Chimwemwe blinks as he awakes to the sound of Akoril's storm of rubble crashing into the verdent ooze. Finding the young shadow hound still too close, he pushes himself to his feet and slams his shield toward the ooze.
Wisps look nervously at her fallen allies, but breathes a sigh of relief when they start snoring.
"Never fear!" she shouts loudly.
She sends a blast of fire at the ooze.
Akoril continues his paving stone assault.
Before stepping back again just to be safe.
The ooze stands (flops?) yet! Can Soomdevi wake up and finish it off!?
Bits of impossible burger fly into the bushes as the greasy mutation is blown to smithereens by what should rightfully be multiple crits! Blinks hungrily chases some down some bits of meat while his master pops his collar.
Esi yawns. I feel slow… sleepy…. Why are you here!? What happened!?
Akoril points at the ooze debris all around "I think something went wrong with the impossible nuggets."
”The meat alternatives tried to eat us,” Chinwemwe says, voice a little hoarse, presumably from being strangled. ”Hmm. One of the plants tried to eat Root. But the oozes tried to eat the rest of us. The process you all were using to make the food should be studied to learn what exactly happened, I think. Maybe a rogue variable or sabotage. Hmm. We should check on the gremlin’s progress.” He frowns and unconsciously reaches toward the scar on his right temple.
Esi frowns. Anchor Root and I have been working on ethical sources of meat… since the Impossible Nuggets and Meats were already using ooze samples as a base, we thought we could scale up by splitting oozes like the Ochre Jelly (which split all too well!) and the Verdurous Ooze (which for some reason mutated and didn't split). It could be an infinite source of impossible nuggets, and the plants loved them so much!
She stands up and looks at the destruction the impossible oozes hath wrought. Maybe we should think more carefully about scaling our operation.
Haibram turns the corner. Naw. We learned some o' this in Economics. Instead o' scalin' OUT by addin' oozes… ya could scale UP by makin' one BIG ooze. I think that would be safer!
Root dashes in. UMMM… I don't know… I already got eaten once… don't Oozes engulf people…
Lucky Bones pecks at pieces of OozeBurger with Blinks. They seem to like it too.
On the way out Natofo is touched that you didn't harm the plants, and gives you two moderate antidotes and 60 gp.
A few days later Zuma, being once more freed to think in the gardens, gives you one of his "Airspace-Networked Celestial Eavesdropping Interference Alignment Rods."
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"I did hear tell of a goblin who tried something similar with a hydra....but yes, you should probably rethink this plan for now."
"Could probably use a large number of glass bricks to build a secure testing area," Chimwemwe ponders, tracing forms in the air with his finger, imagining the construction of a mad scientist's laboratory to study the impossible meat oozes. Suddenly, runes around the rims of the eyeholes in his mask glow and line figures in blue light manifest and display his calculations. It distracts him from his injuries.
"Maybe you could breed in some sort of weakness? If you can select a weakness to cold, for instance, then I'm sure you could source some alchemical safeguards from the Powderpile."
Hmmm. Weakness to and placement in a glass building with a safety protocol using Cone of Cold… I like it. Esi's mind starts working. In the meantime, she and Root get to work on the "small-scale" side of the operation, back in the lab.
Over the coming weeks whenever Haibram drinks too much he can be seen wandering around the dorn daring people to eat new Impossible Meat flavors. He's a daredevil after all!
As the year winds down you hear a couple of your friends are being elevated to Conversants.
Alrinkiri, Wisps, and Chimwemwe all get wind of a big Uzunjati event coming up — one sponsored by Janatimo.
One evening you're all invited to the Black-Crowned Crane. Noxolo, Okoro, and Janatimo stand outside. Okoro looks excited; Noxolo rolls her eyes at her friend's unabashed enthusiasm.
Thank you for coming says Jamatimo. As the year draws to a close I have a task for you. Every year, the Black-Crowned Crane has a ‘Tall Tails’ contest. It’s wordplay: the contest is about tails, as in the appendage. People tell stories of encounters with strange or unique versions of ordinary animals.
