As you're waking up from whatever Magehammer did that killed you, you feel a number of equipment vectors. Looking up, your armor and clothes that you came to the hospital in are sitting in a pile 20 feet away from you.

OOC) Did you make 2 gauntlets? Because you're going to need 2 gauntlets.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Sat 20 Apr 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 1):

I scoop up my equipment, and then look around.

Climate? Sun in sky? Get a feel for gravity by hopping.  I bow and pray, thanking God for this new world.  I stretch out a little bit, popping my neck, shrugging my shoulders.

OOC) You should recognize this world. Magehammer ran through it.......

Everything is normal. It's warm, gravity is normal. You pray, God doesn't seem to answer.

So you put on your two gauntlets and the rest of your armor and you start walking. The grass is green, the sky is blue. You're feeling pretty good. Eventually though, you come across a field. There's about two dozen humans working the field. All of them are dressed in rags. They're skinny and look like they haven't had a decent meal in a while. They're also wearing iron collars around their necks.

Riding around on horseback is a seven foot tall, green skinned alien with pointed ears. He's got a leather bullwhip and he occasionally takes potshots at the workers with it. He's wearing a silver collar.

Nobody seems to notice you yet.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 3):

OOC: I recognized it as soon as I saw the title.

First I'm appalled.  Poor people.  Then I'm angered, and considering killing this man.  THen I slip back.  I need more data.

What if I kill him, and then I have to  have some place to take these people?  What if we are in the middle of some huge place with no safety?

They could be human criminals, but looking at them I don't get that vibe, do I?

I find a place to hide.  This place looks like it has a day/night cycle.  And humans need to sleep at night.  So I can wait until night, and then follow them, and have a chat with the humans when the slavers are up at the big house.

That's my plan.

So in the course of trying to find a safe place to hole up, you come across a town. You can get close enough to see that all of the humans are wearing the iron collars, and the green skinned aliens are wearing silver collars. The humans seem to be subservient to the greenies. They're all dressed in rags and skinny.

EDIT: The greenies are dressed like Romulan warriors.

You've not been noticed. You can approach or retreat, at your leisure.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:31, Mon 22 Apr 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 5):

About an hour after nightfall, I go into the house of a tall man if I can.  And near the edge of the village if I can.  I most definitely avoid any 'weasel' looking guys, because there are almost always collaborators who work with the slavemasters.

I'm as quiet as can be, and if I think t-porting will help I use it.

OOC) Why a tall man? What does their height have to do with being trustworthy?

So you teleport to somebody's front door and knock. From inside, you hear a male voice tell somebody to "Just shut up and do what they say."

Then he answers the door. Obviously surprised to see a human. He says:

"You're out after curfew. You do know what's gonna happen if they catch you, right?"

He's obviously afraid that you're going to bring something down on him.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 7):

OOC: More likely to be a leader.  Less likely to be a weasel.

"Let me in, please.  I am a free human.  Do you see a torc around my neck?" I softly smile and wait.

GE 14.

The guy says "There ain't no such thing as a free human."

But then he sticks his head out the door, glances around for a few seconds, then grabs you by the arm and pulls you inside.

"I can't have them green freaks seeing you out there."

Inside he's got a wife and two daughters. They're cowering.

Then the guy looks at you and says "What do you want here boy?"

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Sun 28 Apr 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 9):

"I'd like some information about how many of these aliens are around.  What weapons they  have."

I step back, and teleport across the room.  Then I show him my sword.

"I don't need fighters.  I need information.  If all the aliens suddenly died tonight, is there a place you could go to be safe?"

My voice is close to dead calm.  I lean back and wait.  I know its a lot to take in so I give him some time.

"Ah they got knives and swords and whips and axes. Don't need em tho. Mostly they just stare at you."

Then he starts staring at his younger daughter. She start fakeing choking and then falls to the floor and fakes convulsions. Then she stands up and smiles. The family briefly applauds her performance.

As far as how many, what he says is that it's something like a 20 to 1 ratio.



Impressed and cautious they are. Maybe a bit hopeful.



GE 8

At this he becomes as close to boastful as his beaten soul will allow him to be.

"Ah them greenies ain't got nothing without us and they know it. If you moved their dinner plate five inches they'd starve to death. We're really the ones in control here. They just haven't figured it out yet."

He seems to be saying that if the humans suddenly went on strike and stopped working, the Tuatha wouldn't have anything and would suffer greatly for it. Good luck convincing any of the humans to act on that fact, however.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:45, Mon 29 Apr 2019.

I jazz hands applaud the  little girl too.  This is a sign of an unbroken spirit.  And its amusing.

I'm not much of a union organizer.  More of a death from the shadows.

"About how many humans are in camp, sir?"  I keep making an effort to be respectful to him.  I want to build him up, and of course, make him like me.  And I do feel sympathy and respect for him.

At your applause, the mother calls the younger daughter over and whispers something to her. A few minutes later, the daughter returns with a cup of thin, vaguely chicken flavored soup with an occasional piece of meat or vegetable floating in it and a rather large broken off piece of bread. She offers them to you.

They're trying to make you feel welcome here. They may not have much, but you can have what they've got.



As you sip your soup, he says "Bout 200 or so humans and 10 or 15 of the greenies." Then he looks at you suspiciously and asks almost accusingly "Where's your collar boy?" And gestures to his own. "We've heard tell of free humans but I ain't never thought I'd see one."

(Doing Therapy)

I take the soup wishing I could skip it, but I have to take their kindness or hurt their feelings.  I swallow it down, and nod to the mother with a smile before giving the little girl the cup with another smile.

"Never wore a collar, good sir.  Hopefully, after tonight, you won't have to either.  Now go to sleep, and forget you saw me.  And if it gets noisy, hide."  And with that I teleport to the outside, back under the trees.

Ten or fifteen. I can do that.  I begin my hunting stalk.

When you gulp it down, they all look at you like you've got nine heads. The father says:

"Yeah, you ain't from around here. Nobody gulps their soup. It's all you get. You should savor it slowly."

You just weirded them out.



You can only teleport to a place that you can see, so you mean you open the front door and teleport out. Nobody seems to see you.



GE 13

Most of the greenies are in bed, but there's a few guards awake. You catch one of them walking the perimeter of the ghetto. He's got a poleaxe of some sort in his hands.

I've got two swords right?  I suit up, slip up behind him, and stab him in the neck first and a quarter second later in the lower back.


If he's dead, I drag him into the trees a bit, and then come back for another.

OOC) No, you've got one sword. Two gauntlets.

You could set your watch to how this guy is moving. He walks to one end of his area, about faces, walks to the other end, about faces, walks to the other end, etc.

GE 17

So you sneak up on the guy and stab him. With his dying breath, he lets of a rather loud scream. You're not sure if anybody heard it. But he's toast. You drag him away.

When you return, you see another guard who is walking the perimeter at a right angle to the first guy. When he gets to the corner, he glances around, looking for his partner. You suppose they usually see each other. He shrugs and returns to walking. Probably figures the other guy had to answer nature's call or something.

Wait until he comes back, teleport behind him, stab, stab...try to keep a hand around his mouth while I do this.  Drag him off too.

GE 16

So you teleport, stab stab, drag.

No more greenies come by for at least an hour. Are you going somewhere else to look for them?

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 19):

Yeah, I stalk about looking for guards.  If I find them, tport and stab and drag.  If not, I look for the nicest looking house and sneak up to it...

On the other two sides of the rectangle which is the ghetto, you find one guard each, walking the perimeter.

And then there were none.



Not a nice house. What you find is a soldier's barracks. Looking in a window, you find eight Tuatha sleeping on cots inside. They've all got the poleaxes next to them, ready to grab at a moment's notice.

So apparently between 10 and 15 is 12 in this case.

(Doing Therapy)

How much noise do I make when I teleport?

You'd guess it's probably like a Tadeusz-sized balloon popping. You're displacing the air when you take off and land. However, you can't hear it yourself. Kinda like how the guy in the jet can't hear the sonic boom.

(Doing Therapy)

Rub my face.  This is problematic.

Then a solution occurs to me.  Its horrible and nasty.  I could burn them out.  Or not.  How is the front door for being barred from being opened by a large stick?

Even if you could barricade the door, there's breakable windows all around the place. It occurs to you that if you could find a couple rolls of duct tape or something similar you could wrap it around the entire building and keep them in that way.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 25):

No duct tape available.  It would be nice.

At some point the guard shift change is going to happen.  I don't want to wait for that.

A quick prayer for help, and I teleport in, stabbing through one guy, grabbing a pole arm with my other hand. Run forward, and stab through another guy before teleporting out again..

GE 19

So you teleport in. Your air displacement must be pretty loud, because the two sleepers nearest to you stir some. You stab one of them in the back whilst he's sleeping. He lets out a scream. This further stirs the others. You run and stab the last guy in the row. He screams and the rest stir.

