Thanks everyone, and cheers Mooshy. Good job on this while it lasted!
Search Posts
Sure, that's a good call.
Anyone up for character epilogues? I love that style of wrapping a game. I'll do one for Dhice for sure.
Might be best. There's no sign at all that mooshy is coming back.
Dhice starts calling out to Grigor when he gets out of sight. "Grigor, this place is too dangerous to wander alone! Come back!"
Dhice finds himself staring directly into Emma's eyes, in a way that he'd normally be far, far too embarrassed to do normally. . Despite her warning, the channeler is drawn into a hypnotic stupor by the runes that he sees there. Perhaps unfortunately for him, he knows how to decipher these runes. They are similar to those ancient runes that the Biermen carve as testaments to the honour of the deceased. Only these ones are twisted and dark reflections of the noble script he's used to. They read as a statement of claim: "I, <indecipherable> the Behemoth, lay claim to this soul. She has been summoned. She has been doomed." Upon snapping out of the trance and breaking away his gaze, Dhice repeats the statement over and over aloud, unthinkingly. He finds himself confused as a result.
Dhice takes on the role of quartermaster, trying to keep track of all the gear and making sure that everyone packs their stuff up carefully in this environment. At a certain point in the journey, Dhice is double-checking Emma's bag when he notices something disconcerting. Emma, what item are you carrying that's starting to react very badly to the proximity of the broken obelisk you're carrying? What is happening to it?
Dhice feels the compulsion, and rails against it mentally. No, I am in control of my own actions! I don't need to touch that gorgeous, mysterious stone... I wonder what kind of fracture patterns my chisel would make on-- wait, no!
The stone crafter reigns himself in and halts about 10' from the obelisk, alternating between eyeing it lovingly and recoiling in distaste.
Sheepishly, Dhice shrugs at Milo. "I guess we could dig it up? Let's see if we can use the momentary quiet to figure out what's up with this obelisk first, shall we?"
Dhice starts to get jumpy as the music gets louder. When Milo finally drops the bag containing the music box, he makes a snap decision. He first makes a scooping gesture with his hands, causing a great divot to be plowed into the earth beside the box. Then he pushes at the air in front of him, and the ground beneath the box heaves and then slides into the newly formed trench, taking the box with it. Last, the makes a gathering motion with both hands, pulling the mounded earth back over top of the box, burying it beneath a good 2 feet of loose soil.
Milo presses the button; the effect is at first hard to decipher. Slowly a haunting melody begins to emanate from the item. It resonates and thrums in your hand as it plays. For a while the melody is light and barely perceptible, but as time passes and the group plunges deeper into the cursed wood, it starts to change. Milo, what happens with the music around the time that Grigor and Muppy find the obelisk? Lyntel, why is this the last place on earth that you'd want this particular melody playing?
If there's one thing you can count on from Dhice it's his almost absurd devotion to personal fortitude. He's not a physically imposing man, there's no hiding that, but his stamina is above reproach. He could carve granite with a 5lb mallet longer than any of the burly stone workers he trained with. When his joints start to stiffen he brushes it off. When walking becomes difficult, he tries to force himself to carry on. . For the time being, the effect is hidden from the others and borne in stoic silence by the channeler. Surely any worsening of the effect, or an attempt to act quickly, will test Dhice's mettle further. If it becomes a test of his strength to overcome the resistance things could get truly difficult for the young man.
Moosh's reaction when he rejoins us. That made me laugh out loud in the middle of my work's cube farm.
Do you think you could lead us to it? "It might be a little time consuming for me to wander around 'testing the waters', so to speak," says the channeler with a sly grin, "but I've got an idea. What we need is a hound that can smell elemental energy." Dhice gestures with raised arms, power ripping through the emanation points on his forearms, sending his tattered sleeves into a frenzy. "Whoa, that was an unexpected surge!" he mutters as he immediately loses a bit of control on the elemental.
The familiar mud ball named Muppy forms up out of the ground and immediately trots over to Dhice, nuzzling his legs and making a huge mess in the process. The redhead seems not to care as he plays happily with his now-familiar friend for a moment, before sending him off to range ahead. As Muppy moves around on his weird, stublike feet that emerge from the front to take a step and then re-absorb from the rear, he grows and shrinks in sync with the energy waves. "Archepex, the effects on Muppy are pretty obvious, but I'm not sure how to actually home-in on the source. Can you use this to help track down the source?"
Great job Lyntel. Let's see what we can collaboratively spin up here, and then Mooshy you can tell us if you feel comfortable helping us confront it. If not, I also support the idea of rotating the GM duties for a while. Count me in to take a turn, if the group decides to go that way!
