[pnpgm] Game Update #146 - File #1028 - Bugs Bugs Bugs
Scott Adams
longshotgm at netzero.com
Mon Jan 24 21:10:47 CET 2011
HT Alias/Player Character Name Type Status/Notes Sex
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R1.John Haight...........Arawn.............Druid .Normal/Alfar Ma
??.Chris Wells...........Ben'dar...........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma
R4.Tom Corckett..........Caladan...........Wizard Normal/Human Ma
W2.Marcel Liberty........Chion.............Sailor..Normal/Human Ma
W3.Ryan Torres...........Farseeker.........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma
--.Tobie Bonahoom........Fremea............Sidh....Normal/Faerry Fe
R2.Mark Murtha...........Kell..............Trader..Normal/Human..Ma
R1.David Sanders.........Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human Ma
R4.J H Hooten............Raban.Usherwood...Bard....Normal/Human..Ma
W2.Robert Maxwell........Strie'bog.........Bard....Normal/Human..Ma
W4.Wout Broere...........Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human Fe
R1 John.Stowman..........Will..............Hunter..Normal/Human..Ma
R4.Alex Koponen..........Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human Fe
R1 NPC...................Zhou Kiwat........Noble...Normal/Human..Ma
Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra, Tef'wo (Horse) Ben'dar,
Cover Story Info: [HD- House member, F-Foreigner, N-native non house]
Arawn aka Arawn as Teacher to daughter [F]
Ben'dar aka Bu Da as Horse expert [F]
Caladan aka Ca Lu as Guard/Archer [N]
Chion aka Capt. Chu Mai as Sailor Trustee [HD]
Farseeker aka Fu Sa as Guard [F]
Fremea aka Lin Mong as Noble child [HD] [Disguised]
Kell aka Swan as Trader [F]
Kiet aka Kiet Sunan as Zhou's servant [F]
Raban aka Toban Nu as Entertainer/Guard [F]
Strie'bog aka Sun Zhu as Entertainer [N]
Unali aka Tun Au as Zhou's wife [HD]
Will aka Sun Tzu as hunt master [F]
Z'leyra aka Kakita Junami as Healer [F]
Zhou aka Zhou Wa as Baron Noble [HD]
Game Web Site - http://www.furvert.net/longshotgm/pbem/index.htm
Public posts/actions to pnpgm at abroere.xs4all.nl (mailing list)
Private emails (not public actions) to longshotgm at netzero.com
Game Update #146 in sequence (file #1028)
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Admin Notes: None.
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[Recap]
From Arawn: [Re: Actions]
After searching for the bag and perusing the book contained
within Arawn will carefully tuck it away in a safe spot within
his backpack. After, during the time the party waited for the
fire to consume the shack Arawn will take to looking for a spot
where a view of the plains leading to this area would allow for
him or another scout to possibly notice if anyone has been drawn
to the fire.
When the box is finally discovered within the remains of the
burnt shack Arawn comments on the bowl of bugs Farseeker procured
from the box.
"I say leave the orb alone for now and take everything else.....
GM: Ack.
From Z'leyra: [Re: Actions]
Z'leyra warns the party "Don't cast any magic anywhere near...
GM: Ack.
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[New Stuff]
[Augado 6th, 1634TH]
[Location: Middle Katai Plains]
[ Pamau Province, Pamau City]
[ Northeast of city margins, few miles, river edge]
[Time: 6:04am]
The group stands nearby and stares at the bugs in confusion
on how to use them and how dangerous they might be to the
party, especially magic users.
"I say leave the orb alone for now and take everything
else. It might be worth returning the insects to the box and
then sealing it for study at a later date." Arawn says as he
glances back at the burning shack.
"The Orb likely is a direct link back to their base." Zhou
adds his view. "The problem is it would be in their Vong
language. While the noteboook looks promising a full conversation
could be difficult. Then we don't know if they can track through
the orbs so I agree. Leave it and toss it to the fire. It
looks so fragile it'll disintegrate."
Z'leyra warns the party "Don't cast any magic anywhere near
these beetles! Likely enough they would seek and attack any magic
user doing so."
Kell inspects the coin bag found in Nom's chest. It has
18 gold coins, 20 silver and 13 copper Katai coins. So the
Vong infiltrator has some cash on hand to use for his own
methods of bribes and deal making. Kell shakes and seals the
bag knowing now it goes to the party as spoils of war.
