Completed [Play-by-Post] Magic World/BRP: "In Search of the Sorcerer"

[nikolokolus]

Spoiler

I think we should still roll for magic, if only in hope of an awful critical failure and bodily corruption

Spoiler

sounds like a request for DCCRPG

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

Spoiler

In the online game with Amon and the merry band of psychos, you said that all casting skills doubled when not under duress, making a 50 skill a 100 and only able to be fumbled on a 00. Did you change that, or was I imagining it while breathing all of that burning tire smoke in Afghanistan?

 

[nikolokolus]

Spoiler

In the online game with Amon and the merry band of psychos, you said that all casting skills doubled when not under duress, making a 50 skill a 100 and only able to be fumbled on a 00. Did you change that, or was I imagining it while breathing all of that burning tire smoke in Afghanistan?

Casting ruling

Damn ... You're right. I'm thinking of Grimgravy's Deep Magic user, who makes luck rolls to cast, but fuckit, I'm going to make an executive decision and rule that there is no casting roll when not under duress. I'll update the house-rules on the campaign wiki and carry this ruling over to the live game too.

I'd rather the PbP game isn't bogged down any more than it is already. The other rule just doesn't add that much on reflection.

 

[nikolokolus]

Urash launches his bird aloft and Mab focuses intently on it as it soars across the valley. After a couple of hundred yards it dwindles to a speck against the deep purple sky. Before the crow disappears in the gloom, Mab mutters his incantation and suddenly feels his vision lurch into the bird's. A wave of euphoria and lightheadedness washes over him and he is forced to put his hand out to steady himself against the flank of his horse as he looks down thousands of feet into the valley below. A point of light on the valley floor -- a fire -- catches your attention (Likely Cormac setting up camp).

Mab returns his attention to Goron Torri and the nimbus of eldritch light bathing the bank of heavy mist that has gathered around the top of the rugged, large hill. The crow is able to close the gap quickly, covering the distance in about 3 minutes. The crow circles low over the hill and surveys the scene below. Bathed in the eerie green light you see the remains of a crumbling broch (a sort of drystone round tower) in the middle of a shallow, flattened declivity in the middle of the bowl-like summit of the hill.

Wayward Son Make a "Search" Roll (use the crow's search skill of 90%)

 

[Wayward Son]

Mab says, "I see everything!"

 

[nikolokolus]

Mab peers down through the illuminated haze and spots something strange in the center of the broch.

There is a rectangular hole about 3 feet wide and 5 feet long set in the middle of the flagstone floor, surrounded by tumbled masonry and partially obscured by a gnarled looking old tree that is leaning over the void. The hole is black as pitch, but you notice that the mist seems to be oozing forth from it and the mist itself seems to be giving off the strange radiation. The pale light of the quarter full moon Selene doesn't appear to illuminate the rectangular hole to any noticeable degree.

 

[Wayward Son]

Mab describes what he sees to his comrades.

 

[nikolokolus]

The scene winks out and Mab's sight snaps back to his own body, making him blink and rub his eyes. He describes the scene at the top of the small mountain -- The fog glowing a dim eldritch green, the partially obscured passage from whence the fog seems to be emanating and its impenetrable blackness.

The sky is growing a deep violet color as night gathers around you. Thankfully the wind has started to calm down a bit and the sky is clear. Looking down into the valley you see the tiny glow of a small campfire near a stream, that can only be Cormac.

 

[L'ennui]

"Mayhap Oona's captors have gone into that hole, in the floor of the broch. I wonder what else hides in that darkness... I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

 

[Grimgravy]

Rhenmyr looks up from butchering the fallen beast, "Fancy going into another hole in the ground so soon, eh?"

 

[L'ennui]

"As a matter of fact, I really don't... but we haven't come all this way only to turn back in shame."

Urash looks quite ill at ease, sighs and then slowly heads toward Cormac and the fire.

 

[nikolokolus]

Barring no further delays, Rhenmyr finishes his grisly work, rolls up the skinned hide, and takes care to avoid slicing his fingers on the sharp-edge feathers. Next he binds the talons with a thong of leather and stuffs it into a saddlebag, and Ker takes the beasts liver and carefully wraps it in a bit of moss skinned from some nearby rocks and crosses his fingers hoping that the thing won't spoil before you're able to get it back to a place where you can properly dry it and powder it.

The descent down the hill takes about fifteen or twenty minutes in the dim light, but the sure-footed horses are easy enough to lead by their bridle. You come upon Cormac who is reclining on his bedroll and has a slightly woozy expression on his face as he smiles at you and raises a flask in toast. You all quickly make a meal of dried meat and sips of wine and look up at the eerie green fog continuing to pour off the sides of Goron Torri and roll into the valley that has filled with a light mist that reduces visibility to no more than about 60 feet all around you. Fortunately you can still look up and see the hazy outline of the moon as it drifts slowly across the heavens.

Everyone make a search roll.

 

[Grimgravy]

Rhenmyr is too busy washing off in the stream and contemplating a gryphon heart meal to give the area a proper look.
Search(47): [1d100] = 70

 

[L'ennui]

[1d100] = 36 vs 45

 

[ERYFKRAD]

search [1d100] = 74

 

[nikolokolus]

Urash looks up admiring the night sky. During your reverie "something" or rather the lack of "something" catches your eye. Several stars wink out and others flare to life in small patch of the sky overhead. You continue watching for awhile and a pattern starts to emerge, almost as if some small unseen disc were quickly moving across the sky east to west, obscuring and revealing stars in its wake. You shudder a little when you ponder the significance of this; your years of magical training tells you that this is the unseen moon Phobos, a locus of strange omens, dark portents, and black magic. You are slightly surprised that you found it without careful consultation of astrological charts, because its movements and appearances are erratic and unpredictable.

 

[Siveon]

Search Check (27) vs [1d100] = 71

 

[Helly]

Search roll [1d100] = 60 vs 26

 

[nikolokolus]

Apparently only Urash is stargazing this evening ...

 

[L'ennui]

"Curse of all curses!" Urash spits in contempt, then turns his face back to the sky.

"No doubt about it. The Black Eye of Alû, which you know as Phobos. An ill omen weighs over us, friends... We must thread carefully, for all manners of strange happenings are known to occur under Alû's gaze, and sinister magic thrives in its dark embrace."

 

[Grimgravy]

"So that ominous green glow is likely the result of some dread sorcery, the walking dead, or some such nuisance?"

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

Cormac rolls over and begins to drift off into sleep.

Search= [1d100] = 94 vs 23

 

[Siveon]

"Whatever it is, we should fear for the worst. All of our run-ins with black magics have been... less than pleasant. I say we continue our investigation, lest this unknown ritual be completed. Or at the very least, to stop whoever is conducting it."

 

[Wayward Son]

Spoiler

God damn Codex notifications.

"An Ill omen? Well, either we face the consequences now, or wait three months for our friend here to stop wetting his trousers."

 

[Grimgravy]

"If we're going to investigate, we should get going. The night isn't getting any younger and I'd like some sleep."