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
    • The soldier moves are generally pretty good, I'm ok with taking the chance. (Isa with Last Mistake could be.......... Interesting). Plus we need to spread creepy.
     
    thepsyborg said:
    Since two people now have made plans referencing specific moves (@DrunkenGrognard @ArchXL ) , I'm just going to clarify: you do not get to pick what move you learn in a Move Exchange. You get to pick which of your moves you offer to the other person in a Move Exchange (and they can take it or leave it). They pick what gets offered to you (and you can take it or leave it).

    Actually, hmm, that's a good point. Are Marcus/Minna/Lyse/Heinrich even open to learning Fisher moves, considering their explicit religious significance and Creepy bonus package?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Minna actually already has Creepy and Whispered Answers. It isn't manifesting as religious stuff to her, though, but instead an attempt to let her own conscience guide her instead of her training after the climax of the last quest, with Creepy both her attempts at understanding and other people flubbing it.

    Heinrich is midway through your holy book!
     
    ArchXL said:
    What moves did Isa get from them? Or did she not have XP to spend at the time?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The only move Isa has from an exchange is Bond (the you-can-have-focuses-and-use-magic one), from Wulf (which is a bit of a special case, because it's a core move, but requires the Teacher move in order to share it).
     
    [X] Plan Strategy and Tactics
    -[X] I'm going to talk to Minna about our strategy moving north. (Move Exchange, 4XP)
    -[X] I'm going to do some practice flights with Captain Holms. I bet she can teach me a think or two. (2XP, gain 1 Mastery Point. Repeatable.)
     
    X] Plan Strategy and Tactics aka Girl Talk, Gun Talk; Why not Both?
    -[X] I'm going to talk to Minna about our strategy moving north. (Move Exchange, 4XP)
    -[X] I'm going to do some practice flights with Captain Holms. I bet she can teach me a think or two. (2XP, gain 1 Mastery Point. Repeatable.)
     
    [X] Plan Strategy and Tactics
    -[X] I'm going to talk to Minna about our strategy moving north. (Move Exchange, 4XP)
    -[X] I'm going to do some practice flights with Captain Holms. I bet she can teach me a think or two. (2XP, gain 1 Mastery Point. Repeatable.)
     
    6-16: Shooting Range
  • Threadmarks
    • "Arren is going shooting with Marcus, and I'm gonna tag along. And... I want to take my plane up and stretch her wings after the repairs, make sure everything is alright." you said. "Though, for tonight, Arren owes me some quality time. You'll never believe what happened with him and the Captain..."

    ---

    The next morning, standing in front of the grimy mirror of the tavern after a wonderful cold shower, you realized the downside to your new wardrobe was that you had absolutely no way whatsoever to cover up the hickies around your neck and collarbone. Whoops. You grabbed your silk flying scarf from your room before heading out, carefully draping it to try and obscure the offending marks, all the while grinning like an idiot. Worth it.

    Minna wasn't downstairs like you'd expect her to be, but Captain Holms directed out you to the hangers. There, you found Minna, Anny, and several of the local mechanics working on Minna's plane: they'd pulled off the entire nose assembly, leaving the normally elegant plywood dart of her fuselage pulled open. Sparks rained as Anny welded a metal framework of some kind together, and Minna's engine lay in a wagon along with piping you imagined had to be part of the cooling system.

    "Holy hell, Minna, what are you up to?" you asked, astonished.

    "I have designed a new plane!" Minna declared triumphantly, flipping one of her notepads open. Instead was a crude sketch showing a cartoonish version of Minna's plane with a new nose, the cylinders of a V8 engine protruding from its sides. Beside it was some more elegant and accurate technical drawings by an unknown hand, showing the nose of the machine pulled up into an intimidating ram shape, a variety of notes scrawled around. Most notable was the new gun placement, as between the cylinders of the weapon was a sketch of what you were fairly sure was Minna's 20 millimetre cannon, rigged to fire through the propeller spinner.

    "... oh my Gods, that is terrifying." you said reverently. "Is that Lyse's old engine?"

    "It is! Not only will I have thirty more horsepower at my disposal, but a motor cannon. We have even converted the mechanism of my cannon to accept the pan magazines used by the Macchi variations so it will not overly block my vision. And a new all-metal cowl as well!" she said enthusiastically. "Now, what brings you here?"

    "Was going to invite you shooting with Arren and Marcus? As soon as they're awake, that is." you explained. She lit up, and glanced to Anny.

