📚 docs

LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Copyright 2022 dozens <dozens@tilde.team>
+
+Nazis and terfs can fuck off.
+
+CC BY NC ND
+https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
+Contact the author for exceptions

README.md

@@ -1,18 +1,30 @@
+note: this readme is spoiler-free. but the contents of this repo are not. if you are one of my current players, proceed at your own peril.
+
 # BASEMENT QUEST
 
-the kids in the basement are gonna play some rpg in on the listserv
+the kids in the basement are gonna play some rpg on the listserv
 
 ## about
 
-this is an iteration on my usual pandoc static site generator
+this is an iteration on my usual pandoc static site generator, with---as usual---just a sprinkling of m4
 
-## order
+## getting started
+
+you will need:
+
+- pandoc v2.19.2: markdown to html and rss
+- m4 v1.4.6: macros. currently used for generating statistics in `about.md`
+- (optional) just v1.4.0: a command runner. optional, because you can just manually run all the commands in the justfile.
+
+read the justfile or run `just` to see what commands are available.
+
+## page order
 
 instead of relying on literally naming files `0001-me-first.md` and `0002-me-second.md` so they are concatenated in the correct order[^order], this repo introduces `basement.order`
 
-in the file, you can `ls ./**/**` to list all files, and then order them in the way that is most pleasing to you
+in the file, you can `ls src/**/**` to list all files, and then order them in the way that is most pleasing to you
 
-NOTE: you will of course need to update `basement.order` each time you add a document to the source.
+NOTE: you will of course need to update `basement.order` with the new docoument path every time you add a document to the source.
 
 [^order]: this is the strategy i employed in *forest*. it worked okay, but left something to be desired. namely, the flexibility to insert new files at random locations, or to rearrange existing files, without having to rename a bunch of files. i'm not sure this current solution is the best one. but it is an improvement i think. <https://git.tilde.town/dozens/forest/>
 
@@ -20,9 +32,9 @@ NOTE: you will of course need to update `basement.order` each time you add a doc
 
 documents are markdown with yaml frontmatter. they are compiled into:
 
-- html with spoilers for game ref
-- 'public' html sans spoilers for players
-- rss feed for syndicated documents
+- `www/spoilers.html`: html with spoilers for game ref
+- `www/index.html`: 'public' html sans spoilers for players
+- `www/rss.xml`: rss feed for syndicated documents
 
 ## metadata
 
@@ -32,8 +44,8 @@ fields:
 
 - title (string): title of the document. mostly for rss item id
 - created (date): date of creation. probably needs to be in `date -R` format.
-- updated (date): date of most recent update. mostly of rss. probably needs to be in `date -R` format.
-- public[^bool] (bool) (optional): spoiler-free content
+- updated (date): date of most recent update. mostly for rss. probably needs to be in `date -R` format.
+- public[^bool] (bool) (optional): is this spoiler-free content appropriate for public consumption?
 - syndicated[^bool] (bool) (optional): should this document be included in the rss feed?
 
 example:
@@ -54,6 +66,14 @@ syndicated: yes
 
 you can define macros in `/macros` and then include them in your documents to be expanded while building.
 
-i arbitrarily adopted a "zxMACRONAME" naming convention because an all-caps macro name is *probably* safe, but is even safer with a random `zx` in front of it.
+i arbitrarily adopted a "zxMACRONAME" naming convention with a 'zx' namespace because while an all-caps macro name is *probably* safe, it is even safer with a random `zx` in front of it.
 
 also it gives you good autocompletion if all your macros have the same prefix / namespace.
+
+i just recently learned about m4 frozen state files, and have started using loading state from `macros.m4f`
+
+<https://web.mit.edu/gnu/doc/html/m4_14.html>
+
+there are only marginal improvements to build times because of this; the slowness comes from expensive system calls, not from a massive amount of macros.
+
+but so, if you add macros or make changes to the existing ones, you will need to run `just freeze` prior to rebuilding.

basement.order

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 src/about.md
 src/characters/index.md
 src/characters/corraidhin.md
+src/characters/gabs.md
 src/characters/glarg.md
 src/characters/inky.md
 src/characters/jarrod.md
@@ -20,6 +21,8 @@ src/epistolary/00023.md
 src/epistolary/00024.md
 src/epistolary/00025.md
 src/epistolary/00026.md
+src/epistolary/00027.md
+src/epistolary/00028.md
 src/bestiary/index.md
 src/bestiary/aur.md
 src/bestiary/blahoblin.md

justfile

@@ -2,11 +2,15 @@
 default:
   just --list --unsorted
 
+# only run if changes are made to macros
+freeze:
+  m4 -F macros.m4f macros
+
 # build referee facing html
 spoilers:
   cat basement.order \
   | xargs pandoc -f markdown -t markdown \
-  | m4 macros - \
+  | m4 -R macros.m4f - \
   | pandoc \
     -t html \
     --standalone \
@@ -19,7 +23,7 @@ spoilers:
 public:
   cat basement.order \
   | xargs -I % pandoc -f markdown -t markdown --template=templates/public.tmpl % \
-  | m4 macros - \
+  | m4 -R macros.m4f - \
   | pandoc -t html \
     --standalone \
     --toc \
@@ -53,7 +57,7 @@ up:
 assets:
   rsync -vup assets/* www/
 
-# build public, spoilers, and rss
+# build public, spoilers, assets, and rss
 build: spoilers public rss assets
 
 # watch for changes
@@ -64,7 +68,7 @@ watch:
 open:
   open www/index.html
 
-# do some writing
+# watch and open
 dev: open watch
 
 # build and upload

macros

@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
-changequote(`<!', `!>')dnl
-define(<!zxWPM!>, 234)dnl
-define(<!zxWORDS!>, <!esyscmd(pandoc -t plain www/index.html | wc -w | sed -e 's/ //g' | tr '\n' ' ')!>)dnl
-define(<!zxMINUTES!>, <!esyscmd(expr zxWORDS / zxWPM | tr '\n' ' ')!>)dnl
-changequote()dnl
+divert(-1)dnl
+changequote(`<!', `!>')
+
+# Constants
+define(<!zxINBOXPATH!>, <!/Users/cb/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/o0gmn24o.default-release/ImapMail/imap.tilde.team/INBOX!>)
+define(<!zxSTARTDATE!>, <!20220713!>)
+define(<!zxWPM!>, <!234!>)
+define(<!zxSTRIP!>, <! tr '\n' ' ' | sed -e 's/ //g'!>)
+
+# System Calls
+define(<!zxNOMESSAGES!>, <!esyscmd(grep '\[tildepals\] BASEMENT QUEST' zxINBOXPATH | wc -l | zxSTRIP )!>)
+define(<!zxWORDS!>, <!esyscmd(pandoc -t plain www/index.html | wc -w | zxSTRIP)!>)
+define(<!zxDAYS!>, <!esyscmd(echo "(`gdate +%s` - `gdate +%s -d zxSTARTDATE`) / 86400" | bc | tr '\n' ' ')!>)
+define(<!zxMINUTES!>, <!esyscmd(echo "zxWORDS / zxWPM" | bc | zxSTRIP)!>)
+define(<!zxPOSTRATE!>, <!esyscmd(echo "scale=2; zxNOMESSAGES / zxDAYS" | bc | zxSTRIP)!>)
+
+changequote()
+divert(0)dnl

macros.m4f

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+# This is a frozen state file generated by GNU M4 1.4.6
+V1
+Q0,1
+'
+F6,6
+substrsubstr
+F5,5
+ifdefifdef
+F6,6
+syscmdsyscmd
+F8,8
+patsubstpatsubst
+F4,4
+defndefn
+F7,7
+dumpdefdumpdef
+F4,4
+evaleval
+T11,8
+zxSTARTDATE20220713
+T12,75
+zxNOMESSAGESesyscmd(grep '\[tildepals\] BASEMENT QUEST' zxINBOXPATH | wc -l | zxSTRIP )
+F6,6
+divnumdivnum
+F5,5
+indirindir
+F5,5
+indexindex
+F6,6
+formatformat
+T7,57
+zxWORDSesyscmd(pandoc -t plain www/index.html | wc -w | zxSTRIP)
+T7,0
+__gnu__
+F6,6
+m4exitm4exit
+F9,9
+changecomchangecom
+T8,0
+__unix__
+F8,8
+translittranslit
+F8,8
+errprinterrprint
+F4,4
+decrdecr
+F8,8
+maketempmaketemp
+F7,7
+includeinclude
+T10,61
+zxPOSTRATEesyscmd(echo "scale=2; zxNOMESSAGES / zxDAYS" | bc | zxSTRIP)
+F11,11
+__program____program__
+F6,6
+ifelseifelse
+F5,5
+shiftshift
+T5,3
+zxWPM234
+F6,6
+sysvalsysval
+T11,94
+zxINBOXPATH/Users/cb/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/o0gmn24o.default-release/ImapMail/imap.tilde.team/INBOX
+F8,8
+__line____line__
+F6,6
+m4wrapm4wrap
+F7,7
+esyscmdesyscmd
+F4,4
+incrincr
+T9,46
+zxMINUTESesyscmd(echo "zxWORDS / zxWPM" | bc | zxSTRIP)
+F6,6
+divertdivert
+F3,3
+dnldnl
+T7,30
+zxSTRIP tr '\n' ' ' | sed -e 's/ //g'
+F8,8
+undivertundivert
+F8,8
+sincludesinclude
+F6,6
+definedefine
+F8,8
+undefineundefine
+F6,6
+regexpregexp
+F9,9
+debugfiledebugfile
+F7,7
+builtinbuiltin
+T6,85
+zxDAYSesyscmd(echo "(`gdate +%s` - `gdate +%s -d zxSTARTDATE`) / 86400" | bc | tr '\n' ' ')
+F8,8
+__file____file__
+F7,7
+pushdefpushdef
+F11,11
+changequotechangequote
+F9,9
+debugmodedebugmode
+F8,8
+traceofftraceoff
+F7,7
+traceontraceon
+F3,3
+lenlen
+F6,6
+popdefpopdef
+# End of frozen state file

src/about.md

@@ -4,9 +4,13 @@ created: Tue, 26 Jul 2022 20:32:23 -0600
 updated: Tue, 26 Jul 2022 20:32:23 -0600
 public: yes
 ---
-## About
+## Stats
 
-Total length: zxWORDS words / zxMINUTES minutes
+Total length: zxWORDS words / zxMINUTES minute read.
+
+There have been zxNOMESSAGES messages posted over zxDAYS days since the first post on July 13, 2022 for a daily post rate of zxPOSTRATE.
+
+## About
 
 This is a game that me and the kids in the basement are playing over email.
 
@@ -15,3 +19,4 @@ This is a game that me and the kids in the basement are playing over email.
 You can [read from the beginning](#chapter-1), or jump into the [current story arc](#current-story).
 
 If you're not on the mailing list and want to keep up with the story, you can [subscribe to the rss feed](https://tilde.town/~dozens/quest/rss.xml).
+

src/characters/gabs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+---
+title: gabs
+created: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:41:37 -0600
+updated: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:41:37 -0600
+public: yes
+---
+### Gabs
+
+<details>
+<summary>Bio</summary>
+Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all grown adults now, and she no longer wanted to toil away running a business. When she initially shuttered her little tavern, she thought she might just retire. She made it two whole years of working in a garden, occasionally seeing grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided she needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a nearby port town. She was sure to find something fun to do there. 
+
+Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of debauchery wafting from within made her miss her days gossiping at her tavern. She enters and orders a terrible drink and listens and watches. 
+
+Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she decides, “I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that sounds exciting!” 
+
+Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join on the journey! 
+
+Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to schmooze and have fun!
+</details>
+
+- Player: archangelic
+- XP: 0
+- Skills: Do Anything 1
+- Equipment:
+
+Paths:
+
+- Retriever: Contractual Obligation, An Auspicious Start
+

src/epistolary/00026.md

@@ -7,30 +7,81 @@ syndicated: yes
 ---
 ### 00026 {#00026}
 
-> Inky slowly approaches Master Corraidhín and taps lightly on the sleeve of his robes to get his attention. Between Inky's tugging and Jarrod's strong, steady hand, they manage to hoist the wizard to his feet. 
+> Inky slowly approaches Master Corraidhín and taps lightly on the
+> sleeve of his robes to get his attention. Between Inky's tugging
+> and Jarrod's strong, steady hand, they manage to hoist the wizard
+> to his feet. 
 > 
-> With a brief glance at the hobbit on the floor then a nod to Jarrod, Inky leaves the nightclub with the wizard. The duck, having emptied the plate of corn chips in record time, follows them shortly after.
+> With a brief glance at the hobbit on the floor then a nod to
+> Jarrod, Inky leaves the nightclub with the wizard. The duck, having
+> emptied the plate of corn chips in record time, follows them
+> shortly after.
 > 
-> The trek back to the Milk Market is mostly silent aside from the occasional mutter and stumbling curse, the mage seemingly having fallen asleep as soon as he landed on the cot in the loft. Inky retreats downstairs after leaving a jug of water, a mug and a small packet of kuding leaves beside the bed.
+> The trek back to the Milk Market is mostly silent aside from the
+> occasional mutter and stumbling curse, the mage seemingly having
+> fallen asleep as soon as he landed on the cot in the loft. Inky
+> retreats downstairs after leaving a jug of water, a mug and a small
+> packet of kuding leaves beside the bed.
 > 
-> Exiting through the back door into the night, Inky finds a dark corner in a dusty abandoned house, and cries.
+> Exiting through the back door into the night, Inky finds a dark
+> corner in a dusty abandoned house, and cries.
 
