A Knocking Afar (IC Thread)

[Trokair]

Somewhat rested you continue on your way. This branch of the webway remains small and tunnel like but after a while it feels like it is slopping downwards. Gently at first, then a little steeper, however before it could become an issue it levelled out again a little and you arrive in a larger space, a bubble of space maybe 50m wide. The air here is stale, and has been for some time in the tunnel as well, no breeze or pressure shift has blown though here in a long time.  

 

Almost perfectly on the other side from where the tunnel brought you is the gate. Wraithbone substrate housing and supporting the delicate machinery that allowed the connection to the anchored twin in the real. Perhaps the most unusual aspect is the sign of age, subtle erosions, patches of collapse, as if it had been rock or wood left exposed to the elements.

 

 

The below is relevant for Mazer/Soairse, the others  can explore the surroundings more thoroughly, or rest, or stand guard, as you all see fit, sorry for it being a bit non interactive for a moment.   
 

Spoiler

To interface and open the portal will take Focus and time. The Farseer had provided Soairse with an imprint of how to psyicaly connect with the dormant machinery, how to unlock the wards and present the key for it to accept the instructions.  

 

This will be an extended test.  To start with you need to attain a state of Focus by passing a Routine (+20) Willpower Test. A Pass generate d10 x5 minutes of Focused concentration, with each DoS adding a further 5 minutes.  Failure has no consequences.  If you need to retain Focus after it was broken (see below) there is a -5 penalty for each time Focus was broken, this represents the build up of mental fatigue. You can reset this penalty to 0 by resting/meditating for 30 minutes.  

 

Once Focused you need to get 4DoS (cumulative) in each of the following in sequence:

• Interface with Machine.  A Ordinary (+10) Intelligence check, each attempt costs 10 minutes, failure on the test has no consequences (other than having taken time).  
• Unlock the Seal. A Challenging (+0) Psyniscience test (because the lock on the portal uses principles form reading the Skein). Each attempts take 5 minutes. Failures of 3DoF or more will break your Focus (so you have to regain it before you can continue)
• Channel the Portal. A Easy (+30) Fellowship Test (as you are basically letting the Fraser's imprint do the work this is basically a test of how much you trust the psychic imprint to work you/surprising your own instinct to take control of the flow of psychic energy while keeping enough control on it to not let it go array). This test takes no time, but failure breaks Focus and makes subsequent attempts 1 step more difficult (ie Easy (+30) becomes Routine (+20) becomes Ordinary (+10) etc. all the way down to Very Hard (-30))

 

DoS progress is not lost if Focus is Broken as it in part represents Soairse getting more familiar with it all and finding her way back to where she had been at.

 

In addition to the above three while Focused Soairse may instead try to comprehend the Farseers imprint instead of letting it guide her / run its own course through her.

This is a Hard (-20) Intelligence Test and takes 10 minutes of time. Each Pass and every 2 DoS grant a Comprehension Point. These can be spent to permanently  (for the duration of this extended test) increase either further Compression test, Unlock the Seal or Channel the Portal test by +10. Failures of 3 DoF or more will break your Focus.

 

Narrate as you see fit using the tests to guide you. You can do all the test in one go or do it over multiple.

 

Please pause when you have either accrued 4DoS on Channel the Portal (ie the Portal is opening) or if the total time from tests/rest is 2 hours (120 minutes). At this point there be will be some narration relevant to circumstance.

 

 

I hope that is not to convoluted and makes sense, and I know it is not a lot to do for the others while this happens. 

 

In theory it could be a fairly straight forward extended test with only a few rolls need if the dice are average, but it can spiral if the dice are bad. 

 

Given that this is supposed to be a more simple game I do offer an alternative to all of the above in the form a of a little railroading to the 2 hours elapsed time mark and some suitable narration from you as to Soairse attempt to work the portal mechanism and the Farseers imprint. 

 

Questions as always in the other thread.  

 

Edited August 16 by Trokair

[Akylas]

Kelman takes some time to inspect his gear for damage from the fight. He glances at Soairse.

"I apologize for saying this as I know you have much work to do. Still, I am forced to admit it nice to have a moment to collect my thoughts."

