(IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

"The Bearded man IS my boss. Paldrian is merely an equal in rank, and he's not half as dangerous as I am. Don't let the clothes and the <???> fool you."

I look Tarbreth over. "So when you're not playing commando, you live like he does. Figures."

Originally Posted by ericthered

To the group: "We'll get the others, go to ground, and send someone off with this kid."

I'll try to stand up. "I'm ready to go now, if that's what you want."

I'll sit back down if someone makes to shove me down. Don't want to fall down the wrong way.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I look Tarbreth over. "So when you're not playing commando, you live like he does. Figures."

Tarbreth: "A little less softly than he does, I'd think"

I'll try to stand up. "I'm ready to go now, if that's what you want."

I'll sit back down if someone makes to shove me down. Don't want to fall down the wrong way.

Tarbreth: "Sit down! we're not ready yet. Get some sleep. don't want you slowing down whoever I pick to take you away."


The rest of his men trickle in through the night. There are 10 of them, including Tarbreth.



At one point, they search his pockets. Is his money on him, or is it in his little sleeping area.



Tarbreth selects a shorter man with black hair and a chest like a barrel, to take Julian out. The man is named Relsin.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Tarbreth: "A little less softly than he does, I'd think"

Tarbreth: "Sit down! we're not ready yet. Get some sleep. don't want you slowing down whoever I pick to take you away."

I flinch and tumble over. I rest uneasily, worried I might be attacked in my sleep. Thankfully the light is on my cheek and pointed away from my eyes.

Originally Posted by ericthered

The rest of his men trickle in through the night. There are 10 of them, including Tarbreth.

At one point, they search his pockets. Is his money on him, or is it in his little sleeping area.

Well, let's roll for that:

[59] 22-09-15 17:08:22 CEST
Streetwise?
3d6 <= 12
2 + 4 + 2 = 8 ... success

Well I can't very well stuff it in my shoe or sock. So probably under something I slept on top of.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Tarbreth selects a shorter man with black hair and a chest like a barrel, to take Julian out. The man is named Relsin.

I won't be speaking unless I'm spoken to. I also won't be asking what the plan is when Relsin is sleeping.

I suppose the light on my cheek has worn off by the time I'm heading out.

Originally Posted by ericthered

In the end, they decide that two men will take Julian a ways out into the vegetation of the ceiling, far enough away from Bumundo, and then some Hawkin will pick him up.

I wonder if they'll be the Lawin, the tailed Hawkin, or the small Hawkin. Probably one of the first two.

[ericthered]

Well, let's roll for that:

Well I can't very well stuff it in my shoe or sock. So probably under something I slept on top of.

The money is safely where neither Julian nor the "commandos" can get it. He either left his knife or they took it.

Originally Posted by TGLS

I flinch and tumble over. I rest uneasily, worried I might be attacked in my sleep. Thankfully the light is on my cheek and pointed away from my eyes.


I suppose the light on my cheek has worn off by the time I'm heading out.

The light is gone by the time Julian gets up again. He's not sure if it takes more time or less time than an ordinary light stone.

Reslin eventually gets another man to go with them: Togar, a surprizingly ugly man with long but thinning hair.



They stick a heavy pack on Julian, going so far as to tie it on in a way that defies taking it off equally. Both of them have spears. They say the pack is full of food, and warn him not to eat any, and not to move from between them. They also tie a rope around each hiker's waist and connect them all, though this feels more like a safety harness that a serious restraint. Reslin is obviously in charge between his two captors.



They begin traveling through the vegetation. They quickly leave signs of civilization. The tunnels are somewhat bewildering: Julian isn't sure how they can go anywhere precise at all. They have no compass.


Make a hiking roll (against default, I believe)


Two hours into the march, they stop to "get their bearings". This involves finding a thin spot of vegetation, chopping a hole in it, tying all three of them to some vegetation, and lowering Reslin through the hole.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The money is safely where neither Julian nor the "commandos" can get it. He either left his knife or they took it.