    "We got this. Just get back after noon, we're going to have to talk weapon mounting after the engine gets in from the shop." Anny said, and Minna leapt to her feet.

    "Just let me get my rifle!"

    About a half our later, you were walking down the rocky path cut off from the aerodrome, hemmed in at all sides by red rock, carrying your rifles and whatever other weapons you wanted to show off. Minna had her submachine gun slung across her back, and Marcus was somehow carrying his massive rifle on one shoulder and one of the Minnows' bolt-action guns on his other. Your targets were a bag of aluminium food cans that Arren had appropriated from the tavern, to be returned with a bunch of holes in them later.

    You set up in the small dead-end canyon, laying the cans out on the rocks and around the loose brush, observed all the while by curious grey birds that crowded on the rocks above, their heads following your every move.

    "Alright, round two." Marcus said, unslinging his rifle. "New competitors this time."

    "Properly, we should do this in teams. All our events were squad based." Minna suggested, laying her weapons out. "That way we must play to our strengths as a unit."

    "So... fischervolk against northerners?" Marcus suggested innocently.

    "I am not from the north. Greifenberg is far to the south-west." Minna replied, looking at him strangely. "Boys against girls seems traditional."

    "Right, sorry." Marcus replied, frowning. "And I dunno, that seems like it could go battle of the sexes real quick."

    "Arren and Minna, me and Marcus then." you suggested. "Just shake things up."

    Everyone agreed, so you took positions, laying out tarps to lay on instead of the hot rock and loading your weapons while Minna explained the basic principle. For the first round, the challenge would be to hit as many targets as possible in thirty seconds with the rifle, going one at a time. You and Arren were first, by the drawing of straws.

    "Good luck, babe." Arren whispered. You stuck your tongue out at him, and nestled up to your sights.

    He kicked your ass.

    To be fair, you still weren't used to using a right-handed rifle left handed, reaching over the gun to operate the bolt, while Arren's rifle was ambidextrous and its action was fast as hell, even prone. Still, it was embarrassing: you fired just six shots when the timer ran out, while Arren had wisely started with a full magazine and a round in the chamber. He'd hit nine targets in his twelve shots, while you'd not missed once. Still...

    "Can I give you some pointers?" Marcus said, while Minna and Arren shared a victorious cheer. You nodded, and he leaned down to help. "Okay, so the reason you take so long is that every time you work the bolt, you drop your shooting hand and lose your sight picture. Lemme show you a trick."

    He took his rifle and switched to a left-handed grip like yours, fired a shot downrange, and then did something incredible. Keeping the rifle tightly tucked to his shoulder with his shooting hand, his other hand shot back, catching the bolt in his palm and working it lightning fast. The bolt stuck a little as he closed it, but moments later he had his hand back in position, and his eye never left the sight.

    "Okay, so it's really tough with these big clunky guns..." he admitted, handing the rifle back to you, "And I'm right handed but, I learned to shoot on this old left-handed rifle that got left here from the war. They made lefty guns for fischervolk regiments apparently, and nobody wants them up here so they're really cheap. Give it a shot!"

    You did, resting the end of the gun against a rock. You fired, dropped your hand back, and your palm found the bolt grip naturally to flick it open. The empty casing shot out across your vision, your racked it closed, and you were ready to fire, already lined up.

    Okay, cool. To be honest, it was the way you always wanted to do it when you first got the weapon, but it had seemed too difficult, maybe even dangerous. You should have trusted your instincts on this one.

    You switched places with Marcus, finding the first available seat (which just happened to be Arren's lap), and the two of your cheered on your teammates as they set up. You honestly had no idea how this was going to go: you'd never seen anyone shoot like Marcus, but...

    "Go!" Arren shouted, holding the stopwatch out where you could see it. Instantly, the two of them started shooting, and there was no question. Marcus was fast and accurate, but Minna was firing so fast it was like she had an automatic. When you looked closely, you could see she was actually shooting with her middle finger, her index and thumb already wrapped around the bolt, and almost every shot found their mark. She fired eighteen shots in thirty seconds and hit with fifteen. Marcus' eleven shots and ten hits paled by comparison.

    Minna pulled her cheek back from her weapon, her face twisted in disgust.

    "I am out of practice." she muttered, shoving a new clip into the gun and shoving it closed. "Again!"

    Soon enough, the shooting contest became a Minna-showing-off contest, especially once she switched to her SMG and began showing how precise she was. Despite it not having a single shot mode, she'd become very adept at squeezing off single rounds with feather-light triggerpulls, and demonstrated by running through a magazine, each shot sending a can tumbling or flying upward with a perforation. Then Marcus brought out his anti-material rifle and gave you all a rundown, and you volunteered to try it out.

