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Nov 13, 2015 20:40
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 18:35 |
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It's only rare now. Let's go back to the warpy zone and plant a vegetable garden on the border.
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Nov 13, 2015 21:06
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Little Shop of Chemicals - Month 2, Week One, Day Six. The Alchemist gleefully takes your items and grabs your hand, urging you into the back of his store. You follow him, wary of touching anything lest you explode or dissolve violently. Frankly, you aren't sure what is more dangerous; the open containers full of bubbling chemicals or the gnome hop-skipping with joy throughout the premise. What really turns your hair white however is his sudden change of demeanour when he nears the crate he was looking for. No longer does he sing about the wonders of alchemical interactions, instead he presses his finger to his mouth in the universal sign language of “be quiet or we all die”. Gingerly removing the lid from the box and taking out six bottles very carefully.  “These should be perfectly safe.” He whispers to you at the tenth of the speed he usually talks. “As long as you don't shatter the bottle.” He gives you a big thumbs up with a matching grin, forgetting for a moment that he is still holding a vial of pure Dioxygen Diflouride in his gloved hand. “The results are pretty awesome if you do though! Hahaha.” Mercifully he sets it down again, this time in a smaller crate filled with hay and lined with some sort of semi-transparent gel. You have your men transport it back to headquarters and thank the gnome for his time. The Tea will take some time to brew but he will send someone along with it once it's completed. Back home, you arrange for for Tommy to be taken the Chapel of Prescription Charity (together with a sizeable donation) and tell everyone to take a few days off for R&R to cool down after the recent life or death situations.  --- Month 2, Week Two, Day Two. (Three days later.)  In the early morning the monthly caravan from Grüw arrives. It's much later than it usually is, due to all the troubles the region has received as of late. With the caravan comes news and gossip, and it is this that you are most interested in. Apparently the village of Sockne is still being plagued by a monster culling its sheep at night. But what's worse, the villagers fear the monster has now claimed the life of one of their hunters. He has been missing for several days, but the local militia member was recalled to Grüw to deal with the growing problems there so they are out of luck. The bounty on the monster still stands, but the hunters pre-emptively grieving family has managed to raise another paltry sum to entice more aid from neighbouring towns. The merchant also met some Braavian boys on his way here, decked out for combat. Apparently they where going to take a closer look at the silvermine and the disturbances there. ITEC is gathered back at headquarters around noon, the two brothers Johakim and Konnie ecstatic to see their older sibling Tommy back on his feet. Tommy himself is very grateful to you for speeding up his recovery. Together with Kvelar, Skvababt and Khami you all dig into to the Red Currant Pie that you had baked from the berries you found in the forest of your last assignment.  It is delicious! A street urchin delivers you a package somewhat later, with a note from the Gnomish Alchemist to whom you delivered the Rimrose. Apparently his iron kettle had caught fire, and with one thing and another he decided brewing the rose wasn't in the best interest of survival. To compensate for the lack of drinkable Tea, he instead took the rose and baked you a bunch of cupcakes with it as the main ingredient.  With good food, great success and good health, ITEC spirit is at an all time high. Aside from that, the only notable thing that has happened is a concentrated effort by the cities urchins to collect all of the escaped green slimes. Despite a few initial casualties, most of them have now been rounded up. The Slimegeneers guild is always looking for more exotic ones, however. Bookkeeping: [Obtain: 06 bottles of Dioxygen Diflouride] [Obtain: [Tommy recovers fully!] [After expenditures; your wealth is currently at 010] [You owe 013 wealth to be paid at the end of the month] With everyone refreshed, you consider your next move carefully. 1: What do you do? A: Travel to Grüw. You hope to either catch up with the other group or get there ahead of them. They have several days head start so this is probably impossible. Still, they might fail. Deal with whatever issue is facing their silvermines or perhaps look around for some other jobs whilst you are there. B: Travel to Sockne. The bounty is higher now, but it's not much a huge sum compared to some of your previous missions. Still, a job is a job, and the people of Sockne are getting desperate. C: Keep training and waiting for something else to crop up closer to home. 2: Write-in. Do you want to do anything else?
