Isabelle Morgenthau A Fisher
Isa (right) and her boyfriend Arren (left)
Hard
Keen
Calm
Daring
Wild
+4
-2
+4
+1
-1
Moves Creepy: When a comrade sees you perform a ritual, overhears your prayers, or sees signs of your alienness, they lose Trust in you. Once they learn one of your Moves, they are no longer affected, but they gain Creepy as well. Deep Ones: You can call on your patrons to Help you on a roll. On a 1, you Break after this mission. Blessing: When you dab fresh blood on a piece of working equipment, roll +Calm. On a 16+, take both. On an 11-15, choose 1.
Take +1 Ongoing with this item this Routine. (+1 Handling for a plane)
The item cannot break or be lost this Routine. (+1 Armour on 1 Section of the Plane.)
On a miss, you need a bigger sacrifice. Don't disappoint. Ideomotor Response: Your plane effectively has a programmable autopilot. It does not have to be switched on and off; it "knows" when you are behind the controls. Soul-Bound: When you paint a rune in blood on an aircraft, you are linked. While in flight, you can take incoming Structure damage as Stress, 1-1. You can take a hit that would strike a Component as Injury, or give incoming Injury to your Engine. Bond: (Witch move learned from Wulf) When you hold an object of significance and make an emotional connection to it, take 1 Stress. The object becomes a magical Focus, and you learn it's Nature (Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Iron, or Blood). Contemplation: When you draw a ritual circle and stay within it, roll +Calm. On a 16+, you come out of it about an hour later refreshed; strike 3 Stress or 2 Injury. On an 11-15, it takes the whole night, and you're unreachable in that time.
Mastery
The Bushwack Ambush Predator: When you strike an enemy who is unaware of your presence, roll with Advantage. Forced Evade: When you fire to scare an opponent off, spend 1 ammo and roll +Hard. On a hit, instead of dealing damage, choose one: Target dives 1, target climbs 1, target loses speed in a forced turn. On a 16+, roll attack dice on them anyway. Momentum: When you dive onto a target, add +1 AP. Scissors Snip: When you disengage, give an ally +3 towards dealing with your target.
Intimacy Move
When you are intimate with another, choose one of you to get a hold. They can spend that hold to give the other a command: if followed, then forward to their next +Stat move, they will always score at least a partial hit, regardless of what the dice say.
If you use this move in the air, there are two holds, and they can be distributed however you agree.
The Company People
Isabelle (Fisher): The PC. She's out to find her way in the world. 1 thaler per Routine.
Arren (NPC- Confidant/Observer): Your cute fish boyfriend. Artist and recently trained observer. 1 thaler per Routine.
Wulf (Witch): Former bandit leader. Actually half wolf. Hot as hell. Ex-Goth. 1 thaler per Routine.
Minna Hammerl (Soldier): Inexperienced but highly trained soldier and passionate duelist. Speaks all formal-like. The most beautiful woman in the world. 1 thaler per Routine.
Hard +4, Keen +1, Calm +2, Daring -2 (Professional)
Heinrich Engel (Student): Political science student working on his thesis-slash-manifesto.
Anny Meldgaard (NPC - Mechanic): A young half-Fischer, half-Himmilvolk woman from Piav, trained by the mechanics there. Looking for adventure and her origins. Blushes red?
Aircraft
Isa & Arren's Plane: A Teicher Möwen seaplane. Steel frame, liquid-cooled engine. Deeply possessed. 1 thaler per Routine.
Fang Howl: Wulf's helicopter. An experimental pre-war model. Liquid-cooled radial. Three wolf moon. 1 thaler per Routine.
Pup: Wulf's Kreuzer Skorpion prototype retrieved from a sealed hanger. Gets a lot out of an underpowered engine.
Minna's Kobra: An inline-engine powered, wood framed fighter. All around an excellent machine. 1 thaler per Routine.
Heinrich's Reconstruction: A canard plane with a 30mm cannon in the nose. Awkward and unstable but hits like a train. 1 thaller per Routine.
Leaving her here is probably a death sentence. I have my doubts about my plan's practicality, but it's the only option I see other than trying to use magic. Which is itself damn risky, because we are bad at it and we are one inconvenient consequence away from not being able to get back to town alive.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I've got another idea. But it's a real bad one, one of the kind that is at absolute best just stupid enough to work.
This is a universe where the main thing humans have going for them in a world full of malevolent or uncaring forces is the power of flight, which they have been mystically endowed with in a very real and not at all metaphorical way. But it's not our only power. The other one is industry. And what was the start of industry? What let us push back the forests and carve out places we didn't have to live in fear?
I'm willing to bet it was fire. Controlled use of fire to reshape the environment. Slash and burn agriculture. All that stuff.
So, we've got someone we probably can't move, and we're almost defenseless in a primeval forest full of dangerous and unfathomable fae. We can heal at least ourself if we just have some time, but we can't risk waiting. So what do we do?
We carve out our own little patch of Industry to push the wild back. We burn a scar into this forest, hide out in the center of it and heal up. Then we can either wait for rescue (Wulf has a helicopter, after all) or push through the forest to safety, braving the anger of everything we dislodged but didn't manage to kill. The trick is of course surviving a fire big enough to have the desired effect. I don't really know what to say for that, though being able to vomit sea-water by trying to make sparks is probably one of the components of the plan. Seems like the kind of thing that might be useful. Starting with as big a clearing as we can find is also probably something, but it really isn't much protection in the face of a fire big enough to have the kind of metaphysical effect we are going for. If we were just trying to burn the undergrowth, that might be something different.