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

Examining the Portal, her lips formed a tight line, jaw setting. This was quite the task. The imprint was complicated, a masterwork of communion and security - a seal for something which appeared to have temporal corrosion on this side.

 

Not a beneficent indicator. If the complexity of manipulation wasn't a subtle enough hint.

 

She sensed Kelman's intentions before he moved, the tiniest stutter in the aether mirrored by a shift in the communal dialogue of poise. His words came next. For it was true, the Eldar speak thricely, with all postulation true and each resulting in as astounding a result as the other.

 

Intention, formation, execution. All in the same heartbeat.

 

Her helm tilted to the side in the right degree to indicate he was correct - she was busy, but the subtle twist of her neck showed she was in the mood to listen, the small amulets of her previous Aspect Profession hanging from the crest of her helm a perfect invitation for him to continue. She volunteered the bridge.

 

Intention, formation, execution.

 

'What disturbs you, Kelman?' Her tone was modulated for the use of inflection in the presence of a friend.

 

Soairse used the familiar to add balance, to take his comment as instruction.  Her eyes roved across the runes and etchings behind the crystal lenses of the drake-snarl helm. One by one she stilled psychic vibration, the ebb and low of the webway, the obvious shout of warning from decaying wraithbone! His comment became less distraction and more focus. A singular thread to latch onto.

 

Spoiler

WP test for Focus: WP 45 + 20 (DC) = 65

D100: 25, Pass, Plus 4 DoS

1D10 x 5 Min: 1 (lol)

Total Time: 25 mins.

 

Attempt 1: Intelligence +10 (49)

10 Mins: 95, Fail

20 Mins: 61, Fail

 

Re-Focus: WP 45 + 20 = 65

D100: 009, Pass, Plus 5 DoS

D10 x 5 = 10 - 50

Total Time: 75 Mins

 

Attempt 2: Intelligence + 10 (49)

10 Mins: 91, Fail

20 Mins: 77, Fail

30 Mins: 68, Fail

40 Mins: 39 PASS, Plus 1 DoS

50 Mins: 62, Fail

60 Mins: 72, Fail

70 Mins: 65, Fail

 

Re-Focus: 

WP 45 + 20 = 65

D100: 010, Pass, Plus 6 DoS

D10 x 5 = 3 - 45 Mins (Capped at 20 as now 120 Mins)

Total Time: 120 Mins

 

Attempt 3: Intelligence + 10 (49)

10 Mins: 94, Fail

20 Mins: 20, PASS, Plus 2 DoS

 

Total Time: 120 Mins

Attempts: 3

Rolls: 11

DoS Accrued: 3

 

OUT OF TIME.

 

I'll write up something after interacting with Kelman.

 

Edited August 17 by Mazer Rackham

[Trokair]

OOGM: Have you borrowed my dice again? I did not think it would go like this.

Also the time cap is for time spent, not time available from/in Focus, as such you have 25min Focus left if you want it.

 

 

At first you dismiss it as your imagination, or the sound of your body, perhaps one of the others. A low moaning drone, a faint rumble, the shift of pressure.

 

Then the floor, nay, the entire webway shakes, vibrates. You can feel a deep resonance in your stomach, your bones.

Small bits of wraithbone crumble from the gate structure, nothing of import, just age weathered fragments, littering the floor, then gently dancing as the vibrations subside.

 

 

 

Soairse may continue as before, and may now gain points of Fatigue to add +20 to your tests while Focused per point of fatigue gained, the negative effects of fatigue will not affect you while focuses on the tests to open the portal, but will affect you for other tests as normal (including refocusing if needed).  Doing this represents desperation on her part, pushing her mind and body to its limit, your choice, also don’t knock yourself unconscious with too many points of Fatigue.

New time pause point is 60 Minutes.

 

Everybody else, if any of you wish to scout back along the tunnel feel free, silent move and concealment tests as you see fit (Venkarryn also still has his Cameleoline Cloak). State how far back you are willing to go, up to 60 minutes worth of walking.

 

               

Edited August 17 by Trokair

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

+++++

OOC: Interaction with Kelman - I will update this when Akylas posts..?

+++++

 

Spoiler

Like any good villain, I have given the dice one last chance to redeem themselves, but as you will see it is not to be....

