Glass of Water Quest

[hello friend]

C

With these guys and the Golden Boy thing, that makes a full posse

 

[baud]

C. Uphold your word and do the job properly. But since you're heading east, might as well build your own team after the month is done. You could take a squad with you east to repair the obsidian stein, and maybe even Loxna will come along? (Cost: ???, heartbreak?)

I'm too honest

 

[hello friend]

The practice of and facility for lying is inextricably linked with large groups and the rise of cursed civilisation. We need no such things.

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

"breath"

You missed "mcuh" for "much" A narrowly wins over C with 4 votes versus 3. Activation of Golden Boy pending arrival at a populated location. Your left forearm is injured.

Grizgul is able to wander away and creep back into the tomb but it's a harsh climb given your aching arm. Maybe it's your fault for tossing him that pouch of snarlweed, but either way this'll be repayment for the dog man's recklessness, assuming you can find anything. Time to snoop around.

A trap! As you were sorting through some old shelves full of dusty bric-a-brac, a pillbugesque gargoyle opens in the ceiling and drops a rolling log right at you. Upon choosing any option, also roll 1d6 to avoid the log. Any effects on Grizgul will be noted in the next update. The DC = total votes x4.

You pick up 22 gold. Examining further, you move the shelf aside to reveal a tiny closet. Besides a few shattered vases, there is a weapons rack and some scrolls you can't read. The scrolls appear mundane, and most of the weapons are rusted beyond repair, but then you spot a shimmering light: a recurve bow that burns with an unnatural force. It hasn't been touched by rust, but the string has long disintegrated. No matter. It's not an axe, but with all the loot you've scavenged thus far you should be able to barter for something nice in the city, what with your sword and bow and blue gem, plus the month's pay.

INVENTORY:
x1 Broken beer stein of Burundy the Elder
x1 Unidentified magic bow (stringless)
x1 Unidentified but fancy-looking small sword
x1 Ratty hauberk
x1 Soiled worsted wool skirt
x1 Pot helmet
x1 Sling
x20 River stones for the sling
x7 Horse meat & blackberry pemmican rations
x1 Unidentified bluish gem
x102 Gold

THIRST GAUGE:
[------X---]

Master Elias's briefing is just about over but this isn't your first rodeo, how hard can it be to protect a bunch of eggheads while they dig around in the dirt? The month goes by mostly painlessly, and the food these college nerds brought along is top notch. They know how to camp, you'll give them that. Toward the end of the month reinforcements arrive and you are relieved of your duties. Payment of 175 gold received. Your left forearm has healed.

During the last night at camp Grizgul has a dream. Water. It surrounds you, cascading over your head in a great fall. What is the purpose to all of this? Why do you seek a glass of water? Scenes of Loxna's dishonor flash in the reflection of a neverending lake, and a terrible argument that generated salty water in both pair of eyes. Water. It calls you, it haunts you. Somewhere out there, the answers to your questions will be solved by the eternal waters...

Preparing to leave the next day, you tentatively ask Loxna what she's got planned with her newfound wealth.

"I reckon I'll get all gussied up and drink it away in Hamtropolis. Me and a band of four. Coming with?" she says.

A. Go to Hamptropolis with Loxna and the gang. This could be a bad idea for multiple reasons. Besides blowing away too much cash, this whole thing with Loxna is a bit too much. And you hate wearing civvies, but that's the deal when you want to walk around town without the guards up your ass. Maybe you could hang back on the booze and be the level head of the group. (Cost: 2 days, 2 rations, 2 thirst)

B. Avoid Loxna and travel to Frenzia alone. Forget the dream ever happened, forget everything and forge on in your quest to acquire the ultimate drinking vessel. A hydro-barbarian must roam alone. You have a good rep with the university now so help might come cheaper when identifying your new weapons and gemstone. (Cost: 3 days, 3 rations, 3 thirst)

C. The only way you know at the moment that might fix the beer stein of Burundy the Elder is eastward, and time is dehydration. You could try to liquidate (no pun intended) some of your stuff here at the camp if anybody wants to trade, then head to the coast to steal a Reaver sloop. Many of the tribe would love to get in on that action with you. (Cost: 3 days, 3 rations, 3 thirst)

NOTE: I am adding an additional thirst gauge at the end of each update because the way it works now can be confusing at a glance. Grizgul's thirst would seem to be near death, but since he replenished it shortly after the gauge appeared, he is currently at 0 thirst.