@open_sketchbook: Leaving aside the obvious danger and stupidity of trying to start a forest fire while in the middle of it as a way to get safer, any commentary on whether or not this approach is actually consistent with the universe's metaphysics as we understand them?
Leaving her here is probably a death sentence. I have my doubts about my plan's practicality, but it's the only option I see other than trying to use magic. Which is itself damn risky, because we are bad at it and we are one inconvenient consequence away from not being able to get back to town alive.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I've got another idea. But it's a real bad one, one of the kind that is at absolute best just stupid enough to work.
This is a universe where the main thing humans have going for them in a world full of malevolent or uncaring forces is the power of flight, which they have been mystically endowed with in a very real and not at all metaphorical way. But it's not our only power. The other one is industry. And what was the start of industry? What let us push back the forests and carve out places we didn't have to live in fear?
I'm willing to bet it was fire. Controlled use of fire to reshape the environment. Slash and burn agriculture. All that stuff.
So, we've got someone we probably can't move, and we're almost defenseless in a primeval forest full of dangerous and unfathomable fae. We can heal at least ourself if we just have some time, but we can't risk waiting. So what do we do?
We carve out our own little patch of Industry to push the wild back. We burn a scar into this forest, hide out in the center of it and heal up. Then we can either wait for rescue (Wulf has a helicopter, after all) or push through the forest to safety, braving the anger of everything we dislodged but didn't manage to kill. The trick is of course surviving a fire big enough to have the desired effect. I don't really know what to say for that, though being able to vomit sea-water by trying to make sparks is probably one of the components of the plan. Seems like the kind of thing that might be useful. Starting with as big a clearing as we can find is also probably something, but it really isn't much protection in the face of a fire big enough to have the kind of metaphysical effect we are going for. If we were just trying to burn the undergrowth, that might be something different.
@open_sketchbook: Leaving aside the obvious danger and stupidity of trying to start a forest fire while in the middle of it as a way to get safer, any commentary on whether or not this approach is actually consistent with the universe's metaphysics as we understand them?
Guessing that carving a scar into a domain is one of the original since as far as the fae are concerned. I do like the idea of using magic to try and preserve or heal the other pilot, but thinking ice and stasis over fire and carving out barrier zones.
Guessing that carving a scar into a domain is one of the original since as far as the fae are concerned. I do like the idea of using magic to try and preserve or heal the other pilot, but thinking ice and stasis over fire and carving out barrier zones.
Any chance I could persuade you to vote for my plan which allows for magical healing, then? I'm also willing to tweak it if needed to get your support; frankly at this point I mostly want anything other than "just walk off and leave her here" to win.
What's the plan for rescuing Arren? He's definitely in the forest as well, and possibly injured.
Provisional Plan:
[X]: Just like plan Oh Fuck but...
[X]: Watch the results of the air battle. If our side is winning, fire flares to let them know that we're on the ground and need help. Hopefully it might let them, the townsfolk or Arren know where we are and go to help us.
[X]: If we lose, leave, try to find Arren on foot while taking the pilot with us as half hostage and half because it's the decent thing to do. Once we know what condition Arren's in, work things out from there.
[X] Plan: Get out. Get Help
-[X] Stabilize the pilot as much as possible, then hurry into town
-[X] See if you can get people in town to go back and help her.
"We should maintain a brisk marching pace." Minna said. "The longer you linger in the wild, the more danger you are in. You must press forward quickly and with conviction."
"If something stops us, violence is our second resort, okay?" Wulf explained. "Whatever happens, don't run. If we get separated, we may never find each other again."
This isn't a like, warning or veto or anything, just a reminder of how the wild works in this setting.
I'm going to leave voting open until tomorrow to see if any of the people opposed to GOGH can consolidate into another plan.
Also also, just as a weird like, IDK, if any of you folks know people you can steer toward this quest by posting about it, bugging people, whatever, i would super appreciate more readers. its weird that my favourite quest to run by far is also by far my least popular.
[x] prep for rescue
-[x] tear cloth off to put pressure on both of your wounds and bind them in place to keep it there, and to staunch bleeding.
-[x] siphon of gasoline into a can, if there is one. Pour a circle of it around the plane but don't light it yet.
-[x] use magic to heal yourself and the other pilot, as much as possible. Maybe feed brokenness into the airplane away from you two?
-[x] once the gunfire stops for a bit, fire off another flare.
Adhoc vote count started by brmj on Mar 8, 2019 at 2:48 AM, finished with 4012 posts and 11 votes.
[X] Plan: Get out. Get Help
-[X] Stabilize the pilot as much as possible, then hurry into town
-[X] See if you can get people in town to go back and help her.
[X] Plan Pick Your Poison
-[X] Apologize profusely; explain that we plan on leaving these woods promptly
-[X] Offer the pilot her choice of three options: try to move in her current state, stay here in the probably-fae-infested woods, or let us try and use magic to heal her
--[X] Provide any desired details honestly & to the best of our ability
--[X] If she wants to try & move (this section stolen shamelessly from @brmj ):
---[X] Take a closer look at her wound and treat it as best we can.
---[X] We're getting her out of here. If she can walk with us supporting the injured side or with improvised crutches, do that. Since she almost certainly can't, build a travois and do our best to drag her on it. Try and construct it to put the weight on our good shoulder rather than just having to carry it all. It isn't going to be easy going since we are in a forest, she's probably bigger than us and we have one working arm, but it should still be easier than trying to carry her without one for any real distance.
----[X] Actually, there's a perfectly good set of aircraft landing gear right there, isn't there? If the landing gear came off in the crash, maybe we can use that.
----[X] Tying knots one-handed is very hard. Get her help if we need it.
---[X] Try and talk to keep her mind off the pain. It's the least we can do, and anything that would notice would probably hear the two of us coming either way.