When you teleport through a window and look back in, they're getting up and looking around dazed. Then one of them looks out the window and sees you. He starts pointing and yelling at his mates in a strange language.

(Doing Therapy)

Drop my polearm, and wait two seconds for everyone to be looking my way....then tport in to the far side of the room so that all will be faced away from me.  Stab, stab....going for incapacitating, high damage, easy targets like stabbing through the center of the body mass.

Sure, cutting legs might work better, but speed and skill go against thtat.  Hit one of the wounded again, and teport out to where I was.

You teleport in and go into fighting stance. All at once, you are no longer in control. Your armor takes over. You start swinging the sword with your right hand and punching with your left. You go through them like a lawnmower. When you regain control of your body and look back, they're all laying in a pool of green blood.

All of this commotion has alerted some of the neighbors. Looking out the windows, you see lights coming on in some houses outside and some people looking out their windows at you.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 29):

OK. That is troubling, but it worked, for right now.  I walk out, and ask people if there are any more Tuatha around.

OOC) This armor is designed for extreme combat. It knows, or at least it believes it knows better than you do. Besides, it's no more troubling than when the Terminator would take over. The difference is it's your choice whether to wear the armor. I didn't have a choice to wear the Terminator. Heck, I didn't even have a memory of the Terminator taking over.



GE 14

No more Tuatha. At least in this one particular ghetto. People are in awe of you. You are their savior. There's talk of throwing a party tomorrow to celebrate this.

Then someone steps forward and yells "Are you all insane? Do you have any idea what the greenies are going to do to all of us when they find out what this man has done?"

And he spits in your face and goes back inside his house.

But that's just one man out of a few hundred people.

"The man is somewhat right." I say to the gathering.  "There will be no party tomorrow.  We need to leave as soon as dawn.  And strike out for land that the Tuatha scum will not think to look for us."

I turn and look at them with a reassuring smile.

"Early this night, I was told there are no free humans.  Now you are all free.  I will say this, and you can vote on it.  Eat not to feasting levels, but to make yourself strong.  Gather your foods and goods, and take from the Tuatha what you like, and share in a fair manner. Leave enough to make things look real for the story we will lay for our hunters. At dawn, we burn this encampment to make it look like an out of control forest fire destroyed the place.  Then we leave for a new land where you can stand tall, and be free."

I pause.

"What say you?"

Someone steps up and, holding his collar in his hands says:

"We's not free suh. None of us is free suh. We gots ta git these collars off suh. The greenies jus' need stare at us an' day kin hurt us or worse, suh. We kan't go nowhere's suh till we git these here collars off suh."

And a ripple goes through the crowd. He's telling the truth.

OOC) This is why I insisted on giving you two gauntlets. With only one, you wouldn't be strong enough to tear the collars off of people.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 33):

"Well, let's see if we can fix that, sir."   My heart is moved by the suffering of these people, a bit anyways.  And my sympathy for the Tuatha I killed fades more.  It needed to be done. I walk over to the man and show him I'm gong to try to bend the torc in my hands.  I'mm being cautious not to hurt him.

I suppose I should set the stage here. It's still middle of the night. You've not got the entire population out here. It's maybe 20 or so people. The families from the nearest 5 or 6 houses. Most everyone else is still snoozing.

GE 12

After examining the collar, you determine that it closes and locks sort of like a pair of handcuffs. A toothed ratchet gear on one side and a lock of some sort on the other. You see no evidence of a keyhole anywhere. It wasn't intended to ever be removed. After taking some council of a few bystanders, you determine the best way to proceed would be to just brute force yank it open with your gauntlets.

So you do.

A loud rending of metal. The man gasps and takes a breath, like he's been underwater for months and is finally breaching the surface to take a breath. He smiles broadly and embraces you.

The collar is metal. Iron or some such. Crystals are on the inside. You are told that when the Tuatha do their stare, lights can be seen from under the collar. You would assume the crystals light up.

Of course now you've got people clamoring the get their collars removed. One woman says "This is great. But where are we gonna go after this. And what about the others?"

Other ghettos, she means. Are you planning to liberate them all?

(Doing Therapy)

I want to cry.  Poor guy been suffering so much.

"It's okay man It's okay." I pat him on the back again.  After a bit, I put the torc aside.  Part of me wants to rip it to shreds in wrath but I recognize that it might have some use in finding out how to stop this horror.

"Ma'am, I sure hope so.  But first, lets get the next step done."  And I rip her torc off.  And on to the next.

Toward the end, I ask the thoughtful lady to wake up another ten.

GE 14

You rip off collars. Nobody dies as some fear they will. All of them take deep breaths when the collars are off. Waking up neighbors gets a lot of grumbling and requires a lot more explaining. More than one person asks why you don't wait until the morning.

You are told that, assuming all of the Tuatha are really dead, it should be at least two more weeks before any more show up. It would be the higher-ups that come. They recommend waiting a day or two to evacuate. Let everyone get their things in order.

But, just as the sun is peaking over the horizon, you tear the last torc off of the younger daughter of the first family you met. The one who faked being stared at. When it's over she hugs you so tight you have a moment where you can't breathe. Her father comments "Looks like you won't ever have to give your show anymore."

Overall they're happy. Half of the are awake, the other half went back to bed.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 37):

I stare in surprise the first time that is asked.  Then I shrugged.

"Seemed best to get ready as fast as we could."

I'll agree with one day.  I doubt they have that much stuff.

GE 17

You're right. They don't have much. And there are wagons and horses and whatnot to help.

So a lot of the people go back to sleep. You get several invites to stay at people's houses. When they all wake up, first they report to the Tuatha barracks, out of habit. Then they remember what the score is and start packing up.

What are you doing here?

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 39):

1. Help them pack.
2. Figure out how to burn the place.
3. Talk to some of the more knowledgeable about a good direction to go for a hideout.

There's really not much you can do here. You do help some old ladies lift some heavier items they're taking. Mostly you just get invited into people's houses to eat or socialize with their daughters. Yeah, everybody wants you to marry their daughters.



Asking around, there's all kinds of kerosene and lamp oil and whatnot for the lamps and lights. That won't be a problem at all.



GE 20

Nobody knows. A lot of them were born and raised here. Those that weren't can't tell which direction. Your guess is as good as any.

(Doing Therapy)

Any nearby mountains?  Head that way.  If not, head out anyways.

GE 8

Yeah, there are mountains off in the distance.

After a day or two of them getting organized, you all head out. They've taken some of the Tuatha horses and are using them to pull wagons. They've got enough of their meager food to make the journey, but not much more than that. There's a lot of people looking at you for when that runs out.

The trip is mostly uneventful, but you do come within visual distance of another ghetto. You can see them, you're not sure if they can see you.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:55, Fri 14 June 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 43):

Pray and hope that no one saw us.

Once we get to the mountains, set up hunnting groups to find meat, and gatheringn groups to find edible berries and veggies.  Set up another group to find a good spot (hidden with good blockage from sight for smoke)....either smoke goes against a wall of stone or cliff or down in a small valley.

Make sure everyone keeps track of where they are going and does not go to far.  Hate to have some lost hunters.

GE 22

Everybody looks at you puzzled. "Good sir, we've never hunted before. We don't know what plants are safe to eat. You were supposed to take care of that."

Then someone else says "You should have left us where we were. Now we're going to starve out here."

A few other people share a similar sentiment.

It looks like you might be the only one here who has any clue how to live off the land. They don't know how to hunt, they don't know about edible plants or anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:40, Tue 18 June 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 45):

Oh great.  As I hear the complaints, I smile.  Now I know how Moses felt.

"Its good. Its good. We can work with this.  First we need to find a safe location for a campfire."  Hopefully the campfire will bolster their spirits as such things seem to do.

Then I put one of the more responsible sorts in charge while I'm gone and take a couple tougher guys with me.  I need to hunt.  And if I see anyhting that looks vegetable like and edible....well, I can have people take a tiny bite and test it for a dozen hours.

Meat tho' is safer.

OOC) I was thinking about that too. Did you ever consider that birds as well as manna was what God left for them to eat? Did you ever consider that the manna might have been dried bird poop? Something to think about anyway.



Knowing how to start a fire is a fairly commonly known skill. Most houses have fireplaces. So the kids gather twigs and many fires are made. Whilst turning over logs for firewood, many pockets of insect larvae are found, which some of the older adults claim to be edible and rather tasty when cooked right. Not enough to sustain everyone, but an evening snack, sure.

OOC) I've been told the rule of thumb for whether or not you can eat an insect is "Black, Green or Brown, gulp him down. Red, Blue or Yellow, ignore that fellow."



With what are they hunting? Your favorite superverser taught you how to live off the land and how to make stone weapons. Bows, spears, tomahawks, whatever. Are you making stone weapons?

