48

2022-12-29 13:02:30 -07:00 · 2022-12-29 13:02:30 -07:00 · 0e7813fff2
parent 5f6484529f
commit 0e7813fff2
6 changed files with 1437 additions and 548 deletions
--- a/basement.order
+++ b/basement.order
@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ src/epistolary/00044.md
 src/epistolary/00045.md
 src/epistolary/00046.md
 src/epistolary/00047.md
 src/epistolary/00048.md
 src/bestiary/index.md
 src/bestiary/aur.md
 src/bestiary/blahoblin.md
--- a/src/characters/inky.md
+++ b/src/characters/inky.md
@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ What do you plan to do with your cut of the money? Buy lots of ink ingredients,
 - Player: mio
 - XP: 1
- Skills: Do Anything 1, Persuasive 2, Plantomancy 2
+- Skills: Do Anything 1, Persuasive 2, Plantomancy 2, Throwing 2
 - Equipment: Handy Duffer Discette, Fine Feathered Quills, Jade Tea Set, Mountain Range Glyph Ink, Bead of the Werehare
 Paths:
--- a/src/epistolary/00048.md
+++ b/src/epistolary/00048.md
@ -0,0 +1,246 @@
 ---
 title: 00048
 created: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 16:08:10 -0700
 updated: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 16:08:12 -0700
 syndicated: yes
 public: yes
 ---
 ### 00048 {#00048}
 > Alex snatches up his new hemo friend cheering huzzah as he does.
 > We've got a pirate ship little guy!
 > 
 > Rushing about the deck Alex quickly takes stock of what's left,
 > plenty of ammo, general supplies, fuel, perfectly provisioned for a
 > quick crystal kidnapping. Smart move pirates, but not smart enough.
 > 
 > Alex heads to the helm and steadies the ship guiding it out and
 > away from the library, can't have any of the remaining cyberplasms
 > easily reboarding it now can we? Once the ship is out of range Alex
 > checks his S.T.A.G drone's twtxt feed for updates.
 > 
 > ```
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/video> Cyberplasm approaching crystal
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/gps> approx library, top level
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/audio> Cyberplasm threatens violence
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/video> Inky, bread, confidence enter subvertly
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/video> Visual feed impaired due to unknown smog
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/audio> Angry tones, uncertain who
 > ```
 > 
 > Not particularly helpful, and it rules out my first thought. I
 > could blindly fire the broadside canons into the library hoping to
 > hit the cyberplasm, but I'd be just as likely to hit Inky, Bread,
 > Confidence or any other innocent bystander. I've got to get a
 > message to her.
 > 
 > Alex quickly dispatches a command to the S.T.A.G
 > 
 > ```
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/cmd> Seek Inky
 > @<drone/fhsoa7483/relay> Secured ship, inform A.I of intentions, will coordinate rescue via the stolen ship
 > ```
 > 
 > If all we've got is this, then we'd best be ready for a quick
 > rescue. Alex busies himself preparing a new zipline and mooring
 > lines. He then loads the boradside canons and the top deck swivel
 > canons. It'll need to be quick, but if I'm ready I can swing the
 > ship in close, deploy a zipline for Inky to zip down to the ship
 > with, and defend the retreat with the swivels. If everyone retreats
 > to the ship we can take a note from the pirates playbook and blast
 > them to hell with the broadsides while we make our retreat. Or
 > simply run I suppose, but I dislike the idea of leaving innocent
 > people to deal with angry pirates 
 The hemogoblin cheers you on as you take possession of the airship,
 accidentally squirting a few jets of rust colored blood in its
 excitement. Must still be quite young. They don't gain full control
 of their blood sacs until well into adulthood.
 You check your S.T.A.G. drone's twtxt feeds. This A.I. seems
 especially reliable, you note with satisfaction. Its updates are
 regular and detailed. Even when there's not much to report.
 You load up the canons and take control of the helm. The hemogoblin
 stands at attention at the broadside canons with a cracklesparkler,
 ready to light the fuse at your command. You steer the ship a short
 distance away from the hotel, hopefully out of reach of the
 cyberplasms. But within range of your own canons and ziplines.
 > While Inky has the attention of both guides, they close the door
 > again until it is slightly ajar, and make a series of hand
 > gestures. First pointing at themselves, at their own forearm and
 > fist held stiffly to mimic the shape of the captain's arm cannon,
 > to indicate that Inky will handle the Cyberplasm. Then Inky points
 > the two fingers of a hand at Bread and Confidence, turns the two
 > fingers downward and swings them back and forth in opposite
 > directions to convey walking. This was followed by a single finger
 > pointing in the general direction they had last seen the hotelier;
 > then the finger hooks inward, the arm repeating a yanking motion
 > once or twice before ending the gesture with a thumb tossed over
 > their shoulder towards the hallway away from the staff entrance, to
 > ask them to get their boss out of the library to a safe spot.
