To the north is the Slant Milieu, where gravity itself bears the scars of an ancient war, and winds blow so fiercely the locals go about on hands and knees, building no structures more than a meter tall. Trees hug the ground like rivers, while watercourses often abandon their beds to stretch upward, waving like glassy flags on knotted looping arcs before touching down again. The apex predator around those parts is supposedly a type of moth.

To the west, through Cerdyn's Pass, is the allied trade-town of Hallux, and beyond it the great nations of the Steadfast. Aid may surely be found there, but not cheaply, and rumor has it they face their own problems of late. Previous thread: https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/1034928.html

To the south, Curtaris, a peaceful and prosperous city-state from which few have ever escaped alive. Further south and east, primeval vastness of the Ba-Adenu Forest continues for hundreds of miles, out to the edge of the known world, beyond which some say the clouds become stone, while turbulence like a second sky gapes open below.

Northeast, the Plains of Kataru, home to huge grass-eating beasts, nomadic tribes, and trade caravans. Mythic birthplace of Jack the First, and countless lesser heroes. Most likely the direction in which your kith and kin will end up fleeing if worse comes to worst.

rolled 11, 8, 16, 15, 12, 17, 17, 7, 15, 6, 17, 16, 12, 15, 5, 10, 17, 7, 9, 3 = 235

---

Saharnya: Graceful Delve who Rides the Lightning
Stats:
Might09 Edge-1
Speed13 Edge +1
Intellect14 Edge +2
Effort01

Skills:
Perception
Find The Way
Familiarize
Shock1 IntCast to deal 3 points of electric damage with a melee touch attack, or enchant a weapon for ten minutes to deal one additional point of electric damage.
Charge1+IntCharge an item to be used once. Cost is [Device Level]+1 Intelligence Points. This skill cannot be used on a cypher.

Equipment:
3 Shins
Clothing - Ragged hand-me-down merchant suit
Weapon - Claw Gauntlets
Big ol' Bag o' Batteries - 75% chance to power up a device that uses electricity. This item cannot be reused on the same target if it fails.
1 Responsive Synth
Pack of Light Tools
Explorer's Pack
Cypher X2
Oddity

Connections: N/A

Saharnya works for House Youngmason, a family of merchant-nobles specializing in real-estate enterprises. More specifically, she works as a 'bodyguard' to the Youngmasons' young heiress Azure, but not at this particular moment.
About a year ago, House Youngmason's proxies purchased about half an acre of wasteland from this town, hoping to renovate the land for housing in time to lease to incoming workers from what they believed was a grand long-term project from another House. Mass construction of standard housing units utilized a Force Crane to plant modular constructions from congested traffic lines, so Saharnya and dozens of other employees were hand-picked from the Youngmasons' staff for having abilities that could theoretically maintain the installation. Saharnya, for instance, mysteriously gained limited Nano spells specialized in lightning when she bunted an artifact that looked like a giant lint roller. When the potholes appeared, the proxies were among the first to march to the town center demanding an explanation, dragging poor Saharnya along for the ride. Now her bosses are panicking and her guard colleagues are busy keeping them from doing something stupid.

Outwardly, Saharnya paces and purrs nervously. But secretly, she also scouts the area, using her training to get a sense of the whole structure, in preparation for the inevitable collapse of dirt through the windows and walls and roof, and to deduce where the best possible exits would be.
[Familiarize the town hall for about an hour.]

rolled 69, 56, 3, 33 = 161

---

rolling for 3 cyphers and 1 oddity

>>1064726
Reality spike, level 9. Once activated, the spike does not move—ever—even if activated in midair. A Might action will dislodge the spike, but then it is ruined. If it could be reverse-engineered and enough duplicates constructed, could simply rebuild the town at slightly higher altitude and ignore further seismic problems.

Acidic Resonator, level 4. Bulky handheld device. Metallic blades within 15 meters at time of activation drip acid for the next hour, dealing increased damage without being corroded themselves. Does not distinguish friend from foe - exercise caution around carpentry held together by nails.

Phase Glove, level 6. Six-fingered gauntlet of glazed ceramic and fungal material. Can slowly reach through solid objects up to wearer's elbow, unless blocked by force field, or allow a one-handed weapon to strike transdimensional targets. Lasts up to 28 hours, but may burn out sooner if too dry.

Oddity: ivory-like synth device roughly the size and shape of a mango, studded with lights which occasionally blink.

rolled 80, 6, 55 = 141

---

Rolling for 2 Cyphers, 1 Oddity.

rolled 3, 4, 3, 19, 10, 13, 12, 20, 4, 9, 16, 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 7, 19, 15 = 195

---

Sepurcius Vorkruns - Learned Nano Who Howls (or flails?) at the Moon

Might 7 (Edge 0)
Speed 9 (Edge -1)
Intellect 20 (Edge 2)

Spells
- Push
- Scan

Equipment
- Slug Tunic
- One weapon
- a book about the numenera
- 4 shins
- Reality spike, level 9
- Acidic Resonator, level 4
- Phase Glove, level 6
- Ivory-like synth device roughly the size and shape of a mango, studded with lights which occasionally blink
- Accurate chronometer artifact that always lets you know when the next transformation is coming
- Book: Mushrooms and Mycelium: The Unabridged Field Identification Guide
- Book: Cooking With Mushrooms - 100 Delicious Recipes

Skills
- Trained: Fungi
- Trained: Geology
- Trained: Teleporter Maintenance

Verb - Howls at the Moon: Beast Form. On five consecutive nights each month, you change into a monstrous beast for up to one hour each night. In this new form, you gain +8 to your Might Pool, +1 to your Might Edge, +2 to your Speed Pool, and +1 to your Speed Edge. While in beast form, you can’t spend Intellect points for any reason other than to try to change to your normal form before the one-hour duration is over (a difficulty 2 task). In addition, you attack any and every living creature within short range. After you revert to your normal form, you take a –1 penalty to all rolls for one hour. If you did not kill and eat at least one substantial creature while in beast form, the penalty increases to –2 and affects all your rolls for the next 28 hours. Action to change back.

Connections
- Saharnya: Pick one other PC. You believe that this character intends to convince you to join an entertainment venue (or capture you for the same). They choose whether or not this is true.

Family Vorkruns
- Teleporter (Level 7 Installation) - Produces targeting tokens - coin sized - which have to be attached to something fully enclosed by metal. Then it can be used to swap the designated item with an item of similar mass at the base unit. Within the next hour, somebody at either end can reverse the swap, but if the enclosed mass has changed that sometimes causes problems.

For his first action, Sepurcius will don his phase glove, try to make his way to the top floor ceiling and stick his hand out through the roof.

>>1064787
Attic up under the peaked roof is a musty, poorly-ventilated storage area full of stuff nobody's touched in years, but somebody didn't want to throw away, either for sentimental reasons or as some obscure contingency plan. In mechanical terms, all that junk is a level 5 salvage source, hour per attempt. Might be quicker and get bonuses on the roll if somebody hauls full boxes downstairs where there's better light and more room to spread things out.

Actual structure is two layers of armor-grade ironwood sandwiching a layer of fluffy pink stuff - looks like cotton candy, tastes like itchy razor wire, completely inorganic but grows when exposed to fire, similar to (but even faster than) the way mushrooms grow when it rains. Interior is decorated with floral-print wallpaper, faded and yellowed with age. Ought to be possible to simply reach through, catch someone's attention with gestures, work out the rest of the plan from there.

However, just as you start to poke it, the wallpaper peels away and folds itself into a three meter tall origami praying mantis, floral pattern shifting into scrolling text, archaic almost to the point of unintelligibility. All you can make out at first glance is "Wow, rude. I was sleeping."

rolled 3, 5, 16, 12, 17, 14, 5, 19, 15, 1, 13, 19, 6, 1, 19, 8, 15, 13, 17, 13 = 231

---

>>1064824
Sepurcius shrinks back and sputters, "Ahh...sorry, sorry! Please forgive me, I ah... was in a hurry, and I didn't realize you were there. This building is sinking into the ground, and I am trying to find a means of egress. My name is Sepurcius, and you are...?"

There's no direct reply. The text a talking transdimensional glove named Sepurcius accidentally sank this whole building is assembled on the origami mantid's arms, duplicated several times, and injected into still-sessile sections of wallpaper at widely separated points. Once the words transfer across, they mutate through fragments like "attention," "danger," or bits of what might be musical notation, then dissolve back into...
>rolled 16
...not quite the original floral pattern. One of the meeting hall's janitorial staff came up into the attic with you, carrying a lantern, and in the dim illumination you can just barely see the design continuing to ripple and shift, formerly consistent repetition going slightly askew or substituting images of flower species which weren't there before. Doesn't seem to react to that light at all.

>>1064729
Sonic Hole, level 5: Ring draws all sound within long range into the
device for one round per cypher level (approx 30 seconds - possibly longer if conditions were quiet to begin with). Within the affected area, no sound can be heard.

Metal Death, level 8: Wrist-mounted sprayer (easily concealed under long sleeves) produces a stream of foam that covers an area about 3 feet by 3 feet (1 m by 1 m), transforming any metal that it touches into a substance as brittle as thin glass. The foam affects metal to a depth of about 6 inches (15 cm).
Not useful for opening a hole in the roof since it doesn't work on wood.

Oddity: Circular stone plate with a human face that occasionally changes expression or appears to speak (but has no voice)

rolled 11, 5, 2, 11, 2, 20, 9, 7, 7, 17, 16, 12, 17, 6, 4, 15, 5, 20, 1, 9 = 196

---

Saharnya's ear twitches as she climbs up the open attic door, having missed the show of sentient wallpaper but seeing boxes of what she figures are emergency supplies, government paperwork, and whatever constitutes for a mixture of the two.
"Hey, did you guys find an exit up here?"
Saharnya measures her steps as she looks around.
"Hm, looks like most of this is just paper, but there should be some emergency supplies lying around. You two, I'll look for stuff that seems important and you guys unload it downstairs."
Saharnya scavenges to look for tools and emergency rations primarily, so Sepurcius and the janitor can prioritize those boxes first.

rolled 18, 20, 19, 6, 4, 10, 13, 16, 12, 9, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 13, 4, 17, 11 = 234

---

"Fascinating! Saharnya, there are creatures here! Perhaps you can't see them...but somehow, the glove is letting me interact with them?" Sepurcius addresses the origami mantis again, "Yes! In my dimension we are trapped underground. Could you please move aside, so that I may reach past you to the surface? I'm sorry for the trouble."

rolled 10, 15, 14, 14, 1, 16, 2, 14, 8, 13, 12, 5, 16, 1, 17, 4, 16, 2, 15, 4 = 199

---

Alaiya
Earnest Jack Who Possess a Shard of the Sun

A long-term local resident, though not by birth. Has light-manipulating numenera implants (acquired at a young age, or “naturally” occurring). If Alaiya’s Charisma, her spouse Noemi is Manipulation. More quiet competence and Bureaucracy. Noemi’s family controls a materials extruder (smelter).