But as far as manna, there is a rather rough moss which some of the older folks claim makes a decent salad. Again, not enough to feed everyone, but a snack for the moment.

So, how are you hunting? You've got 2 guys with you.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:07, Tue 18 June 2019.

The snacks are good, and I smile tightly when it looks like bugs are on the menu.  Yay! Yum---not.  But its a good time to keep my opinion to myself.

I can teleport and I have swords.  And we would have taken some halberds which might serve as poor spears.

Well, they're really sweet and nutty. Like a honey roasted piece of edible something or other. The moss is chewy and hard. It has to be boiled into something like spinach to be really edible.



OOC) Well, are you teaching them how to make stone tools or animal traps? I just want to be clear about that. I mean, your favorite superverser did teach you all of that for a reason.

GE 19

Throwing the halberds, they catch maybe 1 out of 6 deer-sized creatures they encounter. There are some large dogs and cats which are killed for meat.

You teleport up on an ugly Komodo dragon looking lizard and take its head off with your sword. By nightfall, you've collected enough for a light meal and light breakfast if it's rationed. Which it's not. Morning comes, you gotta hunt again.

Some of your hunters ask if you can teach them to make weapons or if they're expected to use the halberds all the time.

Somebody else though is using a halberd as a kind of plow to plant a small garden.

Someone asks if you're planning to go liberate the ghetto you passed.

"My cousin's in that one, I think. I ain't seen him in so long, I kayn't be shure."

Says someone.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Thu 20 June 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 49):

Day Two, I start showing them how to make stone tipped spears and basic traps.  I have to balance between investing in training and food for the day.  So we get four guys for hunting with spears and two guys to make traps and I hunt as I did last time.

I compliment the guy using the halberd as a hoe.

To the questioner: "Let's get ourselves set up here first, and then we can think about it, okay?"

The night before, people are complaining about not having anywhere to sleep, except for in blankets on the ground. It's going to rain eventually. And winter is only a scant few months away. They're going to need shelter.

GE 10

Most of the people you teach learn it. A lot of people sit around and watch your instruction. They compliment you on it. The hunt is better. Remembering your training, you identify an edible mushroom which is added to the menu.

(Doing Therapy)

I take some of the watchers with me in addition to the regulars to hunt.

I also look about for village sites.  We could build log cabins, but that would tend to be visible.  A large cave might be better.  We are in the mountains.

Now stone is very heavy, but durable, and we could probably camoflage it pretty good as being part of the mountain.  Might go for an outer wall of stone facing away from the mountain and then a wooden wall and roof facing toward the mountain.

GE 16

The mountainside is too steep for the most part to build a village. There are a number of caves however that you could stay in.

The day is uneventful. You hunt, you gather edibles. Blah blah blah.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 53):

Cave it is then.

If we can start to get ahead of the food curve, I want to try to turn a clean cave into a secured from predators and hidden from Tuatha smoke house for meat.

GE 18

You can barely stay ahead of the food curve. Not enough left over at the moment to make preserving worthwhile. But at least not many are complaining about being hungry.

A couple of weeks go by. A few of your people volunteered to be scouts and lookouts for the party. They report that Tuatha patrols have been investigating the ghetto you escaped from. Word is they're looking for you.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 55):

I'm going to have to ramp up the food gathering skills of my village.  See about fishing rods, fishing spears, and nets.

I have a plan for dealing with the Tuatha scouts, but first I gotta keep my group from starving while I'm dealing with this other issue.

The dice like you so you find some mountain streams for water and they have an abundance of fish in them. You just have to be wary of bears and whatnot. But a bear is just a meal.

So, fish and bear steak are added to tonight's menu.

(Doing Therapy)

If I think  they can manage on their own for a week, I'm going to tell them I'm going to try to deal with the problem.  I don't go into details because opsec and I don't trust everyone.

My plan is to circle around to the opposite side of the village burn site, and stalk and kill an animal, and then later a couple Tuatha.  I want to make it look like I killed an animal, began to tote it somewhere, got surprised, and jumped one of the Tuatha.

This will hopefully draw them off inn the wrong direction.

GE 21

You're fairly certain that leaving them would not be a wise idea. They're used to "An honest day's work for an honest day's beatings." and they need a leader and structure. You can't go 20 minutes most days without being interrupted by someone asking you a stupid question.

So leaving, probably not wise at the moment.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 59):

Sigh.  That is a problem, and one not likely to be fixed soon.  I keep on workng with them, building skills and trying to get them more thoughtful so they don't do stupid stuff like toss a black smoke causing weed on the campfire to signal to one and all 'hey, come kill us now.'

GE 14

So far nothing overly bad has happened to anyone. You've had to break up a few fights. One guy wanted to surrender to the Tuatha and another guy beat him up for stupidity. Nobody's really been hurt yet.

You've got a few ladies paying you more attention than they probably should. Nothing you can't handle.

After a few weeks though, one of your scouts comes back with a new person. He's ragged and wearing one of the metal collars. He says he escaped from a ghetto. He's got news for you.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 61):

I free the guy from the torc, and get him some food and drink and a place to sit down in private and talk with me and the scout who brought him in.

The guy is so worn out and dehydrated that he can barely talk. After some food and drink, he stammers out:

"They're coming. They're coming. They deci-decimated the gh-gh-ghetto where I lived. Because because of you and-and-and your escape. Killed dozens of people. And they're coming here."

He doesn't know how they know where you are or when they'll be here. But he's positive it will be soon.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 63):

I pale. And then I gulp.  Of course. slavemasters must be vicious.  What would the Romans do?  The Maccabees chose suicide rather than being captured and who knows, maybe crucified by the Romans.

So I have to be more terrifying.

I gather everyone and speak of the Truth of Christ in short, blunt statements.

"I tell you this because you might die soon.  The slavers are coming.  And I go to slaughter them, to bring terror and madness and fear.  But I may fail.  Be ready to die."

And then I teleport away, heading toward the targets.

Several of the hardier men take up spears and sharpened sticks and ask if they can join you. They vow to defend the campsite with their lives.

Several of the women offer to pack you a lunch to take with you.

You can only teleport as far as your eye can see, but you teleport to the horizon. Off in the distance you see:

GE 24

More of them than you can count coming this way. But they're still several days away.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 65):

I tell the hardier men to guard the camp, and prepare themselves to flee with the others.  I take the food, I always take food.

Looking at them, at the targets, I remind myself, and I look for some sort of canyon they will have to pass up to get to us.  Or a very large pastureland.  I need a wildfire, a very large one.

GE 16

As it happens, they're walking and riding horses through a field of tall, dry grass. A couple well-placed torches ought to do the job.

I would like to state though that this isn't just Tuatha warriors. It's families and children traveling with their fathers and husbands. You wouldn't just be killing your enemy. You'd be killing innocent women and children as well.

But an innocent child today is your grown-up enemy tomorrow. An innocent woman today is the mother of your enemy tomorrow.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 67):

This is odd, I realize after spending some time considering whether I should wipe them out or not.  Few invaders or destroying armies march with women and children amongst them.  Unless its some sort of whole tribe thing....

I need information.

I wait until nightfall, and then look for a sleepy sentry or someone heading off to relieve themselves in the middle of the night.  A little Tuatha napping seems in order.

So you get the drop on a Tuatha female bathing her child in a nearby river. She's frightened by you. She tells you that this is normal. Men often travel with their families when combat is not expected. When the time of engagement comes closer, the men will leave the women and children in a relatively safe place and go off and fight. At the moment, you're 20 plus miles away from the humans they're planning to attack. When you're more like 5 miles away, the women and children will set up camp and most of the men will go off and fight.

She also tells you that they would not hesitate to burn entire families of humans. And that no less would be expected of attacking humans. It would be kind of understood if not condoned for you to burn the innocent women and babies. This is war, after all.

The innocent child today is your mortal enemy tomorrow.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 69):

Sigh.  Tell her they are all going to die.  Leave her, and as they say on Nascar...kick the tires, light the fires.  I'll burn them out.

OOC) Dummy!!!!!!

GE 15

Slightly better than neutral, so she actually waits a few minutes for the reality of what you've said to sink in before she begins screaming bloody murder and trying to alert her people. Within minutes, the entire camp is up and in arms. Loaded for bear and hunting you down.

You try to light the grass on fire, but that only alerts them to your presence. You've got spears and arrows sailing in from all over the place.

Teleport and light. Teleport and light.

GE 18

It just occurred to me. With what are you lighting the grass on fire? If you'd like, I'll allow that you discovered a feature on your gauntlet that would let you light fires.

But anyway, you light the grass where you're standing. Then you teleport 30 feet away. In the dark, you can't really see where you're teleporting to, so 30 feet is about the best you can manage at the moment. But you light the grass there. In the confusion, they continue shooting at where you were. You teleport away just as they realize you've moved. You manage to stay one step ahead of them for the most part.