 > 
 > Without waiting for confirmation from the toques, Inky opens the
 > door, abruptly stops, turns and shoves a compostable bag of
 > mango-flavoured croutons at Bread, gives them a thumbs up in return
 > and a mildly disturbing, eye-crinkling smile behind their kerchief,
 > before slipping inside the smoky room. One hand is already pulling
 > out a thin, extendable metal walking pole with a carrying strap
 > visually resembling the type used by hikers from their courier bag
 > to check for obstacles amid the lowered visibility.
 Confidence watches all of your hand gestures closely, and then nods
 resolutely. They draw their large hoe, and turn and start to crouch
 run toward the main entrance to to the main hall of the library.
 Bread looks confused, but ready to follow Confidence. They grab their
 heavy meat tenderizer and crouch down in imitation of their fellow
 toque. Before they can run off, you shove a bag of croutons into
 their arms. "Small. Toasted. Bread," they intonate slowly in wonder.
 The confusion falls from their face as they break into a wide grin.
 "Now I'll never disappear without a trace," they laugh. They thank
 you and run like a duck after Confidence.
 > Inside, Inky lobs the empty glass vial that had held the
 > unpleasantly pungent organic catalyst at a spot the floor several
 > paces roughly from where the Cyberplasm — presumably the leader of
 > the group — had been standing earlier, in the opposite direction of
 > the staff entrance in an attempt to divert attention from the
 > hotelier's last location. As they edge along the wall towards the
 > tower stairs, walking pole looped over one hand, Inky grabs a few
 > small hardcover novellas from a wall shelf. Straightening from
 > their crouch, Inky tosses them one at a time horizontally in quick
 > succession like a discus, but without the full-body turning motion,
 > across the hall towards the sounds of frustrated groans and angry
 > muttering. The first starting higher around where a human head
 > might have once been, one at waist height and another at the
 > juncture below where ectoplasmic knees might meet prosthetic legs. 
 You pick up three hardback novellas. If it wasn't so smoky, and if
 you weren't so much in the middle of a potentially life and death
 struggle with the Cyberplasm captain of a pirate airship, you might
 notice their titles: *Stop and Smell the Crystals*, *Living the
 Corn*, and *A Big Moon*.
 <!--
 NOTE: book titles generated by https://booktitlegenerator.com/
 //-->
 Anyway, you start flinging.
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever cyber eye
 1: Things go poorly; gain 1 xp
 Spend xp to level up, Throwing 2
 //-->
 After you toss the catalyst, you can see a plasmic form heavily
 blurred and obscured by the smoke turn in that direction. You fling
 *Stop and Smell the Crystals* at it, and it spins like a discus and
 smashes into the pirate right in the face, above the chin. It howls
 and brings its hand to its face, and turns and charges up its arm
 cannon.
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever arm canon
 5 (2): Success at cost
 //-->
 Mostly going on sound now, you fling *Living the Corn* at the
 pirate's moan and at the electric whine of the canon charging. You
 hear the canon discharge but the half-blind pirate fires wide. You
 see the flash of the energy blast hitting something, someone, else
 obscured by smoke in the middle distance between the two of you. A
 man screams out in pain. Right after the muffled thump of his body
 hitting the ground, you hear the clinking and ringing of something
 heavy and metallic striking and rolling across the floor.
 *Living on Corn* strikes the pirate in the elbow, and with a fizzle
 and a spark, the arm cannon sputters offline.
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever cyber leg
 6 4: Great Success!
 //-->
 The pirate stumbles forward, half-lame and half-blind. It stoops and
 scoops up a heavy melon-sized object. It stomps its cybernetic boot,
 and small rockets spring out from small compartments on either side
 of its ankle. They start to fire up and the pirate is about to make
 its escape when *A Big Moon* hits it right above knee and severs the
 ghost's final connection to its final enhancement.
 It groans as it starts to dissipate, dropping the heavy object once
 more.
 "My crew, it is too late for me! I shall never have a new body now!
 But it's not too late for you! You must bring the quintessence to
 Mother!"
 And then the pirate's essence is diluted in the smoke filling the
 library.
 > At that moment Inky hears a very low whirring accompanied by
 > clicking sounds behind them and without glancing backwards, swings
 > the walking pole at the source of the buzzing. The stick collides
 > with something, sending it careening backwards with a light clatter
 > through what is likely a row of bookshelves around the area already
 > partially emptied of their contents. From the static noise that
 > ensues, Inky realises whatever it was may or may not have been one
 > of the wizard's bugs hovering in the shadows earlier or a
 > disembodied, ectoplasm-spewing prosthetic limb after all. Inky
 > calls out sheepishly, "Sorry, Young Master Alex! Was that yours?