Might Edge 0, Pool 14/14
Speed Edge 0, Pool 10/10
Intellect Edge 1, Pool 14/14

Armor: 1

Connection: TBD

Trained in Persuasion, Healing, Defense rolls to resist disease and poison, Any perception task that involves sight, All tasks involving providing consolation and emotional support to others, Music of the spheres
Inability: You never could detect a lie. Tasks that involve seeing through lies or trickery are hindered.

Special Abilities:
Purposeful
Flex Skill
Community Fixer
Critter Companion, Lux: A “cyber fairy” in the form of a floating, animate ball of light, with an orbiting, blocky halo. When trying to keep a low profile, he can compress and dim into the equivalent of an inch-wide nerf ball someone spilt a glow stick on a few hours ago. The halo is semi-prehensile and can be used to carry and manipulate objects. Often acts as a scout or spotter, providing vision or illumination in hard-to-access places. Entirely capable of acting as a disco ball in more relaxed situations. Possibly some manner of datasphere (or datasphere adjacent) creature.
Link Senses (2 Intellect points)
Radiant Abilities
Illuminating Touch (1 Intellect point)
Shard of the Sun Color (Green)

Equipment:
Thumb-Piano
Clothing (Robes in warm colors, with a diamond shaped personal patch indicating a committed relationship)
Stronglass Mace (medium weapon)
Bow (medium weapon) w/ 12 arrows
Light armor
An explorer’s pack
A pack of light tools
A crystal lens.
8 shins

>3) Just as introductions finished up, entire hall suddenly sank twenty meters into the drit. Eaves of the armored roof are now flush with surrounding streets, nothing but mud or gravel visible through the windows. You're all trapped inside. What are you going to do?
Alaiya will first to try and forestall a panic and calm the other representatives who suddenly find themselves trapped (training in persuasion and providing emotional support both apply), while touching one of the room's support beams and activating her illuminating touch to provide light in spite of the now-blocked windows. Internally, the Jack is thankful she was her family's sole representative to this meeting.

rolled 41, 19, 93 = 153

---

Rolling for 2 ciphers and 1 oddity.

>>1064955
Detonation (Pressure) level 3 - fist-sized metallic orb, can be thrown out to short range (50'/15m), deals three damage to everything in an immediate (10'/3m) radius and pushes objects weighing less than 60lb out of the area. Could be used to open a spherical cavity in packed drit, higher-level versions do the same to stone.

Infiltrator, level 1. Wearable: Adheres to temple and launches projectile. Tiny capsule launches and moves at great speed, mapping and scanning an unknown area. It moves 500 feet (150 m) per level, scanning entire area out to 50 feet (15 m) per level away from it. It identifies basic layout, creatures, and major energy sources. Its movement is blocked by any physical or energy barrier but the scan is not.

Oddity: Tiny awl that inflicts no pain when it pierces flesh. Not adequate substitute for surgical anaesthesia but better than nothing. Possibly also useful for assassination.

>>1064929
Saharnya's first sweep finds some ancient fruitcake (four days trail rations, worth 8 shins) in a small clear synth bag (worth 1 shin, resealable but not very sturdy, could instead hold about a gallon of liquid),
6 units of responsive synth (1.5 kg per unit, a versatile level 2 crafting ingredient but not good for much by itself)
4 units of mimetic gel (all in one big 55 gallon canister weighing over 200lb, not sure how somebody even carried it up here - as a crude option, could be expended to duplicate an item no higher than level 5, including cyphers and artifacts)
3 units of metabolic vesicle (2 kg per unit, level 4 - as a crude option, could be used to convert any sort of organic waste into more fruitcake, each batch feeds four humans for a day, 10% chance per batch of depleting one unit of the iotum),
and 44 units of parts.

Kitchen downstairs has lots of raw ingredients and partially-prepared stuff... but most of it is perishable, likely to spoil within a week at most. As for water, the main cistern spilled quite a bit in the fall, and wasn't even half full to begin with. Still, there's more than enough left - and few enough people stuck inside - that hunger will become an urgent problem before thirst, assuming you keep laundry and bathing to an absolute minimum.

If there's a day or two of heavy rain, you'll have more water than you know what to do with, but that might make certain other problems much worse.

>>1064954
Main room is two stories high, 40' wide and 100' long. Altar and statue of the Founder at one end, in front of north-facing stronglass windows which would be majestically catching the midday sun... if you weren't stuck underground. Ground floor has a pair of long feast-tables which can seat two hundred, ramp down to the basement in between them with a U-shaped railing around it.

Balcony on the upper level supports a thin wire, long Y-shape running down the exact centerline of the space until it splits before the statue. Decorations hang from it during major festivals, symbolizing the relevant sequence of events. When Alaya touches that wire, resulting glow fills the whole main room clear as full daylight, and various smaller rooms off to both sides less brilliantly, but still well enough to minimize need for candles or lamp oil.

Hall's maintenance and catering staff have run occasional practice drills for the possibility of being bottled up by a siege or the Iron Wind, and Alaiya manages to safely channel the group's nervous energy into those procedures.

>>1064942
The revehent is unable to open a hole in the roof large enough for you to escape through, and even if it were, unwilling to let you root around in its nest.
>rolled 18
As an alternative, it suggests walking out the front door. Would only need to remove... text ends abruptly mid-sentence in a swirl of compass-and-straightedge geometric figures, then mantis claws whip out, rearranging themselves into a pair of broad flat surfaces linked by accordion folds, with Sepurcius in between. Feels like his head and chest are being crushed in a vise. "What is the minimum safe thickness," says the gut-rattling buzz, "of that meat you are wearing?"
>rolled 20
Sepurcius manages to clarify that his meat-based portion is the entity it's actually talking to, while the phase gauntlet and other clothes are nonsentient, or at least thoroughly subordinate. The revehent finds such an arrangement very strange, but desists from trying to measure his compressibility. "Regardless of such a tunnel's exact volumetric requirements, excavated material could simply be discarded down that enormous hole in the basement."

rolled 1, 20, 7, 2, 6, 13, 14, 17, 12, 12, 11, 18, 9, 17, 12, 9, 3, 11, 1, 7 = 202

---

How many people do we have down here? Hopefully those iron wind procedures include taking a headcount.

Now that the lights are on, is anyone in the main room (or nearby) sporting injuries that need tending to?

Is there a chimney or flue? Presumably at least the kitchen has something, unless the cooking is done with some kind of smokeless numenera. If so, Alaiya is going to send Lux scouting up the chimney, see if the top is submerged. If her pet can get in and out, even if it's not a path the rest of us can take, that could allow message-passing and coordination with the rest of the town.

rolled 17, 7, 2, 16, 9, 17, 6, 3, 9, 14, 11, 5, 14, 18, 14, 15, 12, 15, 2, 16 = 222

---

>>1064942
Vorkruns claims the wallpaper demons told him about a way out. She's skeptical, but open-minded about it; places of power tend to hoard weirdness as it's protected from everyday civilization's need to conquer and normalize the unknown. If the wallpaper has invisible ears, that's an incredible advantage for the mayor when his council and lobbyists gossip.

>>1065000
"Alright, put that one in the tools pile... and put that one in the rations pile. Okay, looks like the others are also done with the first round of scavenging. Let's chat with our respective bosses and then reconvene at the main hall to vote on whether to dig our way out or wait for backup."

Saharnya has a quick checkup with the (surviving) Youngmason representatives, who offer their usual wisdom in direction that's mostly about crowdsourcing business - not immediately useful. Then she checks the hall for any hidden passages or secrets, and the founder's statue in particular; while she's aware of the potential dangers of a trapped statue, the power grid for those is likely to be severed along with most of the pavement.

Find The Way, Effort 0

>>1065049
>Is there a chimney or flue? Presumably at least the kitchen has something, unless the cooking is done with some kind of smokeless numenera.
>rolled 1
The "siege" drill involves hastily preserving on-hand perishable food, which requires a certain amount of heat and smoke, but the "iron wind" drill involves locking down airtight seals, including the flue. They were not meant to be run simultaneously.
>If so, Alaiya is going to send Lux scouting up the chimney, see if the top is submerged. If her pet can get in and out, even if it's not a path the rest of us can take, that could allow message-passing and coordination with the rest of the town.
>rolled 20
Once the seals are re-opened, Lux can slip in or out easily enough through the chimney, or the pipes which carry rainwater to the cistern. There are some vents in the attic as well, but those are too narrow, since they're designed to prevent the place from turning into a colony for nocturnal flying vermin.
>How many people do we have down here? Hopefully those iron wind procedures include taking a headcount.
That's one of the first things folks outside ask. Current estimate is a hundred people, plus or minus fifty, and 15 to 20 hours worth of breathable air.
>Now that the lights are on, is anyone in the main room (or nearby) sporting injuries that need tending to?
One broken leg, already receiving appropriate care - sinkhole itself went reasonably slow, but they were unlucky enough to be near the top of a flight of stairs at exactly the wrong time - and the guy who was supposed to be doing the headcount isn't the only one incapacitated by smoke inhalation.

>>1065057
>rolled 17
>Effort
>Familiarize bonus
So, good news and bad news.

Founder's statue is holding a proportionately oversized mattock. If you slip that feathersteel-alloy handle out of the marble fist, it should be possible to actually use for digging. Locals won't be happy about desecrating a monument though.

The front doors open outward, on hinges made of some nigh-indestructible leathery stuff. There's enough room between them and the side of the sinkhole that they're not pinned shut, so given appropriate tools (mattock, shovel, wheelbarrow, etc.) you could easily start digging an escape tunnel.
Roof of the hall is still level with the ground outside, so such a tunnel wouldn't need to reach all that far.
Plenty of open space to dump removed rock and soil in, under that hole where the basement sump used to be, as well as a wheelbarrow-friendly route between it and the front door.

