Midway Mining Expedition (PbP)

MacConnell · Nov 20, 2019

Kwargrow said:
Once the poison is distributed, Coldtree will go back to the ants and attempt to find any pieces with Way proclivity.

01

Tellerian Hawke said:
Taka says, "Let's get a little closer to the bed before we spread our corn. Ants collect the nearest resources first."

Tehn carries the remains of his ant back nearer the others. "I do not know much about ants, but most things are lazy if left to their own devices."

Seeing that the three are not as near the ant bed as first suspected, Coldtree holds off on distributing the corn. Since his ant is still twitching, he hits it with a rock until it quits.

Effectiveness: Ecology + Analysis + d100 => 80
Coldtree: 15 + 17 + 01 < 80
Tehn: 19 + 14 + 11 < 80

After picking over the ant remains, neither Coldtree nor Tehn find anything useful about them. Discarding them away from the path, the three men decide to move farther along.

After traveling for a couple of more minutes, the three see what has to be the ant bed. Against the root bole of a large fallen tree, a large pile of rocks has been meticulously structured to make a stable dome. The dome has several bores about the size of Taka's fist. Each hole has a beaten path leading from it.

Careful not to approach too closely for fear of the sound of footfalls traveling through the ground, Coldtree sprinkles the toxic corn along three notable paths. The three men sit back and wait, for there is nothing more to do at this point.

In under an hour, an ant emerges from the front hole and marches along the path, coming to the sprinkled corn. Its antennae flick over the substance, before it collects one and marches back in it hole. Shortly thereafter, other ants exit and collect more corn. In short order, all three piles of corn have been collected by the ants. Based on the timing and number of simultaneously visible ants, it is estimated that six to ten of the insects occupy this nest.

OOC:

All characters receive 2 DP. Coldtree receives an extra 2 for the idea.

Kwargrow · Nov 21, 2019

Coldtree says, "Ok, so skunks are our nemeses, but we can handle ants and spiders. It's a start."
Since they are far from the mine he will make a search for medicinal plants.

78

Tellerian Hawke · Nov 21, 2019

Taka will take some time out to look for raw ores and minerals.

Raw Metal Ores: 18. Meh.
Minerals and Stones: 96 + 19 = 115. Yay!

MacConnell · Nov 22, 2019

Kwargrow said:
Coldtree says, "Ok, so skunks are our nemeses, but we can handle ants and spiders. It's a start."
Since they are (distant) from (town or any) mine, he will make a search for medicinal plants.

Tellerian Hawke said:
Taka will take some time out to look for raw ores and minerals.

It appears to be late afternoon when no more ants have emerged from the bed for some time. As the other two set themselves to new tasks, Tehn calls out, "Hey! This toxin will only put the ants to sleep. I do not think any of us have the talent, yet, for making it fatal. We really need to tear down this bed and make sure the ants are dead."

Realizing the easy oversight in the face of success, the men halt their new activities to dismantle the ant bed. Seven ants, in total, are discovered, all twitching and kicking like the ones that Tehn and Coldtree had incapacitated earlier. The three decide to take turns with Taka's pick handle in making sure they all stop twitching, making jokes at the expense of the ant's demise.

"I am not satisfied that there is nothing more. mystically, to the ants. I am going to poke around at these remains for a bit."

Effectiveness: Ecology + Clarity + d100
Ecology: Mind + Commercial + Knowledge
Clarity: Essence + Collegiate + Cohesion
Coldtree: 15 + 18 + 78 = 111
Taka: 12 + 17 = 29 + 18 = 47, 29 + 96 + 19 = 144

Looking around the immediate area until it become too dark to do so further, Coldtree discovers some small handfuls of edible nuts, berries, and even mushrooms. He also discovers and entire basketful of edible greens, but nothing medicinal.

Taka gives up very quickly with regard to searching for ore. It is known that the Orngaddrin have, what are called sniffers, who prospect the area for new veins. It is likely that these Mhytres are sensitive to various waylines without being able to manipulate them. He is much more successful with minerals, finding individual stones of slate and flint, a semi-translucent, shiny yellow stone, and a semi-translucent, dark, burgundy stone, but what really piques his joy is the head sized, gray boulder with bright red streaks running through it.

Effectiveness: Ecology + Analysis + d100 => 60 + 20*rarity
Analysis: Essence + Collegiate + Adhesion
Tehn: 19 + 14 + 89 = 122, success
Time: 10 days * rarity / effectiveness <= Will. 10 days / 122 = 1 hour 58 minutes

With the new set of ant remains, Tehn is able to discover that their mandibles, when carried, will enhance the mystical relationship between the life of the being and the blood of that being (Cohesion +1) and that the stingers, when held in hand while manipulating chemical way lines will double the effectiveness with regard to toxicity. (Toxin x2)

As night falls in and a camp is made near the strewn remains of the ant bed, the three satisfy themselves that this was a successful day. In addition to providing some greens for the evening meal, Coldtree also shot a couple of conies.

OOC:

All characters receive 2 DP.

