You leave the Tharks to their plunder and soon the smoke of the destroyed caravan is a distant pillar behind.  Around you the land is barren with only sparse patches of vegetation.  A harsh land indeed and though you are no great caravan to draw the eye of an entire tribe of Green Men there is little doubt that the beings you encounter here survive only by taking what they need or dying.  There is no other way.


"We should consider our path to Zodanga," Aeryn recommends during one of your breaks, "The road the caravan followed was easy but is often watched by both Tharks and Warhoon and other of the lesser tribes.  Striking across the countryside may alleviate some of this threat, though not all, but will no doubt be more difficult in progress."

"There are beasts out there!" Ducet Cog frowned as he regarded the horizon away from the road.

"The beasts cross the road as well," Aeryn shrugged, "But I admit the traffic of it does drive some away."

Will you stick to the road or cut across the badlands to Zodanga?

Nantes looks forward, in the direction he'd expect Zodanga to be. Can he see any smoke from that infernal city that devours the very blood and spirit of Barsoom, on the horizon?

[OOC: 20:39, Today: Nantas rolled 15 using 2d20 with rolls of 13,2.  Reason 4; Daring 9.
I picked Reason because you use Reason for actions that use the Mind or the Senses.
I picked Daring because you use Daring when at Risk and Movement is Important.]

No, the city is yet several days travel and not even its tallest structure is visible.  But Nantas has a good idea of the direction
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:09, Tue 09 Feb 2021.

Demetrius cocks his head. "I don't know much about this place yet, but I am prone to want to stay away from the road. I don't trust the residents of that fair city yet and would rather take my chances with the beasts, unless someone convinces me otherwise."

"That's fine. We have a good idea of the direction and we can travel while staying away from the main road. Anyway, we'll know if the road i to our right or to our left and we can always start walking in that direction until we find the road again, if we change mind."

Demetrius nods. He turns to Aeryn, his eyes sparkling. "We agree with your plan--you are clearly as intelligent as you are lovely. Shall we go?"

Nantes shakes his head after hearing too many cheesy expressions.

The red woman's eyes are slits but there is a hint of a smile at her cheek as she directs the thoat after Nantas'.  Ducet Cog frets of Banths, White Apes and the like but soon quiets as the amble of the thoat and passing countryside stretch on for zodes...and then padans.

You soon realize that while avoiding the road has likely helped you avoid Warhoon or other fierce raiders, the landscape offers little sustenance and you are forced to ration the supplies given by Losa and Tal.  You make steady progress for 2 padans thanks to the strength of your mounts before you happen upon the remains of a Green Man.  There is little that the fauna have left to identify which tribe he or she may have belonged to, nor can you be certain how they met their demise.  It is a clear reminder that even those raised in this land are not safe from its perils.

Your supplies continue to dwindle as you continue and after another 2 padans you happen upon an especially harsh and desolate section which stretches Nantas' skill of survival to its limits.

Nantas - roll for Survival (D2 Reason + Cunning...unless you can think of a more appropriate combination) as you pass through the wastes to see if you are able to supplement the rations you carry.  Failure will mean that everyone will need to defend against an attack of despair (Fear) from the strain of the rationing with no sign of Zodanga in sight.

Demetrius - What is the profession of Ducet Cog, the White Martian that has attached himself to Nantas?

[OOC: I'd propose to use Daring (Used when at Risk and Movement is Important) instead of Reason, but I'll leave that decision ultimately to you. As an interim I'll follow your initial proposal of Reason + Cunning.]

[OOC: 17:33, Today: Nantas rolled 33 using 2d20 with rolls of 18,15.  Reason 4; Cunning 9.
Poor roll, unfortunately, but if it was Cunning 9 + Daring 9, it would have been a bit better]

Demetrius gets Ducet Cog to open up a bit on the trip. As it turns out, the man is a purveyor in rare cloths--something resembling an Earthen silk merchant of the 17th-18th century. A man more ill-equipped to ride the dunes has rarely been found. The man does wax poetic about rare Barsoomian cloths, though, including some that "to touch is to transform the mind, the senses!"

Can Demetrius assist Nantas? Cunning + Reason are more up his alley.

