Falling Souls

Game Master Me'mori

All right!

Yays! Or something like that. Hmmm, I think I end up with many choices at level 2...

Yes, first Technical Insight. That, and Satoshi has had long enough he could possibly have finished his first Invention now.

And of course picking a new combat talent.

Hmmm, any preferences for synergy? Maybe the first Invention will need to just be an Improved Backpack so Satoshi can carry all his stuff...

(I will also say that while gaining the Tech sphere would synergize *incredibly well* with Technician abilities, I am at least currently intentionally not considering it. Or, to be more specific, if I do take it I want it to be due to something momentous happening, as it would effectively change Satoshi's antics from 'implausible macgyvering' over to 'full on mad science'. Plus I'd want GM approval, as Tech sphere abuse is practically tailor-made for circumventing some of the intentionally included drawbacks of Technicians, and vice versa.)

Did we specify how we were doing hit points at level up?

Hit Points can be Rolled or Average, your choice, just keep that convention going forward.

Tech Sphere, you say? I am not against its usage, as there is some leeway to be had in survivability, so I am open. What's your pitch?

If you would be so kind, please just note what was gained on level up.

I was actually saying I would probably leave it for later. It feels like something that would happen after Satoshi has a more major breakthrough.

The big synergy with Tech and Technician is such things as being able to use the Tech sphere to remove some of the operating costs for Technician inventions (Removing ammo costs for siege engines is a big thing it can do), while Technician vehicles can provide a mobile frame to mount Tech generators on (and who doesn't want to build a giant steam-powered juggernaut that never actually needs ammo for its cannon?). There's other interactions as well, like using Technican Improvements on Tech creations to make ridiculous mash-up gizmos. All of them would probably require higher level and heaps of gold; I'll be less ambitious to start.

Actually, a chronic desire for heaps of gold is going to be one of Satoshi's major handicaps. Technicians can get expensive. Especially if you want the impressive inventions, and vastly more so if you want ones that are permanent.

Right now I'll probably go for just getting another talent from Trap or Sniper (Next level will be when the next tier of Alchemy talents is reliable to use).

Now, do I want to go with average or rolled HP? Risky or safe?
Hmm......

(Whispers) Dooo eeeet...

Kichiro is not a safe character. :D

Hit die: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

So let's see, things he got at this level:

* Put a rank in all the skills he had already
* One more spell point
* Additional Limbs magic talent
* His first Bestial Trait, so now he actually has Scent

Well, if Kichiro is risky then Satoshi will be safe and take the average.

Hp -> 18 (4+2+1 additional hp) (unless we round up, in which case he should have one more) (I also forgot the +1 from favored class for last level and integrated it retroactively)

*Increased skills. Satoshi has a lot of skills.
*Gained Technically Minded, making Disable Device 1 step faster
*Gained Entangling Shot Snipe talent. Now actually have a Snipe talent to apply! And Entangle is usefully annoying
*Gained Chemical Insight
New Invention unlocked (Alchemical siege weapon)
New Improvements unlocked
Advanced Detonator payloads unlocked
-Thoughts of ways to integrate alchemy and technology dance through Satoshi's mind.

-Special curse-suppressing potion finally named; 'Satiation Tincture'

Looks good, both of you.

*eyebrow* "Alchemical siege weapon"? What does Satoshi dream about?

Flamethrowers, in this case.

Ah. Yes... That'd do it.

How "tech" are you thinking of going? What level?

Considering the "Any techonology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic" quote, there's a range of flexibility there that can also be applied to the both of you. There's no telling what those "ruins" were, really... A temple? lost spaceship worn down and succumbed to time to the point that only the secure items survived?

Satoshi is *capable* of going pretty far with the right Insights, escpecially if he specks into Tech. Robot armies are not completely beyond the realm of impossibility, though they would be prohibitively expensive.

More likely, he'll end up going alchemic-steampunk instead. Once he reaches level 6 or so, if we're still nomadic, he'll probably put together a nice zeppelin for getting around in more easily. Or maybe a steam tank.

His impact on the world, however, is still limited by the fact that without high levels and vast quantities of gold, all his creations are temporary unless he maintains them regularly.

I'm trying to remember, did we get a map?

I do not recall either of you purchasing one, no.

We might want to say we get one before we go, then.

