Dice rolls are 1d10 + Stat + Proficiency + any applicable bonuses, such as Boons.
You may spend 3 Tension to Overdrive for a retroactive +5 to your roll (a Determination Overdrive), or +3 to an ally's roll (a Teamwork Overdrive). I will also automatically overdrive to avoid exhaustion or unconsciousness.
It is possible to critically succeed (on +5 on skill checks and +10 on combat rolls) or critically fail (by the same margins), but rolling a 1 or a 10 does not automatically crit in either case. It is possible to crit retroactively by Overdriving.
Your stat bonuses have names:
Vigor grants a Strength bonus.
Agility grants a Dexterity bonus.
Spirit grants an Aura bonus.
Mind grants an Intuition bonus.
Resolve grants a Guts bonus.
Dice are rolled on a first come, first serve bonus. You only roll for Deedee.
[X]It's Not Gossip, It's Job Related: Ask about any nasties they've seen around, or heard their neighbors talking about, see if we can't get more information about what's going on from the ground's eye view to go along with what we already know.
Scheduled vote count started by Talia B on Jan 14, 2024 at 3:35 PM, finished with 3 posts and 2 votes.
[X]It's Not Gossip, It's Job Related: Ask about any nasties they've seen around, or heard their neighbors talking about, see if we can't get more information about what's going on from the ground's eye view to go along with what we already know.
Going to resume this next month while I sort out a new image host; I can no longer link art from my old one, and I have a buttload of new stuff to show you. This will also give me time to catch up on some other projects.
I am going to let people write-in other subjects to ask the Quinyones until then.
"...hot tea or herb infusion, with citrus and honey if you can spare either," I said. "Definitely wear masks - even cloth bandannas will catch, or filter out, some of the miasma expelled by coughing and sneezing. And if you need to examine someone's wounds or diseases, scrub your hands in hot water with either soap or strong alcohol."
Humberto folded his arms and frowned, but any true hostility had melted after his son had rejoined the reaping team with gusto. "Even if my hands are clean?"
"I would tell Lord Orlando to take off his gloves and wash his hands for this work," I said, and that earned some laughter from these poorest men of the village. "Soap washes away dead skin, alcohol kills any contaminants you might not be able to see. So teach Bast and Flamma, the White Cat of the Jar and the Black of the Cauldron; why else do Their children wash so fastidiously?"
Baltasar grinned crooked teeth, hauling a bundle of chaff over his shoulder, ready to make hay of it. "And yet you'd cruelly forbid us from licking away the dirt."
I shrug at the laughter. "Only because Namers have better tools than tongues to clean with. Besides, I don't know where your tongues have been and would like to keep it that way."
Hikaru comes out of one of the storehouses, and uses his magic to hang oil lamps from the awnings, higher than he could reach without a Mage's Hand. "I hope," he says, "that this gives you some more stability. It's a precarious time, even without someone making things more so."
"Still don't know who in hell would want to make things worse for us that also wants it worse for everyone else," Humberto says, punctuating his statement by spitting something into the gutter.
"I'm not sure you want to hear our theories," Alesha says.
"Try me," Baltasar says, pressing his thumb against the fingers of his closed fist, cracking each knuckle, one by one.
I take a deep breath. "What happens to a family that can't take care of the land anymore on a Jubilee year? Do they need to sell it?"
"No," Baltasar says. "But you freelancers wouldn't know that, would they? Given you just asked."
I nod. "And I wish it weren't so, but some of us are unscrupulous enough - or don't care enough about the consequences to look at driving peasants from their land with plague and famine and say 'it's free real estate.'" Said in the stage whisper and all; my generation was raised by the Internet, after all.
Humberto raised an eyebrow at that, but clearly got the gist. "Fucking lordings who think it's clean as chess," he said. "How did your lot come to care, then?"
"The Contessa is paying us to care," I say. And then a little more honestly, with a sigh, I add: "And I lost my father to a plague."
Hikaru sighs. "An elder sister for me."
"My grandmother," Alesha says.
There's a longer silence than anyone likes, before Humberto bows his head.
"Ah," he says, and need say nothing else.
I bow my head. "I would hope no one who's been through that would wish it on anyone else. I - growing up I wished I was half the man my Dad was."
