I forgot to say : Arabella, recognizing the meaning of the high-pitched whine quicker than the others, runs away from the gun quickly, and gets far enough away that the explosion only leaves her with a ringing in her ears.
Shaken to the ground by the concussion of the exploding gun, Alexander heaved himself to his feet and immediately looked around for Connor. Seeing the boy safe, he moved to pat the boy on his back. His little dragon should be back any moment, unless the noise scared it off.
"Let's see about saving our native guide, eh?" His voice was loud as he tried to speak over the ringing in his ears. "Well done, K'Don, Marko, Arabella." His tone wasn't even grudging for having missed doing Gerta in; at this point, he was glad to have survived. Instead of leading Connor over to K'Don, Alexander released the boy and went to see if Arabella was all right.
Penalty: -1 wounds
Result = 6 - 1 = 5, success, act next turn
Arabella staggers around in a state of shock after the blast, only gradually becoming aware that the fight is over. She checks herself for injury and finding none, she slowly walks over to the hover craft and powers it down. She makes sure Gerta has left no other problems to fix before turning her attention to the group. She checks on each of the others to see if he is injured. If anyone is attending to wounds , she watches and tries to learn more about what is needed.
Then she looks at the orcs, removing weapons from their reach, in case they should recover unexpectedly . She expresses no opinion about whether their wounds should be treated or they should be put to death.
Once she knows no one is dead or dying, she does something she has not done for a long, long time: she walks away from the carnage, finds an isolated corner of a hallway or room, and sits and begins to cry. It starts with just sobbing, as she tries to keep it quiet, but little by little, all the trauma of the past few weeks rises from deep inside, like bodies rising from the bottom of a stagnant pond. Before long, she is crying out, holding her knees to her chest, rocking and trembling.
If anyone tries to comfort her, she is embarrassed and turns her back and hides her face. Eventually, she settles down and pulls herself together, wipes her face clean and begins to help survey the place, doing what is needed to secure the place and help the surviving ex-slaves. Her eventual goal will be to consolidate all the Weird Science technology of Gerta into her lab and take stock of what Gerta had made or was working on, learning what she can, and taking possession of every crystal she can find, refined or raw. She is concerned that the whole place may be attacked by reinforcements from whomever Gerta was working for. She'll look for documents for clues to where the orcs came from.
Repair rolls for fixing Reason:
Result = 11, success + raise (even if she still has 1 wound).
hours.
Not sure when she'll have time to do this, but this will get the rolls out of the way and figure out how much time it will take.
Katana, who never says much anyway, goes over to Arabella when she starts crying and simply puts a hand on her shoulder. If Arabella doesn't react to that, she will stay there for a few seconds, and then with a gentle squeeze, move on.
Katana will then methodically check the downed Orcs, and administer killing blows to any that are still alive.
Katana then attempts to "Capacitate" K'Don with a Healing skill roll (10 minutes) :
= 12
No point in going further, even with -3 she's successful.
K'Don is not Incapacitated anymore, but still has 3 Wounds. Katana will leave them for Connor to take care of for the time being.
What are the rest of you doing during that 10 minutes? It's time for some dialogue about what to do next, short-term and long-term...
Stunned by the carnage that happened around him -- followed by the explosion -- Connor stands, unmoving and slack-jawed, for the longest time. When he finally comes to his senses he looks around, wishing there was some way to help... yet knowing he can't.
And then a cry of panic as he realizes he doesn't know where his winged friend is... followed by a smile and sigh of relief as she checks in mentally. Moments later she bursts from the floor a final time, to circle him, settle on his shoulder, and begin preening.
"CONNOR !! Come here boy, I need your help. Help me like you did the last time."
And K'Don crumples to the ground.
Connor slowly approaches, then puts a hand hesitantly on the fallen warrior's shoulder. "Mister K'Don? Wake up. Please?"
His eyes get a little watery when nothing happens.
I believe Marko has the healing skill.
Hey what do you know :)
7
To sum up. K'Don is to assist those souls to StovoKor (coup de gras).
Help the slaves, help the orcs that can be helped. Dispose of the dead.
Arabella, check out the flying cart, can she fly it, can she teach someone to fly it.
