[Game Thread] Book 2 Chapter 1: A New Dusk

[Unforgiven]

John John pipes up immediately when asked to see the subjects, his lopsided smile growing as his eyes jerk in two directions; "Oooo yes, I would love to examine the not cadavers. Will full dissections be allowed, or are they too valuable to try to pry secrets from their bodies? And do they have shinys? I do love shiny baubles!" With that he begins rubbing his hands together and twitching with excitement.

[jj_wolven]

Quarantine, Kalbee, Central US - Wednesday afternoon

Louis nearly shouts, his voice cracking, "NO! Why do you always ask..."

He is quieted as Etheran puts a hand on his shoulder, "No, John. You cannot dissect living creatures. First, they are alive. Second, well, it's unlikely you would be able to." he sighs with a slight frown, "One of the obstacles has been the...creatures that are with them. At first, we couldn't even touch their bags. At least now we can do some things without risking ourselves. They have also stopped every attempt to remove them. Best to be satisfied with looking through their things."

[ricktur63]

With the offer of horses and gear that was one thing Joya could mark off of her list of things to do. She started to make a list of items that the group would need for the trip. She scratched them down on a slip of paper while the others spoke of dissections. She had to hold back a small giggle as her father scolded John about wanting to cut into living persons. She knew this was not the place for such frivolity and she held herself in a professional manner as best she could. "Here is a short list of gear we could use for the trip. Whatever you can provide will be appreciated."

 

List of gear Wagon and harnesses Horses and tack Bits and bridles Foodstuffs for people and animals Water barrells Cooking gear Picks, shovels, axes, tools Bedrolls and tents Trade goods for a long journey

[Caveman]

Tam nods, and then raises a single eyebrow at the strange request, and consequent outburst.
"Aye, we should have a check over of the folk we're takin' over from alright, and their machines too. As for gear, sounds like the barmaid's got the shoppin' list in order, so I'll go with that - unless y'all've got any spare books o' spells hangin' around - we'll need all the magic we can get on the way. And, yeah, appreciate all the gear and help, sure."

[Makenshi]

All this talk of another city doesn't really interest Alsei, let alone the trading opportunities, and she makes no attempt to even pretend it does. So long as they're heading east, that's all that mattered. She took a quick look at Joya's list of supplies. "I can i.e. create water spelldraw water from the surroundings, so we needn't weigh ourselves down with too much water. Otherwise, unless you can spare some extra bolts or other ammo we may need, I can't think of anything else that Joya hasn't covered. You needn't worry about a tent for me though, as I have my own." She pats her pack, which hardly looks large enough to contain a tent.

The mention of creatures with the strange men immediately piques her interest however, especially given the direction that they came from. "What do you mean 'creatures with them'? Something from the forest?"

~MTWC

[jj_wolven]

Quarantine, Kalbee, Central US - Wednesday afternoon

Louis takes the list from Joya and glances at it before passing it to an older human woman. She looks it over and nods, "Simple enough. There'll be a wagon to carry it all as well. We will arrange it and have it ready before you leave."

Etheran cuts in as soon as she finishes speaks, "Ah, the creatures. I forget that you are further out and don't come to the city often. They are," he pauses for frame his words, "One is a badger, though likely a familiar or companion or some other enchanted creature. While only slightly on the larger side for one of his's breed, he appears much stronger and is definitely more intelligent.

"The other...seems to be more of something that you would work on." he says as he looks over at John, "But far beyond. It appears to be a mechanical canine, but intelligent independent of a master. It appears to actually be sentient and can react to different approaches even with his master unconscious."

He glances around at the party, "You will see them when we get into the room, but I recommend not touching them and being careful around the two men."

He stands up, surprising you as his height is over seven feet, and leads further back toward the bedrooms. He opens the door to what most of you know is the smaller but less crowded bedroom. As he open the door, you see the familiar layout that is in all of the quarantine houses used when someone returns from a trek into the Wild except the beds are moved. Both beds in the room have been pushed up against the wall furthest from the door. In each bed is a man covered in a white sheet; one is an older human man with unruly white hair, the other holds a man with brown hair though the lower half of his face is covered by a separate cloth. On each side of the room is a table covered in various travelling gear and other items, with a pack sitting underneath each.