I’ve been trying to get participation to be something of a tradition among the Uzunjati, though I haven’t had a lot of luck making that stick. This year, I entered each of you. Any of you are capable of winning, but I only ask that you try to show the rest of Nantambu how imaginative our students are. I think any of your past exploits with giant insects, ferocious cloud-goats, or mutated plants provide excellent storytelling material, but you can embellish or even invent other tales if you choose. If it seems like I’m springing this on you, that’s the impromptu stories are sometimes the best ones.
Janatimo holds open the door and gives a bow. You’re up in about an hour.
Janatimo briefly goes over the rules as the party settles in the restaurant and enjoys an exquisite meal at his expense. Each story must center on a person’s interaction with an animal. The person might be the narrator themselves, but the narrator can also tell a tale about someone else. The animal must have some distinguishing supernatural or unusual ability. Is it a crocodile that can control minds? A lion that can step through shadows? The story must be no longer than five minutes but can be as short as a few sentences if the tale-teller prefers.
The band will start playing storytellers offstage after a strict 5-minute time limit.
Auditory, Concentrate, Exploration
You present one aspect in your narrative about a meeting with a mystical animal. Each attempt takes 1 minute and requires you to attempt a DC 20 skill check. You can choose between describing the animal (Nature), inventing something supernatural about it (Arcana, Deception, or Occult), recalling past tales about the animal (Society), adding narrative drama (Deception or Performance), or connecting with the audience (Performance). You can sell me on something else. You can’t take any of these options more than twice in the same story.
Critical Success You gain 2 Story Points.
Success You gain 1 Story Point.
Critical Failure You lose 1 Story Point (to a minimum of 0) and can’t retry the option you just attempted, even if you haven’t yet used it twice.
Who's up first?
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Akoril tells the story of the Full Spectrum Hawk. "A mighty hunter. To its prey it looked only like a beam of light and it struck just as fast."
"One day though, it looked for more than just prey, it looked for a mate."
Akoril lift one leg into the air, raising both arms as he pecks his head forward and to the sides, adding drama and visuals to the story.
Continuing the motions Akoril continues the story. "Although I traveled around the world as a sunbeam would it could not find a mate. It had heard of one though, a bird so beautiful and mysterious... The Night Hawk."
"As the Full Spectrum Hawk only sailed though the light, it could never find the mysterious and intriguing Night Hawk. It was a mighty hawk and would not give up. It scoured the tales, the stories, the legends, learning all it could of the Night Hawk's songs, and how they tied into the worship of Tsukiyo, god of the moon."
"The moon, the Hawk could see some times. While associated with night it reflected the light of the sun. This thought led him to a plan. Even if he could not see the NightHawk himself, perhaps he could see her reflection"
"With that he set up an elaborate series of mirrors, attempting to reflect the sun's light, and perhaps his light off of the Night Hawk. Try as he might though, the NightHawk was no moon. The sun's light would not shine, for no light could shine on the Night Hawk."
"The Full Spectrum Hawk would not give up though, maybe just maybe if he could fly a little bit faster, he could make it, he could find her..."
Taking one last lift Akoril leaps into the air and sails off to end the performance.
The audience claps; they clearly enjoy the Full Spectrum Hawk, clapping at Akoril leaps into the air!
Okoro gets on stage next, and tells a story about a Thorned Monarch named Qxal, a monarch butterfly made from thorny vines. Over time they subtly influenced a remote island, exerting a few influence on their small kingdom.
The game master gets too scared and has to run off stage at the end!
Okoro gets back to the table and gulps down water with trembling hands. Ahh. It seems I am still too afraid of… ugh… butterflies. Janatimo puts a hand on his shoulder. It's all a process, Okoro!
He looks to you. Who's next?
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Chimwemwe clears his throat and brushes off the hem of his shirt as he stands. "Best to get this over with." He smiles at Okoro and makes a slight alteration to his folklore for the game master's sake.