I realize it's a slip a second too late, but Alesha covers for it. "We learned early on that we need to care for other people from the pandemic," she says. "We're all too aware that some learned very different lessons. That's why we're here to stop them."
"Well, if we find the bastard, we'll hold him down for you," Balthasar offers, holding out a calloused hand.
I sigh and shake it. "Only if you're sure you can take him. They've likely got Adventurer bullshit on their side. But thank you."
"If not sooner, we meet again at Gratitide," Hikaru says, bowing low with his arm tucked under his chest.
"We'll save you cheese, quince, and perry," Humberto promises.
Alesha and Hikaru leave before I do; I stick around a little longer to see if I can spare some Breath healing minor wounds on sharecroppers and livestock alike - laying hands on the frogs of a lame horse's hoof was not on my bingo card for The Healer Experience in The Wonders of Mundus - and walk back when it's would be dark out, if not for the town guard lighting lamps along the main thoroughfare, snaking as it did to match the Juadipato River.
Which meant I was - not alone, but not with my friends, when I heard the hissed name.
"Jake," snarled a woman's voice. "It is you."
My heart plunged into a stomach full of ice water as I whipped my head around, and I - against my will - froze in place.
My ears found the culprit before my eyes did, and my eyes found that woman from the inn - the elfin warrior, waiting just off the road, in her brimmed and crested Conquistador helmet over blonde curls and colorful landsknecht slashed-sleeve drip, breastplate painted black and with heraldry I couldn't make out so it wouldn't betray her by gleaming in the half-light.
Most alarming of all, her hand rested on the pommel of the basket-hilted saber at her hip.
I willed myself to start breathing again, start walking again, to look away. "Never heard of him," I lied, trying to powerwalk away and hoping they couldn't - or wouldn't - use Duel mechanics in a town zone.
"Bullshit. I remember you from the other side of the screen, Jake," the Ljosalfar insisted, taking a step forward, into the well lit street. "What the hell are you doing here?"
I closed my eyes and let the shiver of fear roll over me. "No. I'm Deedee and I can't talk."
"Your character is Deedee, don't do this," she said, pointing a finger. "You don't recognize me?"
I whirl on her and raise my voice. "If you need to talk to my free company do it at the inn with all of us present. Otherwise call me Deedee, leave me alone, or I call the guard. Your choice, stranger."
She takes a step back, her face flickering from confusion to anger to something that I could have sworn was grief, before muting itself into a tightly controlled frown.
"Okay. You don't recognize me," she says, and it sounds exhausted and flat. "Fine. Sorry to bother you."
Later, I'd wonder what she was so tired of, but right now I was in fight or flight. I grunted understanding, turned my back, and headed for the safety of the inn.
When I got there, I slumped at our usual table between Sekhmet and Ace, and exhaled two inches of height.
"Holy shit, Deeds, whose ghost did you see?" Ace said, her voice lilting in concern, her hand already around mine.
"You look like terrified shit," Sekhmet said.
"Cider now, explanation after," I pleaded.
They gave it to me, and I took a good time getting my courage back.
With thanks to prereaders Teri Challenger and QV. Also thanks to @SeaSirocco for offering after this had been edited.
Right so this person knew Deedee from before everyone got trapped but the question is (aside from who they are and how should the group react to this) was this connection a positive or negative one in nature?
Also wow nether of them handled that particularly well with Deedee getting badly shaken and defensive while this new person seems to be getting depressed and frustrated, her reaction to Deeds rejection makes me think that this isn't the first time something like this has happened to this person.
Also wow nether of them handled that particularly well with Deedee getting badly shaken and defensive while this new person seems to be getting depressed and frustrated, her reaction to Deeds rejection makes me think that this isn't the first time something like this has happened to this person.
It doesn't help that it isn't as if they had another Earth name to call DeeDee, given that realization happened after everything and hence could not have been communicated.
But she's way too stressed and freaked out to consider that, so far.
I'm curious to see if Elfy McFancypants ends up thinking that Deedee not wanting to respond to her deadname is like, amnesia or something, and what ramifications that might have.
