A Day of Water [Mini-Quest, Complete]
- Thread starter Unseelie
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Modern
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
You got some hints, but honestly, you actively avoided some information.
(Well, part of that was a bad die roll at some point.)I welcome speculation though. And anything that Colin can't figure out, I'll gladly tell the players afterwards.
Saturday
Say I Tried
- Location
- Kingdom Come
You got some hints, but honestly, you actively avoided some information.
I welcome speculation though. And anything that Colin can't figure out, I'll gladly tell the players afterwards.
Ah really? Well I'm kinda disappointed then :/
As for speculation, I'm leaning towards this being related to the Fair Folk. Maybe Douglas struck deal of some kind with the fae?
Saturday
Say I Tried
- Location
- Kingdom Come
Honestly I dunno, it's just that Scotland/Europe always lends itself really well to the Fae when magical matters come around, it's their home turf.
Then the whole thing with water: the name of the quest, the intense rainfall, Douglas getting into a boat and heading into the water. Fae/spirits are usually associated with nature and the elements and all that jazz.
But honestly? It's kinda the whole 'you have no idea what you are daring to tread upon, mortal' feel that I've gotten on this little adventure. Fae love that sorta aesthetic don't they?
But European myths are nowhere near my area of expertise so in the end idk.
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Oh, wow, that's extensive. You're right about... quite a few things there, actually. (The etymology of Douglas' name, including his last name, is also water related, by the way, but that was mostly a joke.)
Though actually I meant the question more as a "any idea why Douglas would want to make a deal?"
Exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to get across.
(Really need to sleep now though, it's past 3 am already and I got work... later today.)
Edit: Realised way too late that neither of you gave me a d100, so I'll do it myself:
Though actually I meant the question more as a "any idea why Douglas would want to make a deal?"
That makes me very happy, thank you!
Exactly the kind of feeling I wanted to get across.
(Really need to sleep now though, it's past 3 am already and I got work... later today.)
Edit: Realised way too late that neither of you gave me a d100, so I'll do it myself:
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13. Key
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
[X] Swim out and get Douglas' boat. The sea is fairly calm and seems normal now.
...why?
Had to do the dice roll myself... but you're in luck, it's fairly decent: 70
...why?
Had to do the dice roll myself... but you're in luck, it's fairly decent: 70
For a while, you stare. Again. You seem to stare a lot lately, not a trait you had before. Then again, what else are you supposed to do? The world suddenly stopped making sense in front of your eyes.
On the one hand, all of this is fascinating. Having to figure something out never stopped you before, if anything it made you try harder.
On the other hand, this goes so far beyond you. What are you supposed to do in the face of suddenly appearing storms and beings of sea foam?
And a man you were at least friendly with just drowning himself in front of you.
Why would someone do that? Intellectually you know, of course, that just because you had one talk with someone, you wouldn't be able to tell if they're suicidal, but you can't help but try and come up with an explanation.
Did he have something to gain? Did he think he would survive? Hell, with all that you have seen today, did he survive?
When you break out of your thoughts, you realise your feet carried you down to the beach, the boat Douglas used still in view.
Should you just swim out and get it? The water seems save now, it's not very far, and it could hold at least some of the answers you want.
No, not want. Need.
You take of your jacket and pants—they might be wet already, but no need to get them salty too—and swim out to the boat.
The day so far was tiring, but with the sea back to normal, you manage to get there without any major problems. Without even checking if Douglas left anything behind, you steer the boat back to the beach. The spot where you found it still gives you an uneasy feeling, despite—or maybe exactly because—not looking out of the ordinary anymore.
A search of the boat reveals nothing more than a small dry bag, containing a map of the island with some spots around it marked including the one where it happened, dry clothes, and, to your surprise, Douglas' room key. Huh. That could be useful.
Given that it doesn't seem to have any easily identifying marks, you take the entire bag with you as you go back to the hotel. You could really use a hot shower and dry clothes.
The trip back is uneventful. Everything is still wet and there are more people in the hotel than before, their roofs not being strong enough for the torrential rain as you overhear, but nothing that stops you from getting back and no one is even looking at you twice.
The shower is a heavenly as you imagined.
What are you doing next?
[X] Sleep for now. You might be curious, but the day you had is taking its toll.
- [X] What will you do after? (Write-in...)
[X] You saw some people leaving on their private boats. Ask someone to take you with them.
[X] You might be tired, but you must know. Go into Douglas' room.
[X] Go around and ask people if they know what just happened and if they saw weird stuff as well.
[X] Write-in...
And a d100 from every voter please.
No one rolled dice for me, so I had to do it myself
Also I honestly didn't expect y'all to go for that option...
Monday's always really full for me, so there'll only be this one chapter tonight. Got some stuff to do tomorrow as well, but I hope I'll manage 2-3.
And if that's not enough to finish the quest, I guess I'll have to write another few on the train to Germany on Wednesday evening. Be warned that I'm not good at typing on mobile at all.
[X] You might be tired, but you must know. Go into Douglas' room.