Taken separately, each of those three points is a positive, but together (plus some other clues) they imply that the hall is currently hanging from its eaves over an even longer drop, like a can held by the edges of the lid, and that those eaves are in turn resting on a narrow overhanging rim of rock and drit which may not be stable - or even if it currently is, might not remain so with somebody digging under it. If that rim crumbles, or the roof tears off, resulting fall won't be as gentle.

rolled 9, 20, 15, 8, 9, 19, 3, 2, 9, 2, 7, 1, 19, 20, 18, 15, 5, 12, 7, 3 = 203

---

Saharnya's ears fold as she realizes she's a kitten trapped in a cage thrown over a ravine.

"Vorkruns? Can I speak with you for a moment?"

Saharnya takes care to keep the conversation out of earshot of anyone else.

"If we can't dig our way out soon, we're screwed. I found an area we can dig through to survive, but I just discovered this isn't the bottom of the hole. We're on a fragile ledge, leaning over the side, and anything could set it off. The building could fall even further at any moment.
I'm telling you this because, and oh gods this is going to be expensive, but I may need you to go to a key structural point and use your really expensive cypher there, the something-something everything floats forever anchor thingy. My bosses said something about how your family was planning to present it at the conference so they could find an experienced wright and get it mass-produced so you could create a floating town and not worry about this mess, but we might not have any time to do that if the building tips over. House Youngmason will reimburse you for the full cost of sacrificing your potential venture. Just save us."

Then Saharnya attempts to convince the policymakers to salvage the founder's mattock, presenting her argument as a means to enrich the reputation of the mattock by using it to save the townspeople and reinforce their patriotism. Even if it's sacrilege, the alternate option is allowing it to get buried and submerged and then decay from poor conditions.
Diplomacy, 1 Effort

Saharnya has a funny idea pop into her head - stake the reality anchor underside into the statue's empty grip - but she's pretty sure it's not bolted down. Of course, she jokes, it's not like they'd risk their lives and sacrifice an emergency support system just to save one statue... would they?

rolled 6, 11, 18, 10, 15, 18, 10, 6, 7, 16, 15, 11, 11, 15, 5, 18, 2, 5, 6, 7 = 212

---

>Once the seals are re-opened, Lux can slip in or out easily enough through the chimney
Let's try that then. Assuming she can find something to write with, Alaiya will write a short note for her animal campanion to carry summarizing the situation (approx number of people, no major injuries, the estimate on hours of air, suspended over a deeper hole), folded up to protect the text from soot. Let's spend 1 point on Link senses- confirm the delve's analysis with a look from above, and look around to see if the rest of the town is dealing with worse problems, or if it was just our building that sank this time.

>>1065182
Joining the conversation, the Jack asks "What about that force crane you've been using on the edge of town? Is it portable or far-reaching enough to pick up the building?"

Assuming Sepurcius shares information about the origami mantis, Alaiya's reaction is practical. "Well, if they're living in the attic, they're a town resident, same as any of us. Do they require evacuation or assistance?"

rolled 20, 9, 11, 6, 10, 19, 12, 14, 10, 16, 5, 11, 4, 14, 4, 17, 20, 20, 5, 18 = 245

---

>Would only need to remove... text ends abruptly mid-sentence in a swirl of compass-and-straightedge geometric figures, then mantis claws whip out, rearranging themselves into a pair of broad flat surfaces linked by accordion folds, with Sepurcius in between. Feels like his head and chest are being crushed in a vise. "What is the minimum safe thickness," says the gut-rattling buzz, "of that meat you are wearing?"

Sepurcius hastily thanks the revehent for the suggestion and slinks off downstairs feeling like a wrung-out rag.

>"Vorkruns? Can I speak with you for a moment?"
>"this isn't the bottom of the hole"
Sepurcius' eyestalks perk up. "Oh of course it isn't! We could only wish to be so lucky."

>but I may need you to go to a key structural point and use your really expensive cypher there, the something-something everything floats forever anchor thingy
"It's worth a try, but I doubt the reality spike can support the entire building if the eaves give out. I'll go look for a suitable place to activate it." Rolling to find the most structurally sound part of the building to hang the reality spike.

>"House Youngmason will reimburse you for the full cost of sacrificing your potential venture."
"If they wish, but it's a small price to pay for a hundred lives."

>Assuming Sepurcius shares information about the origami mantis
Sepurcius is always happy to complain...

>"Well, if they're living in the attic, they're a town resident, same as any of us. Do they require evacuation or assistance?"
"Would you mind asking? I've been squished enough for one day."

Character sheets: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AemO8vC12NolU6nC2NWPxhXcPXLs-K3-m4WBIjk9yrg

>>1065212
>Rolling to find the most structurally sound part of the building to hang the reality spike.
>rolled 20
Center of the big room's ceiling, where the arches cross. Probably need to set up scaffolding to reach it safely. Ideally you'd also want a square yard or so of armor plating, to keep the spike from punching straight through, with lots of little teeth on the plate's upper surface to distribute the load, and reinforcement at a few other key points that weren't originally meant to be under tension - heavy iron staples hammered into joints in beams, diamondoid mycelium (or something similar) wrapped around pillars, etc.

Good news is, that spot is directly over the ramp to the basement, so the entire hall could still be lifted at least halfway back up before a reality spike placed there would bump into anything.

>>1065209
>short note for her animal campanion to carry
>folded up to protect the text from soot
>Assuming she can find something to write with
>rolled 6
Takes a frankly embarrassing number of back-and-forth trips for Lux to figure out that most available types of ink and paper aren't waterproof, so dragging them through drainpipes is counterproductive.
>spend 1 point on Link senses
>Community Fixer
Somebody outside finds chalk and a writing slate in colors that Lux's "eyes" can tell apart, as well as a spot you can knock on to give audible feedback.
>confirm the delve's analysis with a look from above, and look around to see if the rest of the town is dealing with worse problems, or if it was just our building that sank this time.
>rolled 11
Some quake damage but it looks comparatively minor. No other obvious gaps in the skyline.
>What about that force crane you've been using on the edge of town?
Even if it was in range, twenty tons is multiple orders of magnitude short of being enough to directly deadlift the whole building. Looks like they're already hard at work on something involving a lot of cables, pulleys, bathtub-sized boxes of gravel and long levers.
>trained in music of the spheres
>tasks that involve seeing through lies or trickery are hindered
>rolled 18
It might work, there's no definite fatal flaw in what you can see of that mechanism so far, and anyway it's hard to be sure when the whole thing is clearly far from complete, but you've got a bad feeling. Seems a bit shoddy and over-complicated.

>>1065182
>Saharnya takes care to keep the conversation out of earshot of anyone else.
>rolled 9
>Community Explorer
Butler overhears, but keeps the bad news to himself for now.

>convince the policymakers
Lanky teenaged shrine attendant gasps in shock, blinks, stammers a bit about sanctity, history, and seniority.
>the alternate option is allowing it to get buried
Attendant remembers that the hall is in lockdown, nobody higher up available for passing off hard decisions.
Hesitantly gives assent.

>to salvage the founder's mattock
>trained in salvaging numenera
>asset from Familiarize
>rolled 15
In a flash and faint smell of ozone, Saharnya leaps from one of the feast tables to the second-floor balcony, climbs atop the railing, and with a running start jumps over to perch on the statue's shoulder. Joint connecting mattock's head and handle includes a thumbnail-sized power cell, which she swaps for a fresh one from her bag.

Mattock's pointy end starts to glow cherry red and project a shimmering conical field into the air a centimeter around itself. Flatter end, facing the window all those years, takes on a more mottled yellowish-green glow. Around where it attaches to the handle still looks like ordinary black iron. Statue's fist slowly unclenches, visibly releasing the mattock to Saharnya's care - and incidentally cracking its own lovely chocolate-colored paint job, revealing bare marble on knuckles and palm.

It's a level 6 artifact - so 6xp from discovery to split among the group - which counts as a heavy melee weapon. As a high-quality tool, it provides an asset on earthmoving as well as appropriate sorts of construction, demolition, and religious rituals. When striking rocks, callerails (think five meter tall hyper-omnivorous gorilla, partly made of stone), or certain types of reptiles, it deals double damage but risks depletion.

>Diplomacy, 1 Effort
>rolled 20
There are at least a dozen witnesses muttering to each other about omens and prophecies. When Saharnya hops down and strikes a pose, they cheer.

rolled 2, 18, 13, 20, 2, 20, 2, 7, 16, 2, 19, 18, 3, 12, 5, 18, 18, 6, 19, 18 = 238

---

It's quite strange, the mere feeling of believing that others are nominating you for a title you don't think you deserve. Yet Saharnya's feelings lean towards the claim; the benefits of a title outweigh the risks of holding one. Elevating herself to a status similar to that of the heiress she bodyguards would make the bureaucracy and ballroom politics of her job considerably simpler, and being allowed to partake in the fancy parties the nobles and celebrities host all-too-often would be a boon, but most importantly she would be allowed to keep the shiny mattock.

*Ahem*
Saharnya remembers where she is, takes a moment to breathe in, looks at her surroundings, and prepares a simple course of action.

"It appears I have been chosen. I choose to be what I believe I must be."
And with her acceptance of the title, Saharnya gets to work guiding the people out of the dark.
[3XP - Acquired a Title]

Saharnya's plan is simple: She'll lend the mattock to Vorkruns to begin initial excavations, while rotating teams of scavengers will look for further excavation tools in the building. Most of the assembled will not work, or even move, because they don't have the space or safety to conduct a coordinated operation. Evacuation into the new tunnel will begin when there is 1.5X the volume needed to cram everyone in like sardines.

[Diplomacy Effort 1]

rolled 15, 13, 4, 11, 6, 3, 10, 4, 18, 2, 8, 8, 13, 5, 10, 18, 14, 11, 1, 18 = 192

---

>Saharnya's spontaneous ascension to folk hero
Alaiya blinks. "Well, ah, that was impressive."

> Looks like they're already hard at work on something involving a lot of cables, pulleys, bathtub-sized boxes of gravel and long levers.
> It might work, there's no definite fatal flaw in what you can see of that mechanism so far, and anyway it's hard to be sure when the whole thing is clearly far from complete, but you've got a bad feeling. Seems a bit shoddy and over-complicated.
Perhaps she should dissuade them, then, before the shared sense wears off. (Digging a tunnel with Sepurcius' geological expertise and an artifact tool might be safer). Or at least try to get someone involved with the technical or organizational skills to un-shoddy and under-complicate things. Is her wife around up there?

Spending 3xp to lock Noemi in as an NPC contact.