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Nov 14, 2015 21:27
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I say B. Sockne is only a couple days away and apparently hasn't attracted too much attention yet. I feel we should go take care of it. Grüw is probably a lost case by now. Also, we get to be the heroes in shining (leather)armour for a bunch of distressed villagers, which will undoubtedly make us look good. If we can take home 3 wealth from this, we'll be set for the month. Can our accounting skill estimate the amount of Wealth we'd probably be getting here?
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Nov 14, 2015 21:37
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b
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Nov 14, 2015 21:40
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Indeed B. We want to get debts out of the way ASAP: A prosperous business is rarely in debt (in this medieval world, at least. I'm assuming the debt market isn't that advanced yet. )
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Nov 14, 2015 21:43
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Q&ATheantero posted:Can our accounting skill estimate the amount of Wealth we'd probably be getting here? I am wary of giving exact numbers because the final reward varies on a lot of factors. Sockne is a tiny village and its people are poor. For what its worth, your best estimate is what you described. nothing to seehere posted:A prosperous business is rarely in debt (in this medieval world, at least. I'm assuming the debt market isn't that advanced yet. ) Well there is a Goddess of commerce, you'd be surprised! Swedish Thaumocracy fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Nov 14, 2015 |
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Nov 14, 2015 22:03
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So have we not eaten any of the cupcakes yet or was that included under "good food" which we enjoyed? If we ate any, did they do anything? I agree that Sockne seems like our best bet for another job. The other place is gonna be too crowded with competitors. I still feel like we should try to set aside one full week every month solely for training purposes unless we desperately need that time for other matters (scrabbling for cash, etc). We've skated by so far but each time save the old lady's house we've wound up with at least one person taking a good hit. Our coordination and teamwork tactics need some refinement. Think of it like an investment, the better we can train ourselves and avoid injury the less we have to pay the church. So Sockne first. This time let's make sure our people are reasonably well-equipped before heading out...I don't mean purchasing anything so much as "let's all ensure that our people have a standard basic monster hunter's kit on them" so we can actually try things like the "throw flour on the invisible monster" trick which nearly didn't pan out. Flaming oil, some rope, a small pouch of flour, charcoal and parchment, etc. Dare we carry the vials we got? It's all fun and games until someone gets hit and their bottle of superacid breaks.
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Nov 14, 2015 22:17
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Kai Tave posted:So have we not eaten any of the cupcakes yet or was that included under "good food" which we enjoyed? If we ate any, did they do anything? For those unaware on the strength of our new superacid, look below http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride Highlights: spontaneous explosions at -180C!
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Nov 14, 2015 22:23
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Kai Tave posted:So have we not eaten any of the cupcakes yet or was that included under "good food" which we enjoyed? If we ate any, did they do anything? You 12 precious ultra-rare ghost cupcakes are within your possession still. They wont be consumed unless you explicitly vote for them to be.
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Nov 14, 2015 22:24
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nothing to seehere posted:For those unaware on the strength of our new superacid, look below Yeah I thought that sounded familiar. We're leaving that stuff at home in a vault for now. We all need better "throwing stuff accurately" training before I trust anyone, ourselves included, with that.
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Nov 14, 2015 22:30
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B. Try to negotiate a 3 wealth up front payment so we can pay the debt in time.
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Nov 15, 2015 00:11
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Swedish Thaumocracy posted:You 12 precious ultra-rare ghost cupcakes are within your possession still. They wont be consumed unless you explicitly vote for them to be. I mean, we have to eat them soon though right? How long could a cupcake possibly be good for?
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Nov 15, 2015 00:18
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The gnome might had ate it by now, we should check up on him after a day or two.
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Nov 15, 2015 02:59
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B. Lets help some villagers. If we think the cupcakes would keep for that long, maybe have some after to celebrate.
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Nov 16, 2015 04:45
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We should eat one of the cupcakes now, to see what they do. Probably some sort of reality fuckery + getting targeted by the bureaucracy.
