In Progress Torment on the Shards, Part 36 - Planescape-inspired CYOA

[Grimgravy]

4)Rover, 5) Tracker
b) Dexterous, d) intelligent
Ca) Fidget's kit, F)parchment/armor

 

[Nevill]

4) Rover 6) Scout

b) Snuck onto a City-owned voidship
d) Banished a mad wizard

B) Technological marvel, a crackgun
F) Strange parchment

 

[a bear named spigot]

rover + tracker
snuck + survived
supplies (explorer's kit) + strange parchment

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

Will participate. Missed this earlier because of IRL. Thanks for the tag! Reading from the beginning starting NOW.
EDIT: It's on! See below.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

This will be
Here We Go:

4) Rover, 5) Tracker
c), Survived poisoning, b) Snuck onto Voidship
D), Stardust F), Parchment

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

3, 6
a, c
B, C(a)

 

[Lithium Flower]

Thanks for participating everyone. Going to bed now, will update after I wake up. Current tally is:

ABILITIES
1) Daring - 1 vote
2) Direction - 2 votes
3) Hunter - 1 vote
4) Rover - 7 votes
5) Tracker - 4 votes
6) Scout - 3 votes

ATTRIBUTES
a) Stronger - 1 vote
b) Faster - 7 votes
c) Harder - 6 votes
d) Better Smarter - 4 votes

TRIBUTES/CONTACTS
Ab) Sword+Longbow/Furnace - 1 vote
B) Crackgun/Lord Steel - 2 vote
Ca) Rations+Explorer's kit/Swift bros - 3 vote
Cb) Rations+Fidget's kit/Swift bros - 1 vote
D) Silvercase of Stardust/Knows - 3 votes
F) Gambeson/it is a mystery - 7 votes

^Interesting dilemma there. Food and supplies or the drugs? Hmm....

Nevill - didn't expect you to shill this in the Site Feedback forum of all places. That was p. adorable

 

[Lithium Flower]

The tie allows me to introduce a new mechanic - the Die of Fate™®.
To resolve a matter of chance or determine something outside of the character's control, the Die of Fate™® may be rolled. It is a single d6 and in this case I will say that on a 1-3 Ca wins and on a 4-6 D wins.

Die of Fate roll

Rolling a 1d6...
Result: 5!

The drugs, then. Let's continue...

Part 4 - Tortured Metal

Seamstress' shanty stands apart from other buildings, on the very tip of the old dock. A few meters behind it is a stump of twisted metal that was once a pier, the rest having fallen away into the Void. You shudder at the fact that the only thing between you and a long fall is a dock floor of rotten wood and rusted metal. Why in Demiurge's name would anyone live here?

“Probably the cheapest place a whore could get,” your guide offers.

You carefully approach the hovel, hammerite in hand, examining the front of the building. It is mostly made up of scrap and something resembling a voidship rudder, though rust has turned it into a twisted canvas of black, blue, and red. There are many holes in the structure, the larger ones covered up with planks of wood and filthy cloths. Built into the front of the shanty is a shabby-looking door, curiously locked with a shiny new padlock. You point towards it and look at your guide expectedly.

“It was the botherers that locked her place up. Lord-Inquisitor somesuch who was with them ordered it, or so I've heard. L-look, I've shown you the way and haven't tricked you or nothing. Can I go now?”

What do you do with the young pimp?

A) Apologize for suspecting foul play and let him go.
B) Let him know that if he tells anyone a peep about you, you will kill him and everyone he cares about. Slowly.
C) This kid withheld information from you, demanded to know who you are, and has been a general nuisance. You reckon that pain is the best teacher. Hurt him bad.
D) He knows too much. Give him a practical lesson in flying.
E) Do something else, please specify what

The wind picks up, causing you to pop your collar to hide your tender flesh from its chill. The gambeson is warm and tight around your skinny herald body, guarding you against the cold gust, yet you feel a profound discomfort. There is a sucking feeling in your chest, like the kind you get when you are about to step through a portal. Yet this is no portal. Any experienced shardwalker or a seeker worth their salt can trace their steps back, find a way out through sheer force of will...