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Should have known that players can't resist that option.
Honestly, I considered just going on, but
a) I'm tired
b) Colin is far more tired, so I thought you might want to give him a rest
Then again, with your rolls, why would you?
@Ameraaaaaa: If I could get a die roll from you too please? It's an option when you click edit.
14. Diary
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
[X] You might be tired, but you must know. Go into Douglas' room.
Rolls: 76, 78
It appears that Colin can deal with tiredness quite well.
Rolls: 76, 78
It appears that Colin can deal with tiredness quite well.
You had your hot shower and now you go to bed, it's pretty late and you had a weirdly full and fully weird day. Tomorrow you can think about what to do then.
Yeah, no. After all of five minutes you get out of bed again, too curious to sleep. The quite literal key to your answers is lying next to you after all.
Douglas' room is, well, a hotel room. You're not sure what else you expected, but it wasn't just a normal, barely used hotel room.
At first glance anyway. As far as you can tell no one noticed you coming over and you closed the door behind you, so you should have as much time as you need for a thorough search.
A rather successful search at that, if you include his bags, anyway. It doesn't seem like Douglas was trying to hide anything at all. There are more maps, notes to several ancient stories about the area, and even an actual diary.
The boat just lying on the beach already showed that Douglas was too confident enough in his plans to even try to hide them—said plans appearing too crazy to be real probably helped as well—but to actually write them down? You thought only especially stupid movie villains did that. At least it's not a step-by-step instruction, but rather only describing his general idea, not least because he didn't have too much conclusive information himself and played a lot by ear.
The diary details his story a bit farther back than the actual date of the first entry, describing how his parents died in what he was told was an accident, but he was sure was actually engineered by the main family, which apparently has some deep rooted criminal contacts, how his therapist suggested he wrote a diary to help him cope—that explains its existence, you suppose—and how he nonetheless had planned his revenge ever since.
In your honest opinion, he sounds rather deranged. A wonder this plan actually worked as far as it did.
However, you're now not so sure anymore that this is over. The last entry described how he intends to summon an ancient entity, a personification of the sea—or Daughter of the Storm and Tides, as he refers to it—and to form some kind of pact with it, even if it costs him his own life.
What will you do?
[X][Action] Get off this island, now!
[X][Action] Go to sleep.
- [X] What will you do after? (Write-in...)
[X][Action] Tell someone about what happened.
And what do you think about what you just found?
[X][Opinion] He died, this is over.
[X][Opinion] You're not part of the family he wants revenge on, no need to worry.
[X][Opinion] You're fucked.
[X][Opinion] Write-in...
Not much to say here. I hope I'll be able to post another chapter later this afternoon and one or two in the night. Maybe that'll be enough to finish this.
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- Location
- Scotland
[X][Action] Go to sleep.
- [X] Look up this Daughter of the Storm and Tides. Maybe the Internet knows something about whatever is going on here? Perchance there is a purveyor of local folklore?
[X][Opinion] You're fucked. Maybe...
- [X] It might be best to avoid the water or a boat off of the island for the immediate future.
- [X] Look up this Daughter of the Storm and Tides. Maybe the Internet knows something about whatever is going on here? Perchance there is a purveyor of local folklore?
[X][Opinion] You're fucked. Maybe...
- [X] It might be best to avoid the water or a boat off of the island for the immediate future.
[X][Action] Get off this island, now!
Yeah let's not stay and get fucked over by a true fey that's obviously gonna destroy the island!
[X][Opinion] You're fucked
Precisely!
Yeah let's not stay and get fucked over by a true fey that's obviously gonna destroy the island!
[X][Opinion] You're fucked
Precisely!
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Sadly I won't be able to write that one, I have to go, sorry.
I'll be back a bit after and try to get to it as soon as possible then.
15. Return
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
[X][Action] Go to sleep.
- [X] Look up this Daughter of the Storm and Tides. Maybe the Internet knows something about whatever is going on here? Perchance there is a purveyor of local folklore?
[X][Opinion] You're fucked (especially on boats)
- [X] Look up this Daughter of the Storm and Tides. Maybe the Internet knows something about whatever is going on here? Perchance there is a purveyor of local folklore?
[X][Opinion] You're fucked (especially on boats)
This is all getting too much for you. The celebration, the fire exploding, running after Douglas and what you saw after. Finding an explanation didn't make it better or easier to deal with, if anything it made it worse.
As far as you can tell, you're completely and utterly fucked. Staying on the island is likely dangerous, but the sea around it seems even less safe.
So, you go to sleep. There is nothing you can do and you're more tired than you can remember ever being, even after pulling several all-nighters in a week.
The first thing you notice on the next morning is just how tired you must have been. Laying down to sleep while possibly being in active danger? Really?
At least it worked out, you're still alive, the island doesn't appear to be flooded, and you are far more awake an alert than before. And you managed to get back to your own room, good.
The second thing you notice is that it's actually at least midday, going by the sun shining through the window. Checking your phone you notice that it's not only off, but also still dripping water when you pick it up. There goes one avenue for research.
