The Machine Stops-

Found this over at Old School Heretic.

The Machine Stops
by E. M. Forester (1909)

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Representational Numerics and The Decimal Point-

YouTube LINK

Latter Autumn Era: 2nd Tyhrean War, Lhoman Theatre-

A Steam-powered Vectored Thrust Observation and Scout Craft-
:: (c) 2010 Kyrinn S. Eis

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 17-

As I am busily writing and mapping for the Black Blade Publishing adventure I am co-writing with Rob Kuntz, I'll have to make this briefer than usual.

The Primary Characters are realising that their past has caught up with them in many ways: Lord Worm has challenged Tyb to a personal battle to restore his tarnished honour at Tyb's re-absconding his Vae daughters from the Black Citadel. Ashta's refusal to undergo full gene-thereapy to fully awaken her Aelbaan ancestry, as well as her continued operation of the Pearl (escape pod) has antagonised them further. Delver Denab, having managed to escape the miles-long Aelbaan ship in orbit (and in the high Aether) with a half-feral human raised on the ship, barely survived a drone fighter attack and landed on Baroness Averdyn's estate, whereupon the drone dis-integrated and tele-relocated the escape pod the two came down in.
--Meanwhile, travelling at Mach 2.75 across the Storm Ocean towards the Western Isles to fetch Delver, Ashta and Darius drew the concern of the WICE long-range defence network which fired upon them and alerted the Home-Isles of the rapidly encroaching threat. This resulted in Pearl shattering a Glass barrier erected as a safeguard, as well as the deployment of Jump Troopers throughout the metro Yovend area in an attempt to slow the attackers pending the 'heavy gear' being brought to bear.

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 16 ('Wait. Huh? What?')-

This session was pretty wild, and so I'll buck tradition and post a short recounting.

PCs stayed w. craft > repairs effected > left for Tshomdrys Island where they offloaded most of the rescued folk > onwards they travelled to Old Port where they picked up cargo and then proceeded towards the Smot Flood Plain > but met with difficulty as a mixed group of Aberrabts, Dokirin, and Humanoids were performing a powerful ritual, calling upon multiple Elemental Patrons.

Zalder flew off to retrieve a lifeboat, and was attacked by a giant watery hand in the form of a great Humanoid beast-paw. He contacted the Sisters who informed him that They were being courted by the others, and that he'd have to ante-up to get their assassistance. He returned to the craft and offered himself up as a vehicle for their power for a year and one day. He was possessed and flewoff, becoming an NPC until such time passes, and taking the air-sled with him. My g/f then set about making a Smoke Mage from the outskirts of Kelzsyn's Bluff as her new character. Giant sylphs, appearing as the Sisters, lifted the craft out of the frothing waters as Water Wolves manifested and attacked those aboard. The craft was lifted over the Plain, and deposited in the tidal lake immediately north of Kelzsyn's Bluff.

The cargo turned out to be a mono-tread swamp-vehicle powered by a Steam-tech engine, which the party droveto KB. The hour was late, and the guards greedy, but entry was gained nonetheless and Nyqolas went to work studding his double-dip Imperial Bloodline out to the local women quaking with wet-scripted biological imperitives (his 20+ Conviction didn't hurt, either). While that was going on, Osyl found herself arrested for her own good by a very understanding Sheriff and a Marnharnnan Defence Agency Marshal, but after her Knight's Move esacape, they were able to discern that she had an important reason for being in town, and aided her in seeing the old Primary and Secondary Characters of the Players: Tyb and Ashta, Darius and Mela Mela. Folks were happy to play their original PCs after about 4 months of real time.

The question is this: Will the Primary characters' time-travel be undone/redone/altered?

Giving Thanks in the New World-

Whether one is of the opinion that the Pilgrims were the colonising White Oppressers or the transplanted Natives were the bloodthirsty savages, or both, I wish to extend my genuine Thanks-giving to the readership for subscribing to the blog, and monitoring the progress and progressive-revelation of Urutsk. Your continued interest is most appreciated, and I hope to repay that investment with a quality setting/system.