This, however, is different. You can run but you can never hide from Truth. Nor the Officials.

An execution. Strange noises. A Lord-Inquisitor, likely from Censors College. Lock but no guards. All of these could be unfortunate coincidences or components of a trap. You finally take the letter out of your pocket and unfold it gingerly, afraid that it will compel you to investigate further. You swallow your fears and read it for the second time:

“Strider,

I am sick and it is not the kind of sickness that a healer can treat. I am going to die tonight. The pain is wrecking my memory. I am dying in a private room of an inn and I cannot even recall its name. Still I cannot forget you. Neither can I forget the secrets – those terrible things – that I've learned.

I understand you might still resent me for leaving a year ago. If so, throw away this letter. You will be safer for it. If you choose not to, then fulfill my final wish and take something of mine into safekeeping. If not for me then to right our mutual wrong.

There is a small slum in the Voidship Yards, built on a disused dock. Seek the Seamstress there. She let me keep it in her home.

Regards,
Whisper”

You carefully fold up the letter and consider your next move. For a second you think you hear a muffled noise coming from the hovel but the wind rattles the tortured metal around you, drowning it out.

What do you do?

a) Enough hesitation! There might be a looter inside, about to disappear with Whisper's belongings. Or the Inquisitor might come back, Temple Guard in tow – they could have locked the hovel because they wanted to investigate it later, after all. Kick the door in, do what you have to do, and get out before it's too late!
b) There are plenty of holes in this structure – there must be some on the roof. One that no one cared to – or weren't able to – cover up. Try to climb up on top of the shanty (trying not to cut yourself), and see if perhaps there is a hole large enough to drop into, or serve as a vantage point to get a better look at the situation.
c) Carefully examine the hovel's exterior and surroundings for tracks, holes, and clues. This will take some time but if you succeed you will have a better understanding of the situation and might find an alternate way in.
d) Throw the letter into the Void and go find a real job. It might be against your tenets to abandon a pursuit of knowledge but this is clearly the safest and most pragmatic approach. Besides, Whisper is mostly likely dead and therefore unable to pay you for this favour.
e) Do something else, please specify

Should there be combat, how do you plan to handle it?

1) Close distance as quickly as possibly, attacking with both of your weapons
2) Hurl a throwing knife at your foe, then finish them off with your dagger
3) Stay back, throwing your knives at your target until you have none left, then defend yourself with your dagger
4) Run away!
5) Too early to tell – first you will see what you are up against, if anything. Then and only then will you decide

Notes

-finalized character sheet
-added Knows to your Contacts in the Journal
-added the descriptions of the Facade Ghetto, Termitarium, and Gambit Badlands to the Journal

Something important: If you wish to trigger a belief move, pull an item out of one of your kits, or do some additional action, just add that onto the option you choose or mention it in your write-in.

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

D -- Let the bastard fly
b -- Climb the structure
5 -- Be circumspect

 

[Nevill]

B) Let him know that if he tells anyone a peep about you, you will kill him and everyone he cares about. Slowly.
c) Carefully examine the hovel's exterior and surroundings for tracks, holes, and clues. This will take some time but if you succeed you will have a better understanding of the situation and might find an alternate way in.

Tracker should help with this. Do we have any idea about the source of 'weird noises'?

5) Too early to tell – first you will see what you are up against, if anything. Then and only then will you decide

One thing at a time. If we don't know anyone is there in the first place, why would we choose how to fight it now?

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

D) He's gotta go...
Use Rover skill if applicable to cover up tracks of a struggle.

c) Carefully examine the hovel's exterior and surroundings for tracks, holes, and clues. This will take some time but if you succeed you will have a better understanding of the situation and might find an alternate way in.
Tracker and Rover could both help with this, no?

