Pb, did Stogie have anything to add to the conversation? If not, I'll move things along to the overnight watch. Again, I'll start with the assumption that Stogie will sleep first and Ellesar second, but let me know if there's an alternate plan.

I'm at work now. I'll add a post later this evening.

So Smohalla is asking the spirit to "ride shotgun" when he goes to astrally investigate the explosion.

He also sent a watcher spirit to the camp to tell Stogie/Ellesar about the explosion, and to relay any further information he finds.

You're right, it was a bad idea to try to get the plant spirit to go with Smohalla He'll summon two more Watchers to help him with his search.

He'll try to send mental images of explosions in a forest / mountain region (fire, burned trees, blasted rock, etc) for the watchers to search for.

I've made an extended search roll for Smohalla and his watchers, which I'll keep secret for now. The search interval is in one hour increments. Phlapjack, let me know how long you want to continue to look.

I'll have Smohalla spend a total of 2 hours, then he'll go back to his "nest" if he hasn't found anything.

Yeah,yeah. I figured.

I'm jumping the gun a bit but work's been a real witch lately so I wanted to take the time now to make sure that I said:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

That's right, the game is now ONE YEAR OLD. We are all a year older, smarter or more senile, and closer to the grave than we were when we started all the way back at post #1.

I wondered how long the game would last when we began, not having participated in play-by-post before. Initially, I figured we could wrap things up in six months. And, had you been the trigger-happy types to quick-draw when you first met the Sisters, that would have been about right. Instead, we've had another five months to RP to dig into motivations and explore this little corner of the world. I'm extremely pleased with the ambiguous morality of the plot; or, more accurately, I'm extremely pleased that you uncovered it.

Most interesting game stat: Jake has been to the bathroom six times over the course of the game. I think the count for the rest of you is zero, or maybe Stogie went once. If anyone wants to double-check my count, here's the list. I'd hyperlink the post numbers but I'm not that bored.

.Post..Date
#130 Feb 7th
#144 Feb 27th
#356 July 6th
#376 July 16th
#449 August 24th
#526 October 21st

Of course, it wouldn't be a birthday party without gifts, so you will each be receiving a gift in-game in the near future. I'm sure that you'll be shocked to discover that this was planned in advance; the timing between the in-game happens and the out-of-game calendar has worked out great.

Another day has passed (i.e. eleven weeks) so it's time for karma again. I'll PM you separately with your most recent awards. Same rules as before, you can spend it on one advancement of choice.

(Ellesar, pick up a rank of Perception already. I can't believe you didn't do it six months back.)

Now, back to the game already in progress!

Smohalla just uses purify water and drinks it...

Clever!

Darn. And here I was hoping to play the tracker elf that somehow remains utterly oblivious.

Smohalla's summoning a F3 air spirit with guard


That would be a funny concept - high tracking and survival and all that, but he's so intently studying the tracks that he doesn't see the grizzly bear right in front of him

Isn't there an Oblivious quality in Runner's Companion? I'm away from my books from the moment but I recall there being a quality for the particularly unobservant.

Okay, now the game is a year old. I had a chance to post today after all. Party hats and kazoos all around! Or maybe yesterday really was the birthday if we take into account the leap day from earlier this year.

Everyone, please let me know what you're carrying with you. I presume this is a day trip, so maybe not every weapon and piece of gear that you own. Smohalla might also appreciate someone bringing his clothes. You might appreciate doing so as well. Maybe a doggie backpack for Jake.

Anyway, put a mention of what you're wearing / carrying in an IC post and we'll be on our way!

I'd like to request a vevezula instead of a kazoo...love those things, don't understand why they get so much hate...

and yeah, just checked - Oblivious, 5BP neg quality, -1 to all perception tests

Hope you guys know I was joking about being oblivious. Ahh, now what to take? I think Ellesar is feeling light today.

Pbangarth, you've got quite a wardrobe. Which armor will you be wearing? For now I'll assume the camo jacket (6/4) + form fitting (6/2) + some PPP shin guards and arm guards (0/2).

I should be able to post today / tonight.

Can't wear the form fitting with the armour, because he has a BOD of 4 only. He'll be in the camo jacket (6/4) plus the PPP sytem gear that adds to +2/+4, making him 8/8.

I was figuring the PPP system could be split into its components, separating the ballistics pieces from the impact-only pieces, but the approach you outlined works great too.

Whoops, lied about writing an IC post today. Soon though!

