Olivius stares in obvious disbelief. This entire ordeal has strained credibility, and more a man in a blue box just appeared out of nowhere...
Nope. His mind just isn't accepting that. Instead of answering the hallucination he turns and asks to anyone, Does anyone have a drink?
"Are you even old enough to drink?" Viola asks, taking it in stride that a blue box just randomly appeared. She was pretty sure it wasn't there before, but she wasn't -really- paying attention, what with the sound of drums and the communication device she was still offering to the others.
Olivius, being from a time before there was such thing as a "drinking age", doesn't register what she's asking and continues evaluating whether or not he's actually experiencing all this. His running theory is that Bolus, Sinathel, Dambreth, and Himself are all caught in some illusion.
Sinathel eyed the box and the man that came from it with a healthy dose of skepticism. She senseductress out to the world around her as she approached the man. Her gaze rove over him and that strange box of his. She moved like the predators of her home jungle, silent and powerful.
"Who are you?"
Olivius subconsciously turns to keep Sinathel in his sight. Any wrong moves and this visitor was going to get knifed.
Dambreth leans on his staff and stares at the strange man who has just appeared from a stranger device that arrived in an extremely strange manner.
"In my time, it was customary for a polite newcomer to introduce themselves first. Is that not true anymore?"
The tall stranger looks a bit ruffled by Dambreth's words. With a tug at his jacket, he steps out of the strange blue box he just materialized out of. "If you must know, I'm the Doctor. The temporal energies that have just been...blown up less than a kilometer from here are some of the most unstable I've seen in...a long time," he finishes, glancing at each of you.
"There, now, I've told you who I am. Are you with the Hand of Gaia or not?" his British accent sounds a bit...frayed.
Sinathel:
You instantly discern that there's far more to this box than meets the eye...obviously, since most boxes don't materialize out of thin air. You can tell from subtle displacements of natural energies around the ship that it is immense, far bigger on the inside than the outside; it boggles your mind, it must be some illusion, but that is what you see.
As for the man himself...you see years written on his face in obvious wrinkles, but also in less obvious ways. You feel an immediate mistrust for this man. Not necessarily for what he's saying, but something on a deeper level than that.
You're all in control though, as he's asking you a question.
Fine, yes. We are with the Hand (though I am beginning to question whether joining was good for my mental state).
"See. 'The Doctor' is the kind of title you tell people. It doesn't necessarily tell you that he makes people better, but it implies it. If you walk into a building and you have to choose to go with 'The Doctor' or 'The Betrayer' who are you going to choose? The Doctor, of course. People are stupid about titles." Viola shakes her head.
After a moment, she answers, "I am not a member of the Hand of Gaia, no." She says this as she's looking over her Fiddle with a frown. "Someone tried to play this..." she sighs, as she leaves the communicator sitting on the ground. "Hmmm... how about Viola the Unstrung..."
"Does your temporal expertise extend to world destroyers that are attracted to beacons that are placed in different times on a world?"
The tall stranger sighs with relief when Olivius confirms his suspicions. He strides up to each of you in turn, eyeing you up and down with a critical gaze, his fingers thoughtfully touching his chin.
When Viola leaves the communicator on the ground, the Doctor whirls to her, his coat spinning around behind him.
"There!" he says, drawing a wand-like device from his pocket. It extends with a flick of a button and a faint whirrirrrirrr can be heard from it, and the communicator pops open on the ground.
From the communicator comes the ghostly image of Professor Hardworthy, recording a message into it. The newcomer, this...Doctor, stares intently at the Professor's recording, seeming to study its every detail.
You hear the Professor's voice again, speaking into the microphone of the device Viola was carrying.
"This is a message for the the leash that holds the Hand of Gaia, the so-called originals that started this whole centuries-long plan." the Professor's voice says, his tone sullen and angry. "You blasted cabal, you twisted meddlers, you worthless manipulators calling yourselves Gaia's protectors. This message is for you."