Here is the expanded list of proficiencies appropriate for The Wonders of Mundus characters and their uses:
Athletics is used for any feat of physical prowess or grace. Craft, with a necessary specialization, is used to create physical art, goods, and equipment. Composure is your ability to keep a poker face and control your emotions and is used mostly to defend against mind-affecting magic and the Fellowship or Hostility skills. Deception is your ability to omit, distort, and embroider the truth. Empathy allows you to gather information about the motives and emotions of others, and is used to defend against Deception and some Hostility rolls. Engineering is your ability to understand, construct, maintain and disable complex mechanical devices, such as traps or seigeworks. Fellowship is your ability to negotiate in good faith and to support your friends and allies. Investigation is your ability to carefully search a scene and observe it for information. Use this when you have time and calm; when you need to think fast, use Perception. Healing is your ability to diagnose and treat wounds and injuries. On Mundus, this includes the ability to identify herb and herbal remedies. Hostility is your ability to intimidate and provoke your foes, and negotiating using threats or in bad faith, without misdirection.. Mysticism is your knowledge and practice of both magic and religion. Perception is your ability to make a snap judgement about a situation and, all other things being equal, is used to resist Stealth or ambush. Performance is your ability to entertain a crowd with grace, oratory or song. Leadership is both your ability to command and inspire, and your strategic and tactical skill. Ledgerdemain is your hand-eye coordination and ability to do stage magic, pickpocketing, palming or planting small objects, and similar without getting caught. Lorewise is a broad base of cultural and local knowledge from the perspective of someone born and raised on Mundus - the in-game lore. Stewardship is a logistical skill - it's your ability to budget, plan, provision, evaluate goods, and run a shop - or a Free Company. Stealth is your ability to creep about unseen and is used to set ambushes - or scout ahead, or avoid combat. Survival is your ability to survive and thrive in the harsh conditions of the wilderness or in poverty; to navigate and to find food, water, shelter, rest. Wikiwalk is your knowledge from Earth, including player-facing knowledge about The Wonders of Mundus as a game. If you want to use an obscure quest item or perform an exploit, this tells you how.
After I told everyone about the stranger who ambushed me with my old name, Alesha clasped her hands together over her mouth, eyes closed. When she opened them, she could almost keep the anger out of her voice. Almost.
"So there's a second Earthsider who knows us, or at least you, by legal name. Outstanding. Can you think of anyone you knew from home, besides the rest of our Free Company who also played WoM?"
I take a long, nervous pull from my cider before I could answer her. "How do you know it's a second person?" I ask.
"Maris Piper's patron used full formal names," Hikaru said.
Alesha nodded. "Alesha, Akira, Juliette and Jacob, not Leesh, not Jules, not Jake."
"Huh," Sekhmet said, frowning. "As opposed to Lil Miss Can I Call You Jake, Bro."
"Could you not?" I said, sighing.
"Sorry," Sekh said, shaking her head. "I show nerves different than you."
"Could it be someone else from home?" Ace asked, hand still in mine.
I frown and shut my eyes and think, before shaking my head. "If it is, don't recognize the avatar," I say.
"That's a very interesting word for it," Sio opines. "Avatar."
"Just another example of player hubris?" Hikaru says, in as flat a tone as possible, hiding his smile behind a hand.
Sio snorted. "Quite. I still like talk of avatars far better than talk of piloting or wearing suits."
"Could we stay on subject?" I asked.
Alesha paused, a finger over her mouth. Then she took a deep breath.
"Can we do anything more about it tonight?" she asked.
I turned to answer her, then realized she was right. Even if one of the two was right here for us to interrogate, I don't think I could get up the nerve.
"We need rest," Alesha continued. "We need to recenter ourselves, and for that matter, to check in with Lord Orlando and start investigating the merchants here. Until I talk with Piper, until your..."
"Stalker?" Sekhmet suggested.
"I wish you were wrong," Alesha sighed. "Until she shows her face again, all we can do is steel ourselves for it. Eat up and rest up."
I roll my neck, rubbing behind it a little. "Uncoil some of the springs, yeah," I said, my voice glum.
"I'm willing to help with that," Alesha says softly, hands together over her mouth. "I'm not the healer you are, but Paladin. I can wring out tension."
She looks into my eyes, then over to Ace, who returns her look. Then back to me.
"If you wouldn't mind that," she asks Ace.
