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)