"Those adventurers you sent to my door have no idea what they're in for. They have interference from those damn Guardians, about a thousand orcs, and a bomb they picked up from some traveling bums. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. You need to stop 'biding your time' and act. The World Eater is nearly here. What the hell are you waiting for? I'm recording this to tell you I've had enough. I've activated the Failsafe. I don't trust any of you anymore, if you're even still up there in your floating tower."
The Professor-hologram pauses, looking at something above behind him. The next few minutes of the recording are choppy and violent - you see an explosion send shrapnel flying into the recording's viewing iris, knocking the old man down with a severe blow to the head. Then you see Temellen striding into frame, the elf casually kicking the Professor's prone and groaning body aside as he takes the ship's controls.
The Doctor isn't paying any attention to the Professor's hardships. At the mention of "the Failsafe," he immediately turns on his heel and strides off toward his blue box, taking long steps.
Actually, I'm having some of the professor's misgivings. Why has the Hand waited so long to eliminate the Beacons? And why use us in the first place? It's not like they couldn't do it themselves.
He ignores the retreating man.
Viola looks up from the fiddle as the man activates the communicator. "Neat." she says, low, then watches for a bit, then quickly grows bored. The whole thing becomes something to listen to while she pays more attention to the surroundings. Which is why she noticed the reaction. She hops after him, not bothering to use her device to outrun him. "What's the failsafe? Why 'The Doctor'? What's in the box?"
Dambreth hurries after Viola and the Doctor..."Wait, wait, Dr. Who-ever you are! Tell us what you know about the World Eater!"
Bolus has been keeping quiet, a huge burden lifted from him at the news of the death of Temellen, as he focused on making sure Yala and the rest of the Guardians were fine. He looks around. Everyone's Alive... Good only then does he focus on the weird newcomer.
What Here is Evil? he thinks to himself.
Bolus, you sense an ominous thundercloud of Evil that clings to this man like a cloak, following his every footstep. The man himself...no, not Evil. In fact, you sense a strong sense of righteousness and goodness coming from this outwardly irritable old man. However, there is unimaginable evil in his past, so much so that you find yourself wondering how the man's soul is not dragged down to Hell while he stands before you. In simpler terms...this guy's seen some s+&&. So much so that you find it difficult to trust him, no matter how good he seems to be.
The Doctor whirls around again, his eyes darting back and forth without focusing on anything in front of him, his mind clearly running through numerous complex calculations. "Let's start over," he says, a big smile on his face. "What with the...uh...explosive going off, and the death and destruction around us and what-have-you..." he glances at the body of a slain orc lying on the ground nearby and his lips press together in distaste.
"Anyway. The Hand of Gaia and I...well, we're involved. In fact, I was there when it was originally founded! Might have gone differently had I actually had a hand in the Charter...but it's always better to let you do it for yourselves...yes..." he seems lost in thought a moment, before turning to Dambreth. "Yes, the World Eater! Coming this way, drawn by terrible beacons that have been lit throughout history, yes, ringing a bell?" he taps the side of his nose, and puts one arm over Dambreth's shoulder. "Well, it's a latecomer to this neighborhood. There's another one, another planet-sized beast that could swallow everything on this planet whole. In fact, more planets have them than don't!" he points upward, at the moon hanging in the evening sky overhead. It's barely visible through the smog left behind by the recent explosion, but it's there.
"Yours is asleep...up there. The monster in the moon...the Hand of Gaia's Failsafe."
What... You mean to tell me that there's two of them! Olivius spits. And you've Activated it! Nonononono, there has to be more. That solves nothing. As of now we're even deeper in this crap than ever! He throws up his hands and mutters something about his pay.
"Surely it's not all -that- bad. Also, he didn't activate it. The guy in the com activated it. Also, no, that doesn't ring a bell, and yes, I noticed that you ignored my question. Why the Doctor?"