"If one or both of you could unscrungle my back while we're at it, sure, come on up," Ace mutters - nearly stammers, not quite able to look at her.
I take a deep breath, and not finding words, nod.
"Won't wait up for you, then," Sekhmet says. "I'm tired as hell, I'll just turn in."
"To the morning, and our secret shopping, then," Hikaru said.
There's a basin of hot water in Alesha's room when we get there, with towels, oils and powders arrayed alongside it. Alesha doesn't hesitate, stepping out of her shoes, wetting a towel, and wiping her face and hands with it. She grunts, in what could be relief or approval.
I follow suit - shoes off, washcloth wetted - acutely aware that I haven't had a proper bath since I got here. We'll have to deal with that sometime soon.
The water is wonderfully hot, just a shade below 'too much,' perfumed with lemon and rose; I can feel dry skin and dirt rub away from the sides of my nose, the sides and top of my wrists. I sit down on a bed and continue washing, looking on as Ace glances at us before trying it herself.
"Why does this work?" she asks, confused as she's grateful.
"Heating up a whole bath isn't something you can just do when the best you've got is charcoal," Alesha says. "Which doesn't mean you can't do washing up. This is how most of the locals keep clean."
"Because of course they do," I say, mostly to myself. "No one likes feeling gross."
Alesha shrugs. "It's a trick I've suggested to a few of my clients who struggled to bathe back home."
Ace half-laughs. "I'll have to remember it, my shower chair sucked."
After a moment's deliberation, I take off my prayer beads and my over-robe, and work on washing off my neck. Walk back to the basin, grab another cloth and wet it, sit back down, get the rest of my arms.
Alesha breathes onto her hands, rubs them together, then puts her palms on her breastplate and taps it twice.
There's a soft whump as the air pressure catches up to the situation - Alesha's armor, every rivet of it, teleports into a neat pile in the chest at the foot of her bed.
"Stupid inventory trick?" I ask.
"Just one of the gifts of the Gods," Alesha says, smiling. She starts to remove her arming jacket manually, popping buttons out of its frogging. "Still want help putting it back on, mind."
Ace looks up, then looks away, bright red. "Should we be undressing for this?"
"I assume Deedee wants me to have a clear look at her back for this," Alesha replies, definitely amused at Ace's reaction. "Up to her, of course, but she did come up here for a laying on of hands."
I close my eyes and steady my breathing and flip my underrobe off, fully aware that this will leave me topless.
"There's a girl," Alesha purrs, and I can damn near smell the smoke in her voice when I reflexively breathe in. "You first, then. I promise that we can work over your back before the end of the night too, Ace."
"Or you could sit in front of me and I could do it. Maybe even make a little circle, see how good your thumbs are at unknotting Leesh's neck," I say, only half-joking.
"I..." Ace blinks, and breathes. "I think I got a better idea."
I make some kind of noise of assent before I feel Alesha's palms press into my shoulders, feel her thumbs press into my neck, and suddenly can't do anything but enjoy that.
I close my eyes and let Alesha worry at the knots I've tied myself into, crushing the tension from me like oil from an olive press. But then I feel a nervous bundle of energy and breath sit at the foot of the bed - at my feet - and feel dainty hands take off one sock, then the other.
I open one eye and see Ace press the palms of her hands into the arches of my feet, looking down at them in a state of intense nervous concentration, biting her lower lip.
I hadn't realized my feet were this sore until I realized how incredible it felt to have my girlfriend attempt to attend to the pain and the noise I make is more vulpine than human.
"Oh, she really loves you," Alesha says - it felt like she was murmuring into my ear but Ace could clearly hear it, as her ears swivel and her face reddens deeper. "Don't want me to outdo you in pampering her, hmn?"
"Shut up," Ace says, unable to look at her or me. "Just wanted to help - it's not a competition."
"Course it's not," Alesha says, sliding her palms down my back, along my spine, and the pain and tension leaving my body makes another groan as it exits through my mouth. "I just think it's... let's say cute. I'm going with cute."
I manage to catch my breath a little as Ace slides her wrists up to my ankles, and I laugh. "Isn't Ace wonderful?" I manage to say, a little dreamier, a little more sing-song than I intended.
