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
    • Crasian01 said:
    "Dammit <Eldritch Noise of the Abyss>, what the hell did you drag me out here for?"

    "Look <Screaming of the Tortured Dead>, look! One of the children asked me to play with their new toy!"

    "What's it do?"

    "I have no idea!"

    "You're way too excited about this. Why don't you ask them about it?"

    "Oh, good idea."

    > A short conversation with Isa, Arren, and Wulf follows, whereupon the general principle of machine gun operation are described and the tactics explained. It is decided that a practice run is needed.

    "Okay <Eldritch Noise of the Abyss>, remember, you need to shoot only the seagulls. <Unholy Voices of the Burning Damned> will consume your mind if you harm an albatross."

    "Bah, you worry too much. I'll be fine. Look there's a big one!"

    "NO--"

    > There follows a very loud screaming match that leaves our two fisherfolk incapacitated and Wulf pressing her hands against her ears futilely as <Unholy Voices of the Burning Damned> attempts to metaphorically strangle <Eldritch Noise of the Abyss>.

    > This continues for several minutes.

    > Later requests by <Eldritch Noise of the Abyss> for a turn on the LMG are politely turned down.
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    Perhaps spirit guided missiles might be fun
     
    [X] Hire Her On

    Ok, so pilot, pilot, observer, soldier. She'll be very useful in ground engagements, I'm thinking, and a flight pair plus helicopter for ground attack/package retrieval. Seems like a good team for making supply runs under pressure to areas without airstrips- I bet we can find work like that most places. Question is, how much can Wulf carry?
     
    Glau said:
    [X] Hire Her On

    Ok, so pilot, pilot, observer, soldier. She'll be very useful in ground engagements, I'm thinking, and a flight pair plus helicopter for ground attack/package retrieval. Seems like a good team for making supply runs under pressure to areas without airstrips- I bet we can find work like that most places. Question is, how much can Wulf carry?
    Click to expand...
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    Note that she's actually also a pilot - just that her class is soldier, just like Isabelle's is Fisher - it says nothing about occupation, only background and basic skill set.
     
    Glau said:
    Question is, how much can Wulf carry?
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    Well, I believe her copter technically has room for a second occupant, so she can at least carry about a person's weight in stuff without reducing performance below design expectations. Not sure how much beyond that it can handle, but probably a decent amount, especially if we (and Wulf) are okay with slowing it down some.
     
    Wiadi said:
    Well, I believe her copter technically has room for a second occupant, so she can at least carry about a person's weight in stuff without reducing performance below design expectations. Not sure how much beyond that it can handle, but probably a decent amount, especially if we (and Wulf) are okay with slowing it down some.
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    Her top speed and our stall speed are already uncomfortanly close.
    By the way, can we upgrade Howl? Like, for example, installing some stubby wings, improving lift a bit and providing mounts for some weaponry?

    And is there a mechanic for rarity in the system, making top-of-the-food-chain heavily-modified planes harder to maintain?
    (Like, say, a an incompetent mechanic screws up timings while repairing the engine, losing you some horsepower. Or a greedy one taking out that shiny supercharger and installing a dud in it's place... )
     
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    veekie said:
    Perhaps spirit guided missiles might be fun
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    Yeah, not really your patron's speed.

    Find yourself a gremlin and tame it, and then maybe.

    Dwergar said:
    Her top speed and our stall speed are already uncomfortanly close.
    By the way, can we upgrade Howl? Like, for example, installing some stubby wings, improving lift a bit and providing mounts for some weaponry?

    And is there a mechanic for rarity in the system, making top-of-the-food-chain heavily-modified planes harder to maintain?
    (Like, say, a an incompetent mechanic screws up timings while repairing the engine, losing you some horsepower. Or a greedy one taking out that shiny supercharger and installing a dud in it's place... )
    Click to expand...
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    Not a system, just options I have for narrative consequences.
     
    5-21: Dib-dib-dib
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Hire Her On

    You pulled out your coinpurse and slide two thaler across the table. "Done. Welcome aboard!"

