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The Lands of the River - A Bronze Souls Quest

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0-11: Bend to the Storm
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    • [x] Plan: Friends in High Places​
    -[x] Introduce yourself and pay your respects, though perhaps don't be too earnest about your overall mission. The tax collector is trying to bleed the people drier than the desert sand. Rather classic hubris right there. Ask if Suteshet might appreciate showing this madman who's the highest law of the land, and granting the jackals and common folk a full enough belly to offer more attention (and maybe some beer) to the gods. If it's not too impertinent, ask how she's been faring in a changing world.​
    -[x] Boon: Any assistance would be welcome, but a companion to help us with this task and on our journey ahead would be most appreciated. Especially if it's up front, so that we don't end up dead(er) first.​
    -[x] Offering: The Tax Collector, dead or otherwise neutralized. A tithe of his stored goods (gods like beer right?).​

    Suteshet has few priests among the Peoples of the River, but she is widely propitiated, and you know the correct forms. When asking her forbearance, it is customary to emphasise her fearsomeness, but when seeking aid, the petitioner must offer reverence; she is not just a god of the outcast and outlands, but a mighty and ancient god, older than most of her peers, and a true part of the order of things. She is proud, and not to be crossed.

    Once, long ago, before the River came, all these lands were hers, and one day they may be again. She regards the Lands of the River as her kingdom, usurped by Satat-Mehet, and thus their ancient enmity arose. Now Satat-Mehet's power wanes, and Suteshet is ascendant.

    The tribes of the Unwatered Lands revere her as the God of the Winds, and they hold that though she is vengeful, it is with good reason. Though you were raised to see her as a god of destruction and chaos, it might be wise now to appeal to her in the name of justice.

    You kneel, almost eye to eye with the stoic hound, and bow your head. "Mighty Lady of the Winds, Mistress of the Sands, I beg your aid. The local Tax Collector seizes by force the bounty of the land, to excess, starving men and gods alike. I pray your aid in restoring the rightful order of the land, and will render up a tithe of all this man has seized, as your rightful tribute. This I, -" you hesitate a moment, "- the Nameless Seeker, emissary of Rekhet, vow to you, Suteshet."

    You raise your eyes slowly, and are met by those of the black hound. Wind swirls around the hilltop, and there is a metallic taste in the air. The hound remains perfectly still for a moment in the dying light, and in its dark eyes you detect a flash of stormlight. Then in a swift movement, it leans forward and licks your brow, then stands and leaps over your head. You roll aside and turn to look where it has gone, but it is nowhere to be seen. The wind turns southwest, though; in the direction of the brewery.

    You have gained Windhunter's Call, an Invocation of Suteshet!
    • Call the Hounds of Suteshet, who herd the sandstorms across the desert; lightning strikes either side of you and becomes a pair of black desert hounds, their eyes, mouths and claws crackling with energy.
    • Cost: 14/12/10
    • Range: Close
    • Effect: Summons 2 Stormhounds to your sides to run down your enemies. The hounds will remain at your service until death or dismissal, unless you fight the servants of Suteshet, or enter or cross the River (refilling your Flask counts!).
      • Stormhound (Elemental Beast)
      • Hounds of Suteshet: The summoner may roll twice and take the lowest on rolls to track or pursue prey, or locate things in the Unwatered Lands. The Hounds are immune to Lightning and Desiccation damage, and roll twice and take the lowest when attacking the servants of Satat-Mehet, but may not enter water. Their presence is an obvious sign of Suteshet's favour, which will likely inspire fear in the Peoples of the River, and respect in Outlanders.
      • Resolve 6
      • Bite Attack 60/35, 0/2/4 Lightning damage, ignoring Armour Reduction.
      • Endurance 40/20
      • Athletics 60/35
      • Wards 60/40

    Well, that was as clear an answer as you might hope for. The gods seldom speak directly, even to their own priests, but the omens usually require more interpretation than this.

    What should you do now?
    [ ] Walk to the Brewery now, as night draws in.
    [ ] Walk to the Brewery now, invoking a Silver Aten to light your way as the sun sets.
    [ ] Return to the village and seek out Rekhet, you have questions for her.
    [ ] Write in.

    Don't worry about splitting the vote over travelling with or without a Silver Aten; I'll compensate when taking the count.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Return to the village and seek out Rekhet, you have questions for her.

    MissBegot said:
    You have gained Windhunter's Call, an Invocation of Suteshet!
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    Ooh, out of combat spell, that's nice. Getting them back in combat should they die would be costly, and there are situations where we don't want them around, but the ability to summon them beforehand and refill mana is neat.