I feel Alesha's arms slip around me, feel her back and her tits press against me, feel her tighten her embrace until something out of alignment pops back into place, feel her lips almost touch my neck. "I do really enjoy watching her being affectionate."
Ace suppresses a word beginning with the letter 'f' and hauls herself bodily onto my lap, crushing my nipples with her thumbs and my mouth with her tongue and I try to gasp but it's Ace's air I take in, as I squirm and whimper underneath her.
"Don't let me interrupt you two lovebirds," Alesha says, something tight and heavy in her voice, not relinquishing her grip on my belly. "I just offered to help the both of you relax, remember?"
Any response I wanted to make turned into a moan, trapped between them. I stopped fighting for control of my mouth, letting Ace fill me with her tongue, but I did manage to raise my arm and fondle her right back, rolling her ample breast under my palm, rewarded with her chirpy little squeal.
Alesha shifted, and I felt my other arm pushed forward, brushing against Ace's hip.
Ace came up for air and I gasped for breath too, her forehead gently brushing mine, and I let my hand curl around her hip, then inside her soft thigh, paler than the rest of her deeply tanned skin.
"Love you so much Ace," I gasped. "Never leaving you, never ever."
"I know, I know, I just... she's so hot and it's not fair."
"Don't ever wanna come between you," Alesha said, her voice almost as strained as ours. "You're just so... smoking hot together."
I shudder, and rest my head on Ace's shoulder. "Wanna get you off," I say.
"Mmm. You wanna see that?" Ace asks.
"God, please," Leesh replied.
I slide my hand down, trace a path with my fingertips, until I find the right spot for me to rub Ace's clit with my thumb and her g-spot with my finger and press and am rewarded with her cry. I twist my back a little, grunt a little, get an arm around Leesh's arm, and press her head into Ace's.
"Kiss," I beg them.
They do, Alesha drinking up her tongue like she'd die without it, and I fucked my girlfriend while she made out with my best friend, felt Ace's hand press into my cunt but gritted my teeth to get her off first...
And was rewarded with one, long, muffled, high moan into Alesha's mouth as I felt her clench so tightly on my hand that I couldn't stop pressing into her if I wanted, she broke off the kiss and kept shuddering and moaned again, and I almost came from how much she enjoyed it, from how much Alesha enjoyed it.
"She's good to you, Ace," Alesha said, shuddering into Ace and me alike.
Ace could only nod and sigh agreement.
"Help me... finish wringing her out?" Alesha asked.
Ace glared at her, sliding off me so her head was between my knees in response.
"Take that as a yes," Leesh said, and chuckled.
"Nnn," I moaned, then - with great effort - slipped to the side.
Ace looked up at me, almost hurt.
"I'm… good," I say. "I - you were so good," and I reach out to her, scratch my pretty pet Ace under her chin. "I came too. But someone here hasn't and I don't think that's fair."
I slip behind Alesha, arms around her, pressing my front and my tits into her back, feel her press against me when she breathes.
Alesha swallows, and takes a breath, and gazes at Ace, eyes half-lidded. "If… you're offering," she says. "I know how good you are with your hands, Deeds. But I don't know how good you are with that mouth, Ace…"
Ace grins at her, sets her head in her lap, and kisses her navel. I snake one hand down between Leesh's legs and the other cups her bosom.
When Ace's upper lips touch Alesha's lower ones, Leesh gasps. When I join in on pressing her buttons, she moans. And when Ace starts to make out with her cunt, the only noise she can make at all is beautifully ragged breathing.
It doesn't take long at all for us to show Alesha exactly how she made us feel.
We don't bother going to separate beds after that. By unspoken consensus, Alesha - the tallest of us - got the center, while both of us drape ourselves over and around her. For a long while we just let ourselves breathe each other in, rest, stop our heads from spinning.
Alesha's the first to speak. "Glad I could help you two," she says. "I really am."
"It's a good thing for you she's a showoff," I say, taking Ace's hand.
"And that you're gorgeous," Ace allows.
Alesha closes her eyes, and I think I can see her redden slightly from the compliment. "We're going to have to work out more details."
Ace yawns. "Later," she insists.
"Later," I agree. "But we're glad you... we're glad to have you, too."
Alesha ruffles my hair, and I suddenly feel very young, and very underqualified.
"Later," she says. "Rest now. We have a lot of work to do."
