A World Of Endless Horrors (Reboot)
- Thread starter SeptimusMagisto
- Start date
- Original
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
[X] Slings
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
Our ranged is pretty sad, just us throwing rocks. While Sling bullets need actual manufacturing, regular rocks do just fine unlike Bows and arrows whose ammo has to be made by dedicated craftsmen.
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
Our ranged is pretty sad, just us throwing rocks. While Sling bullets need actual manufacturing, regular rocks do just fine unlike Bows and arrows whose ammo has to be made by dedicated craftsmen.
[X] Tools.
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
Eh, if we could and it were that simple, wouldn't we have already made them? It's been several turns now, and we're still flinging rocks at targets with our bare hands.
You usually use bows and spears. Rocks are mostly employed when you need a quick source of blunt damage.
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
We have Bows? Huh, must have missed that. Changing my vote then.
[X] Tools.
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
ConfusedPotato
Unverified Verifier
- Location
- Australia
[X] Tools.
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
These things are pretty dang weird...
[X] Tools and weapons.
[X] Accept the offer (Give up one Adventure action next turn, risk of warriors dying)
This sounds like a relatively simple way to get some live-fire practice in, help out a caravan that actually knows our village still lives, and get paid. And maybe do a little scouting around in a relatively safe way. Compared to just going out ourselves, that is.
Caravan Departs
The caravan has some tools for trade, but not many. Most towns worth visiting at the very least have their own smith, possibly several. They have a number of sophisticated carving tools and metal needles, and are willing to trade away some of the knives and hammers they themselves use on the trails. They also sell you two lanterns, a bolt of linen cloth, and a small supply of salt.
The abandoned supplies whose location will be your payment are mostly ones they expected to be able to replace locally. There are two sacks of grain and one of fleece, some animal hides and furs, and powdered rock good for making a kind of blue dye.
They're willing to part with what they sold you for the cost of two of the pearls created by your Treasure, leaving you with nearly thirty more. Your warriors can use these to trade for more of the tools you need once they reach the Grand Trunk. They will also be seeking more people to join your village, with top priority being given to strong warriors and artisans, particularly a blacksmith and a skilled potter. Though your situation remains tenuous, your tiny village can guarantee respect that may be hard to win in a larger town and the healing waters of your lake may attract those in need of them.
Is there anything else you want them to do while there?
[ ][Diplomacy] Write-in
Adventure:
(Select 1 action)
[ ][Adventure] Run Drills
The difference between true warriors and those who merely hold weapons is grueling, unrelenting practice. Begin the process of forging your fighters into a true warband.
[ ][Adventure] Patrol nearby woods
Get the lay of the land and make sure you spot any encroaching threats in advance.
[ ][Adventure] Scout the trading routes
Walk down the roads to the Grand Trunk, the Raised Valley, and the city of the Tunnel Lords and evaluate their fitness for travel.
[ ][Adventure] Garrison
Double up on watch duty and make sure your warriors are prepared to respond to danger at a moment's notice.
[ ][Adventure] Sneak into your old town
Your former home is a treasure trove of wealth and supplies, though one that's haunted. Enter it, grab what you can, then get out.
[ ][Adventure] Finish clearing the lake
Do your best to wipe out what few monsters remain within your shores.
Industry:
(Select 1 action)
[ ][Industry] Increase fortifications
[ ][Industry] Make rafts
[ ][Industry] Make spare weapons
[ ][Industry] Make tradable goods
[ ][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
When your people moved here less than a month ago, they dreamed of a city built within the lake's shores, with a natural moat to separate yourselves and monstrous interlopers. You don't yet posses the capability to build in the deep parts of the lake, but you can begin experimenting in shallow waters.
Mysticism:
(Select 2 actions)
[ ][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[ ] Target?
Learn specific information about something nearby
[ ][Mysticism] Seek omen
Receive a vision. The vision is always significant, but not always obvious.
[ ][Mysticism]Pour sunlight into firewood
Imbue the wood used for your fires with the light of the sun, to make the flames that much more potent at searing the horrors.
[ ][Mysticism]Make Wilder Brew
Brew potent grain alcohol that makes those who drink it nearly feral, able to fight without fear and heedless of injury.
[ ] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
Grant a temporary semblance of life to dolls woven from cloth or straw. Should an enemy wander near them, they will make alarmed sounds and try to cling to the enemy's face.
[ ] [Mysticism] Messenger Bird
Coerce a bird into delivering a message to a nearby, known place.
[ ] [Mysticism] Untangle the Snarls
Reach into the unseen world and bring it in order, accelerating the time when it's safe to hold another Festival.
[ ] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
Create bandages and poultices to help keep the injures alive and promote healing
Xantalos
Turtle-Speed Writing
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
Seems about good. We start expanding into our purified lake sanctuary, train our guys up into actual warriors, and just keep stockpiling stuff we need or preparing to do so.
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
Seems about good. We start expanding into our purified lake sanctuary, train our guys up into actual warriors, and just keep stockpiling stuff we need or preparing to do so.
LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
I highly suggest against Running Drills without a Alarm Action to go with it. We are still under threat of attack after all.
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
We made healing supplies last turn, so let's do Guardian Dolls now to make sure we aren't caught with our pants off.
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
We made healing supplies last turn, so let's do Guardian Dolls now to make sure we aren't caught with our pants off.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
[X][Diplomacy] Write-in - See about recruiting any relatives of anyone in the village who live elsewhere to come settle here.
[X][Adventure] Sneak into your old town
The old town is still a great place to scavenge, but time will decay it. We should clean out the Town Hall this time.
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
[X][Adventure] Sneak into your old town
The old town is still a great place to scavenge, but time will decay it. We should clean out the Town Hall this time.
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
ConfusedPotato
Unverified Verifier
- Location
- Australia
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
- Location
- United States
[X][Diplomacy] Ask about the warriors of their lands and the monsters there.
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Make healing supplies
[X][Diplomacy] Ask about the warriors of their lands and the monsters there.
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X][Diplomacy] Ask about the warriors of their lands and the monsters there.
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
[X][Adventure] Run Drills
[X][Industry] Build a hut on stilts
[X][Mysticism]Perform scrying
-[X] Abandoned Supplies area
[X] [Mysticism] Guardian Dolls
Ogres
While your warriors travel with the caravan, they exchange stories. Knowledge is the key to survival in this world, and therefore knowledge must be freely shared. The strangers tell you about their town. It's in a place that's hotter and sparser than your home, a kind of scrubland. The monsters there are more communal. Many of them live in great dark pits from which they crawl out. Their hometown was protected by endless arrays of traps and by bones bound together with strong wire and animated through blood sacrifice.
They share stories of the other places they've visited. The ocean shore where horrifying things washed up on the shore and leviathans prowled the deep. The underground labyrinth where aging warriors would enter a state of suspended animation and sit in wait to repel intruding horrors. The people of the Great Desert that lived on the back of a giant turtle. In return your people tell them about the nearby towns. In particular, about the one they're visiting right now - the Grand Trunk.
Deep within the Deep Woods, where trees grow as tall as mountains, the city of Grand Trunk lies inside a hollow tree. Suspended on many interlocked platforms of wood and metal, it's all but unreachable for most monsters that dwell on the ground or in the vast tree canopy above. So while some trunk-dwelling and flying monsters manage to reach it, for the most part it is considered a safe haven, particularly for engineers and people of learning.
The journey there takes two weeks. With every passing hour the trees grow taller and the carpet of fallen leaves and needles underfoot grows thicker. In the Deep Woods proper it's deep enough for a man to drown in. Some have, slipping into a hole while the treacherous ground cover closed over them. Worse, horrors of every description lurk underneath and only a faint rustling presages their arrival. The caravan finds itself attacked by slitherers, howlers, blackfangs, and chittering stalkers. Several more warriors find themselves riding in the carts with the wounded.
At last the caravan finds itself at the entrance to the Great Trunk. A wooden platform supported by four great chains is lowered to carry the carts up one by one. Your warriors find themselves needing to stay a few days to let the wounded recover. They use this time to trade for tools and supplies and to recruit whom they may.
They prove about as lucky as can be expected. They find a few handfuls of chronically ill people for whom the waters of your lake are attractive beyond measure. A handful of young men and women allow the prospect for quick advancement override their sense of self-preservation. Most of them are warriors or gatherers, but one apprentice blacksmith and several builders skilled in working with wood agree to join too, finding your people's sheer desperation too much to resist. You won't be bringing back great masters, nor established heroes, nor a humanitarian mission. But these converts will make the village stronger...assuming they're not eaten by something on their way back.
Sen carefully scryes the indicated area but finds no particular dangers. Your warriors take a break from their drills to go and dig up the supplies, bringing them home.
The hut your people build looks adequate. The real challenge, of course, will be seeing how well it holds up over time. Building in water is not something you're used to, so you can't know what hazards await you. You tried to make the beams thick enough to compensate for water damage, but who knows what else might happen. Could the lake bottom shift? Could algae damage the wood? You don't know what you're doing, but this is the only way to learn.
One day a pair of ogres approach your walls. Each one stands nine feet tall, with too-long arms ending in too-big hands and yellow hippopotamus teeth. Each ogre comes into this world bearing some injury that looks like it was crudely repaired . In this case one of them has his arms held together by wooden splints and a deep scar across the remains of one eye. The other is missing a lower jaw and is covered all over in jagged, ever-bleeding wounds.
Like gnomes, ogres are both intelligent and capable of making decisions, even if their decisions often turn out to be horrific. Despite their cruelty, they can sometimes be negotiated with. This looks like an attractive proposition right now, because these creatures have great physical strength, enough cunning to put them levels above the animal-like monsters that can be deterred with walls and stakes, and incredibly hard to kill. No injury will finish them off, and most will barely slow them down. They must be practically cut to pieces before they finally stop fighting.
What will you do?
[ ] Fight them if it comes to that
[ ] Try and bribe them to go away
[ ] Try and convince them to join you in a permanent alliance