--[X] If she wants to stay (this section stolen shamelessly from @ancusohm ):
---[X] Stabilize the pilot as much as possible, then hurry into town
---[X] See if you can get people in town to go back and help her.
--[X] If she wants to let you try magic:
---[X] Attempt to use Water's "restore life or movement" function to get her fixed up enough to walk
---[X] If by some miracle this goes smoothly, escort her out of the forest as a prisoner; otherwise, we'll probably need a new vote after learning what weird effect we've produced this time
[X] Plan Oh Fuck: "fine, keep the ammo" edition
-[X] Put our gun away. We obviously can't be trusted with it right now, wouldn't be able to do any good with it if we actually had to use it, and honestly wouldn't blame her one bit if she tried to take it from us right now.
--[X] Seriously consider just throwing it away. Don't.
-[X] Apologize profusely throughout. Not that it counts for much.
-[X] Take a closer look at her wound and treat it as best we can.
-[X] We're getting her out of here. If she can walk with us supporting the injured side or with improvised crutches, do that. Since she almost certainly can't, build a travois and do our best to drag her on it. Try and construct it to put the weight on our good shoulder rather than just having to carry it all. It isn't going to be easy going since we are in a forest, she's probably bigger than us and we have one working arm, but it should still be easier than trying to carry her without one for any real distance.
--[X] Actually, there's a perfectly good set of aircraft landing gear right there, isn't there? If the landing gear came off in the crash, maybe we can use that.
--[X] Tying knots one-handed is very hard. Get her help if we need it.
-[X] Try and talk to keep her mind off the pain. It's the least we can do, and anything that would notice would probably hear the two of us coming either way.
[X] Plan Oh Fuck
-[X] Put our gun away. We obviously can't be trusted with it right now, wouldn't be able to do any good with it if we actually had to use it, and honestly wouldn't blame her one bit if she tried to take it from us right now.
--[X] Seriously consider just throwing it away, but settle for handing her the ammo to hold onto in case we meet something hostile.
-[X] Apologize profusely throughout. Not that it counts for much.
-[X] Take a closer look at her wound and treat it as best we can.
-[X] We're getting her out of here. If she can walk with us supporting the injured side or with improvised crutches, do that. Since she almost certainly can't, build a travois and do our best to drag her on it. Try and construct it to put the weight on our good shoulder rather than just having to carry it all. It isn't going to be easy going since we are in a forest, she's probably bigger than us and we have one working arm, but it should still be easier than trying to carry her without one for any real distance.
--[X] Actually, there's a perfectly good set of aircraft landing gear right there, isn't there? If the landing gear came off in the crash, maybe we can use that.
--[X] Tying knots one-handed is very hard. Get her help if we need it.
-[X] Try and talk to keep her mind off the pain. It's the least we can do, and anything that would notice would probably hear the two of us coming either way.
[X]: Just like plan Oh Fuck but...
[X]: Watch the results of the air battle. If our side is winning, fire flares to let them know that we're on the ground and need help. Hopefully it might let them, the townsfolk or Arren know where we are and go to help us.
[X]: If we lose, leave, try to find Arren on foot while taking the pilot with us as half hostage and half because it's the decent thing to do. Once we know what condition Arren's in, work things out from there.
[x] prep for rescue
-[x] tear cloth off to put pressure on both of your wounds and bind them in place to keep it there, and to staunch bleeding.
-[x] siphon of gasoline into a can, if there is one. Pour a circle of it around the plane but don't light it yet.
-[x] use magic to heal yourself and the other pilot, as much as possible. Maybe feed brokenness into the airplane away from you two?
-[x] once the gunfire stops for a bit, fire off another flare.
I'll take anything over leaving her to die. Settling on this because it already has two votes. I suggest that others do likewise until/unless a single, particularly compelling alternative comes along.
Mostly I think the large number of clauses makes it hard to parse for everyone involved, and embedding if-then logic into plan votes gives up power to the Evil QM and makes it hard for people to know what they're really voting for.
Mostly I think the large number of clauses makes it hard to parse for everyone involved, and embedding if-then logic into plan votes gives up power to the Evil QM and makes it hard for people to know what they're really voting for.
Huh. Fair enough on the parsing, it didn't seem that hard to read for me but I'm obviously biased on account of having written it. The basic summary is "offer the pilot a three-way choice and then execute whichever option she picks," if that helps at all. If you have any ideas for ways I could clarify the plan without removing important content, I'd be happy to give it a go.
I'm not concerned with "giving up power to the Evil QM," though, because we don't have an Evil QM here - this is a collaborative storytelling exercise, not a competition. Besides, ultimately all power resides with the "Evil" QM anyway, simply due to the nature of the medium.
[X] Plan Pick Your Poison
-[X] Apologize profusely; explain that we plan on leaving these woods promptly
-[X] Offer the pilot her choice of three options: try to move in her current state, stay here in the probably-fae-infested woods, or let us try and use magic to heal her
--[X] If she wants to try & move (this section stolen shamelessly from @brmj ):
---[X] Take a closer look at her wound and treat it as best we can.
---[X] We're getting her out of here. If she can walk with us supporting the injured side or with improvised crutches, do that. Since she almost certainly can't, build a travois and do our best to drag her on it. Try and construct it to put the weight on our good shoulder rather than just having to carry it all. It isn't going to be easy going since we are in a forest, she's probably bigger than us and we have one working arm, but it should still be easier than trying to carry her without one for any real distance.----[X] Actually, there's a perfectly good set of aircraft landing gear right there, isn't there? If the landing gear came off in the crash, maybe we can use that.
----[X] Tying knots one-handed is very hard. Get her help if we need it.