    "Okay, remember, use the cheek pad." Marcus explained, showing you the offset sight. "If you try to sight along the barrel, the bolt will break your face."

    "Don't break your face!" Arren reminded you.

    "Right." you said nervously, selecting one of the shells (they were larger than your hand) and sliding the bolt closed. You steadied the rifle against your shoulder, put the little aperture sight over what was once a soup can, and pulled the trigger. There was an earthshattering bang and a huge clang as the barrel slid back, the bolt popped open, and the butt of the rifle punched into your shoulder with considerable force.

    "Fucking ow." you said, releasing the rifle and cringing. "Fuck this thing! That hurt!"

    "... I am suddenly reticent about trying it." Minna said.

    "I have some endothermic rounds, if you want to spice it up." Marcus offered. Minna pushed you out of the way, taking the cyan-tipped bullet and eagerly stuffing it into the breach. The rifle fired with another bang echoing down the canyon, sending those few birds who had returned fleeing, and there was a burst of frost at the impact sight. You and Arren retrieved the struck can, frozen mid-explosion with the remains of the bullet hanging in the ice, and the two of you huddled around it like some kind of reverse fireplace to ward off the heat while your friends kept shooting. In between rounds, you discussed your planes going north, choosing towns to stop at from Arren's map and putting together a provisions list. The line traced across the landscape by the pointing finger of your clockwerk prisoner felt more and more real: somewhere along it was your goal.

    ---
    ​
    Marcus is offering the move "Trust your Instincts", which will give you a Mastery Move every 3 points instead of every 5.​
    [ ] Take it! (4 XP)​
    [ ] Do not take it!​
    ​
    What move do you offer him?​
    [ ] Whispered Answers (Marcus' intuitive sense will become much stronger: he may spot dangers before they arrive.)​
    [ ] Deep Ones (Marcus talks a bit about the stuff he's seen out at sea.)​
    [ ] Soul-Bound (Marcus talks about his connection to his aircraft)​
    [ ] Ideomotor Response (Marcus talks about his theory that all planes have a 'personality')​
    [ ] Written in Ink (Marcus shows off a few of his tattoos, and Arren offers his services)​
    [ ] Blessing (You offer to walk Marcus through blessing his rifle)​
    [ ] Lashed to the Mast (Marcus talks about why he doesn't fly with a chute)​
    [ ] Gifts from the Abyss (Marcus is too good looking and will not accept this move)​
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • I was going to say something about AMRs being no joke, but I definitely laughed, so...

    [X] Take it! (4 XP)

    [X] Ideomotor Response (Marcus talks about his theory that all planes have a 'personality')
    [X] Whispered Answers (Marcus' intuitive sense will become much stronger: he may spot dangers before they arrive.)

    Currently approval-voting both of these; Whispered Answers is probably more useful, but I just really like Ideomotor Response, and there's no denying autopilots are convenient.
    open_sketch said:
    one of the Minnow'sMinnows' bolt-action guns
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
    Last edited:
    open_sketch said:
    Fischervolk are left-handed to the same proportion that inlanders are right-handed.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Must be really handy for left-handed people, fischervolk or no.


    [X] Take it! (4 XP)
    It's the polite thing to do.

    [X] Ideomotor Response (Marcus talks about his theory that all planes have a 'personality')
    Was a bit unsure about what move to offer him, but this is the cutest and most interesting one.
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Take it! (4 XP)

    it's a badass move, no reason not

    [X] Ideomotor Response (Marcus talks about his theory that all planes have a 'personality')

    friend plane! friend plane! friend plane! friend plane! friend plane! friend plane!
     
    Minna was firing so fast it was like she had an automatic. When you looked closely, you could see she was actually shooting with her middle finger, her index and thumb already wrapped around the bolt, and almost every shot found their mark.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Hey! Pretty girl shoots an Enfield is our scene!

    [X] Take it! (4 XP)

    I was hoping for this one, honestly, two new Mastery moves is good news for us.

    [X] Ideomotor Response (Marcus talks about his theory that all planes have a 'personality')

    Not a brilliant move for him but I don't like him doing most of the Blood Magic stuff thematically.
     
    [X] Take it! (4 XP)
    [x] Whispered Answers (Marcus' intuitive sense will become much stronger: he may spot dangers before they arrive.)
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top