Map the facility.
Organize supplies and assets found.
Searching for hidden panels and secret doors etc.
Look for a map or talk to orcs and make a map.
Ask Arabella what she makes of the mine and the jewels.
Marko will take special care to collect as many books as possible and assemble them in an area.
Drawn by the sound of Arabella's crying, Alexander found her rocking back and forth in a corner, sobbing her heart out. Kneeling at her side as Katana left, he spoke quietly. "It has been a long, hard time for you, I know. The pressure on you has been enormous; without you, we would never have escaped, and would likely have been dead." He didn't think it was the time to mention his inner thought that they probably wouldn't have been targeted in the first place but for her.
Touching her cheek, he ducked his head in an effort to meet her eyes. "Thanks to you, we are alive and well - ah, more or less. We have done more than merely survive - we have taken Gerta's crystals, and whatever evil she had planned, we have put an end to - all thanks to you. If you cannot take comfort in that, then know that for saving Connor, I am eternally grateful. The Taarnfalk home will always be open to you... once I've built it, of course."
Rising, he let her be, going instead to see whether K'Don had been patched together, and to gather what spoils he could find.
K'Don is down to 2 Wounds. Katana will also try (but in a later post).
Arabella eventually revives in spirit enough to begin to help with many of the tasks mentioned by Marko. She'll check in on K'Don, thank him for his valiant fighting and express regret that she can't do more for his wounds. She learns what she can about healing from watching Marko and Katana, but then moves on. She gives Connor a hug and offers a hug or at least a pat on the head for WindDancer, if she wishes, saying "Thank you, WindDancer," curious if she tries to speak a reply.
She thanks Katana for offering comfort and for her aid in battle and healing. She gives Alexander a proper hug, but says nothing more for now.
Finally she makes an experimental attempt to fly the hover craft, once people have been warned to clear the immediate area.
Penalty: -1 wound
Result = 6 + 5 (ace) - 1 (wound) = 10, success + raise.
Past that, she will advocate we stick together, get something to eat, and determine how much food we've got. Mapping the place, searching for secret passages, compartments, etc., particularly in areas Gerta frequented would be good. Making an inventory of useful items, weapons, technology, etc. would be good. She will see if she can identify the device that gave Gerta her improved armor capability and see what else she might have stashed away.
Beyond that, Arabella would like to go through anything written down and see if we can reconstruct the history of this enterprise, particularly who else might be expecting communications from Gerta. Don't want to be sitting around when a troop of fresh orcs shows up to find out why no one is sending progress reports.
Only after all that is done can we really consider the possibility of making this a base of operations. There's also the issue of the ex-slaves, some of whom will probably want to get back to wherever they were kidnapped from. That will require trying to figure out where we are with respect to known locations like WeMadeIt!
She gives Connor a hug and offers a hug or at least a pat on the head for WindDancer, if she wishes, saying "Thank you, WindDancer," curious if she tries to speak a reply.
She stops preening and turns a wary eye to the talky-big when it approaches. She glances at her little-big then shies back when a hand reaches for her... but only slightly, reflexively. Mostly she manages to hold her ground, watching the big closely. When the hand offers affection rather than hostility, she pushes her head against it and thrums, as if purring.
"Wrwrwrlllkm."
Katana attempts to help K'Don with his wounds :
= 3 - 3(K'Don's wounds) = 0 is a Failure
If no one else has the Healing skill, then after the first hour, K'Don can only recover by "Natural Healing" - a Vigor roll once each day (minus Wounds, of course) to recover.
K'Don, please make a few Vigor rolls...
Summary of the next few hours :
-Searching Gerta's charred, smoking body, you find in a thick leather pouch that survived the blast some potions which Marko can eventually identify as one of Quickness, two of Healing, one of Armor, and one of Deflection.
-The prisoners killed any remaining Orcs that you locked up, and Katana took care of these up here before K'Don could say anything.
-Most of the prisoners want to go home, and are willing to leave in a group on their own. They thank you for freeing them, and ask nothing else of you except some provisions (see below, not a problem). They will leave in a few days, when they've healed up some and gotten their "strength" (fatigue) back. Some of them are good woodsmen/"rangers", and are confident they can get back to WeMadeIt on their own.