With the muttering about 'pay', Viola raises her hand, trying to get his attention in a more pleasant manner. "How much is this Failsafe going to be worth? Also, how edible is the moon?"
Bolus crosses his arms Has blowing up these beacons even achieved anything or have we just been spitting in the wind
"A Failsafe? To battle the other? How can it be controlled?" Dambreth shakes his head doubtfully, "are Bolus' fears correct? Have the destructions of two beacons not done anything to stop the Destroyer?"
"Wait. If you guys can time travel, why do we care? Why not go back like a month and make it so that he can't 'trigger the failsafe'? Why not travel to a point where the beacons haven't been activated, take them, and... I dunno... hide them at the end of time itself? Am I missing something?"
The Doctor shakes his head insistently when he hears your question repeated, Viola. Approaching you with one long stride of his legs, he blinks slowly. "No time for...origin stories." His ears perk up as the others ask their questions or voice their feelings. The despair in Bolus and Olivius' voices sets his fingertips to his temples for a moment, then he smiles a little.
"No, I wouldn't call destroying that beacon nothing. As the Hand and I understood it, it was the only way to prevent your world from being eaten. The Failsafe wasn't a solution, it was a chance for a little..." he sighs regretfully, glancing up at the sky overhead. "A little revenge."
"It can't be controlled, sir. Nor can it be bargained with, or communicated with at all. The Monster in the Moon might have destroyed the World Eater that's coming...and then devoured the Earth afterward."
He crosses his arms. "Obviously, the idea's insane. I was completely against it. This Professor shouldnt've even known about it...and NOW, since you've destroyed the last beacon that was set up, it's not even necessary! We're going to have to stop him from setting off the signal..." muttering to himself, the stranger walks back into his box, slamming the door behind him.
Viola stands silently for a moment. It's probably the quietest she's been since anyone here met her. Then she called out to the box.
"Why don't we just unmake the monster!? Or change it to be soft and cuddly!? TIME TRAVEL!"
Wait, so we saved the world from the World Eater and now because of the Prof, the MOON is going to eat us?
Bolus grimaces. Calling the situation insane would be a very severe understatement.
The door to the box bangs open again. The Doctor pokes his head out again at all of you. "Come on, come on," he says, impatiently. "There are players at work on this planet that prevent me from just going anywhen I want to. What I can do is take you to where you need to go - where the signal went. We need to go to HQ." he points up at the sky. "Up there." With a grand sweeping "after you," gesture, the man stands aside and welcomes you all, encouraging you inside. "Come on, come on. I want all of you here with me for this. There might be trouble."
Viola shrugged, and went into the box. It's not like there was anything wrong with entering a box with a strange man; it wasn't an alleyway. Or a room.
Olivius is rather grumpy about it, but he obeys the crazy man. His hands are in his pockets, which is to say he has a throwing knife in one hand and a grenade in the other.
Dambreth follows the others into the strange conveyance.
Bolus turns around to the rest of the Guardians Should be following those guys into that thing whatever the hell it is. I don't think I'll be welcome back in Terminus for the next little while and this... well whatever I'm mixed up in seems like it's important not just for Terminus but for everything.
"Are you gonna take us somewhere we can rest?" Viola asks as she starts to enter the box, paying no heed to her surroundings as she does, "I think everyone needs some Doctoring. And assuming there's no rest, either you or I might wanna get started on doing it." Viola suggests.
The Doctor turns to Viola as she asks her question, his expression brightening for the first time since you saw him. He has a million-gigawatt smile that changes his entire countenance.
"Rest? Why yes, of course! Headquarters is the permanent residence of time-honored members of Gaia's Hand, where you can see any of the magnificent views of the planet's surface below that you like."
He lifts his left hand overhead and snaps his finger casually, closing the door to the TARDIS behind you, Viola. The view of the inside (which is bigger than the outside)...