WP test for Focus: WP 45 + 20 (DC) = 65

D100: 002, Pass, Plus 6 DoS

1D10 x 9 Min: 75 min, Max 60 (as described above)

 

Attempt 1: Intelligence +20 (59)

10 Mins: 19, PASS, 4 DoS

 

The mechanisms do stuff...

 

Now the Portal:

WP test for Focus: WP 45 + 20 (DC) = 65

D100: 77 Fail

D100: 009, PASS, Plus 5 DoS

 

Attempt 1: Psyniscience (45)

15 Mins: 52, Fail

20 Mins: 81, Fail, Plus 3 DoF, Break Focus

 

Re-Focus Test: WP 45 + 20 = 65

D100: 68, Fail

D100: 51, PASS, no DoS

 

Attempt 2: Psyniscience (45)

25 Mins: 13, PASS, 3 DoS

30 Mins: 84, Fail, 3 DoF, Focus Break.

 

At this point, I'm going to say she's exhausted.

 

Soairse collapsed.

 

Barely retaining enough strength, she dropped onto all fours, sinking down further, a weight between her shoulders pushing down with a heavy boot. Gasping, she managed to draw herself back upright to a kneeling position to study this implacable foe.

 

The Psychegrammic Imprint was literally a Farseer-level key to an even greater lock - imposed by wills and aged by the strange flow of time. She rested in this position, armour provinding security of a more lady-like poise, indignity flaring enough for her to consider hurling her melta bomb at the problem...

 

'A Seer Council must have closed this,' she dissembled, wryly, 'my Kin, I will need your aid.'

 

Pride was useful for courting and posturing, but pragmatism kept the Eldar alive. She knew when to split the difference.

[Akylas]

Kelman raises his palms in a placating gesture.

"Just running over recent events, and whether I took the best course of action piloting the Featherflight before the battle. I apologize for the distraction."

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

The Face-of-Death, now unburdened by the discipline of his Aspect, let the personality lift to the surface. It was such with all of them - they hardened their faces, thier being against the predations of sensation. It was the only defence against the Terror within. The dark desire, a line with a hook so insidious, so gleefully leapt upon by the rash or insane could yank the heart right out of the Eldar breast and ont a reel which pulled only to damnation.

 

Such...normality in a place such as this warmed the edges of her soul.

 

The Bonesinger was worried. Being asked if someone made the wrong choice was the lot of the Seer - if only they knew that Ultimate Reality was hidden from them so often as well!

 

She smiled, half-turned to face him. 'Contemplate this, Singer - that had you not taken the flight, would you have guided the craft so surely when it was shot down?'

 

It all happens for a reason, she didn't add - at least not verbally. SHe effected a shrug which did the same.

 

'You don't need to apologise,' she said without needle or rancour, 'but I must rest a moment in silence.'

 

She began to contemplate the music of the Song of Being.

 

OOC: As described, this is before the collapse etc, and so she's now on her knees panting and jiggered after failing to crack the gate. I was going to update the original post, but I didn't want the interaction missed. Cheers gang!

 

[A.T.]

Ialandranth Veilseeker

 

Ialandranth crouched near the portal, to be elsewhere would seem like folly for any door so tightly sealed held the danger beyond not before.

 

In his minds eye he could see the threads pull tighter across the lock with each effort to untangle them but knew that to interfere would only tangle the strands further.

 

Psyniscience: 31 vs 43 - pass with 2 DoS

[Mike Zulu]

Ialathial Duskstrider
 

Ialathial hesitated at the seer’s request, unsure of his own ability. Seeking direction, he observed Ialandranth adopt a meditating pose. In Imitation of the Warp Spider’s act, he crouched alongside him, and extended his consciousness onto the webway arch…

 

Spoiler

Psyniscience Test: 37(Per) +0 = 37 required

Roll d100: 51 = Fail, 1DoF

 

… but his uneasiness made the task untenable, and he disconnected from the skein. The out-of-body sensation was reminiscent of the narcotic stupor he regularly subjected himself on the precious Path.
 

He had vowed to never return to the Dreaming.

 

Perturbed by the experience, he stood again and unslung his catapult, and kept his eyes on the portal. He knew what his true skills were.