5) But take any necessary precautions with respect to any information gained in previous step.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Tracker should help with this. Do we have any idea about the source of 'weird noises'?

The kid told you that the locals heard the noises coming from Seamstress' shanty. You thought you heard something too, but the noise was quickly drowned out by the wind and the rattling. c) implies you are spending time actively listening/watching out for anything funny, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to locate the source via other courses of action...or stumble right into it.

D) He's gotta go...

Tracker and Rover could both help with this, no?

Tracker will definitely help you if you come across some tracks. Your investigation will go by quicker than if you didn't have the ability, and you are guaranteed to learn something about who left the tracks or where they might lead. Rover will be useful if you want to cover up said tracks for whatever reason.

 

[Azira]

B
c
5

 

[hello friend]

E) Apologize for suspecting foul play, and let him know that if he tells anyone a peep about you, you will kill him and everyone he cares about. Slowly.

Also, are belief moves a limited resource? Because if not, this would be a good opportunity to look into the hammerite's eyes and use this: *Sense the intent of someone you have eye contact with

b) Climb up, look for a way in.

5) Wait and see.

 

[Nevill]

Also, are belief moves a limited resource? Because if not, this would be a good opportunity to look into the hammerite's eyes and use this: *Sense the intent of someone you have eye contact with

The danger of leaving the kid be is probably not his intent. It's that he knows we are interested in Seamstress and have been to her house. Which is sealed, by a Lord-Inquisitor no less.

I understand you might still resent me for leaving a year ago. If so, throw away this letter. You will be safer for it.

And there is something we know is dangerous in there.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Also, are belief moves a limited resource? Because if not, this would be a good opportunity to look into the hammerite's eyes and use this: *Sense the intent of someone you have eye contact with

I was going to elaborate more on belief later but what the hell, I will do it now.

Fucking belief moves how do they work?

Belief Moves
Make a list of your Belief and Faction moves. You start with 2-Belief (min 1, max 3). You may trigger your belief moves an amount of time equal to your belief between rests. When you go out of your way to act in accordance with the tenets of your faction, add 1 to your Belief. When you act against the tenets of your faction, remove 1 Belief. When you trigger a move, there is no roll involved; it just happens. The more belief you have, the more is expected of you:

At 1-Belief, you are unprincipled, or only pay lip-service to your tenets.
Your Belief increases when you go out of your mission's, your party's, or your own way to follow your faction's tenets.

At 2-Belief, you are principled and follow your belief, but tend not to go to the extremes.
Your Belief increases when you pursue the tenets of your faction at a personal cost, or at the party's cost, or against your mission's interest.
Your Belief decreases if you take an active action that goes directly against your faction's tenets.

At 3-Belief, you are a true believer, extremely devoted to the principles and tenets of your faction.
Your Belief decreases if you don't go out of your mission's, your party's, or your own way to follow your faction's tenets.

TL;DR Your belief resets to its value between rests. Its value depends on how well you follow your faction's tenets. Say you are a faithful Seeker that has 3-Belief. You do 2 belief moves, you are now at 1/3-Belief. After resting you are back to 3-Belief.

Regarding the kid specifically, I actually did this for you in the narrative of part 3 to reflect on you having chosen the herald.

You look at the bug-eyed pimp and consider his expression, tone of voice, the look in his eyes...
You don't get the sense that he intends to harm you, but then again, he might just be doing his part in an elaborate plan. Besides, this is a very dangerous neighborhood - especially for a herald.

Also, what Nevill said. Good thinking, though! I will add the belief moves explanation to the mechanics section.

 

[hello friend]

Also, are belief moves a limited resource? Because if not, this would be a good opportunity to look into the hammerite's eyes and use this: *Sense the intent of someone you have eye contact with

The danger of leaving the kid be is probably not his intent. It's that he knows we are interested in Seamstress and have been to her house. Which is sealed, by a Lord-Inquisitor no less.

Seeing something curious such as this might induce a hustlin' hammerite to shop around for a potential buyer of information.