You stand in one of the strangest starships ever designed; built using engineering techniques that tricked reality and broke the underlying rules of the universe. There's space for you all to walk about comfortably, and you see the Doctor rushing to the central pilot's console. He begins flipping switches and pushing levers upward, and the central pillar that dominates the room begins pulsing a bright light that moves up and down its length. You hear the strange whooshing sounds of the TARDIS engine firing up once more.
"Neat." Viola says, as she moves over to the console he's messing with. "It kind of looks like you're just hitting things at random though. Which is fine, it's what I've been doing with my maneuvering device. It usually turns out fine, yeah? And you got where you were going."
She pauses for a moment, looking around, but not really paying any attention to anything in particular.
Vallarco and Ocampo were tending to Cortes' injuries and each other, and regarded the Doctor with deep suspicion. When Bolus mentions "not feeling like he'd be welcome in Terminus City anymore," they begin to mutter to each other. They look mistrustfully at some of the others, especially the prisoner that brought Viola her gear on his back. The swarthy human prisoner, for his part, is gaping at the TARDIS, his chest of gear lying forgotten on the ground behind him where Viola left it after ransacking her gear.
Cortes is still unconscious. Ocampo is tending to his wounds, binding his lacerations and checking his vitals. Vallarco approaches Bolus before everyone boards the TARDIS, as the Doctor impatiently looks on from the doorway.
"Sir," Vallarco begins, "that was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do." Her voice is strong, but falters a little before she continues. "Ocampo and I, we had our doubts about the authenticity of your story, but after you got us out of there...well, let's just say we're true believers now. That's why I want to come with you."
Ocampo looks up, surprised, but Vallarco silences him with a stare. "Don't make me pull rank, Ocampo. Temellen was able to smear a Guardian like Bolus' name, what could our superiors do to regular Guardians like us? Besides, I owe him big - we all do. You have to take Cortes back to Terminus. I'm going with them." Ocampo looks pretty disgruntled, but nods acquiescence.
"Can I come?" a voice speaks up. The enormous human prisoner carrying the loot-box, who had been mute up till now, speaks in a surprisingly childish voice. "I just...er...got nowhere else to go, really."
Full Hirelings rules for Dungeon World
Hirelings are easy to make on the fly. When someone enters the players’ employ note down their name and what cost they’ve agreed to as well as any skills they may have.
Start with a number based on where the hireling was found. Hirelings in villages start with 2–5. Town hirelings get 4–6. Keep hirelings are 5–8. City hirelings are 6–10. Distribute the hireling’s number between loyalty, a main skill, and zero or more secondary skills. Starting loyalty higher than 2 is unusual, as is starting loyalty below 0. Choose a cost for the hireling and you’re done.
A hireling’s stats, especially their loyalty, may change during play as a reflection of events. A particular kindness or bonus from the players is worth +1 loyalty forward. Disrespect is -1 loyalty forward. If it’s been a while since their cost was last paid they get -1 loyalty ongoing until their cost is met. A hireling's loyalty may be permanently increased when they achieve some great deed with the players. A significant failure or beating may permanently lower the hireling’s loyalty.
Costs
• The Thrill of Victory
• Money
• Uncovered Knowledge
• Fame and Glory
• Debauchery
• Good Accomplished
Skills When you make a hireling, distribute points among one or more of these skills.
Adept
An adept has at least apprenticed to an arcane expert, but is not powerful in their own right. They’re the grad students of the arcane world. Arcane Assistance—When an adept aids in the casting of a spell of lower level than their skill, the spell’s effects have greater range, duration, or potency. The exact effects depend on the situation and the spell and are up to the GM. The GM will describe what effects the assist will add before the spell is cast. The most important feature of casting with an adept is that any negative effects of the casting are focused on the adept first.
