Wrench-Turners of Barsoom (Game Thread)

[Tibbius]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/artbreederpublic-shortlived/1d/imgs/aad9c1584401e9192d6f.jpeg
The view from Chancellor Vuguc's ornately-furnished office overlooks the city of Helium, which is currently oppressed by a dust storm blowing in from the wildlands. The chancellor sits calmly behind his skeel-wood desk, which is engraved with symbols whose meaning is lost to millenia. He gazes absent-mindedly at the Thark skull that sits at the front left corner of the desk, next to the bone pen resting in its pot of ochre ink.

"Minions," he says gently, "one of the remaining air-promoter stations has been sending a radio signal that its main pump bearing is failing. We need you to go forth and scavenge a main pump bearing from one of the derelict stations, and install it in the still functional station. The bearing is half the size of a man, and may be quite heavy. I do not know because in living memory we have not needed to replace one.

"Here is a map of the station where we believe you can find a bearing, and here is the location of the failing station. You will need to traverse the wildlands. If you are on the ground, you will need to deal with Tharks and other dangerous creatures. One of you can pilot an airship, correct?"




Traits:
12 health
8 load
1 clever, 0 noble, 2 tough.
Items:
Food tablets (1 week)
Flask of water (2 days)
Basic leather harness
Bonespear
Horse-skull mask
Specials:
Animal companion (wasp swarm)
Insectile wings


Traits:
12 health
8 load
2 clever, 1 noble, 0 tough.
Items:
Food tablets (1 week)
Flask of water (2 days)
Basic leather harness
Radium Rifle
Horse-skull mask
Toolkit for basic repair work
Specials:
Airboat (Scout)
Psion: Truth Sense


Rules: https://rayotus.itch.io/lords-of-mars (free to download)
Requirements: 3+ posts per week, literate, descriptive, evocative. One roll per post just in case it will come into play.

[Isocahedron]

"I have an airboat and I can pilot it, sir."

2d6

[Tibbius]

1. you have to make the roll the first time you post, if you edit the post to add a roll it won't work
2. for this reason I prefer to use orokos or roll in the Dice Thread on these forums, then post a link to the roll

[Tibbius]

"Excellent, do you have any questions?" asks Vuguc.

[thenewflesh]

Seven feet tall the lanky, leathery-skinned creature stands, or rather hunches in a room too small for the the likes of it. Its veined, transparent wings seem as though they're desperately trying not to take up most of the space in the room.

A dark, amorphous swarm of wasps quietly hums by its feet.

Khaliff twitches nervously, rubbing his forearms together in a sort of supplication. His voice is a sibilant hiss. "Yess ssir! Happily I will fix the pump happily!"

[roll0]

[Isocahedron]

"Is there anyone at the air-promoter station to whom we should report when we bring them the bearing?"

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

"Ah." Vuguc thoughtfully taps his chin. The slit pupils of his gleaming yellow eyes flare wide for a moment as he studies the young noble air pilot, Damiron.

"You are new at this game. It is a game make no mistake, between those who would live and those who care not for anything but greed and hunger. No, nobody is stationed at the air promoter. It is abandoned in the dead sea bottom, like all the others, surrounded by Tharks and banths and all matter of dangerous creatures. Typically one brings in parts by air boat, moors to the highest accessible part of the station, lowers the parts by rope, descends ... and then one must usually fend off the locals before or during the repair process. For this reason it is good to have several in the party. I can send another with you, if you would like?"

[Isocahedron]

If we have another player showing up, we can grab them. I'd rather not have an NPC along for the ride.

"It is of course your decision, but Khaliff seems quite experienced. I daresay we shall manage on our own."

[Tibbius]

Vuguc smiles condescendingly. "As you wish, young sir. The fewer blades the more glory, amirite?

"Any other questions? Kaliff?"

[thenewflesh]

The creature steps back respectfully, realizing that his friend is being addressed. He has had a long life's experience with being glanced over.

But he nods. "Yess ssir." he says quietly. "We would like another we would yess."