 

[Lithium Flower]

I think I am going to shift the time I update towards the evening of my timezone as opposed to the morning. It will be easier to update daily in the long run that way. Expect the voting to close in ~9 hours and the update some time after (hopefully nobody who was going to vote ends up missing the deadline).

 

[Kz3r0]

A) Apologize for suspecting foul play and let him go.

c) Carefully examine the hovel

5) Too early to tell

 

[oscar]

E
C
5

Also recommend using the sense emotions power. If we sense deceit whack him.

Tracking makes sense considering our skills and the fact we don't want to fight off any intruders.

Considering we aren't a mage I'm also pretty keen to dispose of that illegal stardust fairly quickly either as a bribe or sold to purchase more useful equipment.

 

[Grimgravy]

DC2

 

[Lithium Flower]

Narrow win for intimidation. Overwhelming victory for investigation and to consider your fighting style later.

---

Part 5 - Her Blaspheming Hands

The old dock creaks beneath you. It trembles and moans at your every step. Still you pace around the front of the hovel, pondering its secrets, having grown used to – not comfortable – with the idea of plummeting to the Void.

The wind whistles through the hovel's many holes. You try to listen past it, pressing your ear close to one of the holes partially stuffed with rolls of bug-eaten cloth. For a second you think you can hear the low moans of your old friend, dying in some whore's bed, her blaspheming hands caressing his spherical body, the fingers pulling back his sheath...

You jerk your head back, stomping away angrily. Whisper wouldn't... you are letting yourself become too preoccupied with something that little shit said.

Rolling...

...2d6+Charisma.
Result: 9; Partial Success!

It was after hearing about everything that you would do to him if he gave you cause to come back that the pimp meekly nodded and stumbled away. Before he was out of sight, however, he turned around and said, “I hope you get taken away by the Guard for fucking some old eyes just like that bitch did, suicide.”

Enough of that. No more listening or dangerous thoughts. Instead you turn to that which you are best at – tracks. You squat down and turn your eyes to the floor.

Rolling...

...2d6+Wisdom.
Result: 11; Success!

No one besides you would have been able to see tracks on this kind of floor. Tiny surface scratches, left by something like underdeveloped claws. Judging by the grouping and the size of these tracks, the beast that left them must be relatively small, maybe up to your knees in height. You follow the nearly imperceptible trail of scratches for a dozen or so meters until you see something that makes you stop dead in your tracks: little specks of red, barely distinguishable from rust, stain the dock along the trail. Droplets of blood; the beast has killed.

After being satisfied that the trail appears to originate from the shantytown proper, you return to see where it terminates. The scratches bring you to the side of the hovel, where a voidship rudder which seems to compose one of its walls is at its thinnest. There you find a messy tear in the metal, just large enough for you to crawl through. Naught but darkness is on the other side of the hole. You stare at it with anxious curiosity. It stares also.

Retreating away from the hole (but staying close enough so that you can see if anything comes out of it), you turn towards your own tracks. Ever since you've been you have been leaving behind clues – tiny smudges on the dock, disturbed piles of trash, discolorations in the rust. You bend down and begin covering your tracks. The trick is not wanting them found...

By the time you are done, the metal around you blinds you with midday's light. You smirk, admiring your work. A beholder couldn't have done a better job.

There is still one mystery to solve, however. What you found curious was that the tear you located was above and beyond the kind of damage the beast's puny claws could do. You produce a pocket book from your coat, careful not to let the pages flutter in the wind.

Rolling...

...2d6+Intelligence
Relevant skill: Survival
Result: 7; Partial Success!

According to your notes, it is most likely some type of hopper. Hoppers are beasts with four muscular feet that allow them to make powerful jumps over large distances. They are also extreme omnivores, as characterized by their bloated bellies. You have heard of a hopper species that prefers to eat trash and rusted scrap that has been bred by the rich as a convenient way to dispose of garbage, but this information came to you as a ridiculous rumour – a popular anecdote among freebooters, really. Still, if it is in fact a scrap-eating hopper...how did it get here? And why, in a slum full of scrap, did it choose this house?

