[New thread!] You all haul yourselves out of the chasm, carrying the automaton. The House Magissa folks [I accidentally called them Burclynth Company earlier, that's my mistake] in the temple seem to have bought the ruse long enough for you to make a hasty but steady escape. Gegren isn't sure what happened to them in the library, what with the shadows in that area, but if nothing else, you at least have the automaton, which Nia is carrying. You are able to make use of the ropes the party entering the temple left at the hole in the mudroom. Nia is up first, and sees that the evening has yielded to early pre-dawn light, a cool damp haze blanketing the forest. She immediately gets a whiff of earth and ozone again, as the change in environs serves as a reminder to her senses. Peeking her head up, she sees that the House has established a makeshift camp. The hole at the bottom of the area remains uncovered, but that it's sunken in a bit from the earth around it seems to have, at least temporarily, given you a bit of cover. No one is currently close enough to the sunken hole to see you, though they easily would if someone came to the edge. The depression you are in is slight, no more than 15' deep, a shallow bowl-like mound of sunken ground. Nia (and everyone, if they follow her up) can make out some tents, and a couple magical land skiffs. You are not certain how many people are up top, yet, but by the number of tents, you wouldn't be surprised if there's at least another party's worth of House Magissa scholars or arcanists up here, waiting for the party below and/or a go-ahead to enter. The clearing, as you recall from when you entered, quickly gives way to the forest, making the whole area a relatively self-contained area. [We're going to call pretty much everything up here right now difficulty 3 by default; you are probably interested in some kind of stealthy movement to either get the jump on whoever's here, or investigate further, or make your way to a means out. If you're interested in operating a skiff, you could all easily pile on one, or try to take more (there's five in total), but operating them is more of a magical knowledge check. These are meant to be operated, though, so it's only a difficulty 2 Intellect task to operate those, and aided by magic stuff.] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
[Oh yeah, and Gegren found an /oil of fire resistance/ in the library while he was hiding, as mentioned on IRC, just to confirm that.] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
On Saturday, January 10, 2026 10:31 AM bss via Emerald Flame wrote:
Nia (and everyone, if they follow her up) can make out some tents, and a couple magical land skiffs. You are not certain how many people are up top, yet, but by the number of tents, you wouldn't be surprised if there's at least another party's worth of House Magissa scholars or arcanists up here, waiting for the party below and/or a go-ahead to enter. The clearing, as you recall from when you entered, quickly gives way to the forest, making the whole area a relatively self-contained area.
[Ping!] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
How many people is a "party's" worth - ballpark? Dax would want to head for the forest on foot, hiding spot to spot, moving in shadows, and tele-skipping if others are up for it. Otherwise just observing the attire worn by those here. If we do hide by the skiffs, look to see if there are any documents in them. On Monday, January 26, 2026 at 09:27:57 PM CST, bss via Emerald Flame <emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org> wrote: On Saturday, January 10, 2026 10:31 AM bss via Emerald Flame wrote:
Nia (and everyone, if they follow her up) can make out some tents, and a couple magical land skiffs. You are not certain how many people are up top, yet, but by the number of tents, you wouldn't be surprised if there's at least another party's worth of House Magissa scholars or arcanists up here, waiting for the party below and/or a go-ahead to enter. The clearing, as you recall from when you entered, quickly gives way to the forest, making the whole area a relatively self-contained area.
[Ping!] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB_______________________________________________ Emerald Flame mailing list -- emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org To unsubscribe send an email to emerald-flame-leave@lists.incorporeal.org
[OOC: was offline for a week there. Back now] Nia thinks the best way out of here is via taking one of the skiffs. Odds are good our group will be noticed at some point and any pursuit would likely involve the vehicles. Nia is pretty good at stealth, so she will try to make her way to the skiffs without being seen. Specialized in Stealth plus a level of effort would make a difficulty 3 task into an automatic success (barring any random weirdness). Level of effort will cost her plenty, but she's thinking this move has to work. Assuming the party can Far Step over, they can get this show on the road and hopefully into the forest before the House types are any wiser.