 > Oops? Haha?" before smashing two more empty glass bottles as a
 > distraction for any remaining Cyberplasms lurking on the same
 > floor, and sprints up the tower stairs, using the banisters as a
 > guide.
 The Amber Imp is feverishly reporting all the goings on from inside
 the S.T.A.G. drone when Inky strikes its conveyance with their
 walking pole. The bug is destroyed on contact. The imp barely manages
 to fire off one final End Of Transmission post before ejecting from
 the craft, which sinks below like an exploded firework. It drifts on
 the currents of smoke and flows out through the hole in the wall into
 the open air outside. The imp falls through open space and starts to
 think back on its life. So much time and energy spent chasing its
 hopes and dreams, its goals and aspirations. So much of its life
 wasted in pursuit. Always reaching, never grasping. Is that all it
 gets? Is this the end? Did it ever really even get a chance to really
 live?
 These thoughts race through its head as it falls, but are cut short
 when it abruptly lands on a hard bed of cloudstuff. It tumbles and
 rolls and comes to a stop. And when it looks up, amazed to be alive
 and vowing to make the most of this second chance at life, it looks
 up into the benevolent smiling face of a pink zephynos.
 ~
 Inky, you cross the floor to where the pirate had its last stand. You
 find what appears to be approximately one-fifth of the hotelier, and
 wonder idly where the rest of him might be. And you notice a
 conspicuous lack of Ginnarak Crystal.
 You do however notice a soft crunch underfoot. And when you bend down
 to inspect it---disorganized cyberplasms running amok in the smoke
 behind you---you discover a trail of mango flavored croutons leading
 across the hall to the tower stairs.
 You sprint up the stairs using the banisters as a guide. The
 breadcrumb trail ends on the seventh level, where Confidence sits
 slumped against the wall between two bookshelves. They have one arm
 around four-fifths of the hotelier, his shocked gaze telling you
 everything you need to know, that he is entirely dead but just
 doesn't know it yet. Their other arm is around Bread, who has
 suffered a massive wound to the chest and is only slightly more alive
 than the hotelier. On the ground between Confidence's legs is the
 Ginnarak Crystal. Several loose pages are stuck to its sides, held in
 place by drying blood and ectoplasm.
 Confidence looks at you and smiles wearily. "We left a trail for you.
 It was Bread's idea. They were a good guide."
 WHAT DO YOU DO
 [www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00250.html)
--- a/www/index.html
+++ b/www/index.html
@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ of the Were-Hare</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00045" id="toc-00045">00045</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00046" id="toc-00046">00046</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00047" id="toc-00047">00047</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00048" id="toc-00048">00048</a></li>
 </ul></li>
 <li><a href="#bestiary" id="toc-bestiary">Bestiary</a></li>
 <li><a href="#geography" id="toc-geography">Geography</a></li>
@ -328,10 +329,10 @@ of the Were-Hare</a></li>
 </ul>
 </nav>
 <h2 id="stats">Stats</h2>
-<p>Total length: 45381 words / 193 minute read. (Mind you, that’s the
+<p>Total length: 47248 words / 201 minute read. (Mind you, that’s the
 length of this entire page, including all the extra bits and bobs. Not
 just the story.)</p>
-<p>There have been 170 messages posted over 168 days since the first
+<p>There have been 171 messages posted over 169 days since the first
 post on July 13, 2022 for a daily post rate of 1.01.</p>
 <h2 id="about">About</h2>
 <p>This is a game that me and the kids in the basement are playing over
@ -487,7 +488,7 @@ very soon!</p>
 <ul>
 <li>Player: mio</li>
 <li>XP: 1</li>
-<li>Skills: Do Anything 1, Persuasive 2, Plantomancy 2</li>
+<li>Skills: Do Anything 1, Persuasive 2, Plantomancy 2, Throwing 2</li>
 <li>Equipment: Handy Duffer Discette, Fine Feathered Quills, Jade Tea
 Set, Mountain Range Glyph Ink, Bead of the Werehare</li>
 </ul>
@ -5251,6 +5252,207 @@ wisely doesn’t make a sound as he disappears from view.</p>
 <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
 <p><a
 href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00234.html">www</a></p>
 <h3 id="00048">00048</h3>
 <blockquote>
 <p>Alex snatches up his new hemo friend cheering huzzah as he does.
