Whispers from the Deep - Biplanes & Bisexuality

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Character Sheets
  • Informational


    • Character Sheet
    Isabelle Morgenthau
    A Fisher

    Isa (right) and her boyfriend Arren (left)

    Hard Keen Calm Daring Wild
    +4 -2 +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: You can call on your patrons to Help you on a roll. On a 1, you Break after this mission.
    Blessing: When you dab fresh blood on a piece of working equipment, roll +Calm. On a 16+, take both. On an 11-15, choose 1.
    • Take +1 Ongoing with this item this Routine. (+1 Handling for a plane)
    • The item cannot break or be lost this Routine. (+1 Armour on 1 Section of the Plane.)
    On a miss, you need a bigger sacrifice. Don't disappoint.
    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.
    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).
    Contemplation: When you draw a ritual circle and stay within it, roll +Calm. On a 16+, you come out of it about an hour later refreshed; strike 3 Stress or 2 Injury. On an 11-15, it takes the whole night, and you're unreachable in that time.

    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

    Vice Progress
    - Breaking Stuff: ☑☐☐
    - 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. She's out to find her way in the world. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Arren (NPC- Confidant/Observer): Your cute fish boyfriend. Artist and recently trained observer. 1 thaler per Routine.
    • Wulf (Witch): Former bandit leader. Actually half wolf. Hot as hell. Ex-Goth. 1 thaler per Routine.
      • Hard +3, Keen +3, Calm -2, Daring +0, Wild +3 (Avenger)
    • Minna Hammerl (Soldier): Inexperienced but highly trained soldier and passionate duelist. Speaks all formal-like. The most beautiful woman in the world. 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.
    • 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 red?
    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 thaller per Routine.
    ​
    Stress XP
    3 7
    ​
    Cash Expenses
    41 10.5
     
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  • Informational
    • [X] Ask Bruno what he thinks would convince her she's getting a good deal
    -[X] Can he help you fake the negotiations so this is smoother?
    -[X] Call on the Deep Ones for help in the negotiations.
     
    NemoMarx said:
    -[X] Call on the Deep Ones for help in the negotiations.
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    This seems like a bad idea.

    First of, Creepy is a thing.
    Secondly, the Deep ones aren't exactly known for the levelheaded thoughts. Odds are they'd just suggest to share the generator, but putting it in two different spots at the same time.

    Tithed_Verse said:
    [X] plan for the people
    -[x] bribe the militia
    -[X] find a person who's a collectivist and has a petty revolutionary group. Promise him aid. Help him buy loyalties.
    -[x] revolution
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    Random communist revolution seems, well, random. In addition, a revolution in a town where literally everyone but the oppressed carries a gun seems like it would be ridiculously bloody. Also, putting our already wounded and highly stressed crewmates in the middle of a revolution is going to go really badly.

    To be clear, it's pretty obvious to Isa that old Frau Osswald has a grip on reality that is tenuous at best. The deal is great, she's just paranoid and has a philosophical revulsion at the idea of trusting or relying on others.
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    In addition, the problem is this. A better won't work because Frau Osswald is insane. Piav has offered her better and better deals in the past, but she keeps rejecting them because she's literally insane. In fact, the deal we're offering now (though still generous) is worse than the deals they got offered in the past.

    A negotiation, whether fake or real, may not be enough to pierce through her delusions.
     
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    10ebbor10 said:
    In addition, the problem is this. A better won't work because Frau Osswald is insane. Piav has offered her better and better deals in the past, but she keeps rejecting them because she's literally insane. In fact, the deal we're offering now (though still generous) is worse than the deals they got offered in the past.
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    That's why we lie to her. We don't get more generous, we get stingy, fake the whole thing so that she can feel like she's winning concessions from us, or winning us over. She won't believe any honest or open deal, so we have to change the game we're playing.

    She doesn't understand generosity, only self interest, yeah? So we need to work along those lines. And worst case, the negotiations fall through and we can fall back to harder options, just like before.
     
    NemoMarx said:
    That's why we lie to her. We don't get more generous, we get stingy, fake the whole thing so that she can feel like she's winning concessions from us, or winning us over. She won't believe any honest or open deal, so we have to change the game we're playing.

    She doesn't understand generosity, only self interest, yeah? So we need to work along those lines. And worst case, the negotiations fall through and we can fall back to harder options, just like before.
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    Problem is that she already won real concessions in the past, and still refused.

    Faking her winning a negotiation doesn't work if she already won many negotiations before.