Is operating a skiff something that we know how to do? Do we know how to disable them? How many skiffs are there? Maybe we can take more than one and/or disable some of them. On Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 01:34:46 PM CST, via Emerald Flame <emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org> wrote: [OOC: was offline for a week there. Back now] Nia thinks the best way out of here is via taking one of the skiffs. Odds are good our group will be noticed at some point and any pursuit would likely involve the vehicles. Nia is pretty good at stealth, so she will try to make her way to the skiffs without being seen. Specialized in Stealth plus a level of effort would make a difficulty 3 task into an automatic success (barring any random weirdness). Level of effort will cost her plenty, but she's thinking this move has to work. Assuming the party can Far Step over, they can get this show on the road and hopefully into the forest before the House types are any wiser. _______________________________________________ Emerald Flame mailing list -- emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org To unsubscribe send an email to emerald-flame-leave@lists.incorporeal.org
[OOC Thought I sent this to the list but mistakenly sent this just to Oz... Nia has the Confounding ability, which means she can be treated as trained in any one skill between recoveries. So she can be trained in either using OR sabotaging skiffs. So she could pick one of those to have a better shot at it.] If the skiffs are close together, it might be possible to start a few and send them off unmanned so they crash, or at least are hard to reach before we make the tree line.
On Wednesday, January 28, 2026 8:55 AM Stuck Ey via Emerald Flame wrote:
How many people is a "party's" worth - ballpark? Dax would want to head for the forest on foot, hiding spot to spot, moving in shadows, and tele-skipping if others are up for it. Otherwise just observing the attire worn by those here. If we do hide by the skiffs, look to see if there are any documents in them.
Another party of five, looking like a more... academic team than those who went down into the depths. If you'd like to move now when you get up there, that sounds like a difficulty 4 Speed task to me. On Sunday, February 1, 2026 1:34 PM via Emerald Flame wrote:
Nia is pretty good at stealth, so she will try to make her way to the skiffs without being seen. Specialized in Stealth plus a level of effort would make a difficulty 3 task into an automatic success (barring any random weirdness). Level of effort will cost her plenty, but she's thinking this move has to work.
Yup, sounds good re: the attempt, and Far Stepping over does seem like an option for those who are all magic-y. On Sunday, February 1, 2026 6:40 PM Stuck Ey via Emerald Flame wrote:
Is operating a skiff something that we know how to do? Do we know how to disable them? How many skiffs are there? Maybe we can take more than one and/or disable some of them.
They're meant to be driven but are a little bit magical, so I'd say difficulty 1 Intellect to figure out how to start them, nullified by any magical background. And you could share duties there, so I don't think that'll be a problem. Driving them, especially through a forest, is going to be fine if you're going at a safe pace, but difficulty 4 Speed if you're trying to zip through the forest in a jiffy. Disabling them is interesting. That's more like a difficulty 3 Intellect task with some kind of magical background/skill being a requisite. On Tuesday, February 3, 2026 10:51 AM via Emerald Flame wrote:
Nia has the Confounding ability, which means she can be treated as trained in any one skill between recoveries. So she can be trained in either using OR sabotaging skiffs. So she could pick one of those to have a better shot at it.]
If the skiffs are close together, it might be possible to start a few and send them off unmanned so they crash, or at least are hard to reach before we make the tree line.
And to that end, that sounds like a good approach to know how to sabotage these things. Your obvious sabotage also sounds pretty viable, haha. [Phew, I'm catching up on many things after some meta-downtime in my head.] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
After Nia stealths her way to the skiffs, she will wave over the other two who can Far Step. Assuming we all arrive without a fuss, Nia will suggest we see about sending two skiffs off in the opposite direction we plan on going. If the skiffs could be made to gain a challenging amount of altitude - so much the better. Otherwise, see if we can send two of them at speed across the clearing into the trees. Then each of us can take a skiff [OOC I believe we all have magical backgrounds. Nia has 'Magic Training' if that is sufficient, otherwise she will use her Confounding ability to assist in navigating the skiff.] Nia's plan is for the three of us to steer the skiffs a good ways into the woods (not in a mad rush, but faster than pursuers could go on foot). Once we clear the woods, or reach a decent clearing, we can ditch two of the skiffs in opposite directions and take the remaining one back to Locke. Unless others have strong feelings about a different destination. If we are truly concerned about being followed, the elven temple could also be an option - as it is not well known and has a hidden entrance (though not sure a skiff could manage it).
