A World Apart (Inactive)

Game Master mdt

"Mules can graze <blink> some of the way. Bags of Oats should be <blink> fine."

Twenty 50 lb bags of oats appear next to the hay.

Mostly the GM waiting on the group to be finished

Goragg only pawn in game of life.

He's been ready since software was delivered on floppy disks.

Hey Gorrag, Cale, Kalasin, Grim, did you guys keep a list of extra stuff from way back when as far as the original pallets of supplies? I stiall was carrying quite a bit and I was thinking we should just hijack the old "pallet contents" spreadsheet and create a merged list of camp supplies?

Cale (our resident pack animal until now) may have something more recently updated, but here's our original pallet.

I need to go grab that sheet first... I only carried what I could

Palakka can packa - I have no encumbrance apart from the harness, and a STR of 20 - so High Carrying Capacity

Cale let me know when you have a list that matches what you group should have sitting around at this point and then I will merge the lists with everything the voice has dropped on the old pallet spreadsheet.

Oh. We need pack saddles and pack bags for our mules. They won't carry much they way they are. Plus if we ask for some reigns and a pull set up we can use the mules to pull the sled our group made, might be useful if someone gets injured or we find something we need to move...

Other than that thought I am ready.

The group requests pack saddles and saddlebags for the mules, which appear.

Once that's done, the group spends several days leading the mules down the steep steps, having to get the balky animals to restart dozens of times. In the end, it takes nearly a week to get them and the rest of the supplies down to the NE boat.

Another week to move the equipment from one boat to another, and the boat is filled up nearly to capacity. Everyone has to sleep on crates and packing materials to fit on the boat.

But it seems as stable in the water as it was empty as it moves out, riding up one swell and down the other.

Figure out what you're taking from the boat into the next hectate, you can't take everything. But it can all be sitting at the docks for you.

Lilandra addresses the newer members of the group, as well as Abbas, as they approach the hectate. "There is a settlement of frog-like people here already. They didn't seem to mind us passing through the hectate, but if we hunt for food, we are to leave any Acrette behind. Let's just make for the egg, learn what we can, and press on to the other side of the hectate."

Palakka sits in his customary spot in the bow, tongue lolling and the wind in his face, blinking in and out of dimensions.

Goragg lays in his usual position, attempting (mostly successfully) to keep his lunch inside his body.

I would rather not mess around with that Egg right now Lilandra. Our current job/mission is to explore the new territories and that is what i intend to do. The fasted we get that done the fastest we understand this world and then we can chose our next step. And as a word of warning as you may know or might not that acrette can power our different magics, but unfortunatly it does decay. So for now i am not going to hand it over to the locals

It was tiring to move all the equipment but they managed to get it done. The horses were the challenge but with the help of the others, the former farmer/gladiator managed to help get all the supplies moved.

"It's refreshing now that our group has gotten bigger. New areas await our discovery and may their inhabitants be friendier than the last ones we encountered."

"Actually, Grim, the Voice specifically requested we investigate the egg further. Which is why I suggested we return to this hectate, give it another look, and then continue on off the other side of the hectate."

She pauses and turns to look at the tiefling directly. "And I understand Acrette decays but these are inhabited lands and we, whether you like it or not, are guests. It's their custom that Acrette be allowed to return to the earth and I strongly recommend we honor that custom while we travel their territory."

"Unless you're no longer interested in doing what the Voice asks of us and also instigating an indigenous population into attacking us on sight?"

NOW you're talking!

Goragg waits for the laughter from his joke.

And waits.

And waits.

Yes, yes. Peace, love and harmony. I know when I'm outvoted. Let's get a move on.

I agree with Lilandra. In no small part my recovery was due to the people of these lands. People, I might add, we assured we would respect and honor in their traditions. Pallaka, Lilandra and I would be going against our word were we to take the Arcette. Our group is large, many of us strong. While in this hecate let us be sparing with the magics and rely on our skills so as to not have conflict with the locals?

