The Devil's Gorge (and Beyond)!

Game Master Rynjin

"Nice driving, Thetsu!"

"So... Anyone wanna check if anything valuable survived the fire?"

So... No one wants to check the enemy vehicle?

...Why don't you do it?

"Never split the party"

"Hey, Thetsu, why don't we stop for a minute to look at the wreckage. Maybe there will be something interesting, or perhaps some clue why they were attacking us."

"Aye aye Captain!" Thetsu says cheerfully before steering towards the wreckage.

"Just to be safe..." Donovan whispers to himself as he activates his psionic powers.

I cast Detect Hostile Intention.

Nothing hostile.

After Thetsu stops the vehicle, Dorla gets out and walks towards the wreckage. She carries Chirrup in his satchel.

perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

I'm assuming that at least some of the others come with me

Dorla notices before you get too close that the fire is about to reach the gunpowder compartment of the vehicle.

Damage to contents: 10d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 3, 5, 3, 4, 4, 1, 2, 3) = 32

She stops you as a huge explosion engulfs what is left of the wreckage. It doesn't appear that anything is salvageable, unless you need scrap metal or bone fragments.

¬¬'

You know... If the vehicle was going to explode anyway, you could have just mentioned that nothing survived our attack...

You don't think this way was more fun? :)

Chirrup starts singing a silly little victory song. He praises Thetsu's driving skills strongly.

Dorla suggests that everyone gets back into the spider so we can keep moving.

Thetsu shrugs and clambors back inside the vehicle.

Chirrup calls Thetsu over near him after we are back in the vehicle. His eyes spin slowly as he whispers to Thetsu:

"Well... Onward, then."

¬¬'

You know... If the vehicle was going to explode anyway, you could have just mentioned that nothing survived our attack...

It did survive! For about two rounds.

After another day of travel you make your way around the huge ravine, and the journey is largely uneventful from there (a bout of acid rain induced by the mining in Ironpointe, but that did nothing to you inside your metal shell), and you arrive at the forest two days later.

The trees are close knit. It will be hard, though not impossible to fit your vehicle through, and it could become stuck if you ever need to turn.

It did survive! For about two rounds.

It could have survived an hour. It makes no difference if we never get a chance to do interact with it. But whatever... It's not important.

"I say we go around the forest."

Well, if you had moved faster you would have been able to, is the point.

Also...the city that is your destination is inside the forest.

"Let's get out and walk. I don't want to risk the superspider."

Poor Chirrup is getting quite upset, and starting to talk to himself.
Chirrup not coming. Chirrup stay with HER. SHE is kind to Chirrup. SHE treats Chirrup like a friend, not an object. HE never even treated Chirrup like a pet. SHE is risking her life to protect Chirrup. Chirrup will not leave HER, ever, even if half of Chirrup flies away to HIM. HE won't be happy with just half of Chirrup, anyway. Chirrup's eyes are spinning fast now.

Dorla sees the poor little clockwork dragon is suffering, and turns him off with the key for a few minutes. Hopefully the little guy can get some rest from being torn apart from the inside.

If we decide to leave the vehicle, Dorla checks if anyone wants any infusions to carry through the forest.

Well, if you had moved faster you would have been able to, is the point.

Faster than 2 rounds?

"I do prefer walking, actually... But I don't think there's a safe place to keep the Crippled Spider, though..."

Well you COULD smash trees out of your way...

But yeah, the Spider does have some very good locks on it, if that makes you feel better.

To be honest, the only reason I care about the spider is because it's worth something... I don't like riding on vehicles in-game for the same reason I don't like naval combat: You can't use any of the character's abilities. So I don't mind just leaving it behind and hoping it doesn't get stolen. If we lose it... Well... We get some horses and move on.

Thetsu ruffles Chirrups head.

"I owe her a lot too lil buddy." Thetsu whispers to Chirrup.

"Most vehicles have a command word to activate so unless they're going to scrap it it should be fine for a little while." Thetsu says to his friends.

Dorla wakes Chirrup back up with his key. He starts to describe his dream.

I'm not filling in the details because this would be a terrific place for any hints from the GM... :)

Dorla also grabs the potions from the cooler. Then Dorla gets out and starts walking into the forest, carrying Chirrup's satchel. Chirrup, who seems to be in a much better mood, starts singing a war song, with lots of smiting of evil monkeys and victory for HER and glory for the good monkey. Hopefully Donovan and Ugash aren't bothered by being left out of the song, since Chirrup is just a little clockwork dragon.

So... Are we walking or what?

I think so, that's why Dorla got out and started walking :)

Chirrup dreams? That's...quite odd for a machine. They have no need for the process (dreaming essentially orders your thoughts and experiences, processing them while you sleep. Machines don't really need that. Nor do they really have a sub-conscious mind, come to think of it). Unless you have some plot in mind for why he's so special, I think I'm going to go with that. He's a sentient machine, but still a machine. He does not dream of electric sheep. =)

Chirrup gets a restful "sleep", only aware of the passing of time because his internal clock tells him several hours have passed. Still, the respite from the shifting and pain has done him good, giving his parts time to settle back in their proper places and "rest" themselves as well.

He awakes feeling refreshed, though relays that the pulling is stronger than ever, and feels different somehow, more urgent, or insistent than it was before, a more rhythmic "Pull-pull-STOP" motion than it was when you started.

Chirrup very seldom dreams, only when he's 'turned off,' usually for maintenance. His dreaming is more of a minimal running of his circuits to keep them from turning off. If he ever completely turned off and was turned back on, it would be like a computer reboot and he would be back to his basic 'programming' and lose the developing and changing due to his experiences, though he might remember the actual events. I also think that the reason I see this as so natural for him is that I see sentience in real life as supernatural. I'm using computer references here because I don't have anything better, but they're still a poor analogy.