---[X] Try and talk to keep her mind off the pain. It's the least we can do, and anything that would notice would probably hear the two of us coming either way.
--[X] If she wants to stay (this section stolen shamelessly from @ancusohm ):
---[X] Stabilize the pilot as much as possible, then hurry into town
---[X] See if you can get people in town to go back and help her.
--[X] If she wants to let you try magic:
---[X] Attempt to use Water's "restore life or movement" function to get her fixed up enough to walk
---[X] If by some miracle this goes smoothly, escort her out of the forest as a prisoner; otherwise, we'll probably need a new vote after learning what weird effect we've produced this time
You looked up through a small gap in the canopy at the battle above. Somebody was spiraling down, trailing black smoke. A fire, maybe. It could have been Wulf's plane, it could have been Minna's, it could have been a Red Talon. You tore your eyes away: there was nothing you could do about that.
You looked around instead, scanning the treeline for signs of movement. You didn't see anything suspicious, but that didn't matter. Lady Kyrin hadn't been there until she suddenly was. You knew you were being watched. You had to get out of here. You had to go back to the town as fast as possible. Maybe you could get help there, get a posse together to go back into the woods and retrieve her. You couldn't stay here.
You stood up to leave, but when you looked back down at the pilot, she was crying.
"D-don't leave me." She mummered. "I don't w-wanna die."
You were halfway to starting to reassure her when you realized it was bullshit. If you left, you'd never find her again. Nobody would. And the town probably wouldn't risk the lives of their militia or whatever to find a downed pilot from the gang holding somebody hostage.
"I'm not going to leave you, okay? We're going to go to the village together. I'm so fucking sorry, I... my arm's all fucked up, I wasn't thinking... Fuck, why did you move? I told you not to move!"
She gave some kind of despairing, confused look. Of course, she'd been in the same situation as you. From the cut on her forehead and the blood on her face, she'd probably hit her head pretty badly coming down. She was probably just as out of it as you.
"Okay... fuck. First thing, you're still bleeding, we have to stop the bleeding. Blood loss bad. Um..."
You went to grip your holy symbol, but you realized you didn't have a free hand to do that and also snap your fingers. You didn't need to hold it, just think about it, right?
"I know how to do some magic." You said. "Do you-"
"W-what? Magic?"
"Yeah. I can try to heal you with it. Do you want me to?"
She shook her head, her eyes wide with fear.
"Okay. Uh, plan B. Do you have a medical kit?"
"Under... my s-seat." She muttered. You glanced over and pulled a small bag out, rummaging inside past some clothes and a black and red flag before pulling out a small white metal box. It was a bit low on essentials, but you found some bandages and a sterilizing scab-paste, which the little printed instructions on the inside cover told you was needed for such trauma. There was supposed to be three vials of morphium, but they were absent.
"You're missing morphium." You said quickly.
"The w-winter was... bad..." She said simply, and you had a feeling she didn't mean in terms of wounds.
"Okay, don't worry about that." You hunted around inside your pouches and pulled out the last of the herb the Doc had given you, before Wulf's magic had reduced the need for painkillers. "Here, chew this. It'll dull the pain." You instructed, and she did so weakly for a few minutes while you worked. You undid her coat and pulled it to one side, exposing a simple white shirt and oversized beige pants. She was dressed remarkably masculine, which made you feel an odd sort of uncomfortable despite everything else. You pulled out your knife again and cut away around the wound, pulling the fabric away. There was an entry wound, no exit wound, and what looked like the start of a lot of bruising. You checked the information card, and it said that meant internal bleeding. You were to take some of the scab-paste and inject it around the wound, which you did.
You were so grateful for a lifetime of blood rituals, because this was gross as hell. The unreality of her bright red blood helped a bit, as did the fact that she made no noise except to chew a little faster when you inserted the needle. There was a little diagram showing a little cotton plug being placed in the wound, but you couldn't find that either, and you showed her the picture asking what she did with it, which restored a tiny bit of colour to her face.
"Ummm. Check the front bit on my bag." She said, between chewing. She wasn't stuttering from the pain anymore, which was a start. You found a dozen of the little plugs in her bag in cardboard tubes, and it occurred to you as you put it in the wound what they were for.
"Makes sense, really." You muttered. You'd always used a cloth pad.
Once the bandages and medicine were applied, you sat back against the plane and tried to wipe your hands off on the aircraft canvas.
"How are you feeling?" You asked.
"Better."
"Sorry I shot you." You said.
"Nah. I woulda shot you." She replied matter-of-factly. "Thanks for being a shitty shot."
You didn't really have a retort for that. Instead, you asked if she could walk.
"I don't think s-so. I... moving my legs hurts like hell." She said. "Fuck. I... I'm not."
"Shut up. We're getting you out of here." You said.
"You gonna fucking carry me, small fry?"
"Um... no but..."
There were a lot of plane pieces lying around. Your village used simple skids to move large amounts of fish along. Maybe you could do something like that?
---
A few minutes later, you were dragging the woman behind you on a section of wing canvas, clipped to your parachute harness and with your hand on your belt. It was hard work, heavy as hell, but you were making progress, and you and her were talking the whole way. Partially to distract each other from the pain, mostly because it was slow, boring work.
Her name was Abigail Mendelsohn, she was twenty-two, and she was from a reclusive village near Greifenburg, in the southern end of the Fokker mountain range. Hers was one of dozens of little communities that fell within their jurisdiction, and from the sound of things you surmised that she and her village were probably mostly Rishonim. You knew basically nothing about those people, save they were kinda secretive and many people weren't fond of them, but apparently her grandparents had fled to this village before the end to escape persecution in the cities, only to find it carrying on under the Greinfenburg flag a decade later. They inspected the village constantly, taxed it to an inch of its life under the guise of paying for "protection", and when they fell short they looted the place for whatever valuables they had. Nowhere around Greifenburg got off easy, but according to her their village was subject to special treatment.
