Adventure Log 002: Crash on Volturnus

[Pulpatoon]

Arkadas the Red, an Ul-Mor in the habit of painting itself with crimson streaks, is among the upset tribesfolk. “Yes, yes, you have strange and fantastic spirit objects, we know this. But are they good? This ‘gren-ade’ cannot tell friend from enemy. If a loper attacked the Ul-Mor that fed it, we would know it had brain parasites, and would put it out of its misery before it could threaten the well-being of anyone in the tribe.”

Turning to the agitated Ul-Mor, Arkadas whistles, “I have lost a clutch-mate today. We have lost two lopers! It is a bad day. How much is the funnel worm to blame, and how much are these spirits with brains full of parasites? Can we allow these bad spirits to be brought back to the tribe? I say we give the strangers a twentieth-part of the funnel worm’s caracas, fair compensation for what help they did provide in the fight. We will harvest our part of the worm, and part ways. What say you?”

Several cheers go up, but another Ul-Mor, Fonn-Ar the Warrior lifts four tentacles up in the air. “Have you not heard their words? They made mistakes, and used their spirits poorly. But they have made sincere apologies. It is not as if we don’t make mistakes. Or have we already forgotten how Shildon Web-walker hung itself like a lure in the worm’s funnel?”

The Ul-Mor who had leapt into the funnel only to get knocked unconscious coils up in a gesture of acute embarrassment.

Kallina's apology has won you some sympathy among the Ul-Mor, but it's not quite enough! What different tactics do Bertie and Skur-Vonn want to try? Please provide rolls, too!

Do you want to try to harvest materials from the funnel worm? There seems to be a lot of meat and armor plates. If so, please give me a survival roll.

---

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XXOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XXOO

What do you do?!
Next Update: Monday!

[shaidar]

Bertie

Bertie turns to Arkadas the Red "I am truly sorry for the loss of your clutch-mate, and your lopers. she then addresses the whole Ul-Mor group "I understand your concern, and if you wish to part ways then I accept that and all we would ask if that we can have some meat for our journey. But I would like to have the chance to try and make amends for my mistakes. As for our devices, our simpler ones have spirits that are bound to only do as they are told, they cannot act on their own, so any accident is the fault of the user. There are some in our clans, very rare masters, who's skills are such that they can make devices where the spirits are free to make their own decisions. Jeeves is such a creation. These rare creations are treated in our society as if they are living people, with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. I promise you that if you let us stay we will be more cautious in the use of our devices, and we will explain each of them to you so that you know what to expect and do not get any more surprises."

I will probably regret this, but I'm going to make a roll
Roll: [_2d6]=(4+4)=8, dis/advantage[1d6]=3

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn

"Do you think it just some chance that you found us? I think there is a grand plan behind our meeting. That we are meant to share our ways. We to learn of you, you to learn of us, and those that hunt us. They are a threat to us, yes; but they are also a threat to your tribe. To understand them, you must come to understand us. I never told you my story. I needed time to reflect on my life, and why i'm here; to compose it as you do. You tell stories, my people don't. I needed to learn from you how to do so. We seek other sky-people - we need to leave your lands. To do so, we need food, water, safe passage."

[Rex]

Kallina

"Ultimately the decision is yours and we will honor whatever it is."

[Pulpatoon]

The Ul-Mor listen attentively as Bertie and Skur-Vonn speak. Several extend their tentacles in a conciliatory gesture during Bertie’s apology, and look intrigued by her description of the spirits. There is a rustle of excitement as Skur Vonn describes the need to learn from each other, and several of the younger Ul-Mor break into telepathic conversation-chains immediately afterwards.

After dinner, Thurad Sandy-Back approaches the party. “You spoke honestly and well, and raised points that bear contemplation. We will take you under the mountains, out of the desert, and present you to the tribe. The tribal elders shall make the final judgment regarding you and your spirits.”

If there is anything you’d like to do over the course of the next couple days as the carcass is disassembled, let me know! Everybody please provide a survival roll, to see how well you manage your rations and water, and if you are able to glean anything good from the funnel worm’s carcass.

---

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XXOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XXOO

What do you do?!
Next Update: Friday!

[Rex]

Kallina

"Thank you Thurad Sandy-Back."

She works on the worm with the others.

Survival [_2d6]=(5+6)=11 A/D [1d6]=6

Doesn't have Survival.