If there's not anything you want to be in his dream, he can describe a new and interesting arrangement of gears in a clock that he thought of as his dream.

Who designed him that way? Was it purposeful? Computers don't wipe every time you reboot, as a general rule. I'm just trying to get a feel for the whys and hows if you want him to be a special robot with a more human-like brain. Was he the first in a line of experimental robots trying to recreate human minds or something? That sort of thing.

I'm going to have to reference Star Trek TNG to easily make my points here. I see a vanilla clockwork familiar as like Data is normally, with amazing analytical abilities and an actual 'person', but without emotions or the other richness that Data with his emotion chip has. When Chirrup became an actual familiar, rather than just a creature with familiar in his name, that magical change gave him the depth of character to feel emotions and grow and change. If he turned off completely, he would lose that growth because his storage isn't enough to keep all of that; it was never meant to keep all that personality and emotion. And computers in our world, at least until very recently with hibernation, did lose anything that wasn't saved when they were turned off completely. I'm struggling for words here to put feelings and general attitudes, and it's not working quite right, but hopefully I'm coming close enough.

And this depth to Chirrup's personality is why Dorla treats him like a child, instead of a pet or object.

Well... Computers do make a general check up on themselves when you turn them on. Maybe Chirrup's "sleep" could serve a similar function as well?

Hmmm...okay. Data did dream, after all.

Hope it's worth the read, not too sappy or cliched.

That vehicle vs vehicle combat was...colorless :/

Walking in a jungle is not my idea of fun...now, smashing trees and scaring things on the other hand... - So ugash votes for driving.

That vehicle vs vehicle combat was...colorless :/

Walking in a jungle is not my idea of fun...now, smashing trees and scaring things on the other hand... - So ugash votes for driving.

Well, you weren't posting and Lemmy seemed uninterested at best, so I made it mercifully short.

Pathfinder is a pretty boring when it comes to vehicle combat... Most characters can't do anything.

"Somehow, I don't think people who live in the middle of the forest would appreciate having their forest torn down." says Donovan as he jumps off of the vehicle. The psychic warrior joyfully whistles an old song about birds as he walks towards the trees... For a second, he wonders where he heard that particular tune, but then shrugs and goes on with his merry tune.

"Somehow, I don't think people who live in the middle of the forest would appreciate having their forest torn down."

...so?... - Ugash follows the others.

Feel free to put that chainsaw to good use, Ugash!

Donovan, Thetsu, and Dorla notice a pair of Elves following them, about 60 feet out on the left and right sides of you.

Dorla turns to look carefully at the elf on the right.

perception:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

"So...!" says Donovan with a loud voice and a friendly disposition. "Stalking is boring, isn't it? You get all dirty and sweaty... And you won't make new friends if you just lurk in the shadows. Also... I have wine! I'm willing to drop my weapon and grab a few cups instead, if you care to join us."

I guess I take 10 in Diplomacy (total 24).

Dorla turns to look carefully at the elf on the right.

perception:1d20+13

I assumed everyone took 10. That wouldn't have seen them at all. =)

The two you can see look visibly startled, and then two more appear from the brush and walk over to join you, assuming they'd been made as well.

"You're sharp eyed, for a human." says one of the ones you didn't see.

"What is your business in our land?" he makes no move to take a cup of wine, and sharply looks at the one who was on your right, who looks tempted.

"Thank you for the compliment!"

Donovan sits on the ground, placing his sheathed wakizashi about a foot away from him. He grabs his backpack and starts fumbling around, 'til finally he produces a bottle of wine and a few cups. He pours one for himself and drinks.

"Delightful... Surely it isn't as good as the famous elven wine, but it's still good enough to warm your bones in a cold, wet night... Besides, it'll make you enjoy fine wine even more!" says Donovan, nonchalantly. "We are explorers... Travelling is what we do. The reason we are coming this particular way, however, is to find an old acquaintance of one of my friends."

"Are you sure you don't want some wine? I can drink another cup if you're afraid it's poisoned!". Donovan's words are followed by his own laughter. "My name is Donovan, by the way."

The elf's mouth twitches in a half-smile that is quickly squashed.

"Farendal. It's not that we're afraid you've poisoned it. We are simply not permitted to drink while on duty. You understand."

"Who is it you're looking for?"

"Heh... I won't tell if you don't." says Donovan. "We are looking for a... mechanic or engineer. A good one too. He's no elf, but we were told he came this way, so here we are."

"Well... I was also interested in seeing this land with my own eyes. I don't remember ever being here, but I'm told elven architecture and culture are as wonderful as your wine, and so far, I've never seen any evidence to the contrary... So I'd like to visit the town. I think my friends would like to restock their supplies as well."

If none of the elves takes the wine, Donovan adds the following sentence:

"Well... I assume you are permitted to drink after your shift. Show me a warm inn or tavern with good music, tasty beverages and friendly waitresses and I'll gladly pay a round of drinks to us all."

"I just might take you up on that offer. Even if I can't make it, I'd recommend the Cloven Hoof Inn."

"As for your engineer friend...well, they're not exactly a rarity around here. Non-elf ones more so, but many people from all over come to learn from our Scholia Technica. Finding an engineer in this city is easy. A specific one? Like searching for a single specific leaf in a tree."

"The one we are searching for is Vanaran. Surely they cannot be common here."

Farendal's brow furrows.

"That...is another matter entirely. I don't think we've seen more than half a dozen Vanara come through in the last decade. Two are currently students at the Scholia."