Three years ago, a Greifenburg soldier had run her mother through with a bayonet while she was trying to protect Abigail's little sister. Abigail decided that there was no point in staying, so she hitched a ride from a trader and then signed up as a gunner for the Red Talons out west, back before they had a reputation as just being bandits. There were almost thirty planes in the squadron and they were the terror of the skies! She'd swordfought a smuggler atop a balloon, hijacked a Goth Sky-line train, and gotten accidentally married a beautiful young woman in a Verloren village after mistaking their rituals, all in the space of a few months.
They'd flown together for a year or so, she met a boy she loved and flew her first plane, but then there had been a change of leadership after the Circus ran into some kind of clockwork monsters. Their new leader wanted to get rich, and she lead the squadron to take worse and worse jobs for more and more unsavoury characters. By the time they were just straight-up raiding villages, it had begun to feel natural. Still, there were some standards, and when their leader had tried to take on a job from the Goths, the squadron splintered. Abigail went with one of the groups and headed back south, taking on what jobs they could, but the squadron's reputation was ruined for anything but the worst jobs. Still, they were well-paid: from the sounds of things, she could have retired a year ago, and she didn't know why she kept going.
You asked what had happened to her boyfriend, and she said he'd been shot last winter during a job negotiation. You tried to imagine that happening to Arren, and it was just too much.
"Why do you fly with that fascist piece of shit?" She asked, referring to Minna.
"I... she never mentioned any of this. I don't know if she knows." You replied. "She was exiled from there. I think it was because she was, um, too different from what they wanted."
"Oh. Oh Goddess..."
Abigail remained quiet the rest of the way.
Finally, you reached the edge of the village. Messingwerks was more industry than village, a maze of steel framework and walkways over a concrete shell, smoke pouring from stacks, soot on everything. Minna's plane was sitting on the airfield, and your plane was bobbing in a nearby industrial reservoir, missing its tail. There was a bloody stain down the side of Minna's cockpit, and a scorchmark near the engine housing. You asked a guard to point you to a doctor, and within a few minutes some workers in overalls were carrying Abigail behind you on the wing and leading you to a small clinic.
You were lead into a small room with a half-dozen beds. One of them was occupied by Minna, who was lying face-down on the bed, propped up on her arms. Arren was sitting beside her, his face tear-stained. Their conversation paused as he rushed over to embrace you, which was not good for the arm.
"I'm so sorry. Oh my gods, I thought you were dead!" He said, helping you into the bed. "I.. I saw the chute open but it was so low, and you went into the trees..."
"What happened up there?" You asked.
"We engaged the enemy. It was inconclusive." Minna said. "We did not get any of theirs, though we put some bullets through all their planes. Heinrich and Wulf are heading back to Piav with the principle."
"I tried to land the plane and I didn't do it right." Arren said. "Sorry about the tail."
"It's okay." You said. "What happened to you, Minna?"
"I was..." She winced. "My engine was hit, and then I was shot in the posterior while I attempted to assess the damage. It was quite unpleasant. Wulf chased off my attacker before he could finish me off. I... she is a reckless woman, but she is an excellent pilot."
You smiled despite yourself. "Good to hear. Are you going to be okay?"
"It is just a flesh wound. The damage to my ego is worse than the damage to my person." She said, and you laughed despite yourself.
"Who is she?" Arren asked, indicating to Abigail, who had finally been given a dose of proper painkiller by what you thought might be a nurse.
"Um, one of the Red Talons?" You said. "Her name's Abigail."
"Oh, you have a prisoner. Excellent." Minna said, craning her head to try and see beyond the shelves of medicine at the bedside. "She is wounded?"
"I shot her." You admitted. "But I couldn't leave her out there."
You talked a while longer, but then the nurses got to you, set your bone, and gave you something to let you sleep. You'd be right by morning... you just had to sleep.
---
End of Mission
Stress Gained: +2
Downtime Vote As usual, we are dealing with stress first. You are in Messingwerks, a Wealth 1 town.
I will need a plan which encompasses, or at least considers, the following.
- Initial stress relief.
- Dealing with your prisoner.
- Getting back to Piav, or getting your team here.
- Any purchases you want to make in this town.
- Talking to Minna about her hometown?
The repairs to your plane and Minna's plane both fall under the free repairs with upkeep.
Snippet Votes are now once again go!
Adhoc vote count started by open_sketch on Mar 12, 2019 at 10:52 PM, finished with 4043 posts and 1 votes.
[X] Plan: First Thoughts
-[X] Indulge in prayer as a vice (with Arren, if he's willing).
--[X] Do something else with him (tattoos?) if he'd prefer
-[X] Confirm if Messingwerks wants to punish Abigail, and then get her out of town (especially if they want her dead)
--[X] Talk to Abigail about her plans. Try to convince her to leave the Talons and combat work altogether
--[X] Ask Minna if she would accept Abigail as a cargo pilot. If so, put that issue to a vote among the circus.
--[X] If Minna or the circus doesn't want her, try to get Abigail a job on the zeppelin. Point out that they could use someone who knows the area.
-[X] Go shopping for a lighter handgun, or "[a] replacement parachute, gun sights, miniaturized radios, or a better engine for Wulf's plane"
--[X] Keep an eye out for embroidery stuff or anything Minna could do while lying on her front.