Then you teleport and run face first into a Tuatha warrior. He had his back to you and you slam face first into him. He whips around and raises a sword.....

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 73):

I'll go with the feature.

Light the Tuatha warrior on fire and teleport.

So, add one flamethrower with a three foot range. The downside is that every time you use it, they immediately begin shooting at you.



GE 9

So you fire the flamethrower. He brings his sword down directly on top of your helmet. Little bit of ringing and a headache, but you're fine. Your opponent on the other hand.... He starts screaming whilst his shirt catches fire. You teleport away.

The batteries in your armor are still at a decent charge.

It's not long after that you have most of the encampment surrounded by flames. You smell meat cooking. Women and children are screaming. Some of them look at you, pleading for mercy through the flames. A few manage to escape, but they're too badly burned to offer much resistance. Mostly they just run off into the night. You get a few challenging you, but you dispatch them quite handily with the flamethrower.

When the smoke clears (Literally) you're looking at dozens, maybe hundreds of corpses. You do hear some moaning and crying coming from it, so they're not all dead. But it's good enough for now. The others will think twice before messing with you.

(Doing Therapy)

I head back to tell the village that the enemy raiders have been destroyed.  Then I head toward another human slave village intending to free them.  Occasionally I stare off into the distance feeling a tinge of horror, but it goes away.

When you get back, someone asks you "Did any of them survive?" (Answer, yes.)

"That's great. That's just great. Now they're going to come back in even greater numbers. And you're not gonna be here to protect us. You should have left us in the ghetto!!"

Complain complain complain.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 77):

"If you've got time to complain, you've got time to work." I say with an icy coldness staring at them straight in the eyes unblinking.

Later I go find another slave village.

Somebody slaps that complainer in the back of the head and yells at him to shut up.

"Don't you remember how horrible it was? This guy's done everything he can to make our lives better. Don't we owe him respect?"

This gets a few cheers and a few more moans. All in all it's probably about 50/50 for and against.

But you activate your rocket boots and take off flying in search of another village. You find one. Your armor is at about 50% charge when you get there.

Do you want to wait for it to charge when you get there or just go into it?

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 79):

Wait to charge.  At night, kill sentries, and set the barracks on fire.

GE14

The day isn't completely sunny. It's kinda cloudy and dull. You find that laying spread eagle on your back recharges it somewhat faster. But at nightfall, you're still not to 100% charge. But it has increased.



GE 16

As before, guards walk the perimeter. They're almost clockwork in their motions. They don't see you. But you stand at a corner and observe two guards meet there every so often, with uncanny regularity. They're armed with swords and halberds.

How are you attacking?

(Doing Therapy)

I'd like to find a place where the guards are out of sight of each other, and take one on.  Then go to the meeting spot and take the other on.  Then go to the other side of the camp and repeat.

This is teleport in and stab stab stab.  Aiming for the first stab to be one that will keep them from yelling.

That would be in the middle. The perimeter is roughly a quarter mile on a side, one guard walking each side. So the first and last 25% or so they can see each other. The middle 50% not so much.

GE 11

So you teleport in and attack the guard in the middle point and hack-n-slash. He goes down. You figure you've probably got about 2 minutes before his buddy on the side notices he's not there. You could literally set your watch to the way these guards move.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 83):

Teleport out, sneak in, teleport again when spot guard in spot where he can't be seen.  Go choppy on him.  I go for a chop from behind to let me chop his head off.

GE12

The second guard reaches the corner and doesn't see his buddy. You see him reach for his signal whistle, to alert everyone, and you teleport in. Choppy Choppy Stabby Stabby. One dead greener.

The other two are probably at the corner opposite this one. You can't see it, but you've only got a few more minutes to dispatch them.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 85):

Teleport over in that direction as I can since that is faster than running.  I'm hoping to again take them seperately.  If I have, I'll take them on both at once, hopefully with a teleport ambush.

GE 20

You teleport to the guard. Off in the distance however, you can see his partner has noticed you and is running up to help his buddy. You've got about 10 seconds before he covers the distance. So far, he's not raised any alarm.

Still attacking?

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 87):

Great. Aargh. Pause for half a second, and then stabbity stab.  Then leaving the last guard, teleport to the barracks.  Set the door on fire, and then set the other walls on fire.  Be as quick as I can because there is another guard out there hunting me.

Stabby Stab the first guard.

GE 15

Just a bit better than neutral so the second guard waits just a bit before blowing his whistle and trying to alert his friends.

You teleport to the barracks and start flaming the place, but you can see some of them are already waking up. They see you out the window. You set the door on fire but several of them crash through the window. You run around the other way trying to burn this place down, but they're coming out in droves.

The noise has alerted some of the humans. They're standing in doorways watching. One or two of the braver men seeing the opportunity take up rakes and hoes and attempt to help, but there's not much they can do.

You've got about two dozen greenies chasing you and maybe three or four humans trying vaguely to help you. The barracks is on fire, but it's not doing much to slow them down.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 89):

This is terrible.  I try to switch into faster gear.  Looking at the helpers, I consider taking them with me.  But then I realize that won't work.

So I head out shouting at the Tuatha to 'come and get me if you dare'.  Hopefully they follow me.  If I'm in clear enough space, I fake a stumble and a limp to entice them on.  If I'm  not clear enough, I teleport to get clear, and then taunt them again when I am clear.  I'm going to hopefully take them on a run into the forrest.

OOC) Shoulda killed the second guard before you attacked the barracks. But anyway.....

GE 17.

Some of the greenies are following you. Some are trying to corral the humans back into their homes. Some of the braver men are trying to stand their ground and help you. In the burning flames of the barracks, you see a handful of men take up clubs and burning boards and attempt to fight back.

I imagine you're fairly amused when you see a young human girl jump onto the back of a greenie and start pounding him Ala Boo from Monsters Inc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxJOcp8gZH4 (It's only 30 seconds long)

It's a losing fight for all concerned, however. Not enough are following you to make much of a difference. Even if you killed all the ones following you.

You manage to take out a few of them with your blasters and flamethrower. The slave men have a couple of them down. But this is going to end badly for you unless something drastic happens quickly.

OOC) And unfortunately, I probably won't be back for at least a week or more. :( Oh well!!!!!!

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 91):

I teleport as fast as I can back to the slave guys who are fighting.  And I help them.

GE 17

The odds would be about 6 to 1 if all of the humans were fighting. Probably 3 to 1 if all of the human men were fighting. Right now, it's probably 2 to one. Some women are fighting, some men are cowering. Some are hiding. You at least are holding your own.

If this fight continues as is, you will eventually lead about 3/4th the original population out of here. The remaining 1/4 will be buried in the hillside, along with all of the greenies. You will win the day, at a price.

Unless something drastic happens......

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 93):

Better than nothing.  Next time, do better, I think, and then I focus down on what I am doing.  Its not the time to grieve or be enraged about past mistakes.  Right now, I need to focus on killing aliens from another star.

One human guy is like "Woooow!!! Maan, we messed them up gooooood huh?"

Then somebody else cries "Now we got nothing to eat!!! No place to live!!! The greenie'll kill us when they catch us!!!!"

It's about 50/50 happy and complaining.

Somebody looks to you and says "So boss, what's on the agenda now?"

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 94):

"Grab weapons. Grab what food we can find. Burn this place. We have a Hidden Village." I resist the urge to say Hidden Valley Ranch....and soon we're hiking through the woods.

GE 24

Some are following your orders blindly. Some are tending to the dead and/or wounded. Others are complaining, asking you what to do.

About what you would expect.

It is decided that you will not leave until after midday. Why? Who knows? But it is discovered that you do not have nearly enough food to last you the entire journey. This is before you leave.

One person says "Think everyone. Think. What can we do about this?"

Murmured.......Hunting....... looking for edible plants........ "I could check my pantry again......"

Someone says "He's gonna lead us out into the wilderness to die!!!"

Everyone is looking to you for answers.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 97):

Grrrrrrr.  Wipe hand over face. Grit teeth. Decide not to say....oh no, I'm going to say something.

"All right, you primitive nitwits.  You have  twenty minutes, and then I'm lighting this puppy.  Err village.  And I'm leaving.  You can stay here and roast rats over the house fires, or come with me. Understand. Good.  No, I do not want to discuss it.  You now have nineteen minutes and thirty seconds."

GE 9

You give your speech and a young woman steps up from the crowd. She demands "Why are you complaining? How many times have we wished that someone would come and do exactly what this gentleman did? Yes, it might be difficult. Yes, it will be a challenge. But together. Together. We can make it. Do you hear me? WE CAN MAKE IT!!!!"

A rough cheer comes up from the crowd. Not all of them are on board, but it's a start.

Then the young woman walks up and approaches you, offering her hand to shake.

