Even Death May Die - Cute Cthulhu Cultist! (Flying Circus Quest)

Reader mode
Character Sheet
  • Informational
    • Character Sheet
    Isabelle Morgenthau
    A Fisher

    Isa (left) and her boyfriend Arren (right)

    Hard Keen Calm Daring Wild
    +4 -1 +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:When you call out to your patrons, they give +1 forward on your next roll.
    Blessing: When you dab fresh blood on an item roll +Calm. On a 16+, take both. On an 11-15, choose 1. Effects last 1 Routine.
    • Take +1 Ongoing with this item this Routine. (+5 Handling for a plane)
    • The item cannot break or be lost this Routine. (Armour 3/8+ for a plane)
    On a miss, make a bigger sacrifice or the machine is damaged.
    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.
    Written in Ink: When you get a tattoo to mark an major milestone, take 3 Stress , describe the tattoo and where it's inked, and link it to a Fisher move. Whenever you use that Move, lose 1 Stress (max 1 time per Routine per Move).
    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).
    Whispered Answers: You get visions.
    Gifts from the Abyss: Your connection to the Deep Ones is physically changing you. Name the physically obvious mutation you have received and describe how it frightens or disgusts the unfaithful. It can be hidden, but not perfectly, and just seeing it will trigger Creepy. All XP advances now cost 1 less XP (minimum 1).
    Strategist: When you lay out a plan of action, anyone following the plan (including you) can opt to use your stats on the roll if they are better, and roll Seize the Initiative with their best stat. This lasts until a comrade is wounded or events go drastically off script.

    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.

    Familiar Vices
    - Drinking
    - Prayer
    - Dancing
    - Cannabis

    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. Was once an acolyte training at her village's temple, but fled abuse at the hands of the cult leader. Possibly the mortal avatar of the dark gods, and remarkably calm and patient, Isabelle is the world's most mature 19 year old. Which isn't saying much. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Arren (NPC- Confidant/Observer): Your cute fish boyfriend, Arren is a sweet boy in way over his head, but he loves you more than anything. Artist, deeply empathetic, quietly devoted, everyone finds him hot. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Wulf (Witch): Your girlfriend and a former bandit leader with a fractally tragic backstory. Basically incapable of impulse control, she puts on a confident mask to hide how much she's hurting. Her dad was a wolf. The world's only transgender pansexual half-fae witch. 1 thaler per Routine.
      • Hard +3, Keen +3, Calm -2, Daring +0, Wild +3 (Avenger)
    • Minna Hammerl (Soldier): Highly trained soldier from a military junta, who exiled her due to her autism. The squadron's second in command, the most beautiful woman in the world, and the only person on this crew of idiots whose life doesn't revolve around getting laid. Does not use contractions. 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. Mentor in a queer society back home, he's the one who actually knows things about stuff. Deeply camp. "i think if heinrich tried to not say stupid things he would suffer a toxic buildup and fucking die"
      • Hard -1, Keen -1, Calm +2, Daring +2
    • 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 pink?
    • Ronja Devapala (NPC - Non-Combat Pilot): Anny's friend from Piav, descendant of Skyborn but adopted by locals, unsure who she is. Enthusiast of sarcasm and the only person on the crew with her shit mostly together.
    Temporary Members
    • Marcus (Farmer): A Macchi native. He goes where Lyse goes. Flies a specialized seaplane with a precision rifle.
    • Lyse (Scion): A bastard child of a Sopwith noble family. Flies a V-engine triplane conversion.
    • Ann-Lise Holms (Revenant): The ghost of famed Great War ace Stormcloud, the best female fischer ace of the war. Flies a 200hp KW-AN.

    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 thaler per Routine.
    • The Pioneer: A huge 3 engine'd cargo plane with capacity for two airplanes and an additional eight people. 3 thaler per Routine.
    ​
    Stress XP Mastery
    7 3 2
    Cash Expenses Value
    22 14 11
    Vice Track: ☐☐☐☐☐
    9 Victories​
    You're welcome
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • We don't actually know that the other boat was responsible, and our current position seems pretty commanding. We've accounted for two of the four clockworks that Isa saw already. I say we try and capture this new person to get some answers.