[Mazer Rackham]

Saoirse:

 

OOC: 'Let's Go Round Again' sung by Take That, or somesuch Monkeigh Musical Troupe...

Spoiler

Psynicience Tests: (+10 'Assists' from AT)

D100: 79; Fail 

D100: 41, PASS, No DoS, D10 Mins = 35 Mins gained

D100: 86, Focus Break

Re-Focus: Fail

Re-Focus: Fail

Re-Focus: 16, PASS, Plus 2 DoS, + 1D10 Mins = 60

 

Test:

D100: 94, Focus Break

Re-Focus: Pass, No DoS, D10 Mins = 20

 

Test:

D100: 94, Focus Break

Re-Focus: 64, PASS, 2 DoS, + D10 Mins = 60

 

Test:

D100: 91, Focus Break.

Re-Focus: 62, PASS, 1 DoS, D10 Mins = 40

 

Test:

D100: 26, PASS, Plus 2 DoS

D100: 18, PASS, Plus 3 DoS

 

Fellowship Focus Test:

Spoiler

D100: 84; Fail

D100: 76; Fail

D100: 45, Pass, Barely.

 

Fellowship Tests for Imprint:

FEL: 34 + 30 (Imprint) = 64

D100: 53, PASS, 1 DoS

D100: 35, PASS, 3 DoS

 

Open Says-Me?

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 03:07 PM by Mazer Rackham
Forgot the Psyniscience Tests..added...took a while..

[Trokair]

Mazer's rolls to open the portal above coincide and overlap with this, but are not quite finished when the following happens. I will move to the portal opening later tonight/early tomorrow but thought I’d give little time for any IC responses.

 

 

In the hour since the install unexpected shaking of the webway there has been several more rumbles, though none as violet or abrupt as the first. Regardless they were still unnerving, speaking to terrestrial phenomenon normally only played out on planets in the real.

 

An answer came with a howl and shriek of rushing air, the long moan as it cascaded along the corridor and the rebounding echo as it settled in the portal housing cavern, warm air, not quite singeing to the touch, at odds with prevailing cool conditions.

 

Your Aspect Armour’s embedded systems stir at its touch, shrieking.

 

[] Radiation Alert []

 

Flashed up on your helmets HUD, the levels high enough to warrant swift evacuation if possible, but not inherently lethal, yet.  

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 05:54 PM by Trokair

[Trokair]

Special Structure Time Light

 

This is similar to Structure Time and Structure Time Light, as previously described in the other thread/new player guide, in that your actions are limited and there are a set order certain things will happen in. This is also a little experimental on my part to see if it works and I will explain as it goes.

 

T= 0 Seconds

 

For all the resistance that the psychic machinery and the wards offered to Soairse attempts to apply the Farseer’s Key and engage the portal at the end it did not resist. Instead, in the last moments, it almost seed to suck the imprint out of Soairse, clawing at her mind and connection to the Immaterium. Then it settled and somewhere deep within the dimensional embedded mechanism a link to the anchor in the real was established. A portal surface, some 8 or so meters in diameter, spun into existence to one side of the main Wraithbone construction. Almost imperceptible thin as seen from the side, the face side was a deep black.

 

T=0.001 Seconds

 

A soft ripple washed across the portal surface. No longer the deepest black; it was still a light swallowing darkness, a reflective shimmer where light hit it.

 

Players, please decide if your character are facing the portal, or facing the tunnel entrance from which the radiation laced air had so recently arrived.

 

T=0.005 Seconds

 

It was perhaps a little lighter now towards the top, and a little thinker if any of you happen to see the portal from the side.

 

T=0.025 Seconds

 

There were distortions now in the portal surface, sights of things further in on the other side, unclear and shrouded.

 

T=0.050 Seconds

 

The other side was sliding through the portal, entering your space. A wall of semi transparent darkness, distorting further towards the bottom.

 

Players please make a Challenging (+0) Awareness (Per) test to see how caught on your character is to the previous 0.05 of a second.  If your character is facing the portal it is an Ordinary (+10) Awareness (Per) test instead.

 

T=0.075 Seconds

 

As the intrusion into to the webway extends the top begins to fragment and fly apart while the bottom widens further. Behind all of it the ghostly outline of the initial portal surface is stable and holding steady.