Tellerian Hawke · Nov 22, 2019

After the ants are dead, Taka will gather up the various stones he collected, and check them for proclivities.

66, 29, 80, 76, 60

MacConnell · Nov 22, 2019

Tellerian Hawke said:
After the ants are dead, Taka will gather up the various stones he collected, and check them for proclivities.

Effectiveness: Ecology + Analysis + d100 => 60 + 20*rarity
Ecology: Mind + Commercial + Knowledge
Analysis: Essence + Collegiate + Adhesion
Taka: 12 + 16 + 66 = 95, success
Time: 10 days * rarity / effectiveness <= Will. 10 days / 95 = 2 hours 32 minutes

Not particularly needing to see to analyze the stones, Taka, rolls each around in his hands for a time, while the three eat a meager meal around their small fire. The time necessary to successfully analyze each one, requires him to put some aside and wait until morning.

Slate and flint are both used for the purpose of weaponry by various indigenous nomads. Taka senses that when held in hand by a Bender who is manipulating mechanical waylines with respect to sound, the slate will disintegrate, doubling the effectiveness, and the flint will double the effectiveness of manipulating electromagnetic waylines with respect to shock. The yellow stone, called sunstone, has two uses. When carried by all but an Aberrant Bender it will enhance the effectiveness of the wielder's personality; and when held in hand by Bender who is manipulating mystical waylines with regard to damaging the mind of another, it will double the effectiveness. The burgundy stone, called Heartstone, when carried by all but an Aberrant Bender will enhance the relationship between life and bodily function.

The boulder contains seven individual, red flecked stones, called Bloodstones, that when carried by all but an Aberrant Bender will enhance the overall health of the wielder.

Tehn keeps one pair of ant pinchers, making a necklace from them and a piece of gut string. He also asks for one of the bloodstones.

Animal Parts:

Ant Pinchers: 9, (Cohesion +1)
Ant Stingers: 10, {Toxin x2}

Stone:

Bloodstone: 7, (Health +1)
Flint: 1, {Shock x2}
Heartstone: 1, (Confluence +1)
Slate: 1, {Sound x2}

Tellerian Hawke · Nov 22, 2019

Taka gives a Bloodstone to both Tehn and Coldtree. Taka takes the Heartstone, and also one pair of ant pincers. He also takes a Bloodstone for himself. He will begin to construct an ornate, knotted, leather cord necklace for himself.

Kwargrow · Nov 23, 2019

Coldtree takes the Bloodstone and puts it in his pocket. He says, "Perhaps we could sell the stuff we don't need."

MacConnell · Nov 25, 2019

Kwargrow said:
Coldtree takes the Bloodstone and puts it in his pocket. He says, "Perhaps we could sell the stuff we don't need."

Tehn agrees with the assessment stated by Coldtree. "We may not be able to pawn off these pinchers, but I will bet that the rest of those red flecked stones will go. I think we should keep the stingers. We may be able to make use of them ourselves, in the coming days."

Camp is broken and cleaned of residue by mid morning, and the three men return to town carrying a few of the broken ant carcasses as evidence of success. Many of the miners are quite surprised at the size of the ants, having never before seen them so close.

Gebbrik is so pleased with the success, that he pays the men an extra 'tenwage', which is 100 shillings each. He nods his head several times as he begins to speak in his voice that sounds like his mouth is full of gravel. "Ten ants total, you say? Destroyed the whole bed? That is great news. I can see that those things would have become an even bigger problem in no time at all."

He pauses for a moment, considering his next words. "In the face of this good news, I have some bad news. One of the other miners grew skeptical of Tamus's story about Dreg. They left for shaft 9 at the same time you went to take care of the spider problem. Neither man has returned. I would suggest caution if you are still willing to look into this. It sounds a touch mystical to me."

Effectiveness: Coercion + Clarity + d100
Coercion: Mind + Commercial + Knowledge + Persona
Clarity: Essence + Collegiate + Cohesion
Taka: 13 + 17 + 50 = 80
Coldtree: 17 + 19 + 50 = 86
Tehn: 21 + 15 + 50 = 86

Not only are the three able to interest others in purchasing the 'bloodstones', but seven of the nine pinchers sell as well. After some negotiation with the buyers, the return averages out to be 7 shillings per item, giving a total of 77.

Coins:

Shillings: 377

Animal Parts:

Ant Pinchers: 2, (Cohesion +1)
Ant Stingers: 10, {Toxin x2}

Stone:

Flint: 1, {Shock x2}
Slate: 1, {Sound x2}

OOC:

Each character receives 5 DP. If not fluent, each character improves 1% in Maldrog and Amiradtha.

Kwargrow · Nov 25, 2019

Coldtree thanks Gebbrik, and says with a serious tone, "I'm still willing to investigate the missing miners, and although I don't speak for my friends, I think they will too. As long as there aren't any skunks waiting for us in the mines, we should be ok."
When he turns back to T&T he puts on a conspirators grin, and says where only they can hear, "Now two miners are missing, which means twice the prestige of solving this problem. We should prepare well for this mission."