-A few of them with no one to get back to are willing to stay if you are, but make it clear that they will NOT fight, and if there's any advance warning of an attack, they will leave.
-A quick check of the building shows there are no more Orcs, and you find an extremely well-stocked pantry with enough food to last your small group for many weeks. And some of Gerta's "private stock" is very high-quality food and drink, indeed!
-Katana suggests throwing all the dead out of the "landing bay", since it's on the side of a mountain the bodies will fall into the valley far below, where no one but hungry animals will find them.
-Arabella's first test of the machine proves she can power it up and power it down.
Any other questions/additional actions about these first few hours?
Summary of the next few days :
-You find a stockpile of Orc-sized weapons and armor (and could have stripped the dead Orcs of theirs, of course). Not worth much on the open market, however, except as raw metal.
-You finally find the secret door in Gerta's "office" that she used to escape your first fight with her. It leads to another room, which was close to the "landing bay" area. Other than that, no other secret doors/compartments that you can find. You all now know your way around the facility (in other words, you've mapped it out, but I will not provide a map).
-All but a few of the freed prisoners leave on the 3rd day. The few that remain will act as lookouts, cooks, helpers, etc.
-All books and papers to be found are in Gerta's office. Marko and Arabella spend a lot of time in there during this time.
-Arabella also spends a lot of time in Gerta's lab, cataloging the raw materials and half-built machines in there.
From a previous post that was just maybe 10 minutes before the final battle ended, but TWO MONTHS ago (!) real-time...
-There was some gunpowder in the lab's safe, but not enough to blow up anything significant. Nothing else of usefulness in the lab safe.
-There are some half-finished devices in the lab, but Gerta's probably wearing all of her finished devices. There was, however, that "crystal compass" she showed you - it's still in the lab.
-You find a map of the area tucked in-between two books on the bookshelf as you search for the hidden panel. The map has several landmarks marked on it (cliffs, lakes, etc.), and a couple of X's. Hard to judge the scale.
-There's well over 100 GP (remember, you're used to SP!) and several fine gems in the office safe.
-In Gerta's papers, y'all find a letter :
Tomei - things are finally now progressing faster than I'd hoped. I should soon be able to produce single crystals powerful enough to replace the banks of crystals we need to use now. This should make mass production of our flying carts, armored carriages, and iron skeletons possible. I hope to bring the first batch next week.
-You also find drawings and sketches of devices that if you use your imagination (never having heard of such things before), look like the items described. One note : in the picture of the "iron skeleton", there's a humanoid figure *inside* the middle of the thing, almost like inside a cage.
More details on what you finally *deduce* from all of Gerta's books and papers later, but for now : any other questions/additional actions during these next few days?
Marko is as inquistive as a kinder, hobbit folk. The crystal compass intrigues Marko to the exclusion of all else. HE MUST figure out how to work it. He begins fiddling with it.
However, Arabella can demonstrate (since Gerta showed her) how it points to the nearest largest source of "bioergonomic energy" (or whatever Arabella called it, not going to look it up), which is her goggles.
K'Don will go through all the orc weapons and armor, keeping the best for himself.
During the time in the office sorting papers, Marko will address Arabella.
"My dear, I find the stuff you do facinating. I've been watching the things you can do and I was wondering if you would consider taking on an apprentice? I would love to learn what you do."
Araballa looks first surprised, then pleased, then puzzled. "Well, yes... Apprentice. I could ... See it's not .... "
Eventually, she consents gracefully and walks with him to the lab. "The first thing you need to know is that there is science and then there is what I do and what ... she did." Arabella makes like she wants to spit but resists. Science looks for obvious regularities of the natural world but there are subtle elements that one such as myself has learned to see and respond to. The elves call it 'chi' but I call it bio-ergonic energy. It is strongest in connection to anything that is alive. It's kind of an aura or glow that you can see if you learn to look for it.
She proceeds to demonstrate with several objects on a clear table with the lighting low: a rock, a seashell, and a potted plant. She points out that the rock has no chi or none that is obvious, the seashell has a faint remnant aura of chi, while the plant has a relatively obvious aura that extends down into the soil, which also glows faintly.
