The city of Kaparin is currently in its lull, with most of the Redfleet out at sea on various expeditions and endeavors. The market is bereft of its usual activity, seeming to be even quieter than usual. Vendors occupy themselves with games or oddities, or simply stand at their tables and booths with their chins resting on their palms. Some have even nodded off, unconcerned with the potential of theft due to the lack of perusers and shoppers.

Kaelan Drell wanders through the street in a bit of a state of ennui, seeing nothing new at the stalls, yet still painfully reminded of the loss of his own store. While absently ambling through the market, he is greeted my Tal Masuu, a trader who had frequented his store on the regular and would keep him abreast of news from afar.

They shake hands and exchange pleasantries, then catch up on the meager crumbs of gossip each have to share.

“My friend,” Tal says as he places a hand on Kaelan’s shoulder. “I’m truly sorry to hear about the loss of the store. Kaparin, as well as many of us mercantiles, suffered a great loss that day. I know it isn’t much, but please accept this gift.” He hands him a writing instrument. “This is a pen with a very unique property. The words you write with it are not readily apparent, but only become visible at very low temperatures.

“I truly wish I could do more for you to help you get back on your feet, but perhaps there is value in a bit of information I have to share? You of course are familiar with the neighboring village of Groshdou? Well, as we passed through there on our way here from Rachar we encountered a man by the name of Mardrough, a seeker. He boasted of discovering an interesting piece of numenera which he did show me, but I could not ascertain its purpose upon sight. He is certain there are many more to be found where he obtained that piece, and he was intent on returning there within a couple of days or so. Of course, he would divulge little else about the location or the nature of this place.

“As I know you are in need of replenishing your wares and since the Redfleets are not expected to return for some time, I thought you might see an opportunity with this Mardrough fellow? Though he was not forthcoming with me, perhaps your excellent skills of persuasion and your gift for gab might prove useful in convincing him to divulge the location of his find?

“One more thing: just an FYI… the folk of Groshdou seemed to be a bit out of sorts for some reason. While they were no less hospitable than normal, they seemed on edge and a bit distracted, quite unlike their usual gregarious nature. Just thought I would give you a bit of a heads up.”

Tal Masuu visits with Kaelan a short while longer, then states he must take his leave. He bids his old friend well and leaves to join his soon departing caravan.


OOC: You may consider yourself present during this exchange or join up with Kaelan at any time from this point.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:28, Wed 13 Sept 2017.

Hurley is meandering down the street from stall to stall. He isn't really looking to buy, but he enjoys the occasional banter with the bored shop owners. His laugh is loud in response to jokes that aren't quite that funny.

He is idly perusing a grill selling a roasted root covered in a dark bean jelly when he catches sight of Kaelen Drell. The flashy merchant had made the large retractable forearm that the big warrior wears at this very moment. Hurley is just about to yell out his greeting when Kaelen is addressed by another man.

Hurley doesn't wish to intrude, so he drifts closer. Eventually, he stands only a few feet away and leans over the display of woven material at an adjacent stall. With only his face visible behind the fabric, he leans in to put an ear not-so-subtly against the cloth to hear better.

When the two men part, Hurley ignores the look from the weaver and hops off in pursuit of Kaelen.

"So, you going to Groshdou?" he asks with a complete lack of tact. He has thrust his face around in front of Kaelen to interrupt the man's journey.

"I mean, I wasn't listening, but I couldn't help overhearing.... That man talks SO friggin loudly." Hurley talks fast and loud himself, but you can feel his genuine enthusiasm. "So, you're going to go, right? I could come with you, you know. I'm armed!" he laughs and thrusts the large bracer and its synth-stone blade right under Kaelen's nose as if to prove his claim.

He may not talk loudly, but his words and actions are every bit the performance, as Kaelan sweeps back long locks from in front of his face as his old friend (and perhaps rival, but it was always friendly at worst) commiserates with him, twirling the offered pen in his fingers idly as he looks it over, "In the end, it's just... things. Things can and will be replaced. Do keep an ear to the ground for me, though... see if you hear anything about the caffa that did this to me. Someone slipped me an unstable cypher. I've done my best to be fair in this city... but you know how some of them on the black docks can be..."

At the suggestion, the smile that the man was affecting finally begins to morph, taking on a more genuine representation. "And this is why we're friends, Tal. We take care of each other. I'll definitely keep your suggestion in mind. It's been an aneen's age since I last did my own delving. Might be nice to get my hands dirty once again."

As Hurley approaches, Kaelan chuckles lightly at the man's bluster. He manages to not flinch at the display so close to his neck, knowing the man means well enough, "Not listening in, were you? Lucky happenstance at its finest, then, I presume." Taking in the offer, he shrugs, "I am... and if the fates are with us, it would seem there may be some delving in the offing. But understand, if you come with, it'll be as a companion, not as a paid guard. If you heard his suggestion, then you also heard that my reservoir of shins is a mite low at the moment."

"Ha! Companions it is. I wouldn't have it any other way!" he barks. To emphasize their camaraderie, Hurley heartily thuds Kaelan on the back with a meaty hand.

"...This could make us rich, you know..." His eyes twinkle.

"That is a refrain in the song of your life," answers a booming voice from down the street. A hulk of a man strolls toward the pair, a sack over his shoulder. Tall and burly, this human has short-cropped dark hair and brown eyes. He has, at the moment, a smirk on his face.

He walked without haste, and perhaps with some inability to make too much haste, as his ponderous frame settled into a ready stance next to the two others.

"Hello, Kaelan. What has Hurley here talked you into?"

"Talk him into?!?!" Hurley display mock indigence. "He is the one who convinced me!" He certainly sounds earnest.

After some good natured banter between yourselves, you decide to stock up on some food for the journey to Groshdou. You figured on having enough rations to last the nearly three day journey, and you managed to strike a deal of only 4 shins per person to cover the amount you'd need.

The well traveled road that runs from Kaparin to Rachar proves to be smooth to travel, crossing over some rolling hills and plains. There has been talk from traders of the occasional bandits assaulting caravans in transit, but many have hired persons-of-arms that easily dispatch such ne'er-do-wells, and attacks on the road have decreased as of late. As a result, you find your travel pleasant and uneventful.

Your party reaches Groshdou in the late afternoon of the third day. It is a small village with a population of roughly 300. From what you know of the village the people are very modest and live a simple lifestyle. Unlike its agrarian neighbors in the surrounding small towns a few days east, the citizens subsist mostly on game, as the hardened sandstone plains that extend to the ocean cliffs are inhospitable for farming. They must make a couple days’ travel with their surplus meats to trade with their more agricultural neighbors to add variety to their diet.

Merchants have mentioned that the residents of Groshdou are a very superstitious lot and view numenera with heavy suspicion. They cling tightly to mundanity and eschew change when possible. As the road between Kaparin and Rachar runs through the town, they are welcoming to strangers, especially traders that can offer interesting foods.

When you enter the town you spend the remainder of the afternoon seeking Mardrough based on the description provided by Tal Masuu. He described the seeker as short of statute and a bit soft for a man as active as his type would tend to be, with a distinct mechanical device in place of his right eye.

You peruse the town for a couple hours but find no one meeting that description. When you've asked the locals about where you can find a man by that name or description most are familiar with him but none can offer any help in locating him. Considering the reputation of these townfolks to be welcoming and affable they seem a bit standoffish when spoken to.

As the sun sets you decide to take to the local public house for a respite and a meal. The establishment, called Yrgan's, is all but empty save the barkeep and a sole proprietor in a dimly lit corner. Before ordering your food you ask the barkeep if he is familiar with the subject of your search. He answers almost a bit too loudly, "Sorry, I ain't familiar with anyone of that name or look. What can I get ya?"

At that point the lone customer, cloaked and hooded, attempts to discreetly slip out the entrance of the pub.

"These Bubbas just aren't that helpful," Hurley comments with a grimace of disappointment. He is frustrated by the lack of cooperation and eager for a drink.

By the time they make it to Ygran's, he has all but given up. At the barman's suspicious behavior, however, he perks up. His eyes squint and he catches the movement towards the door. He gathers the particles around the door with a flourish of will and shapes them.

A sound comes from just outside the pub's door where the hooded figure seems to be fleeing. A deep voice of a man calling out threateningly, "Where's Mardrough?!?! That guy better hope I don't see him!"

(crafting a Minor Illusion of a burly, bearded glaive outside the door and the man's voice coming through into the bar.

16:13, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 15 using 1d20.  Minor Illusion (T- deception/trickery).)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:13, Thu 21 Sept 2017.

The hooded man puts on the brakes as he sees a ravage bear of a well armed man outside the tavern door. He takes two steps back then turns about-face back into the pub.

When he turns you can see a strange reflection in the dim light of the tavern cast from his right eye. His dirty cloak fails to belie his stocky build and smaller than average height. He takes a step toward the barkeep then pauses upon seeing the lot of you between him and the bar.

"Mother of a margr," he mutters, then after a beat, "You all ain't from around here..." You aren't certain, but the man might have seemed to relax a tad bit in that moment. "What do you want with Mardrough?"

Talk of these folks reminds Esperon of his home. He tells the others of his family: His father’s motto was always “Live and die by the hand.” His family foreswore use of numenera or fancy tricks to fish by hand and were relatively successful. They are also clever salespeople who parlayed the notion of “hand-caught” into something premium. "Maybe I can teach these folks a trick or to, time allowing," he muses to Hurley as the group heads to the small town.



The burly Esperon is actually enjoying his drink of water from a clean glass when the fellow attempts to leave. He turns to the bartender and fixes his eye on the man. "Think you're clever, eh?"



Esperon chuckles and looks back at the barkeep. "Don't forget that there are other clever people about. And they have friends."



Esperon stands and saunters casually over toward the man. "My friend Kaelan here has business with you. Do you want to talk more privately? It's about something Tal Masuu told Kaelan about." He flashes a reassuring smile.

Trained skill for the day would be Watching & Listening.

If a roll is applicable, I'm trying to use my Intellect to Persuade Others. I am Trained in that skill. Roll is 9.

13:11, Today: Esperon rolled 9 using 1d20.  Persuading Others (Trained).

After Esperon engages the supposed Mardrough, Hurley just adds some additional encouragement. When the front door closes, the view of the mirage-man is blocked from view. However, the man's voice continues to boom from the street behind the door.

"Was that him?!? Where'd he go?!?"

The bartender looks at Esperon with a rather blank expression. "Don't forget who's establishment you happen to be in, mister." He goes back to sorting the glasses behind the bar.



The disheveled hooded man studies Esperon for a moment, but makes no motion to either sit or to leave. "Well I have no business with your friend, nor do I know anyone by the name of Tal Masuu..." He pauses, scratching the rough week's worth of hair growth on his jaw. "Unless you're referring to that trader that passed through here several days back. I don't know what he told you, but I don't have nothin' to offer you. Now if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

The man goes to step toward the exit of the pub when he hears the large man bellowing from outside the door:
He sighs and gestures the group to the table he was sitting at when they entered, then gives a cryptic hand signal to the proprietor behind the bar.

"Okay, I suppose I have a minute to burn. What did the trader tell you that had you all seek me out?"

Esperon grins broadly and nods to Hurley and Kaelan. "Friends, please explain to the gentleman, if you would." He stood off to the side by the door, being in a position to block it if needs be.

<Before heading into town>

Laughing at Esperon's suggestion, Kaelan looks over at the newcomer, "Forced me into? Hardly, I assure you. He simply has glommed on to the opportunity to explore what we can only hope is an unspoiled ruin. However... I'm going to ask that any oddities we find be given consideration to be added to my stores, since this whole adventure is being considered so I can build my business back up again. That said, I welcome any muscle willing to come along without promise of pay."

Tha done, he worked with the two to determine what their expectations would be, and enjoyed the bazaar as a whole.

<At the bar in the city>

Letting the two larger men work the strange man a bit before finally standing and walking over to the man, "Kelan Drell, at your service." Before they had entered the town, he'd dressed out of his travel clothing, and instead replaced it with his 'about town' outfit -- perhaps a bit more dressy for this town than might otherwise be... but there is a method to all of it.

His eyes sparkle just a bit, a slight sheen crossing them as he pours on the charm.

"Well, friend," he starts in, pulling over a stool opposite the man, "he wasn't specific. More... hinted. He had a suspicion you knew of some excellent opportunities in this town, and my friends and I came here hoping to aid you in said opportunities, should they exist. See," and again that smile flashes, "I recently find myself in need of replenishing my wares in my little shop over in Kaparin, and Tal said you would be the best option for it. Tal has always done well by me, and I respect his honesty, and so I decided to make the trip out here... surely you can help me?"

As Kaelan pulls up the stool and begins speaking, the man moves in a bit closer. His mouth is ever so slightly agape, and he listens very intently to him.

"Yes, yes..." the man replies as he pulls back his hood. The non-augmented eye has a somewhat glazed look to it and he addresses Kaelan with alacrity. "Mardrough can indeed help," he says, indicating himself. "There are indeed opportunities I know of for those who seek interesting wares of the previous worlds. I myself recovered a wonderful piece of numenera, which I would be glad to show you but it is not on my person. It is my contention that there are many more wonders where I found that piece that have laid hidden for a great deal of time."

He leans it a bit closer to the party, particularly Kaelan. "However, it is not here in this town. It is just over a day's travel from here. In fact-"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC: This is where the critical fail roll kicks in

---

Suddenly, Mardrough stops addressing the men. The glazed look in his eye vanishes, and he appears a bit more startled, lucid. He pulls away from Kaelan and sits straight up, then looks to each of the party members warily, his eye in a squint.

"Wait a minute... you're one of those folk. You're trying to put the whammy on Mardrough!" He shoves his stool in forcefully and rises from the table. "I've got nothing more to say to the lot of you! Trying to bilk me out of my discovery! Good day to you, and good luck!"

Mardrough nods toward the barkeep and walks toward the bar he stands behind. Just then the door to the tavern swings open and two men and a woman storm in.  The three are dressed in jerkins and boot and are armed with light weapons. They do not appear to be military by any means, more like village folk who have been trained as militia.

"Yrgan! We're looking for Mardrough! Is he-" The man stops as he sees Mardrough walking toward Yrgan. "Mardrough You need to come with us!" The three walk right past Esperon, paying him no mind, and move in on Mardrough.

Hurley is confused by the turn of events. "What just?!?" he begins to ask before being interrupted by the new arrivals.

Deciding that he isn't ok with losing this opportunity, Harley steps between the men and their quarry. "Hold on, Bub, we have hired this man to guide us. You can have him after we are done with him."


17:37, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 15 using 1d20.  Stretching the truth and buying time (trained).
Obviously 15 is my number :)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:53, Wed 27 Sept 2017.

Esperon nods sagely and studies the man's face, curious to see what kind of reaction this would engender. He had some suspicions about this suspicious character, but only time and observation would tell.



Esperon sighs. And the shin in the air dropped. He prepares to move, when....



Esperon's eyebrow shoots up. An interesting development and useful.



Esperon steps next to Harley, half intentionally and half out of instinct. He beams at the newcomers. "Yep. Let us know where to bring him when we're done and we'll think about it, if you're smart about it." He folds his two meaty arms and looks expectantly at the three men...

Using Intellect to persuade them; I am Trained, reducing the difficulty by a step.

21:02, Today: Esperon rolled 14 using 1d20.  Persuading Others (Trained).

The three makeshift constables pause as the men step between you and Mardrough. They look quizzically over these strangers blocking their path, not sure who you are or where you hail from.

The woman takes a step in front of the two men in her group. She produces two connected loops of synth- presumably wrist restraints- and begins twirling them around her index finger.

"I don't know who you are or what you want with him, but you need to understand... this man is responsible for some serious crimes against our town. We are under orders from the mayor to apprehend him."

Something in your words, however, your words or tone or presence... gives her pause. She purses her lips and nods slowly. "You appear to be honorable men. We will remand him to your custody. You have one week though. Bring him to the mayor's office in one week's time. Make haste before we change our minds." The three step aside, giving you egress to the tavern door.

Slowly standing to stand behind the two larger men, Kaelan evidences no frustration at having been found out by their quarry. It was certainly going to be more difficult now, with him in an adversarial mood... but that hopefully could be smoothed over after preventing his capture. Putting a hand on either of his companion's shoulders, he smiled winningly at the woman, "Thank you. We assure you, we will make certain justice is done here. That said, we should be off, no?" The last bit asked to his comrades with a glance toward the door.

Esperon nods to the townsfolk and turns to Mardrough, putting his hand on the apparent criminal's shoulder. "So, my dear guide--let's be away from here before more of your fans decide to arrive." He shoots the barkeep a warning look before starting to direct Mardrough toward the door, his big hand still on the fellow's shoulder.