 We’ve got a pirate ship little guy!</p>
 <p>Rushing about the deck Alex quickly takes stock of what’s left,
 plenty of ammo, general supplies, fuel, perfectly provisioned for a
 quick crystal kidnapping. Smart move pirates, but not smart enough.</p>
 <p>Alex heads to the helm and steadies the ship guiding it out and away
 from the library, can’t have any of the remaining cyberplasms easily
 reboarding it now can we? Once the ship is out of range Alex checks his
 S.T.A.G drone’s twtxt feed for updates.</p>
 <pre><code>@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/video&gt; Cyberplasm approaching crystal
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/gps&gt; approx library, top level
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/audio&gt; Cyberplasm threatens violence
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/video&gt; Inky, bread, confidence enter subvertly
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/video&gt; Visual feed impaired due to unknown smog
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/audio&gt; Angry tones, uncertain who</code></pre>
 <p>Not particularly helpful, and it rules out my first thought. I could
 blindly fire the broadside canons into the library hoping to hit the
 cyberplasm, but I’d be just as likely to hit Inky, Bread, Confidence or
 any other innocent bystander. I’ve got to get a message to her.</p>
 <p>Alex quickly dispatches a command to the S.T.A.G</p>
 <pre><code>@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/cmd&gt; Seek Inky
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/relay&gt; Secured ship, inform A.I of intentions, will coordinate rescue via the stolen ship</code></pre>
 <p>If all we’ve got is this, then we’d best be ready for a quick rescue.
 Alex busies himself preparing a new zipline and mooring lines. He then
 loads the boradside canons and the top deck swivel canons. It’ll need to
 be quick, but if I’m ready I can swing the ship in close, deploy a
 zipline for Inky to zip down to the ship with, and defend the retreat
 with the swivels. If everyone retreats to the ship we can take a note
 from the pirates playbook and blast them to hell with the broadsides
 while we make our retreat. Or simply run I suppose, but I dislike the
 idea of leaving innocent people to deal with angry pirates</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>The hemogoblin cheers you on as you take possession of the airship,
 accidentally squirting a few jets of rust colored blood in its
 excitement. Must still be quite young. They don’t gain full control of
 their blood sacs until well into adulthood.</p>
 <p>You check your S.T.A.G. drone’s twtxt feeds. This A.I. seems
 especially reliable, you note with satisfaction. Its updates are regular
 and detailed. Even when there’s not much to report.</p>
 <p>You load up the canons and take control of the helm. The hemogoblin
 stands at attention at the broadside canons with a cracklesparkler,
 ready to light the fuse at your command. You steer the ship a short
 distance away from the hotel, hopefully out of reach of the cyberplasms.
 But within range of your own canons and ziplines.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <p>While Inky has the attention of both guides, they close the door
 again until it is slightly ajar, and make a series of hand gestures.
 First pointing at themselves, at their own forearm and fist held stiffly
 to mimic the shape of the captain’s arm cannon, to indicate that Inky
 will handle the Cyberplasm. Then Inky points the two fingers of a hand
 at Bread and Confidence, turns the two fingers downward and swings them
 back and forth in opposite directions to convey walking. This was
 followed by a single finger pointing in the general direction they had
 last seen the hotelier; then the finger hooks inward, the arm repeating
 a yanking motion once or twice before ending the gesture with a thumb
 tossed over their shoulder towards the hallway away from the staff
 entrance, to ask them to get their boss out of the library to a safe
 spot.</p>
 <p>Without waiting for confirmation from the toques, Inky opens the
 door, abruptly stops, turns and shoves a compostable bag of
 mango-flavoured croutons at Bread, gives them a thumbs up in return and
 a mildly disturbing, eye-crinkling smile behind their kerchief, before
 slipping inside the smoky room. One hand is already pulling out a thin,
 extendable metal walking pole with a carrying strap visually resembling
 the type used by hikers from their courier bag to check for obstacles
 amid the lowered visibility.</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>Confidence watches all of your hand gestures closely, and then nods
 resolutely. They draw their large hoe, and turn and start to crouch run
 toward the main entrance to to the main hall of the library.</p>
 <p>Bread looks confused, but ready to follow Confidence. They grab their
 heavy meat tenderizer and crouch down in imitation of their fellow
 toque. Before they can run off, you shove a bag of croutons into their
 arms. “Small. Toasted. Bread,” they intonate slowly in wonder. The
 confusion falls from their face as they break into a wide grin. “Now
 I’ll never disappear without a trace,” they laugh. They thank you and
 run like a duck after Confidence.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <p>Inside, Inky lobs the empty glass vial that had held the unpleasantly
 pungent organic catalyst at a spot the floor several paces roughly from
 where the Cyberplasm — presumably the leader of the group — had been
 standing earlier, in the opposite direction of the staff entrance in an
 attempt to attention from the hotelier’s last location. As they edge
 along the wall towards the tower stairs, walking pole looped over one
 hand, Inky grabs a few small hardcover novellas from a wall shelf.