 

As more of it comes through some of you may begin to suspect what you are facing, but even if your mind has formed the thoughts and reached comprehension there has been no time for warning to the rest.

 

T=0.1 Seconds

 

The darkness continues to surge out of the portal, unending and with vigour, the upper parts churned and bubbling, the lower growing and spreading. There are things in the rush, particles, larger things. Hard to make out or notice amongst the froth and turbulence of rushing water.

 

Players may now make a Challenging (+0) Acrobatics (Ag) test to see if  you keep your feet/ jump out of the way or otherwise deal with the inrushing water. A fail means you are knocked down by and into the rushing water. For most of you this test is reflex and instinct, though if you passed the Awareness test at T=0.050 seconds you may add +20 to your test. If you are Lighting Reflexes (Ialathial and Soairse as I recall) you may add your AG bonus to your test (so +8), while this is an initiative test and lighting reflexes doesn’t technically help I think it sounds like it should given that the acrobatic is a instinct/reflex driven action.

 

I will pause here for player actions, questions and so on. Narrative will resume at T=0.15 seconds

               

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

Per Test: 41 + 10 (She's facing it) = 51

D100: 15

Acrobatics: AG 49 + 20 + 8 = 77

D100: 23

Given Lightning Reflexes is at Play, I will attempt to deliver further imperative.

 

+Torrent of Ages!+ It was all she could manage. Her psynicient link pulsed across the web connecting her kin together, pressing the dire warning of the deep deluge into thie psyches, tearing the images from memories and prescient projections of ancient stories.

 

With a flex and twist given by her lineage, she blurred into a ribbon of colour and motion through desperation, fresh physical impluse dispelling mental fatigue. All but an Eldar would not detect, but her arms fold, legs spring in an exaggerated pirouette. An explosion of lithe power, a twisting missile of fabric and wraithbone, to expand, spider-like to brace in the upper vault of the webway passage with the torrent sluicing below, watching for the fate of her comrades, summoning the vestiges of her power to assist them...

 

 

[Black Cohort]

Ven would have been facing the portal and moved perhaps faster than mortal thought as he sensed the coming flood.

 

Perception 42 + 10

roll 8 so 4 DoS

 

agility 45 + 20

rolled 6 so 5 Dos

[A.T.]

Ialandranth Veilseeker

 

Still caught amongst the weave of the portals seals Ialandranth sees little of the world or the water about him, but the shadow of it upon their fate falls darkly as he slips away on instinct. Just as the paths of the webway wove around stars a galaxy apart so a single step upon the edge of the immaterium carried him far further.

 

Awareness: 53 - the narrowest of passes, unless heightened senses come into play?

Athletics: 14 - pass, 4 DoS

[Mike Zulu]

Ialathial Duskstrider
 

The emerging danger from the rear had nearly distracted Ialathial from the sudden danger before him. With a split-second to spare, he leapt away from the deluge of liquid erupting from the gate…
 

Spoiler

Ialathial was watching the portal since his failed Psyniscience test…
 

Perception Test: 37(Per) + 10(Facing Portal) = 47 required

Roll d100: 33 = Pass, 1DoS

 

Acrobatics Test: 46(Ag, Trained) + 20 + 8(LF Ag Bonus) = 74 required

Roll d100: 68 = Pass, 0DoS

 

[Akylas]

Kelman is facing towards the tunnel as he ponders Soairse's words when some sense he couldn't explain draws his gaze to the portal. This was enough for him to barely keep his feet in the onrushing water.

 

Spoiler

Perception 41 + 0 = 41

D100= 40 = Pass 0 DOS

 

Acrobatics Test 45 + 20 (for passed perception) = 65

d100 = 60 = Pass 0 DOS

 

[Trokair]

T=0.15 Seconds

 

The turbulent spray and warm radiation laced air where mingling into a fine mist that hung above your heads. Meanwhile the torrent of water was filling the chamber, lapping around your ankles as all of you had managed to step out of the way of the direct rush of water.

 

The Gate machinery, sensing the large mass transference, queried Soairse. “Emergency Shut Down?” Tour mind was still attuned to the gate controls, and now that they have been unlocked by the Farseer’s imprint you can see other options. Ways of modulating the portal, from changing the size of the gate surface so larger vehicles could pass, to unanchoring the end point from the gate mechanism on the other side so as to move the endpoint, to selective permeability akin to what void facing gates used to prevent sudden decompression.

