155 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
155 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: 00042
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created: Sat, 17 Dec 2022 08:01:41 -0700
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updated: Sat, 17 Dec 2022 08:01:48 -0700
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syndicated: yes
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public: yes
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---
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### 00042 {#00042}
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> This seems a bit strange. Certainly Blavin has been pulling strings
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> from behind the scenes the whole time, but why coordinate a special
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> escort for us when there are other retrieval teams, and we've been
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> less than amicable with the bloke the entire time.. Alex thinks to
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> himself.
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>
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> *DM: I'd like to check for any signs of deceit in the toques
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> demeanor or communcations with us*
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>
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> Confidence you said right? What would you do if I simply chose not
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> to accompany you? I mean, there's a whole city around us, perhaps
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> I'd prefer a drink before climbing a mountains worth of stairs. Or
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> better yet, I could get back on the boat and ride to the top and
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> same myself the hassle.
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Bread once again looks confused. Confidence looks surprised, caught
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off guard.
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<!--
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Alex rolls Investigation 2 to check for signs of deceit
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3 5 = Partial Success / Success at Cost
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//-->
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Confidence sputters, "Well, yes, of course. You've been traveling for
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some time now, haven't you? I can assure you that the food and drink
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at Runesocesius will be better than anything you can get here! But
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the choice is entirely yours. Feel free to avail yourself of the
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local offerings. We will wait here at the steps for you."
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Bread nods slowly, and seems to trailing behind the conversation just
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a second or two.
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Their reactions seem genuine to you despite the circumstances. They
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seem like a couple of low level employees of a luxury hotel earnestly
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trying to follow the instructions they've been given.
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There are a couple of stalls and vendors set up around the gondola
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station. Many of them serve mulled wine and hot chocolate. There is
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some edible fare. Hot sandwiches and pitas. Nothing that an empanada
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from Enrique's wouldn't put to shame. But they look hot and steamy,
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and of great comfort to anybody who might be hungry and cold. There
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are a few fire pits, next to which there are long benches with
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blankets, where you might sit and warm up for a bit.
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The gondola lift ends here, and does not continue up to the mountain
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any further. The cloud steps are the most common way to get up to the
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peak, and to the Runesocesius. But you're pretty sure one or two of
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the stalls here offers balloon rides up to the peak for thrill
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seekers and for those with accessibility needs.
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> "I think you already know I'm interested in neither bread nor
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> cheese, the second of which I certainly did not ask for yet you
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> tried to offer in your hasty pretence." Inky smiles thinly at the
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> toques.
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>
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> Taking out a small bag of gold coins and weighing it slowly on one
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> hand to the sound of coins clinking inside the pouch, Inky
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> continues, "Speak, answer our questions frankly and you will be
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> rewarded. The hotelier up there need not know. Breathe a word of
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> our little chat to another soul, however …" Inky's gaze cut briefly
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> to four snow ravens perched atop a spiral lamp post and back, "and
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> you will learn the meaning of disappearing without a trace."
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Bread looks confused. You are starting to believe it is their default
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expression. "So, you *don't* want no chee---"
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"Our only desire is to help!" Confidence hastily interrupts. He
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smiles pleasingly. "We are your guides! Not just physically up the
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steps, but in all things here on Kelsun Peak. You have but to ask,
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and if it is within our power to give it, it will be yours! We are
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but humble ser---"
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And just then Confidence is also suddenly interrupted. A thundering
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boom like a canon sounds from somewhere nearby, followed quickly by
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an explosion somewhere up above. Snow ravens fly off in all
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directions in a panic. The sound ripples through the mountaintop,
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rattling the ground on which you stand. A bunch of small rocks and
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two large boulders shake loose from the mountainside. Shoppers and
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travelers shout and duck for cover as they are pelted by the scree.
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One of the large boulder bounces clear over the station and plummets
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down the side of the mountain before disappearing into the cloud
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ocean below. The second one falls straight toward the platform. A
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vendor selling wreaths and candles dives out of the way as his stall
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is crushed by the boulder. A bench is toppled over, spilling its
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blankets into the fire pit, and catches fire, quickly spreading to
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another nearby stall.
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Bread looks up at the sky, confused. You see a thin line of black
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smoke starting to rise up into the sky from over the ridge where the
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Runesocesius lies. Confidence shouts, and you see him pointing at the
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sea, where a balloonship is rising up out of the cloud bank, sailing
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quickly toward you and the summit of Kelsun Peak.
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It resembles a seafaring ship, but instead of masts and sails, it has
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two large, colorful, patchwork balloons that provide it lift. A large
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fan on a pivot at the rear of the ship provides thrust. As you watch,
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it fires a second canon---that *is* what the sound was!---nearly
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straight up, arcing up and over the peak at Palace Runesocesius.
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The crew of the ship bustle around on the deck of the ship, reloading
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the canons, firing the balloons, shouting, giving and following
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orders.
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"Cyberplasms," groans Confidence, and Bread whimpers. Alex, that
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quiet, dull, static roar that has been constantly tickling the back
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of your head ever since you found that dagger seems to rise in pitch
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and in tone. It conveys a sense of urgency, of warning. You can
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*almost* hear a desperate voice behind the static fuzz cautioning
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you, "Evil..."
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The only corporeal element of the crew are their cybernetic
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enhancements. A mechanical leg. A synthetic eye. A claw, a hook, a
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hand. An arm canon. Almost all of them have more than one, some as
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many as 3 or 5. The cybernetic pieces of each individual crew member
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are held together by plasmic energy arcs, crackling blue and green.
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And surrounding the bioware and the plasmic arcs of each crew member,
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like a blanket or a cocoon, is the translucent, wavering, ghostly
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form of some humanoid long-dead.
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The figure standing on the deck surveying the work of the rest of the
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crew---presumably the captain---has a synthetic eye rotating freely,
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360 degrees in all directions, inside its skull-like head; a bulky
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arm canon; and a thin robotic leg terminating in a thick boot.
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Plasmic blasts arc through its core, sometimes disrupting and
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glitching its ghostly body.
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The captain raises its arm canon and shouts to the crew. Its voice
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carried on the breeze sounds like something otherworldly rising
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slowly from the murky deep. "Fire the canon, boys! And fire up the
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balloons! Drop the ballast! That crystal is *ours!*"
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It happens very quickly: the ship ascends to the summit and soon is
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firing grappling hooks at it to pull themselves in and breach the
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walls of the hotel.
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Bread looks at you, wide-eyed and trembling. They let loose a pitiful
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wail and turn and start running up the steps. "Bread!" Confidence
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yells after them. They cast a backward glance at you. "I've got to
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help Bread! We've got to save the hotel!" And they give chase to
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their fellow toque, bounding up the cloudstuff steps.
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WHAT DO YOU DO
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[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00203.html)
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