 Straightening from their crouch, Inky tosses them one at a time
 horizontally in quick succession like a discus, but without the
 full-body turning motion, across the hall towards the sounds of
 frustrated groans and angry muttering. The first starting higher around
 where a human head might have once been, one at waist height and another
 at the juncture below where ectoplasmic knees might meet prosthetic
 legs.</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>You pick up three hardback novellas. If it wasn’t so smoky, and if
 you weren’t so much in the middle of a potentially life and death
 struggle with the Cyberplasm captain of a pirate airship, you might
 notice their titles: <em>Stop and Smell the Crystals</em>, <em>Living
 the Corn</em>, and <em>A Big Moon</em>.</p>
 <!--
 NOTE: book titles generated by https://booktitlegenerator.com/
 //-->
 <p>Anyway, you start flinging.</p>
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever cyber eye
 1: Things go poorly; gain 1 xp
 Spend xp to level up, Throwing 2
 //-->
 <p>After you toss the catalyst, you can see a plasmic form heavily
 blurred and obscured by the smoke turn in that direction. You fling
 <em>Stop and Smell the Crystals</em> at it, and it spins like a discus
 and smashes into the pirate right in the face, above the chin. It howls
 and brings its hand to its face, and turns and charges up its arm
 cannon.</p>
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever arm canon
 5 (2): Success at cost
 //-->
 <p>Mostly going on sound now, you fling <em>Living the Corn</em> at the
 pirate’s moan and at the electric whine of the canon charging. You hear
 the canon discharge but the half-blind pirate fires wide. You see the
 flash of the energy blast hitting something, someone, else obscured by
 smoke in the middle distance between the two of you. A man screams out
 in pain. Right after the muffled thump of his body hitting the ground,
 you hear the clinking and ringing of something heavy and metallic
 striking and rolling across the floor.</p>
 <p><em>Living on Corn</em> strikes the pirate in the elbow, and with a
 fizzle and a spark, the arm cannon sputters offline.</p>
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever cyber leg
 6 4: Great Success!
 //-->
 <p>The pirate stumbles forward, half-lame and half-blind. It stoops and
 scoops up a heavy melon-sized object. It stomps its cybernetic boot, and
 small rockets spring out from small compartments on either side of its
 ankle. They start to fire up and the pirate is about to make its escape
 when <em>A Big Moon</em> hits it right above knee and severs the ghost’s
 final connection to its final enhancement.</p>
 <p>It groans as it starts to dissipate, dropping the heavy object once
 more.</p>
 <p>“My crew, it is too late for me! I shall never have a new body now!
 But it’s not too late for you! You must bring the quintessence to
 Mother!”</p>
 <p>And then the pirate’s essence is diluted in the smoke filling the
 library.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <p>At that moment Inky hears a very low whirring accompanied by clicking
 sounds behind them and without glancing backwards, swings the walking
 pole at the source of the buzzing. The stick collides with something,
 sending it careening backwards with a light clatter through what is
 likely a row of bookshelves around the area already partially emptied of
 their contents. From the static noise that ensues, Inky realises
 whatever it was may or may not have been one of the wizard’s bugs
 hovering in the shadows earlier or a disembodied, ectoplasm-spewing
 prosthetic limb after all. Inky calls out sheepishly, “Sorry, Young
 Master Alex! Was that yours? Oops? Haha?” before smashing two more empty
 glass bottles as a distraction for any remaining Cyberplasms lurking on
 the same floor, and sprints up the tower stairs, using the banisters as
 a guide.</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>The Amber Imp is feverishly reporting all the goings on from inside
 the S.T.A.G. drone when Inky strikes its conveyance with their walking
 pole. The bug is destroyed on contact. The imp barely manages to fire
 off one final End Of Transmission post before ejecting from the craft,
 which sinks below like an exploded firework. It drifts on the currents
 of smoke and flows out through the hole in the wall into the open air
 outside. The imp falls through open space and starts to think back on
 its life. So much time and energy spent chasing its hopes and dreams,
 its goals and aspirations. So much of its life wasted in pursuit. Always
 reaching, never grasping. Is that all it gets? Is this the end? Did it
 ever really even get a chance to really live?</p>
 <p>These thoughts race through its head as it falls, but are cut short
 when it abruptly lands on a hard bed of cloudstuff. It tumbles and rolls
 and comes to a stop. And when it looks up, amazed to be alive and vowing
 to make the most of this second chance at life, it looks up into the
 benevolent smiling face of a pink zephynos.</p>
 <p>~</p>
 <p>Inky, you cross the floor to where the pirate had its last stand. You
 find what appears to be approximately one-fifth of the hotelier, and
 wonder idly where the rest of him might be. And you notice a conspicuous
 lack of Ginnarak Crystal.</p>
 <p>You do however notice a soft crunch underfoot. And when you bend down
 to inspect it—disorganized cyberplasms running amok in the smoke behind
 you—you discover a trail of mango flavored croutons leading across the
 hall to the tower stairs.</p>
 <p>You sprint up the stairs using the banisters as a guide. The
 breadcrumb trail ends on the seventh level, where Confidence sits
 slumped against the wall between two bookshelves. They have one arm
 around four-fifths of the hotelier, his shocked gaze telling you
 everything you need to know, that he is entirely dead but just doesn’t
 know it yet. Their other arm is around Bread, who has suffered a massive
 wound to the chest and is only slightly more alive than the hotelier. On
 the ground between Confidence’s legs is the Ginnarak Crystal. Several
 loose pages are stuck to its sides, held in place by drying blood and
 ectoplasm.</p>
 <p>Confidence looks at you and smiles wearily. “We left a trail for you.