Hopefully whoever finds it doesn't just pocket it. Then again, when they learn that I vanished, who's going to do anything? The guards are probably too distracted by the deaths of their own and probably don't care about a missing poor kid all the same.

Originally Posted by ericthered

They stick a heavy pack on Julian, going so far as to tie it on in a way that defies taking it off equally.

"Equally"? That should be easily, right?
How heavy? Suppose that's one way of stopping me from running off in the night.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Both of them have spears. They say the pack is full of food, and warn him not to eat any, and not to move from between them.

"OK, I won't eat anything and then when I starve in a couple days, this whole journey will be entirely pointless."

Originally Posted by ericthered

They also tie a rope around each hiker's waist and connect them all, though this feels more like a safety harness that a serious restraint.

There must be holes or soft spots in the vegetation tunnels. I hope I don't fall through. I don't want to owe these people my life.

Originally Posted by ericthered

They begin traveling through the vegetation. They quickly leave signs of civilization. The tunnels are somewhat bewildering: Julian isn't sure how they can go anywhere precise at all. They have no compass.

What use would a compass be anyway? This world's a tube. Where would the magnetic field be going through? The sun? That'd just point towards the middle.

Maybe Vasic's involved somehow.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Make a hiking roll (against default, I believe)

No, Julian had to walk everywhere before he stole a bicycle.

[60] 22-09-19 19:10:44 CEST
Hiking
3d6 <= 11
3 + 2 + 3 = 8 ... success

Originally Posted by ericthered

Two hours into the march, they stop to "get their bearings". This involves finding a thin spot of vegetation, chopping a hole in it, tying all three of them to some vegetation, and lowering Reslin through the hole.

I suppose I could ask about navigation now.

"What does that even mean? Are you going to be wandering around at random, sticking your head out until we get where we're going?"

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

"Equally"? That should be easily, right?
How heavy? Suppose that's one way of stopping me from running off in the night.

Its a 40lb pack (18kg. your sheet is in metric; I'm not sure if that's because of your software or because that is you are familiar with)

"OK, I won't eat anything and then when I starve in a couple days, this whole journey will be entirely pointless."

Reslin: "Keep working on that mouthing off. Learn enough of the language for those quips to be funny. By then you'll be someone else's problem."

There must be holes or soft spots in the vegetation tunnels. I hope I don't fall through. I don't want to owe these people my life.

No one falls through a hole the first segment of the hike, but he does occasionally see light peaking through the roots and vines.



The vasic stones giving them light have to be redrawn every so often, providing natural breaks in the grueling hike. The going is slow, though it fortunately seems to be largely in the downward direction.

What use would a compass be anyway? This world's a tube. Where would the magnetic field be going through? The sun? That'd just point towards the middle.

Which is all that Reslin can really see in his lowering manuever anyway.

I suppose I could ask about navigation now.

"What does that even mean? Are you going to be wandering around at random, sticking your head out until we get where we're going?"

Togar: "We're headed on a line away from the waterfall and Bumundo. As long as we can go downhill, and away from the waterfall, we're good. All we need to do is get far enough away."

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Its a 40lb pack (18kg. your sheet is in metric; I'm not sure if that's because of your software or because that is you are familiar with)

Yeah, I work in metric. Though I kind of wish the sheet was in game metric (1 m = 1 yd, 1 kg = ½ lb.)

Originally Posted by ericthered

Reslin: "Keep working on that mouthing off. Learn enough of the language for those quips to be funny. By then you'll be someone else's problem."

Hopefully my own problem and not this Paldrian's. I wonder if Paldrian would be nice to me. Even if I do get away, they'll just haul me off again... No, I need to think positive.

Originally Posted by ericthered

No one falls through a hole the first segment of the hike, but he does occasionally see light peaking through the roots and vines.

The vasic stones giving them light have to be redrawn every so often, providing natural breaks in the grueling hike. The going is slow, though it fortunately seems to be largely in the downward direction.