 ~
 
 > " ... and then the Orc Maiden said: 'That's not my club!'"
 > 
-> The room roars with laughter, and Jarrod moves to the bar and puts a bag of coin down. "Serve drinks until this runs out!" Leaning over the bar to the bartender, Jarrod adds in a whisper: "I owe a favour to Lucy's Basement for the trouble. Call it in when needed."
+> The room roars with laughter, and Jarrod moves to the bar and puts
+> a bag of coin down. "Serve drinks until this runs out!" Leaning
+> over the bar to the bartender, Jarrod adds in a whisper: "I owe a
+> favour to Lucy's Basement for the trouble. Call it in when needed."
 > 
-> Jarrod saunters over to Blavin, on the floor in pain. From his pack, Jarrod retrieves a med kit and begins to bandage the wound.
+> Jarrod saunters over to Blavin, on the floor in pain. From his
+> pack, Jarrod retrieves a med kit and begins to bandage the wound.
 > 
-> As Blavin opens his mouth, likely intending to raise all kinds of hell, Jarrod pulls tight on the bandage he is currently applying, drawing a curse from the hobbit. "Shut it! Let's be clear. You've hired us for a dangerous set of jobs, with the understanding that we're dangerous people. There may be 'accidents' on occasion. You've learned something today, and what's more, you lived to absorb your new wisdom."
+> As Blavin opens his mouth, likely intending to raise all kinds of
+> hell, Jarrod pulls tight on the bandage he is currently applying,
+> drawing a curse from the hobbit. "Shut it! Let's be clear. You've
+> hired us for a dangerous set of jobs, with the understanding that
+> we're dangerous people. There may be 'accidents' on occasion.
+> You've learned something today, and what's more, you lived to
+> absorb your new wisdom."
 > 
-> Jarrod grins as he finishes with the bandage. "We will finish what we have started. We're probably the team with the best chances, I'm sure you'll agree. Are you going to back the winning play here? Either way, your decision won't change our plans. I'm sure you know how to take the win."
+> Jarrod grins as he finishes with the bandage. "We will finish what
+> we have started. We're probably the team with the best chances, I'm
+> sure you'll agree. Are you going to back the winning play here?
+> Either way, your decision won't change our plans. I'm sure you know
+> how to take the win."
 > 
-> Jarrod pats the hobbit's good shoulder in a friendly, but dismissive, way, then turns and saunters out the door, trading small quips with his new (and now very drunk) tavern friends.
+> Jarrod pats the hobbit's good shoulder in a friendly, but
+> dismissive, way, then turns and saunters out the door, trading
+> small quips with his new (and now very drunk) tavern friends.
 
+You are at a small port town on the northern tip of Agendell, just
+past the Rana'For Valley. The sun is bright and the wind blowing in
+from the Sugrin Sea to the east is cool and salty. The floating
+island-city of Vay'Neddas, bridging Agendell and Primora, can be seen
+very faintly in the distance hanging in the northern sky.
 
+Your faithful multibeast is carrying all of your supplies and gear,
+which were generously provided to you by the indefatigable Blavin
+Blandfoot. His arm in a sling, he kept up a constant nervous chatter
+as he saw you off on your journey to recover the second Ginnarak
+Crystal.
 
-WHAT DO YOU DO
+From here, you can easily provision a boat to take you out to the
+site of the shipwreck just off the coast.
 
-[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00015.html)
+Or, optionally, you are very close to the Hartlands. It would be
+quite easy to make a quick visit to hemogoblins and pick up some
+synthetic blood for your experiments with the Sword of Yam'L.
+
+The sword, incidentally, after finally tasting the blood of "evil",
+has remained sated and entirely inert and unresponsive this whole
+time.
+
+WHAT DO YOU DO:
+
+1) TO THE SHIPWRECK
+2) BLOODQUEST
+
+[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00018.html)

src/epistolary/00027.md

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+---
+title: 00027
+created: Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:14:31 -0600
+updated: Fri, 28 Oct 2022 10:36:42 -0600
+public: yes
+syndicated: yes
+---
+### 00027 {#00027}
+
+> Inky stares down at the package, weighing it on one hand.
+> 
+> It was lighter than it should be given the density of the contents
+> within, wrapped in straw and thick brown weight-absorbent parcel
+> paper for dry goods. Most of the clientele were merchants and
+> cultists from other parts of the continent who ordered pallets to
+> be shipped back from the port town and sold to select boutique
+> grocers or spilled on altars. Inside was a block of congealed
+> synthetic blood shaped like a mud brick, the dark crimson almost
+> black under the shop's dim light. 
+> 
+> It was sheer happenstance that Inky had found this particular
+> supplier. Having been informed heir boat to the shipwreck would not
+> arrive for several hours, the members of their merry tea party had
+> wandered off to enjoy the local sights while they waited. Inky had
+> inquired about the hemogoblins and learned in passing that there
+> was a district at the western edge of the town where a smaller
+> group had set up warehouses, which would save them a two-day trip
+> deep into the Hartlands. The hemogoblins in the district were
+> primarily wholesalers, and it had taken some convincing before one
+> of the proprietors agreed to sell a block of it, along with
+> assurances Inky would purchase exclusively from him next time and
+> in larger quantities.
+> 
+> Thin fingers fiddle with the string before the package was set to
+> one side.
+> 
+> What were they doing?
+> 
+> If quenching the thirst were so simple, wouldn't any student of
+> magic have already thought of it, let alone an experienced
+> sysorceror? In all likelihood he had already known the inevitable,
+> but was too polite to refuse Inky's funny concoctions. Maybe deep
+> down, Inky already knew too, but didn't want to say it out loud.
+> That the long feather they thought they had seen among the tea
+> leaves was actually a dagger. That they hadn't wanted to admit some
+> problems could not be whisked away with some tincture or another.
+> That they had failed, again.
+> 
+> They hadn't searched enough for better ingredients to go into the
+> pudding, hadn't reacted fast enough after noticing the sword had
+> abruptly disappeared, hadn't thrown the large platter of mouldy
+> meat the terrified waitress next to them had been holding at
+> Blavin's head, or something. The sword had gotten what it demanded,
+> and Inky couldn't be angry with it — it had never been subtle about
+> what it wanted. Had the blood pudding worsened the effects? Potions
+> had never been on Inky's menu. Brewing inks and teas with certain
+> mild effects was straightforward enough, but curing chronic
+> ailments was firmly in healers' territory and just as bewildering.
+> While it may be true nobody could be held to account for the
+> actions of another not in full control of themselves, and hardly
+> those of a rogue weapon with a mind of its own, sticking their nose
+> in other people's affairs was the surest way to get into trouble, a
+> fact Inky still has difficulty learning after decades of wandering
+> the continent.
+> 
+> Would this substrate even work? Maybe it acted differently for
+> cursed objects than coffin sleepers. Having brought it back and now
+> aboard the ship, how would they even give it to the wizard? Should
+> they wait and made sure Master Corraidhín was truly rested and
+> recovered, despite his insistence he was more than fine? Would it
+> be an insulting reminder of weakness, despite the wizard having
+> proven unusual mental fortitude in staving off the screams for
+> blood as long as he had? Was this more of the same, adding to what
+> they had (not) done? 
+> 
+> After a long moment, Inky rolls the package with the producers'
+> leaflet haphazardly in an old sailor's rags still reeking of cheap
+> alcohol, and passing by the wizard's empty cabin on the way to the
+> deck, places the messy bundle on the floorboards two steps from the
+> door. Let the fates decide this one, because Inky's magic 0 ball
+> sure doesn't make the best life choices.
+
+Blavin has arranged transportation to the shipwreck ahead of time.
+All you have to do is head down to the docks and meet your contact,
+Three-Fingered Gerald, at a seedy dive bar named Inquire Within Upon
+Everything.
+
+Inquire Within is as eclectic and gaudy as the name would imply. The
+bar serves as an extensive and impressive piece of living
+documentation, drawing heavily on the port town's cosmopolitan
+mixture of culture. Every kind of style, cuisine, decor, and beverage
+can be found here mishmashed together irregardless of good taste. Its
+contents are encyclopedic and claustrophobic. And yet it is not
+without its own peculiar brand of overwhelming, garish charm.
+
+You find Mister Three-Fingered at the bar entertaining his fellow
+patrons with a grotesque sleight of hand routine that involves
+passing his gold-plated false eye from its socket, to either hand,
+inside his mouth, and back with lots of flourish, fanfare, and
+misdirection along the way.
+
+He is a merry, boisterous sailor short one eye, half an ear, several
+fingers, and---he confesses to you---the heel of his left foot. "It's
+why I walk so slow, you see." The other barflies call him "Lucky"
+Three-Fingered Gerald. Because a certain kind of man---and Gerald is
+one of them---can never have enough nicknames. After you buy him a
+drink or three, he escorts you out of Inquire Within and to the slip
+where the sloop *Diamond Howler* is docked. Its captain, Enid Barlow,
+welcomes you aboard.
+
+Before long, *Diamond Howler* pulls out under the command of Captain
+Barlow and First Mate "Lucky" Three-Fingered Gerald. The site isn't
+too far off the coast, and you arrive fairly quickly.
+
+"Aye, here she is. The SS RSS." says Captain Barlow mournfully. "You
+can't see her from up here. But you rest assured, she's down there,
+resting on the seabed. She was the best cargo runner on the Sugrin
+back in her day! Distributing goods up and down the coast. Until the
+day she disappeared. Nobody knew what happened to her, not for sure.
+Still don't. But at least we know where she wound up!"
+
+While the captain reminisces, Three-Fingered Gerald drags a large
+water tank across the deck, sloshing water over the edge with each
+step. Translucent orb-like jellyfish wobble around and bump into each
+other inside the tank, releasing little effervescent bubbles that
+fizzle and pop when they collide. "Here we go!" announces Mister
+Three-Fingered, depositing the tank of jellies in front of you.
+"Sailed through a big bloom of breathing bells just last week, didn't
+we! Managed to scoop up a whole bunch of the little suckers. You ever
+use a breathing bell before? No? Aw, it's easy! Ya just pull one on
+over your head like a hood, and it'll breathe for ya while you're
+below the waves!"
+
+WHAT DO YOU DO
+
+NOTE: We just covered a lot of narrative ground. Feel free to react
+to anything that happened between arriving at the docks, meeting
+Gerald and drinking at Inquire Within, boarding the Diamond Howler,
+and sailing to the site of the wreck.
+
+[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00020.html)
+

src/epistolary/00028.md

@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+---
+title: 00028
+created: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 -0600
+updated: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 -0600
+public: yes
+syndicated: yes
+---
+### 00028 {#00028}
+
+> ~*a new player enters the chat*~
+> 
+> Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all grown
+> adults now, and she no longer wanted to toil away running a
+> business. When she initially shuttered her little tavern, she
+> thought she might just retire. She made it two whole years of
+> working in a garden, occasionally seeing grandkids, and reading
+> romance novels. She eventually decided she needed a vacation from
+> her retirement and traveled to a nearby port town. She was sure to
+> find something fun to do there. 
+> 
+> Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of debauchery
+> wafting from within made her miss her days gossiping at her tavern.
+> She enters and orders a terrible drink and listens and watches. 
+> 
+> Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she decides,
+> “I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that sounds exciting!” 
+> 
+> Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join on the
+> journey! 
+> 
+> Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to schmooze and
+> have fun!
+
+~
+
+> Meta: a warm welcome to the latest member of our tea party! This is
+> a short post to help smooth the temporal jumps between the recent
+> narratives so far. As Inky reaches the deck, they see Gabs
+> approaching from the other side of the ship as well, and flashes
+> them a grin in greeting. After listening to the captain petering on
+> about the glorious days of the now sunken ship below, while
+> tinkering with the bell's tentacles — being rewarded with a mild
+> zap and marginally better fit for the effort — Inky turns to the
+> party. "When you're ready."
+
+You reach into the tank and discover that grabbing a breathing bell
+takes some finesse. They are very slippery! But you get the hang of
+it and make a ladle out of your hands and scoop one up.
+
+"Okay now!" laughs Three-Fingered Gerald. He gives you a wink, but
+it's easy to miss because of the eyepatch. "Don't put it on until
+right before you jump. It won't be able to breathe for you until
+you're in the water. And this!" he continues, fitting a heavy, padded
+vest around your shoulders, "will carry you down." It is a vest of
+many pockets, each one holding a small dense sandbag the size of your
+hand. "When you're ready to come back up, just start dropping
+ballast, right?"
+
+You hop up on the ship railing and pull the breathing bell on over
+your head. It immediately contracts and squeezes and hugs your head
+like a second skin, and its stubby little tentacles grab hold around
+your jawline, and it feels like you have a wet plastic bag clinging
+to your face, and you think you might have made a grave mistake.
+Resisting the urge to panic, you push off the railing and jump
+overboard. You are briefly air born and then profoundly waterbound,
+crashing through the surface of the sea into the briny soup below.
+
+The oxygen starts to flow as the breathing bell begins to do its job.
+As you sink, you feel as though you are floating through space,
+entering another world.
+
+After a while you start to hear voices arguing in the distance. As
+you get closer, two large shapes start to come into focus. The first
+is a hulking, hairless merbear. Top half (hairless) bear, bottom half
+fish. The second figure is a tardigrade the size of a large merbear.
+It has eight jointless legs, each tipped with four sharp claws. It
+wriggles and wobbles like jelly as it gesticulates.
+
+"No, I am the true Bear of the Sea! I am called a Water Bear, after
+all!"
+
+"Hornswoggle and poppycock! It is I who am the Bear of the Sea! I am
+half bear after all! You're just some kind of segmented nematode or
+something."
+
+The tardigrade quivers with indignation. "I'll have you know I'm a
+panarthropod, thank you very much. And this is the ideal physical
+body! You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks
+like. I've lived under the polar ice cap, and in a sulfurous
+mountaintop hot spring. I've traveled through the vacuum of space to
+the moon! Have you ever been to the moon?"
+
+"Why don't you go be the Bear of the Moon then if you like it so
+much!"
+
+"You're just as much fish as you are bear, are you sure you're not
+the Fish of the Sea?"
+
+"Are you sure you're not the Blob of the Sea, you too many armed bowl
+of jelly?"
+
+"Hey! Hey, you there!" The arguing quasi-bears have spotted your slow
+descent. "Come, yes, float slowly this way! You must settle an
+argument for us! Tell this slightly mammalian fish that I am the true
+Bear of the Sea!"
+
+"The Bear of the Sea must be at least 'slightly mammalian' you
+egg-laying scientific curiosity! You, tell this cousin of a barnacle
+that I---the mighty merbear---am the true Bear of the Sea! Say this
+and I will guide and protect you on your journey."
+
+"No! Would you like to visit the moon? Say that I, tardigrade, am
+Bear of the Sea and I will introduce you to my moon friends!"
+
+"He had to make friends on the moon because nobody on Urth can stand
+him!"
+
+"You're just mean, you know that?"
+
+You are still quite some way from the sea bed, and there is no sight
+of the SS RSS.
+
+WHAT DO YOU DO
+
+[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00023.html)
+
+

src/geography.md

@@ -6,10 +6,14 @@ public: yes
 ---
 ## Geography
 
+<details><summary>Map</summary>![Map](map.webp)</details>
+
 Basmentaria is a group of islands that sits between the eastern Sugrin Sea and the western Saldin Sea.
 
-There is Primora, the northern somewhat banana-shaped island.
+There is Primora, the sparsely populated northern somewhat banana-shaped island. The city-state of Illivas, Primora’s only densely populated area, sits between Harshwind Glade and the mountains of Kelsun Peak.
 