Kalasin looks at Lilandra, answering her question even if it was more directed at Grim. "You're too late on stopping that from happening. There's a group back the way we first went that is now very much 'attack on sight.' I'd rather not have another group of locals trying to kill us. The locals of this world might be able to teach us things, like how to preserve the Acrette, that is if we don't get them all against us."

I already have the answer to that question Kalasin and the answer in short is either you turn it into a stable form like an object or it decays. You can do what ever you wish and uphold any promises you made it doesn't concern me much. So if you want to head back to that egg then that is fine with me as i haven't explored that Hecate yet

An object? Like forge or craft it somehow?

Yes with the proper tools there is a method to stabilize the Acrette in order to shape weapons, armor, tools etc..

Let me know when you've narrowed down what you are taking, as you can't haul everything you have, even with the mules.

I still don't have a notion of what the other group had from their original pile but I will come up with something tentative based on what I had and what we got by tomorrow.

Abbas grins widely at Grim, Excellent news! I even wonder if we might think of trying to barter that knowledge with the locals...only if it seems advantageous, of course. The helped me quite a bit and I would like to return the favor but not at the cost of precious knowledge.

We have encountered a Hecate where the people know how to fashion magic acreter items, and we have been told that there are a few places to where people go to exchange stuff with people from other Hecate. As you might have learned or nice there aren't many people traveling in between Hecate

While waiting for the others to finish the banter, Cale prepares the mules for the long journey. Strapping in the supplies, he checks the saddle packs and ensures that all knots are secured.

Is the list we're using going to be the one in the link? I can setup a new tab and add in the necessary items. I also need to know what are the limits or maximum weight we can carry.

"Hmm, food, shelter, clothing, tools and feed for the animals. Check. Now for travelling goods and common aliments.....anti toxins? Acid? Bottled Fire? Now what else can i bring besides weapons and perhaps ammo. Would the people be interested in trade? Maybe notes and spare parchment?" he mumbles to himself.

Maximum weight is based on a standard mule with a pack saddle

Which would be: A light load for 100 pounds, a medium load is 101–200 pounds, and a heavy load is 201–300 pounds. Drag 1,500 pounds. Cale if you make a new tab there is a spoiler in my profile called "the pile" which is what we still had in the other group or I can add it later. My day has bee a bit sideways.

We have some paper and the like. Some trade goods in that vein.

Actually, it's 87 Light, 174 medium, and 262 maximum. Drag is 750 lbs. Mule's use pony stats. Ponies are medium creatures. The MW Pack Saddles give +1 str for carrying, but that doesn't affect dragging. They have a 13 str. Honnestly, I think a mule should be closer to a light horse, but the rulebook says pony. I would think burro or donkey would be pony, mule light horse, but that's the stats from the book. Anyway, you can load them down with. Pack and bit weigh 15 and 1 pounds respectively.

Ok, tired of waiting for people to have time to get equipment settled. We'll assume nothing you need is available until youv'e filled out what you have sheets. :)

The group heads out from the boat dock. This hectate has been hunted fairly heavily, and most of the dangerous creatures have been taken care of as part of the harvest.

It takes a couple of weeks, but the group returns to the giant egg.

For those who havent' seen it before, it's over 200 ft tall, a very egg shaped boulder, with the fat end up in the air, standing on the pointed end.

All along the ground, and up to about 20 ft above the ground, there is writing in runes, most with small artworks, some exquisite, some stick figures.

One of them is written in common, and has a familiar name next to it.

Goragg is carrying as much food and water as he can, in addition to what's listed on his character sheet.

Goragg stares in awe at the giant egg.

Fantastic! Were it real it would feed my tribe for a month.

Goragg notices the writing in Common, and moves to read it.

"We've gone so far as to even clamber around on top of this strange rock, Palakka transported himself up there, and we couldn't find any seams or irregularities of any kind, really. It seems most of the writing is names. The one you're looking at, Goragg, is Abbas'." Lilandra shrugs and looks up at the crown of the massive egg-like rock, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"I'm not sure how to solve the riddle of this thing, especially since the natives treat this, essentially, as holy ground."