Well, it'd be more fortunate if it wasn't hell on my knees, especially with this huge pack.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Which is all that Reslin can really see in his lowering manuever anyway.

Hm... A compass would give them a more accurate reading of the direction to center. With some math, you could probably work out distance to center too.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Togar: "We're headed on a line away from the waterfall and Bumundo. As long as we can go downhill, and away from the waterfall, we're good. All we need to do is get far enough away."

"And then you'll give Paldrian your location, or find some Hawkin, and that'll take care of the last leg of the transport.

--

I look down at the hole as Reslin dangles through. If I had my knife, I could... I feel nauseous at the thought of dropping a man to his death. It reminds me too much of my old knife, and how I stuck Myla with it before I ran away.

I shake off those thoughts. None of this changes the fact I have no knife. I could draw a pattern on my hand, and burn the rope. Well, maybe if they let me write some pages in my diary I could pull it off, but given how they reacted when there was nothing worth writing, I doubt they'd let me write things down now. I could jump through the hole.

OK, that's just stupid. If the rope breaks, then Reslin dies, I die and maybe Togar dies. And if the rope doesn't break then... I don't think Togar would be able to pull us back in through the hole. And even if he was willing to kill me over that stunt, he wouldn't be willing to kill his buddy, right? And if he gets taken through the hole, then we'd all be stuck until someone came by. And they aren't expected back for days. So anyone who came by wouldn't be one of their friends, but some bystander. Maybe a Hawkin on patrol. They couldn't talk their way out of that.

How much slack is on the rope and how much distance is between me and the hole?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Yeah, I work in metric. Though I kind of wish the sheet was in game metric (1 m = 1 yd, 1 kg = ½ lb.)

makes sense. I'll try to remember that. the .9 and 2.2 conversions are just close enough to be handy and just far away enough to be obnoxious.

Hm... A compass would give them a more accurate reading of the direction to center. With some math, you could probably work out distance to center too.

assuming the compass points towards the sun...

"And then you'll give Paldrian your location, or find some Hawkin, and that'll take care of the last leg of the transport.

"Hawkin. Paldrian can't send a teleportation stone to our location"

How much slack is on the rope and how much distance is between me and the hole?

Hmmm.

So Reslin is being lowered on a different rope than the one attatching everyone at the waste, and Togar is feeding that rope down carefully, and he is attatched to that rope before it attatches to the vegetation as an anchor. Julian has quite a bit of slack, and can get right up to the hole.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

makes sense. I'll try to remember that. the .9 and 2.2 conversions are just close enough to be handy and just far away enough to be obnoxious.

Well I altered Julian and Halycone's to meters equal yards. GCA controls the BL metric conversion, which uses the more precise 0.4536 kg/lb. and rounds.

Originally Posted by ericthered

assuming the compass points towards the sun...

I suppose it could just spin round and round... Maybe I could find a lodestone and sort that out.

Originally Posted by ericthered

"Hawkin. Paldrian can't send a teleportation stone to our location"

"Oh, so you're going to handle the hiring."

Originally Posted by ericthered

Hmmm.

So Reslin is being lowered on a different rope than the one attatching everyone at the waste, and Togar is feeding that rope down carefully, and he is attatched to that rope before it attatches to the vegetation as an anchor. Julian has quite a bit of slack, and can get right up to the hole.

OK, I'll creep up towards the hole and jump when I get to the end of my rope. I suppose Togar's distracted.

[61] 22-09-21 21:09:31 CEST
Stealth (with Encumbrance)
3d6 <= 9
3 + 4 + 4 = 11 ... failure

Well I guess Julian's caught. Not sure what the jump roll would be; some kind of ST contest? Trying to judge whether to spend luck.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

"Oh, so you're going to handle the hiring."

"No! Someone else back in civilization will do it. Maybe Paldrian, but probably not. "

OK, I'll creep up towards the hole and jump when I get to the end of my rope. I suppose Togar's distracted.

Togar: "Hey! stay away from the hole! get out of my way!"