> what next
If Sepurcius is going to place his gravity spike cypher to act as reinforcement or a safety net, that's probably the first thing, which means assisting with the necessary scaffolding and armor plating.

> rotating teams of scavengers will look for further excavation tools in the building
The Jack will assist in organizing some NPCs to starting bringing the goods discovered in the attic down into the lighted area so they can sort through the goods in the light. (Which would be a salvaging task with an asset- but probably should allow the hero to take the lead on that, as she's trained in salvaging).

Most important thing is to find tools (either those anyone brought with them, or stored in the building) so they can be used to construct things we need. (Not sure if this is a salvage, perception or persuasion task, but Alaiya is rolling for it regardless).

While Sepurcius and Saharnya are discussing digging a tunnel, the next-most pressing concern seems like the air supply. The delve's initial estimate was 15-20 hours of air- presumably this place was designed with the expectation the door and windows wouldn't be blocked. What do we have left for ventilation- can we build some kind of fans or pumps to improve what we've got?

I think I'm going to assign Flex Skill to engineer training- useful for helping craft the things we need from what's available at hand.

>>1065396
>She'll lend the mattock to Vorkruns
>[Diplomacy Effort 1]
>rolled 2
Apparently humbly refusing it at first is part of the script. Eager mob almost picks Saharnya up and drags her over to the front door to start fulfilling those messianic expectations.
>to begin initial excavations
>18, 13, 20
Roughly forty cubic meters need to be dug out to complete the escape tunnel. During the first three hours, do you want to dig five cubic meters at the cost of 6 Might, or eleven at the cost of 12? In the latter case some of the strain spills over into Speed, so you'd need to spend a recovery roll to avoid impairment.

>>1065480
>Most important thing is to find tools (either those anyone brought with them, or stored in the building) so they can be used to construct things we need.
There's a jeweler's workshop in the upper floors. Reasonably comprehensive array of tools and supplies for fine metalworking, including hand-cranked forced air systems for maintaining small-yet-intense flames, or vacuuming up chips and shavings of the sort of materials that get sold by the gram.
>rolled 15
Lock on the door won't stop Alaiya for more than a minute or two, given the legitimate state of emergency, but it's there for a reason - lot of easily concealed valuables inside. Who's allowed in, and what precautions will you be taking against theft?

>What do we have left for ventilation- can we build some kind of fans or pumps to improve what we've got?
>rolled 13
Need at least a cubic foot of fresh air per human per minute. Test of the kitchen chimney with a simple paper pinwheel (once they got the flue open and stopped making extra smoke on purpose), and observation of the sail-like billowing of that tablecloth somebody threw over the ramp to the basement, suggests roughly one cubic foot per second currently being drawn from somewhere further underground. With over a hundred people inside, you're maybe halfway to break-even.

Another 55 gallon drum from the attic turned out to be full of collapsible laundry hampers, erupting out when it was opened like a larger version of the classic spring-snake gag gift. Those could be stitched together end to end as pipes for directing airflow through particular rooms, or combined with mechanical parts to apply pressure. Tricky part is that vigorous exertion means pump operators need to breathe more. Thus, inefficient setups could work out to a net loss.

May be wise to check where the intake is coming from, confirm somehow that it's actually drawing the kind of air you want, rather than tainted with whitedamp or some nasty type of mold spores or whatnot.

>Perhaps she should dissuade them
>Or at least try to get someone involved with the technical or organizational skills
>rolled 4
Despite a clumsy explanation, Noemi trusts Alaiya's instincts on this sort of thing. She rushes off to investigate what could be going wrong around the force crane.

rolled 5 + 1 = 6

---

-11 cubic meters of gravel later-
"Bwuh... harder... than-" *wheeze*
Recovery Roll 1d6+1

rolled 10, 13, 17, 12, 7, 17, 1, 20, 5, 18, 16, 16, 11, 8, 4, 6, 10, 19, 11, 17 = 238

---

>lock on the door won't stop Alaiya
>Reasonably comprehensive array of tools and supplies for fine metalworking
Ha! See, there are well-intentioned reasons to carry a set of lockpicks!

> lot of easily concealed valuables inside. Who's allowed in, and what precautions will you be taking against theft?
Um. Who owns what's inside? Is the jeweler, or whoever usually supervises this workshop, here? The Jack could just lock the door again when she's done, but if there's not a spare key inside, needing to pick the lock every time could be slow. Might make more sense to find the owner, or someone else with a reputations for trustworthiness, and charge them with supervising the valuables? Possibly appeal to the community zeal Saharnya has fired up- we're here to work together, save the town and each other's homes, not steal from each other.

(If we can't save or secure the building, we might end up carrying out possessions and supplies, but keeping people alive and getting them evacuated comes first).

> May be wise to check where the intake is coming from, confirm somehow that it's actually drawing the kind of air you want, rather than tainted with whitedamp or some nasty type of mold spores or whatnot.
Having a small, floating companion seems like it would make chasing down air flows easier! Alaiya and Lux will attempt to track the intake. The Jack will outfit her cyber-fairy with little ribbons or strips of fabric to try and detect air currents if needed. If needed, will spent a point on linking senses.

rolled 7, 11, 10, 18, 1, 16, 15, 15, 13, 3, 1, 13, 1, 4, 7, 19, 15, 20, 3, 20 = 212

---

>Saharnya's spontaneous ascension to folk hero
>Alaiya blinks. "Well, ah, that was impressive."
Sepurcius sighs, "I suppose that means we're saved now."

>Eager mob almost picks Saharnya up and drags her over to the front door to start fulfilling those messianic expectations.
Sepurcius will try to speak over the excited crowd and advise Saharnya and the other diggers on how to properly reinforce the tunnel. Spending Intellect effort on this.

>Center of the big room's ceiling, where the arches cross ...
Sepurcius will try to go about engineering all of this. Once again expending Intellect effort.
>diamondoid mycelium (or something similar)
During the process he insists more than once that if every workshop were sensibly planned with an attached mycenum for growing useful fungi, all their problems would already be solved.

>assisting with the necessary scaffolding and armor plating.
>Ha! See, there are well-intentioned reasons to carry a set of lockpicks!
"Impressive! Where did you learn to pick locks so fast? I have to say I am glad you're here, Alaiya. Ah...not that I'm glad you're here in mortal danger. But..." Sepurcius switches subjects, "You know, it may be an option to convince our fold-up friends in the attic to act as temporary reinforcement while we work on a more permanent solution."

>May be wise to check where the intake is coming from, confirm somehow that it's actually drawing the kind of air you want, rather than tainted with whitedamp or some nasty type of mold spores or whatnot.
>Alaiya and Lux will attempt to track the intake
Sepurcius will try to assist by using Scan on the incoming airflows that Alaiya and her cyber-fairy find.

>>1065526
If Sepurcius is done with all his other tasks after three hours, he'll try to take over for Saharnya.

>>1065574
>"Impressive! Where did you learn to pick locks so fast? I have to say I am glad you're here, Alaiya.
"The most interesting things and people were behind locked doors when I was growing up."

rolled 18, 12, 13, 13, 5, 10, 17, 18, 19, 16, 6, 10, 11, 14, 9, 11, 3, 3, 1, 9 = 218

---

After the dig, Saharnya opts to take another look at the statue, checking for potential details she may have missed.
[Intellect Search, 1 Effort]

Saharnya also talks to the statue's junior attendant, asking for details about her position. She explains that while she was handling the mattock, it seems there was some greater functionality within, but that it would take time and research to figure out what.

>Jeweler's Workshop
Saharnya looks away to prevent attention on Vorkruns and Alaiya, but asks around about the (previously)-locked door and if she and her friends can have permission from the owners to look around for something to help with the dig.

JamesLeng 2023/06/15(Thu)03:59 No. 1065898 ID: f57349
File 168682674926.png - (17.78KB , 657x326 , Undermined-Hall-Before-and-After.png )

>>1065560
>Who owns what's inside?
>rolled 10
That's a surprisingly tricky question. Last time it came up, Noemi explained that the master jeweler personally owns about 60% of the tools, raw material stocks, and items built on spec. First Bank of Ephremon, headquartered some 150 miles to the southeast, claims another 20% stake and serves as counterparty for escrow and commodity-futures contracts. A few journeymen jewelers also have shares. Completed commission work belongs to the commissioner, obviously, but is considered to be held in trust until they actually pick it up. Once, when a really major commission got lost or stolen while half-complete, an insurance adjuster from Ephremon and an aeon priest from far away over the mountains spent six months getting in screaming arguments with everyone else involved, and at least part of the final settlement had to be kept secret.

There's also an azure-steel box full of items left as collateral for loans, along with related documents, but that's sealed much tighter and you shouldn't need to mess with it to make use of the workshop.

>Is the jeweler, or whoever usually supervises this workshop, here?
>rolled 13
Locked up and headed home for lunch just before the sinkhole opened. Didn't see 'em in the crowd outside - may have decided to take the rest of the day off.

>attempt to track the intake
>rolled 17
There's an absurdly huge tunnel, wide enough that the hall could fall into it like a cork pushed too far into a winebottle. If you fired off your infiltrator cypher, it might not be able to map both floor and ceiling in one pass. Air seems to be coming from the relatively horizontal portion of tunnel, to the west-south-west. If those scattered snowflakes are anything to go by, far end - or at least a major surface access - must be miles away up in the mountains.

>>1065574
>properly reinforce the tunnel. Spending Intellect effort on this.
>trained in geology
>rolled 7
Not your best work, but definitely safer than a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs would've managed on their own.

>Center of the big room's ceiling, where the arches cross ...
>Sepurcius will try to go about engineering all of this. Once again expending Intellect effort.
>rolled 11, 10
Key joints successfully reinforced, just missing a suitable slab of armor for the focal point. Vault in the jeweler's workshop would almost certainly be sturdy enough, but even if you were able and willing to move it, wouldn't want to bet your life on all this improvised scaffolding ( https://xkcd.com/2375 ) supporting that much weight so high off the floor. Could try duplicating the vault with mimetic gel, and then slice up the copy into more convenient-sized pieces, but... apart from the more obvious problems with that plan, you'd need either a larger container, or some way to temporarily shrink the vault so it fits inside a 55-gallon drum. Also if the process was mishandled, the original vault would be destroyed, contents seriously damaged, mimetic gel expended, and an explosive reaction would likely cause serious injury or death for anyone unlucky enough to be in the same room without wearing artifact armor - which, if you had any, would make the whole experiment unnecessary.

