The Fictional People are real, so we're starting our own conversation (IC)

[CaraVela]

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Ok, Markus, Kirnon, Friz, Qoden: The other posters are fictional characters, just bits of energy floating in the eleiverse. We're no less solid than they are. So I'm starting our own thread, a place to have an adventure conversation go out the front door and suddenly...

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Quill - you're as imaginary/real as we are, so you can post here too! And I think the next post here is yours anyway, so we know where we are...

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With the name of the OOC thread, I couldn't resist

[Quillwraith]

Begone! I Banish thee to the campaign thread!
Wait... there isn't one yet.
...
Carry on, then.

[zook1shoe]

So, my name is Friz... And where are we? *looking around*

[MetroMagic]

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Begone! I Banish thee to the campaign thread!
Wait... there isn't one yet.
...
Carry on, then.

I had actually intended this could be the campaign thread, considering what the OOC is named, but Quill, if you had something else in mind, or a different name, don't let me get in your way, start another and this thread will just be an amusing(?) stub.

It's the DM's prerogative.

[Quillwraith]

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I had actually intended this could be the campaign thread, considering what the OOC is named, but Quill, if you had something else in mind, or a different name, don't let me get in your way, start another and this thread will just be an amusing(?) stub.

I see; that can work. Qoden and Kirnon still lack backgrounds, so we perhaps ought wait for them, however, and Xaotiq hasn't shown at all in awhile.

[Quillwraith]

I: The Red Fountain

It’s been eight days on the riverboat heading down to Kais, and you’ve had a pleasant voyage so far, if not a quick one. Today, the boat’s set out again  after spending a day in dock in a small town along the way , waiting for a particularly fierce spring storm to pass.

The last of the clouds still loom over the landscape, but this morning sun shines over the willows as they sway along the bank, and heat-haze shimmers over the water ahead.

Or perhaps it’s not heat-haze. First a mere shimmer in the air over the river, then a rush of air as the sky turned dark, the hull splintering… and you awake here, wherever here may be.

You’re still on the boat, at least, and most of the crew and other passengers seem to be as well, but little else is the same. The deck is tilted steeply, the prow twisted and battered, it’s figurehead pointing up into darkness.

It’s night here, or perhaps you are underground, but someone’s managed to wrestle a few lamps down from the wreckage of the foremast and get them relit, so you can at least navigate the deck safely. The flickering light doesn’t extend far enough to reveal much of the surroundings, but through the busy confusion of waking crewmembers, you can still hear the soft sound of waves against the hull.

[CaraVela]

CaraVela:

I sense around myself to get my bearings, moving to several locations where I can see out with Low Light Vision, and exploring with Mindsight. Perhaps there are unexpected creatures above in the air nearby, or below the ship in the water, or crew or passengers also unexpectedly in the water; and a quick, rough count with Mindsight will find out whether most of the crew and passengers survived.

I also assess the feel of the condition of the ship, from the way it moves compared to the sound of the waves lapping against the hull, and compared to how it seemed before whatever has happened. Does it seem to be aground, or floating free? If it is afloat, does it seem to bob sluggishly, perhaps taking on water? How did the river smell before, clean and running free after a storm, and how does the water around us smell now, in darkness?

And I think back over what I sensed just before whatever happened, and now, for telltale signs of Magic that might account for whatever did happen.

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Low Light Vision gets twice the acuity. MindSight gets 25 feet of exploration to sense creatures’ minds.

The check for the feel of the ship and the smells of the water: Profession: Sailor +8, if that works for Quill.

Profession: Sailor +8

Rolled 1d20+8 : 11 + 8, total 19

The checks for what Magical intervention might have been afoot, or what is afoot now: Spellcraft +5 and Knowledge Arcana +5.

Spellcraft +5

Rolled 1d20+5 : 9 + 5, total 14

Knowledge Arcana +5

Rolled 1d20+5 : 13 + 5, total 18

[Quillwraith]

The air is still and lifeless, and the dark water nearly so, but for low waves. From that, along with the angle of the deck, you judge the ship to be aground.

The view from the prow bears out this impression, and explains some of the damage - the darkwood dryad figurehead, once pointing boldly forward, now gesture to the unseen sky, it’s arm broken on the tip of the jagged black rock with which the ship has collided.

Most of the passengers and crew remain, but a few seem to be missing, among them Captain Sinteme. Beyond the clamor of worry on deck, you sense no minds, not even the simple thoughts of fish — but something moves under the water. A faint glow, a flash of sinuous silver scales and it’s gone. It seems there is some life here, but you can’t sense it’s thoughts, if it has any.

You can't say with confidence where you are, but you rather doubt that this is still the material plane.

[MetroMagic]

If there is still something here, I may sense it. Maybe we can pass back through, or at the least, confirm what may have happened to us. I push my senses outward, first nearby and then outward for two miles, reaching for the nearest Portal if one is there. I’ll pinpoint it if it is close, or have a general sense of its direction and distance if it is far. If it is close I’ll look at the area of the Portal to see what can be seen about it.

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Locate Portal at will. The closer it is the more precisely CaraVela knows its location; if it’s within 600 feet she will know what general area to look at closely, and if it’s within 60 feet she’ll know exactly where to look.

