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
    • 9-15: Going Home
  • Threadmarks
    • Heinrich touched down just two hours later, skidding to a stop on the water and waving to you.

    "Isabelle, that was the most relaxing flight of my life." He said, smiling. "I could have slept on the way back!"

    With that cheery declaration, you switched planes and finally headed back to Piav in a tight little formation. Heinrich lead the way: his heat-ray was powerful enough that it made sense to let him take point. It was just a short flight up into the mountains, and it was one of the most peaceful you'd had in the last three weeks. No expectations of a fight, no real tension or worry, just banking into nice slow turns as you made your way upriver to reunite as a group.

    It had been a hard few weeks. You'd come close to death so many times. You'd been shot, beaten up, lost a tooth, cut your hand, suffered blood loss, and fallen out of a plane into a tree. You'd shot down three planes, killed at least five people, and been attacked by a giant bird. And despite all that... you loved flying. It was wonderful, just you, your boyfriend, the roar of the engine and the howl of the wind, that little feeling of weightlessness when you pitched down or the creak of canvas and metal as you pushed the rudder. You were meant to do this.

    ---

    Wulf met you at the docks, and you just about jumped into her arms. You didn't care it had only been two days. Two days was forever.

    "Nice hat!" You exclaimed after kissing her. I mean, honestly, it didn't really suit her, but it was funny, and you just... felt great. Too good to let an awful hat get you down.

    "What are you all excited about, little fish?" She asked, smiling wide. You cast around the million reasons and landed on one you felt you could say out loud.

    "I guess my birthday's in two days." You said simply. "Does that qualify as exciting?"

    "... you know, I never asked and now I feel really weird. Isa, how old are you?" Wulf asked. You could tell there was a tenseness there.

    "... I'm going to be nineteen." You said, and she sighed in relief.

    "Cool. Cool that's a normal and reasonable age to be. Sorry, you're tiny, I..." Oh my god she blushes cute when she was afraid she'd done something terrible.

    You punched her arm. "You're hilarious. Come on. I wanna see about our plane."

    ---

    "Three weeks?"

    The mechanic shrugged. In the background, crews were putting together the aluminium tubes and sheeting that would become a new one of those cantilever militia planes. It was powered by the same engine as the one in Minna's plane, the one that had been in your plane before you'd started paying out the nose to customize it. They were common as dirt, even now.

    "She's a big job, and the militia needs their new planes first. Sorry, they get priority, it's the law around here." He said apologetically. Stupid laws. Stupid commune with its stupid prioritizing public safety over profit.

    You stalked out to the assembled group and explained the situation. Anny particularly looked heartbroken: you knew she was really looking forward to working on your new plane.

    "So what's the plan?" Minna asked. You shrugged.

    "Go to the tavern, get recruiting a pilot?" You said uncertainly.

    "Get high?" Wulf threw in.

    That seemed agreeable. Piav was the richest settlement in the region, maybe one of the richest in Voisin at this point, so a lot pilots touched down here to trade, or just passing through. There was always somebody at the bar.

    Four hours later, you were still sitting around the bar. The team had destroyed two whole plates of cookies Mrs. Abildgaard had produced for them and obliterated what was left of Wulf's stash, and there was nothing. Nobody but locals were coming through the door.

    "I actually hate this." You said, leaning against Wulf.

    "Yeah." She echoed.

    Arren, who didn't seem to get sluggish like you did under the effects of the drug, leap to his feet, stealing Wulf's hat in the process.

    "Alright, fuck this. I'm going dancing. Isa, Wulf?"

    "Urgh." Wulf said, but you grabbed her hands and pulled her along.

    "Come on. Let's do something fun. You guys want to come along?" You said.

    Anny was asleep against Heinrich, who was scribbling something on a notepad. Minna was sipping some tea and reading quietly.

    "That place is too loud. Go. I will watch for new recruits." She said, smiling. "Have fun."

    You shot her a mock salute and followed your boyfriend out the door, walking down to the dance hall. The crisp air of early evening and the chill breeze coming off the mountain got you all huddling a little close together. It was wonderful.