-And there is Agendell, the southern also slightly banana-shaped island. Its largest city is Vay'Nullar, surrounded by the Gnomelands to the south, and the Tammineaux Forest to the east. Beyond the forest is the Rana'For Valley.
+And there Agendell, the southern also slightly banana-shaped island. Its largest city is Vay’Nullar, bordered by the Gnomelands to the south, and the Tammineaux Forest to the east. Beyond the forest is the Rana’For Valley.
 
-The two crescent-moon islands reach toward each other, and in the center is Ginnarak, the small archipelago comprising the Cinderlands, Ashen Vale, the Ember Steppe, and Drakspon Mountain.
+The two crescent-moon islands reach toward each other, and in the center is the archipelago of Ginnarak, comprising the Cinderlands, Ashen Vale, the Ember Steppe, and Drakspon Mountain.
+
+[00022](#00022)

src/meta.md

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ We're gonna play this by ear, and cross each bridge only when we get to it.
 
 - Cadence: I'll move the story along roughly once a week. Hopefully that gives everybody time to post something and participate.
 
-- Inclusion over realism: If you disappear for a while and then come back, your character will immediately reappear as though they've been there the whole time. Come and go as you please. Open door policy!
+- Open Table / Inclusion over realism: If you disappear for a while and then come back, your character will immediately reappear as though they've been there the whole time. Come and go as you please. Open door policy! Drop in and drop out as you please.
 
 - Linearity: Respond only to the most recent email in the thread. (We might play around with time later, but for now, let's keep it simple.)
 

src/notes.md

@@ -11,19 +11,19 @@ NAMES AND NPCS
 
 Upcoming NPCs and/or monsters
 
-- zai-ni
-- zeyeknee
-- standard ed
-- three fingered gerald
-- paladin of emacs
-- monks of vim
-- gnu zealots
-- hinderbloke, gnu
-- falterchap, gnu
-- Hap-n-stance, moon rabbit: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit>
-- Cyber Woman With Corn! -- <https://www.shutterstock.com/search/cyber-woman-with-corn>
-- oracle - <https://lambdacreate.com/paste/midjourney.png>
-- corn smut? - <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut>
+- [ ] zai-ni
+- [ ] zeyeknee
+- [ ] standard ed
+- [ ] paladin of emacs
+- [ ] monks of vim
+- [ ] hinderbloke, gnu
+- [ ] falterchap, gnu
+- [ ] Hap-n-stance, moon rabbit: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit>
+- [ ] Cyber Woman With Corn! -- <https://www.shutterstock.com/search/cyber-woman-with-corn>
+- [ ] oracle - <https://lambdacreate.com/paste/midjourney.png>
+- [ ] corn smut? - <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut>
+- [x] gnu zealots
+- [x] three fingered gerald
 
 
 CRYSTALS
@@ -48,13 +48,11 @@ todo:
 - [ ] mio's (Inky's) Handy Duffer Discette = HD Diskette = better stay away from magnets!!
 - [ ] tea omen: abacus, feather, wide building, lynx
 - [ ] MidJourney omen: priestly blood, demon
-- [ ] ・゜゜・。。・゜゜\_o< QUACK!
+- [ ] palindromes: taco cat, reward drawer, tin unit, lap pal, evil olive
 - [ ] The Benefactor is Nullar
-- [ ] Blavin is a secret agent, working for the Golden Iris, a secret society that wants to 'create balance' by seating a fourth god
+- [ ] Blavin is a secret agent, working for the Golden Iris, a secret society that wants to 'create balance' by creating a fourth god
 - [ ] Nullar got tired of being a god and wanted to die, and Neddas agreed to help him. Shit went bad and turned Liandt to stone, and Nullar's leg to stone. Now Nullar is trying to gather the Ginnarak crystals to assemble the *God Slayer* to attempt once more to end his own life.
-
-completed:
-
+- [x] ・゜゜・。。・゜゜\_o< QUACK!
 - [x] The gang has a rival: the gophers of Retrieval Team 70
 </details>
 

www/index.html

@@ -207,10 +207,12 @@
 </header>
 <nav id="TOC" role="doc-toc">
 <ul>
+<li><a href="#stats" id="toc-stats">Stats</a></li>
 <li><a href="#about" id="toc-about">About</a></li>
 <li><a href="#characters" id="toc-characters">Characters</a>
 <ul>
 <li><a href="#corraidhín" id="toc-corraidhín">Corraidhín</a></li>
+<li><a href="#gabs" id="toc-gabs">Gabs</a></li>
 <li><a href="#glarg" id="toc-glarg">Glarg</a></li>
 <li><a href="#inky" id="toc-inky">Inky</a></li>
 <li><a href="#jarrod" id="toc-jarrod">Jarrod</a></li>
@@ -244,6 +246,8 @@ of the Were-Hare</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00024" id="toc-00024">00024</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00025" id="toc-00025">00025</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00026" id="toc-00026">00026</a></li>
+<li><a href="#00027" id="toc-00027">00027</a></li>
+<li><a href="#00028" id="toc-00028">00028</a></li>
 </ul></li>
 <li><a href="#bestiary" id="toc-bestiary">Bestiary</a></li>
 <li><a href="#geography" id="toc-geography">Geography</a></li>
@@ -252,8 +256,11 @@ of the Were-Hare</a></li>
 <li><a href="#afterword" id="toc-afterword">Afterword</a></li>
 </ul>
 </nav>
+<h2 id="stats">Stats</h2>
+<p>Total length: 24524 words / 104 minute read.</p>
+<p>There have been 98 messages posted over 108 days since the first post
+on July 13, 2022 for a daily post rate of .90.</p>
 <h2 id="about">About</h2>
-<p>Total length: 21989 words / 93 minutes</p>
 <p>This is a game that me and the kids in the basement are playing over
 email.</p>
 <p><a
@@ -298,6 +305,38 @@ story entirely.</p>
 <li>Retriever: Contractual Obligation, An Auspicious Start</li>
 <li>Soulsword: Bloodlust</li>
 </ul>
+<h3 id="gabs">Gabs</h3>
+<details>
+<summary>
+<p>Bio</p>
+</summary>
+<p>Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all grown adults
+now, and she no longer wanted to toil away running a business. When she
+initially shuttered her little tavern, she thought she might just
+retire. She made it two whole years of working in a garden, occasionally
+seeing grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided she
+needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a nearby port
+town. She was sure to find something fun to do there.</p>
+<p>Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of debauchery
+wafting from within made her miss her days gossiping at her tavern. She
+enters and orders a terrible drink and listens and watches.</p>
+<p>Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she decides,
+“I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that sounds exciting!”</p>
+<p>Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join on the
+journey!</p>
+<p>Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to schmooze and
+have fun!</p>
+</details>
+<ul>
+<li>Player: archangelic</li>
+<li>XP: 0</li>
+<li>Skills: Do Anything 1</li>
+<li>Equipment:</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Paths:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Retriever: Contractual Obligation, An Auspicious Start</li>
+</ul>
 <h3 id="glarg">Glarg</h3>
 <details>
 <summary>
@@ -437,10 +476,10 @@ class="uri">https://t.co/gA6hV6VKqm</a></li>
 </ul></li>
 <li><p>Cadence: I’ll move the story along roughly once a week. Hopefully
 that gives everybody time to post something and participate.</p></li>
-<li><p>Inclusion over realism: If you disappear for a while and then
-come back, your character will immediately reappear as though they’ve
-been there the whole time. Come and go as you please. Open door
-policy!</p></li>
+<li><p>Open Table / Inclusion over realism: If you disappear for a while
+and then come back, your character will immediately reappear as though
+they’ve been there the whole time. Come and go as you please. Open door
+policy! Drop in and drop out as you please.</p></li>
 <li><p>Linearity: Respond only to the most recent email in the thread.
 (We might play around with time later, but for now, let’s keep it
 simple.)</p></li>
@@ -2671,9 +2710,236 @@ win.”</p>
 way, then turns and saunters out the door, trading small quips with his
 new (and now very drunk) tavern friends.</p>
 </blockquote>
+<p>You are at a small port town on the northern tip of Agendell, just
+past the Rana’For Valley. The sun is bright and the wind blowing in from
+the Sugrin Sea to the east is cool and salty. The floating island-city
+of Vay’Neddas, bridging Agendell and Primora, can be seen very faintly
+in the distance hanging in the northern sky.</p>
+<p>Your faithful multibeast is carrying all of your supplies and gear,
+which were generously provided to you by the indefatigable Blavin
+Blandfoot. His arm in a sling, he kept up a constant nervous chatter as
+he saw you off on your journey to recover the second Ginnarak
+Crystal.</p>
+<p>From here, you can easily provision a boat to take you out to the
+site of the shipwreck just off the coast.</p>
+<p>Or, optionally, you are very close to the Hartlands. It would be
+quite easy to make a quick visit to hemogoblins and pick up some
+synthetic blood for your experiments with the Sword of Yam’L.</p>
+<p>The sword, incidentally, after finally tasting the blood of “evil”,
+has remained sated and entirely inert and unresponsive this whole
+time.</p>
+<p>WHAT DO YOU DO:</p>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>TO THE SHIPWRECK</li>
+<li>BLOODQUEST</li>
+</ol>
+<p><a
+href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00018.html">www</a></p>
+<h3 id="00027">00027</h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Inky stares down at the package, weighing it on one hand.</p>
+<p>It was lighter than it should be given the density of the contents
+within, wrapped in straw and thick brown weight-absorbent parcel paper
+for dry goods. Most of the clientele were merchants and cultists from
+other parts of the continent who ordered pallets to be shipped back from
+the port town and sold to select boutique grocers or spilled on altars.
+Inside was a block of congealed synthetic blood shaped like a mud brick,
+the dark crimson almost black under the shop’s dim light.</p>
+<p>It was sheer happenstance that Inky had found this particular
+supplier. Having been informed heir boat to the shipwreck would not
+arrive for several hours, the members of their merry tea party had
+wandered off to enjoy the local sights while they waited. Inky had
+inquired about the hemogoblins and learned in passing that there was a
+district at the western edge of the town where a smaller group had set
+up warehouses, which would save them a two-day trip deep into the
+Hartlands. The hemogoblins in the district were primarily wholesalers,
+and it had taken some convincing before one of the proprietors agreed to
+sell a block of it, along with assurances Inky would purchase
+exclusively from him next time and in larger quantities.</p>
+<p>Thin fingers fiddle with the string before the package was set to one
+side.</p>
+<p>What were they doing?</p>
+<p>If quenching the thirst were so simple, wouldn’t any student of magic
+have already thought of it, let alone an experienced sysorceror? In all
+likelihood he had already known the inevitable, but was too polite to
+refuse Inky’s funny concoctions. Maybe deep down, Inky already knew too,
+but didn’t want to say it out loud. That the long feather they thought
+they had seen among the tea leaves was actually a dagger. That they
+hadn’t wanted to admit some problems could not be whisked away with some
+tincture or another. That they had failed, again.</p>
+<p>They hadn’t searched enough for better ingredients to go into the
+pudding, hadn’t reacted fast enough after noticing the sword had
+abruptly disappeared, hadn’t thrown the large platter of mouldy meat the
+terrified waitress next to them had been holding at Blavin’s head, or
+something. The sword had gotten what it demanded, and Inky couldn’t be
+angry with it — it had never been subtle about what it wanted. Had the
+blood pudding worsened the effects? Potions had never been on Inky’s
+menu. Brewing inks and teas with certain mild effects was
+straightforward enough, but curing chronic ailments was firmly in
