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

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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
     
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  • Informational
    • Marcus' plane is designed to carry torpedoes, he has a remarkable bombload.

    ... I'm not sure why anyone in Himmilgard invented the torpedo though.,.
     
    Anyway, I think the base attack is a terrible idea.

    The pirates utilize an airship carrier because their base is so far away from their prey grounds. This means that any attack we launch upon their base, will see us enter the battlefield exhausted and with limited fuel supply.
    In addition, we don't know the location of their base, while they presumably do know it. So, that means we're unlikely to pull of a suprise attack, while they get the native terrain advantage.
    Lastly, they tend to utilize low speed turnfighters. With a base in the mountains and a stationary target to attack, our run-and-gun strategy will be limited by terrain while their more agile fighters will be at a natural advantage.

    Edit: Also, from an entirely OOC thing, the base assault seems to be the most boring. 1 option lets us see an advanced warship in action, the other explores the high altitudes. Base assault is just a base assault, which we've done already.

    open_sketch said:
    ... I'm not sure why anyone in Himmilgard invented the torpedo though.,.
    Click to expand...
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    Does it need to be a torpedo?

    It could just be a torpedo shaped thing that deploys in a similar fashion.
    A straightline weapon with a heavy, expensive payload.
     
    ...Does Wulf have the Witch move "Out of Mind"? Could open up the opportunity for some hilarious stealth options, especially if a few others can pick it up too via move exchange. Land near their base, magic-ninja in, and just steal the airship out from under them.

    EDIT: alternately, One In A Million bomb drop abuse is always good for a laugh.
     
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    DrunkenGrognard said:
    ...Does Wulf have the Witch move "Out of Mind"? Could open up the opportunity for some hilarious stealth options, especially if a few others can pick it up too via move exchange. Land near their base, magic-ninja in, and just steal the airship out from under them.
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    I feel like that's the sort of thing you build your circus towards being able to do over time, like we've built towards "go fast", developing that capability via soldier and witch move exchanges and gearing for ground ops. It's not something you try and teach everybody off-the-cuff at the last minute and expect it not to go tits-up.

    You have given me an excellent idea for my Flying Circus game, though, so thank you :grin:
     
    thepsyborg said:
    I feel like that's the sort of thing you build your circus towards being able to do over time, like we've built towards "go fast", developing that capability via soldier and witch move exchanges and gearing for ground ops. It's not something you try and teach everybody off-the-cuff at the last minute and expect it not to go tits-up.

    You have given me an excellent idea for my Flying Circus game, though, so thank you :grin:
    Click to expand...
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    I'm a helper!

    You raise a fair point about needing to build towards that sort of thing; which given the scale of the OpFor really ought to have occured to me - they'd want to be able to bring in just about everyone for a group of that size. In that case, my vote would be to try and jump the airship over water, and accept that you're probably going to have to kill it rather than capture it for double-dipping on money. I also like the idea of seeing if there's any other towns willing to pay to make this pirate trouble go away, but I'm not sure we can afford to fly around checking... though we could look into it via telegraph/radio, I suppose.
     
    Twei said:
    As an aside, Captain Holmes might want to get some kind of journal or note or some other written material that can refresh her every time she wakes up, so that she doesn't try to run off to the battlefield every morning.
    Click to expand...
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    ...

    Read this letter in it's entirety. Do not skip anything. Follow each line, and read only the words that are written. This letter contains information which is vital for the war.

    Hi me. It's weird, I guess, writing a letter to myself, knowing I won't remember it next morning. It's hard, these days, remembering.
    It's important to be calm. Everything is fine . Well no, actually, everything kinda sucks, but it's the fine kind of suck.
    But we'll get to that in a moment. I, well you, are Captain Anne-Lise Holm. Our patron is They-Whose-Sound-Shakes-Heavens, and once when we were little we killed our pet goldfish so that They would not be lonely. It's a story we never told to anyone. We joined the Fokker Luststreitkrafte a few years ago, making ace not long after. It was our dream.

    We were the scourge that terrified the Machi, and they noticed. I know it's hard and painful to remember, but you have to remember that last flight.
    We saw the bomber, we dove, and then suddenly there was someone behind us. A stupid mistake. One for which we paid the price.
    That day was to be our last flight, the end of the illustrious Sturmwolke.     But it wasn't our end.