"No one has definitively seen a Koukou tin Asteris since the Eye of Abendego drowned Lirgen, though there are rumors the few that remain roost secluded crags along the Barrier Wall. They are like great, giant owls with wings as wide as sails and feathers as black as the night sky."
"They possess the ability to make the feathers on their underside shimmer like the stars when they desire. The old Lirgeni legends say that the pattern of the shimmer mirrors the stars precisely as they appear in the sky above, even if the sky is completely overcast."
"Tales tell of sailors lost at sea--before the Eye--being rescued by passing Koukou after days and nights of fog and overcast skies. They could chart their course on the bellies of the great owls as they glided past in the night."
He then tells the story of how a Lirgeni stargazer was lost in the mountains for several days while the sky remained overcast. However, each night, he was visited by a Koukou tin Asteris who would show him her belly. He used the stars she showed him to not only chart his path back to his town but to accurately predict and bypass several dangers along the path: a venomous snake, a falling tree, a hunting leopard, and a pit of quicksand.
He punctuates the tale with crude, magically created glass figures that he moves around through across the stage or through the air for short distances.
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"Many years ago, long before I came to Nantambu or the Magaambya, I roamed the land north of here. I searched far and wide, following any lead, no matter how dubious, toward ancient sites as I chased my own past. Many leads went nowhere, or at least no closer to the answers I sought. One path led me into the Terwa Uplands, north of Bloodcove and the Vanji River. I chased rumors of a site of an ancient war machine--a clue that was too good to pass up.
"In those days, I feared interraction, forgetting the joys of shared experience. I journeyed alone, avoiding all fellow travellers, until finally I arrived at the ancient observatory that supposedly housed this weapon--too ancient, in turned out, to be of any use to me.
"My curiosiy got the best of me, though, and I crept into the ruins. You can imagine my surprise. then to find a group of explorerers already insdie! All my hard work to isolate myself, spoiled by a bunch of heavily-armed people trudging through the ruins with shining compasses." Their eyes light up , shining as the wayfinders once shone.
"I hid in a shadowy corner, waiting for them to leave. This gave me a perfect vantage point to see the hapless adventurers open what turned out to be the wrong door, as a massive snake sprung from the darkness and wrapped itself around their leader!" Alrinkiri springs forward a step, mimicking the serpent's attack.
"The woman's ally lept forward, a pale man dressed in furs bearing the largest axe I've ever seen. Though he must have been sweltering in that getup, he let loose a mighty blow, and cleft the serpent in twain!" They mimic the sound of a massive axe cleaving through a snake and impacting the stone floor below.
"The pale champion's celebration was loud, but short-lived as this snake held a surprise for the adventurers: another head at the other end! Only some good luck and a quick blade from the group's smallest member kept them from an ignoble end."
"Eventually, the adventurers moved on to find an even stranger foe deeper within the ruins, but that is a tale for another day. For today, you will have to be content with the surprising tale of the amphisbaena and it's surprising tail."
Chim's tale of the Koukou tin Asteris, heightened with a little magic and glasswork, earns the rapt attention — and applause of the audience.
Alrinkiri's story about the amphisbaena earns similar attention — they clearly want more! What could be stranger than a snake with two heads? Was it eating its own tail?
Noxolo gets up. She just dances — mimicking a hunter and then a snake. Without words, you can tell that her story is about a persuasive talking snake who talks itself out of being killed by a hunter.
The crowd LOVES it, and she earns 7 story points!
She sits down, showered with compliments from the crowd and from Janatimo. She shrugs. I guess it was okay or whatever.
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”One day my dad, who never cared for animals, or people for that matter, and definitely didn’t like having pets, brought home a mottled calico from the shipyard, the kind of feral cat you might see on any given day running around the docks of Blood Cove, living off fish guts and scraps. My dad said she wouldn’t stop following him, and as soon as my mother opened the door to our house, the cat slipped right in and made herself comfortable.”