Having finally secured your quarry you guide him through the tavern door with hands securely and tightly held fast to him.

In the time you had spent inside Yrgan's pub the sun had finally set. You walk out into the cool night air, the only discernible lights being the stars above and a light shining through a home's window here and there. The darkness is thickened by the absence of the moon in the night sky. You begin to stroll down the small street, navigating by the feel of the road. Even for a small village it seems a little too quiet.

!! GM INTRUSION !! Normally you can accept the intrusion and earn 2 XP, 1 of which you’d give to another PC…

However, since you have no XP, you unfortunately have no choice but to accept the intrusion. On the upside, I’ll award each of you 2 XP for this one.

Here you’d thought the little town was rolling itself up and getting ready to tuck itself into bed. Instead, a myriad of glow globes suddenly chase away the dark in front and on either side of you. A couple dozen of the townsfolk step from the shadows, each with some weapon, or an implement that can serve as a weapon. You look behind you to the tavern’s entrance to see the three town patrol persons blocking the door.

Two men step forward and yank Mardrough from your grasp. A third man with an air of self importance steps forward and faces him. “Mardrough,” the man bellows, “you are being charged with the cause of the disappearance of 27 good citizens of Groshdou. You are to be hanged at midday in Raglish town hall square.”

The self-important man spins Mardrough around and places the synth fashioned restraints on his wrists. They draw him into the crowd and the accompanying folk wrap themselves around the prisoner, your query disappearing into the throng as they move away down the street.

Esperon considers making these individuals stop for a half a moment, but he restrains himself. Their complaint with this man is probably legitimate. The interesting question is whether there will be another opportunity to extract the desired information from him, given the circumstances.

He turns to the others. "Let's follow the crowd, quiet-like. If we're respectful, maybe we can find a way to get in to talk with him more."

"Something smells foul here," Kaelan mutters to his two companions... "If they succeed in killing him, we likely lose our lead. I question the legitimacy of what they are claiming... considering how..." He pauses, searching for the words, "...completely off the townfolk are. They may just be mistrusting of strangers due to the disappearances, but frankly I think we're looking at a scapegoat situation."

"That said, I don't see an alternative at the moment," he begrudingly offers, following at the rear.

You follow the small throng through the town, as you hear them growling and murmuring their vitriol for Mardrough. The street eventually opens up to a town square, and standing at the far side of the square is a strange building constructed entirely of black metal, a non sequitur amidst the rustic hand built homes and other buildings. The building appears to be a large metal cube topped with a smaller metal one, the larger roughly seven meters on each side respectively. There are various openings in its exterior which could serve as windows or doors save for their random placement along the surface. The openings do not reveal what is inside, only blackness shows beyond. Clearly a structure from a previous world that the small town was built around.

A tall thin woman, well dressed for the class of residents of the village but by no means opulent, awaits the crowd before one of the larger openings of the cubed structure. The crowd stops before her and the two men escorting Mardrough bring him before the woman.

"Thank you all for helping to apprehend this man," she states to the crowd. "You have all done well. Now return to your homes and families this evening, and know that justice will be served tomorrow." She nods to the two captors and they step up to the metal building and pass through the larger opening where the darkness swallows them. The crowd gradually disperses in various directions, congratulating each other and taking pride in their accomplishment.

After everyone has cleared the square, the woman notices your party has remained. "Out of towners, I see. I am Shthila Voo, the mayor of this town. If you seek an audience with me, I will gladly speak to you in the morning. It has been a long day and I would like to retire. So if you'll excuse me..." She gives a smile, albeit a bit insincerely, and takes a step away from you toward wherever she happens to reside in the town.

Esperon steps in front of her, his face stern. "Madam, you have SEVERELY inconvenienced my companions and me. We would have a word with you. Now." There is something in his demeanor that is polite, but he is also very, very serious. He has the air of someone who has himself had a very long day and will not tolerate being brushed off. He is also rather large and imposing.

Spending 2 points of Intellect to use Effort to reduce difficulty in addition to being Trained. He is not messing. Roll of 14.

22:45, Today: Esperon rolled 14 using 1d20.  Persuading Others (Trained) with Effort.

"Yes, severely," Hurley echoes.

What the dirt is going on here? he wonders. This entire town is crazy, and it gets stranger by the moment. On top of that, Drell seems like even more of a wildcard than he realized.

He simply watches until he knows a bit more.

At first Shthila gives Esperon that look of authoritarianism, the look of a person who is not accustomed to having demands made on her. She takes into account just how serious he is, in addition to the fact that she does not know these men and what they are capable of, nor do they know her. The look changes from irritation to one of congenial aplomb.

"My sincerest apologies for however I may have inconvenienced you. Perhaps you can enlighten me on that? Not to mention you helped assist in apprehending that miscreant, so I suppose I owe you a moment of my time. Now how can I help you gentlemen?"

At this, Kaelan steps around from behind Esperon, to look at Shthila squarely, the look of passive annoyance clear on his face, his habitual smile gone as he plays the part, "To put it succinctly, we already had, as you say, apprehended this gentleman, when your deputies accosted us, stole our quarry under implied threat of violence, and absconded with him. We have been tracking him for quite some time, found him here in your town, only to have weapons put to us to take him. You are not the only party with a claim on him, and now we find ourselves in a spot of duress. So you can see the difficulty here."

Esperon nods. "At minimum, we need to talk with the man again to secure the information we needed from him. This gentleman here," he says, pointing to Kaelan, "has his livelihood riding on that information. We're happy to have guards with us the whole time to keep us honest, and we'd owe you a favor, which from us means something.

"If you don't, then we're holding you responsible to help my friend Kaelan in the same way that this man could have."

He folds his big arms and looks at the woman with stolid determination.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:47, Fri 29 Sept 2017.

Shthila listens intently to their words, then contemplatively looks to each of the men after they speak. After a moment, she nods.

"I believe we seek the same information. When we realized the disappearances started happening around the time that man arrived here, we did question him about it, but he was not in the least forthcoming. We had hoped to question him further upon his arrest, but he slipped into hiding. Why would an innocent man hide?"

She looks over the sizable man before her. "You do appear to have the means to be more intimidating than anyone in this town. Perhaps you can convince him to divulge what has happened to our people- my husband-" she says, then breathes in slowly to keep her emotions in check, "and whoever you have lost, of course."

She turns back toward the metal building behind her. "I will let you speak with the prisoner. Whatever means you decide to use to get information from him is none of my concern. In the remote chance you glean any information as to what happened to my husband and our other residents that have gone missing, please share it with me. However," she says, turning back to face you again, "you have until just before noon tomorrow. You understand I cannot extradite him to you. He is to be executed here. His death is the only way we can be sure the disappearances stop."


The mayor beckons you to follow and she passes through the darkened opening of the building. You follow her through the opening to find yourself in a brightly lit room with no discernible light source. If you were to look back you would see the same darkness through the opening instead of what lay beyond outside. The interior walls are fashioned of the same metal as the exterior. Rather than the floors, walls and ceilings being flat planes there are cube shaped protrusions and recesses throughout. You see the two guards that had escorted Mardrough into the building seated at either side of a cube playing a game fashioned out of circles drawn in a layer of drit and some small colored stones. The two rise when they see the mayor approach them.

"Mern, Brekkur... these gentlemen are here to speak with the prisoner. Please accommodate them, but they are not to leave with the prisoner under any circumstances." She bids your party goodnight and hastily leaves the building. The two men wordlessly rise and navigate around the cubes that protrude from the floor. You follow them down a hall that is more like a path through a series of cubes which opens into a chamber roughly 4 meters by 6. On the opposite side of the room, pacing like a caged broken hound is Mardrough. He stops pacing when he sees you, then walks a few steps toward you. The two guards simply turn and leave you to your devices without a word.

"Oh, it's you lot!"  he hisses. "Come to wring some info from Mardrough? Get the location of my find? A dead man ain't got no use for it anyhow, you're thinkin'. Right?" He spits in your direction, but it travels half a meter when it reverses and falls at his own feet, as if something in the middle of the room pushed it back.

Hurley doesn't like this man - and Hurley likes everyone. He steps forward and says nothing for a moment. Instead, he reaches into his pack and pulls out a ceramic pot. He sets the pot next to Mardrough's restrained form. He stares at the pot as if expecting an answer from it.

Eventually it issues a single puff of blue smoke issues from the pot. Hurley nods at it gravely as if it has confirmed some suspicion. He seems to consider the information the device has provided him. Then he turns his attention to Mardrough.

"You're going to die - that seems obvious to me. But the pot says that ain't so. I don't know how it knows, but it's never wrong. It says you know more than you're saying. A lot more, actually. It is also telling me that what you know will save your life." He motions to the mysterious little pot that now issues no more smoke. "Start by telling us what happened to those people."

08:55, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 17 using 1d20.  Bluffing that the pot knows something. Trained.

Mardrough stands with his arms crossed and watches the smoke dance and dissipate just on the other side of the invisible barrier. He does his utmost to appear disinterested but his demeanor is belied by the slight sparkle of hope in his eyes.

"The pot says I'm going to live," he says in a low tone, half as a statement and half as a question. "Based on what I know..."

His words trail off as he looks up at Hurley. That sparkle that was in his eyes moments ago has since vanished. "But I don't know what happened to those people! You gotta believe me!"

The prisoner begins pacing again. "I'm a scapegoat, you know that! I had nothing to do with those people disappearing! What am I going to kidnap people for? What use do I have in making people disappear? I'm just an explorer, a seeker. I'm not about causing trouble, I just want to discover wondrous items such as that!" He thrusts a finger to indicate the little pot Hurley had produced.

He finally stops pacing, sighs, then sits on a cube protruding from one of the walls. "It says what I know will save my life? I don't know what it thinks I know. Yes, the people started vanishing soon after I got here, but..."

Mardrough ponders his last statement for a moment, then stands and addresses your party. "I suppose it might have something to do with the numenera device I found. I found it amongst a copse of strange trees out by the bluffs of Hitcher's Firth. It was up in one of those trees. It had all sorts of odd patterns on it... I could feel the energy just radiating from it." He holds his hands as if the device were actually in them, his eyes get a faraway look for a moment. "I brought it back here and had Yrgan hide it for me. Maybe something it's doing is making people disappear, but I doubt it. Cuz the folks vanish when they go out on their hunts. They go out out of town and don't come back.

"Or maybe it's from whatever's back at that copse. When I was leaving the copse, I looked back and I swear I saw something... I don't know what... something in that copse that wasn't there before. I couldn't tell what it was. Maybe that's my doing. Maybe this really is all my doing. But that doesn't mean I should die! I don't want to die!"

He gets as close to the invisible divider as he can. "That's all I know. You said what I know would keep me alive. I'm holding you to that, guy!" He stands staring intently at Hurley.

Esperon steps in, glaring at the man. "You're in no position to make threats. All you did right now was prevent me from breaking your fingers to get the same information. But..." He stands back and nods. "If I were in your shoes, I'd want the truth out, too. We're going to check out the numenera you talked about."

He turns to his friends and says in a low town, "I think we should tell the mayor. What do you guys think?"

Hurley puts a hand on Esperon's shoulder. He looks back at the prisoner and then shifts his gaze meaningfully back to the pot. When no smoke comes forth for several long seconds, he breaks his silence with the gravity of a holy man. "Perhaps that is so. The pot says no more."

With a tremendous solemnity, he replaces the ceramic pot in his pouch. "I say we go talk to the mayor."

It's not common for Kaelan to let others do the convincing for him... but considering the colossal failure that was his last conversation with this man, it seemed fitting to let someone else do the convincing. However, as the others ask, he shakes his head slightly, "Not the Mayor... that would require waiting until the morning, since she's made it clear she's not going to continue being available for us tonight, and in that time we may lose our chances to save him. We should leave word begging for a temporary stay of his execution with his jailers, but make haste then to seek out Yrgan."

Turning on his heel, he goes back to the door, seeking out the guards, to make an impassioned plea: "Good sirs, I know you're doing as you were told, and that the mayor has made up her mind. Please, on the morrow, I beg of you to speak to her on our behalf. We have a lead from the prisoner. While I suspect your fears are correct, there is a chance there is some truth to the villain's claims... I ask not that you let him free, for he may truly be a danger to all, but ask her to give him a temporary stay of execution. Fifty-six hours, two days, for us to follow up on this lead, before all of us have innocent blood on our hands."

Brekkur, the bigger of the two guards, does not deign to lift his eyes from his game to answer Kaelan.

"Any stay of execution can only be authorized by the mayor," he says almost by rote. "If you'd like to speak to the mayor you can come back in the morning. She usually arrives here two hours after sunrise."

After a beat, Brekkur at last raises his head to look at Kaelan. One corner of his mouth is raised when he says with a hint of derision:

"Good luck."

He then turns his attention back to the game with the implication that the conversation is officially closed.

Esperon clears his throat, standing over the men. "Hey, just checking--when is he due to be executed?"

The other man, Mern, looks up to answer. "They'll be hanging him at midday." His reply sounds rather matter-of-fact, but his eyes are showing a bit of excitement. He glances over at his partner, though his partner's demeanor does not seem to mirror his own. Mern then goes back to studying the stones of the game.

"I'm sure it'll be a good show!" he offers with a mock salute. "Let's get to Yrgan's." He is on the scent of something - he knows not what. But he pushes ahead and draws the small group along to the tavern.

If no one stops him, Hurley will press on until he stands before Yrgan.

Realizing the guards will offer nothing more than their indifference, your party leaves the metal building, returning to Yrgan's public house.

You find the entrance to his place is still unlocked, even though it's well into the night. Yrgan is behind the bar, cleaning up and putting steins away, apparently preparing to close for the night. It appears you've arrived just in time to catch him.

As you fling open the door and make your way in, he looks up, quite startled, and bears his teeth. "You again!" he growls. You see him stretch his arm along the counter and slap his hand down on what looks to be a plunger of some sort.

- GM Intrusion -

Hurley Kosson  - something appears to have launched from the bar and is headed your direction.
If you accept the intrusion, add 1 XP to your pool and give one XP to another player.
If you choose to decline the intrusion, subtract 1 XP from your pool.

"This coulda' been a reasonable conversation!" he yells when Yrgad goes from the plunger. Hurley dashes ahead, going straight for the man behind the bar. He'll hop the counter if he has to in order to lay hands on the troublesome barkeep.

I'll take the XP and give one to Eli for all of his creativity and input so far.

Just kidding. I'll give the point to Esperon. ;)

Once Yrgan slaps the plunger a panel drops open on the face of the bar to reveal a nozzle roughly the diameter of a man's fist. A sphere of liquid that resembles water ejects from the nozzle and flies straight into Hurley's chest.

After slapping the plunger Yrgan dashes from one end of the bar to the other. He appears to be deliberately trying to reach something behind the bar before you can get to him.

OOC: Hurley - make a Speed defense roll DT 4 to prevent the numenera shot from taking effect.
You all gain initiative and take actions before Yrgan, in any order you prefer.
Hurley, with your naturanl 20 initiative roll, describe the major effect you earned.

Hurley plunges ahead with a belated thought that running straight at the man who just hit the plunger isn't all that smart. Too late he twists, but the fluid strikes him. (speed defense 9)

His determined charge lets him hop to a chair that he uses to assist his leap through the air. He leaps boldly towards the man hoping to pounce on top of him. The chair, unfortunately is not as stable as he hoped and it wobbles, making for an awkward takeoff. (Jump 2, DT-3)


20:26, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 2 using 1d20.  Jump Trained, asset (nat 20), asset (running) DT-3.
20:23, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 9 using 1d20.  Speed defence DT 4.

Major effect is gaining an asset for my jump task (a chair). The poor roll could still succeed if the DT was 3 or less (-1 for chair asset, -1 running asset, -1 Trained).

Slipping just inside the door, Kaelan sees the man running. Not wishing to actively wound him, he pulls out his sisk, throwing at short range, hoping to have it fly in front of the man, cutting his run short without wounding him.

"STOP!" He shouts.

Hurley's twisting motion allows him to get most of the way out of the trajectory of the ball of liquid, but not before it splashes against his arm.

As he launches himself off the chair to intercept Yrgan, he reaches his hand down toward the bar as a means of help him vault over it. To his surprise, he finds his arm merely splashes down on the bar as it feels as if it is completely comprised of water up to and just past his shoulder. Although his side drops against the top of the bar, he manages to land just behind Yrgan on the other side.


The sisk does fly in front of the man, striking the back wall two meters before him. The sight of this coupled with the large man landing behind him causes him to stop in his tracks.

You notice just beyond where the sisk struck there is a trap door in the floor that Yrgan was clearly planning to make his escape through.