+healers’ territory and just as bewildering. While it may be true nobody
+could be held to account for the actions of another not in full control
+of themselves, and hardly those of a rogue weapon with a mind of its
+own, sticking their nose in other people’s affairs was the surest way to
+get into trouble, a fact Inky still has difficulty learning after
+decades of wandering the continent.</p>
+<p>Would this substrate even work? Maybe it acted differently for cursed
+objects than coffin sleepers. Having brought it back and now aboard the
+ship, how would they even give it to the wizard? Should they wait and
+made sure Master Corraidhín was truly rested and recovered, despite his
+insistence he was more than fine? Would it be an insulting reminder of
+weakness, despite the wizard having proven unusual mental fortitude in
+staving off the screams for blood as long as he had? Was this more of
+the same, adding to what they had (not) done?</p>
+<p>After a long moment, Inky rolls the package with the producers’
+leaflet haphazardly in an old sailor’s rags still reeking of cheap
+alcohol, and passing by the wizard’s empty cabin on the way to the deck,
+places the messy bundle on the floorboards two steps from the door. Let
+the fates decide this one, because Inky’s magic 0 ball sure doesn’t make
+the best life choices.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Blavin has arranged transportation to the shipwreck ahead of time.
+All you have to do is head down to the docks and meet your contact,
+Three-Fingered Gerald, at a seedy dive bar named Inquire Within Upon
+Everything.</p>
+<p>Inquire Within is as eclectic and gaudy as the name would imply. The
+bar serves as an extensive and impressive piece of living documentation,
+drawing heavily on the port town’s cosmopolitan mixture of culture.
+Every kind of style, cuisine, decor, and beverage can be found here
+mishmashed together irregardless of good taste. Its contents are
+encyclopedic and claustrophobic. And yet it is not without its own
+peculiar brand of overwhelming, garish charm.</p>
+<p>You find Mister Three-Fingered at the bar entertaining his fellow
+patrons with a grotesque sleight of hand routine that involves passing
+his gold-plated false eye from its socket, to either hand, inside his
+mouth, and back with lots of flourish, fanfare, and misdirection along
+the way.</p>
+<p>He is a merry, boisterous sailor short one eye, half an ear, several
+fingers, and—he confesses to you—the heel of his left foot. “It’s why I
+walk so slow, you see.” The other barflies call him “Lucky”
+Three-Fingered Gerald. Because a certain kind of man—and Gerald is one
+of them—can never have enough nicknames. After you buy him a drink or
+three, he escorts you out of Inquire Within and to the slip where the
+sloop <em>Diamond Howler</em> is docked. Its captain, Enid Barlow,
+welcomes you aboard.</p>
+<p>Before long, <em>Diamond Howler</em> pulls out under the command of
+Captain Barlow and First Mate “Lucky” Three-Fingered Gerald. The site
+isn’t too far off the coast, and you arrive fairly quickly.</p>
+<p>“Aye, here she is. The SS RSS.” says Captain Barlow mournfully. “You
+can’t see her from up here. But you rest assured, she’s down there,
+resting on the seabed. She was the best cargo runner on the Sugrin back
+in her day! Distributing goods up and down the coast. Until the day she
+disappeared. Nobody knew what happened to her, not for sure. Still
+don’t. But at least we know where she wound up!”</p>
+<p>While the captain reminisces, Three-Fingered Gerald drags a large
+water tank across the deck, sloshing water over the edge with each step.
+Translucent orb-like jellyfish wobble around and bump into each other
+inside the tank, releasing little effervescent bubbles that fizzle and
+pop when they collide. “Here we go!” announces Mister Three-Fingered,
+depositing the tank of jellies in front of you. “Sailed through a big
+bloom of breathing bells just last week, didn’t we! Managed to scoop up
+a whole bunch of the little suckers. You ever use a breathing bell
+before? No? Aw, it’s easy! Ya just pull one on over your head like a
+hood, and it’ll breathe for ya while you’re below the waves!”</p>
+<p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
+<p>NOTE: We just covered a lot of narrative ground. Feel free to react
+to anything that happened between arriving at the docks, meeting Gerald
+and drinking at Inquire Within, boarding the Diamond Howler, and sailing
+to the site of the wreck.</p>
+<p><a
+href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00020.html">www</a></p>
+<h3 id="00028">00028</h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p><sub><em>a new player enters the chat</em></sub></p>
+<p>Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all grown adults
+now, and she no longer wanted to toil away running a business. When she
+initially shuttered her little tavern, she thought she might just
+retire. She made it two whole years of working in a garden, occasionally
+seeing grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided she
+needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a nearby port
+town. She was sure to find something fun to do there.</p>
+<p>Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of debauchery
+wafting from within made her miss her days gossiping at her tavern. She
+enters and orders a terrible drink and listens and watches.</p>
+<p>Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she decides,
+“I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that sounds exciting!”</p>
+<p>Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join on the
+journey!</p>
+<p>Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to schmooze and
+have fun!</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>~</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Meta: a warm welcome to the latest member of our tea party! This is a
+short post to help smooth the temporal jumps between the recent
+narratives so far. As Inky reaches the deck, they see Gabs approaching
+from the other side of the ship as well, and flashes them a grin in
+greeting. After listening to the captain petering on about the glorious
+days of the now sunken ship below, while tinkering with the bell’s
+tentacles — being rewarded with a mild zap and marginally better fit for
+the effort — Inky turns to the party. “When you’re ready.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>You reach into the tank and discover that grabbing a breathing bell
+takes some finesse. They are very slippery! But you get the hang of it
+and make a ladle out of your hands and scoop one up.</p>
+<p>“Okay now!” laughs Three-Fingered Gerald. He gives you a wink, but
+it’s easy to miss because of the eyepatch. “Don’t put it on until right
+before you jump. It won’t be able to breathe for you until you’re in the
+water. And this!” he continues, fitting a heavy, padded vest around your
+shoulders, “will carry you down.” It is a vest of many pockets, each one
+holding a small dense sandbag the size of your hand. “When you’re ready
+to come back up, just start dropping ballast, right?”</p>
+<p>You hop up on the ship railing and pull the breathing bell on over
+your head. It immediately contracts and squeezes and hugs your head like
+a second skin, and its stubby little tentacles grab hold around your
+jawline, and it feels like you have a wet plastic bag clinging to your
+face, and you think you might have made a grave mistake. Resisting the
+urge to panic, you push off the railing and jump overboard. You are
+briefly air born and then profoundly waterbound, crashing through the
+surface of the sea into the briny soup below.</p>
+<p>The oxygen starts to flow as the breathing bell begins to do its job.
+As you sink, you feel as though you are floating through space, entering
+another world.</p>
+<p>After a while you start to hear voices arguing in the distance. As
+you get closer, two large shapes start to come into focus. The first is
+a hulking, hairless merbear. Top half (hairless) bear, bottom half fish.
+The second figure is a tardigrade the size of a large merbear. It has
+eight jointless legs, each tipped with four sharp claws. It wriggles and
+wobbles like jelly as it gesticulates.</p>
+<p>“No, I am the true Bear of the Sea! I am called a Water Bear, after
+all!”</p>
+<p>“Hornswoggle and poppycock! It is I who am the Bear of the Sea! I am
+half bear after all! You’re just some kind of segmented nematode or
+something.”</p>
+<p>The tardigrade quivers with indignation. “I’ll have you know I’m a
+panarthropod, thank you very much. And this is the ideal physical body!
+You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like. I’ve
+lived under the polar ice cap, and in a sulfurous mountaintop hot
+spring. I’ve traveled through the vacuum of space to the moon! Have you
+ever been to the moon?”</p>
+<p>“Why don’t you go be the Bear of the Moon then if you like it so
+much!”</p>
+<p>“You’re just as much fish as you are bear, are you sure you’re not
+the Fish of the Sea?”</p>
+<p>“Are you sure you’re not the Blob of the Sea, you too many armed bowl
+of jelly?”</p>
+<p>“Hey! Hey, you there!” The arguing quasi-bears have spotted your slow
+descent. “Come, yes, float slowly this way! You must settle an argument
+for us! Tell this slightly mammalian fish that I am the true Bear of the
+Sea!”</p>
+<p>“The Bear of the Sea must be at least ‘slightly mammalian’ you
+egg-laying scientific curiosity! You, tell this cousin of a barnacle
+that I—the mighty merbear—am the true Bear of the Sea! Say this and I
+will guide and protect you on your journey.”</p>
+<p>“No! Would you like to visit the moon? Say that I, tardigrade, am
+Bear of the Sea and I will introduce you to my moon friends!”</p>
+<p>“He had to make friends on the moon because nobody on Urth can stand
+him!”</p>
+<p>“You’re just mean, you know that?”</p>
+<p>You are still quite some way from the sea bed, and there is no sight
+of the SS RSS.</p>
 <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
 <p><a
-href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00015.html">www</a></p>
+href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00023.html">www</a></p>
 <h2 id="bestiary">Bestiary</h2>
 <p>Some of the creatures who inhabit the world of Basmentaria</p>
 <dt>
@@ -2911,16 +3177,29 @@ manipulate cloudstuff into solid objects.
 </dd>
 </dl>
 <h2 id="geography">Geography</h2>
+<details>
+<summary>
+<p>Map</p>
+</summary>
+<figure>
+<img src="map.webp" alt="Map" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Map</figcaption>
+</figure>
+</details>
 <p>Basmentaria is a group of islands that sits between the eastern
 Sugrin Sea and the western Saldin Sea.</p>
-<p>There is Primora, the northern somewhat banana-shaped island.</p>
-<p>And there is Agendell, the southern also slightly banana-shaped
-island. Its largest city is Vay’Nullar, surrounded by the Gnomelands to
-the south, and the Tammineaux Forest to the east. Beyond the forest is
-the Rana’For Valley.</p>
+<p>There is Primora, the sparsely populated northern somewhat
+banana-shaped island. The city-state of Illivas, Primora’s only densely
+populated area, sits between Harshwind Glade and the mountains of Kelsun
+Peak.</p>
+<p>And there Agendell, the southern also slightly banana-shaped island.
+Its largest city is Vay’Nullar, bordered by the Gnomelands to the south,
+and the Tammineaux Forest to the east. Beyond the forest is the Rana’For
+Valley.</p>
 <p>The two crescent-moon islands reach toward each other, and in the
-center is Ginnarak, the small archipelago comprising the Cinderlands,
-Ashen Vale, the Ember Steppe, and Drakspon Mountain.</p>
+center is the archipelago of Ginnarak, comprising the Cinderlands, Ashen
+Vale, the Ember Steppe, and Drakspon Mountain.</p>
+<p><a href="#00022">00022</a></p>
 <h2 id="cosmology">Cosmology</h2>
 <p>In a fantasy setting where there objectively are deities who walk the
 earth and interact with humans, “atheism” is sometimes erroneously used