 It was Bread’s idea. They were a good guide.”</p>
 <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
 <p><a
 href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00250.html">www</a></p>
 <h2 id="bestiary">Bestiary</h2>
 <p>Some of the creatures who inhabit the world of Basmentaria</p>
 <dt>
--- a/www/rss.xml
+++ b/www/rss.xml
--- a/www/spoilers.html
+++ b/www/spoilers.html
@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ of the Were-Hare</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00045" id="toc-00045">00045</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00046" id="toc-00046">00046</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00047" id="toc-00047">00047</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00048" id="toc-00048">00048</a></li>
 </ul></li>
 <li><a href="#bestiary" id="toc-bestiary">Bestiary</a></li>
 <li><a href="#geography" id="toc-geography">Geography</a></li>
@ -331,10 +332,10 @@ id="toc-acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></li>
 </ul>
 </nav>
 <h2 id="stats">Stats</h2>
-<p>Total length: 45381 words / 193 minute read. (Mind you, that’s the
+<p>Total length: 47248 words / 201 minute read. (Mind you, that’s the
 length of this entire page, including all the extra bits and bobs. Not
 just the story.)</p>
-<p>There have been 170 messages posted over 168 days since the first
+<p>There have been 171 messages posted over 169 days since the first
 post on July 13, 2022 for a daily post rate of 1.01.</p>
 <h2 id="about">About</h2>
 <p>This is a game that me and the kids in the basement are playing over
@ -490,7 +491,7 @@ very soon!</p>
 <ul>
 <li>Player: mio</li>
 <li>XP: 1</li>
-<li>Skills: Do Anything 1, Persuasive 2, Plantomancy 2</li>
+<li>Skills: Do Anything 1, Persuasive 2, Plantomancy 2, Throwing 2</li>
 <li>Equipment: Handy Duffer Discette, Fine Feathered Quills, Jade Tea
 Set, Mountain Range Glyph Ink, Bead of the Werehare</li>
 </ul>
@ -5254,6 +5255,207 @@ wisely doesn’t make a sound as he disappears from view.</p>
 <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
 <p><a
 href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00234.html">www</a></p>
 <h3 id="00048">00048</h3>
 <blockquote>
 <p>Alex snatches up his new hemo friend cheering huzzah as he does.
 We’ve got a pirate ship little guy!</p>
 <p>Rushing about the deck Alex quickly takes stock of what’s left,
 plenty of ammo, general supplies, fuel, perfectly provisioned for a
 quick crystal kidnapping. Smart move pirates, but not smart enough.</p>
 <p>Alex heads to the helm and steadies the ship guiding it out and away
 from the library, can’t have any of the remaining cyberplasms easily
 reboarding it now can we? Once the ship is out of range Alex checks his
 S.T.A.G drone’s twtxt feed for updates.</p>
 <pre><code>@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/video&gt; Cyberplasm approaching crystal
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/gps&gt; approx library, top level
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/audio&gt; Cyberplasm threatens violence
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/video&gt; Inky, bread, confidence enter subvertly
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/video&gt; Visual feed impaired due to unknown smog
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/audio&gt; Angry tones, uncertain who</code></pre>
 <p>Not particularly helpful, and it rules out my first thought. I could
 blindly fire the broadside canons into the library hoping to hit the
 cyberplasm, but I’d be just as likely to hit Inky, Bread, Confidence or
 any other innocent bystander. I’ve got to get a message to her.</p>
 <p>Alex quickly dispatches a command to the S.T.A.G</p>
 <pre><code>@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/cmd&gt; Seek Inky
@&lt;drone/fhsoa7483/relay&gt; Secured ship, inform A.I of intentions, will coordinate rescue via the stolen ship</code></pre>
 <p>If all we’ve got is this, then we’d best be ready for a quick rescue.