"You already got your man," Yrgan spits. "What do you want from me?"

Esperon is a lumbering, craggy-faced presence behind the bartender now. "You tell me. You just attacked Hurley here. Why?" His arms are folded and his face is that of a man who is not at all amused...

"Gah!!" is all Hurley can manage to say. He gestures about wildly with his arm - the now-watery limb moving flailing about. He quickly stops the movement as he fears what might happen if he splashes.

His face has no mercy in it as he crowds closer to Yrgad. With his one good arm, he reaches back and pulls the axe from its sling on his back. He lets the weapons thud down on the bar to emphasize Esperon's question.

Moving slowly compared to the other, Kaelan tries to position himself between the man and the trap door, grinning once again as he moves to pill his sisk out of the wall. "We came to talk, actually... as we frankly are more interested in what's happening than the short-sighted demands of justice this town is working toward. We tried to get him out, but failed, and so now are on the clock to try to determine what is actually happening here before an innocent man gets put to death. So you tell us... " He points to Esperon, indicating his question.

Yrgan's mouth simply opens and closes repeatedly, no words emitting, an occasional squeak escaping. Beads of sweat begin to descend from his massively receded hairline, rolling down to slough off his thick protruding eyebrows.

Finally, stammering words leave the man's lips. Even though his fear is evident in his speech, it is still filled with vitriol and aggravation. "I thought when you first came in you were set on robbing me. The way you came barging in here. Then I seen it was you's guys that were in here earlier. I wouldn't have attacked you if I'd a knew it was you."

Yrgan finally takes a deep breath and settles his nerves a bit, though still shaky. "Everybody's got it out for Mardrough. He's my friend. I know he ain't done nothin' wrong. That's alls I know. Now let me get t' closin' up my place. I don't know what y' think I can do for you. If you want to help Mardrough you should be talkin' t' the mayor instead of wasting your time with me."

Kaelan doesn't even try to turn on the charm now, hoping instead blunt honesty and sincerity will win them out, now, "Your friend will die at midday tomorrow. That is his current fate, unless you're more honest with us. We know he found a device. We know he gave it to you for safekeeping. And we believe it is connected to the disappearances he's being accused of. We need to know where it is, and where it came from... if we're to have a chance to clear his name."

A pause, "Also, how permanent is the damage to my friend's arm here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Thu 12 Oct 2017.

Yrgan glances at Hurley's arm and shrugs. "That? Should be back to normal anytime now."

He chews on his lip, seeming to deliberate what he wants to do based on the information you just gave him. He takes a moment to study each of you, then you can see his shoulders fall with a sense of resignation.

"It sounds like you must have gotten Mardrough to talk to you. I don't know how you did, but..." He shakes his head. "Mebbe I don't wanna know...

"Alright... I'll show you what he asked me to hold onto for him. Under one condition: You promise me you'll find a way to free Mardrough, or at least keep them from killin' 'im. You gotta promise, cuz he ain't done nothin' wrong. Promise me that an' I'll show you the thing he had me hold for 'im." With this he gazes at each of you, making sure you see the earnest in his eyes. "I know you are men of honor an' I know you're good for your word. I can tell."

Hurley steps forward with a gesture of acceptance. Unfortunately, doing so brings his water-arm into his vision. He scowls with anger and reconsiders the touchy-feely approach. Using the other arm, he raises a finger to emphasize his point.

"All I can say is we will try. The mayor seems to want him planted real bad."

Esperon nods, his eyes serious and his massive arms still folded. "Agreed. You're going to help us figure out a way to get him out of this mess, but first things first: show us this thing." He nods his craggy-faced head slowly.

Kaelan nods as well, "Absolutely, that is our intent. None of us have control of fate or the future, mind, but we intend to do our best to convince the Mayor to give him a temporary stay of execution until we can finish our investigation. As well, we promise to leave your name out of our mouths when we do so."

Hurley just nods and stifles a bout of anxiety when his water-hand strokes his own chin. It's going to wear off.... It's gotta wear off....

Yrgan looks from one man to the other, taking in each of their statements. With a heavy sigh he drops his shoulders then nods in resignation.

"It's down there." He points to the trap door through which he nearly made his escape. "I buried it in the drit down there. Don't 'member exactly where. But it's down there."

After a brief exchange you decide that it would be best if Kaelan went down below to find the device while Esperon and Hurley (whose arm is beginning to return to normal already) stand guard over Yrgan until the device is recovered.

Kaelan hops down into the space below, which is only high enough to negotiate on one's knees. The space is not unlike any other crawlspace, numerous bits of junk and detritus are strewn about, much of it half buried in the drit. Kaelan spends the next 20 minutes shoveling through drit until he comes upon a copper colored puck shaped item nearly half a meter in diameter as well as a couple other cyphers buried along side it. While the bottom of the coppery item is perfectly flat the top is slightly convex. There are strange symbols embedded into the side that emit a strange radiation of sorts. Kaelan recognizes that this item has the capacity to power something else as he is familiar with the sensation of latent static energy.

He lifts himself up from the crawlspace and displays his bounty to Yrgan. Yrgan nod and confirms, "Yep, that's the thing he brought back with him. So you think that'll help save him? It better. I'm trusting you guys.

OOC: You can decide if you want to take the two cyphers Kaelan uncovered in the crawlspace. You can assume these were also given to Yrgan for him to hide as well.
At this juncture, Hurley's arm has returned to normal with no trace of the watery transformation remaining.

Esperon looks down to Kaelan. "So...do you think you can identify what that thing does quickly? If not, we need to talk about how we're going to convince the mayor to give Yrgan's buddy a couple of days' reprieve."

Hurley nods in agreement with Esperon's line of thinking. "These things aren't really proof of anything - except, that there might be something more dangerous than a one-eyed man happening. If the numenera is creating a danger or is connected to an even bigger threat, then we might need the man's help to identify it."

As he talks, Hurley runs a hand over the disk as well as the other two items. He is looking for any signs of purpose or activation.

17:56, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 13 using 1d20.  numenera (Trained).
This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Mon 16 Oct 2017.

As Hurley waves his hand over the disk he confirms its purpose is to provide power to a specific larger device. He cannot ascertain what that device is based on examination of the disk alone.

Along with the disk he learns the following information about the two cyphers:

Level 4 Phase Changer
Wearable: Belt, medallion, ring
Usable: Handheld device
Effect: Puts the user out of phase for one minute. During this time, the user can pass through solid objects as though she were entirely insubstantial, like a ghost.

Level 2 Catseye
Level: 1d6
Internal: Pill, ingestible liquid
Usable: Injector
Effect: Grants the ability to see in the dark for eight hours.

Esperon whistles. "So....that's it. Let's go talk with the mayor. I've got an idea."

He asks Hurley if he can hold the disc while the group heads to the mayor's.

Giving Esperon a chuckle Kaelnn shaks his head, "Seems Hurly is better suited for this, anyhow." Setting the other Numenera down, he looks to the obvious main source of their current 'quest', as it were. "A power source. The story inside my head currently wonders if this was holding something back, which is now assailing the town.?

When suggestion to leave now is offered, Kaelan balks, "Interrupting the mayor right now may only serve to turn her against us. I'm loathe to wait any longer than absolutely necessary, but I also don't want to

Esperon shrugs. "We need more time. If we don't get it from her, how do we do that? I mean, we could spring the guy from jail. I don't think these little boys could stop us. We could then return him later once we get the proof we need. He probably belongs behind bars, if not death, gauging from his character."

"I agree with Kaelan on this one - let's wait until first light. We can find a room for the night. It's not like we are going to set out in the dark anyway."

He looks at Drell like a stern parent, "And leave the mayor's mind alone - at least until there's no other choice, OK? If we get caught pulling a stunt like that, we could all hang right next to Mardrough."

Kaelan laughs, shaking his head as they go to leave. "Oh... that only works when I want people to TELL me something. I can't artificially make people make certain choices... yet. I haven't found the proper method for that yet. Yet." He looks to Esperon, then, "We should plan to be there at first light, to convince her."

Esperon nods solemnly. "Fine. We need to sleep somewhere for a few hours, and probably take shifts to make sure we all wake up in time." He walks back over to Yrgan. "You have someplace where we can sleep? We can pay for it."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Thu 19 Oct 2017.

Yrgan scratches his chin and looks from one to the other of you. "Well, all's I got is a little room off the bar where I stay. Just a bed big enough for me. Tell y' what. I stay in my bed an' you find a place to curl up here in my bar an' I won't charge y' nothin', as temptin' as that is. It keeps y' out of the elements. But yer gone when sun's up, work on gettin' Mardrough free or a stay or what have ya."

He jerks his head at Hurley, indicating him to step aside to let him pass. "Jus' so y' know, my hospitality got limits. Y' want food or drink, it'll cost ya some shins."

Esperon grins. "I mentioned I have money, right? What can we eat?"

"I got some aneen jerky and some bread in that box over there." He indicates a box made of synth on a shelf on the wall behind the bar. "Y' can take a liter of mead an' enough food for dinner for each of ya. 3 shins. Leave it on the bar." He walks past you and exits through a door on the opposite side of the bar, closing it behind him.

After a brief moment he pops his head back out. "Don't wake me for nothin'. See yourself out in the mornin'." With that, he pops back in and closes the door.

Kaelan, for his own part, doesn't partake of the offered jerky and mead -- when he said he was short on shins, he wasn't kidding. Instead, he sticks to what's in his own pack, making do with that.  taking a seat against a wall, and shutting his eyes for a moment, Kaelan chuckles, "I'll claim first shuteye. Wake me in a few hours, and I'll take next watch." In truth, he's quite tired... the effort of his failure at convincing most anyone today frustrating him more than he tried to let show.

Hurley appears conflicted. He looks at the food with a twitch in his hand. He glances a couple of times hopefully towards Esperon before scowling and placing a shin on the counter.

He grabs some food and drink, leans his axe against the wall next to him and kicks his chair back to balance on two legs. With a mouthful of food he raises his mug, "Get some rest - I got this."

He will take the first shift before waking Kaelan.

Esperon picks up Hurley's shin and chucks it back at him. "Keep it, fancy-pants." He pulls out his own purse and drops and drops three shins on the counter.

He nods at Hurley's offer and props himself up against a nearby wall and consumes his portion of the food quickly. Once he finishes, he drops his pack on the ground, lies on it and falls fast asleep, snoring none too quietly.

Morning arrives without event. You awaken to the sound of Yrgan's snores, louder than Esperon's were, loud enough to be heard on the other side of the closed door. The three of you slip out quietly.

The morning sees several residents milling around, beginning their morning affairs. The shops closer to the town square are opening their doors. The scent of fresh baked goods wafts from a bakery in the vicinity.

The strange metal building appears no different than the night before. The "windows" and the entryway appear dark as they did previously, with no hint of light escaping any of the openings. You walk through the doorway as you had last night and once again find yourself in what would serve as the lobby. Two different guards are stationed there now, the two men that had arrested Mardrough at the bar yesterday, in fact. They are drinking hot morning beverages and visiting with each other when you approach and ask to see the mayor. He looks up at you disinterestedly and asks if you have an appointment. When you explain that she is expecting to see you this morning, he taps the face of a metal cube protruding on the wall. Shthila's face appears on the cube's plane.

"Three men say they are here to see you, say you asked to see them this morning?" He rotates the cube so her visage faces you.

She nods. "Yes, send them in, please." Her face disappears from the cube's surface. The guard rises from his post and leads you up a series of cubes that seem haphazardly fashioned to serve as steps, not in a logical way such as a staircase. He navigates them with the proprioception of one who has climbed them countless times, while you awkwardly figure out the best way to negotiate and balance each rise. Thankfully it is only a single story climb.

You ascend onto a landing roughly three meters square. A darkened opening stands before you and the guard gestures for you to pass through it. You enter the opening and find yourself before the mayor. She is seated at a series of cubes fashioned into a desk of sorts. Behind her you can see the entire village square through what appears to be an opening or a window, and you seem much higher up than the climb would have you believe you had ascended. She smiles warmly, a politician's well practiced and often disarming smile, shakes your hands in greeting, then gestures you to sit. There are a few metal cubes on the floor which she indicates, and as you place your hand on one you find it slides effortlessly to wherever you choose to place it.

Once the three of you sit she leans forward and clasps her hands on the desk. "So, how did your visit with our little 'friend go? Did he give you any information on what happened to our people?"

Hurley can feel his mind churning. He notices the practiced smile and he can feel himself unconsciously returning the gesture. That potion really has him tuned in to people this morning. Naturally, he begins. His own tone seems to subtly mirror the mayor's, and his vocabulary is enhanced ever so slightly. Rather than feeling in opposition to her, he speaks to the mayor as if they are on the same team. He acts like he sheriff giving her a briefing.

"No, the man hasn't yet divulged anything about the disappearing townsfolk. We have managed to collect some ques, though. He lead us to a cache of numenera he discovered just before all this ruckus began. We recovered an item that suggests trouble. It looks like nothing on it's own, but it suggests some greater threat." He motions to the device with an air of mystery and intrigue. It embodies the diabolical unknown.

"He also coughed up a location. We are planning to investigate this morning and ensure that we know the full depth of the threat. Perhaps he had accomplices, for example. It's a scary thought, but we can't dismiss it.

It is advisable to keep the man alive until our investigation is complete. We may need more answers from him. I recommend a 48-hour stay. It may be the only way to bring our people home." He has ever so subtly moved himself into position as an ally, a member of the town himself. Hurley does not beg nor plead nor bargain. He updates and advises. The final effect is quite dramatic and persuasive.


Trying to use the device as an asset to persuasion. Props help!

16:20, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 19 using 1d20.  Persuasion T plus Asset (maybe?)

Shthila's eyes lock on the numenera Hurley displays. "May I?" she asks as she reaches a hand out for the device. Hurley complies and hands it to her.

She rises from her seat as she examines the disk. She turns it in her hands, studying the ancient symbols for quite awhile. She steps out from behind her desk and paces ever so slightly, gazing at the device as if she hopes to find some answers on it.

"You suspect the disappearances have something to do with this?" the mayor says as she holds out the device. Hurley nods as he gently takes it back from her.

She ponders for a bit longer, taking a few more paces. "He also mentioned some location?" Hurley nods again, careful not to speak so as not to risk disrupting the tenuous threads her thoughts may be connecting. "They could very well be at this location..."

After a few more moments she nods slowly. "I will grant Mardrough a stay of 48 hours. That will allow you time to investigate the location he gave you. Hopefully you will find our people there, or at the very least uncover more information on what has become of them..."

She then raises a finger, reasserting her position of authority in light of having capitulated to their recommendation. "However, I have to insist that Mardrough remains here under custody. I cannot authorize him accompanying you to this location. The residents are already going to be none too pleased with my decision, but I'll have to deal with that."

She gestures toward the opening to her office. "Make your way back down to the reception area. I'll let the guards know that you need to see Mardrough. Good luck gentlemen. We all hope you find answers. Please return here and let me know what you find out." She shakes their hands and once again seats herself at her desk, returning to her business at hand.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:32, Mon 23 Oct 2017.

When Esperon gets outside, Esperon quips to the others, "Remind me to recommend against this place to friends and family. Grife."



Esperon seems intrigued by the cubes. He taps the talking-cube a couple of times as they go to head upstairs, and stops periodically to examine the cubes on which they climb, rubbing the face of one here or there. He seems downright amused.



Esperon nods to emphasize Hurley's words. His arms are croseed but his face reflects a hope that the bottom can, in fact, be reached of this proverbial cesspool of death.



Esperon raises his hand. "A moment, mayor, if we could. Do you have extra guards to have watch Mardrough? With deep respect for their skills, my little group alone could have taken those two fellows watching Mardrough last night, if we had been inclined. You will need more of a show of force to keep him from being pulled out and lynched." HIs face reflects real concern for the man, who Esperon privately dislikes but suspects more and more has been set up somehow.

Shthila looks up from her business and considers Esperon's concern. "Your concern is a legitimate one. Normally I would tell you I have the utmost faith in my citizens respecting my dictates and decrees. These are generally very good law abiding citizens. However, this is a rather exceptional case."

She takes a moment to ponder the situation a bit further. "You know, there is even the possibility that the guards would collude with the townsfolk for his release. They may not need to be threatened to convince them to conspire in releasing him. They could potentially be just as disgruntled as the rest of them."

She stands very still for a few more moments as she contemplates the scenario and its potential outcomes. Though she certainly has not verbalized it, it is apparent she is taking the future of her mayoral position into consideration as well. Granting the stay of execution will already be widely unpopular and will threaten her seat, but at least a resolution would vindicate her in her decision. If blood is shed outside her control, her possibility of reelection could die along with Mardrough.