[shaidar]

Bertie

While the corpse is being dismembered Bertie checks that Jeeves has caught up with them and is OK. If any of the Ul-Mor are interested in learning more about their devices then she is happy to sit an explain them in simple terms (ooc: I'm happy to do this in more detail if you want me to). She also wants to spend some time checking people exposure to the arsenic in the water and trying to determine a treatment to at least offset the affects until they can find another water source. Finally she will take at a look at the dismemberment of the worm to see if there is anything or useful to them:

Arsenic treatment:
Roll: [_2d6]=(4+3)=7, dis/advantage[1d6]=2
Advantage (medicine) and educated (+1) = 8

Survival:
Roll: [_2d6]=(1+6)=7, dis/advantage[1d6]=1
(no skill)

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn will relate a tale while they eat, or after; and assist with the carcass s he is able/ instructed.

I grew up in a land far from here. The lure of the unknown always called to me. I wandered from place to place, working for passage sometimes, but the sights I saw. I followed the stars, the patterns in the sky. They led me to new and exotic locations, until I found myself low on trade commodity, so I joined the sky clan, where I met some new friends. We fell from the sky and landed in a strange place. It is hard to survive here, and I fear many of us have already perished. We were attacked by those who brought us out of the sky, but we survived through the slimmest chance. We adopted two little ones, then found our rescuers. Our saviors.

[Pulpatoon]

The processing of the funnel worm’s body is an extended process that takes the full attention of the Ul-Mor for several days. They strip the long body of blue-black meat, which they hang over shrubs and piles of scrub the dry in the desert sun. While the meat dries, they rub it down with some mineral compound which keeps the flowering mirco-flora from settling on it. Some internal organs that won’t keep are eaten right away, and others are brined or pickled in various effluvia from the carcass. Endless lengths of intestine-like materials are treated and braided into cords and rolled up. The worm’s chitinous plates are separated one-by-one, scrubbed clean with sand and rocks, and rubbed down with the worm's own brains.

With the party back in the good graces of the Ul-Mor, they are invited to join in on the processing, and the Ul-Mor are eager to instruct them on the technique, and also appreciative of the time-savings the party’s tools bring. They are, however, very clear about what portions of the funnel worm belong to the tribe, and what belongs to the party. It is reinforced on several occasions that it is considered a terrible wrong to steal from the tribe by giving away tribal resources. But as long as the two portions are kept separately, they are happy to pitch in on the actual work.

Kallina takes to the job with surprising capability. She quickly gets the hang of working with the blue-black meat, which has an interesting fiber-structure that produces significantly varied results depending on minor adjustments to butchery technique.

Bertie analyzes samples as they go, figuring out which bits are actually edible for humans and yazirians. She also sets to work figuring out what to do with the arsenic-laced water. So far, the party has avoided any signs of acute arsenic poisoning, but it becomes increasingly inevitable with each passing day. She finds that boiling the water does no good—and, in fact, increases the concentration of arsenic as the water boils away but the inorganic arsenic remains. However, it quickly occurs to her: distillation! If she boils the water and collects the steam, the re-condensed steam should be pure. She sets up a working prototype, using two of the party’s EnviroProCloaks. It is enough to confirm her theory, but it is not a practical long-term solution. The cloaks are awkward and inefficient ways of catching the steam, and too much precious water is lost in trying to collect it. And the party needs the cloaks to wear against the harsh desert conditions.

(If anybody would like to try to craft a better distiller: a success means that you don’t need to worry about arsenic anymore.)

Skur Vonn works on his story-telling with the Ul-Mor, which has a mixed reaction. They seem to appreciate his efforts, but also to have decided that Skur Vonn must possess diminished mental capacity if they do not understand stories. They begin patiently (and patronizingly) teaching Skur Vonn about how to tell a story, starting with extremely simple concepts. “The sun rising in the morning, and the light enters the sky. The light enters the sky because the sun rose. The itch-crickers chirp in the morning. They chirp because the light has entered the sky. The children hear the chirping and go out to collect the itch-crickers in baskets. They find the itch-crickers because they hear the chirping because the light has entered the sky because the sun has risen. Do you understand? Here, let me repeat it, more slowly...” This situation gets worse when, one evening when it was Skur Vonn’s turn to go tend the party’s share of drying meat, something goes wrong and fully half the party’s worm-jerky is covered in blossoming gourds from the micro-flora. The Ul-Mor begin looking at the rest of the party with sympathy and at Skur Vonn with pity, after that.

Despite this, however, the party yields a significant portion of dried meat rations, and harvest the gourds for additional water.