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

"Very good," says Vuguc, "we have a conflict already. It must be resolved in one of the traditional ways: by debate, checkers, armwrestling, or knife throwing. Damiron, your statement has been challenged. Do you agree to Kaliff's proposal, or do you select one of the four traditional arms for resolving the problem?"

debate: each make an Action roll modified by Noble.
checkers: each make an Action roll modified by Clever.
armwrestling: each make an Action roll modified by Tough.
knifethrowing: each make an Action roll modified by Tough.

High roll wins.

Winning when at a disadvantage enhances one's honor.

[thenewflesh]

Kaliff's bug-eyes grow even more bug-eyed as he nervously watches Damiron.

[roll0]

[Isocahedron]

"I shall accept a contest of arm-wrestling."

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

Kneeling by the Chancellor's desk, the two heroes come to grips and struggle briefly. Kaliff's exoskeletal musculature proves superior; Damiron's knuckles crush into the polished surface of the desk.

"Then I will appoint two assistants for you," says Vuguc. "Lenya and Ikumo. You will find them pleasant and professional. Meet them at the air boat docks this afternoon. Remember the map!"

Do you do anything interesting before the meeting at the air boat docks?

[Isocahedron]

Can't think of anything I would do.

[thenewflesh]

Nope, we're ready to meet the assistants.

[Tibbius]

You arrive at the air boat docks, a web of suspended walkways and platforms high in the towers of Helium, as the smaller moon passes near the dim sun in the pale and cloudless grey-blue sky. The air is as cold as usual.

Lenya and Ikumo wait near Damiron's scout boat, talking intensely. Their long dark braided pigtails brush their bare brown shoulders as their heads bob emphatically. Pistol, rapier, short sword, and dagger swing from their zitadar-leather equipment harnesses. The two women are fully equipped for noble combat. It is possible, Damiron realizes, that they come from higher in the towers than does his own family. They may even be better looking than he. Yet he is expected to command.

What do you do?

[Isocahedron]

Damiron feigns a confidence he does not feel, assuming the posture and voice of someone with no doubt in their abilities or authority. "Ah, you must be our the appointed assistants. My airboat should already be prepared to embark. Are you ready to leave?"

[roll 2d6]

[Isocahedron]

And I apparently still cannot use syntax properly.
[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The two red women stop talking, turn, and appraise Damiron. They seem to like what they see. One of them smiles coyly and flips a pigtail over her shoulder. The other crosses her arms at her breasts, and angles a hip: "Are you Damiron?" She glances toward Kalif. "Is that the bug?"

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff looms large and weird, his swarm hovering overhead. "I am the bug." he rasps. "What you ssee... is what you get..." He laughs. It sounds rather like a cough.

[Tibbius]

The woman who's speaking makes a moue. "Not sure I want it ..." she mutters. She takes a breath. "I'm Lenya. My friend is Ikumo. We're your assistants. We defer to you in all things, et cetera. Don't be knavely. Should we get on the boat now?"

[Isocahedron]

"Indeed." Damiron embarks and begins the startup sequence.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The airboat throbs and hums as the engines of the eighth ray warm to their task of repulsing gravity and providing forward motion. The vessel tugs urgently at its moorings as Lenya, Ikumo, and Khaliff board.

Khaliff has the map, and unfolds it on the console afore Damiron's pilot wheel. It is clearly marked, in fine calligraphy, with the coordinates of the derelict atmosphere promoter station as well as those of the declining station. The two station are about 550 haad apart, and the derelict is only about 300 haad from Helium - just an hour away on Damiron's swift airboat.

It seems a simple mission.

[thenewflesh]

The swarm stays low to the ground to avoid being swept off the ship. It tends to cluster around the girls' legs, to their fright, and Khaliff's amusement.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The boat hums through the air, producing a wind that tugs fiercely at skin and hair exposed above the sturdy glass shield surrounding the platform at shoulder height. Lenya and Ikumo duck down to sit on facing benches at the sides of the boat, holding very still as Khaliff's swarm buzzes around their calves.

You travel uninterrupted for more than half an hour, leaving Helium behind you. The suburbs drop quickly away, the farms also recede, and the slopes drop away to the pale sparse grasses that spread across the red clay and dust of the dead sea bottom.