    MissBegot said:
    roll twice and take the highest when attacking the servants of Satat-Mehet
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    Should probably be the lowest since it's a roll-under system that doesn't offer benefits from high rolls? Unless it's meant to be a weakness?
     
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    illhousen said:
    Ooh, out of combat spell, that's nice. Getting them back in combat should they die would be costly, and there are situations where we don't want them around, but the ability to summon them beforehand and refill mana is neat.

    Should probably be the lowest since it's a roll-under system that doesn't offer benefits from high rolls? Unless it's meant to be a weakness?
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    Oops. Couple of unintended effects there. Yeah it should be lowest, and also refilling your flask at the river should be interaction enough to banish them. Fixed.

    Summoning is pretty powerful and I want to keep the cost meaningful, as this is effectively a defensive and a damage over time spell.
     
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    MissBegot said:
    Oops. Couple of unintended effects there. Yeah it should be lowest, and also refilling your flask at the river should be interaction enough to banish them. Fixed.

    Summoning is pretty powerful and I want to keep the cost meaningful, as this is effectively a defensive and a damage over time spell.
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    Ah, that does make the spell more costly, but still, two protectors for our squishy body is worth the price of a single charge.

    We should make sure to dismiss them before refilling the flask, don't want the good boys to be uncomfortable.
     
    Pupy!

    We're down a charge, so wouldn't heading back to the river rq be good? Might as well refill, chat up Rekhet, then head off to do cool things with our dogs. Also still kinda interested in trying to enlist the bandits. Flex our social skills and new intimidating best friends.

    [X] Return to the village and seek out Rekhet, you have questions for her.
     
    Adastra said:
    We're down a charge, so wouldn't heading back to the river rq be good? Might as well refill, chat up Rekhet, then head off to do cool things with our dogs.
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    That's persuasive. Didn't notice we're missing a charge, I thought we've refilled it.

    Vote changed.

    Adastra said:
    Also still kinda interested in trying to enlist the bandits. Flex our social skills and new intimidating best friends.
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    Bandits aren't warriors, they're just desperate. If they were willing to fight the Tax Collector, they would've done it already since he's the reason they're bandits in the first place.

    With his death, we may be able to point them at his remaining forces or persuade them to return to peaceful life now that the burden is lighter, but with Tax Collector at large we'd need to, like, beat them into a terrified and terrifying cult or something before they can be useful. Probably best to leave them for later.
     
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    [x] Return to the village and seek out Rekhet, you have questions for her.
     
    0-12: Ill-Met by Moonlight
  • Threadmarks
    • [x] Walk to the Brewery now, invoking a Silver Aten to light your way as the sun sets.​

    You follow the portentous wind. The sun slowly sinks into the west, as Banut's light dies and he begins his chthonic journey toward dawn and rebirth. The passing of his light reveals the stars, and the wake of his passage across the sky.

    {Invocation: Partial! +1XP}
    The moon is not yet up, but you call upon the Hidden One to lend you their light for a while. From behind you rises a silver aten, the moon disc, until it hovers over your head to illuminate your way.
    Focus
    ╞══════════════════╡18/20 🌑

    At the limits of the light of your aten, you occasionally catch glimpses of movement, the suggestion of canine shapes, hounds or jackals travelling the same direction. You try to put aside your unease; you begged the aid of the Mistress of the Sands, and these must be her creatures. Certainly nothing else attempts to waylay you, travelling by night beneath an aten, and flanked by desert hunters; if there are any bandits in the area, they have enough sense to read those omens and steer clear.

    [x] Introspection: So far, names don't seem to come easy, even if they were just said to you. Except those of the gods, perhaps written deeper than most, and Rekhet, who you'd never even heard of before. Why? Who might she be? Is she a servant of a god across the sea, a god herself, or something else entirely?​

    You lose track of time; you don't feel any need to sleep, and the chill of night no more bothers you than the midday heat did. As you walk, keeping an eye open for danger, you think back to the matter of names, and specifically the ones you can remember. You hadn't really questioned why the names of the gods were exempt, they're gods, but why can you remember Rekhet?

    {Culture: Partial! +1 XP}
    There are many smaller gods, but you are sure you've heard of none by that name. She must at least serve a god though; ferrying dead souls is no mortal occupation, and the feather she gave you is itself a token of service. You realise she's probably entrusted you with her own symbol of office. You reach up to touch it and can feel the truth of that; the feather was bestowed on her for her service. She has placed a great deal of faith in you by letting you carry it. You hope you're worthy of such favour.