THIRST GAUGE:
[X---------]



A song of loss.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

B

 

[Nevill]

C. The only way you know at the moment that might fix the beer stein of Burundy the Elder is eastward, and time is dehydration. You could try to liquidate (no pun intended) some of your stuff here at the camp if anybody wants to trade, then head to the coast to steal a Reaver sloop. Many of the tribe would love to get in on that action with you. (Cost: 3 days, 3 rations, 3 thirst)

There is a way to manipulate the rolls if we see them before the vote is concluded. After getting a successful result peoiple can just stop voting to not bring up the DC further.

 

[baud]

C. The only way you know at the moment that might fix the beer stein of Burundy the Elder is eastward, and time is dehydration. You could try to liquidate (no pun intended) some of your stuff here at the camp if anybody wants to trade, then head to the coast to steal a Reaver sloop. Many of the tribe would love to get in on that action with you. (Cost: 3 days, 3 rations, 3 thirst)

There is a way to manipulate the rolls if we see them before the vote is concluded. After getting a successful result peoiple can just stop voting to not bring up the DC further.

True, but also people might still want to vote for their preferred option.

Also what would be the consequences of failing that roll, since the action continues one month after?

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

Also what would be the consequences of failing that roll, since the action continues one month after?

It would just be a simple injury that was assumed to be had during the month or the like and not healed yet. Which can affect later dice rolls if there are any, depending on the options chosen.

 

[hello friend]

C

 

[Azira]

B

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

C wins with 3 votes. Activation of Golden Boy still pending arrival at a populated location... lol.

Ouch! Grizgul failed to completely dodge the rolling log in Roly Poly tomb. You will now be fighting Reavers with a sprained ankle and receive -2 to combat rolls, which affects every roll by every voter.

Canvassing the camp for anybody sucker enough to take this old un-ID'd loot, Grizgul concocts a heroic story of dashing and daring wherein you rescued a maiden and yada yada. Old Veddumspeidl is at it again with the terrible money management and buys the ancient bow you found with no bowstring, plus the blue gem. 350 gold received, unidentified magic bow and bluish gem lost.

After some finagling you're able to secure a team.

Dramatis Personae:

• Orgdil, the Wretch - You never liked this guy but nobody can deny his soft skills. While nominally a member of the tribe, he grew up in Banishpoint with his mommy and learned the ways of the city dwellers. An underhanded character, but good to have when you need a letter read or that same letter stolen. He's not the worst with a dagger and while he's no wildling, he did hone his blade in the back alleys of one of the harshest towns in Greenmarsh.

• Cob - Big dumb Cob. Maybe that's unfair, because he did study with an elder before getting disowned for abusing the snarlweed one too many times. He says it gives his shamanic visions. At least the giant snarlbrain has enough to share with the whole team. While largely an unassuming brute with a club, Cob does have some celestial knowledge and can divine the stars to a lesser degree. He is also a capable intepreter of dreams.

• Miplastri, of Tilmach - Hesitant to bring a woman along at first, you realize you may have hit the jackpot: Miplastri was enslaved by corsairs off the coast of Sudacantis and worked as a sawyer for years. During this episode she became a jack-of-all-trades carpenter, and should be able to direct maintainance on any ship you can steal. You promise her first mate if you're able to nab a sloop. Smartass mouth but smarter with numbers, and it goes without saying that her slave days gave her a bit of vinegar in her tank in the form of boxing matches. Just don't try to hit on her. Rumor has it she was seen kissing a woman at camp.

• Su-bostoon - You're hurt, and this berry-gatherer might just know the remedy. An experience, a dangerous liason you might say. The comedy is that it's serious. Ok I'll stop. Su-bostoon is a manlet and looks like he's never touched iron in his life, good thing he actually completed his training as a shaman unlike Cob. He's no scrapper, but he should be able to patch you up and give context to Cob's visions. Su' does wield a machete, mostly for camping, and seems willing to tear off a few heads with it so you let him on-board.

INVENTORY:
x1 Broken beer stein of Burundy the Elder
x1 Unidentified but fancy-looking small sword
x1 Ratty hauberk
x1 Soiled worsted wool skirt
x1 Pot helmet
x1 Sling
x20 River stones for the sling
x4 Horse meat & blackberry pemmican rations
x452 Gold

THIRST GAUGE:
[--X-------]

Crew assembled, you travel east toward the coast and plan your attack angle. Su-bostoon splints your sprained ankle but without sorcery only time can heal it further. Orgdil is on lookout, and Miplastri has already put together an approach into the encampment just over the hill at shore. Cob will draw out some Reavers toward the hill, at which point Orgdil and 'Bostoon will ambush with bow and machete. Grizgul and Miplastri are on cleanup. There are a dozen Reavers at this one, but they look mangy and starved. Should be a cakewalk.

