, Rokhsana thinks that a dangerous otherworldy power in her hands is better than in somebody else's. :P
Audrey Martel:
If it's not clear, I as a player don't care whatever way you go, so Audrey won't make that big of a deal about it either way :p
Jered:
That was basically what Jered thought about Isky's parasite.
Jered:
That tasted like more.
GM Lilith:
welp. doesn't look like we should expect him back today
Rokhsana:
Well, this was fun
Audrey Martel:
Yes it was!
Audrey Martel:
Neat revelations are neat.
GM Lilith:
You continue your research in Lentoir's records, finding out whatever you can about Zeymir and the Firmament, while enjoying the limited hospitality the Lost Ones can offer and preparing to infiltrate Lentoir's former capital city, now infested with valkyries.
GM Lilith:
Thanks, everyone. Sorry about the anticlimax.
Bekora Tiquo:
thanks for session :)
Rokhsana:
Yeah, thanks for DMing
Rokhsana:
I liked the newpapers.
GM Lilith:
I'm glad that I'm apparently good at writing fake newspaper articles. :P
GM Lilith:
I mean, that's literally my job right now, so I should be. :P
Sarachim:
You got that job? Why didn't you say so? :P
GM Lilith:
We'll call it 2 XP this session, I guess. It was on the short side but you did make a fair bit of progress in terms of learning about the Firmament and formulating a plan.
GM Lilith:
I didn't? I thought I did. :P
GM Lilith:
Anyway, yeah, I did. :P
Sarachim:
(Maybe you did. I forget things sometimes.)
Audrey Martel:
i know nothing of these matters
Sarachim:
Speaking of exciting things, we get an advance!
GM Lilith:
http://whenisgood.net/bssky25
sylae:
i must go wet so i can werk
Jered:
Back, got sidetracked into a conversation.
Jered:
It was an interesting session. Sorry I didn't contribute much.
Jered:
I realized partway through that I was just kiboshing other people's suggestions without offering my own. Sorry about that.
GM Lilith:
i was worried that you were getting bored tbh dinti :p
Sarachim:
Eh, I didn't see a problem.
Sarachim:
Except re: boredom, yeah. I tried to think of something for Jered to do but failed.
Sarachim:
Next time we'll fight more robots. :P
dintiradan:
It's fine. If Jered's illiteracy didn't ever come up, it wouldn't be much of a hindrance.
Sarachim:
We've got a couple days. We could try teaching him to read. :P
Audrey Martel:
It's harder than I thought to be Mean in ways not cartoonishly bad.
dintiradan:
I just thought, "Oh, Jered can't help out, so I'll just have him be antsy and disagreeable for flavour." But the thing about RP is that it's improv, and I was just saying no a lot.
Sarachim:
Rokhsana's pretty mean, and I didn't even take that hindrance. :P
GM Lilith:
anyway, the loose threads are starting to get tied up and you're getting a pretty good idea of what the deal is with the firmament by noww
dintiradan:
Both Audrey and Rokhsana seem like fully realized characters, for what it's worth.
GM Lilith:
what are the odds that the party is going to end up in space before the end of the campaign, i wonder???
dintiradan:
GOTTA GO TO SPACE
GM Lilith:
also it's sorta funny to me that you both decided to make wireldi characters. i hope this means i've successfully made wireld hateable in a _good_ way :P
Sarachim:
I'd bet even money that, at some point, in space, Jered tried to open the door.
dintiradan:
Also, anyone else worried about Bekora being our spaceship engineer?
dintiradan:
I've seen Sy play KSP. :P
Sarachim:
She does okay at Artemis.
Audrey Martel:
Strictly speaking, Audrey's from Dilegad. . .
Audrey Martel:
but yeah she's pretty wireldi :p
GM Lilith:
hey not everyone in wireld is an asshole, eshi's been perfectly nice to you all :P
Sarachim:
She's still complicit in some pretty awful stuff.
Sarachim:
And that's just what we know about.
GM Lilith:
i said nice, not good :P
Sarachim:
I'm not sure if hiring someone to spy on the party and subtly twist their actions to your own benefit counts as 'nice.' :P
GM Lilith:
it's gonna be interesting to go over this campaign when it's all over and talk about the ways things could have gone and didn't, i've had a lot of ideas for things you might have done that ended up being left on the table because you did other things instead :P
Sarachim:
I hope that lamia's not causing too much trouble. :p
Sarachim:
Apart from that, though, it kinda seems like we've followed every hook.
dintiradan:
Well, we've been pretty anti-Ammat Xan the whole time. Maybe we shoulda picked the winning side.
GM Lilith:
well i mean there were definitely other ways you could have handled Elpis, for a start :P
Audrey Martel:
Yeah, it would be real neat to see that stuff.
GM Lilith:
also if you'd gone back to port jynt to watch the earthquake ritual you'd know how that went and whether you've succeeded in stopping the lava titan :P
Sarachim:
Huh. Fuck, it didn't work. :P
GM Lilith:
i didn't say that! :P
Sarachim:
You kinda did, though. :P
GM Lilith:
oh and the confrontation with iskania could have gone either significantly better or worse than it did, although that was only partly a matter of choice and partly me making the fight a little too hard and then rolling lamentably well :p
dintiradan:
I don't mind how things went with the cultists, because zombifying Eldest Daughter has been the funniest moment of this campaign so far. :P
GM Lilith:
leila's necromancy has had a surprising amount of out-of-combat utility in general :P
GM Lilith:
oh! and there were defintely different ways you could have handled the airship and Wise Tree situations as well
Sarachim:
Weekend at Eldest Daughter's was pretty good, yeah
Sarachim:
I've got zero regrets about Wise Tree (oldest and wisest of trees). That went pretty much perfectly.