We did. So we stopped talking, and just held each other and felt each other breathe, until we nodded off one by one.
Will put up a new chapter vote later. Until them, enjoy plots and porn.
What kind of gear upgrades will we focus on? Pick any, highest rated wins.
[] [GEAR] Weapons.
[] [GEAR] Armor.
[] [GEAR] Pathfinding and mobility.
[] [GEAR] Logistics and utility.
What businesses must we understand to understand Vinyedo? Pick any, three highest rated win.
[] [TRADES] Blacksmithing and finesmithing.
[] [TRADES] Baking and brewing.
[] [TRADES] Carpentry and cooperage.
[] [TRADES] Cooking and hospitality.
[] [TRADES] Dairy and confections.
[] [TRADES] Fruit and vegetable gardening.
[] [TRADES] Milling and storing grain.
[] [TRADES] Herbalism, alchemy and medicine.
[] [TRADES] Tanning and making vellum and paper.
[] [TRADES] Woodcraft and coaling.
What should we disclose to Lord Orlando about other Earthsiders here? Highest rated wins.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] Nothing, at least not yet. What he doesn't know can't hurt him.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] That an adventurer claiming to know us is stalking us.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] That some unknown person has hired adventurers to find us.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] Warn him both of our stalker and of the posted quest to find us.
Voting moratorium for two hours. Voting opens 1:30 Pacific today and closes at that time on Wednesday.
I agree with most of this but I disagree with your choice on Partycrashers. Orlando isn't going to be mad at us because someone from home is hunting, and he's played straight with us. He's also pretty wise and would have a very different take on the situation than even Sio, which could be helpful in figuring out what to do with that lot
[X] [GEAR] Pathfinding and mobility.
[X] [GEAR] Logistics and utility.
[X] [TRADES] Baking and brewing.
[X] [TRADES] Dairy and confections.
[X] [TRADES] Tanning and making vellum and paper.
[X] [PARTYCRASHERS] Warn him both of our stalker and of the posted quest to find us.
What should we disclose to Lord Orlando about other Earthsiders here? Highest rated wins.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] Nothing, at least not yet. What he doesn't know can't hurt him.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] That an adventurer claiming to know us is stalking us.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] That some unknown person has hired adventurers to find us.
[] [PARTYCRASHERS] Warn him both of our stalker and of the posted quest to find us.
I want to discuss in more detail what we're hoping to accomplish from having this conversation.
Like... I can see the advantages of letting him know that there's other adventurers in town who seem to have followed us in particular, just so he doesn't hear it from someone else first. But if I were in his shoes, there's a lot of wrong conclusions I'd easily jump to about what that implies. If all he knows is that they're on the hunt for DCaC, he's liable to assume that they're involved in the conspiracy we were sent to root out. If we tell him that the adventurers looking for us are using descriptions from before we were Enthused, he might start to distrust us, thinking that perhaps we became adventurers to flee the consequences of prior bad behavior. And resolving all these mistaken assumptions is going to be difficult given that we can't actually give him the whole truth.
So what's the most important bits for him to understand here? And how are we planning to frame the "civilian identity" angle of this Topic in a way he can digest?
So what's the most important bits for him to understand here? And how are we planning to frame the "civilian identity" angle of this Topic in a way he can digest?
These are all excellent questions that deserve some debate. I was going to have some of the skill with which the team navigated this minefield literally be part of skill rolls, but I do want to hear people's thoughts on how best to contextualize this to Orlando.
The best option may be a white lie that may actually be true, say we have family that is likely looking for us but that conversation is not going to be especially pleasant because we did not exactly have their full approval to end up where we are. So we are not looking forward to having it distracting us from our job at the present.
Basically it implies we may have run off without exactly clearing it with (all of) our families - not exactly a good thing, but far from the worst conclusion he could draw, without admitting anything he really does not need to know
The best option may be a white lie that may actually be true, say we have family that is likely looking for us but that conversation is not going to be especially pleasant because we did not exactly have their full approval to end up where we are. So we are not looking forward to having it distracting us from our job at the present.
Basically it implies we may have run off without exactly clearing it with (all of) our families - not exactly a good thing, but far from the worst conclusion he could draw, without admitting anything he really does not need to know