I've made a second sheet, and done some layout organization. I have not split any of our supplies yet. The total weight, as well as the weight you are currently carrying will calculate so we don't have to do the math. If I need to add more fields to do more with the math, just let me know and I'll take care of it.

Kalasin sniffed cautiously at the egg, but made sure to keep her distance. She happened to like her memories, the happy and the not so happy ones. She circled it, cocking her head this way and that as she looked it over.

Goragg looks thoughtful for a moment. (The effect is rather unsettling for those who know him well.)

I think I knew an "Abbas" here once. Is there a listing for "Goghurt" as well?

Goragg scans for the name in the multitude of writings.

Does the writing cover the entire egg? Could Goragg venture a guess as to how many names are written in total (assuming they're all names, which is not proven but hopefully discernable)?

Have you tried chipping at it in order to recover a little fragment?

Lilandra shakes her head at Grim's question, "No, we didn't want to break or damage their holy rock. Hence some of our difficulty."

I wonder why we have a different understanding of the stats? I only ask because I got the load abilities of the animal from the animal description itself from the PRD...Pony! Which is from the MM I think?

Looks like a copy from 3.5 perhaps? If you look at the carry section of the book, it says Medium quadrupeds have 50% more capacity than a similarly strength'd medium character biped. Given they have 13 str, the numbers I quoted are 1.5 * 13 str loads. Since most of the animals don't give carry capacity, I'd say we should use the carry capacity charts, not the bestiary entries. The numbers in the bestiary are correct if they were for a large animal. I suspect it's either a copy/paste from 3.5, or someone got confused on medium vs large when they wrote the entry.

There are probably a couple of hundred names on the stone, roughly. The writing goes all the way around the base, and 20 ft up. Abbas's is 20 ft up.

Is that where he wrote it before, mdt? Or does it appear that his name has migrated across the face of the egg somehow?

I think that was where he wrote it, he needed a blank spot, and you have to go up 20 ft to find a blank one... or erase someone else's, and nobody seemed to want to do that.

Why is Abbas' name on this egg?

Goragg looks to Abbas. What is the meaning of this?

"Were you not paying attention back when we were getting our supplies from the voice? Abbas wrote his name on the egg when we were here last and, we thought, had his memory erased. From what the voice said though, it sounds like the egg... killed him and replaced him with a copy." Lilandra's voice drops at the end, the confusion and uncertainty of the situation and what happened to Abbas obviously wearing on her.

Goragg's blank look serves as a response that, no, in fact he was not paying attention. Not one little bit.

Somebody give me a boost. I'm gonna write my cousin Traklak's name on the egg. I never did like that gods-damned marq'tarq anyway. Maybe I'll get a better one.

Goragg waits for someone to give him a boost.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea..." Kalasin warns but doesn't move to help or stop Goragg, instead she looks to Lilandra. "Did the locals say what happens if a name is erased from the egg?"

Lilandra shakes her head, "No, I doubt the locals ever even tried. The act of rebirth here seems to be quite sacred to them. We did try scratching out Abbas' name though, you can see the gouges there, but it had no effect."

Kalasin doesn't see any damage to the egg by Abbas's name, and it's clear and easy to read.

"...you...gouged the egg?" She moved closer to inspect Abbas's name better, but still did not touch the egg. "I.. I don't see any gouges or marks... it.. it healed itself?"

"We... didn't have any ink so Abbas carved his name with a quill. It was a useless blunted nub by the time he'd finished." Lilandra's voice trails off, confused by the behavior of the egg.

Let me clarify, Abbas's name is, indeed, gouged into the surface. But you also tried gouging out his name to get it to undo what it did. Abbas's name is clearly gouged into the surface, but the attempts to destroy that name seem to have vanished.

Cale observes the proceedings while chewing on a blade of grass, a habit he picked up during his days as a farmer.

Perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Knowledge (Enginnering) 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26 Dice roller hates me....

"What did the locals say about this particular rock and what about rebirth?" while still thinking about the construction of the rock.