Before they know what hit them, Cob brains two dog men on the outskirts and Orgdil sends three more to Hades with arrows. Su-Bostoon actually manages to eviscerate a Reaver with his machete. Six left, three of them tied up by your compatriots. Suddenly you are surrounded and find yourself against three Reavers to one. These look more scared than battle-tested.

One of three starts to make a break for it. He's carrying a large pack and battle standard. Grizgul draws the fancy small sword. Roll your combat die. The DC = 2x the number of voters, -2 due to your sprained ankle.

A. Chase the fleeing Reaver. Catching him won't be a problem for your team, but who knows what's left inside the sloop. Any remaining Reavers might hightail it out of here or start shooting. (Cost: ???)

B. No Benny Hill antics today. Finish off the last two and get ready to set sail. You'll still need to clear the ship to be sure, and that Reaver could be leading you into an ambush of his own. Times like these require snap decisions. (Cost: ???)

C. Two against one injured barbarian. You don't care for those odds, even though these two pissants are about ready to give up the goat as well. You could make a feint and run to regroup, but who can say what social implications will result from the fallout? You may make an ahem, tactical retreat while the others kill the Reavers. I'm sure some story about how it was all part of the plan will suffice. (Cost: ???)

INVENTORY:
x1 Broken beer stein of Burundy the Elder
x1 Unidentified but fancy-looking small sword
x1 Ratty hauberk
x1 Soiled worsted wool skirt
x1 Pot helmet
x1 Sling
x20 River stones for the sling
x4 Horse meat & blackberry pemmican rations
x452 Gold

THIRST GAUGE:
[--X-------]

[/url]

A political map of somewhere with a few points of interest.

 

[baud]

B. No Benny Hill antics today. Finish off the last two and get ready to set sail. You'll still need to clear the ship to be sure, and that Reaver could be leading you into an ambush of his own. Times like these require snap decisions. (Cost: ???)

do we roll immediately?

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

B. No Benny Hill antics today. Finish off the last two and get ready to set sail. You'll still need to clear the ship to be sure, and that Reaver could be leading you into an ambush of his own. Times like these require snap decisions. (Cost: ???)

do we roll immediately?

Yes.

 

[baud]

B. No Benny Hill antics today. Finish off the last two and get ready to set sail. You'll still need to clear the ship to be sure, and that Reaver could be leading you into an ambush of his own. Times like these require snap decisions. (Cost: ???)

do we roll immediately?

Yes.

thanks. Done with my vote

 

[Ranselknulf]

A. All reavers must die.

 

[hello friend]

A

 

[ERYFKRAD]

A

 

[Azira]

I'm happy with the vote, and especially with those rolls, so I'm not messing it up.

 

[Nevill]

A. Chase the fleeing Reaver. Catching him won't be a problem for your team, but who knows what's left inside the sloop. Any remaining Reavers might hightail it out of here or start shooting. (Cost: ???)

No battle standard to rally around for you scum. Run, RUN from mighty Grizgul with a sprained ankle!!
(inb4 rolling a 1)

 

[vazha]

well, A. Who knows what that standard might come handy for

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

well, A. Who know what that standard might come handy for

Gotta roll for combat on this one.

 

[vazha]

Dammit, a pathetic 2.

 

[hello friend]

Damn slavs ruining our average

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

A is chosen with 5 votes. Despite having a sprained ankle and receiving -2 on each roll, Grizgul still passes the DC of 12 with a total of 14. Activation of Golden Boy pending etc.

The standard bearer isn't too quick with that heavy pack and Grizgul puts him down with a sling bullet to the noggin. You root through the corpse and discover 54 gold, 7 days rations, a waterskin (pfffff), a mess kit, a rusty cutlass, and 50lbs of glass beads. Your mates take their share of the loot from the other corpses. Why beads? These Reavers like to attack merchant ships and sell their cargo inland. Some poor trader is probably blowing bubbles in Davy Jones's locker right about now. Thankfully the brute Cob offers to handle the heavy pack of beads, so you salvage everything else and give him the pack. Too bad the beads are tiny and shaped wrong to drink from. Without a glassblower and shop you are out of luck.

And why the battle standard? Who are the Reavers going to conventional war against? This is troubling, as traditionally they only bother with such accoutrements when shit is about to get very real, such as the Battle of Fort Doggerel where they were hired in the hundreds by King Hafdar to seige an Alfalfian arsenal. You'll keep this in mind and ask for any rumors of a declaration of war. At least plenty of cities throughout the world pay a nice bounty for Reaver battle standards.