    To which end...

    [x] Hold fire, but keep guns trained on the human & remaining clockworks.
    - [x] Demand surrender, then demand answers.

    Open to suggestions/changes, but here's a starting point at least.
     
    Wiadi said:
    We don't actually know that the other boat was responsible
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Exactly. This might just be another poor fool trying to get away from the clockworks (or another more heavily armored sub).

    We should at least give them a chance to explain their situation before we shoot them.

    [x] Hold fire, but keep guns trained on the human & remaining clockworks.
    - [x] Demand surrender, then demand answers.
     
    [x] Hold fire, but keep guns trained on the human & remaining clockworks.
    - [x] Demand surrender, then demand answers.
     
    ….there is a greater the zero chance that it is a human prisoner.
    [x] Hold fire, but keep guns trained on the human & remaining clockworks.
    - [x] Demand surrender, then demand answers.
    --[x] If it becomes clear the human is a collaborator, not a prisoner, kill them dead and take the Sub.
     
    I don't want to be warcrimes guy. I really don't. But I'm having a great deal of difficulty coming up with a plausible scenario in which shooting isn't the best move with a decent shot of success. If they are a prisoner, we aren't in any position to rescue them and they are a weak link in the local clockwork presence. If they are a collaborator, this is almost certainly a trick because there is precisely 0 reason for the other side to surrender right now. If they are a clockwork in a suit, then it is a trick. They are not uninvolved, since a clockwork was waving them forward to help park the sub.
     
    brmj said:
    If they are a collaborator, this is almost certainly a trick because there is precisely 0 reason for the other side to surrender right now.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I mean...we have them outnumbered and outgunned, and if there is a human in that suit, even a glancing blow will mean death. I'd say they've got solid cause to surrender.
     
    Wiadi said:
    I mean...we have them outnumbered and outgunned, and if there is a human in that suit, even a glancing blow will mean death. I'd say they've got solid cause to surrender.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    It seems unlikely that they are operating that sub by themself. In any case, there may well be more clockworks around. And with the minows in suits too, our side suffers fron the exact same vulnerability you cite and will be fighting at reduced effectiveness, while the clockwork will be unaffected. I would be inclined to tenatively give the clockworks the advantage here in a fight. And on a purely individual level, our mystery suited figure can become largely immune to our bullets by the simple expedient of ducking back through the hatch.
     
    Last edited:
    I know they need humans to turn the keys, but I don't think Isa does. At some stage I'm even going to finish writing the #NotAllClockmen playbook, but Isa doesn't know that either.
     
    They are all good points, and if the Minnow Crew knew more about the current mystery, then I'd be on board with a "Shoot'em all and let our Gods sort'em out" plan.
    But they don't.
    We need more information, and whoever or whatever is in that Sub is open to communication.
    Moreover, they're the ones that are trying to start the conversation, that means They want something from us, and I'd bet dollars to donuts it's the golden key. If it is, then our bargaining position is that much stronger.
     
    brmj said:
    It seems unlikely that they are operating that sub by themself. In any case, there may well be more clockworks around. And with the minows in suits too, our side suffers fron the exact same vulnerability you cite and will be fighting at reduced effectiveness, while the clockwork will be unaffected. I would be inclined to tenatively give the clockworks the advantage here in a fight. And on a purely individual level, our mystery suited figure can become largely immune to our bullets by the simple expedient of ducking back through the hatch.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Even if there are more clockworks inside, they'd have to come out through the sub's hatch, which we can easily cover with our guns. The suit point is valid, but the reason I raised that wasn't as an advantage in a fight, it was as a reason for the human to want to avoid one out of self-preservation. Hiding in the sub doesn't work if we're going to win the fight out here, unless they want to bet that there's nothing we could do to hurt them in there when we've got unlimited time to work out here, which doesn't sound like a good bet. Even if you'd give the clockworks a tentative edge in a fight, that might well not be a gamble worth taking from the human's perspective.