"We have a couple of options on how to deal with this potential situation. I can remand him to your custody. That would have him safely away from the town during your investigation. However, that would be more for just the three of you to have to finagle on top of whatever you'd be facing wherever you're going.

"There's also the possibility of you taking him back to your town and having him executed to appease your citizens. I don't think that is necessarily a more likely scenario but I can't rule it out. My constituents certainly won't. As much trust as I have been putting in your party I really don't know you too well.

"Our other option would be to put him into hiding here within this building. You see the strangeness of this place? How light can be kept from passing through openings in one direction or both? How there is an invisible barrier between you and Mardrough? There are secret chambers all throughout this building, some of which seem to warp space, some of which would be impossible to detect, only known by myself and the two mayors before me."

Shthila finally returns to her desk. "Those are the two options I'm willing to consider to keep our charge safe until the investigation is complete. I'm more in favor of hiding him. I am, however, willing to entertain your thoughts on this. I do appreciate you bringing up a very legitimate concern."

Esperon scratches his chin and looks at the others. "I think it would be smart to hide him here. We could even escort him with one of your men to prevent trouble. Kaelen, Hurley, what do you think?"

He unfolds his massive arms and re-folds them, leaning against one of the odd cubes for a moment before he realizes what he's doing. He then stands upright again, trying to look as if he planned the whole thing.

"Frankly," Kaelan pipes up, having been oddly quiet during the interaction up until now, "I think the third option is for the best. While I'm certain we could easily prevent his attempts to escape, he's shown such a predilection before. My only concern would be getting him to said hiding place, and not letting the populace, or those more than happy to speed his death, from doing so. If you think you can get him there, and kept there, safely, I think that would be best, rather than our attempting to corral the man while investigating."

"Actually, I was thinking you could escort him to the hidden cell rather than my guards. That way I don't risk them giving away his new location. I will instruct you on how to find it and provide you access. Once you have him in place, I'll conceal the area again. This will all be done out of sight of the guards." She looks between the three of you. "I'm more than confident you can handle him that much."

Esperon grins. "That makes four of us, yerhonnor. I think. Hurley, what you think?"

"I think you've made a smart decision there, Ms. Mayor. Let's make it happen." He claps his hands and rubs them together.

"Just say when."

"Very well," the mayor says as she rises from her "desk". She leads you out of her office and guides you down the cubed steps to the level below. The guards stand as she approaches their area, and she waves a hand indicating to them that they won't be needed. She leads you through the path of assorted right angles and cubes to Mardrough's cell. He sits crosslegged against the wall farthest from you with his hands in his head. When he hears you enter the area he leaps up and quickly walk toward you up to where the invisible barrier resides.

"You are indeed men of your word!" Mardrough exclaims! He then looks to Shthila. "Thank you madam! Thank you for agreeing to release me!"

The mayor holds up her hand. "Make no mistake, you are not being freed. You can thank these men for extending your life another 56 hours. They are going to look further into what is happening to my people. You'd better hope they find something that vindicates you, lest you do not see another reprieve."

"Be at the ready," Shthila says to you. You move closer to Mardrough just on the other side of the invisible barrier as she produces a small metallic purplish colored cube from inside her coat. She places the cube in an opening in the wall, a depression the same size as her cube, about 5 centimeters a side. A sheet of fog momentarily appears between you and the prisoner, then just as quickly disappears. You each grab ahold of Mardrough and make sure your grasp on him is firm.

After removing the small cube from the wall Shthila then leads you part way down the corridor and you follow her as she takes a sharp turn into what appeared to be a shadowed area. The obscured corridor you now walk down is much less broken by jutting cubes as was the main corridor, though there are still cube shaped protrusions and depressions. There are several more darkened openings along the walls of this corridor, and you can swear you hear the cries of a person or people. After what felt like a walk of several dozen meters she stops and faces the metal corridor wall.

"This is where you'll be staying for the next two days. Make yourself comfortable," she says to Mardrough. She again produces the purple cube and inserts it into another fitted opening. The metal wall suddenly vanishes to reveal a small lit chamber.

"Push him in. It's a one way barrier, much like the other cell." You push Mardrough into the space of the chamber. He tests the mayor's words by stepping forward to find himself met with resistance as he was in his former cell.

"This is for your own safety, Mardrough," Hurley assure the man. "If we left you in that other 'cell,' the guards themselves would lead the mob right to you. They want blood, and it seems yours is on the menu."

A different part of his mind is intrigued by the cube-building and its workings. He pushed those thoughts aside, though, and tries to focus on the task ahead. "We will head to the location you gave us, Mardrough, and from there see what the heck is going on out there. We'll get to the bottom of this. Don't you worry. The Pot hasn't been wrong yet!"

Esperon looks impressed by the strange route to the jail cell. This was not at all what he had in mind as far as escorting the man--it was far better, really. He took note of these strange twists and turns and then watched carefully as the Mayor did what she did, just in case he needed to replicate the actions for some reason.

Kor nods to Hurley's words but then adds, "One thing to think about, there, big M: start thinking how you can make the people in town trust you again. Sure, if we clear your name, that will save you from getting executed, but it's a good time to start thinking about how to win friends so that you don't find yourself lynched by overenthusiastic townspeople." He nods solemnly as he begins to walk away. "Think about it."

He slapped Kaelan on the back. "All right, my friend, let's see about this numenera. Maybe we get to save the day as a bonus."

Mardrough begins to remark on his situation when Shthila removes the cube from the slot and the metal wall reappears in place of the cell's opening, muting his words.

As you make your way back down the auxiliary corridor you again hear the cry of someone, a higher pitched voice of perhaps a girl or a young woman.

"Do you hear that?" the mayor asks. She stops in the corridor and moves slowly toward the sound. "That sounds like a girl. Why would we have a little girl locked up in here?"

Shthila follows the sound until she finds herself in front of one of the shadowed entryways. She places her all access cube in a slot and the shadow lifts to reveal a girl in a cell.

The girl looks to be around 16. She is quite stunning, with a captivating beauty yet appearing unlike any standard person. She has perfect, porcelain skin that is flawless and long thick hair that resembles spun silver. The irises of both eyes are metallic silver and reflective.

Arry looks up as the shadow lifts and looks out at the people looking in. For a brief moment she goes utterly still looking more like a sculpture than a living being.

‘By the Nine, it’s one of them.’ She thinks in shock.

She gets up with a sinuous grace and moves to the edge of the cell.  “Please, you have to get them to release me. I can’t stay here.” She says in a musical voice filled with a confidence that belies her apparent youth.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:11, Fri 27 Oct 2017.

Hurley pulls up short at the vision of the girl in the cell. "Wow!" he says out loud before composing himself. "I mean, 'Wow! Why would a young woman like you be stuck in a cell?'" he recovers.

"What did you do to get put in here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Thu 26 Oct 2017.

“That is a question I have sought an answer for for days but none of the guards will give me one. I can’t stay here, it isn’t safe.”

She looks at the group. “Please, try and secure my freedom. I need be out of here soon.”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:16, Thu 26 Oct 2017.

Shthila studies the girl in the cell for a few moments, then realization comes to her.

"I remember who this young woman is. One of the hunting parties that actually returned brought her back here and had her locked up. They thought she was tied to the other missing hunting parties, for some reason which is far beyond me. Clearly this is not the case, as people have vanished since she has been in here. She has been wrongfully detained."

The mayor produces her little cube and inserts it into one of the depressions that matches its size. Much like the effect in Mardrough's previous cell there is a brief plane of fog that appears and disappears in the span of a second.

"We truly apologize for any inconvenience we have caused you, miss. You are free to go."

The girl almost seems to sag in with relief. "Thank you. If I can get my property I would be grateful."

She turns to the group of men with the Mayor and gives a slight bow. "May it be possible for me to travel with you. I sense there is some importance to my being with you. I would incur debt if you would so honour me but would work to clear any obligation between us."

She taps her throat three times in what seems ritualistic and you see her "nails" are around an inch in length and the same highly reflective silver of her eyes and appear to be very sharp.

Kaelan can't help but shake his head, and he actively looks at the Mayor, "You... do understand just how ironic this situation is... how many others have you locked away with presumptive guilt for the kidnappings? I mean... at least this one didn't face the threat of instant death... but you, what? Forgot all about her?" There is no hiding the now accusatory tone to his voice. "I don't suggest we change our arrangement, but by the powers this MUST make you question the wisdom of seeking our quarry's death."

A glace is then given once more to the girl. Her appearance, especially the almost intentional perfection, makes him suspect automaton, or something similar. "You don't know us, why we're here, or what we're up to? We go without question into danger. Are you capable of defending yourself?"

She smiles a very humourless and closed-mouth smile at the question. "More than you can possibly imagine."

Her voice is flat and almost dead when she responds. "Better than I would ever wish or want for myself."

Esperon's normally glum expression turns into a scowl at this. "Interesting," he gets out before the mayor frees the girl.



Esperon's frown lightens slightly. "Very, very interesting," he says in a low grumble. He scratches his craggy, hard-to-like face.



Esperon crosses his arms. "Okay, too interesting. We'll escort you out, but once we're outside you're going to explain that statement. No vague statements-of-doom like that, or no deal. Plain answers. And don't worry, we don't scare easy." He steps back, letting the girl see his nearly seven-foot frame as if to emphasize his point.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Sat 28 Oct 2017.

She gives that curious, close-lipped smile again as she looks at Esperon and he notes it's nowhere close to reaching her eyes. "Not yet."

"My belongings?" She asks the woman who opened the cell and let her out.

Esperon's face darkens. "No information, no companions. I'm not budging on this one, little one. We can wait 'til we're out on the street, but I'm not budging on this one."

He steps back and looks at Hurley, his eyebrow raised.

She turns to look at the tall man. "I never said I wasn't going to tell you but there's a big difference between telling and seeing. Words are words. You'll rethink things after you see."

Another peculiarity is revealed as she speaks - her upper and lower canines are lengthened, sharp, and the same bright silver as her 'nails.'

Esperon does not look particularly impressed by this; he looks at Hurley and Kaelan for their thoughts.

Shthila's eyes narrow at Kaelan's words. Her chin raises slightly and her demeanor shifts rather rapidly. You can feel the coldness wash over her and her words lack any trace of diplomacy they had previously held. "I have been more than courteous with you as you have made hard 'requests' of me time and time again. Now I find you questioning how I handle justice in my town?"

She stares at Kaelan for a few moments, then she allows her temperament to even out. "Nevertheless, I agree we should not change our agreement. After all, you can hopefully help us get our people back, and we're helping you to... well, if it's not helping you get your people back as well, I'm sure it's something equally... altruistic." She colors that statement with a smile, but her eyes don't match her words.



"Of course." The mayor pulls the cube out of its slot in the wall, rotates it to a different face, then reinserts it into the slot. A square portion of metal just to the side of the cell opening vanishes to reveal Arryanna's wares. "Now I would invite you to make haste, as you have 56 hours. At that point, I must represent the will of the people. Now if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."  She makes her way down the small corridor.

"Thank you. I bid you good day and shall depart with there being no debt owed between the two of us." She says to the woman before turning to reach into the opening. The first thing she pulls out is a beautiful sword of Azuresteel in a rather utilitarian scabbard. She slips on a weapons belt and puts the sword in place, checking its fit. A dagger and a pouch find their way onto the belt and lastly, a backpack with a rolled up bedroll is removed and slung over her shoulder.

"Again, you have my gratitude. I've been in that cell for days with no explanation. The longer I remained the more dangerous it would have become."

Hurley stands quietly with a look of confusion on his face. He can't seem to figure out how to process this girl - her stunning beauty, young age and fiercely alien features all urge completely different, but equally strong, responses.

His eyes widen well enough when she shows her silver fangs, but not nearly as much as when she pulls her sword. He literally has to shake his head to dispel the reverie. With an effort, he tries to sort things out.

"OK, why don't we start slowly. We can head out of town - this place gives me the creeps. Once safely away from the pitchforks, you can tell us who you are and what you're about."

That's about as far as his mind can go without short-circuiting again.

"If you wish but I am given to understand that I'm not the reason you were down in the cells to begin with. I don't wish to be the cause of any delay of something you're doing that's time sensitive, as the woman who released me seemed to indicate." She said as she slung her pack over a shoulder and checked the fit of all of her gear.

Esperon glares at the girl. "Well, you're doing a poor job of it if we dally here any longer. Come on."

Moving with relative ease for one of such bulk, he leads the way out once the mayor shows them the way.

He gives Esperon a look. No need for them to be testy....

He clarifies, "Since we are heading out of town for our investigation anyway, we aren't delaying. And the same goes for you, since I doubt you are looking to stay there. So, we all get to move on, and on the way you can tell us a little more about yourself.

Like what in the Hells are you? And what is so dangerous about you - other than silver teeth and a sharp sword?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:00, Sun 29 Oct 2017.

"Forgive me for seeking to gather my gear but I shan't incur obligation to you for doing so. If you wish to be on your way then I shall follow. You do tend to stand out both for your size and your glower." She looks at him with a bland expression.

"I'm happy to tell you once it ceases to be a burden on the tall man and his time.

"Don't worry about him - once we all clear the air I'm sure everyone will be a lot more relaxed.

You're new, so you get to start."

He leads them out and towards the boundary of town as he talks.

She sighs as the group of them walk. "My name is Arryanna and my people are the Nyx. We're a quite insular people who live deep in the Cold Desert. The teeth, the claws, are all signs of what make me dangerous, reminders of what I am. I was born different. The moment I hit the age of adulthood, that night I changed into something else. It happens every month, several nights a month. I turn into something...monstrous, uncontrollable but for one person in all the world who can try and make me safe, control me, maybe talk me back to myself.

"When I saw the group of you I realised it was one of you."

Esperon, walking along, turns and smirks at Arryanna as they walk out of the building. "See? That wasn't so bad. Will tell ya about me. My grand-daddy's grand-daddy was changed to be tough. Real tough. My family's made a living at being tough in tough places for generations. My dad's a fisherman-inventor by trade who taught me how to do things with my hands."

He turned and kept walking, trying to figure out which way to go next...

"It's worse. So much worse." She whispers as they walk but will speak no more on that for now.

Hurley looks perplexed "Hold on, Esperon. Can we go back a second?

I got stuck back at the word, 'monstrous.'" He looks to the girl.

"Arryanna, darlin' you're not gonna be able to leave it there. So you become some kind of beast? What did your people do, tie you down?

I mean, I don't know where to start. Do you kill people? How long does it last? Do you know when it's going to happen? What makes you think we can help you?" He looks overwhelmed and rubs a hand through his hair and then over his face. "I need more to go on here. Help me help you."

She turns away from the group but continues walking. When she does speak is voice is hoarse and heavy with emotion. "They didn't tie me down. They had no idea what was going to happen. I...killed my parents and several of the townspeople before running off."

She turns back and her eyes are red and tears have run down her face. "I killed them and did worse things. I know it's coming because I'll start to get anxious and restless the first night it's coming on. It lasts until dawn the following day. I know you can help me because I sense one of you is the only person in all the world who can.

There have been stories passed down in writing and by the Librarians amongst my people. About how we were born much more often and the signs marking us made it easy to make sure we were kept safe and the people kept us from us. But none had been born in a thousand years so the knowledge was lost. And now, after what I've done I can never go home."

"A mutant, then? Wonderful. And one who goes about killing those near her when she changes." Kaelan's tone says it all... "What, exactly, have we gotten ourselves into here?"

Esperon considers this carefully. "You know, despite her penchant for dramatics, I believe her. I think there are good reasons she found her way to us."

He looks at Hurley. "This'll probably give you whiplash, but I say we let her stay with us. Let's see whats he can do."

"'Penchant for dramatics?' Ask my family, ask my people how dramatic I'm being. You'll see just how dramatic I am when it happens." She says, her voice a low, angry growl as opposed to its normal musical quality.

Hurley doesn't like the tone of his companions. He puts a pacifying hand on both men. "The girl lost her family.... She's entitled to some eh, some compassion." His eyes are soft. He feels protective of this young girl - though creature might be the more appropriate term before all is said and done.

Caution whirls through his mind, but he can see as much danger in setting her free as in keeping her close. Truth be told though, he wants to help her. He never thinks of himself as parent material, but maybe it feels a little like this.

He appreciates the opening that Esperon offers. "I think the kid needs a break." He looks right at her and meets her defiance and pain. "If I can help you keep it together, I will. If I can't I'll offer you what mercy I can. You don't have to hurt people."

Esperon nods. "There we go. Getting to the real you. Or the part of you you like to hide. I don't trust people being evasive. The more honest you are with me, the better. I don't have to love the way you say everything, but I need to know you'll be honest with me when push comes to shove."