Abruptly, something fast and small whistles past the airboat.

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff strains his bug eyes towards the receding object.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

Khaliff's compound eyes are good at detecting and tracking motion, not so good at focusing on objects. But he knows the path of the small fast whistling thing: up at a sharp angle from below and ahead of the airboat.

Another zips past, going generally upward.

There is a sharp metallic screeching noise from the back end of the boat.

A fourth object zips past from below and astern.

What do you do?

[Isocahedron]

Damiron immediately begins evasive maneuvers, speeding up and trying to swerve unpredictably. "Can you see what's shooting at us?" he shouts.

[Tibbius]

The engines whimper and thrum at the last notch of the throttle. The airboat surges to greater forward speed.

Peering fearlessly over the windscreen, pigtails whipping in the breeze, Ikumo reports: "There are - were - green men below us. They are chasing us on thoats but they already fall far behind."

It is about a half hour further to the derelict atmosphere promoter.

[Isocahedron]

Damiron returns to cruising speed, but begins turning fifteen to thirty degrees at irregular intervals, while staying more or less on course.

[Tibbius]

What's a good trait for piloting an airboat? Roll +that, DS 10 to locate the destination with all this jinking and jiving.

[Isocahedron]

I think Clever applies.

[roll0]

[Isocahedron]

Welp. If I notice that I'm going off-course, I switch to a straight path again.

[Tibbius]

This be why I say "one roll per post" in play by post.

The larger moon drifts across the dim cool sun. Time passes.

Lenya is the first to question your location: "Sir - should we be arriving already?"

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff ignores the girl's question, just as she has pointedly ignored him so far. He leans over the edge of the airship, wings loosely flapping behind him in the wind, and looks down, trying to figure out where he is.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

Khaliff sees with his compound eyes vague distant blurs of red that he believes to be dirt and pale streaks that he believes to be sparse clumps of the deathly, windswept grass that is scattered across the arid bottom lands. There is nothing about the scene to indicate where you might be relative to Helium or to your destination.

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff would squint here if he didn't have bug eyes. He walks over to Damiron.

"Well, captain." he says quietly. "I think the girl might have a point."

[roll0]

[Isocahedron]

Damiron stops the airboat, looking around uncertainly. "She does. We're lost."

He passes the map around "What's the last landmark any of you remember?" he asks, while studying the map himself.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

"Helium, the airboat docks," Ikumo scoffs. Lenya merely shakes her head and pouts.

The boat rocks gently on the dusty breeze. Its hovermotor quietly hums.

"I see green men over there," says Lenya. She gestures to port, astern. "They can't be the same ones who shot at us?" Following her index finger, you see a small cloud of dust billowing up from the paws of a crowd of eight or a dozen thoats being ridden by some of the four-armed green men.

[Isocahedron]

"Khaliff, please send your bugs over to take a closer look."

[roll0]

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff nods. Immediately, without him ordering or even looking at the swarm, it zooms down to take a closer look.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The bugs of Barsoom fly swiftly and fight fiercely. Exactly what does Khaliff intend for them to do?

[thenewflesh]

The bugs examine the green men. Do they look friendly? Aggressive? What seems to occupy them?

[Tibbius]

The green men howl and swat toward the swarm of bugs, which swirl and eddy harmlessly around them. One of the thoats shies aside, twists its body, sends the rider sprawling on the ground in a jumble of weapons. The other green men howl and bellow. The bugs cannot interpret their speech, and it is too distant for Khaliff or Damiron to make out words. One of the still-mounted riders shakes a fist toward the airboat. Another slowly unslings a rifle.

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff turns to Damiron. "I don't know if they were unfriendly then, but they are unfriendly now."

The swarm zooms up to meet its master.

"Let'ss leave." Khaliff urges quietly.

[thenewflesh]

Not really sure how to proceed here. We're up in the air, are lost without landmarks, and the locals are unfriendly. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious.

[Tibbius]

Time to get creative. Consult the chart for landmarks, zig and zag until you find them? Attempt to communicate with the green men? Third option?