    ---

    That night, wrapped in warm and loving arms, you decided to take a few minutes before you slept to let the whispers in. Really let them in, in a way you hadn't since you left. Sink deeper under that dark ocean, block out the world and just listen.

    You saw yourself at the center of a vast web of connections, each to another person, themselves entangled. The babble of voices crystalized it, asking you about them, advising you, soothing you, giving suggestions and instructions and warnings about the past, present, and future, not all of which you understood. But you tried to listen. You let them in. You let them pull you under.

    Here, at the bottom of this vast mental abyss, you felt so small. There was a crushing weight on you, hundreds of meters of seawater, an infinite cascade of guilt and shame and sadness. You felt awful about feeling so good. About feeling like you belonged. A lifetime of pressure was coming flooding back, even here, even now. You weren't meant for life in the wide world. It was your lot to work the coasts, to fly above the waves, tethered, until they took you below. This world would hate you and shun you, would hurt you, had been doing nothing but hurt you. All the pain, the injuries, the gunshots and broken teeth and wretched shoulders, the people you couldn't save and the people you had to kill, this was the world trying to reassert yourself. You couldn't keep lying to yourself. You couldn't keep lying to your friends. You'd abandoned your duties, you'd abandoned your father to a lonely life in the village, you'd stolen from the community. You were a parasite, an ungrateful thief, a heretic.

    You just wanted to go home.

    And those connections swirled around you, whispers, reassuring. No, it's not like that. It's okay. You've not done anything wrong. You are home. Here, in these connections, this was where you belonged. With friends and lovers, with other survivors, with people who belonged with you. Your place was wherever you were. Your journey was wherever you were going. Your home was where you kept your heart.

    The whispers from the deep would never let you forget it.

    ---

    The next morning, you told your team about a job. There was a village being held hostage by a wicked man. Had been for decades, a gross injustice. He had defenses, but if the team moved quickly, you'd never have to fight them. It was going to be a long journey, but there was time. There wasn't pay, but the vote to pursue was unanimous.

    You invited Anny, so she could see the sea. See where she came from.

    The team departed that afternoon, flying on till nightfall. You put in at a small outpost in the swamp down south, just short of the swirling dark skies and rain, landing next to mail carriers and trading planes loaded with salted fish. You sat around the table with pilots and shared stories, drank, talked with the bartender. Took your partners out to the lake for a swim.

    On the wall was a blue square of canvas with a spade on it, mounted above the bar. The old man with the burns on his hand laughed as he saw you again. You met a young boy who had stowed away on a mail plane, and you advised him to head to Aldershoft. There was always work there.

    The next morning, you set off as one, pushing up the beach. A six hour journey, long by any measure. You couldn't help but indulge yourself, brushing the tops of the evergreens and laughing as the birds scattered behind you, skimming your pontoons against the spray as you wandered down the coast. The landscape started getting familiar, the trees growing darker and more twisted, the rocks black, the grey clouds looming above, but not even the rain could dampen your spirits. Arren topped up the tank from the can on his lap and then threw it into the slipstream, and you'd both laughed as you watched the tin skip off the water like a stone. You let Arren keep the plane steady a while from his controls, and cheered him on as he let the plane roll gently into a turn down the beach.

    All down the coast were lighthouses, flames flickering inside. Midday services were beginning soon. You'd be just in time.

    The planes landed one by one, the rumble of their engines dying as the magnetos were cut. Nobody came to meet you, of course. You rallied up on the beach and started towards the temple, towards the great hewn doors, covered in the symbols and stories of your people. You ran your fingers over the carvings, tracing out ancient stories. Who you were, where you came from.

    You put a trembling hand on either door, and you pushed them open.

    The stone pews were filled with the faithful, lying limp, entranced. The High Priest stood at his pulpit, his hands held high, caught midway in his recital of another parable of lies and fear.

    He stared at you with wide eyes. Said your name, pointed. Asked why you'd returned. Asked if you were ready to beg for his forgiveness.

    That wasn't your intention.

    ---

    What do you say? What do you do?