    The Fokker Luststreitkrafte never bothered to look for us after we went down. Maybe they were distracted by the other offensives. Maybe the madness of victory had already taken hold of them then, long before they decided to blow up all of Himmilgard with their poisonous weapons. I suppose I should mention that too. The war is over. Machi surrendered, Sopwitch accepted terms, and Fokker and Gotha destroyed one another in a foolish struggle for "final victory". The countryside survived okay, so there's still hope for you-know-who, some of our friends, family, and the spirit of Fokker lives on.

    When you finish this letter, you should go look for Isa, or Arren, or Heinrich. They'll answer more of your questions. Finding them shouldn't be hard. One of them glows (turns out that's real and not an old wife's tale*, the other is the tall, handsome Fisher. For the last one, just look for the screaming argument. It's usually him. These are the people that found you. They're an irregular squadron (flying circus) and we (well I) agreed to help them with their mission. I hope you will too. They're looking for a Sopwith Leviathan, trying to stop it. It is noble goal, trying to stop it before it kills any more people. It is of utmost importance that they succeed. With A Leviathan and proof of Sopwitch violating the peace treaty, Fokker can achieve a definite victory.

    Captain Anne-Lise Holm
    Fokker Luststreitkrafte
    9th of Brachmonat
    1519

    *Note to self: Adjust description when she grows wings or scales, or a shell.**
    ** 13 Brachmonat : Nothing yet. Perhaps the stories were an exaggeration after all.
     
    Okay, let's collect votes on the when to hit the zeppelin real quick, just that question. We'll handle equipment stuff next update.
     
    [X] We'll scramble from this town when its spotted over the water, and engage head-on. Risky and you won't have any kind of surprise on your side, but they'll be far from home and support, and they may even be low on fuel and supplies.

    Dangerous, yes, but it takes the least amount of prep and, well, money is rather tight for some kind of fancy approach.
     
    [X] We'll move over toward the mountains and hit it when it makes its high-altitude crossing. You will likely need to make high-altitude adaptations to your planes, but their escorts won't perform well at that altitude.

    Any chance we can hut it on it's way back, when it already did the lootibg and expending of munitions?
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    [X] We'll move over toward the mountains and hit it when it makes its high-altitude crossing. You will likely need to make high-altitude adaptations to your planes, but their escorts won't perform well at that altitude.

    Any chance we can hut it on it's way back, when it already did the lootibg and expending of munitions?
    Click to expand...
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    That's almost certainly when you'd do it in this situation.
     
    [X] We'll move over toward the mountains and hit it when it makes its high-altitude crossing. You will likely need to make high-altitude adaptations to your planes, but their escorts won't perform well at that altitude.

    This is the fight I want to read.
     
    [X] We'll move over toward the mountains and hit it when it makes its high-altitude crossing. You will likely need to make high-altitude adaptations to your planes, but their escorts won't perform well at that altitude.
     
    [X] We'll move over toward the mountains and hit it when it makes its high-altitude crossing. You will likely need to make high-altitude adaptations to your planes, but their escorts won't perform well at that altitude.
     
    [X] We'll move over toward the mountains and hit it when it makes its high-altitude crossing. You will likely need to make high-altitude adaptations to your planes, but their escorts won't perform well at that altitude.
     
    Where do you strike the airship?
    [X] We'll find their base on the other side of the mountains and hit them while they are docked. A stationary airship is the easiest target, though you may then have to deal with AA guns and the possibility of additional planes from their base.
    - Remember, there is side brisket for the Pirate planes, And sitting ducks make good soup

    [ X] have holm write the above letter or something like it. It's not healthy for anyone if they have to Get Real with her everyday
     
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    5-15: Plan of Attack
  • Threadmarks
    • You and Minna spent the next hour or so discussing what an attack on the zeppelin might look like, and she pointed out that they would need to cross over the mountains at some point. With their ship, it was likely they used one of the high passes, likely one to the south of the path you'd used to come here: there would be no need to stray so low through a heavily trafficked area where they might be vulnerable to retribution when they could climb so much higher. While they were at such a height, their escorts would have a much harder time offering protection, allowing you to strike them unimpeded.

    It took you only a few minutes after that to find some local maps and track down the most likely point. There was a point labelled the Malafronte Pass on the map, indicated at five and a half thousand meters, just to the south of the pass you'd come though. Loaded with loot, they could simply ascend through passes that most planes couldn't follow.

    "But there is the problem. Most planes cannot follow." Minna pointed out.