”My mother, who was kind and caring sort and couldn’t stand to see a living thing suffer, immediately took to the cat, much to my dad’s chagrin. She gave the cat milk and yarn to play with. And in all the usual ways, she seemed like a normal, happy cat.
”This went on for some time, mom pampering the cat, dad scowling at it, and the cat, who we’d since named Patches on account of her fur, But one day at the market, a fortune teller stopped my mother on the street.”
”Any cat but that cat,” said the fortune teller. ”Don’t invite that cat into your home.”
”My mother, always very practical, shooed the fortune teller off, but she told us of the event that night over dinner, while Patches slept in the window.”
”Sometime after that, I was coming home late at night. I’d had a fight with my dad and didn’t want to return until after he’d gone to sleep. The sky was dark and moonless, and the roads were strangely empty. I could hardly see a thing.
Soomdevi cast his shroud of shadows, to darken the stage.
”That was when I came upon them,” he says in a hushed voice.
”The circle of black cats. I had never seen such an odd sight, dozens of black cats, mewing in sorrow, looking towards something in the center of their circle. Despite the feeling of dread in my chest, I had to approach.”
”In the center of their cluster upon a bed of grass, was a dead cat, an ordinary white tabby. But the moment I saw her, the nearest cats turned their yellow eyes to me.”
'Tell Aunt Nan that Polly Grundy is dead,' they said in their mewing, screeching voices."
”Startled by sight of the dead tabby and strange talking cats, I turned and fled, through the moonless night, and all the way home, the cats’ voices echoing in my head.
”Who were Aunt Nan and Polly Grundy, I had no idea.”
Soomdevi dismisses his shroud of shadows, and steps back into the light.
”When I arrived, my mother was still awake, reading by the lamp light, no doubt worried and waiting for me to return after my fight with my dad. Patches slept curled up on her lap. When my mother saw the fear on my face, she asked me what was wrong.”
”I told her franticly of the circle of black cats and the dead tabby. ‘They said to tell Aunt Nan that Polly Grundy is dead. But I’ve never heard those names.’ My mother tried to calm me, but at that moment, Patches leapt from her lap!”
”’If that is true,’ Patches said, ‘Then I am now the queen of cats, and your awful father will pay for the way he’s treated me!’ And with that she jumped out the window and into the dark of night. We never saw her again, but from then on, my father was plagued with bad luck. But my mother, somehow, always seemed to find whatever she was looking for.”
Soomdevi gives a toothy grin to his audience, and bows.Before giving the stage over to the next story teller. Perhaps he's not the best performer, but whatevs.
Wisps tells an engaging story about a sky goat trapped in a pen. At first it attacks anyone who comes near, but it slowly learned to trust just enough for new friends to help it return to its cloudy home.
Ebele, proprietor of the Black-Crowned Crane, awards prizes to the victors. These are stylish black animal statuettes depicting the animal in the tale-teller’s story.
How Ebele managed to produce the correct animal statuettes so quickly is a mystery.
Noxolo receives a snake-like statue with realistic scales.
Alrinkiri receives a statue of the Full Spectrum Hawk, made from a dark stone that glitters subtly with all the colors of the rainbow… and also ultraviolet.
Chimwemwe receives a Koukou tin Asteris, a musters owl-like figuring with oversized ones wings.
Janatimo congratulates everyone. Well done! Well done indeed.
The storytelling competition marks the end of the school year. Your second year complete.
But before then students in the dorm receive another letter… Esi, Anchor Root, Tzeniwe, and Okoro are being elevated to Conversants! Once again the dorm is abuzz.
Esi is proud and nudges Chimwemwe shoulder. Watch out, I'm catching up!"
Root goes pale when she sees the invitation. Ummmm… I'm… I'm not… ready! Aaaah! She runs away and slams the door.
Okoro smiles. Perhaps I can teach the locals valuable skills via board games. Or arithmetic via Tome Robber society. What do you think? Ignaci chuckles. Sounds liek you found a way to play, and have it count for work. Excellent!