www/rss.xml

@@ -61,9 +61,33 @@
           small quips with his new (and now very drunk) tavern
           friends.</p>
           </blockquote>
-          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
+          <p>You are at a small port town on the northern tip of
+          Agendell, just past the Rana’For Valley. The sun is bright and
+          the wind blowing in from the Sugrin Sea to the east is cool
+          and salty. The floating island-city of Vay’Neddas, bridging
+          Agendell and Primora, can be seen very faintly in the distance
+          hanging in the northern sky.</p>
+          <p>Your faithful multibeast is carrying all of your supplies
+          and gear, which were generously provided to you by the
+          indefatigable Blavin Blandfoot. His arm in a sling, he kept up
+          a constant nervous chatter as he saw you off on your journey
+          to recover the second Ginnarak Crystal.</p>
+          <p>From here, you can easily provision a boat to take you out
+          to the site of the shipwreck just off the coast.</p>
+          <p>Or, optionally, you are very close to the Hartlands. It
+          would be quite easy to make a quick visit to hemogoblins and
+          pick up some synthetic blood for your experiments with the
+          Sword of Yam’L.</p>
+          <p>The sword, incidentally, after finally tasting the blood of
+          “evil”, has remained sated and entirely inert and unresponsive
+          this whole time.</p>
+          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO:</p>
+          <ol type="1">
+          <li>TO THE SHIPWRECK</li>
+          <li>BLOODQUEST</li>
+          </ol>
           <p><a
-          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00015.html">www</a></p>
+          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00018.html">www</a></p>
         ]]>
       </description>
     </item>
@@ -170,321 +194,6 @@
         ]]>
       </description>
     </item>
-    <item>
-      <title>21</title>
-      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
-      <guid isPermaLink="false">21 - Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:21:55
--0600</guid>
-      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:21:55 -0600</pubDate>
-      <description>
-        <![CDATA[
-          <h3 id="00021">00021</h3>
-          <p>INTERLUDE</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>A glorious victory!</p>
-          <p>In the interim time Corraidhin studies the sword of Y’aml,
-          and correctly deduces that he needs to remove the sticky bit
-          to be able to sheath the thing.</p>
-          <p>sudo chmod -t sword_of_y'aml</p>
-          <p>The rest of the interim is spent studying arcane lore
-          surrounding the Ginnarak Crystals and their purpose. He also
-          strongly urges the party that we should consider very carefuly
-          how we need to proceed with the crystal. It’s obvious people
-          don’t want these things getting out, so we should ensure that
-          Blavin has good intentions, or at least leaves us out of
-          whatever potential evil could occur.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>Corraidhin prepares the incantation and, after removing the
-          sticky bit, is able pry his stiff fingers from the grip.</p>
-          <p>You sheathe the blade, but its voice continues to ring
-          clearly in your head as it prattles on, seeing evil and
-          villainy everywhere and encouraging you to stab, stab,
-          stab.</p>
-          <p>Your sysorcerous studies, confirmed by the eager and
-          forthright sword, suggest that the blade will be able to rest
-          for a while once it tastes blood.</p>
-          <p>Your former mentor and rival sysorceror Eccentric Kevin
-          calls on you one day under the pretense of showing you the
-          latest draft of KDL (pronounced “cuddle”), their own “Kevin’s
-          Document Language”, an alternative syntax for incantations and
-          personal pet project of theirs that has thus far failed, much
-          to their perpetual consternation, to gain any traction or
-          adoption in the wider magic community. They are insufferably
-          polite and sinisterly supportive. They complain about how the
-          obstinant gnus keep standing in the middle of the road trying
-          to block traffic, and they demand to know all about your
-          recent exploits and adventures.</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>Once back in town, Inky had the small glass shard in their
-          palm removed by a harried-looking healer, who merely shrugged
-          at Inky’s account of the disappearing ink and advised them to
-          return if they experienced adverse effects before hurrying off
-          to the next patient. A visit to the local stationery shop did
-          not yield any answers; the stocky human at the counter shook
-          their head apologetically when shown the broken ink bottle.
-          However, they did suggest asking at one of the larger shops in
-          the city.</p>
-          <p>To celebrate their first successful quest, Inky made
-          torties[1] for their party with flour ground from some of the
-          large corn kernels at the dig site, topped with a sweet nutty
-          squash spread. Babbleberry tea was served from their newly
-          acquired jade tea set, now patched with what Inky had been
-          assured was an unbreakable seal[2] by a merchant with a toothy
-          grin in one of Vay’Nullar’s notorious back alleys.</p>
-          <p>Master Corraidhín’s cautionary words of wisdom still echo
-          in Inky’s head, though they were secretly tickled by the idea
-          of the crystal being actually a rare and previously unknown
-          species of melon with very potent magical properties. The very
-          thought of melons was making Inky a bit thirsty. Let the
-          warrior and wizard worry about all the potential evils of the
-          world — it’s time for a dash to the market for some beatfruit
-          juice!</p>
-          <hr />
-          <p>[1] Also known as torte-teas, as in “Torte-tea, yas?”,
-          which was how their previous ink maestro used to greet
-          customers entering the brewery. Flat little tea cakes with
-          sugar or spice (or both, which vary by region) and sometimes
-          eaten in a loose wrap. Some humans called them “crabs” for
-          some reason which baffled Inky, since the torties had no
-          pincers … at least none that they could see anyway.</p>
-          <p>[2] The seal attached to the bottom of the teapot and each
-          cup had a glyph of an unknown object between two hands.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>The healer removes a small glass bead from Inky’s palm. It
-          is worn smooth and round like a marble. If you look closely,
-          you can see a small blemish in the center that somewhat
-          resembles either a duck or a rabbit depending on how you
-          orient it.</p>
-          <p>It is captivating to look at and comforting to hold in your
-          hand. You fidget with it often. Now and then you suddenly
-          notice you have been gazing at it for some minutes without
-          realizing it.</p>
-          <p>You make your party a delightful meal of torties, serving
-          tea from the magically reinforced jade set.</p>
-          <p>Cleaning up afterwards, you can’t help but notice the
-          patterns of the tea leaves in the bottoms of the jade
-          cups.</p>
-          <p>YOU FORESEE AN OMEN FOR THE PARTY. WHAT IS IT?</p>
-          <p>You dash to the market for beatfruit juice, which you
-          easily find. And you find yourself irrationally drawn to the
-          produce. The kale, dandelion greens, and beans all look
-          especially scrumptious and … plump and juicy?</p>
-          <p>An old toothy market attendant sits on a stool by the
-          vegetable stand reading the Farmers Almanac. Unsolicited, they
-          mention to you that it is only three days until the next full
-          moon.</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>Jarrod has two things in particular he wants to do when
-          back in town, with whatever his cut of the gold is. First, he
-          wants to go looking for a cheap, run-down building somewhere
-          in town and buy the property if he has enough money (perhaps
-          negotiating a bit where necessary).</p>
-          <p>Second, he wishes to seek arcane counsel from Corraidhín,
-          perhaps getting a small invocation applied to one of the
-          charms on his arm band. Something in the realm of a
-          fascination spell (with an activation word) that can be used
-          on occasion to draw attention.</p>
-          <p>Jarrod agrees that we should not invite trouble. We shall
-          tread cautiously with regards to the crystals.</p>
-          <p>Yum, torties!</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>After successfully negotiating the price down a little bit,
-          you are able to purchase a run-down building. You are now the
-          proud owner and proprietor of the Milk Market building in the
-          Wandering Bazzar district of downtown Vay’Nullar.</p>
-          <p>The ground level is occupied by longtime district staple
-          Enrique’s Empanada Emporium, famous for its signature stuffed
-          pastries and its Terrapin Ale, brewed on site by Enrique
-          himself, who happens to be a very large humanoid turtle.</p>
-          <p>It’s a little seedy and a little divey, but still draws a
-          fair amount of foot traffic from shoppers waiting for the
-          eponymous, ambulatory bazaar of debatable sentience to wander
-          by. Reliably, a small gang of breadpunks can be found
-          loitering here and espousing the virtues of social anarchy.
-          Enrique allows their presence and on occasion even buys them a
-          round of ale.</p>
-          <p>The top two levels are unoccupied. Years upon years ago,
-          this space once held large vats for storing and preserving
-          multibeast milk prior to being distributed. Some enterprising
-          individual converted and updated the space some time ago, but
-          was never able to find a tenant. In any case, the space is
-          yours now to do with what you will.</p>
-          <p>With Corraidhin’s assistance, you are able to enchant your
-          armband by inscribing it with a cross-like glyph with a
-          teardrop-shaped loop in place of the vertical upper bar. You
-          now have a FASCINATING BANGLE that can, upon activation,
-          compel attention and even potentially inspire people to dance
-          about.</p>
-          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
-          <p><a
-          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00001.html">www</a></p>
-        ]]>
-      </description>
-    </item>
-    <item>
-      <title>23</title>
-      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
-      <guid isPermaLink="false">23 - Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52
--0600</guid>
-      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52 -0600</pubDate>
-      <description>
-        <![CDATA[
-          <h3 id="00023">00023</h3>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>Why no, we don’t mind much about competition, certainly
-          nothing wrong. Can’t imagine someone to put all of their eggs
-          in one basket, especially when whatever it is they desire is
-          so valuable.</p>
-          <p>That said, our benefactor must be pretty eager to get these
-          crystals if he’s willing to send out team after team. I mean,
-          we’re team 43, that’s a lot of people to pay and a lot of
-          eagerness to find these crystals. Why is that? What benefit
-          are these shiny rocks to them? What even is their purpose in
-          retrieving them?</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>“Oh, no no no, child,” Blavin titters as he takes a sip of
-          his ever-present martini. “You must understand, the Benefactor
-          is a singularly dedicated collector, and has been for ages!
-          There are—and have been!—many other retrieval teams, yes. But
-          not all of them have been for the crystals. And some of them
-          were formed, active, and disbanded long before you or I
-          arrived on the scene.” He winks at you conspiratorially.</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>I would postulate, based upon the magical wards we had to
-          bypass, the cadre of gaurds that needed to be dispatched, and
-          the gigantic moth monster that rested beneath it, that these
-          crystals aren’t meant to go anywhere.</p>
-          <p>Now I’m not trying to point fingers here, morality is many
-          shades of gray, and it isn’t really my job to suss out what
-          you’re doing. But I’m a curious sysorceor, and when I see a
-          chance to learn I seize upon the moment. There’s something
-          here you’re not telling us, and I for one and keen to know
-          it.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>“I wouldn’t worry your wizened old brow about it,” Blavin
-          chuckles, sloshing his drink. “The Benefactor’s concern is
-          precisely the same as yours! These items are of enormous
-          cultural and historical significance, to say nothing of their
-          well of concentrated arcane energies. They’re dangerous just
-          sitting out there in the world. Who knows who might come
-          across one and use it for nefarious purposes.”</p>
-          <p>Yam’L’s eye widens and it seems to shudder at the mere
-          suggestion of evil.</p>
-          <p>“Did you say this one was in the hands of a giant moth?”
-          Blavin shudders with revulsion. “My word, man! Do you really
-          think such an overgrown insect is an appropriate guardian for
-          a beloved and dangerous cultural icon such as the Ginnarak
-          Crystal? Surely not!”</p>
-          <p>“No,” he sits back with a satisfied smile, “I think we must
-          all agree that they are safer in the public collection of a
-          competent and benevolent curator. Then everybody can enjoy
-          them safely!”</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>META: I’m gonna preface the sword speech with this to make
-          it quicker to write</p>
-          <p><strong>Y’aml</strong><br />
-          I like what you’re putting down here, this guy is DEFINITELY
-          evil. Nobody asks loads of people to steal things for them
-          without being evil. I say we stab him, nice and good, right in
-          the gut. Maybe 6 or 7 times. I’m positive nobody will mind.
-          Evil people steal things, we saw that inky creature stealing
-          things from that vault, definitely evil. (singsong) Evil evil
-          evil, stab stab stab, make the evil go away with every little
-          stab~</p>
-          <p><strong>Corraidhin to Y’aml</strong><br />
-          Dear sysadmins, once again, inky is not evil. They were
-          borrowing something that had been cast on the ground,
-          abandoned. Giving a tea set a good home is far from evil. But
-          you might be onto something about this Blavin fellow, but we
-          can’t just stab someone in a busy pub! Besides you’re a sword,
-          and stabbing someone in a pub is the job of a dagger. So
-          unless you can transform into the Dagger of Y’aml I think
-          we’re out of luck here.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>Yam’L gets a curious look in its eye at the suggestion.
-          “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” it cries directly into your mind. It
-          squeezes its eye shut and trembles with intense concentration.
-          With great effort, the sword shrinks itself down to the size
-          of a dagger, shunting its extra mass off into yamlspace.</p>
-          <p>“There!” it says breathlessly, opening its eye wearily.
-          “Now, Hardy Bear. You promised..” it continues, its eye
-          glinting with growing ferocity. “Let’s. STAB. THE HOBBIT!”</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>While the wizard pressed Blavin about the crystal’s
-          secrets, Inky let their attention wander slightly around the
-          table.</p>
-          <p>They had agreed that Master Corraidhín and Jarrod, being
-          most wise and well-spoken, would question Blavin about the
-          crystal before they set off on their next mission. The party
-          had also befriended the duck unofficially dubbed their
-          marketing manager after the fluffy little creature had trailed
-          Inky all the way back to the Milk Market. Said creature now
-          occupied a small office to one side of the building complete
-          with a fountain, feathered up pillow and all the rummy worms
-          it can eat. Inky had tried getting the duck to communicate
-          with words by making them little croutons etched with letters,
-          but the only ones they would gobble up were Q-U-A-C-K.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>Your marketing manager moves into its office at the Milk
-          Market and seems to really be enjoying itself. It joins you at
-          Blavin’s table at Lucy’s Basement, cleaning its feathers and
-          chortling merrily to itself.</p>
-          <p>You and your tablemates take turns feeding it croutons and
-          bits of soft pretzel, and it seems very happy and content with
-          that.</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>A familiar prickle, but passed quickly — Inky had gotten
-          used to the glares directed at them by the sysorceor’s
-          gleaming sword and resisted returning the stare with an
-          eyeroll. Watching Stabby eyeing up their case manager over
-          Master Corraidhín’s shoulder reminded Inky of a conversation
-          they had overheard a few evenings ago between two pale coffin
-          sleepers about a new product from the hemogoblins that was
-          said to quench the thirst for longer than the leading brand.
-          They might be able to find some at the town of Plasma, which
-          sits by the Hartlands on the way to the shipwreck. It seems
-          the milky blood pudding could do with some improvement.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>You note on Blavin’s map that the Hemogoblin region is