    "Sure, but that just means we have to do some prep work. Make some adaptations, plan this out." you said. "What do we need for a high altitude mission?"

    "We need to ensure our planes can even get that high. If we are lucky, and we take out a loan, we may be able to afford superchargers rated for such an altitude. Failing that, we shall have to look for oxidizing fuel." Minna explained, her face wrinkled in disgust, "Our engines will not much appreciate it."

    "I don't think high-altitude superchargers are a good idea. We do most of our fighting pretty low, we'd probably have to take them off again." you pointed out. The extra power of a supercharge was great, but not if it meant your aircraft started to struggle to operate at sea level, and you knew from experience that installing one was a lot of work.

    "Agreed. So we shall need to secure high-altitude fuel. We will also need oxygen masks... you especially, I think." she said.

    "What's that supposed to mean?" you asked.

    "... the Gotha Luftstreitkräfte handbook says those of fischervolk heritage struggle to breathe at high altitudes more than most, so if faced with Fokker seaplane squadrons, moving the fight high will greatly hinder them." Minna explained.

    "I don't know if that's true..." you said. You'd felt lightheaded at some higher altitudes before, but wasn't that true for everyone?

    "I suppose it may merely be propaganda." Minna admitted, "But either way, oxygen masks are a must. And cold weather gear: it will be very bitter." she said.

    "Oh thank Gods." you said.

    ---

    Over the next few hours, you explained your plan to each pilot in turn as they woke. Arren, still bleary-eyed and awaiting his coffee, simply gave a weak thumbs up, while Marcus looked far less certain.

    "Look, pirate gangs in Macchi are serious business. There's more here than anywhere, and I don't know if having a reputation as pirate-killers will be super conducive to the rest of our mission." he pointed out, frowning. "Like, you guys really don't know the politics around here. You could seriously piss some people off."

    "To be frank, I'm seriously kind of pissed off. They came out of nowhere and shot us up, for nothing. Where I'm front, we don't let that slide." you pointed out. You didn't know if people in Voisin were particularly vengeful when it came to piracy, but you certainly wouldn't stand for it, and you figured you were a representative sample. "Come on, they shot Lyse, Marcus."

    "... don't get me wrong, they can get fucked, but I just don't want this to escalate." he said. "Though I guess if we get them all..."

    "Yeah. We just gotta escalate big enough." Arren said. "And make sure we get them. How do we take down a zeppelin?"

    A door clicked open in the gap between speakers, quietly, and you all looked over to see who it was. Wulf, emerging from what you were pretty sure was Lyse's room. Ha, nice.

    "... hey babe." you said, and she pushed the door open and yawned theatrically.

    "What are you all doing up this early?" she asked.

    "It's nine thirty." Minna pointed out, "And some of us try to maintain a modicum of discipline."

    "Thank you for your service." Wulf teased, sprawling out at the nearest chair in her usual style. "So I hear we're blowing up an airship."

    "That's the plan. Any ideas?" Arren asked.

    "I happen to be kind of an expert." she said. She'd spent a summer blowing up a whaler fleet, if you recalled correctly. "So, what kind of airship?"

    Minna flipped her notebook open and began.

    "Some kind of carrier. It's the pirate airship, so presumably large enough to carry both their squadron and loot, but we don't-"

    "Wait wait wait, back up." Marcus said, looking around the table bemused. "Aren't, uh, you three supposed to be a thing?

    He pointed to you, Arren, and Wulf. To your surprise, it was Minna who rolled her eyes, in her usual hyper-exaggerated style.

    "Arren and Wulf are Isa's boyfriend and girlfriend respectively, and there also seems to be something between them, but unsurprising this isn't the extent of their rejection of monogamy." she explained. Yeah, pretty much.

    "Is this a fischer thing or a fae touched thing..?" he asked.

    "I think it's just an us thing." Arren replied, blushing a little. "Can we get back to the mission?"

    "Yeah, airship details. What is it?" Wulf asked. "Like, if its hydrogen we've going to have a whole different set of issues than if its hydrogen or luftane... is it armoured? What's the gun coverage?"

    "I doubt it is luftane, it would not be conducive to their profit margins, and were it an air destroyer they would use it as a weapon and not merely a base. Perhaps it is a LH-class light carrier of the Gotha Empire?" Minna proposed.

    "Too many planes, we got bounced by at least six, right? They can only carry four." Wulf said.