Standing like a statue at the end nearer the older man is a canine shaped creation. The general shape and the head of the creature are definitively canine, but the body is made of what must be thousands of small gears, pistons, tubes, and wires. It nature is given away as it's head shifts slightly to focus on the group coming in.
The canine seems to be the only creature in the room until your eye catch a reflection that draws your eyes. At that point you can see the reflection in a pair of eyes with a white line drawn vertically between them. After a moment, the creature slowly crawls out from under the bed. His eyes seem to remain focused on you as his vertically white and black striped head come into view. The rest of the badger comes from under the bed, a thick body at least a meter in length and cover in stiff looking brown bristles of hair.

He stops, swings his head seeming to glance at the metal canine, then focuses on the newcomers and becomes still.

[ricktur63]

With an air of caution, Joya could hardly wait to get into the room holding the two bodies. She was careful not to agitate the two guardians of the bodies as she entered the room, but enter she did. Slowly she made her way into room and seeing the bodies encased as they were she made her way over to the gear on the table. Joya did her best to

Dice Perception check:

1d20+10

(19)+10

Total = 29

search through the gear for any extra knowledge she might be able to garner. Not that she wasn't sure the best people had already done so but she was simply just a stickler for details.

[jj_wolven]

Quarantine, Kalbee, Central US - Wednesday afternoon

The group takes their time looking through the equipment on the tables. The mechanical canine never shifts it's head more than a half inch, but you always feel it is watching. The badger moves around quite a bit, but never roams far from the bed. He repeatedly sniffs in the direction of the new people in the room, then back to the table, then to the bed, then is silent and still for several minutes before suddenly shuffling around again.

The table on the same side as the man with the covered face contains the most things. A momentary glance shows why as the older man's backpack has most of the bottom torn off. Most of the equipment is standard traveler fare, though there are a few that stand out. A composite bow and bastard sword lean against the wall, though Joya can tell from a quick glance that both are of exceptional quality and design. She also notices that the three quivers of arrows beside the bow seem to have different designs on the fletching. On the table lies a number of potion vials containing three different colors of liquids, with two scrolls sitting beside them. A nicely carved pipe sits beside a pouch of what is likely to be tobacco. Finally, on a small piece of cloth is what appears to appears to be a moonstone suspended in a glass ball slightly larger than a marble, and a small metal raven setting attached.

On the other table there are significantly less things, thanks to the torn pack. John immediately recognizes an extensive mechanics toolkit among the items. Additionally, there are a number of spare parts that look like little more than junk to anyone else. Finally, there are two leatherbound books.

[Jeffkevlar]

Chester leans against the wall away from the folk on the tables and thier belongings. He doesn’t know what is going on with them but does not want to get too close. He eases one of his pistols in its holster and feels a bit more confident. The sooner they get moving the better.

He leans towards Sparkles and speaks softly.

"Lets keep talk about glows to ourselves for now. Jon’s a good fella’ but I don’t know them others from Adam. Once we know we can trust them we can talk about the glow."

[Unforgiven]

John John looks over the stuff carefully, sifting through random stuff while getting periodically distracted by the shiny metal dog that he very much wishes to disassemble and examine. He proceeds to look over the mechanics kit and decides it is a very adequate set of tools, though not as good as his people's clockwork artisans in kansas city. After thuroughly looking them over, he shrugs before commenting, "These are good tools customer-council human. This one is like me, a machine crafter. I am prepared to head out when you are all ready! Are we taking these shinies with us?"

[jj_wolven]

Quarantine, Kalbee, Central US - Wednesday afternoon

The tall elf raises a graceful eyebrow while Louis snorts, "Nope. Some maybe if you have a good reason."
He waves a hand at the older man's table, "Most of that is irrelevant, though the toolkit is more extensive than most. If you want either of the books, though, you will need a damn good reason."

Etheran, who had moved to the table of the man with half his face covered, took over from there, "A few of these things we will be sending with you. We suspect they may have been granted to this party with the mission in mind." he places a finger by the vials, "We suspect these are little more than they seem, though we haven't identified them yet."
He continues to the scrolls, "These seem to be basic scrolls, but seem far too weak to send into the Wild. We will be keeping them to see if there is anything more hidden in them." he waves a hand at the quivers, "These are just normal arrows or silvered arrows, you can take them if you wish."
Joya finds that comment odd, as she has picked out four of five of the fletchings that are clearly different.