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Nov 16, 2015 16:25
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On the Road Again Spirits high, you ready yourselves for your first grand adventure outside of the comfort zone of your new home town.  As you know, Braav cradles the River Ennui like a cancerous growth does a snake, if somewhat less messily, and the road up to Grüw follows the river where it can. You yourself have never crossed the river, which it can get pretty wide in some places, yet you know there are ferries carrying people across daily. Somewhere on the other side lies Braavs twin town of Fehgis, but the two are notoriously bad neighbours. It is said that would the river not bisect them, neither would still be there. Nevertheless, the river offers a spectacular view as your carriage trundles along the winding paths down towards Sockne.  You spend the days riding and training, eating and enjoying the scenery. The landscape is mostly rolling hillside and river, with occasional clumps of trees here or there. In the distance, you can see forest, and beyond those, mountains.  The picturesque rolling hills continue as you leave the river behind, curving up towards the mountains, following the road where it may take you. Conditions of the land get progressively worse, the hills slightly steeper, the grass slightly browner as you leave the comforting sound of the flowing water, but such is life on the trail. Slice of Rice Month 2, Week Two, Day Five After three days of uneventful travel you start seeing the first signs of civilisation. You wouldn't call the ricefields around Sockne 'beautiful' 'well irrigated' or even 'plausible', yet there are ducks hard at work all around you, knee deep in soggy marshwater. They are cultivating that most famous of paradoxical crop, “Bad Duck Wice(tm)”, a Duck-speciality of Rim and one of the staples of any poor folks diet.  “Bad Duck Wice(tm)” Is a peculiar strain of rice that can grow even in the worst of conditions, and even flourish where other crops might sputter and fail. It gets its name from the side effect of this resilience, the fact that it tastes less and gives less nutrition the higher the yield it brings at harvest. Still, the ratio is low enough that the Empire regulates quotas relentlessly of the communities that can grow it, and many small villages and towns (Sockne apparently included) make their living of fulfilling the Bureaucracies needs. At market, you will always find “Bad Duck Wice(tm)” traded under this name, so as not to confuse it with its cousin, slightly better tasting, regular rice. You know this to be not out of any desire for honesty, but due to regulations imposed upon the Church of Quackeen, after a series of minor incidents involving food riots after a particularly exhausting Emperors Day a few decades back. ---  You arrive later in the afternoon to a quiet village of working ducks, halflings and humans whom all seem relieved to see armed but friendly looking strangers in their town. It doesn't take a genius to spot a band of monster hunters and it does not take long until you are accosted by a random villager.  “Hillo hillo! Velkom to beautiful Sockne!” “Mye nam is Kjertrud Boff, I azzume you are here about our sheps?” A halfling in a brightly coloured yellow sweater greets you. “Don't forget about our neighbour, mr. Gufson.” Another halfling injects. “I vould never! He oves me a beer after all!” “Haha.” “Anyway, as you should know, some sheps have gone missing in the laste few daeys, and now one of our hunters as well! It is quiet the predice'ment for thies small towns.” “Yu are of coors welcome to stay in our little inn, for as long as you are hear, we always welkom our travvelers with heartful joy, as is the way of Leera.” The odd inflection in his voice makes itself particularly known here, as he mangles the pronunciation of the Lady Joy. “Just between yu and me, stay away from the Old Man, he is slightly 'Eljest', if yu know what I mean?” He laughs and shows you the way to the inn where you will presumably be staying.  “The beast only attacks at night yu see, an' all of us are afear to go out, on account for the awful noises that we hear after daylight hours.” He says, explaining some more about their recent troubles. “A dreadful rumbling, and the sounds of häwelling winds.” He whispers dramatically. “Wuuuuuush.” "But I'm sure strong and able warriors, such as jourselves will have no problem fasing this thrätt.” He beams at you, but seems content that his speech has been delivered. “If yu have any questions do not hesitate to ask. But pleas, we could use your help.” 1: Well, you have arrived. You have brought with you everything you could possibly need that is in your possession, yet there are a few items that you might not have wanted to bring after all, such as your potions, monster-cage-wagon and cupcakes. Before we get to far ahead of ourselves, we need to establish whether you have these items with you or not. A: Did I bring the cupcakes? If so, how many? If so, will you eat some at the inn? You have 012 cupcakes remaining. B: Did you bring the Dioxygen Diflouride? If so, how many? You have 06 bottles remaining. C: Did you bring the Monster-Cage-Wagon? 2: You are tired after your long journey, yet the beast seems most active at night. The date and time is currently Month 2, Week Two, Day Five (Afternoon) and the hunter has been missing for the last week and a half. Not even his closest family still holds hope of his survival, but would like his possessions be returned to them all the same. Equally important, his Death Certificate is missing with him, but presumably still on his body if there is anything left. The family fears the Census Agency will fine them if it is not returned in time, and they lack the strength or courage to go looking for themselves. D: Write-in. How will you go about your business? The rice-fields around Sockne end abruptly as you enter town, owing to the forest that skirts it's edge. It is in this forest that the hunter plied his trade, and from within it strange sounds can be heard at night.
