Huh... That was... Damn...

I thought I should roll composure. With the -2d of Stun. Probably other modifiers given the situation, but I figured I'd just see the number of successes, and decide then.
And this happened: Composure: 11d6t5 8

Despite this...monstrous...roll, I figured Cailin could not not react. But I suppose she will have overcome most of it in the morning.

Wow, you guys don't even need Lindsey around to cause trouble.

Yeah...! This game got a tad less Mohawk...hope everyone is happy with that?!?

Errrm, it is a cyber hand, not sure you can just cut the finger off!!? Maybe gingerly with the whip itself? As I said the spool is in the hand (which requires a connection to a nervous system for power) so don't expect to be using that whip!

I think the point was to make sure that nobody else uses the whip against us. Having said that, give a group of players almost no resources other than a length of mono-wire, and creativity is bound to happen ...

so the entire hand she is not going to use it... no need for it but she does not want another dictator with a whip.

Edited to say that Dana takes the entire hand... even more morbid, but yes I confirm that Dana does not want to use the whip.
(Perhaps as an animal trap but not as a weapon).

Grand, that's fine

Pierre likes to mutter in french, and not very grammatical french at that. But rest assured that nothing of game importance will happen that way. (and most Quebecois swear words are religious terms, so if it looks like he is issuing blessings or something ... it is rather the opposite).

And I apologize in advance that there will probably be another episode of Addie getting emotional when she gets the news about Rick. Don't you just hate when your crush gets possessed by a spirit of toxic radiation and then slices himself into pieces?

Well, Raf didn't think much of the ork, but I was starting to like Rick.

I think that for various reasons some of us got a bad first read on him way back at the start of the game.

Anyway, Aria, I thought the death scene was extremely well written.


Having a hard time deciding what Raf will do.

He's cold, irradiated, naked-vulnerable, but also surrounded by lots of other naked people, some girls, still pumped on adrenaline from the fight which amplifies his feelings of loneliness, shock, arousal, loss, and anger; he's exhausted, shaved, splashed with cold spirit water, supposed to stay away from half the camp, just watched a guy he knew slice himself into pieces...all on top of still having no idea where he is or what's happening. Probably pretty hungry, too.

I'm having a hard time not having him just shut down - but a nervous breakdown would be rather tedious and self-indulgent in an RPG.

I guess the sight of other kids that are in even worse shape than he is will steel him to soldier on somehow....

I guess when humans have their backs totally to the wall they just survive, but honestly - how half the kids with us haven't devolved into total basket cases by now, especially the corp kids....

@Beta - oh the guilt... if only Addie was there to love and talk to him.

The suicide came unexpected and un understood, if I was debating wether Rick was a good or bad leader then in retrospect after what he did he was a poor choice. A step away from suicide and projecting his emotional problems and insecurity on the rest of us. At least this is how I read him now, but I find that these things are very culture dependent. I now read him like a worse version of Addie that when things did not go his way he just suicides.

I've always thought you were too hard on Rick, and I still think so.
When he vomited, it was black. He probably was disintegrating in front of us, with maybe an hour to "live". He preferred to end it quick rather than die like that.

Yeah, he wasn't long for this world and the biggest threat of contamination to the rest of you! And Dana is now irradiated too!!! Oh and you can't recoil the whip so be careful with it!

@gilga - you threw me for a loop, buddy - first I thought Dana was burying herself, and then I happened to re-read your post and you were (thankfully) back with us!

Sorry you all had to get through me learning that lesson. Didn't think that one through enough before committing to that path on Addie.

As for the npc, the Corp kids may not be used to the physical hardship, but that doesn't mean that a lot of them haven't grown up under a lot of pressure all the same. And I kind of figure it might not be just the PC who have above average will....

Yes I edited, thinking again that she should not be more radiated then the rest of you.
and Beta, I think that corp kids will be more physically fit than street kids. Perhaps not as tough and perhaps would not have the skills needed to survive in the Barrens but as far as physical fitness go I think they have a good advantage.

They had better nutrition, they had access to advanced training techniques, professional gym, instructors. They had the leisure to train and improve their bodies while the street kids were struggling to find their next meal. They had good night sleep that allowed for the muscles to repair themselves post training and their bones are healthier due to more calcium.

Just saying...

Those are all great points about the corp vs. street balance, thanks.

