In reply to Tristan (msg # 42):

Randall gives you a sideways look. But he shrugs.  "You're too little to handle the sheep and the shears right. But if you want to help.."

He points at the piles of wool they are pulling off the sheep.  "You can gather that stuff up and move it to the wagon there.  That's something you can do.  And maybe next year, we'll have you at 'em.  Fair enough?"

Since your response was both reasonable and believable given the situation, and there's not really much of a chance to for things to go too wrong, I'm good with giving it to you.

Some SGs might require you to make a check.  Probably something like Charm/Comm.  If you want to roll it for the sake of practice, you may.  It would be a simple roll.  But that's up to you.

Hugh frowns as you trundle along behind Randall, who's holding the squirming black lamb in his arms.  Randall quickly explains, and Hugh spits to one side.  But he motions for  you to get on piling the wool into the cart.

You grab armfuls of the scratchy, smelly wool, moving it to the cart as quickly as you can.  Your feet keep wanting to trip.  How is just wool so heavy?

When you come back from your second loand, the black sheep is being sheared.  Hugh pulls on the coat after a few snips and it seems to slide off, like the skin from a turnip after Mother peels it.

Hugh tosses the black wool behind him.  "Make sure you pile the black wool over in that box.  Needs to be seperate from the white wool.  Got it?"

Hugh mostly ignores you. But he and Ralph both can hit pretty hard.

There's a large box to one side.  It's about half full of black wool.  You pick up some of the new wool and waddle over as Hugh goes to get a new lamb.

In the distance, you can hear Mother start to call.  She's still distant.  Probably just leaning out the doorway of the house.

Hugh calls out to you.  "Hurry up!  Dump that lot in and go tell Mother we're almost done!  Hurry!"

He barks this last bit.

You can pocket some wool easily enough.

If you're going to to try to disappear on the way back to the house, you'll need to make me a Stealth/Qik check.

Thanks

Unable to believe his good fortune (so far), Tristan pockets some of the black wool and then attempts to disappear on his way ‘back to the house’.

19:22, Today: Tristan rolled 7 using 1d10-3.  Stealth/qik. (Botch?)

One thing bothers (and to an extent, distracts) him.  It’s one of the lines from the owl’s instructions.  He tells himself it’s nothing, but…

The owl said, Walk widdershins around it (the field) and look for the first black lamb you see.

Why would you look for something you already see?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:28, Tue 12 July 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 44):

You rolled a 0 then huh.

We need to check to see if it's just a zero or a botch.

Reroll a d10.  No adders.  If it comes up 0 again, it's a botch.  If not, it's just a zero

Thanks

16:13, Today: Tristan rolled 8 using 1d10.  To botch, or not to botch?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 46):

If that was the question, your answer is no.  You only botch if you get another 0 on the die(dice)

Keep in mind, you usually have to reroll more than one die.  I'm keeping it easy for the moment.

Thanks.

As you head into the woods, you hear Hugh yelling after you, "Hey!  Shithead!  Where are you going?"

Hugh only calls you "shithead".  So it's pretty obvious he sees you heading in the wrong direction.

Your only chance now may be to make a run for it Or you can do something else.  Your call.

If you want to make a run for it: Athletics/Qik for me please.

Don't worry.  We're almost to the road.

Thanks

Tristan shouts something about dad telling him to fetch his axe for him, and keeps walking.  But he watches to see if Hugh comes after him.  If he does, he will run for it.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 48):

You can hear Randall say, "I thought Uncle was in Lincoln?"

"He is.  HEY! SHITHEAD!"

And you take off.

The woods seem to close in as you scurry under the tall trees.  You take a quick shortcut through some brush.  It's the kind of small opening only children know about.  And you know about this one.

You rush through another stand of trees and almost literally stumble onto the road.  It's a wide patch, the dirt packed down by generations of feet and hooves and cart wheels.

It stretches off to your right.  And off to your left.

You go left.  You soon come to another fork, which is odd.  You've been down this road before and you don't recall this fork.

It stretches off to the right.  And it stretches off to the left.

Heading on?  And keeping left?

Remembering the owl’s instructions, Tristan presses on, turning left again.  Only now is he starting to worry… how will he put a grown man to sleep?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 50):

The sun starts falling behind the tree line.  It seems to fall pretty fast too because before you realize it, it's night time.

It gets chilly rather quickly.  More so than you would think for the season.  Pretty soon your thin shirt isn't doing much to keep the cold out.  You start trembling and your breath makes large clouds in front of your face.

Ahead, you can see a light.  It's flickering and you realize someone has made a fire by the side of the road.

As you come closer, you can see a man, THE Man, sitting on a stone beside a large, roaring fire.  The bag he had been carrying is set by his feet, tied tight with string.