---

:: Day 012 since planetfall. ::
After three days, the Ul-Mor are ready to travel again. The lopers are burdened with stacks of chiton and worm-jerky. The party has also packed every inch of their carryalls and pocket in the cloaks with as much meat and water-packets as they can carry.

---

:: Day 013 since planetfall. ::
The hike continues. The mountains are now looming overhead, and the wind is full of choking clouds of sulfur. The ground is often crusted in thick deposits of magnesium and mineral salts. The heat becomes even more choking, as you are now contending not only with the desert atmosphere, but open magma trickling down from the slopes. A magma burst scatters burning fragments about a 100 meters from the tribe’s passage, at one point, startling the lopers.

“We are now in the burning lands,” says Athru. “It is foul, but we will reach the cave mouth by nightfall.”

At this point, Kallina hears the thrum of an engine somewhere along the horizon!

---

Please either roll to craft a distiller, or roll for arsenic poisoning.

Ongoing Tallies
Offend the Ul-Mor: XOOOO
Succumb to the Desert: OOOO
Discovered by the Pirates: OOO

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XXOO

What do you do?!
Next Update: Monday!

[Rex]

Kallina

"Incoming craft, find some cover and make sure the Ul-Mor are warned!"

She scans with the binoculars and listens, trying to get a direction it is coming from.

If needed [_2d6]=(5+1)=6 A/D [1d6]=2

I could see some of these being applicable:
Descriptor - Aware
Extraordinary abilities - Alert and Keen Mind
Skills - Perception

[cybersavant]

Skur Vonn grits his teeth, but tolerates the hand-holding of the Ul-Mor. He will work on distilling solutions. would chitinous plates help? He also scans the sky as they travel, waiting for the return of the pirates.


distilling [ technology ], poisoning, perception, etc as needed :

[shaidar]

Bertie calls to the Ul-Mor

"That noise, it is our enemy. Is there somewhere we can hide?"

Bertie attempts to help Skur with a more practical distillation device


Roll: [_2d6]=(5+5)=10, dis/advantage[1d6]=1
Educated, Technology, Medicine = 11

[Pulpatoon]

Skur Vonn hits on the idea that the funnel worm’s carapace offers an excellent resource for constructing a light but durable distillation device. However, he finds working with the material frustrating, and he keeps cracking the shells as he tries to work them. And it seems like every time he makes a mistake with them, an Ul-Mor just happens to be nearby to witness his failure and add it to his record of purported imbecility.

Bertie, however, sees what Skur Vonn is trying to do, and is able to make some educated guesses about the structure of the chiton which proves the key to successful working with it. Soon, they have a structure that is much more efficient for gathering condensed steam and will collapse into a relatively portable form. They strap this form onto Jeeves’ carryall for travel.

---

In the Burning Lands, Kallina warns the party that she has heard an engine. She looks around with the macrobinoculars, but doesn’t find the source. Bertie runs forward to the Ul-Mor and tells them that it is the sound of their enemy. Athru says, “We are exposed here, but there is a ridge ahead!” It extends a tentacle to Bertie. “Get on my loper, and we will run for it! Thurad! Kahai! Fonn-Ar! Collect the others!”

Mounted on the backs of the lopers, the party and the Ul-Mor tribe dash through the noxious fog that has gathered in the Burning Lands. They make it to the ridge, and find a protected outcropping to hide under.

And nothing happens. The Ul-Mor eventually ask where the enemy is, and if you are ready to travel again.

This happens three more times throughout the day. The sound of engines builds along the horizon, the party dashes for such spare cover is available, and then nothing. Finally, the last time, when it is clear that the Ul-Mor are losing patience huddling under yet another outcropping, a jetcopter roars overhead, coming from the otherside of the mountains! It heads west, before curving slightly northwards.

The Ul-Mor are impressed, excited, and intimidated by this sight. “Was that beast or spirit? When you lived in the sky, was that your form?”

Finally, you arrive at the mouth of the cave that will lead you under the mountains. It is late at night, thanks to the many delays as you hid from the pirates. The Ul-Mor say that you will make camp inside the cave mouth, where you will be protected from the elements and the spying eyes of your enemies. Athru Sea-People’s Bane waves you forward with its tentacles. “Welcome to the Hidden Path! It will lead us out of the desert, past the Burning Lands, to the Place of The Tested Warrior!”

---

PCs
Kallina: (O)XOOO
Bertie: OOOO
Skur Vonn: OOOO

NPCs
Jeeves: OO
Goran: XXOO

This ends Chapter Two! Please see the new Systems Update post in the OOC Channel for feedback and information on Advancement!