--[X] Look for artist supplies for Arren, if he needs any (and use it as an excuse to talk with him, if necessary)
-[X] Ask Minna if she knows what Greinfenburg did to towns like Abigail's.
--[X] Try to ease Minna into the idea that her hometown does bad stuff.
Adhoc vote count started by open_sketch on Mar 13, 2019 at 5:22 PM, finished with 4067 posts and 9 votes.
[X] Plan: First Thoughts
-[X] Indulge in prayer as a vice (with Arren, if he's willing).
--[X] Do something else with him (tattoos?) if he'd prefer
-[X] Confirm if Messingwerks wants to punish Abigail, and then get her out of town (especially if they want her dead)
--[X] Talk to Abigail about her plans. Try to convince her to leave the Talons and combat work altogether
--[X] Ask Minna if she would accept Abigail as a cargo pilot. If so, put that issue to a vote among the circus.
--[X] If Minna or the circus doesn't want her, try to get Abigail a job on the zeppelin. Point out that they could use someone who knows the area.
-[X] Go shopping for a lighter handgun, or "[a] replacement parachute, gun sights, miniaturized radios, or a better engine for Wulf's plane"
--[X] Keep an eye out for embroidery stuff or anything Minna could do while lying on her front.
--[X] Look for artist supplies for Arren, if he needs any (and use it as an excuse to talk with him, if necessary)
-[X] Ask Minna if she knows what Greinfenburg did to towns like Abigail's.
--[X] Try to ease Minna into the idea that her hometown does bad stuff.
[X] Plan much shorter this time
-[X] First things first, send a telegraph to Piav to let people know we are alright if Arren didn't already do it. They should see about getting paid, handle any repairs and such they may need to, and otherwise take a little time to recover. Precise plans about who meets who where are yet to be determined; look for another telegram later.
-[X] Next, get some breakfast. If Minna is getting around well enough for it, take Arren and Minna. Otherwise, go with Arren, bring back food for Minna, and eat together. Use this as an opportunity to debrief a little bit and get a better idea of what happened in the battle.
-[X] Go for a walk with Arren. See the sights, such as they are. This much industry is impressive in its way, and is unfamiliar to us, but also get a feel for what the town is like. Beyond that, spend some time just talking to Arren. We both could have very easily died and had every reason to fear that the other had. That isn't the kind of thing that just goes away.
--[X] Minna might want to check in on the repairs or something, but is otherwise free to do what she wants. This might be a good time to indulge one of her vices. Maybe frame it as "do this task for us, then your time is your own until we meet back up around lunch time." She seems to still not quite know what to do with herself without any structure at all, so that might help.
-[X] Find somewhere appropriately secluded to pray together for a while, but try and be done in time for lunch.
-[X] Before lunch, quickly check in with Abagail. See how she's feeling, make sure there's no trouble in particular with the town, offer to pay for her medical bills (we did shoot her when she was trying to surrender, after all.)
--[X] Perhaps gently inquire about what she wants to do now, but don't make any offers or push for details. We only want to get her thinking about what she wants to do with her life rather than rejoining the red talons by default. This is maybe planting the seeds for a later offer, but that would be premature right now.
--[X] Bring up the Minna situation. There are two aspects to this: Minna has to know the truth, and Abigail did stab her that one time, after all. Is she prepared to apologize for the stabbing? If we can get Minna ready to hear it, would Abagail be prepared to tell her story?
-[X] Break for vote on the plan for lunch and the difficult conversation with Minna.
[X] Plan: First Thoughts
-[X] Indulge in prayer as a vice (with Arren, if he's willing).
--[X] Do something else with him (tattoos?) if he'd prefer
-[X] Confirm if Messingwerks wants to punish Abigail, and then get her out of town (especially if they want her dead)
--[X] Talk to Abigail about her plans. Try to convince her to leave the Talons and combat work altogether
--[X] Ask Minna if she would accept Abigail as a cargo pilot. If so, put that issue to a vote among the circus.
--[X] If Minna or the circus doesn't want her, try to get Abigail a job on the zeppelin. Point out that they could use someone who knows the area.
-[X] Go shopping for a lighter handgun, or "[a] replacement parachute, gun sights, miniaturized radios, or a better engine for Wulf's plane"
--[X] Keep an eye out for embroidery stuff or anything Minna could do while lying on her front.
--[X] Look for artist supplies for Arren, if he needs any (and use it as an excuse to talk with him, if necessary)
-[X] Ask Minna if she knows what Greinfenburg did to towns like Abigail's.
--[X] Try to ease Minna into the idea that her hometown does bad stuff.
-[X] The plane-ghost did good work today. Could Isa check in with him? See if he's happy?
[X] Plan I didn't want to have to make a plan and may have gotten carried away
-[X] First things first, send a telegraph to Piav to let people know we are alright if Arren didn't already do it. They should see about getting paid, handle any repairs and such they may need to, and otherwise take a little time to recover. Precise plans about who meets who where are yet to be determined; look for another telegram later.
-[X] Next, get some breakfast. If Minna is getting around well enough for it, take Arren and Minna. Otherwise, go with Arren, bring back food for Minna, and eat together. Use this as an opportunity to debrief a little bit and get a better idea of what happened in the battle.
-[X] Go for a walk with Arren. See the sights, such as they are. This much industry is impressive in its way, and is unfamiliar to us, but also get a feel for what the town is like. Beyond that, spend some time just talking to Arren. We both could have very easily died and had every reason to fear that the other had. That isn't the kind of thing that just goes away.
--[X] Minna might want to check in on the repairs or something, but is otherwise free to do what she wants. This might be a good time to indulge one of her vices. Maybe frame it as "do this task for us, then your time is your own until we meet back up around lunch time." She seems to still not quite know what to do with herself without any structure at all, so that might help.