The wind doesn't let up as you consider your next move:

a) Enough hesitation! You'd hate it if whatever it is that Whisper left you for safekeeping would end up in a hopper's stomach. Or the Inquisitor might come back, Temple Guard in tow – they could have locked the hovel because they wanted to investigate it later, after all. Kick the door in, do what you have to do, and get out before it's too late!
b) There are plenty of holes in this structure – there must be some on the roof. One that no one cared to – or weren't able to – cover up. Try to climb up on top of the shanty (trying not to cut yourself), and see if perhaps there is a hole large enough to drop into, or serve as a vantage point to get a better look at the situation.
c) Enter through the hole in the wall. Entry will have to be slow to avoid cutting yourself. It might be very risky, but at least you won't have to bother with kicking open the door or finding an alternate way in.
d) Throw Whisper's letter into the Void and go find a real job. It might be against your tenets to abandon a pursuit of knowledge but this is clearly the safest and most pragmatic approach. Besides, Whisper is mostly likely dead and therefore unable to pay you for this favour.
e) Follow the trail of blood and scratches to its source. You fear what grisly scene that you might find there...but desire to uncover its secrets in greater measure.
f) Write-in

Now that you know what you might be up against, how do you plan to fight a hopper if you happen to encounter one?

1) Close distance as quickly as possibly, attacking with both of your weapons
2) Hurl a throwing knife at your foe, then finish them off with your dagger
3) Stay back, throwing your knives at your target until you have none left, then defend yourself with your dagger
4) Run away!
5) Too early to tell – first you will see what situation is, then decide.

Notes

Reasons for the combat style choice: if you choose to adopt a combat style ahead of time, I won't have to make a break in the narrative in order to ask you how to fight whatever foe you happen to come across. Think of it as autopilot. On the other hand, forfeiting the choice allows you to tailor your strategy to a specific enemy, but will result in the update cut short before a battle as I ask you what you intend to do. I am sure there is a better way to handle this, but this is my first CYOA, so I am still figuring things out. Suggestions would be appreciated.

I have spoiler'd the rolls so that those of you that don't want mechanics cluttering up the narrative can ignore them.

Said people probably shouldn't read what is written below as it is a pretty transparent explanation of some p. important mechanics.

Detailed explanation of how rolls and decisions work

As a rule, the result of every roll must push the story forward. Successes are self explanatory, for they allow you to bypass challenges. However, this also goes for failures too. This is called “failing forward” - a failure doesn't merely result in the absence of success, but also in something bad happening. This applies to a partial success to a lesser extent. This is a success with a consequence, and you can see it manifest in two different ways this update. The partially successful attempt to intimidate the hammerite pimp resulted in ensuring his silence, but also in Strider's inability to gain any auditory clues due to his resolve being shaken by the implication the hammerite left him with. The partial success of the intelligence check still resulted in you getting some information, just not all the facts.

(I will not normally spoil the consequences of rolls like this. The reason why I am doing it now is to introduce y'all to the mechanics).

Therefore, more attempted rolls = higher change of failing = higher chance of something going very, very wrong. Because complex actions like c) have to consist of multiple rolls (wisdom check for spotting the tracks, int check for analysis), they have higher chances of going very, very wrong than more straightforward approaches. However, complex actions also can give you huge advantages if successful, making them more profitable than straightforward actions. Ultimately, decision making is all about balancing risk vs reward, playing to Strider's strengths and, more importantly, trying to go for the coolest story possible.

 

[Grimgravy]

C2

 

[oscar]

C3

 

[Azira]

I think it might be smart to close quickly on a hopper. A critter that moves by jumping forcefully will most likely have that very move integrated into its attacks. Closing the distance quickly will negate at least some of that. Hanging back and hoping for a ranged fight might backfire, when we suddenly have four clawed appendages all up in our face.

So.

C1