More sensible approach might be to try scrounging up some azure steel not already in use, either from the workshop supplies or attic junk, then weld the scraps together.

>take over for Saharnya
>rolled 18, 1, 16
Fourth hour of digging sees two more cubic meters of progress at a cost of 5 Might, assuming you're willing to spend Effort. Then Sepurcius sprains a muscle, turns back to let somebody else take over, ends up falling into that gap between escape tunnel and buried hall's front door.

First few meters are more scramble than plummet. Mattock hooks on the doorframe. Guy running the wheelbarrow drops it, kneels, reaches into the chasm to try and grab. "Rope! Bring a rope," somebody shouts. Fingertips touch, grip fails. Rocks and drit crumble off the dull green shapestone of the hall's exposed foundation.

Further down, fluffy pink insulation material seems to have formed a series of shelves or canopies, or perhaps a single sheet in a spiraling pattern. Not nearly strong enough to walk on, but punching through them like sailcloth awnings slows Sepurcius down enough to not be injured when he lands, though the subsequent tumble down three or four hundred feet of scree-strewn slope leaves him bundled in an itchy cocoon.

>Sepurcius will try to assist by using Scan on the incoming airflows that Alaiya and her cyber-fairy find.
Scan results are piped to display on the face of Sepurcius's pocketwatch, dim orange glow of which is the only readily available light source. No significant noxious gasses. Easy enough to report that back to Alaiya by shouting.

Other interesting details: floor is mostly a mix of cold mud and aggregate, presumably displaced material from the sinkhole, but there's a chair-sized tetrahedral chunk of something denser and harder to identify pressed against the small of Sepurcius's back. Walls and ceiling of the tunnel seem consistent with having been cut by some sort of level 7 cylindrical boring machine within past few days. Intermittent grinding noises echo like distant thunder from the... north-ish? Magnetism's a bit wobbly.

>trained in geology
>trained in understanding numenera
>rolled 15
Founder's Mattock - left behind up above - projects a field which reshapes and repels stone. Most visible on the pointy parts, but actually extends all the way down the handle. Sepurcius could feel it pushing on shards and pebbles up against his palm, bones inside his fingers. If someone wrapped, say, a hand-shaped piece of marble around there while it was powered down, then reactivated the field, resultant unfurling motion wouldn't require any miracles to explain.

rolled 19, 10, 17, 7, 5, 4, 3, 8, 15, 18, 9, 11, 10, 8, 12, 13, 5, 15, 3, 20 = 212

---

Saharnya has just finished getting a history lesson from the junior attendant along with the secrets she learned from the statue, when a bunch of clamoring from the entrance breaks her concentration.

Looks like Vorkruns is... okay? That's a relief. More importantly, the Mattock is still intact. Saharnya instructs the crowd to disperse and get a rope. She'll work on the tunnel again, but less fervently. But first:

"Okay, everyone choose a tag. The red circles mean you're going to wait for us to finish the escape route, the blue squares mean you want to try finding an escape route or hiding spot in the cave. We will call for you according to your choice."

rolled 9, 11, 13, 6, 18, 2, 1, 3, 20, 17, 16, 8, 3, 20, 20, 19, 13, 18, 20, 4 = 241

---

>[who owns what's inside] is a surprisingly tricky question.
Noemi's got such a better head for this kind of thing.
>Jeweler isn't here
>what precautions will you be taking against theft?
Alaiya's going to find someone with a reputation for trustworthiness, and maybe a few assistants, and put them in charge of supervising access to the workshop- we're here to borrow what we need to survive, not to rob our neighbors. Play to that community spirit Saharnya has been inspiring, and to the idea people wouldn't want their things taken or disrespected the next time a sinkhole opens. Persuasion training probably applies (though her inability might as well).

>scattered snowflakes indicate a connection to miles-distant outdoors
>air passes Sepurcius' scan
All right then! Our earnest Jack is going to get the ventilation system working so we don't exhaust our air supply digging the escape tunnel, using the parts salvaged from the attic and tools borrowed from the workshop. She'll rope in as many helpers as that requires (I don't think everyone can work on the mining at the same time, even with a bucket chain for moving displaced earth). Applying training in engineering (from flex skill) and intellect effort.

>Walls and ceiling of the tunnel seem consistent with having been cut by some sort of level 7 cylindrical boring machine within past few days. Intermittent grinding noises echo like distant thunder from the... north-ish?
It sounds like this meeting accomplished it's original purpose then- we have a possible cause for the sinkholes. That's something to investigate, once we're done rescuing people from the immediate collapse.

>>1065766
>rolled 18
>Why was this town founded
Core aldeia was set up on a charter from the first Amber Pope, 350 years ago, to study "fluidic conjugation,"
>inability understanding numenera
...a concept which the Order of Truth apparently lost interest in so long past that none of the available locals can provide Saharnya with a coherent explanation of what it even means. Thanks to strategic position at the east end of Cerdyn's Pass, it soon grew into a stopover for trade caravans, shifting cargo from beasts and vehicles suited to the plains to those more appropriate for travel in mountains and vice-versa.

>Where did the Mattock come from
Founder had it with him when his family was exiled.

He was 27 years old when the aeon priests first hired him - as part of a crew of unskilled and semi-skilled laborers, to help build the fluidics lab, housing, etc. Distinguished himself by slaying some sort of dragon at age 30. Too many other notable deeds to easily summarize in an hour. Last seen at his own 270th birthday party.

Was attested by the Datasphere on multiple unrelated occasions to have exactly one offspring who would survive to adulthood, though other details are in more disupute.

People he's descended from, whose native land is at the center of the Clock of Kala (a ring of superlative mountains far to the northeast), fall into approximately the same range of outward appearance as humans anywhere else in the known world, but are very resistant to disease, have a life expectancy around 300 years, and produce correspondingly fewer children. Supposedly, their mastery of the Numenera surpasses that of the great nations to the west, but is in slow decline, while the Steadfast is still growing.

>How to unlock the Mattock's other abilities
If there's anything to it besides being a superior digging tool, weapon, and historic symbol, locals aren't aware. Of course, they also didn't know about the battery...

>>1066243
>The red circles mean you're going to wait for us to finish the escape route, the blue squares mean you want to try finding an escape route or hiding spot in the cave.
Origami mantis from the attic stands politely in line, picks up a red circle with its left talon, blue square with its right. Then there are two, slightly smaller papercraft creatures.

Red's new shape resembles a giant toad or star-nosed mole - it can help dig, or puff itself up and blow smoke rings, or a continuous stream of air.

Blue looks more like a bat or vulture with a long conical beak. It can splice ropes - just like biting through, but backwards.

>>1066255
>Alaiya's going to find someone with a reputation for trustworthiness
>rolled 9
Popular consensus settles on the same butler mentioned back here:
>>1065290
though the origami bat-thing also eagerly volunteers for guard duty.
>get the ventilation system working
>rolled 11, 13, 6, 18
Eight hours after the collapse, ventilation is sorted out, though it ended up needing ten units of Parts. Two or three more Parts, plus a sufficiently long and sturdy rope or cable, could build a climbing harness / zip-line / bosun's chair type thing to let people safely descend into the big tunnel. May actually be faster to hike over to wherever the snow's coming in (assuming that spot is climbable, of which there's no guarantee), and then back across the surface, than to finish digging a direct route. Saharnya's excavation progress has clearly been slowing down - without Effort, each hour's work still costs her 3 Might but is only removing one cubic meter.
>>1066243
>rolled 10, 17, 7
No further mishaps in the digging process before it's time to stop for an evening meal.

>Noemi's got such a better head for this kind of thing.
Checking in after averting a potential disaster involving that half-assembled pulley system near the force crane, Alaiya's wife wonders "How can it be that you're stuck in a cave, but folks up here are acting more like they're the ones loopy from bad air?"

rolled 20, 15, 4, 9, 10, 7, 6, 13, 6, 2, 8, 6, 1, 5, 15, 17, 7, 3, 15, 15 = 184

---

>Founder's clan had a 300 year life expectancy, low fertility
Saharnya decides to keep her family history to herself, for obvious reasons. Still, hope springs eternal that she'll last a little longer in the presence of artifacts.

>Origami Reproduction
"...*Meow*."
After the shock wears off, Saharnya permits the molefrog to dig and the vulturebat to scout.

>How to proceed
Saharnya's strategy is simple. Work will be done in hour-long shifts. During odd-numbered shifts, Saharnya and the Youngmason delegates elect a team of those with red circles to help her dig the tunnel, laying planks on the hole to make sure nobody else falls through. During even-numbered shifts, those with blue circles are chosen to carefully make their way down the rope ladder, giving the miners a break.
Saharnya decides to scavenge the attic for further supplies, looking for excavation tools in particular. Maybe they stashed another fruitcake...
[Scavenge Numenera, Effort 1]

rolled 5, 2, 19, 2, 20, 6, 14, 17, 2, 7, 7, 17, 18, 18, 20, 16, 5, 5, 11, 12 = 223

---

>Origami mantis from the attic
"Oh hello, Sepurcius mentioned bumping into you upstairs. I don't think anyone knew you were living up there, or we would have invited you to the town meeting. Do you have any pressing needs? I was just seeing to the air supply, but I suspect you might not have all the same biological requirements as most the other residents." The Jack gestures at her hovering cyber-fairy. "Lux isn't built the same either!"

>Popular consensus settles on the same butler mentioned back here:
>though the origami bat-thing also eagerly volunteers for guard duty.
Perhaps they could work together? Could be a cross-cultural learning opportunity.

Though given the idea of meat-based creatures seemed new to the origami creature, it might be a good idea to make sure cultural expectations on what guard duty entails match up? We're just looking to limit access to an area to remove a temptation in an unusual situation (fear, greed or stress driven theft). Not looking so much to apply permanent or lethal violence on fellow residents who trespass.

>May actually be faster to hike over to wherever the snow's coming in (assuming that spot is climbable, of which there's no guarantee), and then back across the surface, than to finish digging a direct route.
I'm assuming not all of the people here are dressed for a cross-country hike, much less one through snowy terrain? (And not everyone here may be physically up for a cross-country hike, if some families sent their elders to the meeting). We'd also need to kit up and carry food, water and supplies with us. Alaiya isn't sure marching the whole group out into the unknown would get everyone home.

>Blue looks more like a bat or vulture with a long conical beak. It can splice ropes - just like biting through, but backwards.
>Two or three more Parts, plus a sufficiently long and sturdy rope or cable, could build a climbing harness / zip-line / bosun's chair type thing to let people safely descend into the big tunnel.
The Jack is very much for retrieving Sepurcius, and a smaller group could perhaps scount in that direction. Applying engineering training and Intellect Effort.