Dhice is fiddling with his elemental energies in a way that's starting to become a habit for him. He casually exudes a whip-thin tendril of energy, sometimes a dull brown earthen clod of mud and sand, other times a barely perceptible shimmer of air energy, and flicks leaves and branches out of his face as they journey onwards. Dhice, the strength of your connection with the elements here seems to spike and wane at random. You've experienced something like this before. When and where? As time passes, Dhice's fiddling begins to grow chaotic, and he eventually stops to address the group. "We're travelling towards something odd here. Something I've only experienced once before. My connection to the elements is waning and spiking as we move, like we're wading through a heavy surf, the water rising and falling away from us. I can almost feel the energy crashing into me at times, and other times its receding beyond my grasp." The channeler looks around at the others and fixes on Grigor."This last happened in the tunnels where you sister died, Grigor. When I snuck in to the tunnels following that raid on the crypt of the cultist Merinol." "The Skaven in there were conducting a ritual of some kind, one that we never identified, but it had a terrible impact on the elemental energies of the entire area. I think," Dhice muses a bit and pauses, ""I think it was a wave of energy that allowed me to kill that Skaven sorcerer in a time before I had really awakened my powers and gained control of them. There's no way I'd have been strong enough to do what I did back then without some kind of major boost." "I strongly suspect that some kind of similar ritual is being conducted somewhere nearby here."
So, what's your thinking on this Mooshy? I think we'd better get a few questions out there for us to riff on or a proper post to get the game rolling again, or it's going to be dead. I only play in one pbp game at a time, since I know I can't sustain multiples when life gets in the way. I'm sticking with you guys here in the hopes that it starts up again, but I'd like to know soon if we're going to try to save it.
Sure thing man, take care of yourself. I think I offered this before, but in the spirit of Dungeon World's "Ask Questions, Use the Answers" principle, I'm sure we'd all be happy to do some world/plot building. Throw out some questions to keep us busy if you like.
Happy birthday! get well soon, too.
Dhice finally pipes up, "Emma and I heard about an unknown source of demonic energy manifesting in the Shatterspine Mountain Ridge last night. I think the elves are going to do a fine job of hunting down the fleeing Skaven. We should go check out this demonic issue. We are, after all, becoming fairly well-versed in confronting demons."
And being nerd enough to know of it. True dat.
Dhice heads for the gathering, also full of enthusiasm, until he starts noticing the dark glances from those elves he offended with his retelling of the POW story involving the dark elf. That dampens his spirit significantly.
. I think so yes. A dark elf we captured one time... . Dhice tells a tale of a prisoner of war that jogs Lyntels memory, but he is unaware of the social faux pas he's just committed in front of all the elves.
Sounds like a great pbp twist. I like it too.
I'll be on vacation for about 10 days guys. I actually doubt it will affect my posting too much, but it might. Have a great long weekend!
Dhice:The following morning, until about noon or so, every word that comes out of your mouth is spoken backwards. Dhice is amazingly spry the following morning, despite his massive over-indulgence. It seems that the hardiness that has built up through years of channeling elemental forces through this body has some other beneficial side effects. He's less capable of managing the whimsical curse, though. "?olleH ?syuG ?gniyas m'I gnihtyna dnatsrednu uoy nac ,syug yeH" He wonders if this is the kind of thing that will bubble up once in a while in the future, like a bad mushroom trip...
Hey guys, I just discovered a feature of this forum that's pretty cool. You can add posts to "lists", which I'm going to start doing as a way of keeping track of key events or info. I just added Archepex's introduction of our new hirelings to my list: http://paizo.com/people/Beemser/wishlists/v5748l939l4nt It's public, so you should be able to view it also. Hope that's helpful to everyone else!
Didn't Emma take bags of gold from the Skaven Queen's den? That rings a bell! I didn't mean the other comment to sound defensive. I was just surprised. I really don't care about the money. There's very little that I'd want to buy (if anything, really).
how do you have 400 gold? I've acquired a grand total of 40 in my career so far!
Dhice is very enthusiastic about the party, and a lot of his insecurities melt away through a few drinks of the fine elven spirits. He ends the night penniless but happy.
Of course, Dhice takes it a little too far and ends up entangled, ensorcelled, or tricked somehow. Crazy kids.
Love that one!
BONDS:
Grigor: Grigor has named me Bierman, I must uphold those duties with honor.
Emma: I must show Emma that she has more to offer than curses.
Emma: Emma's matter-of-fact approach to a friend's life threatening problem is disturbing. I should lead by example and try to show her what compassion can do.
Archepex: Archepex is a true leader. He will lead us all to our own betterment.
LYntel: Lyntel respects my magic and is eager to learn more. I should find opportunities to collaborate with her to grow our combined knowledge.