INVENTORY:
x1 Broken beer stein of Burundy the Elder
x1 Unidentified but fancy-looking small sword
x1 Rusty cutlass
x1 Ratty hauberk
x1 Soiled worsted wool skirt
x1 Pot helmet
x1 Sling
x19 River stones for the sling
x11 Rations
x1 Cheap mess kit
x1 Waterskin (useless)
x1 Reaver battle standard
x504 Gold

THIRST GAUGE:
[--X-------]

Your party boards the sloop and clears the deck for any survivors. You don't find anything much beyond a few tons of beads in barrels. Seems like nothing at first, but Orgdil holds his finger to his lips, then you hear it. Muffled screaming from somewhere down below.

"I'll check the hold." says Miplastri.

A few moments later she returns with a squat man of about fifty or so. His bloated face shows the ravages of late stage alcoholism, its purple hue exaggerated by the fact that his hands are bound and he's trying to yell through a dirty scarf stuffed into his gob. Miplastri jerks the scarf out.

"Help! Release me at once! Unhand me you filthy brigands! You'll all hang for this once Lord Aveshund gets wind of your little stunt, I'm warning you! Oh you have no idea the devil of a time you're in for!" he yells.

"Shut it you old dipsomaniac. Might be we're the rescue team. Who are you?" says Orgdil.

"Rescuers?! Oh thank heavens! My name Delanius Knickerbocker, commodore of the Stalson & Sons commercial fleet out of Rio de Sopa. Sadly my ships, including flagship SS Hernandez, and all of their crew are currently inhabiting the bottom of the Shatlantic Ocean."

"Why did the Reavers kidnap you?" says Grizgul.

"Oh it's awful! They butchered my men, stole our cargo, and were going to ransom me off to company representatives in Frenzia. Now please undo these restraints, I can't feel my hands."

You are now the proud captain of your very own Reaver sloop. With some redecoration, Miplastri should be able to make it look like a civilian vessel. You could sail east, but there's a problem: with no glass source of water you are dependent on Roly Poly Hill, and there's no way you could make it across the turbulent and unpredictable ocean on a single drink. For now you'll have to stick to the coasts, find inferior sources of glass, and slowly make your way eastward to repair the ultimate drinking cup. Let's set sail, captain!

NOTE: From now on, at the bottom of each update (posting it at the top/middle is causing weird formatting issues idk) I will include a world map with spoiler tags to give you an idea of your surroundings and help decide where to go. Grizgul and co. are currently on the coast not too far south of Frenzia.

A. Frenzia eh? You could take him back to his company offices, or you could take him back to his company offices with black eyes and demand the ransom. You're thinking option #2. Of course, that'll give you a bad reputation in Frenzia if word gets out, but who cares. Those university squares can shove it, a man's gotta eat. (Cost: 1 day, 1 ration, 1 thirst)

B. No, you'll just return him proper-like and demand a reward. Stalson & Sons is a famous international trading outfit and their coffers runneth over. That said, they are crafty dealers and will almost certainly try to give you less than a ransom. But your lack of criminal record in Frenzia will remain intact. (Cost: 1 day, 1 ration, 1 thirst)

C. Yohoho, a pirate's life for me! The rest of your crew are itching for action more stimulating than a few mangy mutts, and Orgdil knows a guy who knows a guy who could set you up with the fiends who run Deadhead. This notorious port in the Grim Wastes is a known pirate stronghhold, and from your HQ there you might be able to find an alternate method of repairing the glass due to the heavy draconese prescence in the city. Might as well make Knickerbocker walk the plank while you're at it. (Cost: 4 days, 4 rations, 4 thirst)

D. Sail north to Kolodny in Nral. Knickerbocker will just have to remain your prisoner for now. That'll get you closer to your goal in the Kingdom of the Dragon, and it's not too far away if you need to sail back for some drinking, assuming you fail to find any glass in the frozen lands of the Nralites. It's a funny feeling, you know. Going this far away from Greenmarsh. You've only left the continent twice, and it wasn't that far away. Somehow the idea of starting your journey north fills you with a sense of optimism. (Cost: 2 days, 2 rations, 2 thirst)

INVENTORY:
x1 Broken beer stein of Burundy the Elder
x1 Unidentified but fancy-looking small sword
x1 Rusty cutlass
x1 Ratty hauberk
x1 Soiled worsted wool skirt
x1 Pot helmet
x1 Sling
x19 River stones for the sling
x11 Rations
x1 Cheap mess kit
x1 Waterskin (useless)
x1 Reaver battle standard
x504 Gold

THIRST GAUGE:
[--X-------]

World Map:

Spoiler

Battle standard of the cynocephalitic Reavers.

 

[Nevill]

Hmmm. University and free ID scrolls, or a pirate's life.

Damn slavs ruining our average

...sold.

D. Sail north to Kolodny in Nral.

Slavs to the rescue. This won't be your average barbarian adventure.