Esperon shakes his head. "I think the kid needs friends. And that's what we're offering, if you'll be honest with us," says Esperon, looking at the girl kindly for the first time in Arryanna's time with them.

"I've been honest with you from the beginning but there are parts of me I hide. Not because I like to but because I don't share them. I don't share the agony of knowing what I did to my family or some of my people because the knowledge of what I was was lost. I don't share my pain because to do so just tears opens the hole in me again." She says as tears begin spilling down her cheeks.

Hurley reaches a heavy hand out, but then thinks better of it and pulls back. As the tears begin to flow again, however, he tentatively pats her shoulder in a show of (literally) heavy-handed compassion.

"It'll be alright," he adds lamely.

Esperon cocks his head, shrugging. "If you don't want people opening up old wounds, then don't bait them. You made a bunch of comments back there that were what I'd call 'teasers.' They didn't make people want to stop talking--they make people curious. We gotta work on that."

He nods. "The important part is that we all understand now. And me 'n' Hurley are willing t'help you. Kaelan, what're you thinking?" He turns to his merchant friend, curious to see what's going on in his head.

"Fine, we'll work on it. I'm not baiting you. Not intentionally." She trails off, her silver eyes shining in the early morning Sun, looking none too happy though she does turn and give Hurley a small smile at his attempt at comfort.

"What am I thinking? I'm thinking we're taking on another responsibility that may be quite deadly at an inopportune time... and I'll have to depend on the two of you to keep my head attached to my neck if things go sideways," Kaelan looks to Arryyanna, 'No slight meant, but I don't know drek about you. I'm loathe to see anyone in captivity without cause, as so have no problem with having freed you, but you don't give me much reason at this point for more than a general disquiet. I don't hate mutants... but I haven't been given cause to trust one yet. Most I've met have tried to kill me or rob me blind." Shaking his head, he finally says, "Time is wasting. We should be off."

Esperon shrugs. "Well, let's see how it goes. We're moving."

The uncomfortable little cadre moves along....

Your party sets out toward the bluffs of Hitcher's Firth, the location indicated by Mardrough where he found the device you now carry. You left Groshdou while it was still morning so you know you can make good progress this day, as the bluffs are just over a day's travel.

The discussion familiarizing each other with the new member of your party has helped to pass the time on your journey. Though you are no longer traveling on a main road as you were between Kaparin and Grosdou, the terrain is gentle and easy to traverse, with a gradual incline as you make your way to the firth. The trees are sparse in this rocky terrain and you can see several kilometers to the horizon before the land declines from view, though you cannot yet spot any copse of trees.

As you approach the late afternoon you feel you might be nearing the coast as you can see the familiar rasters gliding the thermals above the horizon before you. Those of you from the coastal towns are no stranger to the sight of these creatures, their nine meter wingspan, long tails and V shaped heads. It is not uncommon to see a person riding and controlling one of these beasts, but these have no mounts today.

As they make their way toward you at a notable speed, you are not concerned even as you see them starting to descend, for rasters are known to be non-confrontational. You see there are three of them, and as you watch them you're beginning to wonder if they are indeed deliberately heading toward you. When they are close to your party around ten meters above your heads, you notice there are harnesses strapped to these creatures, and between their front and back legs there is a strange purple gelatinous form held to their undercarriages. Before you realize it, one of the purple globs descends quickly toward Esperon.

~GM INTRUSION~

Esperon, you can accept this intrusion for 2 XP, awarding 1 XP to another PC, or you can refuse the intrusion at the cost of 1 XP.

Esperon doesn't know what hit him...

Intrusion accepted! Arryanna, have an XP.

The purple glob descends upon Esperon and before he knows it, he is completely covered in the gelatinous goo. The substance feels like it is deliberately attempting to encase him. He can already feel his movement begin to become restricted as the sticky substance proceeds to encase him. A thin tendril of the same material extends between the harness of the raster and the goo that has fallen on Esperon.

The other two rasters begin circling the other members of the party. It appears as if each one is trying to align itself directly overhead of one of you.

---

OOC: Esperon, make a Might roll (DT4) to break free of the purple glob. Failure to make a successful roll results in Weakness in Speed while encased in the gel.

Kaelan and Arryanna: Make a Speed defense roll (DT4) to prevent from being hit by the falling purple globs.

"What the?!?!?" Hurley transitions from admiring the birds to diving away in a surge of panic. That fear seems to lend him strength, however, and he pops back to his feet right next to Esperon. He smoothly pulls his greataxe from his back as he continues the spinning momentum of his roll and slices at the tendril connecting the raster to Esperon.

His spin is stylish and powerful, but the gyro-scoping motion seems to make him dizzy. He almost chops off Esperon's ear.

"I'm gonna knock you outta the sky!" he yells furiously at the birds.



21:36, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 19 using 1d20.  Speed defence DT 3 - Spending Effort.

22:08, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 1 using 1d20.  Greataxe attack -2 DT (T & more accurate due to Special effect).

Chose special effect being in position to gain an asset on his attack vs Esperon's gel. That's -2DT, but rolled the 1. Ugh... If the DT for hitting the tendril was a 2, I guess that could still work.

Also, how close are birds when they drop the globs? Melee or only ranged?

Offering a bit of a curse as the Rasters descend and attack, and another one at Esperon's encasement, Kaelan rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding his own attacker's glob. His eyes then flash noticeably as the Numenera inside him begin their work, manipulating the world around him.

His voice is silvery and melodic, even if not professional, as a song begins to escape his lips. The words are unintelligible, an ancient language long lost, but its effects on the emotions and abilities of his chosen allies is clear... greater strength of arm and fist, encouraging them in their attacks against the enemy.

Arry attempts to spin out of the attack, moving with an unearthly grace and speed but is still caught by the purple glob before she has a chance to do more than draw her sword.


19:41, Today: Arryanna rolled 5 using 1d20.  Speed Defence - DT 2.

Esperon is suddenly encased in purple goo. Almost instinctively, he flexes his muscles and pushes in two directions, ripping it in half and flinging it in a couple directions.

He is still quite purple as residuals of the goo cling to him, but he is more or less free to move.

He then turns his attention to his "attacker." "Better run now, beasties, or I'm gonna shred you," he growls.

Apply a level of Effort, cost of 2 due to Edge in Might; comfortable success vs. TN 9.

19:50, Today: Esperon rolled 15 using 1d20.  Might vs. TN 3 (4-1 Effort).
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Sat 04 Nov 2017.

In Hurley's brief spell of dizziness the axe whizzes by Esperon's ear and slips out of his grasp to land a few meters away from him. The slit made by the axe did compromise the gelatin, giving Esperon a nice cleave from which to start the tear from which he ripped it in twain.

The goo that Kaelan managed to dodge is getting guided by the raster as it turns in Hurley's direction, making him the focus of its next capture attempt.

Encased in the purple goo sack, Arryanna can feel herself being pulled upward toward the beast in the air. The raster that had tried to snare Esperon turns and retreats toward the direction from which it came, now unable to snare any quarry with its strange contraption.

---

OOC: Hurley, make a Speed defense roll DT4 to escape the oncoming glob.
Arryanna, make a Might roll DT4 to escape from the goo. Failure to make a successful roll results in Weakness in Speed while encased in the gel.
Attempting to sever the cord is a DT5 in Speed. If Kaelan's song continues all attack bonuses still apply.

Arryanna growls, silver fangs flashing in the air and attempts to power her arm free, at the least, so she can cut herself out before the thing flies her away from the rest of her companions.

(OOC: Applying Effort to the roll, cost reduced to two by Edge, DT3 on the Might Roll)

21:18, Today: Arryanna rolled 5 using 1d20.  DT3 roll to escape from the Purple Goo.
(OOC: REALLY? Another five??)

Her growl escalates to a frustrated scream as she remains encased.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Sun 05 Nov 2017.

The big man flinches as his axe nearly maims his companion. That hesitation is enough to cost him when the next glob comes his way. Despite his effort to scramble away, the gel envelopes him.

He grunts in anger - more upset at himself than the birds. His frustration leads to an emphatic bursting of the purple bubble. "Drop the girl!" he yells.

Hurley pulls up his right arm to take aim at the bird dragging Arryanna and prepares to fire.

Net Cost: -2 Might (effort -1 edge), -2 Speed (effort -1 edge)
09:40, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 20 using 1d20.  Might roll DT 3 - Spending effort.
Succeed in breaking bonds plus special effect.
09:39, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 2 using 1d20.  Speed defence DT 3 - Spending Effort.
Fail, covered by Gel.

Esperon lumbers over and grabs Aryanna as well, holding on firmly and trying to pull her down. "Now, don't go sailing away now that we just got acquainted," he says wryly to the young woman.

Spend 4 points of Speed for one level of Effort, reducing target to 6 (DT2). Beat it easily.

14:50, Today: Esperon rolled 14 using 1d20.  Grabbing Aryanna, DT2 with Effort.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:51, Mon 06 Nov 2017.

"Ow! I feel like a wishbone and I'm really not trying to leave, I promise! Let go of me, you stupid bird!" She snarls at the thing.

As Esperon grabs onto Arryanna, his arms sinking into the gooey gel she is enclosed in as they wrap around her waist.. He finds his feet begin to get picked off the ground as the glob begins to get reeled in toward the raster. The creature struggles to gain altitude; while being accustomed to having a rider mounted on its back it is not accustomed to a second person on it, much less a man as large as the likes of Esperon.

Looking up at the belly of the raster 10 meters above they can see they are ascending toward it, nonetheless. In another 20 seconds or so, they will have been pulled up to its underside, and to break free at that height might just smart a little.

The raster, having sensed it has obtained its quarry, turns toward the horizon to follow the other two that left empty-gelled.

---

Arryanna, you can attempt to break free with a Might roll DT4. Neither of you are high up enough to take any damage from a fall.
Hurley, your shot is a DT4 speed to hit the creature.

Arry grits her teeth and screams as she puts all her might into breaking free of the goop encasing her.

(OOC: Spending effort, DT3 to break free.)
18:38, Today: Arryanna rolled 16 using 1d20.  DT3 roll to escape from the Purple Goo.

Still trying his best to keep up with the others as the rasters seem to have half of his crew now, Kaelan begins to trot after them, still singing his strange little song. However, he also takes the moment to pull out his trusty sisk, also attempting to hit the creature carrying off Esperon and Aryanna.

As Arryanna tears herself free from the glob she tumbles to the ground with Esperon still grasping onto her. Kaelan hurls his sisk at the raster, getting it high enough to slice one of its back limbs clear off. The flipper-like appendage falls to the ground as the raster shrieks a semi-metallic sound. It continues in the direction of the other two, picking up speed with its load suddenly lightened.

As you dust yourselves off and get your wits about you again, the breeze comes toward you from over the horizon. It carries the saline scent of the firth, so you know the cliffs can't be too far off.

Arry gets up and holds her hand out to Esperon to help him up. "Thank you. I don't want to imagine what those things were going to do once they carried us off."

She starts brushing herself clean, growling in another language as she pulls the sticky goop off her body.

Esperon takes the girl's clawed hand but doesn't really pull on it as he stands up, given the magnitude of order that he is larger than her. "Oh, I'm sure we were going to do some things back to them, trust me. But the we'd be caught on a cliff wall a thousand feet up with the corpses of their dead chicks in our hands or something. Messy."

He nods. "Come on, we have to go save a guy's life."

Your party continues on toward the direction of Hitcher's Firth. As you crest the hilled horizon just before sunset the Firth comes into view. You can see the water just beyond the edge of the rocky land, knowing the cliffs are just ahead of you. But you see nothing that fits any description Mardrough had given you.

As your eyes follow the cliff's edge that overlooks the ocean you can see several rafters depart from an ochre colored area that is difficult to make out from this distance. As the rafters fly inland you walk toward the area once you feel the winged creatures are far enough out of sight. The closer you get to the area the more you realize these are actually trees of a strange copper and ochre color, whose branches extend out into fine filaments instead of leaves that blow in the wind like thread. The thick copse of trees grows right up to the cliff's edge. You decide this is very likely the location Mardrough described.

A half hour of travel has you reaching the copse of strange trees that seem to be so out of place in this rocky environment. You venture into the trees cautiously until you reach a clearing in this miniature forest. Within the clearing stands a domed structure, perhaps 50 meters in diameter, reaching nearly 15 meters in height at the peak of the dome. The structure appears to be made of azure steel which is covered in a thin film of the same substance as the pods that the rasters had attempted to capture you with.

Arry pulls her Razor Ring and keeps it down, along her body whilst her other hand goes to her sword hilt. She looks to the others for directions.

Hurley instinctively pulls his axe and approaches the structure.

"So... do we think the birds are the reason people are disappearing? They were saddled, plus this thing here, so it's not a random wildlife attack."

Getting closer to the dome, he peers at it looking for an entrance or other vulnerability. Mostly, he just thinks, 'yuck, this gel is nasty....' (rolled 5)

09:03, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 5 using 1d20.  numenera (Trained) looking at dome.

“That makes sense given the way they came right at us and tried to carry us away. The question is why?” Arry asks, gripping her Razor ring in a throwing position.

Esperon nods. "Yep, that's the thousand-shin question. Well, I'm all for knocking at the door. Hurley, you ready for some fast talking?" He grins a big, ferocious grin.

There is no apparent entry on the strange structure. The material of its construction and the gel covering is consistent all around it.

Hurley smiles in response to Esperon. "Well, lets see what's what."

Hurley uses the handle of his axe to give the dome a donk.

"We could cut through some of the goop. I bet that would attract the attention of whoever's inside." Arry suggests, still holding on to her Razor disc.

Esperon stands back, crossing his arms. "Never much believed in pointy things. Hurley, I say we let Aryanna cut through with her razor. You want to keep your axe sharp for an actual enemy, says me."

"Happy to slice some of this gunk so they tried to carry me away covered in it."

Arry brings her disc up and swings it fast, her movement a blur.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Thu 16 Nov 2017.

The gel absorbs much of the impact of the handle donk. It does touch against the metal beneath the gel, but it makes no sound as it taps against the surface. The gel does not stick to the handle when Hurley pulls it back, it simply levels off where the butt of the axe handle had been thrust into it.



The razored edge of the disc seems to part the gel more than it slices it. Much like it did with the axe handle, the gel fills in where the blade passed through it.

"Well now we know that trying to cut through is an exercise in futility." Arry says before slashing out with her claws in frustration.

"Think it'll burn?" He asks while eyeing the dome. He also spends a moment to inspect the surroundings in case there was any other device or clue.

Following up on his question, Hurley checks their supplies to see if they have anything that burns. “Anyone have a torch?” He asks. If he finds anything, he will applie the flame go the gel and test it’s response.

"I'm up for trying but I don't have a torch. These eyes are good for more than making people nervous - I see in the dark." Arry replies.

Esperon pulls a torch out from his pack.  "This should do the trick. I'll light it and try to burn a bit of the building."

He pulls out a little lighter from his explorer's pack and lights the torch. Waiting for the others to clear out of the way a bit, he touches the lit torch to the building...

As the fire touches the building, the layer of goo bubbles and disintegrates. It leaves bare the azure steel beneath which only gets a scorch mark from the flames.

While experimenting with the effect of fire on the gel covering the dome, you see four rasters making their way toward the building over the tops of the strange trees. These also have the harnesses with the purplish gel sacs against their undersides.

"Nice to know the gel burns...." he mumbles mostly to himself.

When he sees the rastors coming in, he picks up his pace. He pulls out the copper colored puck they recovered from the tavern, "Supposedly, this thing was up in a tree in this area. Any idea if we could use this to open the dome? Any ideas?"

He stares at the item again and tries to discern some sense of how it might fit. He holds it nearer and then further from the dome to see if it has any effect.


12:46, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 20 using 1d20.  numenera (Trained) link between power source and dome.

20 - I'm on fire!

As Hurley moves the puck-shaped item around the structure he does not notice any discernible effect one has on the other, though he can feel an identical Numenera "signature" coming from both the structure and the puck.

The trees around the structure are of varying height, with some that look to be quite young based on being no taller than an average person, where others reach the same height of the dome, around 15 meters high. In studying the puck, where the bottom is flat the top has a slight convex curve to it. Although the top of the structure cannot be seen from the ground it seems likely that its peak has the same curvature as the object Hurley holds.

Esperon hands the torch to Kaelan and cracks his knuckles. "Hey, Arryanna, got a question for you. If I threw you at one of those things, could you take it down?" There's a mischievous look on his face.

She smiles back, showing all of her teeth this time, light gleaming off of her fangs. "I'm pretty sure I can. Let's give it a try and find out."