 Alex busies himself preparing a new zipline and mooring lines. He then
 loads the boradside canons and the top deck swivel canons. It’ll need to
 be quick, but if I’m ready I can swing the ship in close, deploy a
 zipline for Inky to zip down to the ship with, and defend the retreat
 with the swivels. If everyone retreats to the ship we can take a note
 from the pirates playbook and blast them to hell with the broadsides
 while we make our retreat. Or simply run I suppose, but I dislike the
 idea of leaving innocent people to deal with angry pirates</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>The hemogoblin cheers you on as you take possession of the airship,
 accidentally squirting a few jets of rust colored blood in its
 excitement. Must still be quite young. They don’t gain full control of
 their blood sacs until well into adulthood.</p>
 <p>You check your S.T.A.G. drone’s twtxt feeds. This A.I. seems
 especially reliable, you note with satisfaction. Its updates are regular
 and detailed. Even when there’s not much to report.</p>
 <p>You load up the canons and take control of the helm. The hemogoblin
 stands at attention at the broadside canons with a cracklesparkler,
 ready to light the fuse at your command. You steer the ship a short
 distance away from the hotel, hopefully out of reach of the cyberplasms.
 But within range of your own canons and ziplines.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <p>While Inky has the attention of both guides, they close the door
 again until it is slightly ajar, and make a series of hand gestures.
 First pointing at themselves, at their own forearm and fist held stiffly
 to mimic the shape of the captain’s arm cannon, to indicate that Inky
 will handle the Cyberplasm. Then Inky points the two fingers of a hand
 at Bread and Confidence, turns the two fingers downward and swings them
 back and forth in opposite directions to convey walking. This was
 followed by a single finger pointing in the general direction they had
 last seen the hotelier; then the finger hooks inward, the arm repeating
 a yanking motion once or twice before ending the gesture with a thumb
 tossed over their shoulder towards the hallway away from the staff
 entrance, to ask them to get their boss out of the library to a safe
 spot.</p>
 <p>Without waiting for confirmation from the toques, Inky opens the
 door, abruptly stops, turns and shoves a compostable bag of
 mango-flavoured croutons at Bread, gives them a thumbs up in return and
 a mildly disturbing, eye-crinkling smile behind their kerchief, before
 slipping inside the smoky room. One hand is already pulling out a thin,
 extendable metal walking pole with a carrying strap visually resembling
 the type used by hikers from their courier bag to check for obstacles
 amid the lowered visibility.</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>Confidence watches all of your hand gestures closely, and then nods
 resolutely. They draw their large hoe, and turn and start to crouch run
 toward the main entrance to to the main hall of the library.</p>
 <p>Bread looks confused, but ready to follow Confidence. They grab their
 heavy meat tenderizer and crouch down in imitation of their fellow
 toque. Before they can run off, you shove a bag of croutons into their
 arms. “Small. Toasted. Bread,” they intonate slowly in wonder. The
 confusion falls from their face as they break into a wide grin. “Now
 I’ll never disappear without a trace,” they laugh. They thank you and
 run like a duck after Confidence.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <p>Inside, Inky lobs the empty glass vial that had held the unpleasantly
 pungent organic catalyst at a spot the floor several paces roughly from
 where the Cyberplasm — presumably the leader of the group — had been
 standing earlier, in the opposite direction of the staff entrance in an
 attempt to attention from the hotelier’s last location. As they edge
 along the wall towards the tower stairs, walking pole looped over one
 hand, Inky grabs a few small hardcover novellas from a wall shelf.
 Straightening from their crouch, Inky tosses them one at a time
 horizontally in quick succession like a discus, but without the
 full-body turning motion, across the hall towards the sounds of
 frustrated groans and angry muttering. The first starting higher around
 where a human head might have once been, one at waist height and another
 at the juncture below where ectoplasmic knees might meet prosthetic
 legs.</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>You pick up three hardback novellas. If it wasn’t so smoky, and if
 you weren’t so much in the middle of a potentially life and death
 struggle with the Cyberplasm captain of a pirate airship, you might
 notice their titles: <em>Stop and Smell the Crystals</em>, <em>Living
 the Corn</em>, and <em>A Big Moon</em>.</p>
 <!--
 NOTE: book titles generated by https://booktitlegenerator.com/
 //-->
 <p>Anyway, you start flinging.</p>
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever cyber eye
 1: Things go poorly; gain 1 xp
 Spend xp to level up, Throwing 2
 //-->
 <p>After you toss the catalyst, you can see a plasmic form heavily
 blurred and obscured by the smoke turn in that direction. You fling
 <em>Stop and Smell the Crystals</em> at it, and it spins like a discus
 and smashes into the pirate right in the face, above the chin. It howls
 and brings its hand to its face, and turns and charges up its arm
 cannon.</p>
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever arm canon
 5 (2): Success at cost
 //-->
 <p>Mostly going on sound now, you fling <em>Living the Corn</em> at the
 pirate’s moan and at the electric whine of the canon charging. You hear
 the canon discharge but the half-blind pirate fires wide. You see the
 flash of the energy blast hitting something, someone, else obscured by
 smoke in the middle distance between the two of you. A man screams out
 in pain. Right after the muffled thump of his body hitting the ground,
 you hear the clinking and ringing of something heavy and metallic
 striking and rolling across the floor.</p>
 <p><em>Living on Corn</em> strikes the pirate in the elbow, and with a
 fizzle and a spark, the arm cannon sputters offline.</p>
 <!--
 Inky rolls Do Anything 1 to sever cyber leg
 6 4: Great Success!