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Nov 16, 2015 18:19
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A & B: Bring, say 3 cupcakes and one bottle of Dioxygen Diflouride. A volunteer amongst us (or heck, maybe even amongst the villagers) should eat one cupcake to see if it has any effect, and then we will have two extra in case it does anything useful. The bottle we should bring as a contingency, but I'd rather not use it unless absolutely necessary. Thaum did mention during the warpbeast hunt that Khami could potentially have made a sling of sorts with his chain for long distance throwing. Ask Khami about the specifics of such an endeavour, would he be confident is his ability to hurl the bottle far enough away from us to not hurt us with killer fumes and with reasonable accuracy. C: We should not bring the cage, since we know of no contacts that are on a hunt of this beast and we do not even know what it is. Live captures are both a huge hassle and very dangerous, we should not engage on them this early on without clear incentive. Will come up with a tentative plan later.
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Nov 16, 2015 18:52
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^ Above plan
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Nov 16, 2015 19:28
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Theantero posted:Ask Khami about the specifics of such an endeavour, would he be confident is his ability to hurl the bottle far enough away from us to not hurt us with killer fumes and with reasonable accuracy.  "If I understand correctly, the contents of the bottle will make whomsoever it hits seven kinds of dead. Is this so?" He muses. "Then only as a last resort. I value my life far beyond mishaps with gnomish concoctions. But to answer your query, I suppose it could be done. I would need some time to prepare, however."
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Nov 16, 2015 19:34
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I'm telling you folks, when we're off the job we need some kinda training period. We should buy some cheapo glassware and practice our "bottle hurling" skills if we're going to be chucking flaming oil and concentrated spitefulness at things.
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Nov 16, 2015 21:39
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Yes, Everyone should train some proficiency in range attack.
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Nov 16, 2015 21:52
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Ask our team about their tracking ability. Right, as for a plan. I suggest we go and lurk hidden near the pastures and see if the monster comes for yet another sheep. If it does, we should sneak in an take a look at its tracks. If it leaves clear enough prints, we should go get a nap at the inn until morning (we are tired after our trip, as was mentioned in the update and I fear it would translate into stat maluses should we begin our hunt immediately). Then a bit after sunrise we should attempt to follow the tracks and hopefully just coup de grâce the beast while its sleeping in its nest. If we get lucky, we might even find the hunter's belongings somewhere near there.
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Nov 17, 2015 17:25
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We should eat a cupcake. I don't care what else we do, just eat that drat cupcake.
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Nov 17, 2015 23:30
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Bring one bottle of FOOF (dioxygen diflouride's displayed formula)
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Nov 17, 2015 23:46
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We brought 3 cupcakes and two bottles of FOOF. We ate one cupcake on the way here to see if they do anything interesting. Then, Plan Theantero.