How is the level of color I'm adding to this so far?

It occurred to me that the stables and warehouse scene could have been omitted with a "You easily locate someone who points you towards the 'Hoof and Nail' shop nearby'", and just included a description of the place... I suppose I wanted to continue to convey the open feeling of the story, and allow you to distract yourselves with something else if you chose?

Hindsight. ~,~;

Hmmm... I do like the touches of color, to make it feel a bit more real. But when it's pretty obvious that we have a goal, I'd be fine skipping the intermediate steps where there's not really much going on to keep things moving forward.

I'm... neutral about it? On one hand, it's nice to see some flavor from time to time. On the other hand, it is slowing things down a bit. And I (and Satoshi) am not terribly good at conversation.

Rounding out your items?

I just got back from a trip, during which time I wasn't paying too much attention to the forums (I probably should have warned people ahead of time).

Now I'll have to get back to contemplating items.

And I'm just about to have an adventure of my own, so my mind has been elsewhere of late.

Will this out-of-town time be idle wandering just to pass the time?

Yes--Kichiro really wants to just get gone from this place (he honestly feels like a horde of avenging kami are going to come charging out of the forest howling for his blood at any moment) so he's not reallly focusing on anything other than getting farther from the Forest of Spirits right now.

Satoshi isn't as worked up as Kichiro, but is going along with him to be supportive, and because he knows Kichiro now has trouble staying in towns too long.

Go ahead and roll a survival check here, Kichiro.
Perception check, please Satoshi.

I'm assuming this is a potion of cure light wounds?

Satoshi, Kichiro doesn't quite have 25 gp. Should we split the cost 50/50?

I'm assuming this is a potion of cure light wounds?

Effectively, yes.

I appreciate you including scents in posts since Kichiro leveled up. :)

Yeah, we can split the cost, Satoshi can foot 12 gp.

*nudge* How's everyone holding up?

I think Satoshi has been busy.

Yeah, busy and kind of distracted. Still here, though!

Whoops. Flubbed my Geography check. Sakakabe is to the Southwest, so barring the directional typo with Hihibo and Taiki, you're on the right track.

So, is it Hihibo or Taiki that we'd be heading to then? To clarify after the miscommunication.

I think still Hihibo?

Yup. I just misspoke the directions.

That spell is damage dice. I'll focus on trying to be completely clear. I got distracted by trying to make sure that the description conveyed everything.

Anyone staying up late to keep watch or anything like that?

I think Kichiro's rattled enough to forget about that this time. :D

Satoshi probably keeps watch at least for a while... but also needs to sleep at some point. Would at least set up some traps before going to bed, though the only ones he has that are persistent without him resetting them every minute or two are a few bear traps.

I did anticipate some of that— along with looking up just what a bedroll was and did– but the dice rolled no random encounter, so the night is yours, as is the morning.

Oh, I might have misinterpreted that, yes. Some clarification could be good.

The both of you are feeling it. Kichiro I emphasized because of his lingering fear.

Sorry I haven't been doing much with these travel prompts. At present Kichiro's very focused on his goal, so he's not inclined to leave the road and explore in most circumstances, preferring to make good time instead.

Don't mind me, I'm just curious about what you are going to come up with... It brought This Comic to mind.

Satoshi's initial setup is to set his three bear traps. Then he layers shorter lived Trap Sphere traps in the same area; these only last for maybe a minute (14 rounds if he's taking 10), so it's a matter of how many he can maintain at a time. Let's call it 10 traps if he has a minute of setup time, leaving him some rounds to run around and keep them fresh.

Being somewhat mean, he puts tripwires in front of bear traps so that the ogre might trip and land prone on a bear trap and get stuck that way.
Then scatters a few dart traps around the edges to catch it if it sees the bear traps and tries to go around.
And a tripwire + acid flask drop trap at the end as the nastiest one, but only if he can find someplace he's sure he can get the ogre to go (this uses up an acid flask, so he doesn't want to do it carelessly)

You should have edit access to the map. Go ahead and place your items. I've set a Bear Trap image and you can use the arrow for the dart trap. You can draw lines across the squares for a tripwire trap, and an exclamation(green?) for the acid drop if you use it.

Hmm, don't have access to the maps at all, actually.

Apologies. Try once more?