>Checking in after averting a potential disaster involving that half-assembled pulley system near the force crane, Alaiya's wife wonders "How can it be that you're stuck in a cave, but folks up here are acting more like they're the ones loopy from bad air?"
"Maybe too many families sent their moderating voices of reason to get stuck in the cave?"

>"Maybe too many families sent their moderating voices of reason to get stuck in the cave?"

There's more to it than that. Master jeweler who left just before it all went down? Noemi went to find him, since he ought to at least be notified if his shop's to be conscripted for the emergency. Nice house up on Bezel Hill, front door unlocked and partway open, half-eaten lunch laid out on the table - late afternoon by this point, so it'd gone cold - and he was just sitting there, sort of staring at it.

He was still hungry, and knew how to eat when prompted, but it was like he'd forgotten, mid-meal, that those two things go together. When she pointed out the problem, one of his kids panicked, jabbed him with some antitoxin cypher thinking it was an assassination attempt. Snapped him right back to normal.

rolled 8, 14, 7, 10, 10, 3, 18, 13, 16, 17, 14, 11, 15, 7, 9, 11, 13, 19, 18, 14 = 247

---

Sepurcius will take a moment to curl up into a slug ball and bemoan his wretched fortune. I'll make the recovery roll in a separate post to avoid confusion.

After he's done crying, he'll use the phase glove to check out the interior of that d4 he fell on. Next, he'll carefully move toward the grinding noises, still lighting the way with his pocket watch.

rolled 6 + 1 = 7

---

recovery roll

>>1067015
The tetrahedral block is made of some incredibly dense level 6 material. Could be just what you need for ceiling reinforcement around a reality spike, assuming you could find a way to lift it up there... and maybe reshape it a little bit. Internal texture is almost but not quite homogeneous, like a pearl or corprolite. Flat face is pointed upward and only about a handspan from being flush with the tunnel floor. Downward point seems to have sunk into the native stone like an iron nail through cake batter.

At the exact center there's a roughly spherical hundred-gram nugget of level 8 stuff. Still-active phase glove could easily pop it out to get a closer look without otherwise damaging the d4, but you're pretty sure you wouldn't be able to fit it back inside afterward.

Two hours' walk down the winding tunnel, you catch up with the source of the noise. At first glance it resembles another buried stained-glass window but there's multilayered depth and movement. Clockwork with gears wider than an aneen's torso, globs of luridly colorful smartfluid pushing pistons, pulling levers, selectively rolling pellets uphill, narrower channels crawling with what might be tiny insects. Main structural elements are mostly transparent, so you can catch glimpses of what's going on at the far end of that colossal cylinder: it's a drill. Chews up rock, processes and compresses it somehow. Subsidence into thus-vacated tunnels must be what's causing all the quakes and sinkholes, so 7 xp distributed among the group for that discovery.

As you watch, fifteen more identical tetrahedrae are stacked together, adhering somehow into three-quarters of a dodecahedron, then pooped out. Thud when that hits the floor is barely audible over nonstop mechanical thunder.

>>1066391
>Saharnya decides to scavenge the attic for further supplies, looking for excavation tools in particular.
>[Scavenge Numenera, Effort 1]
>rolled 20

Under a lot of junk, Saharnya finds an old, unopened, diplomatic packet from "king under the mountain." Presumably sent as a bribe, or attempt to foster general goodwill. Container itself is the burned-out remains of a Cypher Bag artifact - can't be restored just by swapping out a power cell, but the shell is still good metal worth 5 shins and potentially useful for that ceiling-reinforcement project. Contents amount to 30 units of Parts and six cyphers.

level 2 sheen: ingestible liquid, for a week all the water in user's body gains a few non-Newtonian properties, providing +1 armor and easing Might defense tasks by two steps. Downside is, shear-thickening nano-sentries also interfere with sleep and healing, so recovery rolls are at -1 during that time.

level 5 poison (explosive): pill, deals 10 unsoakable damage to the one who swallowed it next time they inflict injury on another sapient being with intent to harvest iotum.

level 5 strength booster: ingestible liquid, +2 Might Edge for an hour.

level 6 detonation (flash): throwable device, everyone in an immediate radius around the point of impact - possibly further if looking straight at it - is blinded for ten minutes. May have originally been intended as a holoprojector, but some timing circuit's missing, so it tries to display every recorded image simultaneously.

level 6 heat nodule: attach it to a melee weapon, deals +4 fire damage for the next 28 hours.

and best of all...
level 6 lava wand: thin metal rod with a red-orange synth bead on one end, elaborately contoured grip on the other, perhaps intended to be ergonomic for something very different from a human hand. Cylindrical section of rock up to 18 cubic meters (level x 3, or the equivalent of a 10' cube per level) is heated enough to melt.
Point it along the length of the tunnel already in progress, resulting magma would most likely flow downhill following roughly the same path Sepurcius tumbled. Escape tunnel wide enough to crawl through could be open in a matter of minutes. Need to wait for the walls to cool before actually traversing it, of course. Would also be wise to make sure Sepurcius isn't still underneath, and take precautions against anything else nearby catching fire.

rolled 6, 12, 14, 17, 11, 3, 14, 18, 14, 18, 17, 7, 2, 10, 7, 8, 2, 17, 14, 6 = 217

---

>Bag o' Cyphers
Saharnya laments the loss of the bag, but the contents should make for a useful backup plan. She swaps out her sonic hole with the flashbang. The remaining cyphers are first offered to Alaiya and the junior attendant for their above-average services so far, then distributed among the Youngmason representatives for safekeeping.

(If Alaiya asks for any of the cyphers listed she gets first pick.)
* Lv2 Sheen, Lv5 Poison, Lv5 Strength Booster
Saharnya gives each of the lesser delegates a potion.
"If something should happen to me, drink these and start digging."
Saharnya figures giving two 'placebos' should increase the morale when one of them suddenly develops thicc abs and hews through solid rock.
* Lv5 Sonic Hole, Lv6 heat nodule
Saharnya has two of the major diplomats take one each.
"Be sure to find out who this 'King under the mountain' is and repay their generosity. Or, y'know, give these back to the city when you're done."

Finally, Saharnya has the workforce and evacuation efforts clear; the last person to follow Vorkruns down the shaft makes sure to warn everyone to stay away from the entrance, and once they can no longer feel their weight the topside workers pull the rope ladder up and detach it, replacing it with a simple plank of metal. Minutes pass as Saharnya steels herself. Saharnya aims the wand and carves open the final stretch of the tunnel!

rolled 10, 15, 1, 5, 18, 7, 5, 20, 1, 12, 7, 7, 8, 13, 13, 13, 2, 10, 20, 3 = 190

---

>At the exact center there's a roughly spherical hundred-gram nugget of level 8 stuff. Still-active phase glove could easily pop it out to get a closer look without otherwise damaging the d4, but you're pretty sure you wouldn't be able to fit it back inside afterward.
Gonna go ahead and pop it out anyway. I want to see what this stuff is.

>big clockwork drill
Fascinting! Sepurcius will try to get closer to see if he can spot any creatures that might be piloting this thing. Also would like to scan that fluid and the transparent material it's composed of.

Consequences of carrying Too Many Cyphers

Check happens at the end of the day, meaning after 28 hours or somebody using a 10-hour recovery roll, whichever comes first. Cyphers which have already been activated don't count, even if they're still providing some useful effect, so any that you use within a few hours of obtaining them never contribute to overloading risks.

Neither do any you've isolated from the incidental hazards of an adventuring lifestyle, either as a cache of buried treasure, or in the care of an NPC (though they'll have their own safe limit), or in a locked and guarded vault (which amounts to a combination of the previous two), or with a "cypher bag" artifact. However, "carrying" doesn't just mean literally in your pockets - if a pile of cyphers are sitting out on a table, available for immediate use, somebody needs to be taking responsibility for their maintenance.

Every day overloaded, roll vs. difficulty 2 + number of cyphers beyond your safe limit. Effort cannot apply.
Any inability at crafting, salvaging, or understanding numenera counts as training for that roll, while training or specialization in those fields hinders it - mysteries of prior worlds are such that the more you think you know, the worse it bites when you get overconfident.
Potential assets:
-carried same combination of cyphers, none added or removed, for the past week
-spent entire day outside the reach of any installation's reactive field
-skipped 10-hour recovery roll to do extra preventative maintenance

Basic failure, interactions lead to some minor inconvenient weirdness (fumes, radiation, irritating insect swarm, etc.) which hinders all your actions by one for 1d6 days, and for purposes of the next day's cypher-stability roll, multiply the effective number of cyphers you're carrying (including those within your safe limit, but not any stashed in a "cypher bag" artifact) by the number of consecutive days on which this result came up.
For example, if your cypher limit is two, you're carrying five, and narrowly failed two days in a row, on the third day it's as if you had ten - over your limit by eight.

Fail by two levels of difficulty?
-if the number of cyphers you're carrying is even, divide them into two equal sets. The GM picks one of those sets, and each cypher in the chosen set is either rendered inert, or activated in an unexpected and uncontrollable manner, at the worst possible moment during the next in-game day.
-if the number is odd, whichever one has the highest level among them (player's choice in case of a tie) metamorphoses into a hostile creature of the same level.

Fail by four or more? Repeat the "fail by two" procedure a corresponding number of times.

So, for example, if somebody had seven cyphers, highest of which was a level 9, and safe limit plus other modifiers added up to difficulty 6, meaning they needed a 12+ on d20 for nothing to go wrong, but they rolled a 2, that would be failure by six levels.
First iteration, they've got an odd number, so the level 9 cypher is lost and a monster emerges in its place - probably something fairly apocalyptic, and related to the cypher's function somehow.
Second iteration, six cyphers left, which is an even number, so "you split I pick" turns half of them useless or dangerous.
Third iteration, three cyphers left, which is odd, so another monster forms from the highest-level one. If you're lucky it might consider the level 9 monster a more urgent problem than the PCs.
End result, two usable cyphers remaining and three more the character doesn't yet realize have been reduced to traps or garbage. No need to roll again tomorrow unless they add more, or their safe cypher limit is somehow less than two.