    She sighed in relief as she collected the coins. "This is wonderful! I hope you do not mind, I need to settle my tab, and then get some sleep! It has been a long week."

    "We understand." Arren said. You all nodded.

    She stood up, gave a little salute, and strode off, and all of you let out of a collective breath.

    "Oh my gods." You exclaimed, clenching your fists. "She's so pretty, it's not fair!"

    "She really is." Arren said. "Like, it's striking."

    "Dibs." Wulf said.

    "You can't call dibs on a person!" Arren exclaimed. "I mean... she might not even be into girls."

    "Dibs anyway." Wulf repeated.

    "Okay, radical idea," You said. "Especially coming from me. Let's steer the topic away from ogling our new hire and onto business."

    "Grooooossssss." Wulf said. Arren threw an eraser at you.

    "Seriously! We're down to..." You counted out your coins. "21 thaler, plus however much this is." You said, referring to the pile of multicoloured paper bills that Aldershof used internally. "That's almost half our pay already gone! We need a job."

    "We'll go looking first thing in the morning." Arren said. "It's not like we're going to be flying out in that." The rain and wind were beating against the window so hard you feared it would break.

    "Who are you thinking of going to?" Wulf asked. You shrugged.

    "I dunno, we'll ask around? There's always work somewhere like this, right?"

    "Yeah, but who you ask matters. Like, you go ask the merchants, they got deep pockets but its always a little dubious. I've turned down a few strikebreaking jobs in my time... and taken a few. You talk to the local government, they always have pests to go kill or some labour to be done, but they tend to be a lot stingier. Or we try to find some other pilots looking for work, usually because they're about to do something dangerous and stupid and need more bodies." She listed each one off on her fingers.

    "Okay then, we split up and ask around." Arren said, and Wulf shook her head.

    "No! You want the whole company showing up. That way you have a bunch of folks you can point at when you negotiate for more money." She explained. "Like, if you show up alone and ask for 10 thaler more, they'll laugh you out of the room. You show up with four other pilots, they start considering it."

    That made sense.

    "Okay, first thing in the morning, we go talk to... one of them. We'll figure it out. Who cares!" You laughed and pushed the papers away. "It's fine!"

    You spent a little while more listening to the music and talking, enjoying the company and listening to the rain outside, but eventually Wulf yawned and the fatigue hit you all at once.

    "I think we should go sleep." You said. "Actually, as our leader, I am ordering sleep. We want to show up bright and early to get that job."

    There were some grumbles as everyone finished their beer and you settled the tab, then you started walking towards the registration desk to get a room. You'd learned from overhearing another table talk that the rooms that Aldershof rented now, which were little more than closets with a bed shoved in them, were where the servants used to sleep back when this was a noble manor. There were hundreds of room.

    As you waited in line to check in, Wulf pulled your sleeve a little. "Hey, um... can I talk to you a moment?" She looked weirdly serious. You nodded, and handed Arren your coinpurse and told him to handle the rooms, then retreated with her around a corner.

    "What's wrong?" You said, and Wulf smiled.

    "Nothing's wrong, I just... didn't want to get all sappy and shit in front of Arren." Wulf said, smiling. "I just... these last few days have been awesome. I've really missed working with a proper crew. My old gang... well, we were splitting apart, settling down, we didn't do anything exciting anymore. I missed this."

    You took her hand and leaned in a little. "That's good! I'm really glad you're here too. It's good to have somebody who knows what they're doing."

    "Yeah, I agree, hiring Minna was a good choice." Wulf said. You connected the dots in your head, got the joke, and leaned against her laughing. "Seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing. I've just been winging it for six years."

    "Wait, six years?" That didn't quite add up. "Wulf, how old are you?" You said.

    "Twenty." She said with a shrug. Your mind reeled.

    "You started flying at 14? That's..." You put the timeline together in your head. Oh gods...