YAY! YAY! PARTY! The spiderlings bounce around and shoot webs, happy for their mom. Make us cookies to celebrate? says Zachva. And cake! says Zanvi. YEAH! they say in unison. Poor Tzeniwe smiles but it's strained. It's as if she's silently begging for one day off to celebrate on her own and hasn't she EARNED this?!
Noxolo shrugs and dances, not really jealous. Cool.
Mariama thinks she's falling behind because of demons. Can we check the frogs again, Soomdevi?
Haibram vows to increase his training regimen. It's unclear whether punching things harder and better will get him to the Conversant rank, but who knows!?
Whizire naps on the couch.
Goss and the other Andi are quite impressed with the Spire Dorm's progress. Mazta watches silently. How do you all do it!? asks Savana.
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Mask you have access to. you can purchase any of these and integrate it into your existing mask.
⠀⠀• Goz Mask
⠀⠀• Herd mask
⠀⠀• Mask of Mercy
⠀⠀• Psychopomp Mask
⠀⠀• Rhinoceros Mask
⠀⠀• Shapespeak mask
⠀⠀• Skittering Mask
⠀⠀• Tilil Mask
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Wisps smiles at her friend. "Hey, Zachva, Zanvi, this is your mom's big day. Why don't the three of us come up with some fun ways to surprise her?"
She keeps the kids occupied for as long as possible.
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Akoril slips a note under Root's door. 'When I get nervous I go hat shopping, lets go tomorrow'
Alrinkiri spends time sparring with Haibram, asking questions about his study and plans between bouts.
Over the course of the semester Alrinkiri attends as many storytelling events as possible in a wide variety of settings, hoping to gain insight into storytelling techniques as a way to better understand and glean information from recorded stories from long ago.
Akoril studies with the Emerald.
Akoril continues to struggle a bit with their Emerald studies.
"Watch out? No! I celebrate your success, Esi!" Chimwemwe says with a smile. "We stand on the strength of thousands, as Teacher Ot reminds us. So often. So, so often." He chuckles. "I'm happy for you. But, hmm, maybe we should check on Anchor Root."
Passing and overhearing Okoro, he chuckles. "It sounds like you've found your calling, Okoro."
Over the next several months, he often breaks from his public studies to sequester himself in his room. The Powderpile delivers an increased number of gemstones to Chimwemwe at the dorm. Blue light occasionally flickers and flashes under his door and through his window curtains at night.
Chimwemwe studies the rules governing dimension and space.
He also studies the elements that he is less familiar with.
Wisps is too distracted to make progress on her own research.
Summer passes. Chim goes out to a few plays and dinner dates with Esi; they are always home before Esi's self-imposed curfew. Mariama takes him to a few rowdy nights out, but he tends to hang out with the people closing out the taverns at dawn and stumbling home. It's hard to keep up with her — let alone with your studies. Soomdevi and Noxolo, and Chizire (who calls it "research time" for his own recipes)
He befriends some of the Spellskeins in the laundry room, teaching them more new shapes.
Alrinkiri practices their storytelling with Okoro and Noxolo, who teaches them some great acrobatic performances! They learn more about their past, making up stories that contain fragments and images that resonate in their core… a clay pot trailing vines that hang above a chasm… soaring minarets… a hand… a bowl… an empty window in a silent city…
Binji is still learning to read. One morning Akoril comes home and sees her job board full of writing:
BEENJEEBIN JIYBINJI
HELLHELL PUHHELLHELLPHELP
She's getting there! Who knows, maybe some day she will become a Magambyan herself.
Root, Akoril, Soomdevi, and Alrinkiri go to some concerts, using the rhythm bones to share music with the world. Lucky Bones becomes a feared force in the mosh bits. Soon there are rhythm bones being passed around among the coolest people in Nantambu's music scene.
Wisps takes care of the kids for Tzeniwe over the summer on several occasions, sometimes for a long weekend. It is distracting, but it helps her friend get ready for the next steps in her career and Tzeniwe needs it — especially when her natural shyness gets in the way of Conversant duties.