    "They can actually be modified for six, actually, if you remove the middle two broadside guns." Minna said.

    "Okay, but they gotta carry loot, too. I'll bet it's one of those Fokker ones with the top launch deck. It'd make it easier for raids." Wulf said.

    "Those are so rare now..."

    "I've seen at least two, they can be-"

    "It's a Macchi Republic Bundeskanzler-class Medium Carrier." a new voice added. Captain Holms strode up to the table and dropped heavily into a seat: she had her jacket off, and under her undershirt you could see the bandages she'd wrapped around the wound in her chest. Her eyes were raw and blue: she looked haggard, but very focused. "They have hundreds of the fucking things, send them on long-range raiding missions down the coast. Moor them on their damn surface boats. I scrambled against three of them when I was in the reserve, I know them in and out."

    "How do you know that's it?" Arren asked.

    "It's perfect for them. Carries twelve planes, plus an infantry contingent, or in this case probably loot, and given their all-Ritter inventory we can probably safely assume they're using all Macchi gear. Either some fucking... patriotism thing, or its just whatever store they broke into." she explained, lighting a cigarette. "They're tough fuckers, but we can kill them."

    She went on to explain what they were like: about three hundred meters long, they contained a hanger in their center with docking hooks on a chain mechanism, allowing the planes to be stacked and rapidly deployed or retrieved. It also had four underside turrets (twin MGs in gondolas), two light pintle guns and a repeating thirty-seven millimetre cannon up top, and a deployable 90mm recoilless cannon which could be folded out of the nose and operated by the pintle crew. At its rear was the passenger bay with a ramp which could raise and lower. She put the crew at 80 for military duties, unsure if there would be more or less for pirates.

    "Probably less. They would not need multiple full watches and would be less stringent about redundancy." Minna opined.

    "How hard are they to kill?" you asked.

    "Not easy, not impossible. They've got a nice layer of soft armour around the lower side of the envelop meant to ward off flak fragments, and great big sheets of asbestos fibers in and between the gasbags to reduce the risk of a runaway fire. Three engine pods, all of them armoured for rifles, and gun shields on the turrets. Plus, the gasbags are self-sealing: they've got excess material that sticks to itself, so if they're holed lightly the rippling edges will adhere together. You gotta really open them up." she explained. "What we want are explosives and incendiaries, and rifle rounds won't cut it. Without oxygen in the bags, incendiaries won't burn them."

    "I have a twenty millimetre cannon, and Heinrich has his heat ray." Minna said.

    "That's a start."

    ---

    The Minnows are going to need high-altitude fuel, cold weather gear, and oxygen tanks, all three of which you'll need to roll 2d10 for. Please do so now.​
    ​
    But other things might help. Now that you know the mission, vote by plan for...​
    ​
    Weapons (Balloon guns are machine guns that won't change your plane's performance, but can fire special ammo types.​
    [ ] Buy balloon guns for... (Write In)​
    [ ] Additional guns (Write In)​
    [ ] We have the weapons for the job.​
    ​
    Ammunition (Incendiary will do much more damage to the gasbags, but HE will do more damage generally.)​
    [ ] Buy incendiary ammunition for the cannons and balloon guns.​
    [ ] Buy HE ammo for the cannons and balloon guns.​
    [ ] Write In​
    ​
    Plane Refits​
    [ ] Write In (Do you want to attach Heinrich's spare 37mm cannon to something? Do you want to use this chance to buy Wulf a bigger engine or upgrade Minna's plane? Buy somebody a supercharger?)​
    ​
    Don't worry about money just yet: costs will be determined after you roll for what is available. This is a wishlist.​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Rolling for fuel. I'll leave the plan making to those more experienced.
    neutronium95 threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: High altitude fuel Total: 12
    8 8 4 4
     
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    Rolling for cold weather gear.

    Edit: shite, ignore my roll I screwed it up.
    Rukatin threw 4 10-faced dice. Total: 16
    3 3 10 10 2 2 1 1
     
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    open_sketch said:
    oxygen tanks
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    So, let's look into oxygen.

    Edit: Anyway, what do we have right now. I keep forgetting what weapons we got lying around.

    Stuff to buy :

    [X] A Aerial Incendiary Torpedo/Bomb for Marcus
    [X] Regular rockets
    [X] Buy incendiary ammunition for the cannons and balloon guns.
    10ebbor10 threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Perri-Air Total: 7
    3 3 4 4
     
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