She encourages Marko with some visualization exercises and tells him he'll need to be patient if he wants to develop the sight. It took her years to learn but she was largely working without instruction, using trial and error.
After the lesson, she asks Marko to explain what he does when he fires bolts of energy or brings about healing.
Reactions from Arabella to various discoveries regarding the complex:
--There are some half-finished devices in the lab, but Gerta's probably wearing all of her finished devices. There was, however, that "crystal compass" she showed you - it's still in the lab.
Arabella will strip out any crystals or other useful parts and pack as many of the small bits into her pack. She will use the Bio-Erg Compass to search for and recover any gems or similarly bio-ergonomically active materials from the complex and add them to her stock. She will probably eventually redesign her burst gun using crystals, but that's just window dressing.
--You find a map of the area tucked in-between two books on the bookshelf as you search for the hidden panel. The map has several landmarks marked on it (cliffs, lakes, etc.), and a couple of X's. Hard to judge the scale.
Tuck this away after studying it. If we don't stay here, checking out the "x" spots might be worthwhile.
--In Gerta's papers, y'all find a letter ...
Assuming this is from Gerta and unsent, this would indicate the lab will likely be visited by the masterminds of this stuff. Arabella is not comfortable with the idea of making this a base of operations if we have to worry about someone with an army and capable of putting these devices into production coming here expecting to find Gerta.
Arabella will begin to do tests to figure out the maximum load the hover craft can carry and think about how much gear and people it might carry, should we have to bug out. See discussion for a question about flying the hover craft.
Regarding the Lesson #1 - Is it a thing that can be learned with practice or like magic is it a thing that must be inherent to the character?
Re: Map - Do we know where we are given the map we found?
Re: Papers - Given the circumstances, Marko agrees with AB, we should scavange everything we can and not be here when the bad guys arrive, but would sure like to know who it is. Marko will ask if anyone has any idea on how to see who comes here?
Arabella -
All the crystals you find are "weak", and would need boosting in your gadget you built for Gerta. Was it a truly working, fully-functional device, or just parts and wires?
One of the X's on the map is on the side of a mountain, that's probably the base you're in.
The last thing Gerta said in the letter was "I hope to bring the first batch next week." So no immediate need to worry about someone arriving...
More on what's been figured out from the papers in Gerta's office soon, since no one has posed any more questions.
Just hovering, the craft can carry all of you easily, and several hundred pounds extra (you can add helpers to determine that). You do discover that it doesn't auto-compensate for shifting weights.
Marko -
Arabella was showing you the basics of how Weird Science works. You can't do anything useful with it unless you take it as an Edge. She was suggesting that with a d4-2 roll you might be able to "see" the effect that her equipment uses ("feel the force"), but that's all.
Map - see my answers to Arabella.
ALL - what Arabella and Marko have deduced from going over her office/library :
Gerta was in cahoots with someone named Tomei - together they have been working on building up an army of "modified" Orcs (remember, the ones here were larger, stronger, and more vicious than you'd ever run into), augmented by several different kinds of machines ("flying carts, armored carriages, and iron skeletons").
Tomei appears to be in charge of making the machines, Gerta was responsible for powering them with the crystals. Tomei or possibly someone else working at his site has been creating the "uber-Orcs".
Gerta would use the aircart to travel to Tomei to deliver crystals and demonstrate her progress, and she apparently got food supplies, equipment, and other goods (and Orcs) from him.
Nothing in the letters she kept from him indicate that he ever traveled to her.
It sounds like Tomei has many of the machines ready (and is constantly manufacturing more), and some number of them are already powered by the natural ("weak") crystals Gerta was mining, but he has been waiting for more crystals. And while he knows Gerta found much stronger crystals (Arabella's), obviously he doesn't know much more since he didn't receive the letter from her to him that you found.
Any clarifying questions about the situation?
If not, how about some *in-character* discussion between everyone as to what to do next?
K'Don, being the only native to the land, will look at the map. Can he point to WeMadeIt on the map, or the other place we journey to?
The map doesn't extend to the coast. The woodsmen in the group that left were confident that this place is way way west of the east coast, probably well towards the center of the continent but still some ways from the center.