-          indeed on the way to the shipwreck. At least, it’s not that
-          far out of the way. You reckon their synthetic blood product
-          would indeed be a much better substitute for the real thing
-          than the milk you’ve been feeding the thirsty sword thus
-          far.</p>
-          <p>Or, at the very least, you’ll get a new variant of the
-          blood pudding recipe you’ve been working on!</p>
-          <blockquote>
-          <p>Maybe someone else’s mood will be improved in the meantime?
-          Before setting out for their meeting with Blavin, Inky slipped
-          into the kitchens downstairs and left the empanada chef a
-          trick-and-treat. A plate of honeyed breadfruit and ghost
-          pepper tapas sat on an icebox atop a new pair of Blueberry
-          oven mittens with a pattern of tiny smiling green turtles.
-          Tucked inside one mitten was a slip of paper (regrettably
-          inedible) that simply read “BACK SOON :)”. A tapa recipe,
-          which included a note on adapting the toppings for pan frying,
-          was printed on the reverse in neat blocky letters and
-          sandalwood ink.</p>
-          </blockquote>
-          <p>Enrique wakes in the middle of the night to start baking
-          the next day’s breads and empanadas. He frowns thoughtfully
-          when he sees yet another mysterious gift from across the room.
-          Again? What little elf must have taken up residence in his
-          shop? But his face cracks into a smile when he sees the
-          presentation and the oven mitts. And the smile becomes a
-          bonafide grin when he tastes the fare and finds the
-          recipe.</p>
-          <p>He taps his chin thoughtfully with one green claw as he
-          skims the note and looks through his pantry. He chops some
-          veggies and starts pan frying them.</p>
-          <p>Later, when the oven dings, he smiles to himself as he
-          pulls on the new turtle pattern oven mitts and opens it.</p>
-          <p>&gt; A) MORE QUESTIONING, OR B) TIME FOR SHIPWRECK?</p>
-          <p><a
-          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00008.html">www</a></p>
-        ]]>
-      </description>
-    </item>
     <item>
       <title>25</title>
       <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
@@ -654,6 +363,297 @@
         ]]>
       </description>
     </item>
+    <item>
+      <title>21</title>
+      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
+      <guid isPermaLink="false">21 - Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:21:55
+-0600</guid>
+      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:21:55 -0600</pubDate>
+      <description>
+        <![CDATA[
+          <h3 id="00021">00021</h3>
+          <p>INTERLUDE</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>A glorious victory!</p>
+          <p>In the interim time Corraidhin studies the sword of Y’aml,
+          and correctly deduces that he needs to remove the sticky bit
+          to be able to sheath the thing.</p>
+          <p>sudo chmod -t sword_of_y'aml</p>
+          <p>The rest of the interim is spent studying arcane lore
+          surrounding the Ginnarak Crystals and their purpose. He also
+          strongly urges the party that we should consider very carefuly
+          how we need to proceed with the crystal. It’s obvious people
+          don’t want these things getting out, so we should ensure that
+          Blavin has good intentions, or at least leaves us out of
+          whatever potential evil could occur.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>Corraidhin prepares the incantation and, after removing the
+          sticky bit, is able pry his stiff fingers from the grip.</p>
+          <p>You sheathe the blade, but its voice continues to ring
+          clearly in your head as it prattles on, seeing evil and
+          villainy everywhere and encouraging you to stab, stab,
+          stab.</p>
+          <p>Your sysorcerous studies, confirmed by the eager and
+          forthright sword, suggest that the blade will be able to rest
+          for a while once it tastes blood.</p>
+          <p>Your former mentor and rival sysorceror Eccentric Kevin
+          calls on you one day under the pretense of showing you the
+          latest draft of KDL (pronounced “cuddle”), their own “Kevin’s
+          Document Language”, an alternative syntax for incantations and
+          personal pet project of theirs that has thus far failed, much
+          to their perpetual consternation, to gain any traction or
+          adoption in the wider magic community. They are insufferably
+          polite and sinisterly supportive. They complain about how the
+          obstinant gnus keep standing in the middle of the road trying
+          to block traffic, and they demand to know all about your
+          recent exploits and adventures.</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>Once back in town, Inky had the small glass shard in their
+          palm removed by a harried-looking healer, who merely shrugged
+          at Inky’s account of the disappearing ink and advised them to
+          return if they experienced adverse effects before hurrying off
+          to the next patient. A visit to the local stationery shop did
+          not yield any answers; the stocky human at the counter shook
+          their head apologetically when shown the broken ink bottle.
+          However, they did suggest asking at one of the larger shops in
+          the city.</p>
+          <p>To celebrate their first successful quest, Inky made
+          torties[1] for their party with flour ground from some of the
+          large corn kernels at the dig site, topped with a sweet nutty
+          squash spread. Babbleberry tea was served from their newly
+          acquired jade tea set, now patched with what Inky had been
+          assured was an unbreakable seal[2] by a merchant with a toothy
+          grin in one of Vay’Nullar’s notorious back alleys.</p>
+          <p>Master Corraidhín’s cautionary words of wisdom still echo
+          in Inky’s head, though they were secretly tickled by the idea
+          of the crystal being actually a rare and previously unknown
+          species of melon with very potent magical properties. The very
+          thought of melons was making Inky a bit thirsty. Let the
+          warrior and wizard worry about all the potential evils of the
+          world — it’s time for a dash to the market for some beatfruit
+          juice!</p>
+          <hr />
+          <p>[1] Also known as torte-teas, as in “Torte-tea, yas?”,
+          which was how their previous ink maestro used to greet
+          customers entering the brewery. Flat little tea cakes with
+          sugar or spice (or both, which vary by region) and sometimes
+          eaten in a loose wrap. Some humans called them “crabs” for
+          some reason which baffled Inky, since the torties had no
+          pincers … at least none that they could see anyway.</p>
+          <p>[2] The seal attached to the bottom of the teapot and each
+          cup had a glyph of an unknown object between two hands.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>The healer removes a small glass bead from Inky’s palm. It
+          is worn smooth and round like a marble. If you look closely,
+          you can see a small blemish in the center that somewhat
+          resembles either a duck or a rabbit depending on how you
+          orient it.</p>
+          <p>It is captivating to look at and comforting to hold in your
+          hand. You fidget with it often. Now and then you suddenly
+          notice you have been gazing at it for some minutes without
+          realizing it.</p>
+          <p>You make your party a delightful meal of torties, serving
+          tea from the magically reinforced jade set.</p>
+          <p>Cleaning up afterwards, you can’t help but notice the
+          patterns of the tea leaves in the bottoms of the jade
+          cups.</p>
+          <p>YOU FORESEE AN OMEN FOR THE PARTY. WHAT IS IT?</p>
+          <p>You dash to the market for beatfruit juice, which you
+          easily find. And you find yourself irrationally drawn to the
+          produce. The kale, dandelion greens, and beans all look
+          especially scrumptious and … plump and juicy?</p>
+          <p>An old toothy market attendant sits on a stool by the
+          vegetable stand reading the Farmers Almanac. Unsolicited, they
+          mention to you that it is only three days until the next full
+          moon.</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>Jarrod has two things in particular he wants to do when
+          back in town, with whatever his cut of the gold is. First, he
+          wants to go looking for a cheap, run-down building somewhere
+          in town and buy the property if he has enough money (perhaps
+          negotiating a bit where necessary).</p>
+          <p>Second, he wishes to seek arcane counsel from Corraidhín,
+          perhaps getting a small invocation applied to one of the
+          charms on his arm band. Something in the realm of a
+          fascination spell (with an activation word) that can be used
+          on occasion to draw attention.</p>
+          <p>Jarrod agrees that we should not invite trouble. We shall
+          tread cautiously with regards to the crystals.</p>
+          <p>Yum, torties!</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>After successfully negotiating the price down a little bit,
+          you are able to purchase a run-down building. You are now the
+          proud owner and proprietor of the Milk Market building in the
+          Wandering Bazzar district of downtown Vay’Nullar.</p>
+          <p>The ground level is occupied by longtime district staple
+          Enrique’s Empanada Emporium, famous for its signature stuffed
+          pastries and its Terrapin Ale, brewed on site by Enrique
+          himself, who happens to be a very large humanoid turtle.</p>
+          <p>It’s a little seedy and a little divey, but still draws a
+          fair amount of foot traffic from shoppers waiting for the
+          eponymous, ambulatory bazaar of debatable sentience to wander
+          by. Reliably, a small gang of breadpunks can be found
+          loitering here and espousing the virtues of social anarchy.
+          Enrique allows their presence and on occasion even buys them a
+          round of ale.</p>
+          <p>The top two levels are unoccupied. Years upon years ago,
+          this space once held large vats for storing and preserving
+          multibeast milk prior to being distributed. Some enterprising
+          individual converted and updated the space some time ago, but
+          was never able to find a tenant. In any case, the space is
+          yours now to do with what you will.</p>
+          <p>With Corraidhin’s assistance, you are able to enchant your
+          armband by inscribing it with a cross-like glyph with a
+          teardrop-shaped loop in place of the vertical upper bar. You
+          now have a FASCINATING BANGLE that can, upon activation,
+          compel attention and even potentially inspire people to dance
+          about.</p>
+          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
+          <p><a
+          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00001.html">www</a></p>
+        ]]>
+      </description>
+    </item>
+    <item>
+      <title>27</title>
+      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
+      <guid isPermaLink="false">27 - Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:14:31
+-0600</guid>
+      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2022 10:36:42 -0600</pubDate>
+      <description>
+        <![CDATA[
+          <h3 id="00027">00027</h3>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>Inky stares down at the package, weighing it on one
+          hand.</p>
+          <p>It was lighter than it should be given the density of the
+          contents within, wrapped in straw and thick brown
+          weight-absorbent parcel paper for dry goods. Most of the
+          clientele were merchants and cultists from other parts of the
+          continent who ordered pallets to be shipped back from the port
+          town and sold to select boutique grocers or spilled on altars.
+          Inside was a block of congealed synthetic blood shaped like a
+          mud brick, the dark crimson almost black under the shop’s dim
+          light.</p>
+          <p>It was sheer happenstance that Inky had found this
+          particular supplier. Having been informed heir boat to the
+          shipwreck would not arrive for several hours, the members of
+          their merry tea party had wandered off to enjoy the local
+          sights while they waited. Inky had inquired about the
+          hemogoblins and learned in passing that there was a district
+          at the western edge of the town where a smaller group had set
+          up warehouses, which would save them a two-day trip deep into
+          the Hartlands. The hemogoblins in the district were primarily
+          wholesalers, and it had taken some convincing before one of
+          the proprietors agreed to sell a block of it, along with
+          assurances Inky would purchase exclusively from him next time
+          and in larger quantities.</p>
+          <p>Thin fingers fiddle with the string before the package was
+          set to one side.</p>
+          <p>What were they doing?</p>
+          <p>If quenching the thirst were so simple, wouldn’t any
+          student of magic have already thought of it, let alone an
+          experienced sysorceror? In all likelihood he had already known
+          the inevitable, but was too polite to refuse Inky’s funny
+          concoctions. Maybe deep down, Inky already knew too, but
+          didn’t want to say it out loud. That the long feather they
+          thought they had seen among the tea leaves was actually a
+          dagger. That they hadn’t wanted to admit some problems could
+          not be whisked away with some tincture or another. That they
+          had failed, again.</p>
+          <p>They hadn’t searched enough for better ingredients to go
+          into the pudding, hadn’t reacted fast enough after noticing
+          the sword had abruptly disappeared, hadn’t thrown the large
+          platter of mouldy meat the terrified waitress next to them had
+          been holding at Blavin’s head, or something. The sword had
+          gotten what it demanded, and Inky couldn’t be angry with it —
+          it had never been subtle about what it wanted. Had the blood
+          pudding worsened the effects? Potions had never been on Inky’s
+          menu. Brewing inks and teas with certain mild effects was
+          straightforward enough, but curing chronic ailments was firmly
+          in healers’ territory and just as bewildering. While it may be
+          true nobody could be held to account for the actions of
+          another not in full control of themselves, and hardly those of
+          a rogue weapon with a mind of its own, sticking their nose in
+          other people’s affairs was the surest way to get into trouble,
+          a fact Inky still has difficulty learning after decades of
+          wandering the continent.</p>
+          <p>Would this substrate even work? Maybe it acted differently
+          for cursed objects than coffin sleepers. Having brought it
+          back and now aboard the ship, how would they even give it to
+          the wizard? Should they wait and made sure Master Corraidhín
+          was truly rested and recovered, despite his insistence he was
+          more than fine? Would it be an insulting reminder of weakness,
+          despite the wizard having proven unusual mental fortitude in
+          staving off the screams for blood as long as he had? Was this
+          more of the same, adding to what they had (not) done?</p>
+          <p>After a long moment, Inky rolls the package with the
+          producers’ leaflet haphazardly in an old sailor’s rags still
+          reeking of cheap alcohol, and passing by the wizard’s empty
+          cabin on the way to the deck, places the messy bundle on the
+          floorboards two steps from the door. Let the fates decide this
+          one, because Inky’s magic 0 ball sure doesn’t make the best
+          life choices.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>Blavin has arranged transportation to the shipwreck ahead
+          of time. All you have to do is head down to the docks and meet
+          your contact, Three-Fingered Gerald, at a seedy dive bar named
+          Inquire Within Upon Everything.</p>
+          <p>Inquire Within is as eclectic and gaudy as the name would
+          imply. The bar serves as an extensive and impressive piece of
+          living documentation, drawing heavily on the port town’s
+          cosmopolitan mixture of culture. Every kind of style, cuisine,
+          decor, and beverage can be found here mishmashed together
+          irregardless of good taste. Its contents are encyclopedic and
+          claustrophobic. And yet it is not without its own peculiar
+          brand of overwhelming, garish charm.</p>
+          <p>You find Mister Three-Fingered at the bar entertaining his
+          fellow patrons with a grotesque sleight of hand routine that
+          involves passing his gold-plated false eye from its socket, to
+          either hand, inside his mouth, and back with lots of flourish,
+          fanfare, and misdirection along the way.</p>
+          <p>He is a merry, boisterous sailor short one eye, half an
+          ear, several fingers, and—he confesses to you—the heel of his
+          left foot. “It’s why I walk so slow, you see.” The other
+          barflies call him “Lucky” Three-Fingered Gerald. Because a
+          certain kind of man—and Gerald is one of them—can never have
+          enough nicknames. After you buy him a drink or three, he
+          escorts you out of Inquire Within and to the slip where the
+          sloop <em>Diamond Howler</em> is docked. Its captain, Enid
+          Barlow, welcomes you aboard.</p>
+          <p>Before long, <em>Diamond Howler</em> pulls out under the
+          command of Captain Barlow and First Mate “Lucky”
+          Three-Fingered Gerald. The site isn’t too far off the coast,
+          and you arrive fairly quickly.</p>
+          <p>“Aye, here she is. The SS RSS.” says Captain Barlow
+          mournfully. “You can’t see her from up here. But you rest