Milo: (new) "Milo reminds me a bit of Morley, in the way he ignores conventions. It took time to trust Morley, so I will give Milo opportunities to earn that same trust." In terms of XP, I also got my alignment I think: "Good - Use your Conduit to help someone at cost to your body". I sucked up a modest amount of damage trying to keep the Queen protected by using my Channel move. I think I may have botched my XP tally at some point. I have an awful lot. I propose that the others level up and then I'll reset my XP to the group average. This total I have now can't be right: it puts me around 16 after bonds and alignment and group XP.
"I...must rest. I will address the People at first light tomorrow morning. Our work is not...yet complete." Dhice waits patiently while any other interactions go on, but he has nothing to say to the Queen that seems worthy. Once people start to filter out he heads out with them, and if possible, tries to break away to go wander the elven city on his own. He intends to rejoin the group in time to help ensure that Lyntel doesn't fall asleep again.
I'm pretty "meh" on that track, but if we're going to talk about eccentric hip-hop give this a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP4u4I96DVQ
Dhice desperately wanted to come to the Elven lands to satisfy his naive human desire to experience something magical. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine meeting the Queen, never mind taking part in saving her. He is completely dumbfounded and stands stock-still throughout the whole affair, only moving to drop to his knees along with the others when the Queen stirs. Despite the whole thing happening in elven, Dhice somehow manages to understand the entire conversation. It's only much later that he reflects on this and assumes that the Queen's powerful magic must have projected her message directly into his mind, despite him not understanding the language.
At your words, Archepex, the elven guards seem to sag slightly in relief, though their discipline prevents them from revealing this emotion for too long. "All of us are in your debt." Behind him, the loyalist guards, who only served the Skaven out of fear are following suit.
Dhice tries to engage the Queen, evaluating whether or not she's of sound mind. "your majesty, I know this must be shocking, but there has been treachery from within your ranks. Is there anyone you trust implicitly? A place of safety we can take you to?"
Dhice just stands there agape as Emma stabs the guard in cold blood. Even growing up as part of the support unit for a mercenary company hadn't hardened him that much. Traitors were hanged, sure, but after due process and certainly not that casually.
dhice acts without thinking, and immediately teleports to a position between Wildsong and the Queen. He appears to step through a portal of shimmering air, and emerges with a sheen of hardened air that protects him (armor +1). He then attempts to assume a defensive stance in front of the queen: With 3 hold, he will divert any incoming attacks that make it through Emma to himself.
Moments after the fog explodes into existence Dhice begins to work to counteract it. He concentrates on "moving the air to a new position within sight", which in this case is quite tricky.
Sure thing, gotta keep the creativity up. In case this might be helpful, I'm sure the group would be happy to brainstorm on ideas too. Do you want to "ask questions, use the answers?"
I'm not at all trying to push you to abandon the character, I just think that with some creativity we can make the story tighter in a way that makes some sense. With Emma we found her deep underground and had no real choice but to work with her for a while. The common enemy was immediately established. A level of "trust" emerged from a place where we initially had no choice. With Milo, we have Archepex trying to establish some ground rules but Milo is non-committal about his agreement. It's compounded by the fact that he's not a declared enemy of the Skaven (he seems to not care about them one way or the other). The "we need this skillset" is a workable solution for sure.
Hi all. So what's the plan for integrating Milo? Typically in DW we'd establish bonds with new characters, invent some kind of backstory that ties things together. The whole "I have no real reason to trust this guy / no reason to want him along but he's in the party so I guess we'll just metagame it" thing is something I had hoped to leave behind me in the D&D world.
Cool. And yes, I agree that you could probably resolve that bond asap.
Lyntel, I have no bonds with you written down. There ought to be at least one, which I think has already been established to some extent: Lyntel respects my magic and is eager to learn more. I should find opportunities to collaborate with her to grow our combined knowledge. Your thoughts?
"Neither your hands, eyes or genitals are a prerequisite for your survival. Cease your spellcasting or you stay with us will be... Unpleasant." Emma's tone is so commanding that Dhice compulsively stops dead in his tracks and hesitates before approaching Lyntel. "You know, I recognize that pattern as well, but not as anything arcane. It looks more like a signal that my old merc company would use with mirrors...
Dhice command the Air Elemental to sweep the shocked and bleeding "advisor" into the gem-cage. With a swirl of air the great force descends and whips into a frenzy, lifting the advisor up off his feet and depositing him unceremoniously inside the gem. At that point, he relinquishes his control over the elemental, thanks it for its assistance, and bids it farewell. He's not entirely certain if it'll go back of its own free will though. This isn't Muppy folks.
|