Wishing you and your loved ones well in this season,
-Kyrinn

Mutants of Marnharnna: Pt. 15: Between a Lock and a Hard Place-

The long and short of the situation is that the military cargo of the schooner cannot be offloaded nor abandoned under any circumstances, and so the paddlewheeler captain begged the party to flee while the other craft did its best to hold off the catamarans while help was sought from Fort UuTudel. As the paddler (laden with passengers, but having thrown overboard two slot-machines) lingered, a flak shell was launched and detonated close enough to all but destroy its wheelhouse. Kitsune was able to effect enough repairs as to operate the craft, and away they went. Zalder delivered a few well-placed firebombs again, and rejoined the paddler.

Nyqolas discovered that he was not regaining Alertness DP, but the cause was not disclosed for some time. Osyl, recovering with the aid of healers sent by Lady Arctise, became conscious as what appeared to be a 'zombie leg' was sewn onto the stump of her right thigh, and all manner of bizarre things put inside (twigs, leaves, etc.), including what Osyl thought was the skeleton of a weasel-like creature. Upon full consciousness (around the time the flak struck the ship), she felt the weasel stirring inside the hollow-seeming limb, and at one point, the thing appeared to pop out and chitter at the woman. Shenanigans involving trying to raise one of the healers killed by shrapnel by sacrificing the eldest of the lizard-girls was foiled by Osyl with a Frost-substituted (Void)-blast that was very convincing. Nyqolas, using his Inspire suite of powers, was able to draw DP from those that responded to the ruckus and raise the recently expired healer. The attempt to sacrifice the girl was not prosecuted at the time, given the gravity of the larger situation, and folks went their separate ways. One of the healers was able to see a glass creature (like a stirge crossed with a su monster and a beaker and flask kit) crawling upon Nyqolas' body, apparently drinking from his Dynamic Pool and preventing him from recovering one mote of pwer.

As sunlight was fading, Kitsune spotted something on the eastern horizon, but it wasn't until the craft neared that it was determined to be at least 40 12-person canoes of Dokirin origin, seemingly awaiting a signal to row from the Eleven Sons area towards the fort which was clearly already under attack. With no real hope of staving off a concerted warband in the damaged craft, it was decided to circumvent them and press on toward the lock. Soon, the signal was given in the form of a star-shell sort of munition deliberately aimed low to kindle fires throughout the otherwise stalwart fort atop stout rocky hills.

Reaching Noud Lehd, the party witnessed a desperate skirmish battle fought between lock engineers and Dokirin war-scouts. A few DiVinci-esque battle devices helped turn the tide and the PCs' presence tipped the scales in favour of the Vrun forces. With the drydock available again, the paddler was brought in for repairs with the goal to reach the tidal lake by high tide still in the realm of the possible. Disembarking, the Party scouted the area ahead of the passengers, and was informed that a hidden entrance to a tunnel leading to UuTudel was to be found in the cluster of ruins at the far end of the dock.

I had used a combination of Heroscape tiles, foamcore terrain tiles and paper boulders made by my sweetie, felt pads from Michael's crafts store, and a piece of store-bought terrain for the ruin, and then covered the table in a sheet so as to minimise the Players' knowledge of the battle scene's layout. We fought the lopsided battle for roughly two hours of gameplay, with Zalder suffering a downing and unconsciousness at the hands of a third-wave Dokirin group. One of these had a softball-sized glassy sphere in his off-hand, and utilised it to illuminate the outer reaches of its radius effect, while the bearer was barely lit (the outermost region was brighter than the inner, ya'see?). Zalder had backshot that one and with the bearer's demise, the light slowly faded, but gave Nyqolas the opportunity to spot the downed Zalder (floating in the water atop the air-sled), whom he fetched and woke.

The last of the on-table opponents was defeated and the effort to begin looting the dead was initiated. Nyqolas picked up the sphere and failed a Control Critical Test (a Spells Save in D&D terms), coming under the gaze of what appeared to be a one-eyed Abbekqorru shaman/sorcerer who then forced a second Control CT, which Nyq was able to deny, but went unconscious in the exertion (burning 8DP to boost his chance to succeed by 1d6). The object was then pried from the now-useless-rendered Nyqolas by Kitsune, with a dagger and with some blood loss. As Nyq lay unconscious, the female sorceress informed him that her glass homunculus (on the Plane of Glass) was siphoning his vitality and reconstituting her body.

The decision to stay with the craft, or make the perilous trip through the tunnel to UuTudel, faces the Party upon commencement of this scenario next time.