He watches you approach, saying nothing.  Just sitting, elbows on knees, hands clasped together.  A brief, mocking smile ghosts on his lips.

"Well.  I remember you. Surely I do.  Out in the night all alone?  Good children should be in bed.

"Well.  You're a long way from your bed.  Would you like to climb into my sack?"

He reaches down and pats the sack.  It seems to flinch.

"It's nice and warm inside."

"Is it okay if I sit by the fire first?  It's nice and warm."

If permitted, Tristan will cozy up to the fire, warming his hands.  He'll try to get the man talking.  (Maybe if he talks long enough, he'll fall asleep.)

In reply to Tristan (msg # 52):

Bag Man's grin doesn't drop.  He gestures to a place across from him, and you're soon warming yourself before the flames.

He studies you across the fire.  His smile looks amused, but there's an oddly blank expression in his eyes.  He looks up at the night sky.

"Sure is getting dark earlier this time of year, huh?

"You got anything to eat?  I provided some warmth.  Shouldn't you do your fair share?"

“Just this.”  He digs out the turnip plant and shows it to him.  “Do you want it?”

In reply to Tristan (msg # 54):

The Bag Man's grin gets wider and wider.  Little rivulets of drool start to form at the corner of his mouth.

"Now that is a fine looking turnip!  Much obliged.  Much obliged!"

And without further ado, he neatly plucks the turnip which is the size of both your fists and chomps it gone in three bites.

Bag Man pats his belly and yawns.  He grabs the bag and lays it sideways, then lays his head down on it like it was a pillow.  He yawns again.

"Now if I only had something to lull me to sleep.  Do you know of anything that can lull me to sleep boy?"

“I know a song that my grandmother likes to sing.  Would you care to hear it?”

The excitement was growing inside him.  It seemed to be working.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 56):

Bag Man nods, slowly.

You begin to sing...

I don't think you have any points in Music.  But for giggles, make me a stress test, Music/Comm please.  Thanks

:17, Today: Tristan rolled -5 using 1d10-6.  Music/comm roll.  (Looks like I rolled a 1.)

In reply to Tristan (msg # 58):

So if you roll a 1 on a stress die, it's like a critical success.

You get to reroll the die and double the result.  If you roll another 1 you reroll and quadruple the result.  And so on.  If you roll a 0 on any reroll from a crit, it just counts as a 10.  You do not botch once you've rolled a 1.

Ex:  You roll a 1.  A crit.  You roll again, and get another 1.  You reroll a second time.  This time you get a 0.  That now stands for 10.  So your final roll before adding in your abbility/characteristic bonuses is a 40.  Make sense?

So reroll and double, etc. please.  Let me know the final number.

Thanks

23:49, Today: Tristan rolled 6 using 1d10.  Second roll.

Do I double it first and then subtract six?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 60):

Yes.  So you whould get a 2 total.

Bag Man hums along.  He seems to know this tune.  But as you watch, his eyelids droop and soon, he is breathing in a deep and slow way.

He turns onto one side, throwing an arm around the top of the bag.  But he doesn't seem to wake up.

Tristan cautiously approaches the man.  Then he tries to get underneath his arm and crawl inside the sack.

If he awakens suddenly, Tristan plans to explain that he was checking to make sure he was okay.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 62):

The Bag Man snores with a sound like a tree toppling over in a storm.  He shows no signs of waking as you crawl into the bag.

You must be smaller than you thought your were, because the bag seems much larger than you thought it was.

You crawl for what feels like hours.  Your knees get sore and your palms get tender.  But at last the bag opens up.

Ouch.  You get s splinter right off the bat.  The floor is old, splintery wooden beams that aren't laid together well.  There's gaps in the floor and long blades of grass poke up from between the cracks.

The room you are now in seems to be some kind of hallway.  It stretches to your left and to your right, each way disappearing into the darkness.

The only light is coming from a candle.  The candle is being held aloft by a young girl, maybe no older than you.  Her hair is dirty and swept over half her face.  She's wearing a sack with holes cut out so her head and arms can stick out of it.  She's got a sandal in one hand and none on her feet.

She's staring at you, then at the bag you just crawled out of, and then back to you.

"You don't look like you can make shoes," she says after a moment.

“I can’t,” Tristan replies.  “Who are you?”

In reply to Tristan (msg # 64):

She frowns harder, wiping snot off her nose with the back of the hand holding the sandal.

"Mary?"  It's more a question than a reply.  She cocked her head.  "Do you have a sister?  You look like that noisy girl that came not too long ago."

OOC: Do I have a sister named Mary?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 66):

You do not. The sister you are chasing after is Mallory.  And Mallory is noisy.

Mary here answered your question in a manner that may make you think that she's forgotten what her own name was.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:36, Sun 07 Aug 2022.