As to north/south of WeMadeIt they weren't so sure, they were going to see what towns and settlements they ran in to as they headed east, and then figure it out from there.
But you're a native, so make a Common Knowledge (Smarts) roll at -2 to see if you can identify the region in the map.
The woodsmen in the group that left were confident that this place is way way west of the east coast, probably well towards the center of the continent but still some ways from the center.
If I'm remembering correctly, that puts us well on the way to where crystal deposits were reported and where we wanted to be anyway, no?
The center of the continent was the place that K'Don had heard rumors of the rocks-that-glow that Arabella wanted more of, said to be found only on the Kragmar mountain range. Yet here's a vein of rocks-that-glow, too.
While K'Don cannot identify where you are from the map, he *is* sure (just by looking outside) that you're not in the Kragmar mountains.
"I for one repeat that it is our duty to take down this Tomei before he can unleash his army upon the world.
Think of the needless destruction, the loss of innocent lives."
"That assumes we can 'take him down.' If he's relying on these crystals to make weapons of war, he will not be able to continue without re-establishing the mining operation and finding someone like Gerta to oversee the crystal refinement. I say we sabotage as much of he mining equipment as we can and then load up the hover craft and look to see what is at those 'x' marks on the map."
"While we're here, we can locate a way to get into the mine without going through the building. Then, after we determine what is at the other places, deal with any threats there, then we can return to see if this Tomei has visited and what kind of force he has with him. We're not an army and can't fight a war. In any case, I don't want to hang around here waiting for this guy to show up. Better to surprise him than the other way around."
It would also be nice to know where we are. If we travel about the area, we might spot some landmark that will give us that information.
When there is a clear night when she can see the stars, she will look at the night sky and try to determine at least approximate latitude relative to WeMadeit!, based on what stars can be seen and how high in the sky the north celestial axis is.
Impose what penalties you wish. Traditionally, physicists have been interested in the movements of the planets and the stars for what it teaches about mechanics of the planets motion, but it could also be consider more germane to earth science.
Result = 3
Yeah, sorry, no luck.
"It sounds like Tomei has never come here - so far, Gerta always went to him. Altho I suppose he might visit if he has a working aircart and doesn't hear from her after long enough. But I agree we should scout out the other X on the map all together."
K'Don says "I agree. We should check out the "X", as quickly as possible. And I think we should find out more about this Tomei. Stop him, maybe, lets see what he has to say and do, this country is wild and untamed, it may take a person like Tomei to civilize this country."
"But... he sounds like a bad man," Connor comments timidly.
About how long does it take for us to sort, examine, search, etc?
About 3-4 days.
Marko pushes his glasses up on his nose and replies:
"Well, we really don't know much about this Tomei, but if he runs a mine this way and has and abuses slaves, I'm not about to let him conquer land and enslave good honest hardworking people!!"
"Yeah, you know, I guess your right. I am K'Don Son of Ugal of the House Ushahamph, nobody keeps me prisoner in those conditions and gets away with it. LET'S KILL THE BAST@RD !!!
-Posted with Wayfinder
"We are not an army, so let's investigate what we might be up against. We need to figure who, what, where, and how. A lot about this situation doesn't add up. We seem to be in the middle of nowhere, at least no where that requires an army to conquer. Where are these hyped up orcs coming from? Who's making all these battle machines? Who do the intend to conquer out here in the wilderness?
"Let's explore and see what we find. There are only a few human cities on the continent so far, so it wouldn't seem anyone would need advanced technology to take over WeMadeIt! and Jewelton. We don't even know how close we are to those cities. Maybe there are other advanced civilizations hiding out here, maybe elves or dwarves. If we find them, we can warn them and they can help defeat Tomei and his army."
Connor brightens and looks at WindDancer, who stops preening briefly to stare at him. After an enthusiastic chirp she returns to her personal hygiene chore.
"We can help!" he tells Arabella excitedly. "WindDancer says she can spiral out as far as you want, then come back and tell us what she saw!"
"Only..." he pauses, uncertain. "If she gets too far away we won't be able to talk, so we won't know anything until she gets back. But that's okay, right? As long as she stays high up in the sky where it's safe?"