+          assured, she’s down there, resting on the seabed. She was the
+          best cargo runner on the Sugrin back in her day! Distributing
+          goods up and down the coast. Until the day she disappeared.
+          Nobody knew what happened to her, not for sure. Still don’t.
+          But at least we know where she wound up!”</p>
+          <p>While the captain reminisces, Three-Fingered Gerald drags a
+          large water tank across the deck, sloshing water over the edge
+          with each step. Translucent orb-like jellyfish wobble around
+          and bump into each other inside the tank, releasing little
+          effervescent bubbles that fizzle and pop when they collide.
+          “Here we go!” announces Mister Three-Fingered, depositing the
+          tank of jellies in front of you. “Sailed through a big bloom
+          of breathing bells just last week, didn’t we! Managed to scoop
+          up a whole bunch of the little suckers. You ever use a
+          breathing bell before? No? Aw, it’s easy! Ya just pull one on
+          over your head like a hood, and it’ll breathe for ya while
+          you’re below the waves!”</p>
+          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
+          <p>NOTE: We just covered a lot of narrative ground. Feel free
+          to react to anything that happened between arriving at the
+          docks, meeting Gerald and drinking at Inquire Within, boarding
+          the Diamond Howler, and sailing to the site of the wreck.</p>
+          <p><a
+          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00020.html">www</a></p>
+        ]]>
+      </description>
+    </item>
     <item>
       <title>22</title>
       <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
@@ -987,5 +987,286 @@ scp sysorceor.guild:/home/corraidhin/chest milkbase.alpha:/home/corraidhin/chest
         ]]>
       </description>
     </item>
+    <item>
+      <title>28</title>
+      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
+      <guid isPermaLink="false">28 - Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51
+-0600</guid>
+      <pubDate>Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 -0600</pubDate>
+      <description>
+        <![CDATA[
+          <h3 id="00028">00028</h3>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p><sub><em>a new player enters the chat</em></sub></p>
+          <p>Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all
+          grown adults now, and she no longer wanted to toil away
+          running a business. When she initially shuttered her little
+          tavern, she thought she might just retire. She made it two
+          whole years of working in a garden, occasionally seeing
+          grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided
+          she needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a
+          nearby port town. She was sure to find something fun to do
+          there.</p>
+          <p>Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of
+          debauchery wafting from within made her miss her days
+          gossiping at her tavern. She enters and orders a terrible
+          drink and listens and watches.</p>
+          <p>Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she
+          decides, “I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that
+          sounds exciting!”</p>
+          <p>Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join
+          on the journey!</p>
+          <p>Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to
+          schmooze and have fun!</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>~</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>Meta: a warm welcome to the latest member of our tea party!
+          This is a short post to help smooth the temporal jumps between
+          the recent narratives so far. As Inky reaches the deck, they
+          see Gabs approaching from the other side of the ship as well,
+          and flashes them a grin in greeting. After listening to the
+          captain petering on about the glorious days of the now sunken
+          ship below, while tinkering with the bell’s tentacles — being
+          rewarded with a mild zap and marginally better fit for the
+          effort — Inky turns to the party. “When you’re ready.”</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>You reach into the tank and discover that grabbing a
+          breathing bell takes some finesse. They are very slippery! But
+          you get the hang of it and make a ladle out of your hands and
+          scoop one up.</p>
+          <p>“Okay now!” laughs Three-Fingered Gerald. He gives you a
+          wink, but it’s easy to miss because of the eyepatch. “Don’t
+          put it on until right before you jump. It won’t be able to
+          breathe for you until you’re in the water. And this!” he
+          continues, fitting a heavy, padded vest around your shoulders,
+          “will carry you down.” It is a vest of many pockets, each one
+          holding a small dense sandbag the size of your hand. “When
+          you’re ready to come back up, just start dropping ballast,
+          right?”</p>
+          <p>You hop up on the ship railing and pull the breathing bell
+          on over your head. It immediately contracts and squeezes and
+          hugs your head like a second skin, and its stubby little
+          tentacles grab hold around your jawline, and it feels like you
+          have a wet plastic bag clinging to your face, and you think
+          you might have made a grave mistake. Resisting the urge to
+          panic, you push off the railing and jump overboard. You are
+          briefly air born and then profoundly waterbound, crashing
+          through the surface of the sea into the briny soup below.</p>
+          <p>The oxygen starts to flow as the breathing bell begins to
+          do its job. As you sink, you feel as though you are floating
+          through space, entering another world.</p>
+          <p>After a while you start to hear voices arguing in the
+          distance. As you get closer, two large shapes start to come
+          into focus. The first is a hulking, hairless merbear. Top half
+          (hairless) bear, bottom half fish. The second figure is a
+          tardigrade the size of a large merbear. It has eight jointless
+          legs, each tipped with four sharp claws. It wriggles and
+          wobbles like jelly as it gesticulates.</p>
+          <p>“No, I am the true Bear of the Sea! I am called a Water
+          Bear, after all!”</p>
+          <p>“Hornswoggle and poppycock! It is I who am the Bear of the
+          Sea! I am half bear after all! You’re just some kind of
+          segmented nematode or something.”</p>
+          <p>The tardigrade quivers with indignation. “I’ll have you
+          know I’m a panarthropod, thank you very much. And this is the
+          ideal physical body! You may not like it, but this is what
+          peak performance looks like. I’ve lived under the polar ice
+          cap, and in a sulfurous mountaintop hot spring. I’ve traveled
+          through the vacuum of space to the moon! Have you ever been to
+          the moon?”</p>
+          <p>“Why don’t you go be the Bear of the Moon then if you like
+          it so much!”</p>
+          <p>“You’re just as much fish as you are bear, are you sure
+          you’re not the Fish of the Sea?”</p>
+          <p>“Are you sure you’re not the Blob of the Sea, you too many
+          armed bowl of jelly?”</p>
+          <p>“Hey! Hey, you there!” The arguing quasi-bears have spotted
+          your slow descent. “Come, yes, float slowly this way! You must
+          settle an argument for us! Tell this slightly mammalian fish
+          that I am the true Bear of the Sea!”</p>
+          <p>“The Bear of the Sea must be at least ‘slightly mammalian’
+          you egg-laying scientific curiosity! You, tell this cousin of
+          a barnacle that I—the mighty merbear—am the true Bear of the
+          Sea! Say this and I will guide and protect you on your
+          journey.”</p>
+          <p>“No! Would you like to visit the moon? Say that I,
+          tardigrade, am Bear of the Sea and I will introduce you to my
+          moon friends!”</p>
+          <p>“He had to make friends on the moon because nobody on Urth
+          can stand him!”</p>
+          <p>“You’re just mean, you know that?”</p>
+          <p>You are still quite some way from the sea bed, and there is
+          no sight of the SS RSS.</p>
+          <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
+          <p><a
+          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00023.html">www</a></p>
+        ]]>
+      </description>
+    </item>
+    <item>
+      <title>23</title>
+      <author>dozens@tilde.team (dozens)</author>
+      <guid isPermaLink="false">23 - Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52
+-0600</guid>
+      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52 -0600</pubDate>
+      <description>
+        <![CDATA[
+          <h3 id="00023">00023</h3>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>Why no, we don’t mind much about competition, certainly
+          nothing wrong. Can’t imagine someone to put all of their eggs
+          in one basket, especially when whatever it is they desire is
+          so valuable.</p>
+          <p>That said, our benefactor must be pretty eager to get these
+          crystals if he’s willing to send out team after team. I mean,
+          we’re team 43, that’s a lot of people to pay and a lot of
+          eagerness to find these crystals. Why is that? What benefit
+          are these shiny rocks to them? What even is their purpose in
+          retrieving them?</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>“Oh, no no no, child,” Blavin titters as he takes a sip of
+          his ever-present martini. “You must understand, the Benefactor
+          is a singularly dedicated collector, and has been for ages!
+          There are—and have been!—many other retrieval teams, yes. But
+          not all of them have been for the crystals. And some of them
+          were formed, active, and disbanded long before you or I
+          arrived on the scene.” He winks at you conspiratorially.</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>I would postulate, based upon the magical wards we had to
+          bypass, the cadre of gaurds that needed to be dispatched, and
+          the gigantic moth monster that rested beneath it, that these
+          crystals aren’t meant to go anywhere.</p>
+          <p>Now I’m not trying to point fingers here, morality is many
+          shades of gray, and it isn’t really my job to suss out what
+          you’re doing. But I’m a curious sysorceor, and when I see a
+          chance to learn I seize upon the moment. There’s something
+          here you’re not telling us, and I for one and keen to know
+          it.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>“I wouldn’t worry your wizened old brow about it,” Blavin
+          chuckles, sloshing his drink. “The Benefactor’s concern is
+          precisely the same as yours! These items are of enormous
+          cultural and historical significance, to say nothing of their
+          well of concentrated arcane energies. They’re dangerous just
+          sitting out there in the world. Who knows who might come
+          across one and use it for nefarious purposes.”</p>
+          <p>Yam’L’s eye widens and it seems to shudder at the mere
+          suggestion of evil.</p>
+          <p>“Did you say this one was in the hands of a giant moth?”
+          Blavin shudders with revulsion. “My word, man! Do you really
+          think such an overgrown insect is an appropriate guardian for
+          a beloved and dangerous cultural icon such as the Ginnarak
+          Crystal? Surely not!”</p>
+          <p>“No,” he sits back with a satisfied smile, “I think we must
+          all agree that they are safer in the public collection of a
+          competent and benevolent curator. Then everybody can enjoy
+          them safely!”</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>META: I’m gonna preface the sword speech with this to make
+          it quicker to write</p>
+          <p><strong>Y’aml</strong><br />
+          I like what you’re putting down here, this guy is DEFINITELY
+          evil. Nobody asks loads of people to steal things for them
+          without being evil. I say we stab him, nice and good, right in
+          the gut. Maybe 6 or 7 times. I’m positive nobody will mind.
+          Evil people steal things, we saw that inky creature stealing
+          things from that vault, definitely evil. (singsong) Evil evil
+          evil, stab stab stab, make the evil go away with every little
+          stab~</p>
+          <p><strong>Corraidhin to Y’aml</strong><br />
+          Dear sysadmins, once again, inky is not evil. They were
+          borrowing something that had been cast on the ground,
+          abandoned. Giving a tea set a good home is far from evil. But
+          you might be onto something about this Blavin fellow, but we
+          can’t just stab someone in a busy pub! Besides you’re a sword,
+          and stabbing someone in a pub is the job of a dagger. So
+          unless you can transform into the Dagger of Y’aml I think
+          we’re out of luck here.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>Yam’L gets a curious look in its eye at the suggestion.
+          “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” it cries directly into your mind. It
+          squeezes its eye shut and trembles with intense concentration.
+          With great effort, the sword shrinks itself down to the size
+          of a dagger, shunting its extra mass off into yamlspace.</p>
+          <p>“There!” it says breathlessly, opening its eye wearily.
+          “Now, Hardy Bear. You promised..” it continues, its eye
+          glinting with growing ferocity. “Let’s. STAB. THE HOBBIT!”</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>While the wizard pressed Blavin about the crystal’s
+          secrets, Inky let their attention wander slightly around the
+          table.</p>
+          <p>They had agreed that Master Corraidhín and Jarrod, being
+          most wise and well-spoken, would question Blavin about the
+          crystal before they set off on their next mission. The party
+          had also befriended the duck unofficially dubbed their
+          marketing manager after the fluffy little creature had trailed
+          Inky all the way back to the Milk Market. Said creature now
+          occupied a small office to one side of the building complete
+          with a fountain, feathered up pillow and all the rummy worms
+          it can eat. Inky had tried getting the duck to communicate
+          with words by making them little croutons etched with letters,
+          but the only ones they would gobble up were Q-U-A-C-K.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>Your marketing manager moves into its office at the Milk
+          Market and seems to really be enjoying itself. It joins you at
+          Blavin’s table at Lucy’s Basement, cleaning its feathers and
+          chortling merrily to itself.</p>
+          <p>You and your tablemates take turns feeding it croutons and
+          bits of soft pretzel, and it seems very happy and content with
+          that.</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>A familiar prickle, but passed quickly — Inky had gotten
+          used to the glares directed at them by the sysorceor’s
+          gleaming sword and resisted returning the stare with an
+          eyeroll. Watching Stabby eyeing up their case manager over
+          Master Corraidhín’s shoulder reminded Inky of a conversation
+          they had overheard a few evenings ago between two pale coffin
+          sleepers about a new product from the hemogoblins that was
+          said to quench the thirst for longer than the leading brand.
+          They might be able to find some at the town of Plasma, which
+          sits by the Hartlands on the way to the shipwreck. It seems
+          the milky blood pudding could do with some improvement.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>You note on Blavin’s map that the Hemogoblin region is
+          indeed on the way to the shipwreck. At least, it’s not that
+          far out of the way. You reckon their synthetic blood product
+          would indeed be a much better substitute for the real thing
+          than the milk you’ve been feeding the thirsty sword thus
+          far.</p>
+          <p>Or, at the very least, you’ll get a new variant of the
+          blood pudding recipe you’ve been working on!</p>
+          <blockquote>
+          <p>Maybe someone else’s mood will be improved in the meantime?
+          Before setting out for their meeting with Blavin, Inky slipped
+          into the kitchens downstairs and left the empanada chef a
+          trick-and-treat. A plate of honeyed breadfruit and ghost
+          pepper tapas sat on an icebox atop a new pair of Blueberry
+          oven mittens with a pattern of tiny smiling green turtles.
+          Tucked inside one mitten was a slip of paper (regrettably
+          inedible) that simply read “BACK SOON :)”. A tapa recipe,
+          which included a note on adapting the toppings for pan frying,
+          was printed on the reverse in neat blocky letters and
+          sandalwood ink.</p>
+          </blockquote>
+          <p>Enrique wakes in the middle of the night to start baking
+          the next day’s breads and empanadas. He frowns thoughtfully
+          when he sees yet another mysterious gift from across the room.
+          Again? What little elf must have taken up residence in his
+          shop? But his face cracks into a smile when he sees the
+          presentation and the oven mitts. And the smile becomes a
+          bonafide grin when he tastes the fare and finds the
+          recipe.</p>
+          <p>He taps his chin thoughtfully with one green claw as he
+          skims the note and looks through his pantry. He chops some
+          veggies and starts pan frying them.</p>
+          <p>Later, when the oven dings, he smiles to himself as he
+          pulls on the new turtle pattern oven mitts and opens it.</p>
+          <p>&gt; A) MORE QUESTIONING, OR B) TIME FOR SHIPWRECK?</p>
+          <p><a
+          href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00008.html">www</a></p>
+        ]]>
+      </description>
+    </item>
   </channel>
 </rss> 