After a large brunch—the one restaurant you found on the previous day was still busy with repairs, but the hotel served food in the meantime—you try to get some more information about this 'Daughter of the Storm and Tides'.
The question, though, is how. Your phone is out, and you're not even sure if you had a good enough signal for internet research before, and when you try at the hotel computer, you learn that the internet connection for the entire island is down and probably won't be back for several days.
That leaves—you hate to even think of this option—asking around. A remote area like this certainly has some old people familiar with tales and stories of the region, right?
It takes you a while to say the least, but after talking to far too many people for your taste, disguising your interest as searching for a way to pass the time while you're stuck on the island, you are directed to a hut somewhat close to the stone circle from the previous day.
You almost don't go, not wanting to return to the likely source of all that happened, and even when you eventually go there, you nearly give up again when no one responds to your knock, but when you hear a gurgled scream from the inside, you just open the door, self-preservation instincts be damned.
What greets you is an old man lying on the floor, eyes wide open and a clear fluid dripping from his mouth.
Next to him stands someone, dripping wet and in ripped clothing, skin far too pale and with a bluish tinge.
When he turns around, you recognise Douglas.
At first he looks surprised, then a smile comes to his face.
"Ah, I believe we have met before. Was your name, erm, Colin? It has been such a long time!"
What do you say and/or what will you do?
[X] Write-in...
Each voter roll a d100 please.
Yeah no, Google is not an option here.
Of course I only got home at . There might be another chapter today*, and I have decided to take my laptop with me, so I can hopefully finish this on the train. (Otherwise...well, I'm visiting a friend in Germany, not gonna spend much time on the computer.)
* Probably not though, I want to get a few votes for this decision.
Saturday
Say I Tried
- Location
- Kingdom Come
[X] Do NOT provoke the possibly deranged Douglas in any way. "...Yes it has been. What's going on here? What happened to you?"
Did this fucker really make a deal with an honest to god (pardon the pun) ocean and storm deity. That's like 9/10 on the scale of 'spirits you should never screw around with'.
Did this fucker really make a deal with an honest to god (pardon the pun) ocean and storm deity. That's like 9/10 on the scale of 'spirits you should never screw around with'.
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[X] run! Leave the island! But 1st tell the police about douglas then after that get off the island right now!
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Not quite deity, but close enough, yep.
(Or well, going by the wikipedia article on "deity": Might fit, actually, though she was never revered as such.)
Not really a police presence on this tiny island, you'd have to get someone from Shetland for that. (Which isn't all that far by boat.)
Then my new plan!
[X] just run! And get off this island!
16. Offer
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
[X] Do NOT provoke the possibly deranged Douglas in any way. "...Yes it has been. What's going on here? What happened to you?"
Rolls: 95 &75. "Not a people person" my ass.
Rolls: 95 &75. "Not a people person" my ass.
Oh, he wants to talk. How… nice. You're not good with people in the best of situations an this one most certainly doesn't qualify as such.
Carefully you answer, "…Yes it has been. What's going on here? What happened to you?"
"Oh this?", he says, gesturing to indicate his body, "Just a part of the price I had to pay to get my revenge." His smile growing a bit more manic while saying this.
You don't know what to say to this and opt to just nod dimly, trying to keep a, if not friendly, at least neutral expression on your face.
Luckily he doesn't appear offended and instead continues, "After all these years I thought I might be too late, but true to the stories she kept her word, even keeping all of them here until I came back." He walks out while saying this, but then looks back at you, grimacing slightly and says, "I am truly sorry that you got caught here as well, though I do notice that you do not look much older, has so little time passed over here?"
You're still too stunned to answer and after a few seconds he goes on, "Well, it is too late to be changed. I need to continue now if I want to get done, my time here is limited. If you want I can give you a lift to the Shetland Mainland afterwards," he gives a small laugh, "You probably do not wish to be found on an island full of corpses after all, might be hard to explain."
And with that he's gone. It's probably for the best that you didn't manage to get anything out beyond your initial questions, you can scarcely imagine this going any better, though you certainly wouldn't go as far as to say it went well.
Walking out of the hut again, you can't see any trace of Douglas anywhere anymore, even the trail of water he left in the house disappearing in the remaining wetness of the previous day.
Now what? It seems pretty clear that there's little you can do to stop Douglas' rampage, and even if you managed to get ahead of him and warn people, what should they do? Fleeing by boat doesn't sound like a viable option.
What will you do?
[X] Just wait until it's over.
- [X] Then wait for someone to come by the island, probably the regular ferry.
- [X] Steal a boat, it's not like they will need it anymore.
- [X] Take Douglas up on his offer.
[X] Try to stop Douglas.
- [X] How? (Write-in...)
[X] Try to warn people.
- [X] What would you tell them? (Write-in...)
[X] Write-in...
Short one but, well, you need to choose a path here. Depending on your decision this might very well be the second to last chapter anyway.
Sadly night trains offer a lot less space than I was hoping for, so this will be the only chapter tonight.
(Also I need to get up in six-ish hours.)