"These," he says, pointing to the bow and sword, "Will be kept to help resupply the guards for what has been lost on some of the caravans." he pauses for a breath as he places one hand in front of the pipe and one in front of the moonstone, "We suspect these may be related to the quest. When we first inspected them, our presumptions were nearly opposite. We thought this was a simple pipe for pleasure, but we found traces of magic on both the pipe and the tobacco. The tobacco has an aura similar to potions, so we suspect that it is triggered on use as potions are. We have not seen this used as a medium for spells before, so it is a bit more difficult to analyze." he taps in front of the gem, "This, we thought would be magical but the gem itself isn't. The raven setting seems to have a relatively powerful, but very specific aura of conjuration and divination. We suspect the pipe and gem were given as part of their quest so you will take them."

He holds up the book you saw in the sitting room, a thinner hide bound book, "We will be keeping the device he speaks of in his book here for further study and to keep it safe, but we will send a copy of the journal with you. It speculates on their mission in random places, so it may be of help...though it is rather chaotically organized."

Off to the side, away from the others and nearly in the hallway, Sprinkles nose twitches before responding to Chester with a shrug, "I tries. Not really good at, but I tries."

[Caveman]

Tam waited until the councilman had finished speaking before stepping forward. With a low cough he muttered under his breath and let the auras of the magic around him settle into patterns before his eyes. Taking his time he examined the object arrayed before him, analyzing each as he picked them up and handled them. Being the man he was, his attention went first to the tobacco and the pipe, and his enhanced sight picked out the magics that swirled and pulsed from each. Next he examined the potions and scrolls, attempting to make sense of the magical aura to try and divine their purpose. Next the scrolls - sometimes even without reading them he could tell what they were. Finally he examined the raven and its jewel - given that the council had not identified them he had no expectation that he would be of help - but he'd cast his spell now so there was little harm in trying. After examining the items he picked up the books - Tam had always loved the magic of writing, and he'd spent much of his time in hiding making his way through the books he has "acquired" along the way. The man said they'd need a good reason into take them - so he looked for one in their pages. The mechanical objects he ignored other than to check them for magical signatures, but he finally crouched in front of the badger, making eye contact with the animal and ushering Scar forward to sniff it out. He wasn't about to take any risks, but his detection magic might give some clues as to what the creature was and if there was anything unusual about it. In the same vein, he took a look from a distance over the bodies, looking for magical auras or anything of importance.


OOC: Cast detect magic and try to identify items (see below)
Take 20 perception to spot anything odd not already seen = 25
Take 10 linguistics if necessary for books = 18
Read magic not prepared...

 

Tobacco pouch

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(15)+11

Total = 26

Pipe

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(20)+11

Total = 31

Potion 1

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(8)+11

Total = 19

Potion 2

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(9)+11

Total = 20

Potion 3

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(1)+11

Total = 12

Scroll

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(4)+11

Total = 15

Scroll

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(2)+11

Total = 13

Raven/moonstone

Dice Spellcraft:

1d20+11

(20)+11

Total = 31

[ricktur63]

The feline woman was silent about her discovery of the odd arrows. She was satisfied that the wagon would be supplied with as many items as they could possibly need and a bit extra for trade somewhere down the road. They would need to salvage as much as they could along the road to keep enough items to trade for goods and services during their journey. She kept silent about her extra spellbook as well. She might loan it to Tam at some point for him to copy but she would keep it to trade at some point.

[jj_wolven]

Quarantine, Kalbee, Central US - Wednesday afternoon

The yellow and the orange liquid are non-magical, but the green one is easily identifiable after a moment as it is a common cure light wounds potion.
The tobacco seems to have two distinct aura; one is a conjuration that looks like obscuring mist, the other is a vaguely familiar divination aura. You can't place it with any spell that you know, but you are relatively certain it is an effect relating to memory. The pipe definitely has a magical aura, several in fact, but you are unable to distinguish any details. Tam notices something odd about it and focuses in and is able to figure out that magic aura has been placed on the pipe as one of the spells.
The scroll appear to be little more than low level spells, though Tam can figure out what is on them.
When he looks at the raven-set stone, it is very clear that they were not originally a single item. The gemstone is completely non-magical, but raven setting has a strong glow of divination, abjuration, and teleportation magic.

Once he finishes studying, he catches Etheran staring at him with one eyebrow raised, "You could have just asked..."
He shakes his head slightly, then turns to Joya, "Aside from the journal and the moonstone, what else would you like to take from these?"

[Unforgiven]

John John continues tinkering with things and points to the tools in response to the councilman; "I... would like tools? Extra tools are always good, extra tinkering and we can barter them if needed. Don't want my steam engine to stop, no, very bad indeed. Anything else you don't want is good as well, for trading if nothing else." John looks to his clockwork bird who nods his approval and whispers in his ear about the tool qualities and how he thinks the dog machine works.