One day she gives her friend a hug. Thank you so much. I know helping me affected your own studies.
The monsoon season comes in HARD. It always seems to be pouring.
One morning, towards the beginning of this your third year, Ot comes knocking on the door. As usual, there's a songbird on his shoulder, and he is comfortable and dry.
My friends! I hope you're well. My friend Amaechi the potter needs help. I can think of no one else but you. His shop is a community center of sorts… he allows anyone to come and practice the craft for artistic or therapeutic reasons. However, he's had some issues with flooding because of the monsoons lately. Will you help?
"Of course" Alrinkiri responds, before turning to look at their classmates. "Chimwemwe, do you have any experience with architectural repairs? Soomdevi, you're from a coastal city; have you dealt with flooding in Bloodcove?"
"Yes," Chimwemwe answers. "Is it his roof?" Brief, illusory sketches of rooves and roof repairs manifest in front of him while he thinks. They stop as he asks, "I hope it's not his location within Nantambu?"
Foundaitons. He lives on the outskirts of the city.
You make your way there, in the pouring rain. Things are even worse than Ot mentioned.
Amaechi’s shop is a modest, square-roofed clay building on a slight slant. All around the building is muddy ground. The canal’s retaining wall behind the potter’s shop is gone, and the canal is overflowing its banks. Two nearby houses have collapsed over their cracked foundations. It looks like Amaechi’s shop isn’t long from joining them.
Crit Success:
Amaechi is not outside right now. You can knock on his door, or examine the canal more closely.
Akoril joins his companions in checking this out, his mask shinier and more feathery than before, resting on his forehead.
Akoril gets distracted thinking about the test on magical components and insects that he didn't do to well on.
Alrinkiri tilts their head. "There is something unnatural about this flooding."
Akoril knows flooding happens every year and the city's infrastructure is crumbling due to lack of funding. Canals were bound to start breaking all over the place.
"Agreed, Alrinkiri. And I'd guess no more than two days before the foundation buckles and the whole thing comes down."
"No, hmm, Akoril," Chimwemwe interrupts. "I was reading the almanacs recently for a different project. The canals rarely flood except in the rainiest weather. The, hmm, the last weather-related canal flood happened over a decade ago."
"I guess we'd better find Amaechi", Alrinkiri says, padding over and knocking on the door.
As you approach Amaechi dashes out of his house.
Thank goodness you’ve come!” He's covered in wet clay and dried mud. "I can't work like this!"
“We are artists in this area, not engineers. That means my neighbors and I weren’t much We tried to get help from Magistrate-Mayor Asanda—as infrastructure is one of his responsibilities —but he’s apparently too busy to worry about us. I hear he has plenty of help at his mansion, which also flooded, but we don’t have the money to just hire a bunch of people. I’m just glad the school sent help... please tell me you have some solutions!”
All of you know that there may be a ritual to more permanantly shore up the structure, but it will take time to research it at the university — assuming one exists!
In the meantime, you can roll up your sleeves and get to work on shoring up the structure.
You work to shore up Amaechi’s sinking shop by erecting supports, diverting floodwater, or reinforcing existing walls and flooring. This activity takes 2 hours, after which you attempt a DC 20 Crafting or Survival check, or a DC 15 check with a relevant Lore skill (such as Engineering or Architecture Lore) The task can be attempted once per day.
Critical Success You add 1 day to the time before Amaechi’s shop collapses.
Success You add 1/2 day to the time before Amaechi’s shop collapses.
Critical Failure You deduct a half a day from the time until Amaechi’s shop collapses.
"We will do what we can." Alrinkiri quickly begins hauling rubble from one of the nearby collapsed structures, assembling a short wall to try and divert as much water as possible before it reaches Amaechi's house.
Unfortunately, the floodwater is stronger than they anticipated and the wall collapses after just a few minutes.
Oh my gosh! Are you sure you know how to do this? Amaechi frets as the wall falls back down.