    [X] Plan : Power behind the Throne
    -[X] Ask why the Senile lady is still in charge
    -[X] Go the influential people supporting her, try to convince them to do it and cut her out of the loop
     
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    10ebbor10 said:
    Random communist revolution seems, well, random. In addition, a revolution in a town where literally everyone but the oppressed carries a gun seems like it would be ridiculously bloody. Also, putting our already wounded and highly stressed crewmates in the middle of a revolution is going to go really badly.
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    Fair criticisms all around. Orchestrating a revolution isn't exactly in character (though encouraging a strike maybe would be), and anything of this sort would likely go better if we had a way to at least get a couple crates of old rifles into the hands of the oppressed, gunless masses.

    Honestly, though, I'm not convinced that negotiating is going to work any better this time around, and I kind of want to see some regime change here, but for that to have any real chance of a good outcome the people it is on the behalf of need to be involved at all levels of the process.

    Maybe, when the negotiations fall through and we come back to just take it, we could also make a point of distributing guns and preserved food among the poorer residents of the town to give them options?
     
    Worst case, if she won't back down for any reason when we try to play nice and do this the friendly way, we come back and shoot the place up and get a bonus for it.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    Random communist revolution seems, well, random. In addition, a revolution in a town where literally everyone but the oppressed carries a gun seems like it would be ridiculously bloody. Also, putting our already wounded and highly stressed crewmates in the middle of a revolution is going to go really badly.
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    We are a fisher. Fishers are religious collectivists. This sort of situation is basically anathema to us.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    This seems like a bad idea.

    First of, Creepy is a thing.
    Secondly, the Deep ones aren't exactly known for the levelheaded thoughts. Odds are they'd just suggest to share the generator, but putting it in two different spots at the same time.
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    I'm not seeing the problem.

    [X] Ask Bruno what he thinks would convince her she's getting a good deal
    -[X] Can he help you fake the negotiations so this is smoother?
    -[X] Call on the Deep Ones for help in the negotiations.
    Always ask the Deep Ones for advice.
    No seriously, i want to hear their advice.
    Will it involve tentacles?
     
    [X] Ask Bruno what he thinks would convince her she's getting a good deal
    -[X] Can he help you fake the negotiations so this is smoother?
    -[X] Call on the Deep Ones for help in the negotiations.

    3d10+4 please!

    Revolutionaries, do remember that revolution is always on the table after this. Though maybe don't start one with your crew in shambles and wounded on your grounded zeppelin with a hole in it.
    open_sketch threw 1 20-faced dice. Reason: Job Total: 13
    13 13
    open_sketch threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Complications Total: 17
    10 10 7 7
    open_sketch threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Pay Total: 11
    5 5 6 6
     
    Hey, there was a post here that got deleted. I hope there was not cheating.

    The Deep Ones do not like cheating.

    EDIT: 8 + 4 + 4 = 16. So still a full success.

    Writeup incoming!
     
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    Right, let's se how it goes wrong
    edit-
    Nah, just me messing up and not knowing how the damn thing works.
    And i'm late
    Valmond threw 3 10-faced dice. Reason: 3 Total: 18
    8 8 4 4 6 6
     
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    10ebbor10 said:
    Yes, but they don't appear to be the militantly zealoty type. They're significantly more chill.
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    We're chill, compared to our community I think. I do wonder what "proper" fisher folk back home were like, considering even the chill Isa and Arren were kinda weirded out by Piav and Fisher folk being less religious there?

    Like if we're just leaving the fold, what are FIsher fundamentalists doing? Have they ever started a crusade or anything? Do the deep ones like proselytizing, sometimes?
     
    brmj said:
    This is on of the most wonderful satires of US libertarians that I have ever seen.
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    To clarify, this isn't really a satire; Randists, a specific subset of US libertarians, actually believe this. It's just that they (sensibly) don't actually want to live in communities full of other Randists in real life and be cut off from civilization, whereas this little apocalpyse forced that outcome on them.

    Rockeye said:
    What we need to do is make her think she's pulling the wool over your eyes.

    "Only if you give us [] too!"

    "You're changing the deal! Urgh... Fine."
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    Might want to check whether the computer counted this as a vote, what with it having an X in brackets. :D

    10ebbor10 said:
    Problem is that she already won real concessions in the past, and still refused.

    Faking her winning a negotiation doesn't work if she already won many negotiations before.
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    I like your plan. I would have voted for it. :(

    open_sketchbook said:
    3d10+4 please!

    Revolutionaries, do remember that revolution is always on the table after this. Though maybe don't start one with your crew in shambles and wounded on your grounded zeppelin with a hole in it.
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    @Tithed_Verse please remember relevant details like this next time?
     
    Simon_Jester said:
    To clarify, this isn't really a satire; Randists, a specific subset of US libertarians, actually believe this. It's just that they (sensibly) don't actually want to live in communities full of other Randists in real life and be cut off from civilization, whereas this little apocalpyse forced that outcome on them.
    Click to expand...
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    On side note, I believe it's actually a crime that no one has posted this yet.