>>1066392
>Do you have any pressing needs? I was just seeing to the air supply, but I suspect you might not have all the same biological requirements as most the other residents.
>rolled 5
Silicate sand and certain low-viscosity oils would be appreciated as the equivalent of snack food or mild recreational drugs, but don't seem to be an urgent necessity. Revehents want to make sure that pink fuzzy stuff inside the walls and in that big spiral under the basement isn't disrupted too much by whatever construction or repair work you do. They're also either afraid of fire, or strongly attracted to it in an ego-dystonic way, not sure which.

>make sure cultural expectations on what guard duty entails match up?
It seems to understand the basics: keep track of who comes and goes, what items they're carrying. Try to prevent violence, and if it becomes necessary, aim to subdue / restrain rather than puncturing anything.
At first Alaiya is not very impressed with the revehent describing humans as objects of awe and confusion, "higher-dimensional beings," and bragging about being able to perceive human presence in the same room "even when they're not speaking," but after some tests and follow-up questions, turns out it can reliably identify individuals and describe their relative movements based on a combination of scent, heartbeat, and apparently the sound of their brain activity - which she wasn't previously aware even HAD a sound - from all the way at the far end of the great hall, despite significant distractions.
>rolled 2
Can't see how somebody with those capabilities would be an inadequate guard, especially with the butler as backup.

>retrieving Sepurcius,
>Applying engineering training and Intellect Effort.
>rolled 19
Turns out the spool for lifting water from the well in the basement was using much heavier cable than necessary. Split it into 1/8" strands, total length becomes almost ten miles, replace the bucket with a spare 55 gallon drum, upgrade the crank with some reduction gearing... three hours later you've got a level 3 commonplace structure in the form of a compact, sturdy crane or elevator which enables one person (jogging in the 'hamster wheel' at the top) to easily lift or lower three people, or two plus more stuff than they could reasonably carry while walking. Overall safe load capacity 700lb. Might be able to manage a bit over five times that without breaking if you added more workers, and took it really slow and careful.

Well / elevator is at the opposite corner from the main entrance, but there's an almost-straight route between the two, up the ramp in the middle of the great hall. That's where they've been dumping wheelbarrows full of rubble from the excavation. May need to stop doing so, to avoid falling rocks hitting people in transit, but if so where will you put material removed from the tunnel?

>>1067088
>I want to see what this stuff is.
>rolled 10
Midnight Stone, level 8 iotum. Black pebble with striations of green metastable void matter. In addition to many applications in crafting numenera, it can be released with a touch and an act of will to produce a variety of bizarre effects - some helpful, others dangerous. Difficulty 4 to activate, 8 to control. Could collect up to sixteen of them in total, but every two midnight stones you're carrying (rounded down) count as one toward your cypher limit. Surprisingly dry and windy down here, phase glove's starting to feel a bit crusty by the time you catch up with the digging machine, so there's not much time to decide.
Of course, any you leave behind may still be salvaged at some point in the future, but removing that super-dense shell without setting them off by accident wouldn't be trivial.

>Sepurcius will try to get closer to see if he can spot any creatures that might be piloting this thing.
>rolled 15
Lacks room for conventional crew or passengers, no clear indication of an internal Otherspace or uplink to the Datasphere. Few other signals can reliably reach through solid rock. Absent elaborate subterfuge... either those insects are smarter than they look, or it's a runaway automaton.
>Also would like to scan that fluid and the transparent material it's composed of.
>rolled 1, 5
Not sure if it was a defensive response, glitch from poking at a mechanical brain, or just bad luck with the timing, but midway through that scan the drill abruptly reverses course and slams into Sepurcius, before rotating slightly to the left and resuming its work. Unless you spend 1 xp to refuse the GM intrusion, he takes 7 damage, and scan results won't be legible until the pocketwatch artifact receives minor repairs. Jeweler's workshop should have all the tools needed.

rolled 20, 2, 11, 18, 5, 8, 18, 15, 3, 7, 20, 14, 9, 16, 6, 20, 19, 9, 19, 18 = 257

---

>>1066447
Well... that's not good. If there's something affecting people on the surface, are we going to have to evacuate them underground when the tunnel is complete? Alaiya takes a minute to consider possible causes: if it is something in the air, her ventilation system is pulling from a snowy mountain somewhere through the underground tunnel, which might explain why they haven't been affected underground. Well... might be best not to assume they're unaffected. Been several hours since initial first aid, various stay-alive-and-escape projects have kept from keeping a close eye on everyone's condition—might be worth checking if anyone is reporting similar symptoms.

If it's not airborne... it could be something really weird, like a sympathetic connection between jeweler and workshop and the one being buried is messing with the other (not the most likely, though). Or... could that digging machine underground count as a mobile installation? If a new reactive field is now overlapping with one of the numenera installations in town, that could be causing something strange.

>>1067141
>Can't see how somebody with those capabilities would be an inadequate guard, especially with the butler as backup.
Certainly not!

>>1067072
>All those cyphers found
"Saharnya, you are amazing. And dangerous."

• The level 2 sheen is a straight defense bonus, and it lasts a week. If we're at all at risk of rolling for exceeding our cypher limit, one of us should just use it.
• The poison pill is... mostly useless to us. Maybe could be broken down for iotum or sold/traded, but if we needed to get it off our hands, maybe we could pass it off to whatever passes for small town law enforcement? Save it to apply to anyone caught stealing organs.
• The strength booster is too short lived to help much with digging the tunnel, should ideally be used in a situation where you'd apply might more than once in an hour- like combat, or dealing with an emergency collapse, which probably means keeping it handy.
• Flash detonation... yeah, it's arguably an upgrade over the sonic detonator, Sahanya taking it makes sense.
• Heat nodule: good for combat, but it's also got a day's duration, so we could just use it if we're running close to the limit. Probably wouldn't help the mattock dig any faster?
• Lava wand: We should probably begin preparations for using that, immediately.

Alaiya will pass her level 1 infiltrator to Sepurcius via Lux, since he has an open slot and is currently scouting. She'll pick up the strength booster to replace it. Saharnya should take the lava wand, but we'll be using it soon, so she won't be overburdened long. The two of them should keep the heat nodule and sheen nearby, to use as soon as one is needed, or when we're running low on time. Which just leaves... the sonic detonator and the poison over as risks of going over.

>Preparations for using the lava wand
Obviously, we have to get all the diggers out of the tunnel-in-progress. Need to figure out a safe path for the flow. We can use stone and drit we've been excavating as a firebreak, and to shape the flow. Founder's staff could be used to make sure we have a channel for the lava to follow. Gotta use Lux to warn the surface so no one is standing near the expected exit point, warn Sepurcius and make sure neither he nor anyone else is near the flow below. Fireproof stuff we've concerned about... and get people moved away from the danger zone before firing. Our new mantis friend may need to be in a different room. The crane-evator should be pulled up and out of the way. Need to make sure the ventilation can handle it, and we don't all die from rock-fumes waiting for the path to cool.

Probably other preparations, but this post is getting long, and that'll do for a start. Definitely willing to apply Intellect Effort to the preparations before firing the lava wand- if we flood the building or light it on fire, this could go very wrong.

>>1067081
>>1067258
>apply Intellect Effort to the preparations before firing the lava wand
>rolled 20
Not only is the rest of the hole to the surface bored out safely, molten rock dripping onto the rubble-strewn slope down below solidifies into a convenient staircase for Sepurcius to climb on his way back.

Everybody gets 1 xp each for completing that "rescue townsfolk from the sunken hall" objective. Further work will be needed for full repairs, but opening up a route by which folks can come and go freely means it's now possible to handle that as a long-term project rather than an adventure.

rolled 2 + 1 = 3

---

Sepurcius is quite finished poking things for now. He'll take another recovery roll and then turn back.

rolled 19, 16, 13, 6, 2, 9, 5, 2, 2, 14, 19, 10, 17, 5, 18, 15, 3, 10, 4, 8 = 197

---

>Infiltrator
If Sepurcius has it by the time he arrives at the drill he'll go ahead and use it, from a very safe distance.

>molten rock dripping onto the rubble-strewn slope down below solidifies into a convenient staircase for Sepurcius to climb on his way back.
When Sepurcius arrives, badly bruised and grumbling, he'll recount what he saw to Alaiya and Saharnya."... I believe this device is the cause of all our problems. And I don't know what to do about it."

>might be worth checking if anyone is reporting similar symptoms.
"Unfortunately I can't help by scanning the air for poison this time because my watch is broken." Sepurcius holds up the cracked display. "It was a gift, too... I might be able to repair it if I can run home to get some tools."

>lock in a house
House Vorkruns is a lavish, sprawling, spiraling estate that's shared by most of his family in town. He has a large bedroom with a balcony to himself, as well as a grow room for fungi (it's an old storage room, he was allowed to set up in it after he cleared out most of the old furniture and teleporter parts). Current head of the house is Ecwid Vorkruns, a haughty slug who has a bad smoking habit and tends to wear a lot of expensive jewelry. (Spending 3 XP!)

Regarding the gravity spike project, could that winch Alaiya put together lift that tetrahedron up into the building? And how readily could Sepurcius get his hands on diamondoid mycelium? Could also probably use some help from the youngmason builders.

>>1067429
>go ahead and use [the infiltrator cypher], from a very safe distance.
>rolled 19
Obtained a map of the autonomous tunnel-boring machine's interior, which could be studied for further insight into what it's doing and why.

Initial analysis gives somebody an idea for a smaller, simpler burrowing vehicle which would mostly refill the space behind as it goes, and have room inside for a human driver and a few passengers. Mechanically speaking, plan seed for a level 6 vehicle, needs:
65 parts;
1d6 units of Io;
3 units of responsive synth;
3 units of pliable metal;
12 units of synthsteel;
3 units of quantium; and
1 unit of monopole, which will probably be the limiting factor since that's a level 7 iotum.

>could that winch Alaiya put together lift that tetrahedron up into the building?
Not the whole thing, but there are already some folks working on a plan for slicing a relatively thin layer off the top surface and lifting it into place with a combination of that winch, a revehent flapping its wings, and several barrels full of floatstone.
>And how readily could Sepurcius get his hands on diamondoid mycelium?
Long-term action taking about a month to grow some the safe way - and you can only run a number of long-term actions equal to your tier at once - or if you're in more of a hurry and willing to take risks, could spend a few hours rooting around in that toxic waste dump the Youngmasons took over. As a third option, could check if anybody nearby, or teleportation-based trade partners, have any they're willing to trade for iotum, cyphers, or other stuff you've got on hand.

rolled 18, 7, 2, 9, 18, 9, 16, 19, 11, 17, 19, 1, 3, 15, 5, 6, 10, 7, 3, 15 = 210

---

>>1067429
>When Sepurcius arrives, badly bruised and grumbling
If he allows, Alaiya will attempt to treat the Nano's injuries (training in healing applies).