If I do sense a Portal, then I’ll spend a little more time sensing for a Portal to each of the known Planes in turn. I’ll do this right away in case the Portal is fading, due to temporary Magic, or drifting. I’ll check for all of them just in case there is another further away whose presence was obscured to my senses by the closer one. By process of elimination I’ll determine which Portals are nearby, to where, or I may determine that there is a Portal near enough to sense, but it must go to some other Plane than the known ones, in the cosmology of this world, because I felt its presence when sensing generally, but not when I sensed for any of the known ones.

This may be very quick if there is nothing, or take a few minutes if complicated, depending on what I sense.

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I didn’t take a roll for this; either CaraVela will sense something, or not, depending on the results of the Locate Portal attempts.

Then I go to the ship’s navigator’s table, or captain’s, whichever one had maps to plot our course, and I compare what I sensed, and my own personal copies of maps of the section of the river we were sailing, with their maps, to check if something was missed, or is different – a known Portal of course, or just geographic differences in part out of professional curiosity and in part to try to identify whether anything changed recently. If there is something different, I’ll annotate my maps to verify an update… if we ever get back.

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The check for picking up any differences between her maps and theirs, perhaps subtle clues, or Portals that were known to drift and could have been in the area, or determining with certainty there are none: Cartographer +9, if that works for Quill.

Rolled 1d20+9 : 13 + 9, total 22

[CaraVela]

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Here’s a part missing from the front of the post above; I accidentally cut it off when I pasted into the REPLY box. This goes BEFORE the post above.

CaraVela:

…you rather doubt that this is still the material plane

With dismay, I’ve realized we must have left the material plane, the world of the river we were sailing. My knowledge of other Planes is sketchy at best, but I’ve located Portals all over the sailing routes and noted them on my maps.

I don’t yet know whether to chide myself for forgetfulness in not checking today’s route for Portals, or to chide myself for missing one from my mapping that’s right on the river we were sailing. Or maybe a new one arose, spontaneously or by someone’s hand as yet unknown, or some other Magic pushed us across the brink.

If there is still something here, I may sense it. Maybe we can pass back through, or at the least, confirm…

[CaraVela]

CaraVela:

…a few seem to be missing, among them Captain Sinteme

On the way to the ship’s maps, I watch for Captain Sinteme, and ask sailors and others I pass where he is or where they last saw him. Just because I didn’t sense his mental presence, he may not be missing from the ship; instead he may simply be out of range at some extreme point in the ship, or worse, he may be desperately in need of Healing, unconscious and near death, with too weak a mental presence to find with my MindSight. Or both. If I do hear news of him or see him down, I’ll change course and do what I can for him. Since I’m walking, I can walk up to him and touch him with a bit of Healing to stabilize him, then walk around him to keep on giving him more bits of Healing and after a little while, accumulate enough Healing to bring him back to consciousness.

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The daily strategy for Wandering Shoes, when with allies, is to be ready with Healing (Cure Minor at will as a Swift Action) via Attune Node to Positive Plane Ability. If the captain is still alive, he might be brought back to consciousness eventually with 10HP of Healing in the course of 10 rounds, 1HP at a time, for a total of a minute’s time.

The same with others I see on my way, who are unconscious and perhaps dying from injuries, whether I know them or not. Though for them, I’ll stabilize them with a touch of Healing, and keep moving, to give Healing to someone else. Then I can come back later to finish. I wouldn’t want someone to die because I lingered too long over one victim. Likewise with the Captain; if there are others down around him, I’ll touch him first to stabilize him, then touch each of the others before coming back to the Captain to revive him.

And I’ll also take care first of those new folk who came onboard at the Eclipse Lake; I felt a strange affinity for them, the monk, the dwarf, and the others, and want to get to know them better. I won’t let them die from injuries either, and will wake them up next after the Captain, if they are down.

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Yes, that’s the party

If there are others I recognize as Healers, I can revive them too, before I go back to finish Healing the rest, so they can help Heal everyone else.

Or, if no one at all is seriously injured, which I certainly hope, I'll get to the maps that much sooner.

[Quillwraith]

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As you extend your senses, a portal glimmers from over the figurehead's left shoulder, no more than two miles from the ship. As you continue to search, you find, in the same region, an extraordinary constellation of gateways through the multiverse... the Inner Planes - all four elements, the positive Ways, Simulcron, Syllogria, Etrivon, Vodremk, Reyennon... the Transitive Planes, the Prime Material, Acheron, Baator, Carceri, the Abyss and perhaps more.

Then I go to the ship’s navigator’s table, or captain’s, whichever one had maps to plot our course,
. . .
On the way to the ship’s maps, I watch for Captain Sinteme, and ask sailors and others I pass where he is
. . .
The same with others I see on my way, who are unconscious and perhaps dying from injuries

You make your way aft, and it seems the Captain is gone as thoroughly and suddenly as the sun and the river, though you know not whether he’s been left behind or vanished since. Wherever his is, though, he’s taken his charts and logbook with him, or someone’s taken him and his possessions. The first mate, a short man with a tattooed face and a bruise on his forehead, has taken command, and his seems to be about the most serious hurt aboard; no-one’s in urgent need of healing.