She pulls her sword free.

Esperon grins. "See? This can work out. Hurley, you get ready for trouble."

He gently lifts Arryana and then set her up in his hands as a living javelin. He then waits for the creatures to get close...

She laughs a little as Esperon settles her to be thrown. "That tickles."

It's one of the few moments that her age shows through. The rest of the time there's a being far older and world-weary that watches the world through those alien eyes.

Esperon backs up and with a mighty heave throws Aryanna. She sails forward gracefully in a high arc--and begins to fall just short of where she needs to be....

So close. Spend Might to reduce to DT3 and missed by 1.

20:22, Today: Esperon rolled 8 using 1d20.  DT 4 -1 Effort = 3 Might.

Arry curses as she realises she's going to miss the beast and rips her Razor disc out and forward in a vicious throw as she spins gracefully in the air to land without hurting herself.

!! GM INTRUSION !!

Arryanna, you are awarded 2XP... one to keep and one to award to another player of your choosing.
You can spend 1XP to decline the intrusion.

Startled by Arryanna sailing upward toward one of the rasters, it screeches and turns its head toward its assailant. You can feel the push of the air between you and the creature as it sends an invisible blast of energy from its head toward you.

Arryanna, make a Speed defense roll DT4 or take 6 points of Might damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:58, Thu 23 Nov 2017.

Hurley is so involved with his realization about the small copper object that he doesn't really notice Esperon lobbing the girl towards the rastors.

"What the!?!? No! No! No! I need a second!" He had hoped not to attract any greater attention until they figured out this dome thing. Now the clock is ticking.

Still, he has an idea spurred by his observation. He looks to a tree about his own height and uses it to jump to a larger tree. After he has climbed or jumped to a level above the height of the dome, he prepares to leap atop the dome. He believes the puck will fit in to a space at the tip of the dome.

20:47, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 2 using 1d20.  Jumping to Dome (trained, asset -nat 20, and effort) -3DT.

So once again.... if effort, the nat 20 and training bring the DT to 0, then I'm good. Otherwise....

Arry sees the thing turn towards her and makes an impossible spin in mid-air whilst throwing her Razor disc and feels the blast of energy pass by her as she turns.



(OOC: I spend the previously earned XP to scoff at your intrusion [I'm so going to get spanked for that.]).
This message was last edited by the player at 03:30, Thu 23 Nov 2017.

Esperon curses as the girl tumbles to the ground; it's then that he notices something...

20:00, Today: Esperon rolled 15 using 1d20.  DT 4 Intellect check.

Arry is too busy trying to make a graceful landing whilst nailing one of the bird with her Razor disc to catch whatever it is she's supposed to see or hear.


20:23, Today: Arryanna rolled 1 using 1d20.  Perception Roll - DT4.

Hurley is busy trying to get into position to match the copper item to the dome. He is hyper focused on not falling on his ass, and as such has no attention to spare for anything else. (Perception 3)

Hurley launches himself from the tree in an attempt to reach the dome's top. His perception at that height gets the better of him, though, and his leap is not enough to get him anywhere near the top of the building. He does manage to land on the building about a third of the way up from the ground. The coating on the building is both slippery and sticky, which seems impossible, but appears to be the case. He has flattened himself out enough to prevent himself from sliding off the building, but it will be a quite challenging to scale his way to the top... not im

possible, but challenging.

Arryanna, while not lucky enough to get the height needed from Esperon's toss to reach the raster, it enabled her to be able to land without any injury.

While watching Arryanna land, Esperon happens to catch a bit of movement in his peripheral vision. An odd ovoid object, bluish in color with a similar gelatinous consistency, can be seen moving along the outside of the dome, appearing from who-knows-where. The object is just over two meters tall, somewhat translucent, with no discerning limbs or appendages, face, or body. The one distinguishing feature is a raised oval shape on the body, iridescent in color and multifaceted, roughly in the manner of an insect's eye. The raised oval shape is around 30 centimeters in height and half as wide.

The object/creature(?) has moved to the area of the dome where Esperon had burned away the gel coating on the building. It places itself against the bare surface and spreads out along it until it covers the burned area. Soon it becomes completely level with the rest of the building's coating, its color gradually starts to transition to the purple color to match, and the raised multifaceted oval disintegrates as this happens.

In the meantime, one raster has descended to a height just above that of the dome. Two rasters are now over the clearing while the raster that Arryanna attempted to attack had turned away from the building and is beginning to loop back. The raster that is flying closest to the building lowers the sac, not unlike it did when you encountered them earlier. However, rather than aiming for anyone in the party, it lowers the sac to the building. As it descends toward the building you can clearly see there is definitely something within, possibly humanoid shaped. When the sac makes contact with the building you see it sink down into it, passing through the azure steel as if it was water. The other two rasters are moments away from being above the building, but upon seeing you they turn to make a wider berth in their approach to the building.

Arry catches her Razor disc as it spins back towards her and spins in a complete circle to get some more momentum before letting fly towards one of the incoming rasters.

Hurley continues with single minded focus towards the top. He tries to jump higher using arms and legs together like some acrobatic starfish. Unfortunately, the sticky-slick substance does not cooperate and his attempt at jumping looks more like some sort of spasm. Still, he appears determined.

11:54, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 6 using 1d20.  Jumping higher up dome (T + effort) -2DT.

Before the oval can finish its work fixing the building, Esperon rushes over and jabs it with his burning torch...

The raster that had delivered its package to the dome turns and begins to head out toward the cliffs, now out of reach of any ranged attack. The other two have now come in range of the building and the sacs each carry are beginning to be lowered down to it. The raster that Arryanna had startled had fled after its attack on her and is now coming back into view above the trees.



Hurley can see shadows from overhead as the rasters near the building. Still about a third of the way from the top, he has managed to not slip down from his place on the dome, but he was unable to make any progress in his climb. He sees the two rasters are within striking distance of a ranged attack, but it would be a bit more difficult to do so while he tries to maintain his position on the building.



As Esperon jabs the dwindling creature with his torch it begins to scorch and bubble. He is able to burn enough away to prevent it from completely covering the exposed area of the building. While holding the torch to it, he sees a creature identical to the one he is burning come out of the building, appearing to pass through it as easily as walking through an open door.

---

The two rasters are now within range for a ranged attack. No initiative roll needed as the rasters will not attack if unprovoked.
Hurley, if you choose to attack, DT is increased by 1 step for you. You will reach the top of the building in two successful actions.
Esperon, nice initiative roll vs. the newly arriving creature! 06:04, Today: New GMenera, on behalf of Esperon, rolled 20 using 1d20.  Initiative.
Your choice on how you'd like to apply the major effect.

Esperon sizes up the ovoid creatures and makes an educated guess. He reaches out and grabs at the emerging ovoid, hoping to shove it into the flame with the one he was currently burning...

Use Effort to reduce DT from 3 to 2. JUST made it.

11:31, Today: Esperon rolled 6 using 1d20.  To catch the orb--Might DT2.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Sat 09 Dec 2017.

Hurley grunts and uses all four limbs to simultaneously jump his way higher up the structure. His goal is to reach the top with the copper dome piece and try to fit it in place at the peak.

18:26, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 16 using 1d20.  Jump (T).

Arry waits as these rasters seem to be acting differently and staying away. With the others currently engaged she deems it prudent to keep an eye on their surroundings in case one of the beasts gets twitchy someone approaches the group.

She has a very bad feeling she knows who has been doing the kidnapping and where the abductees are.

Esperon does manage to grab the ovoid and throw it into the persisting flames generated by the burning of the previous creature. It makes no noise as flames begin to engulf it, but its gelatinous structure begins to bubble. The two faceted semi-ovoid shapes on the "sides" of the creature jut off its body and fly toward Esperon in an attempt to clap him from either side.



The exertion applied by all four of his limbs enables Hurley to reach further up the dome, to the portion where the slope of the structure becomes more horizontal. He can now see the divot at the top of the building that has the same size and shape as the puck he carries. He sees he should be able to reach it with one more successful leap.



The two rasters repeat the same process as the first raster, where they lower their gel sacs onto the building and the gel sacs pass straight through. The third raster now appears overhead, having cleared the line of trees.

---

Esperon, make a defense roll, DT 3.

Hurley, make a Might roll DT 4 now, as the grade of the building has transitioned from more vertical to more horizontal.

Esperon manages to dodge the thing as it flies past; its shape is inches away from him...

Trained in Speed defense, so reduces DT to 2/TN of 6. Succeeded.

15:53, Today: Esperon rolled 7 using 1d20.  DT3-1 Trained = DT2 Speed defense.

Arry lets her Razor disc fly but not at the raster, at the thinnest section of the gel sac that the raster has a hold of, hoping to slice through and get the beast to lose the sac.

(Spending a point to drop the DT to 3)

18:06, Today: Arryanna rolled 16 using 1d20.  Throwing Razor disc at gel sac.

(OOC: Fooking hell, I made a roll finally!)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:08, Thu 14 Dec 2017.

Hurley can see his finish line. His face creases with a grin as leaps.... and promptly tumbles. The surface goes slick in exactly the wrong way, and he falls flat.


21:07, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 1 using 1d20.  Might roll DT 3 (w/ effort).
Ugh! I have had lots of 19/20s, and lots of 1s....
Spent XP for a new result of... 2... :(
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Mon 11 Dec 2017.

Esperon tries hard to jab the surviving ovoid and sticks his torch right into the middle of the thing. It alights and runs right into the building...

Burning an XP for a re-roll, which results in a 20! For my extra effect, I'd like to say I do an additional 2 damage to kill the thing.

Rolled a defensive check just in case it was needed.

22:53, Today: Esperon rolled 13 using 1d20.  Defense: DT3 -1 = DT2.
22:53, Today: Esperon rolled 20 using 1d20.  XP for re-roll.
22:51, Today: Esperon rolled 3 using 1d20.  Jabbing another orb--no effort.

The razor disc cleanly slices through the thin cord that connects the gel sac to the harness of the raster. The gel sac falls to the ground a couple of meters from Arryanna. You can make out a shape within that appears humanoid. The figure is still inside the sac so you can't tell whether or not it's still alive.



Unfortunately Hurley cannot seem to make that last leap to get to the top of the dome. It appears to remain only one good jump away...



The ovoid creature squirms as the flames engulf it. It continues to bubble until it is completely dissolved, the strange faceted semi-ovoid protrusions being the last to burn.

The two rasters that delivered their loads have turned to fly back inland over the trees. The raster that was carrying the sac that now lies on the ground has turned to follow the other two.

She catches the disc as it spins back to her and slips it back on her belt as she runs over to the sac. Sunlight glints off her talons as she slices the sac open to see who, or what, is inside though she thinks she has a pretty good idea already.

"Hells-cursed jelly dome!" Hurely cusses as he leaps again with reckless abandon. With just enough traction, he miraculously makes it to the top of the dome where he moves to slap the copper puck into position.

00:24, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 11 using 1d20.  Might DT3 - trained.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:27, Sat 16 Dec 2017.

As the sac splits in half with Arryanna's slice, she sees within it a young adult male, 5'6, scrawny 120 lbs, unkempt brown hair, pale but dirty skin, clothes are dirty and torn. He is very still and breathing, but his heterochromatic eyes are open. The one pale blue eye and the one brown eye seem to be staring off into nothing, appearing to not be registering anything.



The puck does indeed slide into the opening at the top of the dome very nicely. Clearly it was designed to fit in the opening of the dome. As Hurley lays nearly prone at the peak he can feel a vibration pick up throughout the entire building. The dome then quickly fades, then vanishes altogether. What remains is a tall tree similar to the others surrounding the building but artificial, as if it was intended to blend in with the other trees, yet it stands alone in the center of the 50 meter clearing. The puck still catches the reflection of the remaining light of dusk as it rests in the top of this artificial tree.

~ GM INTRUSION ~

Hurley, the dome has disappeared from out under you. You are about to fall 15 meters unless you can grab onto the tree.

If you accept the intrusion you earn 2 XP with one going to another player. Make a Speed roll DT5 or take 5 Might damage.
Of course, you can refuse the intrusion at the cost of 1 XP.

A moment of realization dawns as the dome disappears. "Oh crap."

He drops. A hand flails out for a branch which breaks off in his grasp but slows him just enough that he can make another desperate lunge. This time the branch holds and he is hanging like some jungle animal from the tree 15 meters from the ground.

"Ehhh.... Little help up here?"


Intrusion accepted. Trophonius, have an XP as a belated baby shower gift. :)
My XP is gained and spent.
09:23, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 16 using 1d20.  reroll.
09:23, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 10 using 1d20.  speed DT5 (-1 for effort).

Esperon takes in the "death" of the ovoids impassively. He is lost in thought wondering about these odd things when he suddenly sees Hurley dangling from a tree. He moves over to the tree.

"Terrible time to take up swinging from branches, Hurley. Do you need me to come up after you?"

The dazed, gooey figure slumps to the ground. sputtering out several coughs before taking a deep breathe in, his head jerks upwards, pale blue eye twitching. His scrawny arm reaches up, extending a long boney finger, pointing into a vast empty area of the sky.

'You are not my angel, you winged deceiver!'

Hurley examines the branches of the tree as he manages to swing a second hand onto the branch. He looks for a way to climb down.

"I don't think coming up here is the best idea. That just leaves both of us stuck up in tree!"

As he starts sliding himself closer to the trunk, he adds, "maybe just set up some cushion down there in case I fall!"

09:52, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 17 using 1d20.  climb down (might?).
09:52, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 17 using 1d20.  find a way down the tree.

This message was deleted by the player at 19:52, Thu 21 Dec 2017.

Esperon nods. He then looks over at the former captive. "Arryanna, could you see if that person over there is okay? I'm going to catch Hurley."

He moves to a spot closer to the tree and shouts, "Just jump when you get closer to the bottom. I can catch you better than build a cushion."

Hurley is able to get his legs wrapped around the trunk of the tree. He uses his core strength to pull his torso toward the trunk as he lets go of the branches, then shimmies down the tree rather handily, easily keeping a fast hold on it until he reaches the bottom.

"He seems to be physically fine, if a bit underfed but...mentally...I'm not sure all of him made it in the sac. Or out." She says, listening to him rant.

"Sir, are you hurt? May I help you up - no obligation incurred, on my honour." She tells him, holding a hand out.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Sat 23 Dec 2017.

'Up? Hmm, yes up. If she is indeed an angel she may be up. Onward and upward I will search for her. Although if she is a ghost, she may be as grounded as the bottom of my walking stick. Interesting.' He looks at the cordial lady offering her hand, and grasps it, using her help to regain his footing.

'There is a kindness about you that very much reminds me of my Samarah though you can't be her unless... you're dead. You're  not... are you?'

Arry helps the odd man out of the remnants of the sac and to his feet. "No, sir. I am not, to my knowledge, dead. Do you have any idea why those things took you? Did you see anyone with them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Sat 23 Dec 2017.

'I was traveling the through the plains. Dusk, I heard wings flapping, saw a silhouette. It was not my angel coming to find me after all.' his face becomes somber. 'I remember nothing from then to seeing your face. I don't even know where I happen to be at the moment.'
This message was last edited by the player at 19:16, Sun 24 Dec 2017.

Esperon, seeing Hurley's safe, pats Hurley on the back and then wanders over to this newcomer. "Well, you're safe, for starters. I'll tell you more once we know who we're talking with. I'm Gromley, this is Arryanna, and that's Hurley over there. Kaelan's around here as well somewhere. What you're moniker?"

'Trophonius Delphi, it is nice to meet you, Gromley, Hurley, Kaelan and Samarry... apologies... Arryanna. '

Esperon nods.  "Well, then, hello Trophonius. You're on the outskirts of a village called Groshdou in the land of Ancuan. What's the last thing that happened to you before you were captured by those rasters?"

'I was traveling the through the plains. Dusk, I heard wings flapping, saw a silhouette. It was not my angel coming to find me after all.' his face becomes somber. 'I remember nothing from then to seeing your face. I don't even know where I happen to be at the moment.'

He pauses a moment, 'I had a vision I would say that exact thing. Strange.'

Congratulations... Arryanna, Esperon and Hurley are awarded 2 XP each for locating the strange facility and figuring out the function of the power puck.

Carry on...

Greyband rolls his eyes. "You just said it a second ago. Just before I told you that we're in Ancuan. At any rate..."

He turns back to his current companions. "Well, we have something to go on now. We need to take our new friend here back to town and have him corroborate our story that these rasters were taking people. We should check where that dome was, though, to see if we can find out anything more about what happened to it."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Fri 29 Dec 2017.