(And Beta, wasn't even thinking about you/Addie with the 'nervous breakdown indulgent' remark!!!)

@Gilga We should wait to do things in the morning as Nim was going off to get something for the group. Let's give her a chance to get back and do what she needs to do.

Fine...

Hum, are we in the morning in the end?

Maya is in the morning. I can certainly wait if others have something they are trying to do in the evening.

Cailin will sleep as soon as she calms down, so nothing in the evening.
In the morning though, yes. I'll start typing then.

Cool. We are counting on Cailin to help us survive. This is certainly a good example of needing multiple people to make a go of it.

I'm assuming that Aria is in matrix contact with Nora, hence by the time Addie gets in touch with Aria on Day 5, Aria has at least some version of the story of what happened at the main camp (and so Lindsey would have the info by this point too, and may be making stuff happen).

I think Dana/Addie timelines are maybe slightly out of whack, in that Addie had spent some time in the morning working her way out of the valley, so was probably approaching mid-morning-ish (nine o'clock?) by the end of my last post there, and I think Dana headed out somewhat earlier? I'm going to just assume Dana shows up shortly after Addie reached out to Aria. (Assuming that she can matrix-reach Aria by that point -- and it sounds like she should have been able to -- that conversation should have been quick, so I'll put that in before getting to Dana showing up. If Lindsey wants to get into it at all from the other end, I'll give a space for that, too.)

But I'll start writing up the post for greeting Dana, to be able to get that in place quickly.

And as an aside, between technology and magic, it makes it hard to stay lost for long! At this rate I won't even be rolling for fatigue damage before she is back to shelter. I'd even looked up those rules for the first time ever (but I think they are also used for resisting radiation damage too, in theory, so not a total waste -- other than that they don't make a lot of sense for resisting radiation damage -- survival skill reduces how much fatigue damage you take from radiation?)

Lindsey will be having a chat session with the girls and then they'll be going to sleep, so no impact on the main group before morning. Should have the post tonight.

The main camp has jumped forward to morning, and Dana has flown off and found Addie (mid-morning). I'm hopefully shortly putting up Addie talking with Aria in the morning, so you have more time to cover

Nod, just confirming that noone needs to wait on Lindsey throwing a wrench in the works that night.

OK, left it so that Aria can pass along anything else, and if not I'll just right that Aria didn't have much else to say, then go to greeting Dana.

You seem to have covered it all! Great post

I was actually thinking runner Aria, if Lindsey wants to say anything that Aria would pass along. But input from the gm would have been accepted, I guess

Clarification. Lindsey did not see the mark that Dana left, not unless she went after her into the night. Dana made an effort NOT to show the shape change or to appear naked in front of the girls. So I ask you to remove the reference to the 'fly away home' and unmarking the clothes.

Oh, I assumed astral sight didn't care about darkness and such. No big, figured she'd be able to find it from the location of the clearing anyway, just causing annoyance. I'll remove it.

I hope my wall of text is at least a bit readable... I'm not a politician so speeches like that are a bit beyond me ^^
Plus, English is not my native language, which probably shows a lot in stuff like that :o

@ Imladir: I am not sure why you think Maya is not around. She was up and moving at dawn and would have been walking among the people here to give encouragement and try to build confidence. She would have been trying to talk to you as well. I don't necessarily think that you need to change your post too much, but Maya would have been clearly visible. If you are trying for the leadership position, she will probably support you.

From what I understood, Maya and Dana are running towards the caves we spent the previous night in.
And Cailin doesn't want to lead anything, she has enough on her plate as is. Plus, a lot of people will probably volunteer themselves soon enough anyway.

She's more trying to have them think as a group, to think in terms of "us" rather than "me". I don't think many of the kinds would want a 12 years old girl, elf, mage, and SINner to lead anything anyway, so all is well ^^

Not correct. Maya did NOT go with Dana. She politely declined that invitation and Dana left by herself.

Ok, I'll change that in my last post then.

Thanks. You do not have to make a big deal of it, as Maya might have been in one of the cubicles or turned around. One of the important points is that the irradiated people are still naked, mostly covered in dried mud.

Not that it was not cool, but why are they naked?

They stripped off in an effort to avoid further contact with potential radiation in their clothes.