Reason was a definite but I would have accepted Reason + Daring or Reason + Cunning.  Didn't succeed, no big deal, just means everyone is starting to feel the Stress of your situation.

Demetrius - survival in the wastelands falls under a race's What You Know and What You Can Do.  Green Men have:
Know - The wastelands and wilds your people wander, including the location of various birthing creches where the eggs of the young are kept.
Can Do - You can hunt and forage.
Ordinarily Nantas wouldn't need to make a test but the area you are passing through is especially barren.

For now things are still very strange and unfamiliar for an Earthman; this is the first time you've been out in the wastelands after all.  Makes it difficult for you to assist Nantas.

Nantas' skill in surviving in the harsh environs of the dead sea bottoms is without question, yet even he is unable to locate any scrap of food or water over the next two padans.  You feel the lightness in your waterskins when you raise them to your lips.  You remember the dead body you passed not long ago and wonder if it was not beasts but need that lead to their demise.

The heat of Mars and the quiet of the landscape without any sign of Zodanga weighs on you.  Did you make the correct choice in leaving the road?

Everyone attempt to resist Confusion caused by your situation.

Harsh Situation:
  Difficulty: 2
  Damage: 2 die

Use either Empathy or Reason + another attribute of your choice.  Might to muscle through, Passion to keep your spirits up, Daring to accept the risk instead of dwelling on it, etc...

If you manage 2 successes you are unaffected.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:40, Tue 23 Feb 2021.

Demetrius focuses his mind on his companions and stays with them. He refrains from singing out loud, but he keeps a couple of Earth classics running through his mind...

Spend a point of Momentum, which nets me 3 successes. I re-bank 1 point of Momentum.

22:19, Today: Demetrius Esper rolled 6 using 1d20 with rolls of 6.  Momentum.
22:19, Today: Demetrius Esper rolled 13,17 using 1d20,1d20 with rolls of 13,17.  Might + Reason 16/8.

You didn't have any Momentum reserved, did you?

Did you just add Threat?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:52, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

[OOC: 20:22, Today: Nantas rolled 9 using 2d20 with rolls of 3,6.  Daring 9; Might 6. Empathy 3, Reason 4]

"Come on... let's move on! Preserve your energies and follow me."

NOTE: per instructions above you were supposed to use either Empthy or Reason.

quote:

Use either Empathy or Reason + another attribute of your choice.  Might to muscle through, Passion to keep your spirits up, Daring to accept the risk instead of dwelling on it, etc...

In this case didn't make a difference so no worries.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

Demetrius nods. "Right with you," he says. He puts his hand on the shoulder of the red-skinned woman near him.

The red woman is sullen but manages a smile at Nantas' and Demetrius' banter.  She offers no complaint nor hesitation to continue but her silence speaks of her small, inner worry.

19:18, Today: Aeryn Arj rolled 28 using 2d20 with rolls of 9,19.  Accept the risk and keep going, Reason+Daring, 14/6-.
- only 1 success

19:19, Today: Aeryn Arj rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,3.  Confusion dmg.
- no damage

Ducet Cog is in hearty agreement, exclaiming, "Our mounts are not without survival senses of their own.  Why I was once in a wagon pulled by a team of thoats that stopped and refused to advance well short of sundown.  After we gave up and finally camped travelers passed with word that they had been attacked by a pair of banths not 1000 ads ahead of us; likely where we would have halted for the night.  Slacken the reigns and put heels to flank and let them find their sustenance and ours!"

19:41, Today: Ducet Cog rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5.  Accept the risk and keep going, Reason+Daring, 13/6-.
- 4 successes, the little rug merchant is apparently quite familiar with the risks of travel through the wastelands!

You soldier on and by the afternoon of the 2nd padan Nantas spies a mantalia plant, the life-source most Martians.  Though it's milk is bland and relatively tasteless it is highly nutritious and indeed the only food eaten by green Martians.  By nightfall you find you are no longer in such desolate land and your thoats are able to find abundant helpings of the yellow moss-like vegetation which is their natural food source.

As always upon Mars, dusk is a quick transition into darkness thanks to the thin Barsoomian atmosphere.  Plunged into night you note that there is a distant shine on the horizon in the direction which you have traveled.  It is too early to say for certain but hope kindles within each of you that Zodanga may lie only a few padan's away.