"Had I? Curious. Ancuan, yes I heard what you said, the word just has no mark in my memory. I'd be more than happy to have companions on my search for Samarah, so I believe I shall accompany you, yes. Perhaps I can offer my thoughts on the mystic aspects encounted, I'm  part ghost so I'm quite aligned with that which seems a bit off, and in exchange you keep me alive, help me look for Samarah wherever we find ourselves. Do we have an accord?" His ramblings come across as sincere, if a bit scattered.

It makes Hurkey’s head hurt to follow the conversation. His hand hurts from swinging on the tree and his mood is not terribly right. He only really catches the end of the statement. “Wait.. who in the Hells is Samarah?”

"Samarah is the only person to show me kindness in the Orphanarium. She would protect me, but she died while I was in a coma or thats what they told me... there was an attack she couldn't protect me from ... when I woke she was gone..." his gaze fades to the distance.

Esperon cocks his head. "Well, all right. I have more questions, but first we need your help, Trophonious.

"In a nearby town, there's a man falsely accused of making people disappear. Your situation--being abducted by one of those raptor things--is proof that he wasn't responsible. Will you come with us back to town to help save that man's life?"

"His life is as important as any. What of those other people captured?
Will they be saved as well? Why are they being captured? Curious minds need answers. Answers to questions they may ask before freeing him. "

"Hopefully we can find and free all of them but time, for the man in the town, is of the essence." Arry says as she keeps scanning the sky for any sign of the rasters.

"Hopefully your words are enough to convince the town he's not responsible. They aren't the most hospitable sort. If they weren't barbarians they would have much Obligation to me for their treatment of a traveler."

"Then let us make haste.
If they find the proof lacking, perhaps they may hold him longer, in place of execution, while we discover more data on the subject after the fact."

Esperon chuckles. "Let's hope the mayor's not in the mood to hold anyone anymore. Come on."

He gives the spot where the dome once stood a quick examination before the group heads back to town to talk with the mayor.

"If I was captured, how did I come to be here, or rather why?
Is this on the path to where the captured were being taken? It seems an odd choice for an end point. Did I miss something here before I regained my senses?" he mutters to himself trying to piece together a puzzle as he waits, not knowing which direction to go.

"The birds seemed to be grabbing travelers in gel sacs and dropping them into a small structure here. We don't know why," he says in answer to the man's questions.

"But before we go on, let me get this straight. This Samarah... you say she died... but you want to find her?"

"Yes, I'm searching for Samarah. I was told she was dead yes, but they are not to be trusted. No headstone, not dead. But even if she did die, I should still be able to see her, since I'm half ghost. Why must I repeat myself?" In this moment Trophonius almost seems sane, if you weren't listening to the words being spoken.

"Now, what of this structure? Do we delve into it now, or after we go back and save the death-marked...?"

In Esperon's examination of the area where the dome was, he finds no evidence of the dome having been there whatsoever. It is conspicuously clear of any trees, any grass, any rocks or plants. It is a blank round area the size of the dome's footprint. Only the odd tree that Hurley had slid down resides in the exact center of the clearing.

Esperon shrugs. "I want to find that dome. But later. First, let's go into town and talk with the mayor."

Without further ado, the party heads into town, allowing Hurley and Arryanna more time to ask questions of Trophonius if they want. Esperon's curiosity is limited, for the moment.

Before he moves on, Hurley looks to see of the puck is anywhere to be found.

As Hurley looks about he can see a glint in the top of the tree he slid down from. He recognizes it as the very spot he had inserted the puck when he climbed up the building, with the tree now at the center where the building was.

"The whole tree might be a device, or linked to something. That puck is connected to it in a way that ain't exactly natural.

Esperon, you sure you want to head right back? Maybe we could look for some of the other townspeople. We do have more time, and coming back with a story is a might less satisfying than a friendly rescue.

What do you say?"

"What if we end up going off somewhere, getting abducted, or anyone of a dozen other things that could happen and end up getting back too late for the man the townspeople want to execute?"

To Arry that would be a stain upon what little honour that village of barbarians still possessed that could never be washed clean.

"Examining the Structure can wait, the captives may or may not, but we know the detainee can not wait. I say we go back to town.

If I can survive being alive and dead at  the same time, I'm sure some of, maybe even most of the captives can as well."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 16:53, Fri 05 Jan 2018.

Esperon nods at Trophonious' words. "We have to buy more time. Trophonious' story should be enough for that. We need to tell the mayor what's happening, get her to agree with our next steps and then come back and test your theory, Hurley. Do we need to grab the puck or something like that before we go, Hurley?"

"Fair enough, Arry," he concedes. Then to Esperon, "Though I'd rather have physical proof to bring to the Mayor, like some of that gel or whatnot." He gives a flicker of a glance to Trophonius Delphi as if suggesting that his tale might not be considered dubious by a skeptical audience. He then checks the remains of the machines that were burned by Esperon hoping for something to corroborate their story.

"Frankly, I don't know that we need to the puck so long as we know how to find it again."

Once that concludes, he will return with the others to town.

Trophonius grabs the sac he emerged from, holding as tightly closed as possible.

"Well Mister Hurley, how is this for physical evidence? Now lets get going."

"That'll do..." he answers with a satisfied nod.

"Let's gather it up and go save a man's life!"

Arry gives Trophonius a tight-lipped smile and follows the rest of the group back into town, cleaning her nails off with a piece of ragged cloth as they walk.

The night before had been uneventful, no sneaky critters trying have a midnight snack, no odd Ninth World happenings to interrupt your sleep.

Soon after sunrise you make the journey back to Groshdou. Goo-carrying rasters are conspicuously absent as they traverse the somewhat rocky land.

By the time you reach Groshdou it is wane, with ebb still a couple hours away. You walk into the darkened entrance of the square metal building appropriated for the use of the town hall. Mern and Brekkur are again on duty, this time they are joking and laughing while partaking in tart smelling hot beverages. They look up absently while still chuckling to one another.

"What do you need?" Brekkur says through his mirth, then turning to repeat one of the phrases Mern had just said, chuckling at the inside joke.

Esperon nods to the two men. "Good morning. We have news for the mayor and need to speak with her."

Both Mern and Brekkur look up at your group. They study you for a moment as recognition of having seen you before (well, most of you) returns to them.

"Mayor ain't here. She's about town somewhere. You can wait for her if you want." Brekkur says.

Mern follows that with "That's what happens when you don't make an appointment." The two of them guffaw at Mern's statement.

Trophonius laughs along with the guards until they are uncertain and uncomfortable,  then he tosses the sac of goo at their feet so it spatters a bit. "How is this for an appointment? Now wise up, and notify her, more than one life are on the line here. HahaHAha." Trophonius continues laughing overly exaggerated for a moment, then stops with a stony expression on his face.

Esperon's eyes narrow. "Ah, I see. So, you're willing to risk your jobs by making the mayor wait while we're here to talk to her. I see. Sure. We'll wait for you and watch you get fired while you did nothing." He leans against the wall and fixes the men with a glare daring them to continue down this self-destructive course.

Arry settles into that preternatural stillness that reminds the men of a predator ready to strike, her disconcerting gaze fixed unblinkingly on the two men and her arms relaxed at her sides.

Brekkur's bemused look dissipates. "Look, I don't know where about town she is, I just know she ain't here. You can either go hunt her down around town or you can wait here 'til she-"

Mayor Shthila enters the building just then and the guards stand. She gives them a nod and they sit again.

"She's right there," Mern says with a sardonic half-smile and points to the mayor.

The mayor gives him a quick glance and his half-smile becomes a non-smile. She then looks at your group and her eyebrows raise.
"Welcome back. And so soon... I assume you have news for me then?" She looks to each one of you, looking twice at Trophonius as she does recognize him, but her expression does not belie any concern or curiosity at the presence of the newcomer.

Trophonius picks up the dripping sac, shifts it into one hand, and slings it over his shoulder.  " A mans life is on the line, probably more lives than just his actually, and you squander our time dealing with these imbeciles waiting for you to grace us with your presence, just to arbitrarily explain the situation so far, and this sac of goo." Trophonius gets so worked up he is vigorously swinging the hand holding the sac so much so that goo is flinging out.

Arry subtly steps back so she's out of range of the flying goo but lets Trophonius continue his rampage thinking the purple slime will make an impression on the Mayor. Or her floor, walls, and ceiling.

Esperon steps in front of Trophonius, towering over the man. "Back down, little man. Speak with some respect for the mayor, here, or else." He shoots Trophonious a look letting him know in no uncertain terms that Trophonius is not helping matters.

He turns back to the mayor. "Sorry. This guy's a little cranky because he was one of the abducted. Like Trophonious was about to explain, he experienced being snatched--WHILE our friend the pond-scum was in jail. This here sack of nastiness is proof that some kind of rasters have been doing the abducting, not the Most Unpopular Man in Town that you have locked up. Would you like to hear more?" He looked the mayor in the eye as he said this, to show that he was serious and had nothing to hide.

The mayor waves a hand dismissively at Trophonius, seemingly unperturbed by his rant. She brushes a small speck of goo from her shoulder.

"Rasters? I know of these creatures. I've even seen people from the coast commandeer them... but capturing people? And how does this-" she points to the goo sac, "factor in? Of course I would like to hear more. It appears you found some answers, but do you know where they took my residents? Where are they now? Any information you can give that substantiates that man's innocence would certainly help his cause. At this point, what's to say he's not been controlling the rasters somehow? Clearly they are capable of being controlled by people when I've seen them being flown with people standing on their backs..."

She puts a hand out in a gesture to request a pause, but she is making the request of herself. "My apologies. As you know, I'm personally invested in this situation. Let me give you an opportunity to explain what you've found before I assault you with questions. I always tell my deputy to hold all questions until all information is given, as invariably most questions get answered in the information."

Hurley steps forward with his best business-like demeanor.

"We saw several rastors - at least 6 different ones. They all had harnesses that allowed them to carry these sacks of gel. A pair attacked us on the way out. The gel imobilizes a person and lets them carry their prey away.

Those they carry, they drop in to some sort of domed structure. Frankly, this kind of numenera is way beyond the vagabond we questioned here in your holding cell. The trees are all some sort of copper material. They can generate and maintain a gel-based dome-prison. In fact, there were even some strange creature-machines that seemed to maintain the structures.

As to where the rest of your inhabitants are, we do not know at the moment. However, the rastors made no attempt at stealth. The cliffs where this one was being dropped overlooks the shore. They could perhaps be tracked to see where they make their base."

15:02, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 12 using 1d20.
Sorry - didn't label, but this is in case needed for credibility.

Shthila listens very carefully to Hurley's recount of the events. She takes a moment to contemplate the details, looking between each one of you. After another moment she nods.

"I have no reason to doubt the details of your experience. Come." She gestures for you to follow and she leads you down the same odd corridors you had come through the last time you were here. She brings you to the same area you were in when you'd left Mardrough here - how she can tell where it was you have no idea, the random right angles and square protrusions all look the same to you - and she brings that purplish cube out of her pocket and inserts it into a square opening as before.

A metal section of the wall fades to reveal Mardrough absentmindedly scratching a thumbnail against the floor of the cell. It takes him a few moments to realize you are standing outside his cell. Once he does he rushes to the "opening" and presses his hands against the invisible barrier keeping him contained.

"You found the proof, didn't you? You found proof that Mardrough didn't take none of those folk, didn'tcha?" he says in a raspy parched sounding voice.

"Perhaps," Mayor Shthila replies. "Just so we're certain, perhaps you can corroborate their findings. Tell us what you know of the area they found..."

~GM INTRUSION~

Hurley, I'm offering you 2 XP to accept a GM Intrusion, one of which you must give to another player.
You can pay 1 XP to decline the intrusion, if you choose.

Trophonius quietly sinks to the back, blank expression on his face, mindlessly following the group about, a small twitch in his eye and in his fingers. The sac of goo slinks off his shoulder, being dragged behind. Upon entering the halls of the prison he perks up a bit, in awe of the apparent holding cells.

Esperon follows along, curious. He rather wonders if Mardrough isn't digging his own grave, but he keeps his thoughts to himself for the moment....

"Huh?" Mardrough says. "Corroborate?" He takes a second to catch up with what's going on. "Oh... the area where... yeah, okay." He rubs his forehead. "I told these guys they might be able to find some numenera over by the coast. I found one such item out there in a grove of coppery trees. It was up in a tree standing all by itself in the middle of a clearing in the midst of those trees." He looks at you pleadingly through his one good eye. "That's what you found out there, ain't it? It all checked out, right?"

Shthila narrows her eyes at Mardrough. She doesn't look at any of you yet. "Did you see anything else while you were out there? Anything else?"

Mardrough stares at the mayor, trying to glean what she was looking for from him? Beads of sweat begin rolling down his forehead. "I don't know... maybe? I don't remember. The trees were copper! Leaves like strands of hair! Right by the coast! I swear!"

Shthila reaches for the purple cube in the wall slot and yanks it out. The opening between Mardrough and the rest of you turns back into a metal wall. He can be heard yelling behind the wall.

Disgusted, the mayor turns and begins walking down the hall. You follow her, insisting that he did indeed corroborate your account of the trees and such you found out there.

She turns around, snapping back to face the lot of you. Her voice is sharp and cold, but still preserves that air of coolness and calm. "Yes, he spoke of copper trees, but no mention of rasters or a dome-prison or machine creatures. Now I don't know what you're trying to pull but my patience is wearing thin. I gave him a stay of 56 hours at your behest and you've consumed half of that with your foolishness, wasting your time and mine. Come back when you have real evidence or you can come see him at the gallows."

Esperon's face darkens at this turn. "I think we did waste our time. You're out for Mardrough's blood. Well, fine. Have your pound of flesh. I'm going to do your job and find your actual kidnapper. And when I do, rest assured I will make sure everyone here know about the blood on your hands if Mardrough's dead. "

Esperon starts backing away, half-hoping her goons try to make a fight of it. Whatever else the mayor did with her harsh words, she made an enemy today, which may not have been the brightest thing she's ever done.

Arry turns to watch their backs as Esperon begins to move. As far as she is concerned the Mayor is an honourless barbarian who has no idea of the rules of Obligation in a polite society. It seems she wants to see this man, Mardrough, dead no matter what they find.

She nods at Esperon's words. For a barbarian he is not without honour and wants to do what is proper.

"If he has seen the rasters, he'd probably be holed up in a goo sac like the rest of your missing town folk.
And like he said, the trees make the dome, so maybe the dome was disappeared when Mardrough was there, the device he saw at the top of the trees turned off. I didn't see any dome myself, but i did see a device at the top of a tree, and they said they had seen a dome there just a moment before."

Esperon waves his hand at Trophonius. "Stop reasoning with her. She's a hangman judge. Leave her to her business. Let's go save lives despite her."

He turns to leave.

The mayor holds up a finger to Esperon and turns to Trophonius. "The rest of my missing townfolk..." She hangs on thos words as she looks at the sac slung over his shoulder. "They're in one of those?" She reaches out, touches the gooey sac and becomes lost in thought. "My husband... she utters in a hoarse whisper. Her eyes begin to fill with wetness but before a tear can fall she inhales very heavily, steeling her emotions, not wanting to give way to them.

She takes several long moments, looking at each of you without really focusing on your faces, appearing to be running through her thoughts. She then looks at the sac again. "I just want my husband back," she says to herself, barely above a whisper this time.

She quickly pulls her hand away from the sac, straightens up, smooths her jacket with her palms, and clears her throat. "So let me see if I understand... there's a lot to sort through and there are some inconsistencies. So this man..." she points to Trophonius, "whom I do not know was captured by rasters, encased in that... stuff. You tell me they are depositing their quarry into a dome of some sort out by the cliffs. According to him..." she points in the direction of where Mardrough's cell would be, "there was no dome, as you also said." She indicates Trophonius. "But the rest of you say the dome was there and then it wasn't?" She sighs. "This is why I don't leave Groshdou.

"Look, I don't necessarily want to execute the man, but I need something I can tell the townspeople. More than anything else I want to see my missing people returned to the town. What is your best guess as to what is going on with this whole thing?"

"Well, I would guess one of two things. Machines are using the rasters and goo sac things to harvest people to use as power sources, or creatures are harvesting people for more odious schemes,
Food source, ransom, slave trade... " Trophonius pauses for a moment to let his words sink in. " What do I know? I'm more in tune with the out of sync in this world."

Esperon's face softened when he listened to the woman speak of her husband. Though his thoughts were inscrutable, it was clear that the woman's personal dilemma had atoned for her dismissiveness a few moments prior.

At Trophonius' words, Esperon rolls his eyes, then turns to the mayor, his face grim. "What he's really saying is that we don't know. But we're going to find out. Stall the people on executing Mr. Personality in there, and we'll find out and bring back everyone you can. What's your husband's name?"