As the shack is now almost 90% destroyed by the fir the
party consider their next move.
"Back to square one." Zhou grumbles to himself. "We came
all this way for answers and still don't know their base
location."
"I think we do." Caladan interjects and points at the bugs
and the map. "If we can figure this map out it might give
us clues. A invading army hiding a secret base would need
to be secret. So it makes sense there is no big red X mark
on the map."
Raban glances around and is quiet as he watches the shack
burn to the ground. He then notices Chion and Ben'dar are
not nearby. He begins to move around and look for them when
he spots movement near the river. Walking that way he finds
Chion and Ben'dar at the river bank a short way out from the
shack. They are inspecting a small rowboat like raft hidden
among the bushes. Of course a boat would be hidden. He wonders
why no one thought to search the river bank earlier.
Raban sees Chion and Ben'dar walking back. Chion is holding
a small wooden box. Chion approaches the fire light and slowly
draws the hand sized box open. Looking inside there is a
small worm sized creature. It seems to be wrapped up in
a cocoon like sac.
Arawn recognizes the creature as one that looked like it
crawled from the dead human at the burning warehouse. Though
that one was a bit smaller. This almost looks like it might
be a mother version swollen with baby worm or something. It
had crawled out of his ear. Arawn long suspected the ear
is critical for understanding and control. The Blue Bugs from
the L'p'nth castle and Zen'da plains seemed to have controlled
the person with highly suggestive mind manipulation. At least
some of the dead Zen'da the party found had some in their ears.
The ear is a direct channel to the mind so it makes sense a bug
might use it to control a person.
Then someone had suggested that the ear is used for language.
It was suggested that maybe the Vong worm allows one to understand
human languages and translate back and forth.
Chion's worm seems docile as if hibernating in its milky
white sac of fluid. "It was in the boat at the bank. Nom
must've used the boat for fast travel."
Ben'dar just wrinkles his nose at the bugs. He remains
quiet but finds insects rather disturbing.
"We've got company!" Farseeker raises a hand for the party
to go quiet. Farseeker's hearing is highly tuned it seems
to these things. As the party quiets down somewhere to the
south voices can be faintly heard.
"...fire...this way...get help....bring buckets..." Are just
some of the distorted distant voices. Farseeker grumbles at
the thought of fisherman coming out early in the morning and
finding this fire a clear beacon of their location.
Unali decides it is time to go and Zhou agrees. The voices
are maybe half a mile away but the voices get louder every
second. Bags are packed and the horses and led forth. Each
remounts and quickly moves north through the light forest.
Flying over the shack Fremea scans the shack one last time.
It seems odd Nom would live in such a human structure. Why
not use a Flyer to move about? Fremea recalls Nom's title as
Attendant in the letter Arawn has. What was he attending to
or was this some reference to a rank? A cupboard finally
bursts open in flames and falls to the ground as Fremea flies
after the party.
[Time: 6:06am]
The party moves north and north west but for now keeping
mostly north along the banks. Farseeker suggests using the
bank to cover up tracks. The mud will show tricks clearly
but Fremea can take a simple patch of bush and wipe the track
away to obscure it. After a few minutes the party heads back
inland and away from the river bank.
Curious Fremea heads back high overhead in the darkness and
sees who is at the shack. It seems about 3 humans looking
around and one finds the body and the decapitated head. There
was time for Raban to move the body onto the ashes but it was
too low a fire to burn the body in time. Fremea hears the voices
below and the villagers give opinions of bandits and river
pirates and even a local gang. Happy that no evidence of their
time here is missing she flies back to rejoin the group.
The party moves in silence as they consider their next move.
They have water and supplies for a long journey but where to
go? The mountain chain is vast to the west. Some were hoping
to search the shack more but even the embers were too much for
a completely search. Who knows what other secrets it might have.
Ben'dar rides Tef'wo and hates the mud still caked on his great
muscular legs. He'll have to clean the mighty horse soon. He
has been very quiet lately as if his mind is elsewhere. But
some suspect he rather just get in battle and kill Vong.
"It seems odd that Nom Amor would have just a shack in the
middle of no where. I suspect he obtained it from some poor
sap he killed. But wouldn't a house in the city have been
more efficient? Makes me wonder if he was hiding something.