GM Lilith:
yeah that one went well, you could easily have just decided to burn everything down :P
dintiradan:
Keeping the airship would have definitely changed things, yeah.
GM Lilith:
given the history of aimhack parties that was a possibility i had to keep in mind :P
GM Lilith:
probably if you'd done that you'd have ended up getting less assistance from halitarn :P
Sarachim:
Seems likely, yeah.
GM Lilith:
oh! and if you'd agreed to wireld's request for a naval blockade of pelinora that would have changed some things as well, mostly shifting various events in the timeline forward a bit
Sarachim:
That seems bad..
GM Lilith:
yeah i was basically prepared for you to attempt any stance toward both wireld and elpis from "full alliance" to "gathering allies for all-out war", although in the end it seems like you've pretty much decided ammat-xan is the most urgent threat, that the most important thing you need right now is information, and you're only going to deal with politics as much as is necessary
dintiradan:
I still want to blow up that dam of theirs. :P
dintiradan:
Unfinished quests bother me, even when they're unfinished quests from another campaign.
Sarachim:
Yeah, I'm sad James never got to destroy a major piece of renewableenergy infrastructure.
GM Lilith:
Yeah. I still feel a little bad about killing him off while you weren't even there. :P
Sarachim:
Eh, it's partly my fault for bad scheduling decisions.
Sarachim:
Good thing that never happens to me any more.
GM Lilith:
I do think the way things turned out was a reasonable sendoff for him, at least, with him deciding that doing the right thing was more important than his oath to Iskania and fighting to the death to stand by that decision. But it would have been better if you were able to be there for it. :P
Audrey Martel:
meanwhile, kepling just sorta goes out with a mild fart :p
Sarachim:
It's okay. Rokhsana's my revenge. :P
GM Lilith:
Oh well. Now we have Wizard Party. :P
dintiradan:
Well. Jered's still a Muggle.
dintiradan:
For now. Maybe I should wizardify him this levelup. :P
GM Lilith:
Apart from the magic bow and the space alien powers. :P
dintiradan:
Going over levelling options right now. Damage output is adequate for now, so I'll probably take my other parasite edge...
Sarachim:
If anything, he needs to tank up.
Sarachim:
What is the other parasite edge?
dintiradan:
What a coinkidink.
dintiradan:
An armour edge. :P
Audrey Martel:
i'll prolly just bump history and sailing
dintiradan:
Although... Lilith, will natural armour or whatever it is in SW stack with my leather armour?
Sarachim:
I think I'll get Lucky.
Sarachim:
It goes well with Elan.
GM Lilith:
oh man i don't even know what i'm gonna do mapwise for next session. guess i'd better figure out the best way to represent a city in a playable way
Sarachim:
Can I poke around this map now?
GM Lilith:
sure, if you'd like!
GM Lilith:
there's not terribly much to see though :p
dintiradan:
There's this weird thing.
GM Lilith:
i'd have populated it if you actually decided to pick a fight but i figured that was unlikely :P
Audrey Martel:
also what is this reactor thing
Audrey Martel:
we never asked :P
dintiradan:
I figured it was going to be tied to whatever the Prophet was doing for Ammat Xan.
Audrey Martel:
That's what i thought
dintiradan:
Also, mind telling us if we were eating Soylent Green this session? :P
GM Lilith:
well, logically, considering how long they've been down here and how none of the surface food is edible, the food's gotta be recycled from _something_
Sarachim:
Soylent fact: I have a friend who eats this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_%28drink%29
Audrey Martel:
I have seriously considered that Soylent.
Audrey Martel:
It seems super appealing fro someone like me who hates eating. :p
Sarachim:
But eating is so great!
dintiradan:
I remember hearing about it when it first made the news. I figure I'll wait a few years, see if the people drinking it develop any problems. :P
GM Lilith:
if they didn't already have problems they wouldn't be drinking it
Audrey Martel:
i actually know normal people who use it
Audrey Martel:
it's. . . not a big deal
Audrey Martel:
it's not like every meal you eat is a fantastical culinary experience
dintiradan:
(Honestly, it seems best suited as a supplement in refugee camps or something.)
Audrey Martel:
instead of cornflakes at two in the morning, maybe drink soylent
GM Lilith:
don't they already have plumpy'nut for that dinti
Audrey Martel:
that's for, like, actual malnutrition recovery
Audrey Martel:
i think dinti meant as a staple food
GM Lilith:
i wish i could eat peanuts but they cause my girlfriend to die so im in the process of removing all peanut products from my house before she comes to visit
dintiradan:
*shrugs* Not an expert on it or anything. I'd just imagine that in situations where you need to ship in food for disaster relief or refugees or whatever, powdered stuff would be easiest. You'd need potable water but you'd need that anyway.
dintiradan:
Aw. Peanuts are good.
Audrey Martel:
you should have been me and just generally not liked peanuts to begin with :p
Audrey Martel:
not liking things means you don't mind when you lose them! clearly the best position in life.
GM Lilith:
but yeah basically i will talk anyone's ear off about food at any time
GM Lilith:
i went to some really good restaurants in america. your continent produces tasty foods
GM Lilith:
i had poutine for the first time in portland, it's not really a thing in australia
Audrey Martel:
poutine sounds like the worst thing. :I
GM Lilith:
oh nalyd is there anything you don't hate
Sarachim:
Poutine is insanely excellent
dintiradan:
It's the ultimate comfort food, but you take a year off your life every time you have it.
Audrey Martel:
hah. you should've been in the cr chat the last couple hours :p
Sarachim:
I had some for the first time at Burning Man, it was fun