As day comes, akin to switching on a light in the reverse of dusk, you mount up once more and are off again.  Everyone's spirits are buoyed as the day passes as you feel your journey must be nearing its end...

But when you halt at midday your thoats are restless.  Something clearly disturbs them.  The area around you is given to low hills and you have seen evidence of narrow gorges.  As you investigate you happen upon a sight to fill most Barsoomians with dread, for within a nearby gorge squats one of the planet's top predators: a white ape!

It is entirely bald but for a mass of coarse hair that rises on its head like a crest. Standing ten to fifteen feet high, the white ape is an agile biped, which, like the green Martian, has an intermediary pair of limbs halfway between the legs and upper arms. These limbs are used for running and for grasping prey or improvised weapons. The paws of the white ape are massive and capable of completely enclosing the throats or limbs of any Martian it encounters.

Above its barrel chest, its square head sits on a corded neck. The eyes are small and close set. The ears are positioned high on the skull, but lower than those of the green Martians. With twenty different muscles controlling each cup-like ear, the white ape can pinpoint and distinguish sounds with remarkable precision. In this way, it can locate its prey easily in the mazy streets and plazas of dead cities like Horz, Jhama, Thark, and Warhoon. Its teeth and muzzle recall those of the African gorilla, though they are both many times larger. The two canines that protrude from the upper jaw are formidable piercing weapons and its
flat, broad incisors are efficient in shearing bone and stripping flesh.

The creatures ears are turned towards you and then its head raising in your direction.

You know it has detected you.

What do you do?
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:28, Thu 25 Feb 2021.

[OOC: is this a good distance for practicing with our rifles, well ahead of getting to melee distance?]

Yes rifles would be at short range and no penalty (D1 test), pistols would be at long range (D2)
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:14, Fri 26 Feb 2021.

Nantes wields the rifle that he recently picked up at the caravan, he checks that it is properly loaded and aims at the White Ape. He takes his time to aim and, finally, shoots.

[OOC: 22:02, Today: Nantas rolled 17 using 2d20 with rolls of 11,6.  Cunning 9, Reason 4.]

20:10, Today: Jeddak rolled 28 using 2d20 with rolls of 18,10.  White Ape defend vs Nantas, 11/4-.
- 1 success

Nantas' radium round hits!  Roll 2d6 for damage.  Firearms are Fearsome but Ape doesn't have a Fear stress track so any effects rolled with just do an extra 1 damage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:14, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

Demetrius' eyes go wide when he sees the massive creature. He hefts his new rifle and aims at the face of the oncoming creature and depresses the trigger...

Spend one point of Momentum and shoot! 4 successes!

11:02, Today: Demetrius Esper rolled 7,16,6 using 1d20,1d20,1d20 with rolls of 7,16,6.  Cunning + Reason to shoot +1 momentum, 15/7.

20:14, Today: Jeddak rolled 29 using 2d20 with rolls of 12,17.  White Ape defend vs Demetrius, 11/4-.
- seriously? no successes

Demetrius also hits and generates 3 Momentum.  Radium rounds do a base of 2d6 die for damage, effect rolled will be an extra point of damage.  You can choose to spend some or all of your Momentum.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:17, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

[OOC: 12:03, Today: Nantas rolled 11 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,5.  rifle damage.]

Nice roll, 2 effects, White Ape takes 4 stress
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:18, Fri 05 Mar 2021.

Demetrius's shot is quite accurate...

Bank one Momentum, spend two on damage--total of 5 damage before any armor protection or the like!!

13:46, Today: Demetrius Esper rolled 6,3,2,1 using 1d6,1d6,1d6,1d6 with rolls of 6,3,2,1.  Damage w/2 Momentum.

4 actually

1 & 2 cause 1 point each and the 6 causes 2 with the Effect it generates.  The 3 adds none

Geez, I did not expect him to get torn up so much but White Apes are no pushovers.

Should have next post up later this evening once I get back home

Nice, I missed that in the damage chart in the book and now the damage chart in the References thread should be correct too

White Ape takes 1 Wound from taking 5 stress at once!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:49, Sun 07 Mar 2021.