Burglar
Burglars are skilled in a variety of areas, most of them illicit or dangerous. They are good with devices and traps, but not too helpful in the field of battle. Experimental Trap Disarming—When a burglar leads the way they can detect traps almost in time. If a trap would be sprung while a burglar is leading the way the burglar suffers the full effects but the players get +skill against the trap and add the burglar’s skill to their armor against the trap. Most traps leave a burglar in need of immediate healing. If the players Make Camp near the trap, the burglar can disarm it by the time camp is broken.
Minstrel
When a smiling face is needed to smooth things over or negotiate a deal a minstrel is always happy to lend their services for the proper price. A Hero’s Welcome—When you enter a place of food, drink, or entertainment with a minstrel you will be treated as a friend by everyone present (unless your actions prove otherwise). You also subtract the minstrel’s skill from all prices in town.
Priest
Priests are the lower ranking clergy of a religion, performing minor offices and regular sacraments. While not granted spells themselves, they are able to call upon their deity for minor aid. Ministry—When you make camp with a priest if you would normally heal you heal +skill HP. First Aid—When a priest staunches your wounds heal 2×skill HP. You take -1 forward as their healing is painful and distracting.
Protector
A protector stands between their employer and the blades, fangs, teeth, and spells that would harm them. Sentry—When a protector stands between you and an attack you increase your armor against that attack by the defender’s skill, then reduce their skill by 1 until they receive healing or have time to mend. Intervene—When a protector helps you defy danger you may opt to take +1 from their aid. If you do you cannot get a 10+ result, a 10+ instead counts as a 7–9.
Tracker
Trackers know the secrets of following a trail, but they don’t have the experience with strange creatures and exotic locales that make for a great hunter. Track—When a tracker is given time to study a trail while Making Camp, when camp is broken they can follow the trail to the next major change in terrain, travel, or weather. Guide—When a tracker leads the way you automatically succeed on any Perilous Journey of a distance (in rations) lower than the tracker’s skill.
Warrior
Warriors are not masters of combat, but they are handy with a weapon. Man-at-arms—When you deal damage while a warrior aids you add their skill to the damage done. If your attack results in consequences (like a counter attack) the man-at-arms takes the brunt of it.
Vallarco the Guardian gets 8 points:
Cost: Good Accomplished
Loyalty 2
Warrior 4
Protector 2
?????? the big, unnamed prisoner gets 4 points:
Cost: Money
Loyalty 1
"First Aid" - secular version of "Priest" skill - 2
Burglar 1
"Of course you can come! You brought me my stuff! Anyone who can carry -that much- is a friend in my book." Viola grins widely as she leans against the console, drumming out a nonmagical beat along the edge.
Olivius is perplexed by the box. It's smaller on the outside... he mumbles, but he is once again forced to surrender himself to the weird.
He wanders as the man turns knobs and flips switches, and can't help but case the "vessel" out of habit. His professional eye scans everything for items of value.
What here is useful or valuable to me?
"Don't touch that." the Doctor's voice cuts in sharply when you reach for one of the console's controls, Viola. The thin stranger looks to be strangely protective of his miraculous machine. His expression is almost violent in its intensity as he stares at you wild-eyed for a moment, then he composes himself and smiles a little uncertainly. "I've had some...bad experiences when people touch things...in here. Paradoxes, disruptions to the space-time continuum, world-shattering explosions, that sort of thing..." He turns back to setting the coordinates - at least, that's what you assume he's doing. For all you know, he could be pushing and pulling at things randomly. You aren't quite sure about this stranger.
Vallarco, the unnamed former prisoner and the rest of the Hand's Agents file into the TARDIS, looking around. There's a few places to sit inside the machine, but not enough for everybody, just 4 of you.
Olivius, as you wander around to see what's all around you, you see something that looks out of place among all the fancy machinery - a plain old rolling chalkboard, not unlike what your tutor used to use when you were a child in a minor noble house. You see strange, complicated circles drawn in various places on the "margins" of the chalkboard...and you see a drawing of a face. The face is the same strange, unknown race that Temellen eventually revealed himself to be - there's no mistake. The face is drawn in a twisted, snarling pose, leaving no ambiguity as to its disposition.