The bugs wouldn't be a serious thing for Katai folks. They
might consider him bug happy but that's it. So why then would
he want to hide something? Other than himself of course. From
Unali's description of his disguise in the baron's estate it
looked rough and tough to wear. This masker creature might not
be so easy to just don like a hat. So maybe disguises were
time consuming. So he either wanted to hide himself in true
Vong or....." Caladan trails off to let the others ponder it.
"Magic!" Farseeker sits up in his saddle. "But we know
the Vong dislike magic as much as the Katai. This is why
they are likely here. Enemy of my enemy and all that
stuff. So if not a magic item maybe a magic detector!"
"That's what I guess we overlooked. There might have been
one in the shack. Might have been too small to detect by
the Sidh or our eyes." Caladan sighs with disgust.
Will looks to Chion to see why he could enter the fire. Chion
explains a simple fire resistance ring. A simple item but it
works for short term. He laughs in that no one actually thought
it worth taking from previous treasure so he took it.
"That journal the Brigade guy made of the Vong words must've
taken time. I wonder why they were collecting the info? Was
the group trying to listen in on the Vong? Why not use those
worm things to just do that?" Strie'bog adds to the topic at
hand.
Kell grins at that. He knows how business works. He comments
that the brigade might need leverage and a edge. If the group
knew the Vong language they could act on a level playing field
with the Vong. That is what the markets of cities do. Language
is a barrier to every transaction. But Kell suspects it might
go beyond that reason to another motive.
Kiet rides in silence thinking his first good or at least
workable interrogation the party had did finally give them
some information. But ironically it was the man thinking they
were allies of his. If he knew and wasn't in such pain needing
death maybe he wouldn't have spoken up. Kiet knows pain and
it can be a powerful reason to spill secrets. Kiet grins
at the thought of pain to the Brigade makes them talk but then
frowns at the thought that pain to Vong only excites them.
Raban finds the ride a bit hard on his butt. The horse is
a bit hard on him today due to uneven terrain in this area.
He scans the skies just in case the Flyer wishes to return
to do something. He wonders if his goddess will reach him
about all this Vong nonsense when he may need her.
Will rides wondering how he got into this mess. Joining this
group on some mission he thought would be easy and quick.
Now he has crossed one half of the Katai Empire to chase some
bug loving creatures who enjoy pain. He now also realizes
the city they left was his last chance to flee. At least
Whitney did that though it might've been cowardly. But
maybe not if it means walking into possible death in the future.
"We'll ride a bit then stop for breakfast once the sun comes up."
Zhou speaks as if he is in command but glances to Unali for
approval.
A top her horse still in black Unali almost looks like a demon
riding it. At times she seems to shimmer and disappear in the
darkness. Its almost spooky to watch her. She considers the
past events. So the Vong invade the middle world for the second
time. This time they decide to infiltrate slowly. Over months
they setup allies and other growing areas like Lake Oca. They
send a few ahead like Nom to setup allies like the Peace Brigade.
Since the documents seem to be elusive on other leaders like
Nom it implies he was their best. He did setup the Brigade and
that's a large group several thousand strong. She wonders how
far they could've gotten if the Vong had their maskers to disguise
themselves as humans. They must've needed to get more of those
things and until then used the coffins to disguise their movements.
As she realizes this is likely their only hope in the next few
days to stop the Vong she hopes the Empire could deal with such
aa threat once the war started for conquest. She worries about
her family, her teacher and yes even the Empire.
Z'leyra rides while still shifting clothes. Changing
shape is always hard on the body. Clothes seem to be loose
for awhile and she oddly notices Kell and Raban glancing over
at her as if they see something in her. She shakes her head
and hopes that the Flyer would've brought more results. But it was
simply too fast for them.
Fremea realizes that soon her wings in the sun might bring
danger so flies as much she can until then. She remains forward
recon and scout for the group till then. She considers the
bugs. They attacked her and she would like to just kill them
all. It is rather odd in that she actually used to like bugs.
She'd help bugs who couldn't fly out a window but now they
repulse her. She shakes her head in disgust.
Arawn sits and listens to others but is in deep thought. The
bugs are a common tool for the Vong like a sextant is to a
sailor or saw to a carpenter for humans. They are clearly
bred for a single purpose. Some to attack or find magic
users. Some as weapons to explode, explode in fire or just
bore through targets. Some to use for translators or disguises.