"My husband... his name is Eddis. He is over two meters tall, somewhat slender but deceptively strong. Dark hair, eyes the color of the moon. He is one of Groshdou's best hunters and he can handle himself quite well, which is why I'm concerned about where he might be and what might have him.

"Mardrough is not set to be executed until noon tomorrow, but I'm concerned that you might not make it there and back by then..." she turns some thoughts over in her mind. "Sir..." she says to Trophonius, "I didn't catch your name. Perhaps you could part with that sac so I can use this to offer an explanation to how our townspeople may have been captured. If they have hope of our loved ones coming back to us they may show clemency and I can buy him some time. To be clear, I have no liking for the man in the least, but I do not want the death of an innocent on my head and hands. Mind you, I suspect, from what I can piece together, something he did put all this into motion, but if my people come back alive he may be able to remain so."

Hurley has been taken aback by the Mayor's turn. After a few moments of stunned outrage, he applies himself to the cause of bringing some sense to the day. "Mayor, your people don't just want blame. They want relief. They want to know what they are up against and not feel so powerless.

Tell them the truth. They are under attack. Someone is using birds and this prior-world goo to ambush your people. You have sent out a war party," he looks around to indicate all of them, "to track the beasts back to their lair and discover what has become of the taken people. Further, I think the man is an ass, but you can say Mardough is helping. That's my suggestion.

From there we can agree on standard mercenary terms. A bit per day and first choice among any numenera we encounter. Medical care upon return as needed. What do you say?"

He pauses dramatically before adding in a whisper, "We can find Eddis."

Esperon's face darkens and he moves over to Hurley, glaring at him. "Forget the money for now, Hurley. It'll come." He turns to the mayor. "We'll do everything we can to find Eddis and the others. Hurley's right--we can find him."

He turns to Trophonius. "Can you give her the sac? It's best if she has it as proof, just like we intended."

"It was always meant to be a form of proof." Trophonius hands over the goo sac to the mayor.

Shthila takes the sac from Trophonius, trying to mask her disgust with handling it. "Very good. I'll worry about addressing the people regarding Mardrough's fate. Do what you can to get my people back. Are you leaving straight away?"

"Oh, right, yeah," he says chastened.


"Yeah, I think right away is best. Only thing we'll need is a light source - maybe some torches or a lantern?" he adds remembering the dark night they spent on the return trip.

Esperon nods. "Yes, what Hurley said. We want to leave right away, but we need some way to light our way at night or we won't catch 'em. Anything we can buy or borrow?"

Shthila reaches into her pocket and hands you 12 shins. "That's 3 shins for each of you. Turn left out of this building and go to the yellow house. A man named Lods sells wares there, he should have torches for you and other things you may need.

"Now, unless there's anything else I need to bid you a safe and successful journey."

Arry's original thoughts on the Mayor had softened some once hearing her husband was amongst those taken. She was still a barbarian but she was grieving and anyone could react poorly in their grief.

"We shall do all we can to find the missing and return them, Mayor Shthila. Thank you for giving a man who may be innocent more time for us to do what we must."

She gave her a slight bow.

Greyband takes the shins, clasping them tight, and nods. "Thanks. I'll give you the change back later. Thank you for listening." The last statement was clearly very sincere, perhaps more sincere than anything the gruff man had said in front of others apart from Hurley, who was a good friend. He bowed slightly and went off with the others to get their supplies.

"Ok folks, let's do this," he says after they are supplied. He hides away the shins in a pocket and says nothing of them.

He judges the sun in the sky and thinks they have plenty of daylight. "Let's make for the tree again. Assuming we see them on the way, we can follow the rastors back to their base. That makes the most sense to me."

"If there was a Dome at the tree, I may be able to get inside, and possibly find a way to open an entrance. Either way the possibility of a look inside is quite intriguing." he punctuates his words with a short mad cackle.

Esperon cocks an eyebrow at the cackling but nods. "Agreed. To the trees." He looks to Aryanna. "Are you in agreement? Or other ideas?"

"I think the trees are the best, and right now, only course of action open to us. Hopefully more will become apparent upon deeper investigation.

Trophonius," she says, turning towards the older man. "How were you able to breathe whilst in the gel sack?"

"I have no recollection of my time in the goo, but I can postulate that, given the distance, and approximate travel time from where I was picked up to where I was freed, the goo has some life sustaining capacity, lowered metabolism in its victims. If we had time I and proper equipment I could study it for a more precise estimate of survivability, but we just don't have the time. "

You stopped by Lods' place to load up on torches, some food, and a backpack for Trophonius while managing to have a shin left over for each of you.

You leave town with the last threads of sunlight still showing in the west. Having taken the journey there and back once already, you've become pretty familiar with the most direct route to the coast.

After a few hours of travel and night has officially settled in, the torches are lit and provide adequate light to illuminate the landmarks that guide your way. While making your way through the more rocky terrain your torches cast light upon two bags that look much like quarry bags you saw the hunters with in Groshdou. As you look closer at the bags there appears to be occasional movement in them, indicating whatever quarry it contains may still be alive.

Trophonius steps toward the sacs, holding up a single finger towards the group behind him. His blue eye starts emanating a bright blue light.

As Trophonius steps forward you can hear some slight squeaking sounds emanating from the quarry bags before you.

"They shouldn't pose much of a threat, someone please release them."

This message was deleted by the player at 21:28, Thu 25 Jan 2018.

"They may not pose a threat but the ones who left them do. Does anyone else thinks this looks like a prime setup for an ambush?" Arry drops her hand to her sword as she speaks.

Esperon nods. "I agree. Someone wants us to cut them down. Arryanna, are you any good at hiding and watching? I can untie these, nice and slow, if you hide and prepare to give anyone who tries to surprise me a surprise in return."

She nods and steps out of the light, into the shadows and quickly scales a tree, using her claws to climb. Once there she pulls out her razor disc and avoids looking at the torches to give her natural night vision chance to recover as well as to avoid eye shine from her silver eyes.

Hurley looks skeptical. "Or it's the bags of a couple of buggers who got picked up and carried off by the bird snatchers...."

His dubious look doesn't stop him, though, from drawing his large stone axe.

Once Arrryanna is hidden, esperon goes over and unties the bag...

As Esperon grabs the tie of the bag, both the bag he starts to work on and the one beside it seem to pull in on themselves. The bulk of the bag collects onto the backs of some sort of creatures. A head emerges from the underside of the "bag" it had mimicked and wings fold out from the sides. The head is comprised of a long ratlike face and teeth designed for rending flesh.

The creature that Esperon had touch makes a lunge at him, attempting to get an aim at his throat.

---

Esperon, make a Speed defense roll, DT3.

Let's try some initiative rolls this round. Everyone please give an initiative roll after Esperon makes his defense roll.

Esperon's instincts save him from the thing's attempt to grab him; he springs backward awkwardly but effectively....

Trained in Speed Defense, reducing DT to 2. Spend Effort to reduce the DT further to 1. Rolled a 10--easy success.

Initiative is 5, however.

16:42, Today: Esperon rolled 5 using 1d20 with rolls of 5.  Initiative.
16:42, Today: Esperon rolled 10 using 1d20 with rolls of 10.  Speed Defense w/effort--DT after adjustment.

"Aww Devil's Balls!" he cries out as his axe instinctively raises up.


14:45, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 13 using 1d20.  Initiative.

Chuckles to himself. 'No surprises, cretinous creatures never change.'

Trophonius Delphi rolled 20 using 1d20.  Speed, initiative .


Trophonius steps towards the lunging beast almost as quickly as it jumped out of its camouflage, and delivers a swift blow with his walking stick.

Trophonius Delphi rolled 17 using 1d20.  Walking stick <asset light weapon, asset initiative>.

Dealing 3 damage, forfitting 1 point to distract the creature, for a total of 2 damage, shifting all of its actions 1 step to its detriment for the round
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Sun 28 Jan 2018.

"Ya' little scumbag. Get back in the dirt!" Hurley doesn't like ambushes. They give him anxiety.

He takes out his anger on the creature attacking Esperon. A moment behind Trophonius, he takes advantage of the creature's distraction and brings his axe across hard. Rather than slice cleanly, however, he uses a twist of the handle to bring the weight of the blade hard into bone. He causes a jarring impact that is sure to disorient the creature.

17:32, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 16 using 1d20.  Bash Heavy weapon (axe).
5 points of damage and the creature is dazed.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Sun 28 Jan 2018.

Arry watches this unfold from her place in the tree but remains where she is for now, thinking this is merely a distraction and the larger attack is yet to come.

The minds behind the abductions know they are being tracked so this may be the first trap set for their pursuers.


21:19, Today: Arryanna rolled 5 using 1d20.  Initiative.

Initiative order:

1. Esperon, Trophonius, and Hurley
   
2. Drebils
   
3. Arryanna

Esperon, after dodging the creature's first bite, side-steps it and delivers a powerful punch to what he thinks is a vulnerable spot on the dazed thing's neck...

Attack bare-handed, no Effort yet. Hit a TN3 with a 9, not sure if the creature's TN is lower because it's dazed or not. 4 damage on a hit.

08:55, Today: Esperon rolled 9 using 1d20.  Punch the thing in the neck.

As the creature whips its head around in confusion, snapping at the air in a futile attempt to land a bite on something, Esperon's fist slams right into its neck. A loud snap can be heard and the creature drops like a stone.

The other one lunges for the person within reach, which just so happens to be Hurley.

Arryanna's up. After her action we go back to the top of the round. Hurley, make your defense roll followed by your attack roll.

From her vantage point in the tree Arry continues to watch for more attackers coming. She can't escape the feeling that this is far too easy a setup to distract her companions whilst they deal with these beasts.

Hurley is pissed off. "Did I mention I don't like ambushes?"

The beast lumbers towards him but it's as if he rehearsed the dance step to dodge it. He steps aside easily and lets the movement carry him into a spin that ends in an brutal overhead chop of his massive stone axe.

Hits with nat 20 for 10 damage
19:55, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 20 using 1d20.  Axe Attack.
19:45, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 17 using 1d20.  Speed defence DT 3.

The mighty swing of the axe easily cleaves the creature in half. Neither half even twitches, the creature is so dead.

You've made short work of the drebils, not being taken in by their mimicry. Their carcasses lay before you, unmoving.

Trophonius spends a few minutes examining the corpses, fascinated by their camouflage ability, trying to figure out if there is anything to be learned.



Trophonius Delphi rolled 9 using 1d20.  Numenera  <specialized>.

Trophonius finds nothing interesting or of note in the carcasses of the drebils. Just two dead animals that lured the wrong prey.

"shame, even their cloaking ability appears to be drab. Not even interesting in death."

Esperon snorts, eyeing the dead creatures stoically. "Deadly doesn't have to be fancy. Come on, onward." He continues on in the direction they were heading without further ado...

With nothing of value to be found on the dead creatures you continue on toward the coast.

It is early when you see the silhouette of the copse of trees ahead of you, the sky beginning to lighten behind you before the sun rises. The area is as you had left it, the copse with its circular clearing and the lone tree standing right in the center.

"I'm glad to have been wrong but it still feels very contrived to have an ambush on the road out of town our abductors have to know we'd use." Arry muttered as she nimbly leapt out of the tree, following the rest.

“So far we’ve only seen the birds. It’s possible that no one knows we are coming. Unless the Rastors can chat it up
When they get back to their base.”

He looks around. “What do you think the odds are we can jump on one of them birds and ride it?” He wonders aloud. “Or are we just waiting to see one so we can hoof after it?”

"Someone my size, or Samar... *sighs deeply* Arryannas could ride easily enough, but people as big as you two may have problems. Aside from that, if they are the goo-rasters, the goo may climb up and engulf the rider, if we burn off the goo the rasters may not be compelled to return to the same place they would with the goo in tact. If we can make the dome reappear, I can get inside, look for a doorway or something for a few moments, and come back out if nothing is found. "

Esperon nods. "I like that plan. The question is: can we keep up with them fast enough to track 'em?"

He turns to Trophonius, seeming to see the man in a new, not-so-crazy light all of a sudden. "Yeah, why don't you check the ground now first. The tree is the center. Meanwhile, I'll climb up the tree and see about activating the dome."

He glances down at the ground but only barely looks. Instead, his attention is drawn to the tree itself as he begins to climb. As he climbs he looks back and yells down, "Someone make sure to look out for coming from the sky!"


18:52, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 10 using 1d20.  climbing the tree.
18:51, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 2 using 1d20.  Perception - doors or stuff on the groun.

As Hurley begins to climb the tree he finds the rough surface of the trunk provides a decent purchase, though the tree is as tall as the dome was, so it will take a bit of climbing to reach the top. As he looks below he does not see anything other than a circle of bare ground around the tree where the dome once stood.

The sky is clear of any threats or dangers. The only rasters that appear in the sky are quite a distance away, engaged in their hunt for fish over the firth.

Hurley: As with the dome before, you'll need two more rolls to reach the top. Your first roll got you a third of the way up, same target DT 3 for the next roll and an increase in one step for the last third, DT 4.

Hurley clambers up with surprising ease for such a big man. As he reaches the higher levels, though, the branches become more slender and difficult for him. He reaches with grim determination as he starts to slip, but he misses the hold and begins to slide down.

Snarling a few curses, he hauls himself back up. Eventually, sweating and dirty, he reaches the top and grabs for the puck.


One success, and then a failure followed by a last success.
14:31, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 16 using 1d20.  climbing the tree 4/3 DT4 -1 w/ effort.
14:28, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 7 using 1d20.  climbing the tree 3/3 DT4 -1 w/ effort.
14:27, Today: Hurley Kosson rolled 16 using 1d20.  climbing the tree 2/3 DT3.

With a bit of exertion Hurley is able to grab the puck from the top of the tree. For a moment, nothing seems to happen. After a few minutes the faintest haze of a distortion can be made out, in the same shape and area of the dome that had been there previously. There is a smell in the air not unlike ozone and ground chalk. The distortion is best described as the wavering air seen rising from a hot stone combined with a static. This affect remains in the air for several minutes.

As Hurley hangs from the top of the tree, he can feel a very odd buzzing sensation in the parts of his body that intersect with the distortion field that is slowly becoming more dense.

Trophonius tries to quickly analyze the anomaly in front of him.

Trophonius Delphi rolled 20 using 1d20.  Numenera  <specialized,  effort. DT -3>.

Arry keeps watch around them, hand on her sword, and decides against mentioning to Hurley just how easy her talons make climbing trees for her. Hearing his cursing and watching his exertions makes her think he wouldn't be as amused as she is at the thought.

Meanwhile Trophonius stares at the spatial distortion, his eyes widening with realization. He begins jumping up and down as he continues staring where the dome was, is, might be, then he mutters "...you can't have it... you can't have it..." until he crescendos into screaming the words "YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!". He dashes toward the nearest tree and attempts to climb it, screaming the strange mantra all the while.

Esperon, who has been standing calmly and observing, springs into action as Trophonius does. "Whoa, now! Slow down! Where are you going?"

If the man doesn't respond, he stands at the base of the tree and watches Trophonius ascend, ready to jump up after him if the nutty fellow appears to be in trouble.

Hurley considers just slamming the puck back into place, but he holds off. "Oh just let 'em have it!" he yells.

Trophonius, finding himself sitting precariously on a branch, flails wildly as he tries to quickly grasp the branch causing him to lose his balance and fall from the tree.

Esperon curses colorfully and tries to catch Trophonius.

Arry looks startled by the rather eccentric man's seeming tantrum then even more startled as he begins to climb the tree.

"Right...I didn't see that one coming." She says to Esperon.

Startled turns into mortified as the quite odd gentleman begins to fall out of the tree. Speed she is gifted with, strength not quite so much. Trying to catch him would be an exercise in futility so she's steeling herself for the rather sick 'thump' she expects to hear when Esperon darts forward and tries to catch him.

Fortunately for Trophonius, Esperon was near the tree. He steps directly under the falling man an catches him rather easily, his large frame breaking the momentum of the fall without incident.

"Get a room you two!" Hurley yells down to where Tropphonius lies in Esperon's arms.

Esperon guffaws and drops Trophonius on his feet. "Don't he wish. Not my type, though. What happened to you, fella? Why did you do that?"

"I do appreciate the softened landing, but you're no Samarah. As for the incident, powerful energies around ancient artefacts mingle with my mind energies. Also happens when I shouldn't be in a fight, the fear creates a stress feedback loop."

The haze in the air starts to take on a bit more definition and the outline of the dome is more apparent now.

The buzzing Hurley feels in his legs as he is in the top of the tree start to intensify as they hang in the area where the dome is appearing. It is starting to become rather uncomfortable.