"And here...we...go!" the Doctor cries, using both hands to push a pair of levers all the way forward. With a shudder that rocks the entire ship, the engines finish warming up, and the whooshing sound from before grows louder and fills the air.
This time is different from when the Doctor first arrived, however...before, there was a gracefulness to the way the box just materialized out of nowhere. You can immediately tell that this is going to be a rougher ride than it looked.
Viola and Borak are the first to notice that there's something very wrong. The Doctor is frowning as he stares at the monitor slightly above head level, at the numerous flashing text notifications that are completely unintelligible to you.
With a sudden WHAM, all of you are violently jerked to one side, aft of the ship! Though it's difficult to tell without perspective from the outside (there aren't any windows that you can tell), you can see from the way the Doctor is clinging to the control panel that the ship is on its side relative to its gravitational pull. Alarms are sounding from speakers set in the walls all over the ship. What do you do?
Viola calmly latches herself to a few of the struts, using her device... and hopes that it actually holds in place.
She takes the time to stretch a little, the rotation of gravity being perhaps 'good' for her in this instance. Assuming everything goes right, her device looks not unlike a gyroscope as she flips and turns in time with gravity's pull.
Olivius latches onto the nearest strut and holds on. Any second now they should dash themselves against the sides of one of those mountains. Then again, they could be disappearing right now. He was so confused.
Still, he makes a mental note to ask the doctor about the chalk drawing when the world stops going sideways.
**Before heading in and Vallacro speaking up**
Looking around at the devestation of the orc camp Bolus sighs and closes his eyes and grips his dog tag Mission accomplished but is my Vow complete? Do I have to hunt down every last bleeding orc or is the full destruction of their camp enough?
** When Vallacro speaks **
Bolus looks at Vallacro with raised eyebrows. Not going to stop you if that's what you want. As long as Ocampo can get Cortez back to Terminus safe from here. Best be ready for anything Guardian. Having an egghead appear in a retro phone booth and start blathering about the moon eating the earth is one of the less strange things that have been going on since I got zapped by the damned beacon
**Inside **
Bolus keeps his senses trained inside the expansive box/ship for anything evil. Alright this is getting a bit up there in the weirdness scale he mutters.
Before entering the TARDIS:
Vallarco nods grimly at Bolus' words. "Sir, I've already seen stranger things today than I've ever seen in the service of Terminus City, and that's saying something." She turns to Ocampo, who has Cortes slung across one shoulder. "Goodbye, Ocampo. Honor serving next to you." Ocampo manages to salute with one hand and begins to stagger off in the direction of the road leading to Terminus.
As your eyes follow him, Guardian, you note that your Vow seems to be satisfied. The orc tribe that inhabited this valley has been scattered to the winds, thanks to the efforts of you and your friends.
Inside the crash:
"Everything's under control!" the Doctor cries out, struggling to reach one of the higher buttons and eventually managing to slap it. It does nothing.
"Damn!" the crazed man shouts, his voice getting higher pitched. As he curses, you can hear the metal structure of the craft you're all riding in begin to squeal in shearing protest...half the lights go out as the power fluctuates wildly. For a moment, you can see nothing but the gleaming white glow of the central column inside the command console, before the lights flicker back on. Right as they do so, however, the craft tips sideways and crashes on its side. You all feel a bone-shaking impact that rumbles the entire craft when you finally come to a stop and the TARDIS stops its shaking. Even if you're securely fastened, you're shaken all around and disoriented for several seconds. Finally, it stops. All falls quiet. The lights are only working intermittently now; it's very dark in here.
Roll 1d6. If you rolled a 1 or a 2, you're injured from the crash, and you take 1d8 damage from the crushing impact of your bones against the bulkhead. What do you do?