This morning on my walk to work I passed by a little old lady who was wearing a button that said "I Support the Sisters". She was small and grey and looked like she could be a close family member to Ellie so I did a double-take. The button is connected to a nun-justice petition that is circulating around the Internet, but for a moment I imagined that Ellie, Hester, and Selene were the focus of some grass-roots campaign of support in nearby Seattle.

Hehe - life imitates art, and all that.

For my own part, wherever I go I am now constantly seeing eagle pictures, eagle taxidermy, eagle everything...

Stogie will Assense the area and the remains. Maybe he can find something Smohalla didn't.

INT 5 + Assensing 6 (probably Aura reading specialization doesn't help here-- more like psychometry would help) = 11 dice

Some rolls:

HITS: 8,4,5,3,3

Wow.

wow, 8 hits! nice rolls

I'm always reminded of that scene from Terminator 2, where they're driving at night, and the kid asks Arnie, "Can you see anything?"

He answers, "I see everything"

I tend to think of the Predator vision myself.

I suppose Ellesar will be checking out their gear, or at least what's left of it.

LOG 4 + Firearms 2 = 6 dice >>> 2 Hits

Hehe - Predator 1 or 2?

2 had all those different modes...UV? can't tell what they all are...

Pbangarth, I'm going to borrow some of those Assensing rolls and apply them as Perception rolls, as the values for the two skills are the same.

Let me know what you guys are thinking for next steps. Feel free to discuss the situation for as long as you like and let me know if there are any OOC clarifying questions you have. But after that, you have the whole day and country before you. What's the plan?

As far as next steps, Smohalla plans to try to talk with some of his contacts to see if there is any info on these dead people. Other than that, maybe head back to the camp and start working on warding the campsite. If there is a "next time", the next group might be smarter and bring some magical backup...

I'm starting to feel that a reasonable conclusion to all this will be to hang out with the Sisters for awhile, in the idea of trying to steer them away from a toxic path

That sounds good. Do you intend to contact Grugnir again - we could do it on the one-year anniversary of his last appearance - or did you want to try another contact? The Sinsearach elf would be the most local option. Would Smohalla be flying there or projecting/manifesting? You're actually on Sinsearach lands now, which extend south to the current Washington-Oregon border.

I like this idea in principle. Convincing the Sisters to change their modus operandi could take some time though. Are we willing to hang out with them for weeks... months?

Preparing the campsite for defense is also a good idea. Maybe some earthworks, sight lines through the trees, etc. Don't know how the Sisters will take that, though. If we 'align' ourselves with the Sisters while doing this, the wolves may become useful scouts.

I think he would astrally project to talk to his contacts, both Grugnir and the elf (I need to come up with a name for him...), maybe also the Makah tribesperson because he might have the most "modern world" info...

So maybe a day of getting in touch with contacts or so... maybe we can also make contact with Gunny somehow to ask what's up.


I think spending weeks or months would align with Smohalla's beliefs. Unless they show themselves to be really evil, he probably won't attack them. But he also wouldn't be willing to let them continue as they are...


Yeah, and this seems like something all of our characters can really contribute to. I think the Sisters might be more on board to militarize themselves than we realize, although that might not be a good thing

Teaching possible murderers combat tactics could lead to our downfall. I'm in.

Ellesar is going to be using the rest of the day to make sure the gear they found is in full working order (ie. checking the tent for holes, cleaning the weapons, etc). He'll also try contacting his old comrade in arms to see if he knows anyone who may know something about modding weapons.

Ok cool - Smohalla will spend the day astrally reaching out to his contacts - Grugnir, Asphodel (Sinsearach elf), and He-Who-Walks-Inside (human, Makah tribe)

It's been a week since our last IC post so let's get one of those going soon. Is the plan to return to the Sisters' camp before reaching out to contacts or do you want to do it from where you are now?

Ellesar, you're well outside of wireless signal range for your commlink. There's nothing stopping you from returning to civilization to contact people, but you'll at least have to get back to Greenwater (and maybe even the Seattle border) before placing a call.

Calling Gunny is valid if you want to do that too.

I'd say it'd be better to return to camp first before Smohalla goes astral to talk to his contacts.

About signal range, it seems like it'd be too dangerous for one person to go alone. We need some kind of satellite uplink out here...

New IC post is up. The idea is that the group could have exchanged the thoughts expressed in the OOC forum during their walk back. Of course, if you want to add anything or clarify the plans further, you can do so while still out of earshot of the Sisters.