[Isocahedron]

Damiron begins evasive maneuvers again, and hands Khaliff his radium rifle. "Return fire. If we can scare them off, great. If we can't, I'll lose little sleep over the deaths of a few raiders."

[Isocahedron]

[roll0]

Forgot to do this again. I'll get into the habit soon, hopefully.

[Tibbius]

Still not sure where you are, Damiron deftly pilots the airboat in no particular direction other than away from the green men, who don't bother shooting as you glide out of range.

"Hey ... 'sir' ... what do you think this skull means on the chart?" demands Ikumo as she approaches Damiron at the conn.

[Isocahedron]

Damiron looks at the chart and sees what Ikumo is pointing at.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

Damiron crinkles his usually flawless smooth forehead as he tries to recall anything about a skull.

Glancing around he notices a distant structure, nearly as tall as the airboat floats - that would make it about half a haad in height. The structure is a slender needle that shimmers in the cool light of the small white sun. He has no idea what the structure matches on the map.

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff fires off a few shots before the airship leaves range. Then he puts the rifle down and walks over to examine the map, towering behind an uncomfortable Ikumo.


Can you describe some landmarks on the map, in particular ones near the skull and/or derelict?

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

Khaliff's shots are ineffectual. However, his perusal of the map is effective. He notes the glyphs for "high-altitude anemometer tower" to the northeast of the skull, halfway from the skull to the coordinates for the derelict atmosphere promoter station. Based on his sparse knowledge of meteorology, he knows that the slender needle tower ahead most likely is the base of the anemometer.

Seizing the navigational straight edge and compass, he sketches a line from the anemometer to the derelict.

"Set the head northeasteast," he suggests to Damiron.

The boat heels over a little as it swings, then levels as it steadies on course. The engines hum.

A bit more than an hour passes. You arrive several hundred sofads above a metallic dome about 80 to 100 ads across. Its corroded surface glimmers weakly in the fading light of the distant sun. There is a shadowy opening in the rounded top of the dome, and handrails trail down the curve of the structure from the opening to the ground. You do not see a convenient spot to moor the airboat.

What do you do?

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff bares yellowed teeth in a grin. "Well, captain, we've arrived." he says. His bugs dart down to the ground, searching for somewhere to land, or somewhere that Khaliff could clear out into a landing space.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The bugs find an apparently abandoned encampment at the base of the handrails that curve down the dome from the central hatch. Canvas hangs limply on tent posts in the warm dry air of the sea bottom. There is a flat space next to the encampment where the boat could land.

Do the bugs keep looking around?

[thenewflesh]

The bugs are down there, and Khaliff is up here, but the broodmaster turns to the captain. "The swarm hass found somewhere to land." And he directs Damiron to the encampment.

Meanwhile, the swarm continues to explore the encampment. Are there recent footsteps? Embers of put-out fires?

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

The swarm are sometimes distractible, and now they flit merrily about the encampment without reporting anything of interest.

Damiron brings the airboat smoothly down to land on the smoothed patch next to the tents. It seems close up that the tents are not necessarily abandoned - blankets and food sacks (unwisely stored on the ground, in reach of wild calots) are visible. There is no sign of recent fires. Fuel is hard to gather in the bottom lands, and generally limited to dried dung of the various wild beasts.

[thenewflesh]

Khaliff gracefully buzzes out of the airship. He glances up at the sky, wondering whether it is late enough that he ought to prepare camp. His swarm returns to meet him, haloing around his head.

[roll0]

[Tibbius]

It's definitely time to make camp.

Do you appropriate the existing tents or use the airboat's camping supplies?

[thenewflesh]

"Get our camping thingss." Khaliff orders the girls. He walks around the abandoned camp, making sure it really is abandoned. If indeed it is, he would rather sleep in an existing tent. Laziness is not a trait which comes easily to most bugs, but it does to him.

[roll]2d6[/roll

[Tibbius]

People, I'm sorry, and I regret to put a pause on this right now, but unfortunately I'm dealing with some unexpected time commitments that will keep me off the board until at least mid-January. I'm sorry to leave you hanging.

[thenewflesh]

No worries! Good luck.