"Name's Carly Rae Jepsen. And you?"

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 99):

I shoot her.  No, not really.  I thought we agreed no Carly Rae.

OOC) No, YOU agreed no Carly Rae. I did nothing of the sort. What difference does it make what her name is? We'll call her Annette if that's what you want.

I just like messing with you. Haven't you figured that out yet?

Anyway, on with the game!!!!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 06:22, Wed 28 Aug 2019.

I take them with me.

GE 18

Carly or Annette, or whatever name you want to give her, she helps you to get everyone organized. It takes you an hour to get moving because people are asking questions and complaining. Your new female companion helps you a lot.

As you're leading them, you see Tuatha patrols off in the distance. You see them through the telescopic sights on your helmet. No reason to think they saw you.

It takes you several days. People are whining. You catch some food here and there. You pass by a stream for water. But you make it back.

When you get back, one of the guys shows you a house that they built just for you. It's a log cabin. One room, thatch roof. But it's nicer than anything else anyone has.

Someone asks you "Well, you've got us here. What are you planning to do with us?"

(Doing Therapy)

"Annette is so wonderful that I'm going to leave her in charge.  I'll be back never."  I head out in the woods, and leave them behind.  No, I don't stop.  If someone tries to stop me, I teleport, and keep on running and teleporting.

GE 8

Nobody takes you seriously at first. They think you're joking. But then you teleport. Someone yells "Now what are we supposed to do?????" And starts chasing you. But you teleport again and again and again. Soon, you're out of their eyesight.

Your anger and frustration clouds you to the point that you're not really watching where you're going. But finally you slam face first into a giant tree. If not for your helmet, you'd probably have a broken nose.

You're surrounded by trees. There's apples and bananas and all kinds of fruit. Glancing around, you see evidence of ample game to eat. You hear a little babbling brook off in the distance. You could stay here for quite a while, thanks to the training of a certain, nameless superverser.

But what in the heck is making that buzzing sound???????

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:36, Thu 05 Sept 2019.

I walk on, letting my nose heal.  Keeping an eye out for threats, and just enjoying not having the pressure on me right now.  Of course, I plan to do more harsh things to the Tuatha, but for the moment, peace is nice.

GE 17

So you walk along. It's peaceful. Something you've not had in a while. The buzzing sound gets slowly louder and louder until you see it. The Tuatha are running a logging camp. There's a large motorized saw that they're feeding trees into. About a hundred or so human slaves are working cutting down the trees.

You've not been seen. You could walk away. It'll be a while before you're far enough away not to hear the buzzing sound, but it could be done.

Or you could help the humans. Up to you.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 09:13, Sun 08 Sept 2019.

I sit back and think.  There might be a better way of doing this.

The business with the Tuatha taking their whole tribe shows me that they're different than I expect.  So I find a good hiding spot, and observe the Tuatha.

GE 20

You find a safe space to hide and observe. You watch a Tuatha child, no older than 12 or 13 whipping some boys who are cleaning up broken branches. Looks like the overseers start out early.

The facilities are reminiscent of the 1950s "White" and "Colored" except it's "Tuatha" "Human". Humans use an outhouse dug in the ground, Tuatha have plumbing. Good food for the greenies, not so good food for the humans.

Human men are chopping down trees with axes whilst overseers sip lemonade.

Surprisingly, you do see a number of Tuatha and Human women sitting around a campfire, apparently having a sewing circle. They're treated as equally as whites and blacks would have been during slavery. Friendly gossip shared by all, all eating cakes and having a good time. Women are the most equal among them.

Exploitable weakness perhaps?

A couple of children, you're not sure which color, go sprinting past you. One of them comes close enough that he steps on your shin as you kneel, hiding. He continues on like nothing happened. Hurts, but he didn't notice.

But you're fine until nightfall. The women finish up the sewing circle, laughing and carrying on. The men count their new whip wheels and go to their ramshackle houses.

Four guards, one on each side of the perimeter, as always.

(Doing Therapy)

Two Posts

I'm sorry Eric. Really. I didn't realize you were that serious about not having Carly Rae in the game. I figure it's just a name. You know what she looks like. How many different ways can I play her? How many different versions of her are there?

So really. If you insist, it won't happen again. Can't guarantee Magehammer will never be seen again. But anyway......

So, do you insist that Carly Rae be retired? Clear answer. No confusion.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 110):

Yes, retire her.

And no, I don't like romance in my games.  You're not the first GM I had this problem with.  I'm near finishing (maybe considering my past history of not getting novels done) a litrpg novel.  It has one moment when the hero is charming to a woman for a couple seconds, and thats it.  And MJ tried to set up something in one of his worlds as a gm, and I put my foot down...through the floor.  Let us move on, and forget about this.  And now I have a new battery for my formerly ailing PC  (Yay!!).

==========================================================

When it gets dark, I go off and take care of things like eating.  Later, I come back and find a better hidey hole.  That had been bad luck, but still I came far too close to being discovered.

The camp is having them cut down logs?  Do they process them here?  Is there a lumber mill?  Or is there a road with ruts like might be formed by a heavily loaded wagon?  Or do the Tuatha use some mind power?  Unless the locals are building houses, the logs have to be going somewhere I think?

I also wonder if human women are doing the cooking.  A bit of poison or sleepy time in the overseers' daily soup could work wonders.  The next day I try to take note of a human female low on the pecking order who shows some signs of being bitter about her treatment, or a female hiding her anger at how her man is being treated.

OOC) Done. What can I say? I like the character.



OOC) And now that you have made yourself 100% clear on the matter, she is officially retired. How about Carl Raymond? Is that acceptable?



GE 22

As you're running away, you run into a couple of human children. A brother and sister maybe. The little girl screams "Papa!!" and they start running away. Nobody comes after you. Apparently written off as a child overreacting. But still close.



They put them on a truck. Human labor, that is, puts them on the trucks. You've only ever seen the Tuatha psionically activate the punishment collars. Torcs? You called them? Once or twice you've seen them kill a human in that fashion. But that's apparently the extent of their psionics. Once on the truck, who knows what happens to the logs? It's a gas or diesel truck.



GE 13

You observe a human woman pouring her Tuatha mistress a cup of tea. She discretely puts a tap's worth of powder into it, stirring gently. Giggling like a schoolgirl all the while. She presents it to the mistress. About 30 minutes later, the Tuatha mistress jumps up from her chair and starts booking it to the bathroom. She stays in there for quite some time. The human women are giggling hysterically at this.When she emerges from the bathroom, they comfort the poor, sick troubled Tuatha mistress.  They offer to make her a cup of herbal tea.......

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 112):

Dump CR as well.

Once I get into my hidey hole, I sit and shake for ten minutes.  Way too close.

I grin when I see the trick the lady plays on her mistress.  Good for you, I cheer silently.

I need to find out more about their civilization.  Does there look to be a way to hide on the truck, or to tie myself to the underside?

Whilst you're checking out the trucks, you happen to run into that lady who played the trick on her Mistress. Trickster we'll call her. She's alone out in the woods gathering mushrooms and other edibles. When she sees you, at first she's terrified, but then she regains composure and says:

"Praise be. It's You. The Liberator!!!! Have ye come to liberate us good sir?"

She goes onto say that there were vague reports of an armored human fitting your description going around. Mostly they're dismissed as so much hoopla. Superheroes are a common genre for the oppressed. How those stories got around is anyone's guess. Maybe some of the folks you liberated got away. But in the meantime, the Trickster seems to be willing to do anything you need. She's an expert in wild edibles, medicinal and poisons.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 114):

"Not yet. I'm trying to understand how the Tuatha work.  See if there is a better way to take the society apart.  I saw how you dosed your mistress, and I'm impressed.  Takes guts to fight back. Takes smarts to get away with it."

Trickster tells you that there's not a lot of ways to poison them. They've got iron-clad stomachs. That dose she gave her mistress would be enough to kill 10 able-bodied human men. All it does to a Tuatha is send them to the bathroom. She's considered doing it on a larger scale, but to hit enough of them, zero humans, and get away with it..... It's a pipe dream. But if it could work......

But as far as taking them apart.

"There's the head honcho fellers, of course. Then there's the lower guys. These guys running this here show. They's about third tier. If'n you really want to disrupt things, you'll need to go to Tuatha Town. It's their capitol. From there, they commminicate plans. Disrupt that communication and you could cause all manner of consternation in their ranks."



At this, she permits a giggle. "Doesn't hurt Lad to have a mistress which is too simple-headed and trusting to understand. Ah the things we get away with. Right under her nose."

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 116):

"Thanks. That sort of intelligence is very helpful." I consider that there might be something Humans are fine with that kills Tuatha.  I remember seeing TV shows or reading books where water was acid or caffeine was dangerous.  But finding out that sort of information would be hard or impossible.  The third tier Tuatha here might not even know it.  Still....