    The next update will be the last. You can make a plan, and it will feature, but remember, you are the whispers in the deep. You can guide her, but this one is Isa's choice.    ​
    Adhoc vote count started by open_sketch on Mar 27, 2019 at 6:59 PM, finished with 4289 posts and 11 votes.
    • [X] It is time for his confession. It is time for his lies to be shown for what they are.
      [X] Plan: Roar of the Deep
      -[X] Call up the Gods to support you.
      -[X] Denounce him for his crimes against the village, starting with the material (the stolen thalers) and moving to the spiritual (misleading them about their relationship with the gods).
      -[X] Offer him a chance to repent.
      [X] Into the Deep
      -[X] Signal Wulf and Minna to keep the Priest from interfering
      -[X] Take control of the trance, and shepherd people into the Deep
      -[x] Show people that their Gods have their best interests in mind
      [X] After the confrontation, Isa repays the thalers she stole when she fled (with interest if possible).
      [X] Plan: Roar of the Deep
      -[X] Call up the Gods to support you.
      -[X] Denounce him for his crimes against the village, starting with the material (the stolen thalers) and moving to the spiritual (misleading them about their relationship with the gods).
      -[X] Offer him a chance to repent.
      [X] Into the Deep
      [X] Into the Deep
      [X] Isa freezes for a second, unsure how to continue. Her whispers reassure her though, and she realizes that their advice was what helped her break free herself. She opens herself willingly to her most intimate allies, imploring them to show the community what they showed her
      -[X] Up to the QM whether this takes the form of them speaking vocally through her, or her channeling them into the trance to speak mentally (using water magic?)
      -[X] If the latter, then they should leave the high priest out of the conversation; he doesn't deserve an argument, or to understand, not after what he's done. He deserves his 'flock' to realize his wrongs without his input or view, and for them to reject him while he flounders, confused and unaware of the major religious experience that just happened in front of him
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  • Threadmarks
    • open_sketchbook said:
    The next update will be the last. You can make a plan, and it will feature, but remember, you are the whispers in the deep. You can guide her, but this one is Isa's choice.​
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    Wow, that's kind of a surprise, but it makes sense, the quest has pretty much served its purpose as a world-building and mechanics-testing device. I can see how it might be starting to develop into mercenary-company-management quest, so an ending before things get too big works as well.

    Or maybe this is just what we deserve for voting to use Contemplation.
     
    It's also sort of reached a natural end of a lot of arcs.

    I'm not done with these characters, but I think this is going to wrap up the first real story with them.
     
    You know, this guy is kind of a jerk, but there's probably a reasonable way of removing him from power without -

    Oh right, I forgot we play as unthinkable entities from the unknowing void in this quest.

    Break the bones, sear the skin, feast on flesh!

    Shame to see the story go (I only just hopped over from MatsuraQuest) but it was fun whilst it lasted, and I can't wait to see this cast of loveable dorks wherever they turn up next
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    It's also sort of reached a natural end of a lot of arcs.

    I'm not done with these characters, but I think this is going to wrap up the first real story with them.
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    I'm glad to hear there will be more, but very sad to see this quest go. Yes, it's a better end point than any we've had yet, but it's still a little hard to believe. I certainly didn't see anything hinting in this direction before this.

    Can I ask what brought this on? Was this something you've been planning for a while, or a recent decision?
     
    brmj said:
    I'm glad to hear there will be more, but very sad to see this quest go. Yes, it's a better end point than any we've had yet, but it's still a little hard to believe. I certainly didn't see anything hinting in this direction before this.

    Can I ask what brought this on? Was this something you've been planning for a while, or a recent decision?
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    Essentially, a lot of the character arcs that I set up have reached nice points and we're in a place where there's not any new complications. Minna has come to terms with her exile, Wulf has people she feels safe with, Arren's got something he's good at, and Isa is surrounded by friends. Piav is safe, the Red Talons have pissed off, there's no pressing hooks I absolutely need to resolve, but plenty (what happened to Checkmate? Isa's blood? Wulf's ex? etc) that would work very well for a sequel.

    In terms of story length, events, number of chapters, etc, I think I've basically like, filled a book, sorta? It just feels right.