    "I mean, I was an observer or gunner or whatever for half of that, but yeah. I guess I've been lucky."'

    That was not the word you were going to use. You hugged her close.

    "Whoa, hey. You okay?" She said. You nodded against her, and just held her for a while, in a dark little nook in the hallway. You still weren't sure if she understood what had you upset, and you couldn't figure out how to articulate it.

    "Yeah." You muttered eventually, pulling yourself away. "I'm glad you're here, Wulf."

    "Me too." Wulf peered around the corner. "Hey, Arren's done at the desk. Uh... I guess I'll see you in the morning?" She said hestitantly.

    "I guess." You replied, holding onto her hands awkwardly. After a moment, she leaned in and kissed you, just briefly. "See you in the morning."

    Arren came around the corner, and some lingering impulse of shame caused you to drop her hands.

    "Okay guys, I got us a room." He said, holding up the keys, and you set out after him.

    "Wait... a room?" Wulf said. She hadn't moved yet.

    "Uh, yeah." Arren replied. Wait what?

    ---

    Where do you look for work in the morning?
    [ ] The Merchants
    [ ] The Aldershof Staff
    [ ] The Other Pilots​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Sleepy cuddles.

    [x] The Merchants

    The worst thing that can happen is you have to say no. Be polite about it, of course, but it's not like someone's going to attack you for not wanting to do their job.
     
    Minna is a cute and I love her.

    [x] The Merchants

    Maybe they'll have some escort work for us, boring, but it pays well. Hopefully we don't run into Checkmate out there.
     
    Lol. I am thinking either a merchant or other pilots. If we go with other pilots, we may want to be careful,if we get our job from Checkmate.

    [x] The Merchants
     
    nixter said:
    if we get our job from Checkmate.
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    So you know, modern corporations are doing an interesting thing where they watch for interesting start-ups, then pay them a lot of money to work as a subsidiary of that corporation. The arrangement is usually something like:

    "You work for us, we'll pay you this much per job, you handle these kinds of jobs that we don't have the crews to pull off, but the catch is that you change your paint scheme and branding so that people know you work for us. If anyone comes to you, you're allowed to take the job, but any jobs we send to you have priority."
     
    Crasian01 said:
    So you know, modern corporations are doing an interesting thing where they watch for interesting start-ups, then pay them a lot of money to work as a subsidiary of that corporation. The arrangement is usually something like:

    "You work for us, we'll pay you this much per job, you handle these kinds of jobs that we don't have the crews to pull off, but the catch is that you change your paint scheme and branding so that people know you work for us. If anyone comes to you, you're allowed to take the job, but any jobs we send to you have priority."
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    If you want to try to set something like that up, that could be interesting...
     
    It occurs to me that thaler would make a bit more sense as practical currency if the actual coins were worth, oh, 1/10 or 1/12 of a thaler in denomination.

    Because otherwise you spend a loooot of time making change to the point that when it comes to paying for a meal or something, the coins the change is made up of are the real granular units.

    EDIT 1:

    This is just a plot thing, not a gameplay mechanics thing.

    EDIT 2:

    Yeah, mercenaries subcontract all the time, in the kind of society that has lots of mercenaries.
     
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    Simon_Jester said:
    It occurs to me that thaler would make a bit more sense as practical currency if the actual coins were worth, oh, 1/10 or 1/12 of a thaler in denomination.

    Because otherwise you spend a loooot of time making change to the point that when it comes to paying for a meal or something, the coins the change is made up of are the real granular units.
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    This is exactly what happens. Everywhere the pilots go, they trade in a thaler or two (usually at shitty rates) for local "scrip", and then trade back in everything they didn't spend when they leave. This is why the small purchase system is randomized: it's a total headache keeping track of scrip and pilots generally don't give a shit.
     
    Dang, update and a vote call while I was sleeping.

    Rolling!

    Oops, ignore that third die. 4+10+3=17
    Karlito threw 3 10-faced dice. Reason: Get a jerb Total: 21
    4 4 10 10 7 7
     
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