*Applause for Caillin* Loved the speech -- most excellent! (and PS: Never would have guessed that English is not your first language)

Of course, it will be interesting once that main group and Lindsey's group of girls re-unite, if the main group has already set up a government that they expect Lindsey and the others to accept (and Addie for that matter, although in general she is inclined toward cooperation)

Yeah, I've been considering a bunch of different routes the reintroduction of the girls could go, assuming they survive on their own. We'll see how this mystery man made thing goes along with the proximity to the toxic. Returning triumphant would go very differently than returning in disgrace.

^^^ Yep. I'm curious to see what that is, for its own sake, but also how that plays out ...

=========================

While it hasn’t been the 24 period specified in the rules, I decided I wanted to make a survival roll for Addie to see how she was holding up, after a night alone with no shelter, having traveled several kilometers, and gone down and back up 600+m in the creek’s gorge, and gone probably 16 hours or so without food. Edged, to reflect that I’d previously narrated her enjoying the clamber back up out of the gorge.

I don’t have the book in front of me, but I think that the threshold would be 4, for ‘mountain’ (the general elevation they are at, all the vertical that she has been doing, although could call it forest (threshold was lower, 2 I think?), could put on a dice penalty for the polluted/twisted nature of the place… but I’ll just call it a threshold of four). I think that survival tests do 'fatigue damage' (although again: not looking in the book right now), but I don’t think they qualify as a fatigue test per se -- so assuming that the bonus from her heightened (lung) volume ‘ware doesn’t apply (but for future reference wouldn’t mind confirmation of that)

Survival 8, -2 for lack of gear, spend one edge to push the limit (+3 dice, re-roll 6s)
survival (-2 for lack of gear, +3 for edge): 9d6h5 7

Hunh, well then apparently Addie thrives on a challenge. Will include this in my upcoming post.

ETA: IC post getting broken into two pieces, as it was turning into a wall of text. Sorry to keep Dana waiting, that part will be coming soon! is now up

The file that she is sending to Aria is all of the notes she made over the first three days from talking with the other kids. She only has that knowledge skill at 1 so far, so not too extensive.
Presumably Aria and Nora will let Lindsey and Maya know, so if anyone wants to suddenly find hitherto unknown abilities among the other kids, you have a piece of in-game justification for it here.

ETA2: Also updated the overlay map with Bridal Veil falls, and where I figure Addie and Dana meet. Just to make future navigation stuff easier.

Well I'm French so English is definitely not my first language ^^

Oh no, so you can tell just how badly I'm mangling the French in my Pierre posts -- Ack! (Not that joual isn't prrtty mangled French in the first place, but grammar mistakes are all mine)

It's not too bad ^^

@Gilga -- I should have been clearer in my posts -- Addie still has her body suit on, so not much skin on skin I'm afraid (most of the main camp kids had kept their flats on over the form fitting body suits. Addie is some mix of not self-conscious about and confident in her body, so had sacrificed the bottoms of her flats to make a carry bag. She had kept the top so far, figuring she'd have use for it later -- I hadn't posted anywhere but she was planning on trying to make a better sun hat out of part of it, but she hasn't worried in the rain this day).

Perhaps you could change it to the feel of body heat instead of the touch of skin?

And I didn't clutter up the IC post with it, but just so you know: Addie hasn't offered her body suit to Dana because a) she probably needs the protection more than Dana, and b) She expects Dana to be shape-shifting again soon enough, so shedding clothes again, and c) she doesn't want to think about how Dana's appearance may make her feel but that doesn't mean she is in that much of a hurry to get her covered up (I suspect she has a thing for strong, confident, possibly dangerous, people, but she is nowhere close to figuring out her full sexuality).

Yes I edited that, and Dana is totally attracted (even if not sexually) to powerful or dangerous people. She is also fond of the charismatic people that she feel are completing her. She has not the slightest clue about her sexuality her only experience in that field is very traumatic.
Part of the reason why she avoids touching boys.

The private school Addie attends apparently teaches geography (she has geography knowledge 2, for a dice pool of six). Grade ten would be about the right time to have learned about climate zones, I figure Addie may be totally wrong about what she just said, so don't assume that is the truth -- it just seemed like a reasonable conclusion based on knowing about Mediterranean versus temperate, etc climates.

And Aria, do correct me if the noon-time sun was to the north of them (assuming that one calls the direction that the sun rises in as east), indicating southern hemisphere by earthly coordinates.

You're exactly where you should be