"Is there something Humans do that Tuatha react with distaste or distance themselves from....eating a certain berry, or certain woods you are forbidden to burn, or...?"

Trickster stops and considers for a moment.....

"Gory be, there is!! I never thought about it till just now. There's a certain plant which grows over yonder that the Tuatha are afraid of. They keep a right good distance from it. Men ain't bothered by it. They eat from it regular. Got tasty leaves and the wood pulp makes good bread. The Tuatha said something about their religion forbids they touching it or something. But that's a good place to start."

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 118):

I grin widely.  "Yeah, that sounds just like the thing. Can you describe it?" I speak softly, hoping she will as well.

"I can do better than that, good sir. I can test it for you. Put a bit into my Mistress's tea. See what it does to her. Would that be of help to you sir? She's old and infirm. Her sudden and inexplicable demise would not raise suspicion. At least, I don't believe it would."

And if you agree, she will do just that.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 120):

I twitch a bit.  "Yeah, let's do that."

So she shows you where the plant is. Helps you identify it. It's fairly common. She picks some and goes in to see her Mistress.

GE 24

Trickster indeed poisons her Mistress. A short time later, the Mistress's husband comes home. Then an alarm sounds. Medics rush to the home and carry the Mistress out on a stretcher. Trickster is led out in handcuffs.

Somebody tells Trickster "If she dies, so do you."

You watch this unfold from your safe hiding spot. Trickster so far has not given you up.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 09:36, Thu 03 Oct 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 122):

That is problematic.  Hmm.  I doubt I could sell it as my action.  So we're probably looking at a slaughter of Tuatha again.

How many targets?

What's he doing? Is he just breaking her out a jail or is he going to kill all of the Tuatha? What are your plans for the near future?

Gotta know that before I can proceed.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 124):

Depending on how many their are, I plan to do one or the other.

She's taken to the equivalent of the Tuatha police station. It's got a 30 or so cell prison/dungeon, it's rumored to house torture facilities along the lines of the Spanish Inquisition. There's also a gallows in the back. Human prisoners are tried and executed. Almost 100% guilty.

The police station is also not guarded from the outside. Sneaking in after dark isn't all that difficult. You prepare yourself to fight, but find instead the Tuatha desk sergeant is unconscious. So are all of the officers. There's one human prisoner besides Trickster who is here. He is awake and confused about what happened.

But all of the Tuatha are asleep.

When you arrive to let her out, Trickster tells you "Simple aerosol sleeping agent derived from mold I found in the cell. I figured I'd have some fun before I was executed. Good timing though, eh?"

So you're got a clear path. Are you freeing the other prisoner?

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 126):

Kill all the Tuatha.  Free the other prisoner.

So you kill the sleeping Tuatha. It's not difficult.

Trickster tells you that her Mistress died in agony in the hospital earlier. That poison definitely works. It kills them slowly and painfully like they deserve.

Trickster is scheduled for execution in the morning. A public spectacle. She was to be made an example of. But that's not happening now.

The other prisoner isn't sure what he's being charged with. He thinks he was just selected at random to be made an example of to keep the rest in line. He doesn't have any knowledge or skills that would be particularly useful.

Trickster asks what you're planning to do with the poison. She's with you every step of the way.

So, whachadoin now?

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 128):

Good.

I nod in acknowledgement of her statement.

Looking into the distance, I think.  I turn to the other prisoner and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Brother, you're free now."

I start by freeing them from their torcs.

I ask Trickster to get me a large bag if she can of the poison herb.  I wonder to myself if I can dry, powder, and then make a salve of it to put on arrows.

"Trickster," I say later. "I need you to take them back to the Human Camp.  And once there, I need  you to teach them how to poison the Tuatha.  Find someone good at sneaking through the woods, silent, not like me with my clanking armor.  Be like the wolf. Silent, in a pack, and sneak upon your enemy.  Kill and dissappear.  Make the Tuatha afraid to venture into the woods.  Make them afraid to eat their food for fear it is poisoned.  Make them fear to sleep for they may wake with a slit throat.  There is a very capable female leader of the Camp. Work with her.  I am going to find more warriors and send them to you.  You have done very well.  You are a credit to the Human Race."

And I repeatedly teleport away.  Later, safe, I take out the herbs and examine them.  I make a small fire.  Perhaps if I cook them, I can boil down to the essence...?

Trickster says "I cannot stay here. Surely I will be put to death the moment I am caught. You must take me with you, good sir. You are responsible for me."

In a way she's right. She wouldn't have poisoned Mistress if not for you.

You can take her with you or you can leave her here to die. Your choice.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 130):

I tell her how to get to the Human Camp.  Then I port out.

OOC) Missed that part about the Human Camp.

IC) Trickster tells you that the only way the poison will work is direct ingestion. Try concentrating it if you want to, but she thinks a good way would be just to drop a few of the leaves in a communal stew kettle and see what happens. They'll probably think it's spinach or something.

So you teleport. Since you can only port as far as your eye can see, you have a max range of a few miles, most of the time. Unless you're jumping from the top of a tall hill. But you pass by labor camps when you stop. Not the place Trickster told you about. You want the capitol city. There you can do some severe damage.

It's very much like Washington DC in the early 1800s. Not a lot of tech. There's the president's house, the other municipal buildings. But this is the hub of Tuatha infrastructure. A blow here would be like taking out one of the Borg trans-warp hubs.

Amazingly, human citizens walk about freely. They don't appear to be overly oppressed here. Almost free. Although, a Tuatha might well tell a human citizen to do something at random and the person will do it.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 132):

I look for a drying line and some human clothes in my size.  Then I 'liberate them for the Cause'.  After that I choose an easily identifiable and hidden place, don the clothes and bury my armor.

GE 21

After much searching, you locate a sufficiently out of the way drying line. You remove your armor and approach. You are right in the middle of finishing getting dressed when a young girl of perhaps 12 comes out of the house. Her mouth drops open when she sees you. A moment later, a Tuatha soldier comes up behind you. He puts his weapon, a blade of some sort to the back of your head.

The little girl sees you and the solider about the duke it out and, thinking quickly,  she squeals "Uncle Bob!!!!" Then she winks at you and approaches and throws her arms around you and hugs you like there's no tomorrow.

The Tuatha soldier is thrown by this. He just stands back and watches.

The girl's parents come out. She gestures to you and says "Look mom!!! It's Uncle Bob!!!" The mother coyly nods back. You are invited into their house.

The solider asks if everything is alright. The mother and the daughter both nod vigorously insisting that everything is fine and practically drag you into the house through the back door.

Seems like if you just shut up and go along with things, you'll get out of this.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Mon 21 Oct 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 134):

I go along with this, acting happy to see my 'niece'.

Once inside, the girl and her whole family gather around you. Her father is excited. He says:

"You're him, right? You're the Torcless One. You've come to liberate us all, right?"

The mother and daughter are likewise excited. Apparently they've heard of your exploits.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 136):

"Uh, yes.  What have you heard, and what are the Tuatha saying?"

The father is excited. It's like he's met his hero in person.

"Is it true that you've liberated over 21 cities? You've murdered thousands of Tuatha? Can you really throw fireballs from your bare hands and rip the torcs open too?"

The mother says "Hush now darling. This gentleman needs our help too." Then she asks if you'd like anything to eat.

And the daughter says "Can you teach me to throw fireballs?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:04, Thu 24 Oct 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 138):

"Three cities, a few hundred Tuatha, and I can take off torcs, which I can do for you if you like.  As to fireballs, not exactly, just a fire thing. And yes, I would love some cooked food.  Eating game cooked over a campfire is good, but actual food at a table would be nice."

"Sorry about the fireballs, kiddo."

The family looks rather disappointed. But they quickly brighten up. That's what you get for listening to hersay.



OOC) You're not wearing your armor. If you could scrounge up the blacksmithing tools, you could make more armor for people. Just saying. Kinda surprised you've not done that.

Yes, they all want the torcs taken off. Do you know what a Tuatha, even a child, can do to you if you're wearing one? Once it's off though, their brain powers are completely useless.



The guy kind of stammers and says "Sir, it IS going to be game cooked over a campfire. But we do sit at a table and commune with one another. So there's that."

And wild vegetables. A potato/onion hybrid tasting thing. And yes, they do know of that poisonous  plant you're carrying. It's a popular salad garnish. You're probably going to have some with dinner.

The guy is shocked. He kind of quietly screams "You mean to tell me that this whole time, we've had access to the means to decimate their entire population once and for all and nobody ever realized it????"

He's furious.




With the eye of a comic book geek looking over a player of cos, a piece of cosplay, a cosplayer in an X-Man suit, whatever tickles your groove, she looks you over, and exclaims "Of Course!!!! You're not wearing your magical gloves!!!! Could you make me a pair of magical gloves?"