>"Unfortunately I can't help by scanning the air for poison this time because my watch is broken." Sepurcius holds up the cracked display. "It was a gift, too... I might be able to repair it if I can run home to get some tools."
"The jeweller's workshop likely has the tools you need, and it'll be an hour before the new tunnel to the surface is cool enough to use."

>"... I believe this device is the cause of all our problems. And I don't know what to do about it."
"I expect now that we know it's there, we'll be sending people after it. From your description, we can track it, and if we can't find a way to turn it off or take control... that's what weapons and destructive cyphers are for."

If the founder's mattock or our grenades aren't enough to kill it, recharging the lava wand with Sepurcius' midnight stone might do it.

>lock in a house
Alaiya and Noemi have a small house—Noemi's family and some other townsfolk got together for a barn home raising after they got married. Apparently it's something of a local tradition made easier by the material extruder. Noemi has a home office/library. It's cozy, though they might need to expand if they have kids. (-3XP)

Who's carrying which cyphers at the end of the day, and how many midnight stones were collected before the phase glove expired? Overloading is an option I wouldn't mind a chance to test out the houseruled system for resolving that, or excess cyphers can be traded for an equivalent value in more stable types of iotum.

Next morning, when Sepurcius's watch is repaired, several queued alerts and unpleasant revelations arrive in rapid succession.

-Given observed rate of progress and the tunnel's integrity, a single boring machine is insufficient to explain all the quakes and sinkholes. There are at least three, circling around each other like a flock of birds.

-Poison which disabled the master jeweler (and apparently quite a few others) is airborne. Effects are mostly slow and mild due to low concentration, but you'd need level 8 filtration to keep it out completely while still letting the good parts of the atmosphere in. Likely easier to build a sealed bunker or Otherspace with its own self-contained air supply, though that approach has other drawbacks.

-Point source of that poison is less than ten miles outside town. Could cross-reference recent weather and medical records, triangulate the spot to within a few hundred yards, assuming it's stationary.

-Boring machines are also disabled by the poison, at least temporarily on days when it's particularly intense. Slightly heavier than air, so they'd presumably be getting it worse in the tunnels.

-Most of the papers in the master jeweler's wall safe are missing. There are some odd abrasions around the hinge, but it was definitely not opened since the last time those papers were seen, nor has the transdimensional dye marker been triggered. Anything with a wax seal or multiple sheets fastened together is still there.

-Sepurcius's shift into a ravening monster is coming up in less than five minutes. Not enough time for the usual safety precautions. Would look really bad if he killed and ate the master jeweler right after a major burglary was discovered.

rolled 19, 11, 8, 8, 1, 7, 15, 9, 5, 4, 4, 5, 18, 14, 13, 5, 3, 10, 11, 5 = 175

---

Saharnya spent the rest of the previous day evacuating some of the civilians from the city and setting up an emergency shelter faaar away from the potential sinkhole combo finisher.

>Cyphers
Saharnya says that this cypher hoard technically belongs to the community, so they should sell it back for iotum, effectively receiving a finders' fee.
Saharnya votes on selling in order until they're no longer in risk of overload:
1) poison pill
2) heat nodule
3) strength booster

Years ago, Lady Azure and her bodyguards were travelling to their winter home when their carnatrawler broke down, and everyone had to pitch in to repair the machinery on time. Reiko was as insufferable as ever, going on random tangents and occasionally hissing a fit about some inconsequential fused lug nugget. Still, Saharnya can't deny Reiko's aptitude with war machines. As she thinks about this, she absentmindedly strokes the shiny mattock. Suddenly, a jolt connecting her to the mattock arcs visibly in the air. Saharnya wakes up ten hours later to find that she has further clarity with her haphazard machine repair/sabotage skills.
[4XP - Training: Machines]

>Where is Saharnya
Saharnya is waiting for Vorkruns to finish his investigation so they can get to dungeon diving already.

>Watch says 'Five Minutes'
"...Hey Vorkruns? What's that timer for?"

Saharnya attempts to sense motive, 0 effort. Hopefully she'll realize something is wrong and get the Master Jeweler to safety.

rolled 17, 3, 8, 17, 3, 14, 19, 16, 18, 10, 6, 5, 5, 9, 20, 19, 5, 17, 11, 9 = 231

---

>how many midnight stones were collected before the phase glove expired
Well, as many as I have time for probably. I'll use one to recharge my phase glove. Can we quickly find any buyers?

The slugman's stalk eyes open wider and droop closer to the watch's display as it emits one chirping ping after another.

>"...Hey Vorkruns? What's that timer for?"
"Oh no. Ohhh no no no no no...not now! I need one of you to lower me into the tunnel immediately! Ah, please. I have to leave!" Sepurcius scoots down to the elevator as fast as his snail foot can carry him. Gonna spend speed effort on this, whatever it takes.

rolled 10, 3, 15, 12, 2, 13, 17, 11, 19, 9, 19, 9, 8, 8, 7, 18, 5, 8, 10, 10 = 213

---

>Who's carrying which cyphers at the end of the day
Alaiya is still carrying her level 3 Pressure Detonator, and has replaced her spent infiltrator with the level 5 Strength booster. Saharnya is carrying the level 6 Flash Detonator and the level 8 Metal Death. When he returned from the tunnels, Sepurcius was carrying the level 9 Reality Spike and level 4 Acidic Resonator and at least one midnight stone (but he might have chosen to swap around cyphers or pick up another since). The remaining embarrassment of riches includes the level 2 Sheen, level 5 Explosive Poison, level 5 Sonic Hole and level 6 Heat Nodule.

Saharnya seems interested in selling whatever's left over for iotum, which seems reasonable. Maybe wait until the nano's done attempting to recharge his phase glove- whether or not he succeeds determines if he has an open cypher slot or not.

>-Most of the papers in the master jeweler's wall safe are missing. There are some odd abrasions around the hinge, but it was definitely not opened since the last time those papers were seen, nor has the transdimensional dye marker been triggered. Anything with a wax seal or multiple sheets fastened together is still there.
Perhaps something flattened the sheets enough that they could slip out through the seams? But whatever method was used couldn't similarly compress wax or bindings. Did the guards notice anything?

>-Point source of that poison is less than ten miles outside town. Could cross-reference recent weather and medical records, triangulate the spot to within a few hundred yards, assuming it's stationary.
Seems worth doing! Can't work to track down the machines with a rampaging slug-beast in the tunnels today anyways. Applying training in medicine and Intellect effort.

rolled 4, 3, 4 + 3 = 14

---

Last night:
"Zzz... arf arf arf... zzz... arf arf awfo... awo... meow... zzz... meow... nya... meow... nya..."

>>1068147
> Did the guards notice anything?
>rolled 10, 3
Butler can say with confidence that none of the conventional workers had apparent means, nor significant opportunity. Living-wallpaper guard seems to have wandered off at some point.
>triangulate
>rolled 15
The stuff is insidious, and data is spotty in part because one of the main symptoms is 'unresponsiveness.' By the time Alaiya has it narrowed down to a particular outlying farm, there aren't many hours of daylight left.

>>1068139
>as many [midnight stones were collected] as I have time for
Sixteen, then.
>I'll use one to recharge my phase glove.
>rolled 17
The stone is successfully activated, but wisps of void matter writhe out of control.
>rolled 3
>A thundering sound somehow blinds (rather than deafens) the user for several minutes.

>Sepurcius scoots down to the elevator as fast as his snail foot can carry him. Gonna spend speed effort on this, whatever it takes.
>rolled 8
Sepurcius manages to traverse the town hall's maze-like interior at a dead run, while blind, with only one complication: muscle memory leads him out the front door, rather than down into the basement.

>Can we quickly find any buyers?
>rolled 17, 3, 14, 19, 16
Nearest living thing to the tunnel exit is a heavily scarred aneen. It gets one good hit in - three Might damage - before the weresnail kills and eats it. Well, eats about 10-15% of it, enough meat to feed an average human for a week. Blindness starts to wear off, Sepurcius manages to shift back before being compelled to further violence, aided by Saharnya keeping the crowd of gawkers safely away.
>rolled 18
The aneen was part of a trade delegation from Hallux, which readily accepts a midnight stone as "you break it you bought it" payment. Fourteen midnight stones left, and that mangled carcass has 90 shins worth of (admittedly, slime-contaminated) meat on it, plus whatever could be built from bones, leather, sinew, etc.

Rest of the trade delegation mostly consists of folks riding on healthier-looking aneen, loaded with goods from the Steadfast ill-suited to teleportation, plus a screening force of three numenera vehicles resembling two-meter glass bubbles which the driver sits inside.

>>1067675
>rolled 19
Lead driver is cousin Eliznyabeth, with tragedies to report about two other members of the extended family, and some mad quest involving mountains falling into the sky or something like that. In happier news, though, those "chainpods" can cross rocky terrain at dizzying speeds - while sealed airtight. A small group could scout out the apparent source of the miasma and be back in minutes, without even being exposed, instead of needing to hike through the hills for hours.

rolled 7, 18, 11, 9, 13, 17, 15, 6, 13, 1, 8, 16, 3, 16, 14, 3, 6, 4, 6, 16 = 202

---

Saharnya first greets her cousin - at least, she thinks this is one of her cousins. They haven't seen each other since she left the farm, but everyone in the clowder was on good terms with one another. It's all one big fuzzy blur.

Saharnya's course of action is to negotiate with the trade delegation, using her familial connection with Eliznyabeth and Alaiya's assistance, for the rental of the chainpods and the delegation's mercenaries, in exchange for a major share of any resources they might find on the expeditions. A 60-40 split seems appropriate.

[Persuasion: Intellect, 1 Eff-
"Yo!"
*glass shattering*
"...Reiko."
Saharnya is mildly horrified that Reiko showed up after half a year of being banished - suspended, as Reiko describes it - from House Youngmason. For the fourth or fifth time. Annoyance floods her synapses; Reiko is too valuable as an engineer to shoo away, but too weird and erratic to tolerate. Once again, Reiko tries to insert herself into her life as if nothing happened, and Saharnya knows that the moment Azure finds out she'll welcome Reiko back into the fold and all the peace and quiet she's had risking her life for the nobility for six months will be gone once again.
But Saharnya grips her shiny mattock and grins. She can pull rank over Reiko now.