    L.P.D.: Libertarian Police Department
     
    The Fischervolk Faith
  • Informational
    • NemoMarx said:
    We're chill, compared to our community I think. I do wonder what "proper" fisher folk back home were like, considering even the chill Isa and Arren were kinda weirded out by Piav and Fisher folk being less religious there?

    Like if we're just leaving the fold, what are FIsher fundamentalists doing? Have they ever started a crusade or anything? Do the deep ones like proselytizing, sometimes?
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    Isa and Arren are both pretty religious. They believe and act out the will of the Deep Ones just as fervently as most folks back home.

    Like, um, Isa is a heretic, not an apostate. She feels betrayed by the figures of authority in her faith, but has in no way lost it. Not to mention the fact that she's seriously blessed by the Deep Ones even in comparison to the people she grew up around. Remember in character creation, she was too questioning of the faith, but flies to serve the will of her dark masters. She's a fundamentalist in the original sense of the word: she's convinced the townsfolk around her had lost sight of what it truly means to be a Cthulhu cultist, because the townsfolk were more scared of the Deep Ones than thankful, set in their ways without understanding them, and the High Priest was abusing that fear and conformity for his own personal gain. (See: stealing from the town, sleeping with his acolytes, etc) This dovetails with her journey of self-discovery thing: she was told there was a lot of things she should and shouldn't do or think that, now that she's out there doing and thinking it, don't really line up with her actual relationship with her Gods.

    Arren is... more devout is the wrong word. But his faith is much closer to strong religious belief than the rather personal relationship Isa has with the Gods, and he's very concerned with tradition. He was apprenticed to the town's tattoo artist, right? The cultural and religious iconography and history of his people are very important to him. He's following Isa out here because he loves her, has kinda tied up his personal worth in her well-being, and he also kinda suspects that Isa might be some kinda prophet so there's an aspect of religious duty the poor boy is probably gonna need to puzzle out at some point.

    The Fischervolk religion, diverse as it is across many towns, is also usually pretty insular. They've never really been a crusading, evangelical sort. If anything, their faith tends to get kind of self-destructive in its extremes.
     
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  • Informational
    • Isa comes of to me as incredibly chill about her religion, because her gods, who are in contact with her constantly, are also pretty chill about it.
    She won't go from door to door to pester people about the Deep Ones, but if there is a change someone might be interested...
    "Want to hear about the Deep Ones and the super awesome city they have built for us under the sea? No? Ok, bye."
     
    Simon_Jester said:
    To clarify, this isn't really a satire; Randists, a specific subset of US libertarians, actually believe this. It's just that they (sensibly) don't actually want to live in communities full of other Randists in real life and be cut off from civilization, whereas this little apocalpyse forced that outcome on them.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    The archetypal Randian is a Factory owner utterly convinced that all his employees are parasites that do nothing of any value, and that he'd be better off and much more productive if he left and went somewhere without any workers. It's a fundamentally narcissistic (and incoherent) ideology whose proponents like to imagine that the people they are utterly dependent on are instead dependent on them, and without them the world would utterly collapse. They also like to call helping people evil, and being a selfish bastard who fucks over everyone else is being good somehow.

    And, well, the Mayor here seems like a fantastic example of that.
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    The Fischervolk religion, diverse as it is across many towns, is also usually pretty insular. They've never really been a crusading, evangelical sort. If anything, their faith tends to get kind of self-destructive in its extremes.
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    There's something about a religion where you can reach the gods and/or heaven just by taking a walk of the peer that probably does not induce longevity of the belief.
    Especially when you don't need to rely on faith, you can see the heaven, and god/s are perfectly happy to answer questions.
     
    7-11: No Deal
  • Threadmarks
    • You nodded in understanding.

    "If you can help me out, sure. It'll be easy. Let's fake an argument, I pretend to give up something we've been holding out on you, it looks like you win. Easy."

    I mean, you were a notably terrible liar, but if anyone could make it work, it would be the folks in this town.

    Bruno grinned and stuck out a hand to shake. You gripped it and did just that, then you started speaking very loudly.

    "Hell no. Absolutely not, that's non-negotiable. We're offering you everything we have here."

    Bruno jumped in immediately.

    "Really? Because it seems like you really need those generators. We know how bad off you are without them."

    You swore loudly. "There are people depending on those generators!" You said. "We could help so many!"

    "Oh, I didn't realize this was a charity mission." Bruno said sardonically. "In that case, you won't get anything from us at all."

    "Damn you! Fine, we'll..." You paused for a moment to consider something plausible. "We'll pay to hook up the generators ourselves and move the old ones."

    "... and?"

    "... and we'll come to you first for any ceramics." You said. You figured Piav probably already did that. "You have us over a barrel here!"