-[X] Find somewhere appropriately secluded to pray together for a while, but try and be done in time for lunch.
-[X] Before lunch, quickly check in with Abagail. See how she's feeling, make sure there's no trouble in particular with the town, offer to pay for her medical bills (we did shoot her when she was trying to surrender, after all.)
--[X] Perhaps gently inquire about what she wants to do now, but don't make any offers or push for details. We only want to get her thinking about what she wants to do with her life rather than rejoining the red talons by default. This is maybe planting the seeds for a later offer, but that would be premature right now.
--[X] Bring up the Minna situation. There are two aspects to this: Minna has to know the truth, and Abigail did stab her that one time, after all. Is she prepared to apologize for the stabbing? If we can get Minna ready to hear it, would Abagail be prepared to tell her story?
-[X] Lunch with Minna and Arren.
--[X] Initial conversation topics should be practical and non-threatening: how the repairs are going, how soon we expect to be back in action, any reply telegraphs from Piav, useful purchases we might want to make, etc. The secondary purpose of this is to reinforce to Minna that we value her opinion, and that we are trying to be more responsible.
-[X] Now the hard part. Take Minna aside after lunch for that necessary but unpleasant conversation, or at least part 1.
--[X] Make it clear that there is a reason we are doing this, and that it is important, but start of with an abstract and logical approach: just because her home did something a certain way, does not make it right or optimal. Her identity doesn't have to be so closely tied to where she grew up that any criticism of them is an attack on her. If there are problems with the community she grew up in, that doesn't require a wholesale rejection of the good and useful things she got from it, but it might be worth thinking carefully about anything that didn't sit well with her growing up.
--[X] Once that's gotten through, or if it looks like it is putting her on the defensive or otherwise doing more harm than good, move on. Some disturbing information has come to light, and she deserves to know. With this context, we think we have an idea why they made her leave. But she really needs to just listen to this and give it a fair hearing. She needs the context. Try and get her to promise.
--[X] How much does she know about the missions they didn't take her on back home? About their relations with the neighboring communities? Especially with whatever Abigail's village was called? If she talks about "protecting" them, what happens if they didn't pay? Gently try to get her to draw the right conclusions. She's smart, she just has some blind spots. It might be useful to use the language of war crimes in teasing this out once some real progress is being made.
--[X] The Red Talon pilot we captured was the one who attacked her. She grew up in INSERT_TOWN_NAME_HERE, and a soldier from Greifenburg killer her mother in front of her for the crime of trying to protect her sister. She saw her uniform, and came to the wrong conclusion. When she found out that Minna had nothing to do with the cruelty and abuse, and her actual circumstances, she was devastated. (This next bit assuming Abagail responded how I think she would: ) She would like to apologize.
--[X] Now, the reason: we suspect that at least some elements of the leadership didn't think she was what they wanted in their combat pilots. Not because of her skills, which are beyond reproach, not even mostly because of the ways she is different from most other people, but because she wouldn't have tolerated being complicit in their war crimes. She's better than that. A better person, and a better soldier than that. This is laying it on a little thick and, if not stretching the truth, framing it in the most useful possible light and emphasizing the parts we want to emphasize, but it isn't a lie. Minna would probably have been too by-the-book and not hateful enough for some of the stuff they got up to to sit well with her, and even if she would have probably followed orders in the end, it would have been a source of friction on all sides for sure. And clearly there's more to it around her particular psychology and how it fits into that kind of environment, but a lot of that is going to end up manifesting in things like this.
--[X] Finally, if she is up to it, Minna deserves to hear the whole story from Abigail. Ask now rather than when Abigail is present, to avoid unnecessary awkwardness if the answer is no. Is she does agree, just ask that she listen and give it a fair hearing without getting too defensive. She's better than the people who killed Abigail's mom, even if she wore the same uniform, and she doesn't need to lump herself in with them.
-[X] If that went reasonably well, give her a little bit to calm down (and do what we can to make it easier), then take her to see Abigail when she is ready. Have Arren present for that, both as added support and because having someone uninjured and bigger and stronger than us on hand might be good if it goes super badly.
--[X] First the apology, then the story. Try and keep Minna calm, but listening. See where things go from there and re-evaluate after.
--[X] If Minna would like to talk with us alone after for a bit, do that. In any case, she probably has a lot to think over.
-[X] Let Minna think it over alone. This is probably a pretty good time for her to stim as well. While she's doing that, go shopping with Arren to kill some time. Maybe talk about about what just happened.
--[X] Shopping list:
---[X] Basics: a gun that is practical for use without Wulf hands. A small compass and some means to start a fire that can be kept on our person when flying in case we ever end up in that situation again.
---[X] Fancy stuff: We don't actually expect to find any of this, but might get lucky. It's worth a look, since prices ought to be cheap if any of it is available. A replacement parachute (more if possible, one for Arren and then the rest of our squadron if there are even more than that), gun sights, miniaturized radios, a better engine for Wulf's plane, ram air turbines to replace other electrical sources, automatic variable propellers and any type of starter that can be fit to our engine, but especially ones that won't impact performance.
---[X] Aircraft: are there any combat aircraft for sale? Not seriously looking, but it would be good to know what's on the market depending on how things go with Abigail.
---[X] Luxuries. Art supplies for Arren. Depending on what type of copper ore they have locally, there may even be some interesting blue and green pigments available. If there are interesting local handicrafts, maybe try and find something nice for Wulf.