 

If you want to enact the emergency shut down the portal will close and be sealed again. If you chose any of the control options (or suggest any other reasonable option that I have not thought of) it will need a pass from either be a Difficult (-10) Int test (representing you carfually adjusting and learning the controls) or a Routine (+20) Willpower test (to brute force the option/ impose your will onto the psychic machinery), however 2 or more DoF on the Willpower test will trigger a psychic phenomenon (If so I’ll roll on table 6-2 p160 RT) as you use more psychic power than intended.              

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

Intelligence attempt:

INT 39 - 10 (Diff) = 29

D100: 13 (unlucky for some...)

[Trokair]

T=0.50 Seconds

 

The gate mechanism responded to your intention as much to your active use of the imbedded controls. A forcefield sprung to life, halting the water mass entirely a few millimetres this side of the portal. With the onrush stemmed, finer mechanisms adjusted the properties of the portal surface itself.

 

With the process complete the forcefield flickered out, releasing the thin sheet of trapped water in a splash to what was already lapping around your feet. The portal held and not more water came through.

 

You could see little for now, as the sudden rush and turbulence had stirred up mud and sand on the other side, clouding the water. It would settle in the following minutes. A small creature flopped through the portal, a fishoid of some sort, whether through its own power or momentum gained from the rush of water it had contacted the portal surface and it had let the fish through. Flopping and splashing in the shallow water, not quite deep enough for it to swim freely.   

 

Special Structure Time Light End

[Black Cohort]

"Do we have any idea how much water the gate is under?"

[Trokair]

As the minutes pass and the water on the other side begun to settle, whirled up sand and mud settling once more. There were light shimmers somewhere, with a red tinge that slowly took on a more yellow sheen. Despite the water’s distortion after a few more minutes it very much looked like a surface was not too far and a sun was casting dawns first light across and into the water.  

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

'A moment...'

The gentle rays of the dawn were not enough. She bent over, scooping, the memory of doing this as a little girl with her father in the wild rivers of an Exodite world came back. She could hear her fright, and his laughter. The music of the Eldar laugh carrying so much more than even the most soulful human, and outmatching that of a brutish Ork.

Spoiler

Agility Test to catch the fish in her hands: AG 49

D100: 009, PASS, 3 DoS, + 2 DoS from Unnat = 5 DoS

 

Her palms closed on it, aided by the fact the water was shallow and the fish was tiring, but she had to act quickly. She struggled with the creature, as it was not a Minnigh, and held it briefly where she could look it in the eye. It's mind was small and it's body frail enough to be careful.

 

'Shh, now...quiet...'

 

WP: Mind Link (Fettered, auto pass)

 

Instantly she could see shallows, feel the strange wonder of being prey and avoiding the rocks where the big crabs and mantisae crustaceans lurked.

 

'Now, little shimmer-scale, show me you home.'

 

With a deft cast, she popped it through the semi-rigid layer and watched as it twisted and turned, some disorientation as it once more gathered its bearings, filling starving gills with aereated water.

 

OOC: Nothing beats a Jet 2 Holiday - book now and you too can eaten by a giant squid carefully placed by the GM just behind the portal...

 

 

[Trokair]

The Fish, now home and wet once more, sought cover from the sudden turbulence and the not wet that had been there.  Darting this way and that it returned to the shallows not far away and hid in a young kelp forest.

 

Despite the comfort of being hidden the fish did not calm, it had a picked up a parasite in the not wet. Unsettled it swam along the shallows, weary of the glitter above and sudden talons. Soon it reached the stony outcrops, and sought out the little swarm of cleaners. Despite a good scrub and gnawing of the little ones the unease of a parasite remained. 

[Mazer Rackham]

Soairse:

 

With a shudder, she let the little fish free of its burden with a soft sigh, allowing her consciousness to bleed away from her impromptu scout.

 

'Shallows, and clear water, Venkarryn.'

 

With a thought, she sealed her suit, closing to harden her form against the pressure difference of this world. Soairse waited for the others to move, to step through in their own little shoal.