    Bruno ducked back around the corner to the office, and you leaned at the edge of the door to listen. He quickly explained the 'new' deal to his mother, grinning wildly.

    "You were right, mother, they folded the moment I pushed. Things are really going to improve around here!"

    "... excellent." Frau Osswald said. "But, one more thing. They've already folded so easily, they'll give this up too. You told me they had those fancy mercenaries that hang around there, right? Maybe we can finally get somebody to go reclaim the old hangers..."

    "I... I really think we've got all they have to give here..." Bruno protested.

    "Nonsense. Go talk to them again, just you watch. They'll fold."

    "Yes mother."

    Bruno walked back out, taking you by the arm and bringing you to another room.

    "Old hangers?" You asked.

    "Yeah, there's... just over the way a bit, there's this hanger and field where my mother and her friends used to sponsor air races, back during the war. High society loved it, a way to test out new planes and all that. She's convinced there's old speedsters and stuff still there."

    "Do you think there are?"

    "Maybe? You figure somebody would have flown away with them, but stranger things have happened. But in any case, it's not like that would help us any. They probably aren't real combat planes if there are anything there, so it's not useful for the militia, and even if it was, we're committed to strict non-aggression here, so it's not like we'll go raiding. And she won't sell them, she just wants them as prestige pieces. Like... I think she wants to show them off to people who come by the town so they know how rich she is."

    "... why is she still in charge?" You said, awestruck by her sheer incompetence.

    "Everyone loves her. Well, everyone important." Bruno said. "She built this bunker out here next to one of her factories in case the worst came, and, well, it did, so she fled and she got all her devotees to come with her, and most of her family. I was fully on-board with her, but I was also, um, twelve..."

    "And now?" You asked.

    "Look, the end of the world does stuff to you. My sister... Beatrix, the one guarding the door, she became a fanatic for my mother's philosophy. She's basically her enforcer these days. My dad and baby brother Jürgen didn't make it." He said wearily. "And honestly, I think that did something to my mother's brain. She still doesn't really realize they're dead, or at least won't admit it. She's convinced they're just hiding out somewhere else, acts like they'll show up any day."

    You nodded sadly.

    "Look, the people here are convinced everything she says is brilliant. She leaves the bunker once or twice a week to walk the town and be inspirational, and she has devotees who follow her around writing down everything she says. To be honest, it doesn't make a lot of sense given her philosophy, but her philosophy doesn't make a lot of sense either. She pretty much just wants to live out the rest of her life convinced she saved everyone with her brilliant ideas, and she tries to ignore evidence to the contrary."

    "What do you want, then?" You asked.

    "To have a safe place to raise my kids." He said, shrugging. "Probably not here for much longer, huh."

    You sat in awkward silence for a moment.

    "So, yeah, the hangers. Um... they're not far, actually. Only problem is they're overgrown something fierce, and something bad is watching over it. Something fae, I guess."

    You nodded. "So what, you need somebody to make it go away?"

    "I guess. She's offered a standing reward to anyone who goes and can tell us what's there, about seven thaler, but nobody's actually managed it, so whatever it is it's gotta be nasty. And of course, she doesn't believe the fae are anything but peasant superstition, so she tried to have the woods burnt down a few times. We managed to convince her it might destroy the hangers too."

    "Do you think we can claim the reward if we scout the hangers?" You asked.

    "Sure. We can make that work. I handle most of the money stuff anyway." Bruno said. "And if we go shake on it right now, she won't go back. She's a lot of things, but once she gives her word, she treats it as a contract, and contracts are sacred."

    [ ] Agree to scout the hanger.
    [ ] Fuck this, the negotiation can fail. Not my problem.
    [ ] Write In

    The mission here is a ground scouting mission to push through the forest, talk to or fight off whatever fae nasty is holding onto the place, and return with your findings. I currently don't know if anything is in the hanger, I'll roll a dice to find out.

    Pay is crap (7 thaler). It'll cover your costs only because you aren't currently paying for your planes. You might be able to steal a plane inside, if you find one there. You'll leave after you do stress relief and finance stuff here, if you want.

    This outcome is because I realized your plan was a fast-talk (+Keen) rather than reasoning (+Calm). Though reasoning would have had reduced results even on a full success, as your target simply isn't reasonable.    ​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Agree to scout the hanger.
    -[x] Bruno either comes too, or has to help us find a way to change the regieme if mom still won't deal. Or both. Both is good.
     
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    See, I kind off want to investigate the hangars, because Oooh mysterious ruins, but we should be 100% aware that it's just going to lead to another demand.

    Our target fundamentally isn't reasonable.

    Also, this is Fae-involved stuff. We should really talk to Wulf before agreeing with anything.
     
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    [X] Agree to scout the hanger.

    I like this guy. I'd rather not have to kill him alongside his delusional mother.
     
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