-[X] The plane-ghost did good work today. Could Isa check in with him? See if he's happy? (Note: feel free to place this elsewhere if the ordering would make more narrative sense)
-[X] Check in with Minna. See how she's taking things. If she's taking them well, and Abigail gave any hint she might be looking for work, cautiously see if Minna would be up for working with her either as the pilot of the cargo plane, or eventually as a combat pilot when another plane becomes available or if a mission calls for everything we've got, including the helicopter. If it seems like she strongly objects, don't push it.
-[X] If Minna was okay with it, talk to Abigail and see if she's interested in flying for us either non-combat or eventually/occasionally combat, with the understanding that this is the sort of thing the rest of the squadron has to weigh in on.
-[X] If Abigail wants to join, or if we found things we wanted to buy that are too big to fly back with, send a telegram to Piav explaining the situation and having everyone fly over here tomorrow. Otherwise, send one saying we will be returning tomorrow.
-[X] With all that out of the way, try and have a nice evening with Arren. See about some (slow, careful) dancing if we are up for it, as nice a dinner as this place can provide, etc. Nothing more than that, though, and we have to call it a night pretty early: we've got a lot on our mind and we'd like to talk it over with the deep ones tonight. Apologize for not being able to devote as much time to him as he deserves right now.
-[X] Go into Contemplation.
Adhoc vote count started by open_sketch on Mar 14, 2019 at 2:01 AM, finished with 4074 posts and 11 votes.
[X] Plan much shorter this time
-[X] First things first, send a telegraph to Piav to let people know we are alright if Arren didn't already do it. They should see about getting paid, handle any repairs and such they may need to, and otherwise take a little time to recover. Precise plans about who meets who where are yet to be determined; look for another telegram later.
-[X] Next, get some breakfast. If Minna is getting around well enough for it, take Arren and Minna. Otherwise, go with Arren, bring back food for Minna, and eat together. Use this as an opportunity to debrief a little bit and get a better idea of what happened in the battle.
-[X] Go for a walk with Arren. See the sights, such as they are. This much industry is impressive in its way, and is unfamiliar to us, but also get a feel for what the town is like. Beyond that, spend some time just talking to Arren. We both could have very easily died and had every reason to fear that the other had. That isn't the kind of thing that just goes away.
--[X] Minna might want to check in on the repairs or something, but is otherwise free to do what she wants. This might be a good time to indulge one of her vices. Maybe frame it as "do this task for us, then your time is your own until we meet back up around lunch time." She seems to still not quite know what to do with herself without any structure at all, so that might help.
-[X] Find somewhere appropriately secluded to pray together for a while, but try and be done in time for lunch.
-[X] Before lunch, quickly check in with Abagail. See how she's feeling, make sure there's no trouble in particular with the town, offer to pay for her medical bills (we did shoot her when she was trying to surrender, after all.)
--[X] Perhaps gently inquire about what she wants to do now, but don't make any offers or push for details. We only want to get her thinking about what she wants to do with her life rather than rejoining the red talons by default. This is maybe planting the seeds for a later offer, but that would be premature right now.
--[X] Bring up the Minna situation. There are two aspects to this: Minna has to know the truth, and Abigail did stab her that one time, after all. Is she prepared to apologize for the stabbing? If we can get Minna ready to hear it, would Abagail be prepared to tell her story?
-[X] Break for vote on the plan for lunch and the difficult conversation with Minna.
[X] Plan: First Thoughts
-[X] Indulge in prayer as a vice (with Arren, if he's willing).
--[X] Do something else with him (tattoos?) if he'd prefer
-[X] Confirm if Messingwerks wants to punish Abigail, and then get her out of town (especially if they want her dead)
--[X] Talk to Abigail about her plans. Try to convince her to leave the Talons and combat work altogether
--[X] Ask Minna if she would accept Abigail as a cargo pilot. If so, put that issue to a vote among the circus.
--[X] If Minna or the circus doesn't want her, try to get Abigail a job on the zeppelin. Point out that they could use someone who knows the area.
-[X] Go shopping for a lighter handgun, or "[a] replacement parachute, gun sights, miniaturized radios, or a better engine for Wulf's plane"
--[X] Keep an eye out for embroidery stuff or anything Minna could do while lying on her front.
--[X] Look for artist supplies for Arren, if he needs any (and use it as an excuse to talk with him, if necessary)
-[X] Ask Minna if she knows what Greinfenburg did to towns like Abigail's.
--[X] Try to ease Minna into the idea that her hometown does bad stuff.
[X] Plan: First Thoughts
-[X] Indulge in prayer as a vice (with Arren, if he's willing).
--[X] Do something else with him (tattoos?) if he'd prefer
-[X] Confirm if Messingwerks wants to punish Abigail, and then get her out of town (especially if they want her dead)
--[X] Talk to Abigail about her plans. Try to convince her to leave the Talons and combat work altogether
--[X] Ask Minna if she would accept Abigail as a cargo pilot. If so, put that issue to a vote among the circus.
--[X] If Minna or the circus doesn't want her, try to get Abigail a job on the zeppelin. Point out that they could use someone who knows the area.
-[X] Go shopping for a lighter handgun, or "[a] replacement parachute, gun sights, miniaturized radios, or a better engine for Wulf's plane"
--[X] Keep an eye out for embroidery stuff or anything Minna could do while lying on her front.
--[X] Look for artist supplies for Arren, if he needs any (and use it as an excuse to talk with him, if necessary)
-[X] Ask Minna if she knows what Greinfenburg did to towns like Abigail's.
--[X] Try to ease Minna into the idea that her hometown does bad stuff.
-[X] The plane-ghost did good work today. Could Isa check in with him? See if he's happy?
The Verloren are actually "lost" villages, places that for whatever reason have slipped through the cracks and never got assimilated into the dominant cultures. They are usually a little weird.