 //-->
 <p>The pirate stumbles forward, half-lame and half-blind. It stoops and
 scoops up a heavy melon-sized object. It stomps its cybernetic boot, and
 small rockets spring out from small compartments on either side of its
 ankle. They start to fire up and the pirate is about to make its escape
 when <em>A Big Moon</em> hits it right above knee and severs the ghost’s
 final connection to its final enhancement.</p>
 <p>It groans as it starts to dissipate, dropping the heavy object once
 more.</p>
 <p>“My crew, it is too late for me! I shall never have a new body now!
 But it’s not too late for you! You must bring the quintessence to
 Mother!”</p>
 <p>And then the pirate’s essence is diluted in the smoke filling the
 library.</p>
 <blockquote>
 <p>At that moment Inky hears a very low whirring accompanied by clicking
 sounds behind them and without glancing backwards, swings the walking
 pole at the source of the buzzing. The stick collides with something,
 sending it careening backwards with a light clatter through what is
 likely a row of bookshelves around the area already partially emptied of
 their contents. From the static noise that ensues, Inky realises
 whatever it was may or may not have been one of the wizard’s bugs
 hovering in the shadows earlier or a disembodied, ectoplasm-spewing
 prosthetic limb after all. Inky calls out sheepishly, “Sorry, Young
 Master Alex! Was that yours? Oops? Haha?” before smashing two more empty
 glass bottles as a distraction for any remaining Cyberplasms lurking on
 the same floor, and sprints up the tower stairs, using the banisters as
 a guide.</p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>The Amber Imp is feverishly reporting all the goings on from inside
 the S.T.A.G. drone when Inky strikes its conveyance with their walking
 pole. The bug is destroyed on contact. The imp barely manages to fire
 off one final End Of Transmission post before ejecting from the craft,
 which sinks below like an exploded firework. It drifts on the currents
 of smoke and flows out through the hole in the wall into the open air
 outside. The imp falls through open space and starts to think back on
 its life. So much time and energy spent chasing its hopes and dreams,
 its goals and aspirations. So much of its life wasted in pursuit. Always
 reaching, never grasping. Is that all it gets? Is this the end? Did it
 ever really even get a chance to really live?</p>
 <p>These thoughts race through its head as it falls, but are cut short
 when it abruptly lands on a hard bed of cloudstuff. It tumbles and rolls
 and comes to a stop. And when it looks up, amazed to be alive and vowing
 to make the most of this second chance at life, it looks up into the
 benevolent smiling face of a pink zephynos.</p>
 <p>~</p>
 <p>Inky, you cross the floor to where the pirate had its last stand. You
 find what appears to be approximately one-fifth of the hotelier, and
 wonder idly where the rest of him might be. And you notice a conspicuous
 lack of Ginnarak Crystal.</p>
 <p>You do however notice a soft crunch underfoot. And when you bend down
 to inspect it—disorganized cyberplasms running amok in the smoke behind
 you—you discover a trail of mango flavored croutons leading across the
 hall to the tower stairs.</p>
 <p>You sprint up the stairs using the banisters as a guide. The
 breadcrumb trail ends on the seventh level, where Confidence sits
 slumped against the wall between two bookshelves. They have one arm
 around four-fifths of the hotelier, his shocked gaze telling you
 everything you need to know, that he is entirely dead but just doesn’t
 know it yet. Their other arm is around Bread, who has suffered a massive
 wound to the chest and is only slightly more alive than the hotelier. On
 the ground between Confidence’s legs is the Ginnarak Crystal. Several
 loose pages are stuck to its sides, held in place by drying blood and
 ectoplasm.</p>
 <p>Confidence looks at you and smiles wearily. “We left a trail for you.
 It was Bread’s idea. They were a good guide.”</p>
 <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
 <p><a
 href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00250.html">www</a></p>
 <h2 id="bestiary">Bestiary</h2>
 <p>Some of the creatures who inhabit the world of Basmentaria</p>
 <dt>