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Nov 18, 2015 05:22
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The Cupcakening You thank the halfling for his stewardship and take your group to the Inn he mentioned to set your affairs in order for your stay here. There is just nothing quiet like sitting down in a cosy, pillowed bench to take the brunt of the punishment of a three day ride. Your aching back thanks you for the sudden respite. You order some food to soothe your aching stomachs as well, and soon a rosy-billed duck-woman brings you your order.  She doesn't say much but lets you know she and her father (the owner of the inn) are there to help you should you need anything.  You all enjoy a hearty meal with gusto and in between mouthfulls of “Bad Duck Wice(TM)” and cuts of veal you discuss your plans more thoroughly. You are to post a guard at the affected pastures, with clear instructions not to engage but only to observe. Should the monster show itself, you will know what you are dealing with come the morrow. With stealth and a bit of luck, you should be able to track it to it's den and kill it before it wakes up. Most agree this plan is sound, for a band of warriors such as yourself a wolf or two shouldn't pose a problem, and if it's a greater threat then that? Well, with this plan you will at least have some inkling beforehand of what you face. Even if nothing presents itself at night, Skvababts keen eyes should be able to pick up the trail from previous nights. Speaking of keen eyes, all throughout your trip you have been hungrily eyeing the specially wrapped parcel containing three out of the twelve Ethereal Rimrose Cupcakes. It is here, at the Inn that you decide to try your luck. As the head of the company, the first taste goes to you. The unwrapped cupcake seems to light up the area around it, looking none the worse for wear even after your arduous journey. That the gnome could prepare this dish at all is a thing that could keep you up at night should you consider it more closely. The flower it was baked from seemed highly resistant to your attempts at pulling it out. In the end you had to resort to digging the flower up, roots and all, to transport it back to Braav and the Gnomish Kitchen. Yet here it is. You stare at the cupcake, mouth watering. You sniff it's scent and it's an equally pleasing aroma. Flowery, floury, foul sorcery. You take it in your hands as your comrades jostle and joke beside you, but that doesn't matter now. Nothing but your ascending dessert has ever been this important. Their laughter is distant and hollow. All sounds and impressions fade as you bring it ever closer to your mouth. Soon all you can perceive is the delectable muffin, and as you finally take that long awaited bite, your sensory experience end entirely. Well. Not entirely.  You find yourself floating in and endless expanse, a city, a field, a forest, along a familiar river but in an unfamiliar land. In your floating, you find that concentrating on one of these flickering images makes it stay longer, makes the others fade. You see things happening in all of the moving images, but you cannot tell exactly what. All around you is silent and cold. A thin, blue thread connects you to something far away. It has the feel of 'you', the weight of your soul. But try as you might you cannot float in that direction. Apparently the only way is forward. Where do you go? 1: A: The City The city is burning, that much you can tell, but the how or why remains a mystery. B: The Field Creatures graze on a dark field that feels oddly familiar, illuminated only by moonlight. C: The Forest A giant creature moves through a forest, an aura of fear radiating from its core. D: The River The river is flowing through a wasteland, the likes of which you have never seen. Devoid of life, it does not seem very enticing, yet perhaps it holds some deeper meaning?
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Nov 18, 2015 16:33
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1: A
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Nov 18, 2015 16:39
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B. Maybe we can get some useful advice from this divination cupcake.
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Nov 18, 2015 16:45
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Ok, so I am betting the cupcake allows for some sort of divination. The field is probably the field we want to watch, he forest-beast I'd assume is the thing we are hunting. The city and river are the odd ones out, unlikely to be of immediate use. The city can give us info about World news, and the river can, I don't know, maybe lead us to a treasure or something? This is all just speculation, of course. Let's go with A. I am confident in our ability to defeat this monster we are hunting without extra help.
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Nov 18, 2015 16:46
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B: The Field
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Nov 18, 2015 16:48
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D
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Nov 18, 2015 17:05
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B. Lets take the probably safe option for now.
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Nov 18, 2015 18:46
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C
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Nov 18, 2015 22:02
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D GO TO THE WASTELAND!
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Nov 19, 2015 22:15
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The Field You descend upon a field of dreams, strange creatures grazing all too familiar grass. You've been here before, recently at that, but this time your experience is much more vivid. The creatures are docile, eating their fair share of the grass that when you look closer seem to be memories. Here and there are wild patches, trauma. They exude suffering, are blighted spots upon the land. One of the creatures, as if noticing your observation, gets us from its spot and heads over to such a patch and begins nibbling it experimentally. The pain subsides slowly but surly and the world seems slightly brighter for its efforts. You feel your astral cord tugging at you, yet know there is more to gleam should you so desire. 1 A: Float back to what feels like 'home' B: investigate the grass C: investigate the docile creatures D: investigate a rough patch.
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Nov 20, 2015 20:35
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Yeah call me a coward but I'd rather not screw around with weird astral projection magic if we know nothing about their workings and attached risks. I'd be willing to bet that the longer we stay the higher the chance is that something terrible will happen. So my vote will be A, even if I admit the rough patches are fairly peculiar and mayhaps worth investigating. Try to memorize at least some of the patch locations so that we can maybe check on them more closely back in normal reality.
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Nov 20, 2015 21:23
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d
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Nov 20, 2015 21:26
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D Gotta smooth out the rough patches.
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Nov 20, 2015 21:53
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 18:35 |
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Ms. Happiness posted:D Gotta smooth out the rough patches. Burn the rough patches.
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Nov 20, 2015 22:02
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