She means the gauntlets, of course.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:37, Thu 24 Oct 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 140):

"I'll be glad to take off your torcs." And I do that.  "Now remember, you have to wear the torc, but just keep the break hidden inside a high necked shirt or something.  Don't want to advertise that you are a free human, eh?"

I'm a little dissappointed at the food, but I nod.

"Even a table will be nice.  Thank  you, sir."  I smile gratefully.

"Brother," I say to the furious man. "Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. We can free humankind."

I nod to the girl.

"You know, that is a very good idea.  Now, I'd need a forge, and iron and hammers, and some place to work where I would not be bothered by wandering Tuatha snooping...."

The coarse food comes with lively joking and banter. Roast Rabbidillo. It's a mating of a rabbit and an armadillo, as far as you can tell. The salad is the onion/potato hybrid, onions, potatoes and the Tuatha poison. It's quite tasty.

The little girl tells you of some pranks she and her friends played on the Tuatha children.

"Me and Billy got Torced for it. But it was worth it!!"

Getting Torced is when they mentally choke you out.

The mother wonders about how we could poison enough Tuatha to make a difference. And how to coordinate the humans? You're talking about a single strike? Or are you going to take them out a few at a time? What's your plans?

"I've got friends who serve in high class restaurants. Maybe they could do something....."



The father agrees. He embraces you. He's dreamed of plans to take them out, but never did he have access to the means to go through with it.



You gotta go outside and get your gauntlets first. But when you do:



You notice that the guy's next door neighbor has a blacksmithing forge. The guy is fairly certain he'll let you use it. But first you have to make a torc for yourself. No crystals on the inside, no locks, but something that looks legit. It's a miracle the Tuatha who were here before didn't see that you weren't wearing one.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:08, Tue 29 Oct 2019.

I enjoy my meal with them and laugh delightedly a few times.

==============

"Brave child.  Humanity will need bravery in the free future." I reply to the girl's story.

=================

I agree out loud with the mother.  I tell them we need to think about it.  "Its like finally having a sword.  You still need to learn how to swing and slash with it.  Its not magic."

===========

Right. I expect the Tuatha suffered from the usual blindness of expectation.  We all see what we expect to see sometimes.  I set to work on making a torc if the man of the house can get his neighbor to let me use the forge.

So you do.



The girl is taken by that. She really appreciates it. She says "I wish. I wish you were the king...."



She takes some of the herb and promises to get it to her friends. For the moment you've not done anything. But we'll let you know.



He'll let you use the forge. He'll even supply the coal and iron and whatnot that you need. But you have to make for him one of the magical gloves.

"Ya see, I gots to report to the greenies how much coal and whatnot I be using. Ain't hard to doctor the books...... make it look like I ain't using as much. But I'll tell you what, my conscience would be a whole lot clearer if'n I had me one of them magical gloves....."

Deal or no deal, but that's it.

(Doing Therapy)

"Are you going to use the glove to help humans?" I say, and if he agrees then I'm all for it.  I tell him I have to make a pair of gloves for another first, but he's second on the list.

GE 25

He laughs at you.

"Buddy, Imma beat me some Tuatha freaks to death with it. And if you don't like that, I'm under no obligation to let you use my forge. And I might even report your sorry scheme to the local authorities. You following me son?"

He's making a half-hearted attempt to blackmail you. Although I imagine your response is going to be something like Morgan Freeman's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6o1GIEsQE

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 146):

"I like the first idea..." I say slowly as I light my glove, and stare through him.  "The second not so much."  If he makes a move, I light him up with fire and then finish him with a sword.

He puts his hand up in a thumbs linking hand shake. Ya know, a handshake where it looks like you're arm wrestling?

"Deal brother. Use the forge. I just want the first a them thar gloves ya'lls goan make."

He shaking your hand in peace. Apparently he was just posturing. People don't get to do that here very often.

So, free use of the forge.

Whachadoin?

Your sword can morph, actually all of your armor can morph somewhat. Change size, etc. It's nano tech. The sword can become a hammer.

Anyway.....

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 148):

Build the girl some gauntlests, then the guy who is letting me use his forge, .....eat, sleep, hammer, eat, sleep, hammer....

You make the girl some gauntlets. Her parents forbid her from using them outside of the house. However, every member of the family trains to use them. But only inside where they won't be seen. There might come a day when they need to. They're fairly practical as a family. They each know their place. If you would like, you could make one more gauntlet and then they'd each have one. But that's your choice. Dad will take the left-handed one.

Mr. Forge gets his. He disappears the next day. The story around the campfire is that he promptly proceeded to punch a Tuatha in the face with it. He's immediately surrounded by Tuatha warriors. Apparently tries to use the gauntlet weapons. Apparently botches. Anyway, long story short, he's dead. The gauntlet is fried. It is no longer functional. But it is in possession of the Tuatha magistrate. Mr. Forge's family are denying all knowledge of it. So is the family you're with.

So you're safe, but in a bit of trouble?

Making anything else?

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Sun 10 Nov 2019.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 150):

Try to camoflage the forge a bit, make it so it won't be obvious where the smoke comes out.  Make new gauntlets for everyone.

Mr. Forge was stupid, but understandable.  I think if I can make a LOT of gauntlets and get people with practise in them the Men should be better off.  And the magistrate....??  We'll see.

Camouflaging the forge? Not a really good idea. Mr. Forge was known to the Tuatha. He did business with non-combative civilians. His family lived somewhat better than most because of this. It's kind of unspoken that you are to take up that role. It won't be much for you to do. Just an occasional repair. You'll have plenty of time to make gauntlets or whatever. It is camouflaged. Hiding in plain sight. And you'll have a few extra bucks to spend on whatever.



Your family talks to others in the area. Soon you've got something of an underground network. Underground railroad perhaps? People are gathering the poison plants. Others are gathering metal for you to make gauntlets from. They're waiting for the right time to strike and apparently that is your decision.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 152):

Ok. I'll make the Tuatha their little things.  And in my off time, I make more gauntlets.  Do I have an idea about how many Tuatha there are in town?

It's nothing major. A Tuatha mother and son come over and ask you to repair the kid's bicycle. The smile on his face when you're finished almost makes you forget he's your mortal enemy. Almost.

Little things like that you do. You get paid for it. The family you're with is grateful for the extra income. You're pulling your own weight and then some.



And so you do. More than once you get questioned by Tuatha patrons about what you're doing, but I'm sure you come up with a satisfactory excuse. You're expected to drop everything in the middle of everything and work on Tuatha projects at a moment's notice. It's..... irritating.



How many blacks are in Washington DC? That's about how many Tuatha there are here.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 154):

I look for more blacksmiths to teach how to do this.  We need a couple orders of magnitude more force.

You cannot teach a blacksmith how to make the armor. They must have an entire suit of Isis armor to make the armor. It will take you months to make one full suit.

The gauntlets are working out though. A sort of Fight Club opens up where they train each other. Tuatha have not discovered any new gauntlets. Things are cooling down on that front.

What else ya doing?

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 156):

I try to recruit some trusted assistants.  Sure I have to do the actual smithing, but someone else can be a gopher and speed the process up.

So you do that. One of the kids in the neighborhood sets that up for you. The human children ride bicycles and roam freely here, from what you've observed. Perfect messengers and mules. You just have to be real careful about what they know. They don't know how to be quiet.

But yeah. You start getting requests from Gauntlets coming from the woodwork.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 158):

I start dividing my time between making gauntlets and getting that extra suit going.  I also try to get other smiths to start making stockpiles of hidden weapons, just speartips which can be easily hidden and then turned into spears in case the revolution suddenly kicks off.

So you do. People discover features on the gauntlets.

To whom are you giving the full suit? There's other blacksmiths around.



Oh, you're preaching to the choir there. Smiths and woodworkers and stone masons have all been making and hoarding weapons. Children keep sharpened sticks and improvised bows and arrows in their wilderness forts. The mentality is similar to the guy who finds a diamond mine whilst stranded on a desert island. So he collects them and hoards them in the hope that he will one day be rescued and become a millionaire.

But yeah, you're pretty much sitting on a hair trigger. It's your call when the mayhem begins. But you've got the support of dozens of people. Word is spreading. They've been primed for this for years. They just never had a leader until you showed up.

OOC) I've been told that, just in the state of Ohio, an army of a million armed civilians could be raised within 24 hours in the event of an invasion by foreign powers. That's kinda the situation you're in. You are the linchpin for the whole thing.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 160):

I'd like someone who is discreet and works very hard, and is competent as a blacksmith.

Get some plans set up depending on whether we get caught or whether we decide we've have enough weapons and we want to kick off the war.

Homer Simpson shows up. He's a blacksmith and a trusted friend of the family you're with. His wife Marge works as a maid and a cook, whilst taking care of the baby, Maggie. Bart and Lisa are leaders among the children.