    Besides, like you said, better to pass on the whole "shooting surrendering opponents" thing. It doesn't need to be most probable that they're acting in good faith, just plausible enough that we can justify taking the chance. Especially without a clear picture of what we risk by doing so, since "any clockwork that steps closer to us gets filled with lead" is still very much on the table.
     
    [x] Hold fire, but keep guns trained on the human & remaining clockworks.
    - [x] Demand surrender, then demand answers.
    --[x] If it becomes clear the human is a collaborator, not a prisoner, kill them dead and take the Sub.
     
    [x] Hold fire, but keep guns trained on the human & remaining clockworks.
    - [x] Demand surrender, then demand answers.

    Hey roll +Hard!
     
    4-7: Royal Expedition
  • Apocrypha
    • "Stop shooting!" You yelled. You weren't nearly loud enough, and a shot from Arren's rifle pinged off near the gloved hand as you yelled again. "Stop!"

    "Hold fire!" Minna cried, and the noises stopped, though rifles remained trained on the clockworks and the figure half-emerging from the submarine. Wulf used the pause to unsling the stole machine gun and rest it against the railing.

    "If anyone moves, we're shooting them! Come out of the hatch slowly, both hands visible!" You said.

    "Slowly!" Wulf echoed, racking the bolt of her huge gun open with a ka-clunk that reverberated through the empty hanger.

    After a moment's hesitation, the gloved figure started climbing out of the hatch, struggling to keep both hands visible. Their suit looked nicer than the ones you had, black and yellow and a bit shiny from rubberization, with a sleek, bird-like mask and large, bulbous goggles. They rested their hands atop their head, showing them unarmed.

    "Hold your fire, please! We don't want to fight!" The suited figure said. The voice was obscured by the suit, and you weren't fully sure if it belonged to a man or a woman, but there was a lilt to it that seemed familiar. "I'm under the protection of the royal house of Sopwith, they'll pay for my safe return, I promise you!"

    "Do you have any more clockworks in there?" Arren asked, his rifle clearly centered over the figure's head.

    "No! Just the boy!" They said, then realizing your lack of context, continued. "My ward, he's just a child! I told him to stay below where it's safe."

    You lowered your pistol a little to get a better picture of the two clockworks that had emerged from the water. Neither were moving at all, and the other two were nowhere to be found.

    "Heinrich, check around the edge of the boat for the other two clockworks." You whispered, and he did quickly, sweeping his rifle around the edges.

    "Who are you? Why are there clockworks following you?" You demanded.

    "Um... Florentina Hegewald. I'm here on behalf of the House of Sopwith as part of a royal expedition. The clockworks are my escort, I was using them to guide us into the hanger..."

    "Your escort?" Heinrich asked, clearly extremely doubtful.

    "Yes. They're property of the Royal Family, I was entrusted with their keys..." Florentina said, shuffling awkwardly in place under your guns. "The Royal Family will pay for their return as well, quite nicely!"

    "... okay. What are you doing out here?" You asked.

    "I'm searching for something for the royal family. The details are classified!"

    You very carefully leveled your pistol's sights beside her and pulled the trigger, and Florentina jumped nervously as a round rang off the deck plates.

    "A machine! A Leviathan war machine from the Great War!"

    ---

    What do you do?​
    ​
     
    Last edited:
  • Apocrypha
    • open_sketch said:
    "A machine! A Leviathan war machine from the Great War!"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Well, well, well... How interesting.

    If nothing else it is a lead in the Great Work, as that would fit the obvious details of the Thing Isabele saw. Almost more interesting is that there is a pre-War power out there somewhat intact, although likely limited to the Royal Family and bolthole personnel. Perhaps some refugees they allowed in for genetic diversity and raw labor... Which is the likely reason they want an Epic-scale war machine.
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top