    You cannot pursue this line of thought further, on what you currently know and can remember.
    [ ] Introspection: Write in.​

    At last, you reach the brewery; ahead, a low mudbrick wall surrounds the granaries and the counting-house. It looks as though some of the brewery buildings have been demolished to wall in this small compound. You can see two guards with spears and shields manning a gate, and a little way along behind the wall on either side, two more are stringing bows at your approach.

    A cry goes up from the gate; "Halt! No admittan-", but it is broken off as there is a baying of hounds in the darkness and two black shapes hurtle toward the gate. The archers knock arrows and the gate guards raise their shields and lower their spearheads.

    What do you do? The wall and the gate are at Medium range from you, just inside your aten's light. This places you well within bowshot, but out of immediate danger from the spearmen. The onrushing stormhounds will reach the gate soon, but likely not before the archers loose.
    [ ] Write in.

    You get the stormhounds free this time; consider it the benefit of following the omens promptly, and also compensation for not stopping to refill your flask.

    Range:
    Ranges in this game are a bit approximate. There are 4 bands:
    Close: Within reach of melee weapons, small AoEs.
    Short: Close enough to charge, or throw a javelin, very large AoEs.
    Medium: Too far to charge without a chariot or similar, only high Might characters can throw a javelin this far.
    Long: Within bowshot (that is, aimed shots at a single person; not arcing volleys as on a battlefield).
    Extreme: Out of range of everything.
    You may move as part of either your action or reaction, such as charging into melee, or dodging out of reach. If how quick you do this matters, it will be part of your roll. You can generally move 1 range band in a turn, unless you devote your action to running, in which case you might cover 2.

    Multiple Foes:
    If you are attacked by multiple enemies in a turn, it will apply a stacking penalty to your defence roll. Unless enemies have an appropriate special ability, you will still only take damage from one of them, but it's a lot harder to avoid getting hit when ganged up on; try to limit the number of enemies that can attack you at once!
     
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    • Are the archers in Close range to one another?
    If so,
    [] Unleash the Rain of Stars upon the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    Otherwise,
    [X] Use Crescent Moonbow on one of the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    Either way,
    [X] Dodge for your reaction
    (I think we should just make it default instead of mentioning it each turn, parry is not really our forte.)

    [X] Introspection: as the servant of the Changing God, choosing a new name for yourself is hardly a foreign concept. Letting go of the past and reinventing yourself hides no terror for you. There is power in it. Not the power of sorcery and invocations, but one of self-definition, of making yourself into who you wish to be, one step at a time. Yes, it appeals to you. It does, however, leave the question of what your new name should be. It must be something fitting to your new office, of course, and yo your role as an emissary of the divine, but also reflect you as a person. In other words, it must be something cool. Lekkanut-Na. No, cooler.
     
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    Oops, I meant to clarify in the notes: the spearmen are Close to each other, but the archers are at Short range from them on either side.
     
    [X] Use Crescent Moonbow on one of the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    [X] Dodge for your reaction

    Seems sensible.
     
    TBF, the alternative here is to concentrate fire. We probably can get off Rain of Stars on the spearmen before the hounds reach them, finishing them off quickly. We'd eat some arrows, but would suffer less melee attacks and would be able to move onto archers as a unit (provided we can get over the wall somehow).

    I'm banking on archers not wanting to die and backing off under fire here, which means spreading out the damage.
     
    [X] Use Crescent Moonbow on one of the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    [X] Dodge for your reaction

    I like this idea!
     
    [X] Use Crescent Moonbow on one of the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    [X] Dodge for your reaction
     
    How much control do we have over what the hounds do? If they just kinda vibe that's cool, but if we can tell them to do specific things or if they generally follow our will that'd be useful to keep in mind. Even if it's just to have them wait somewhere or come over in a hurry.

    Stealing a bow would be really nice for us I think. Though the encumbrance is a concern having a mana-free option for ranged combat would be nice for improving finesse and for synergy with the puppies.

    As for the present situation, I think Star's call might be better right now? Less cost, more consistent, and the archers are unlikely to be well armored.

    [X] Use Star's Call on one of the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    [X] Dodge for your reaction

    [X] Yell "Surrender! The gods will spare no fury upon your master, so stand aside and live"

    Hopefully talking is a free action. And the hounds won't just eat them if they run away.
     
    [X] Use Star's Call on one of the archers. Let the hounds deal with the spearmen for now.

    [X] Dodge for your reaction

    Seems like a good call.
     
    Adastra said:
    How much control do we have over what the hounds do? If they just kinda vibe that's cool, but if we can tell them to do specific things or if they generally follow our will that'd be useful to keep in mind. Even if it's just to have them wait somewhere or come over in a hurry.
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    You can give them simple commands, which they will usually obey; nothing more complex than sheepdog commands. This is a free action.
     
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