    Besides which, the company is about to change and get a plane that will be able to carry them anywhere in the world, which is a natural starting point for a sequel (where did they end up?)

    I've known this arc was going to be the last since the first few updates in it.
     
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    I'd post a non-vote just to kick off more discussion, but I have no idea what is the best thing to say here, and I'd like to have at least one cool one-liner in any plan I vote for that Isa gets to say to tell the Head Priest to eat scheiße.
     
    Its been a while since i read the early updates, but aside from the abuse, one of Isa's reasons for leaving was having a deeper connection with the voices than the priest, right? Both in terms of "they helped her realize that he's abusive" and "it rather disproves any defense of him stemming from his religious position", i think? So would it be possible for Isa to basically...open herself up to the voices and let them rebuke him, and/or spark the voices others in the community have? Or am i getting the metaphysics completely wrong there?
     
    Abby Normal said:
    Its been a while since i read the early updates, but aside from the abuse, one of Isa's reasons for leaving was having a deeper connection with the voices than the priest, right? Both in terms of "they helped her realize that he's abusive" and "it rather disproves any defense of him stemming from his religious position", i think? So would it be possible for Isa to basically...open herself up to the voices and let them rebuke him, and/or spark the voices others in the community have? Or am i getting the metaphysics completely wrong there?
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    no thats really good
     
    I don't think the High Priest is the one Isabelle needs to be talking to. Like maybe there's things she wants to say for her own personal resolution, which is fine, but if the intent is to change things then she really needs to be addressing everyone else in the room. Even if that's framed as a conversation between two people, it's one that's being held for the sake of the rest of the people in the village.

    Abby Normal said:
    Its been a while since i read the early updates, but aside from the abuse, one of Isa's reasons for leaving was having a deeper connection with the voices than the priest, right? Both in terms of "they helped her realize that he's abusive" and "it rather disproves any defense of him stemming from his religious position", i think? So would it be possible for Isa to basically...open herself up to the voices and let them rebuke him, and/or spark the voices others in the community have? Or am i getting the metaphysics completely wrong there?
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    Yeah, this sort of thing is pretty good.
     
    The priest is so fundamentally wrongheaded that he's honestly not worth like... a ton of strong arguments or stuff? Or that's sort of my stance. Show him up in one big power move, and tell him to fuck off.

    The more important goal is making Isa feel like she's settled this and won, rather than beating him or whatever?
     
    Abby Normal said:
    Its been a while since i read the early updates, but aside from the abuse, one of Isa's reasons for leaving was having a deeper connection with the voices than the priest, right? Both in terms of "they helped her realize that he's abusive" and "it rather disproves any defense of him stemming from his religious position", i think? So would it be possible for Isa to basically...open herself up to the voices and let them rebuke him, and/or spark the voices others in the community have? Or am i getting the metaphysics completely wrong there?
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    Building on this, can Issa essentially hijack the Mass to let the whispers talk to the congregation directly? Essentially cut out the priest's misinterpretation and deliver the Creepy Words directly to their followers?
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    no thats really good
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    Thinking on it more...would it make more sense to have it be "Isa channels her whispers to rebuke the priest and inspire the community/the community's own whispers" or to be more direct like... "isa uses water magic to make a bond to let her voices connect to all the community directly"? The latter seems cooler to me, but also might be problematic depending on how we want to interpret the bond between a person and their whispers? like...in a way its essentially forcing an intimate bond on others, albeit (presumably) temporarily? Though again, might be reading too much/the wrong things into the whispers...
     
    its cool but might not be something Isa does. Maybe instead its just something that starts happening.

    We can treat this a lot more collaboratively, it's the end of the story, not a game. Snippet it up!
     
    Wait.

    This is the end?

    Well, it seems like a good stopping point actually.

    I think the voices should list out to Isa exactly how many times he's done things wrong. X fishers maimed by bad judgment. Y instances of coerced sex. Possibly to get her really mad, possibly to emphasize how much he needs to go.

    Maybe one of the voices observes how everyone is kind of awful sometimes, and he's not that much worse than the usual crop.
     