But your wish is their command. What do you have in mind?



It's completely your call. There's one other guy with a full suit of armor who is making gauntlets. There's maybe 20-30 gauntlets out there. Poison, improvised weapons, you could ruin some people's days right now. Just say the word.

I'm looking for a lot more weapons that that.  Say 200...

GE 11



A noble pursuit that is, to be sure. But the longer you delay, the greater the risk of this being discovered. Some of these people are chomping at the bit, hungry to inflict damage on the Tuatha. If you don't act soon, you could very well lose control of the situation.

But for the moment, all is serene. You can keep going. It'll be a couple more months before you've enough gauntlets.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 164):

"I know, I know.  We want to win, not just hurt them.  Victory is worth a little patience."  I tell them over and over as I no doubt have this conversation many times one on one since gathering in large groups is a Bad Idea.

And I pray.  We're sitting on a ticking time bomb, and part of me sometimes just wants to set it off because of the awful tension.

GE 8

Most folks go along with your plan. A few grumble before going along with it. One guy requires a skull thump from a gauntlet before he sees stars..... I mean the logic of your plan. You get the feeling the powder keg you're sitting on isn't ready to blow just yet.



You keep making gauntlets. They all have the display in the side in that strange language. They all have the same capabilities as yours. You're getting there. A few more weeks and you'll be ready.

Are you making anything else? Chest plates? Boots? Swords?

Some of the more optimistic folks are preparing for your coronation as king when the dust settles.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 166):

Heh....'the logic of my plan'...:)

I'd like more tools, but no, a few more weeks and we kick off the party.

OOC) Three little ten sided dice hath been cast. And they hast found thou worthy!!!

GE 8

You make gantlets, boots, chest pieces, maybe even a sword or two. Every once in a while you're disturbed by a Tuatha who demands work done. More than once you have to be physically held back from turning them into green jelly.

Weeks pass. Your weapons are built and everything is hunky dory.

Is the party beginning yet?

I gather the leaders of the leaders for one last visit.

"Ok, I say we are about to start this.  Any objections?"

I listen.

If the group is for it, I then say.

"The objective is to utterly break the Tuatha power.  If we can take surrenders, sure, but we must win."

Listen more.

"My strategy has four steps.  1. All the smiths have to dig up their weapons and get their spears and what not ready.  How soon can this be done?  2. We need to surprise attack the city leadership, and take them all out.  I will lead this strike team.  3. We need to grab the armory and either use it to hand out weapons to our people or destroy it so the Tuatha army won't have weapons.  (If there is an armory).  4. We move from the center of the city outward, block by block, isolate a group, move in overwhelming force and stomp them flat.  If we run into an armed force, build a barricade, and let them attack you as others move on to clearing the city."

I listen and this is probably the area we have the most discussion on.

GE 19

There's some murmuring, some low-level complaining. One guy steps up and says "What about if they......" Another guy cuts him off saying "Whatever it is you got to complain about, it won't be no worse than the way things are now, so you just hush up!!!"

That sentiment is met by others.



Low-level cheering here. Some fist-pumping.



The other smiths guffaw.

"Is twenty minutes ago soon enough sir?"

He's exaggerating, but not by much. They could all be loaded for bear within a few hours. Just give the word.



One guy steps up and bows and says "Then I am your first volunteer."

And another guy says "I'm your second...."

So on and so forth. No shortage of volunteers.



The place where they keep their halberds and axes? Yeah. There's one of those. One of the guys here is a janitor there. He's in possession of a master key that will open almost any door in the facility. He offers to lead that team.

He wants to stress the "Almost Any Door" because the few doors it doesn't open are where some very bad, well-armed Tuatha sit in waiting. Still, he thinks you've all got a chance. He just wants to make sure it's all understood.



Somebody pulls out a map of the city. "Here's the Capitol building, where the Tuatha king lives. Here's some armories, here's this and that."

He gives his suggestions, between the two of you, you hammer out a plan of attack.

(Doing Therapy)

I smile wryly at the twenty minute joke.

"Excellent.  Well done indeed."

=============================

I reach out and clap my first volunteer on the shoulder.  And do likewise with the others.

===================

To the janitor...

"I like it. You clean up there." I wait for the groans or laughs.  "If you can take out the very tough Tuatha great.  If not, bring some gear to block the doors."  And I show them how to use a rope to tie to a door handle, and tie to another door handle to keep an inward opening door from opening.

"Remember, stomp on them if you can.  If you can't barricade, and call for help.  Make them fight at a disadvantage.  If they climb a barricade to get at you, then you got a couple free shots, and then  you can knock them off.  If you wait, then you can come back with three or four or ten times the number, and see how some of them like going at it with ten to one odds.  Fight smart.  Fight for your freedom.  Fight for your families."
----------------------------------

I give a thumbs up to our plans, ask for any more questions, and then lead them in prayer.

"Almighty God, these brave men go out to make war to be free.  Guide their eyes, and give strength to their arms."

He assures you he will.



This brings down a cheer from everyone present. There's men, women and teenagers. It was agreed no one under 16 would be permitted to join. The ones too young to fight have been sheltered off to the elderly and infirm. To care for one another in case this doesn't work. But about 90% of the able-bodied men and 70% of the able-bodied women are here.

So yeah, you've got a lot of folks here.



So you do. Are you planning to attack now or what?

(Doing Therapy)

I take my strike team up around me, and nod to them, and then I look at the crowd....wait for a long second...."Well, what are you waiting for?  Go kick some Tuatha teeth!!" I have a big grin.  And I head out with my group.

GE 19

Some of your younger, more impetuous members take off charging at that. They nearly blow the whole operation for you. But you're in right behind them to mop up.

It's a vicious melee battle. But you outnumber them 5 to 1. You cut them down quickly.

Did you tear off everyone's torcs?

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 174):

Yes, everyone's torcs are gone.
We don't even wear them as a disguise any more.

Have we captured the headquarters?

You're making your way inside. Slowly but surely. Your initial attack was on the door guards. But now you're inside. You're facing Tuatha bureaucrats. Some of them fight hand to hand. Most surrender. One guy grabs a flagpole and charges at you like a lance. You sidestep him easily and he crashes into a wall, dazed and confused.

More guards are running out. Some of your people are being taken down. It's bad.

Twenty or so minutes pass. Then you penetrate the inner chamber. It's like the UN meeting room. Circular, surrounded by desks of each member state. Some are up, fighting. Most are laying prone in surrender.

At the center of the room, standing at a lectern is who someone tells you is the Tuatha mayor/governor/president. It's an elderly woman.

She throws her hands up in surrender and begs you not to hurt her or anyone else. You have to stop one of your own from doing just that. Someone else holds him saying "Don't you get it? Now we can negotiate." Somebody else yells "Why do we need to?" But the general mood is that keeping her alive and negotiating is the best course of action, at least for the next 10 minutes.

(Doing Therapy)

"Tie up the prisoners.  Secure them all in his Meeting Room. We need to keep an eye on them. "  I pause..."If, if they resist, flatten them however seems best.  If they play at surrender, and then attack anyways.....kill them.  No quarter to those who pretend surrender."

I turn to the leader and speak from across the room.

"Are you the leader of the Tuatha?  If you are, save your people by telling them on your comm links to surrender.  Otherwise many more of them will die."  I give her a cold, pitiless face as I wait for her response.

GE 9

They're huffy and chest puffy and resistant..... but apparently they realize when they've been licked. A couple of your guys do have to make an example of one of their soldiers who steps out of line. Just a good wound. He'll walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

The Tuatha chancellor looks at you and asks "What do you want?"

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 178):

"First, for you to be locked up where  you can't do any h arm."  We start imprisoning any Tuatha who surrender.  Once, that is done, I send out a message.

"Free all the humans in the city of their torcs."

So you take the chancellor to the prison. She glances subtly at another Tuatha, who nods gently. He glances at someone else, who also nods subtly. After a whole lot of glancing and nodding, the remaining forces go into a last-ditch fighting stance.

The prison walls are lined with hidden weapons, tapestries conceal blades, knives, hidden in air vents, etc.

The captain of the prison puts his hand on a switch and says "If I throw this, the whole prison will explode."

He will throw it by reflex if he is killed suddenly.

Up to you if you believe him.



This order doesn't even need to be given. They were doing that whilst the fight was still raging.

I tell the humans to leave, and lock the door, and get out of the building.  Then I smile at the chancellor, rather relaxed.

"Surrender for real, or my order stands.  And my order is no quarter for those who fake surrender."

After all of the humans leave, it's just you, the chancellor and about a dozen other Tuatha.

The chancellor nods at the jailer holding the explosive suicide switch.

And in the momentary split second whilst the building explodes, you're filled with a feeling of peace and comfort. Somehow you just know the humans are going to be fine.

Thou Art Dead.