Invisible Castle seems to be down right now. I used it a couple days ago so hopefully it's back up and running soon. If not, we'll have to figure out how we want to roll dice.

Hahhahahahaha! Very poetic.

Ouch.

Sorry I've been out for so long everyone. I've spent the last few days piling up used tissues and fighting to stay awake against medication. I've managed to remain coherent for a couple hours so I figured I'd let you guys know. I should hopefully be able to get an IC post up within the next day.

Sounds like a plan. Unless I hear any objections or alternative suggestions, I'll move things forward to the Sisters' camp within the next day or two.

Uh oh...my spidey sense is tingling...

Smohalla will be assensing the women (and the spirits too, for good measure), he's looking for any effects of spells or corruption. Something seems off, this shifting of moods...

Phlapjack, give me a little better sense of what Smohalla is trying for. F2? F3?

He'll go with F3. There seem like some good cutoff points for the force of a summoned spirit, Smohalla will stick to these rough guidelines unless otherwise noted. It's a little meta-gamey, but...

F3 : when you don't particulary need a powerful spirit, not too difficult to summon, gets one additional power for the spirit
F(caster's magic) : when you need a powerful spirit but aren't totally certain your death is imminent
F(above caster's magic, in multiples of 3) : OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT

Atropos, this is your cordial nudge to post.

Thanks, now I have everyone in the office wondering why I'm laughing so loudly

I was proud of that line because I feel like I didn't write it. I had the shopping list in mind but then Ellie added that aside on her own without me consciously thinking of it. This is the point that writers try to reach, where the characters are real enough and alive enough that they begin to think and act organically without writer input. This phenomenon is well-described by the famous Chapter Thirteen of "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by John Fowles, where the author "breaks voice" and pauses the novel in progress to instead discuss the novel-writing process. The parallel is imperfect as this game is a collaboration, not a novel, but the underlying sentiments remain true:


You may think novelists always have fixed plans to which they work, so that the future predicted by Chapter One is always inexorably the actuality of Chapter Thirteen. But novelists write for countless different reasons: for money, for fame, for reviewers, for parents, for friends, for loved ones; for vanity, for pride, for curiosity, for amusement: as skilled furniture makers enjoy making furniture, as drunkards like drinking, as judges like judging, as Sicilians like emptying a shotgun into an enemy’s back. I could fill a book with reasons, and they would all be true, though not true of all. Only one same reason is shared by all of us: we wish to create worlds as real as, but other than the world that is. Or was. This is why we cannot plan. We know a world is an organism, not a machine. We also know that a genuinely created world must be independent of its creator; a planned world (a world that fully reveals its planning) is a dead world. It is only when our characters and events begin to disobey us that they begin to live. ...

Oh, but you say, come on—what I really mean is that the idea crossed my mind as I wrote that it might be more clever to have him [example excluded]. That is certainly one explanation of what happened; but I can only report—and I am the most reliable witness—that the idea seemed to me to come clearly from [the character], not myself. It is not only that he has begun to gain an autonomy; I must respect it, and disrespect all my quasi-divine plans for him, if I wish him to be real.

Cool quote. Your point about this being a collaboration, not a novel...let me quibble a little here Maybe these pbp games are collaborative novels? Hopefully we're all invested enough to try to create this world and characters in a collaborative way, instead of viewing this game as a competition (PvP or PvGM) or something. Lots of discussion and opinions to be had about RPGs and what they actually are, I guess.

That's how I'm approaching it, anyway. Trying to give all my characters a unique voice when I'm not being lazy about it. A little bit is gimmicky, like the way I post for Smohalla, but hopefully the visual adds a little bit to his "voice" too.

I used to be married to a novelist. She would say that if the characters were complete enough, they took over the story. I feel the same way now.

Phlapjack, we seem to be saying the same thing. If you're quibbling about a point then the distinction is too nuanced for me to notice.

Pbangarth or Atropos, post something ICly to lead the group out of camp. From the hike in, you know it's about 18km back to Greenwater. It's now midday and there's nothing left of Greenwater, so you'll need to figure out the plan for the evening too. If you give me a general outline of planned events, we can go into fast-forward (unless you get ambushed and/or eaten).

Makes sense. Upon reflection I see that a "collaboration" covers my ideas as well.

No, Smohalla doesn't mind eating eggs...in fact, pretty much anything is fair game