www/spoilers.html

@@ -207,10 +207,12 @@
 </header>
 <nav id="TOC" role="doc-toc">
 <ul>
+<li><a href="#stats" id="toc-stats">Stats</a></li>
 <li><a href="#about" id="toc-about">About</a></li>
 <li><a href="#characters" id="toc-characters">Characters</a>
 <ul>
 <li><a href="#corraidhín" id="toc-corraidhín">Corraidhín</a></li>
+<li><a href="#gabs" id="toc-gabs">Gabs</a></li>
 <li><a href="#glarg" id="toc-glarg">Glarg</a></li>
 <li><a href="#inky" id="toc-inky">Inky</a></li>
 <li><a href="#jarrod" id="toc-jarrod">Jarrod</a></li>
@@ -244,6 +246,8 @@ of the Were-Hare</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00024" id="toc-00024">00024</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00025" id="toc-00025">00025</a></li>
 <li><a href="#00026" id="toc-00026">00026</a></li>
+<li><a href="#00027" id="toc-00027">00027</a></li>
+<li><a href="#00028" id="toc-00028">00028</a></li>
 </ul></li>
 <li><a href="#bestiary" id="toc-bestiary">Bestiary</a></li>
 <li><a href="#geography" id="toc-geography">Geography</a></li>
@@ -255,8 +259,11 @@ id="toc-acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></li>
 <li><a href="#afterword" id="toc-afterword">Afterword</a></li>
 </ul>
 </nav>
+<h2 id="stats">Stats</h2>
+<p>Total length: 24524 words / 104 minute read.</p>
+<p>There have been 98 messages posted over 108 days since the first post
+on July 13, 2022 for a daily post rate of .90.</p>
 <h2 id="about">About</h2>
-<p>Total length: 21989 words / 93 minutes</p>
 <p>This is a game that me and the kids in the basement are playing over
 email.</p>
 <p><a
@@ -301,6 +308,38 @@ story entirely.</p>
 <li>Retriever: Contractual Obligation, An Auspicious Start</li>
 <li>Soulsword: Bloodlust</li>
 </ul>
+<h3 id="gabs">Gabs</h3>
+<details>
+<summary>
+<p>Bio</p>
+</summary>
+<p>Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all grown adults
+now, and she no longer wanted to toil away running a business. When she
+initially shuttered her little tavern, she thought she might just
+retire. She made it two whole years of working in a garden, occasionally
+seeing grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided she
+needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a nearby port
+town. She was sure to find something fun to do there.</p>
+<p>Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of debauchery
+wafting from within made her miss her days gossiping at her tavern. She
+enters and orders a terrible drink and listens and watches.</p>
+<p>Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she decides,
+“I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that sounds exciting!”</p>
+<p>Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join on the
+journey!</p>
+<p>Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to schmooze and
+have fun!</p>
+</details>
+<ul>
+<li>Player: archangelic</li>
+<li>XP: 0</li>
+<li>Skills: Do Anything 1</li>
+<li>Equipment:</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Paths:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Retriever: Contractual Obligation, An Auspicious Start</li>
+</ul>
 <h3 id="glarg">Glarg</h3>
 <details>
 <summary>
@@ -440,10 +479,10 @@ class="uri">https://t.co/gA6hV6VKqm</a></li>
 </ul></li>
 <li><p>Cadence: I’ll move the story along roughly once a week. Hopefully
 that gives everybody time to post something and participate.</p></li>
-<li><p>Inclusion over realism: If you disappear for a while and then
-come back, your character will immediately reappear as though they’ve
-been there the whole time. Come and go as you please. Open door
-policy!</p></li>
+<li><p>Open Table / Inclusion over realism: If you disappear for a while
+and then come back, your character will immediately reappear as though
+they’ve been there the whole time. Come and go as you please. Open door
+policy! Drop in and drop out as you please.</p></li>
 <li><p>Linearity: Respond only to the most recent email in the thread.
 (We might play around with time later, but for now, let’s keep it
 simple.)</p></li>
@@ -2674,9 +2713,236 @@ win.”</p>
 way, then turns and saunters out the door, trading small quips with his
 new (and now very drunk) tavern friends.</p>
 </blockquote>
+<p>You are at a small port town on the northern tip of Agendell, just
+past the Rana’For Valley. The sun is bright and the wind blowing in from
+the Sugrin Sea to the east is cool and salty. The floating island-city
+of Vay’Neddas, bridging Agendell and Primora, can be seen very faintly
+in the distance hanging in the northern sky.</p>
+<p>Your faithful multibeast is carrying all of your supplies and gear,
+which were generously provided to you by the indefatigable Blavin
+Blandfoot. His arm in a sling, he kept up a constant nervous chatter as
+he saw you off on your journey to recover the second Ginnarak
+Crystal.</p>
+<p>From here, you can easily provision a boat to take you out to the
+site of the shipwreck just off the coast.</p>
+<p>Or, optionally, you are very close to the Hartlands. It would be
+quite easy to make a quick visit to hemogoblins and pick up some
+synthetic blood for your experiments with the Sword of Yam’L.</p>
+<p>The sword, incidentally, after finally tasting the blood of “evil”,
+has remained sated and entirely inert and unresponsive this whole
+time.</p>
+<p>WHAT DO YOU DO:</p>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>TO THE SHIPWRECK</li>
+<li>BLOODQUEST</li>
+</ol>
+<p><a
+href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00018.html">www</a></p>
+<h3 id="00027">00027</h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Inky stares down at the package, weighing it on one hand.</p>
+<p>It was lighter than it should be given the density of the contents
+within, wrapped in straw and thick brown weight-absorbent parcel paper
+for dry goods. Most of the clientele were merchants and cultists from
+other parts of the continent who ordered pallets to be shipped back from
+the port town and sold to select boutique grocers or spilled on altars.
+Inside was a block of congealed synthetic blood shaped like a mud brick,
+the dark crimson almost black under the shop’s dim light.</p>
+<p>It was sheer happenstance that Inky had found this particular
+supplier. Having been informed heir boat to the shipwreck would not
+arrive for several hours, the members of their merry tea party had
+wandered off to enjoy the local sights while they waited. Inky had
+inquired about the hemogoblins and learned in passing that there was a
+district at the western edge of the town where a smaller group had set
+up warehouses, which would save them a two-day trip deep into the
+Hartlands. The hemogoblins in the district were primarily wholesalers,
+and it had taken some convincing before one of the proprietors agreed to
+sell a block of it, along with assurances Inky would purchase
+exclusively from him next time and in larger quantities.</p>
+<p>Thin fingers fiddle with the string before the package was set to one
+side.</p>
+<p>What were they doing?</p>
+<p>If quenching the thirst were so simple, wouldn’t any student of magic
+have already thought of it, let alone an experienced sysorceror? In all
+likelihood he had already known the inevitable, but was too polite to
+refuse Inky’s funny concoctions. Maybe deep down, Inky already knew too,
+but didn’t want to say it out loud. That the long feather they thought
+they had seen among the tea leaves was actually a dagger. That they
+hadn’t wanted to admit some problems could not be whisked away with some
+tincture or another. That they had failed, again.</p>
+<p>They hadn’t searched enough for better ingredients to go into the
+pudding, hadn’t reacted fast enough after noticing the sword had
+abruptly disappeared, hadn’t thrown the large platter of mouldy meat the
+terrified waitress next to them had been holding at Blavin’s head, or
+something. The sword had gotten what it demanded, and Inky couldn’t be
+angry with it — it had never been subtle about what it wanted. Had the
+blood pudding worsened the effects? Potions had never been on Inky’s
+menu. Brewing inks and teas with certain mild effects was
+straightforward enough, but curing chronic ailments was firmly in
+healers’ territory and just as bewildering. While it may be true nobody
+could be held to account for the actions of another not in full control
+of themselves, and hardly those of a rogue weapon with a mind of its
+own, sticking their nose in other people’s affairs was the surest way to
+get into trouble, a fact Inky still has difficulty learning after
+decades of wandering the continent.</p>
+<p>Would this substrate even work? Maybe it acted differently for cursed
+objects than coffin sleepers. Having brought it back and now aboard the
+ship, how would they even give it to the wizard? Should they wait and
+made sure Master Corraidhín was truly rested and recovered, despite his
+insistence he was more than fine? Would it be an insulting reminder of
+weakness, despite the wizard having proven unusual mental fortitude in
+staving off the screams for blood as long as he had? Was this more of
+the same, adding to what they had (not) done?</p>
+<p>After a long moment, Inky rolls the package with the producers’
+leaflet haphazardly in an old sailor’s rags still reeking of cheap
+alcohol, and passing by the wizard’s empty cabin on the way to the deck,
+places the messy bundle on the floorboards two steps from the door. Let
+the fates decide this one, because Inky’s magic 0 ball sure doesn’t make
+the best life choices.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Blavin has arranged transportation to the shipwreck ahead of time.
+All you have to do is head down to the docks and meet your contact,
+Three-Fingered Gerald, at a seedy dive bar named Inquire Within Upon
+Everything.</p>
+<p>Inquire Within is as eclectic and gaudy as the name would imply. The
+bar serves as an extensive and impressive piece of living documentation,
+drawing heavily on the port town’s cosmopolitan mixture of culture.
+Every kind of style, cuisine, decor, and beverage can be found here
+mishmashed together irregardless of good taste. Its contents are
+encyclopedic and claustrophobic. And yet it is not without its own
+peculiar brand of overwhelming, garish charm.</p>
+<p>You find Mister Three-Fingered at the bar entertaining his fellow
+patrons with a grotesque sleight of hand routine that involves passing
+his gold-plated false eye from its socket, to either hand, inside his
+mouth, and back with lots of flourish, fanfare, and misdirection along
+the way.</p>
+<p>He is a merry, boisterous sailor short one eye, half an ear, several
+fingers, and—he confesses to you—the heel of his left foot. “It’s why I
+walk so slow, you see.” The other barflies call him “Lucky”
+Three-Fingered Gerald. Because a certain kind of man—and Gerald is one
+of them—can never have enough nicknames. After you buy him a drink or
+three, he escorts you out of Inquire Within and to the slip where the
+sloop <em>Diamond Howler</em> is docked. Its captain, Enid Barlow,
+welcomes you aboard.</p>
+<p>Before long, <em>Diamond Howler</em> pulls out under the command of
+Captain Barlow and First Mate “Lucky” Three-Fingered Gerald. The site
+isn’t too far off the coast, and you arrive fairly quickly.</p>
+<p>“Aye, here she is. The SS RSS.” says Captain Barlow mournfully. “You
+can’t see her from up here. But you rest assured, she’s down there,
+resting on the seabed. She was the best cargo runner on the Sugrin back
+in her day! Distributing goods up and down the coast. Until the day she
+disappeared. Nobody knew what happened to her, not for sure. Still
+don’t. But at least we know where she wound up!”</p>
+<p>While the captain reminisces, Three-Fingered Gerald drags a large
+water tank across the deck, sloshing water over the edge with each step.
+Translucent orb-like jellyfish wobble around and bump into each other
+inside the tank, releasing little effervescent bubbles that fizzle and
+pop when they collide. “Here we go!” announces Mister Three-Fingered,
+depositing the tank of jellies in front of you. “Sailed through a big
+bloom of breathing bells just last week, didn’t we! Managed to scoop up
+a whole bunch of the little suckers. You ever use a breathing bell
+before? No? Aw, it’s easy! Ya just pull one on over your head like a
+hood, and it’ll breathe for ya while you’re below the waves!”</p>
+<p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
+<p>NOTE: We just covered a lot of narrative ground. Feel free to react
+to anything that happened between arriving at the docks, meeting Gerald
+and drinking at Inquire Within, boarding the Diamond Howler, and sailing
+to the site of the wreck.</p>
+<p><a
+href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00020.html">www</a></p>
+<h3 id="00028">00028</h3>
+<blockquote>
+<p><sub><em>a new player enters the chat</em></sub></p>
+<p>Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all grown adults
+now, and she no longer wanted to toil away running a business. When she
+initially shuttered her little tavern, she thought she might just
+retire. She made it two whole years of working in a garden, occasionally
+seeing grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided she
+needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a nearby port
+town. She was sure to find something fun to do there.</p>
+<p>Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of debauchery
+wafting from within made her miss her days gossiping at her tavern. She
+enters and orders a terrible drink and listens and watches.</p>
+<p>Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she decides,
+“I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that sounds exciting!”</p>
+<p>Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join on the
+journey!</p>
+<p>Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to schmooze and
+have fun!</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>~</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Meta: a warm welcome to the latest member of our tea party! This is a
+short post to help smooth the temporal jumps between the recent
+narratives so far. As Inky reaches the deck, they see Gabs approaching
+from the other side of the ship as well, and flashes them a grin in
+greeting. After listening to the captain petering on about the glorious
+days of the now sunken ship below, while tinkering with the bell’s
+tentacles — being rewarded with a mild zap and marginally better fit for
+the effort — Inky turns to the party. “When you’re ready.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>You reach into the tank and discover that grabbing a breathing bell
+takes some finesse. They are very slippery! But you get the hang of it
+and make a ladle out of your hands and scoop one up.</p>
+<p>“Okay now!” laughs Three-Fingered Gerald. He gives you a wink, but
+it’s easy to miss because of the eyepatch. “Don’t put it on until right
+before you jump. It won’t be able to breathe for you until you’re in the
+water. And this!” he continues, fitting a heavy, padded vest around your
+shoulders, “will carry you down.” It is a vest of many pockets, each one
+holding a small dense sandbag the size of your hand. “When you’re ready
+to come back up, just start dropping ballast, right?”</p>
+<p>You hop up on the ship railing and pull the breathing bell on over
+your head. It immediately contracts and squeezes and hugs your head like
+a second skin, and its stubby little tentacles grab hold around your
+jawline, and it feels like you have a wet plastic bag clinging to your
+face, and you think you might have made a grave mistake. Resisting the
+urge to panic, you push off the railing and jump overboard. You are
+briefly air born and then profoundly waterbound, crashing through the
+surface of the sea into the briny soup below.</p>
+<p>The oxygen starts to flow as the breathing bell begins to do its job.
+As you sink, you feel as though you are floating through space, entering
+another world.</p>
+<p>After a while you start to hear voices arguing in the distance. As
+you get closer, two large shapes start to come into focus. The first is
+a hulking, hairless merbear. Top half (hairless) bear, bottom half fish.
+The second figure is a tardigrade the size of a large merbear. It has
+eight jointless legs, each tipped with four sharp claws. It wriggles and
+wobbles like jelly as it gesticulates.</p>
+<p>“No, I am the true Bear of the Sea! I am called a Water Bear, after
+all!”</p>
+<p>“Hornswoggle and poppycock! It is I who am the Bear of the Sea! I am
+half bear after all! You’re just some kind of segmented nematode or
+something.”</p>
+<p>The tardigrade quivers with indignation. “I’ll have you know I’m a
+panarthropod, thank you very much. And this is the ideal physical body!
+You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like. I’ve
+lived under the polar ice cap, and in a sulfurous mountaintop hot
+spring. I’ve traveled through the vacuum of space to the moon! Have you
+ever been to the moon?”</p>
+<p>“Why don’t you go be the Bear of the Moon then if you like it so
+much!”</p>
+<p>“You’re just as much fish as you are bear, are you sure you’re not
+the Fish of the Sea?”</p>
+<p>“Are you sure you’re not the Blob of the Sea, you too many armed bowl
+of jelly?”</p>
+<p>“Hey! Hey, you there!” The arguing quasi-bears have spotted your slow
+descent. “Come, yes, float slowly this way! You must settle an argument
+for us! Tell this slightly mammalian fish that I am the true Bear of the
+Sea!”</p>
+<p>“The Bear of the Sea must be at least ‘slightly mammalian’ you
+egg-laying scientific curiosity! You, tell this cousin of a barnacle
+that I—the mighty merbear—am the true Bear of the Sea! Say this and I
+will guide and protect you on your journey.”</p>
+<p>“No! Would you like to visit the moon? Say that I, tardigrade, am
+Bear of the Sea and I will introduce you to my moon friends!”</p>
+<p>“He had to make friends on the moon because nobody on Urth can stand
+him!”</p>
+<p>“You’re just mean, you know that?”</p>
+<p>You are still quite some way from the sea bed, and there is no sight
+of the SS RSS.</p>
 <p>WHAT DO YOU DO</p>
 <p><a
-href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00015.html">www</a></p>
+href="https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-10/msg00023.html">www</a></p>
 <h2 id="bestiary">Bestiary</h2>
 <p>Some of the creatures who inhabit the world of Basmentaria</p>
 <dt>
@@ -2914,16 +3180,29 @@ manipulate cloudstuff into solid objects.
 </dd>
 </dl>
 <h2 id="geography">Geography</h2>
+<details>
+<summary>
+<p>Map</p>
+</summary>
+<figure>
+<img src="map.webp" alt="Map" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Map</figcaption>
+</figure>
+</details>
 <p>Basmentaria is a group of islands that sits between the eastern
 Sugrin Sea and the western Saldin Sea.</p>
-<p>There is Primora, the northern somewhat banana-shaped island.</p>
-<p>And there is Agendell, the southern also slightly banana-shaped
-island. Its largest city is Vay’Nullar, surrounded by the Gnomelands to
-the south, and the Tammineaux Forest to the east. Beyond the forest is
-the Rana’For Valley.</p>
+<p>There is Primora, the sparsely populated northern somewhat
+banana-shaped island. The city-state of Illivas, Primora’s only densely
+populated area, sits between Harshwind Glade and the mountains of Kelsun
+Peak.</p>
+<p>And there Agendell, the southern also slightly banana-shaped island.
+Its largest city is Vay’Nullar, bordered by the Gnomelands to the south,
+and the Tammineaux Forest to the east. Beyond the forest is the Rana’For
+Valley.</p>
 <p>The two crescent-moon islands reach toward each other, and in the
-center is Ginnarak, the small archipelago comprising the Cinderlands,
-Ashen Vale, the Ember Steppe, and Drakspon Mountain.</p>
+center is the archipelago of Ginnarak, comprising the Cinderlands, Ashen
+Vale, the Ember Steppe, and Drakspon Mountain.</p>
+<p><a href="#00022">00022</a></p>
 <h2 id="cosmology">Cosmology</h2>
 <p>In a fantasy setting where there objectively are deities who walk the
 earth and interact with humans, “atheism” is sometimes erroneously used
@@ -2976,26 +3255,29 @@ embers.</p>
 </summary>
 <p>NAMES AND NPCS</p>
 <p>Upcoming NPCs and/or monsters</p>
-<ul>
-<li>zai-ni</li>
-<li>zeyeknee</li>
-<li>standard ed</li>
-<li>three fingered gerald</li>
-<li>paladin of emacs</li>
-<li>monks of vim</li>
-<li>gnu zealots</li>
-<li>hinderbloke, gnu</li>
-<li>falterchap, gnu</li>
-<li>Hap-n-stance, moon rabbit: <a
+<ul class="task-list">
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />zai-ni</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />zeyeknee</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />standard ed</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />paladin of emacs</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />monks of vim</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />hinderbloke, gnu</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />falterchap, gnu</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />Hap-n-stance, moon rabbit: <a
 href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit"
 class="uri">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit</a></li>
-<li>Cyber Woman With Corn! – <a
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />Cyber Woman With Corn! – <a
 href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/cyber-woman-with-corn"
 class="uri">https://www.shutterstock.com/search/cyber-woman-with-corn</a></li>
-<li>oracle - <a href="https://lambdacreate.com/paste/midjourney.png"
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />oracle - <a
+href="https://lambdacreate.com/paste/midjourney.png"
 class="uri">https://lambdacreate.com/paste/midjourney.png</a></li>
-<li>corn smut? - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut"
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />corn smut? - <a
+href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut"
 class="uri">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut</a></li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" checked="" />gnu zealots</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" checked="" />three fingered
+gerald</li>
 </ul>
 <p>CRYSTALS</p>
 <p>Each crystal has an associated <em>element</em>, a <em>location</em>
@@ -3047,20 +3329,19 @@ Discette = HD Diskette = better stay away from magnets!!</li>
 building, lynx</li>
 <li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />MidJourney omen: priestly
 blood, demon</li>
-<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />・゜゜・。。・゜゜_o&lt;
-QUACK!</li>
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />palindromes: taco cat, reward
+drawer, tin unit, lap pal, evil olive</li>
 <li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />The Benefactor is Nullar</li>
 <li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />Blavin is a secret agent,
 working for the Golden Iris, a secret society that wants to ‘create
-balance’ by seating a fourth god</li>
+balance’ by creating a fourth god</li>
 <li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" />Nullar got tired of being a god
 and wanted to die, and Neddas agreed to help him. Shit went bad and
 turned Liandt to stone, and Nullar’s leg to stone. Now Nullar is trying
 to gather the Ginnarak crystals to assemble the <em>God Slayer</em> to
 attempt once more to end his own life.</li>
-</ul>
-<p>completed:</p>
-<ul class="task-list">
+<li><input type="checkbox" disabled=""
+checked="" />・゜゜・。。・゜゜_o&lt; QUACK!</li>
 <li><input type="checkbox" disabled="" checked="" />The gang has a
 rival: the gophers of Retrieval Team 70</li>
 </ul>