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    Like, I didn't realize my quest was ending until I was writing the last update. It's kind of an emotional feeling, to know that you're finishing a character's story.
     
    Hmm. I think a rebuke of the high priest is a good start, but we should offer the townsfolk more than that. Isa has seen the outside world now, and now she's home, it makes sense to bring some of that back with her. Talk about how it's not just that the high priest has been personally wrong, but that the entire way he's been doing things is wrong, so he's not just replaced by a marginally-less-exploitative alternative down the line. This town has a lot of problems and Isa probably can't fix them all with one grand gesture, but the solutions have to start with people realizing there are other, better ways forward.

    I dunno how to put this all into a vote exactly, but eh, those are my thoughts on the matter at least.
     
    Oh, I'm super stoked for this resolution. Where Isa takes her stand as the true priestess of the voices of the deep, even if she doesn't really know what that really will mean going forward she takes that stand anyway. I'm terribly excited.

    I'm picturing the scene as something like tearing down the priest's lies about the nature of the deep ones, his false position as mediator when there is no need for one, name him properly for his sins (lying, power mongering, stealing from the village for himself, the whole grooming thing, etc). When he tries to command the militia to do something, deny that they are his servants, but instead people under the watchful protection of the deep ones. Maybe have him try to counter accuse Isa as this being just a power grab backed by her foreign thugs trying to take his place, and Isa counter is she's not here to command anything, just remind people that the voices speak to them, each of them, not to the priest or Isa to hand down edicts and orders. A short, but tense standoff where it seems like nothing happens, but the congregation begins (start with a meaningful figure? Isa's father? Arren's teacher? idk. Do the whole trickle to flood imagery thing.) to take that leap of faith and find the deep ones speaking through them to the priest, saying everything they've been trying to tell him for years as he shut them out (abuse in his own past? Cycle of abuse maybe? I'm not sure if that'd make it more powerful or clutter the moment up. Also not sure what our writers have in their notes already about who he is), and he breaks down in defeat. Scene change to epilogue celebratory thing, and after a bit of that end on a prominent villager or two asking Isa what they are supposed to do/go from here/etc. Isa responds with something along the lines of "lets all sit down and talk about it together" to contrast the Priest's opaque authoritarian way of doing things. Fin.

    And all through the scene the deep ones seep through Isa more and more; not to overwhelm her like normal but instead to back her up, to just add their voice to her voice. To support her.

    Something in that general shape is how I'd structure it, but I have trust it'll be a great resolution no matter how much or how little of that ends up in the final product.

    Oh, it's hard to wait.
     
    *Reminds self that shooting the priest dead would not be productive*

    I've got no idea on what to say to him or the rest of the people. But I have one suggestion.

    [X] After the confrontation, Isa repays the thalers she stole when she fled (with interest if possible).
     
    God damn. Here we are. What I would want to do in this situation has already been said, but the thing that most gets me is just how fucking great the whispers are for Isa. Like, fuck, I want that. That is my two cents ATM, I have really enjoyed this story and thanks allot for writing it.
     
    Abby Normal said:
    Its been a while since i read the early updates, but aside from the abuse, one of Isa's reasons for leaving was having a deeper connection with the voices than the priest, right? Both in terms of "they helped her realize that he's abusive" and "it rather disproves any defense of him stemming from his religious position", i think? So would it be possible for Isa to basically...open herself up to the voices and let them rebuke him, and/or spark the voices others in the community have? Or am i getting the metaphysics completely wrong there?
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    I was thinking along similar lines.

    [X] Plan: Roar of the Deep
    -[X] Call up the Gods to support you.
    -[X] Denounce him for his crimes against the village, starting with the material (the stolen thalers) and moving to the spiritual (misleading them about their relationship with the gods).
    -[X] Offer him a chance to repent.
     
    [X] Plan: Roar of the Deep
    -[X] Call up the Gods to support you.
    -[X] Denounce him for his crimes against the village, starting with the material (the stolen thalers) and moving to the spiritual (misleading them about their relationship with the gods).
    -[X] Offer him a chance to repent.
     
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