Dax isn't concerned about this plan - happily participating. Ozzyie is unclear on the issues here. Effectively we are here on our own exploring this newly exposed cavern - that's all within what's legal, right? It isn't like we're trespassing (land or structure). Is this group like the evil Star Wars Empire? Or more like the Feds? Or more like Tesla - ie big soulless corp? Would they simply "claim" what we found, or would they arrest us? Are they known for "disappearing" people? Ozzyie is just thinking we have the moral/legal high ground, but once we take their skiffs... On Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 09:22:04 PM CST, via Emerald Flame <emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org> wrote: After Nia stealths her way to the skiffs, she will wave over the other two who can Far Step. Assuming we all arrive without a fuss, Nia will suggest we see about sending two skiffs off in the opposite direction we plan on going. If the skiffs could be made to gain a challenging amount of altitude - so much the better. Otherwise, see if we can send two of them at speed across the clearing into the trees. Then each of us can take a skiff [OOC I believe we all have magical backgrounds. Nia has 'Magic Training' if that is sufficient, otherwise she will use her Confounding ability to assist in navigating the skiff.] Nia's plan is for the three of us to steer the skiffs a good ways into the woods (not in a mad rush, but faster than pursuers could go on foot). Once we clear the woods, or reach a decent clearing, we can ditch two of the skiffs in opposite directions and take the remaining one back to Locke. Unless others have strong feelings about a different destination. If we are truly concerned about being followed, the elven temple could also be an option - as it is not well known and has a hidden entrance (though not sure a skiff could manage it). _______________________________________________ Emerald Flame mailing list -- emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org To unsubscribe send an email to emerald-flame-leave@lists.incorporeal.org
On Tuesday, February 10, 2026 8:53 AM Stuck Ey via Emerald Flame wrote:
Dax isn't concerned about this plan - happily participating. Ozzyie is unclear on the issues here. Effectively we are here on our own exploring this newly exposed cavern - that's all within what's legal, right? It isn't like we're trespassing (land or structure). Is this group like the evil Star Wars Empire? Or more like the Feds? Or more like Tesla - ie big soulless corp? Would they simply "claim" what we found, or would they arrest us? Are they known for "disappearing" people? Ozzyie is just thinking we have the moral/legal high ground, but once we take their skiffs...
House Magissa is not known to be so evil as to be disappearing people, but this wouldn't be the first time they tried to muscle in to stake a claim, and they might also be able to make bureaucratic contractual claims to the area, based on some agreement with the town mayor or whatever. So not /evil/ evil, but not really just, either. They do seek to maintain their monopoly, so Tesla is probably the closer analogue. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
…Tesla is probably the closer analogue.
[OOC: So, led by a pasty-skinned fascist? Close enough to evil in my book] On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 4:47 PM bss via Emerald Flame < emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org> wrote:
On Tuesday, February 10, 2026 8:53 AM Stuck Ey via Emerald Flame wrote:
Dax isn't concerned about this plan - happily participating. Ozzyie is unclear on the issues here. Effectively we are here on our own exploring this newly exposed cavern - that's all within what's legal, right? It isn't like we're trespassing (land or structure). Is this group like the evil Star Wars Empire? Or more like the Feds? Or more like Tesla - ie big soulless corp? Would they simply "claim" what we found, or would they arrest us? Are they known for "disappearing" people? Ozzyie is just thinking we have the moral/legal high ground, but once we take their skiffs...
House Magissa is not known to be so evil as to be disappearing people, but this wouldn't be the first time they tried to muscle in to stake a claim, and they might also be able to make bureaucratic contractual claims to the area, based on some agreement with the town mayor or whatever. So not /evil/ evil, but not really just, either. They do seek to maintain their monopoly, so Tesla is probably the closer analogue. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB_______________________________________________ Emerald Flame mailing list -- emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org To unsubscribe send an email to emerald-flame-leave@lists.incorporeal.org
participants (4)
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murphzero＠gmail.com
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Stuck Ey