Arawn has seen many bugs lately and tries to piece them all
in one group. While he isn't a bug expert. He then recalls
something. Caladan's teacher studied the blue bugs when they
visited him in the L'p'nth mountains. But he is too far to
find now. Maybe he is a bug expert? Arawn shakes the thought
and returns to the bugs. They tend to be the same shape and
size except for the worm and disguise thing that Nom had on his
nose when Unali fought him in the house.
Arawn considers the last few months of their travel and tries
to piece it together.
"You know the map and bugs with it seem to remind me of the
flying castle...that room with the map table. When some of
those controls were used it generated a map. While it was
an illusion using lights and magic it almost looked at one
point like tiny fireflies to me." Farseeker speaks his
memories out loud to no one in particular.
Arawn considers that and an eyebrow perks up. Bugs for
a purpose. The map had no markings. Bugs were designed for
a reason. Maybe they are linked. Arawn wonders about that.
[Time: 6:37am]
A half hour later the group finally stops and prepares
a fast breakfast. While it isn't hot food the meat and
other small items were obtained from the city for this
use now.
Arawn pulls out the map and places it on the ground. He
then pulls the bowl of bugs out. Before anyone can protest
they are handled he opens the lip and pouts them onto the
map. The bugs just plop down and don't move. Well they
don't seem to be target bugs for magic. To prove his point he
concentrates on mana sensing the bugs. The bugs don't move
at all so they can't send the magic or sensing ability from
his hand.
Fremea watches the pile of bugs. She comments they are
docile or dead. She then makes the comment they need to be
awoken.
Arawn raises another eyebrow. Of course! Thanks to Fremea
a bit comes together. He glances at the book the brigade
made of Vong words. HE scans the Katai words. No. No awake
or wake up. He sighs. He tries to speak some of the words.
But he soon finds his tunic wet from spit that comes out.
It seems the Vong words make the tongue lose control and spit
flies everywhere. Some laugh at his messy study of the book.
"Look for home." Farseeker seems to understand what is
going on and suggests that.
Arawn runs his finger in the ever increasing rays of the
rising sun down the book. Nope. No home. The Vong must've
not used that word in Katai or something. What else to
look for? Secret. Nope. Hiding place. Nope. Arawn growls
as he finds the book now lacking. Then it hits him. Base.
The brigade used base as a word for headquarters or base
of operations. Surely...and there it is.
"Niii'vuu" Arawn speaks. That was the word for base.
The party stares at the bug for 30 seconds then a minute.
"A good try." Zhou frowns.
Fremea nudges the bugs with a finger. Then the bug suddenly
moves! Did it sense her magic or just her finger's heat?
Arawn repeats the word as the first bug moves. Fremea
shivers and touches the other bugs. Arawn repeats the word
again.
The bugs begin to crawl in random fashion around the map as
if dazed or waking up from hibernation. The largest bug one
with a slightly triangle like head moves to the upper left
corner and seems to sit there stopping all movement.
The other bugs twitch their antennae and seem to be talking
or sensing the air. The other 3 bugs move to a certain point.
One bug plants itself on a spot. The other two bugs move to
the right edge of the map and just sit there. Arawn stares
at this map.
Arawn takes a finger and pokes the large bug in the upper
left corner. When this is done the other 3 bugs seem dazed
and moves again in random fashion. Arawn then places it back
in the corner and they resume their position after Arawn speaks
the words. So that must be a control bug.
Arawn then moves the two on the right and speaks the words.
But this doesn't affect the other two. So they must not be
needed to mark one spot. Then Arawn moves the one in the
almost center of the map. He speaks the words and the bug
returns to that spot. He repeats this two more times. He
then looks up and grins.
Farseeker nods. "X marks the spot."
But Arawn frowns and realizes there is no scale. He asks
Unali to get her detailed map of the region out to compare
the region. He wonders if the bugs could be given more
commands for this map.
[Time: 6:42am] - Sun is now up.
Actions? Comments?
Next Update...Friday...
GM: Thanks for folks who emailed. Its better to try to find
and work on the clues. Trying is better than nothing. Even
if you didn't post at least an email knowing that you're
still alive is better than nothing. :) So thanks.
GM: While the Lymrian illusion map wasn't directly a Vong
bug thing. There is a direct memory link to that situation
that might've hinted to the purpose of the bugs. Ergo the
above. :)
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