Field Mission 3: Brushing the Sun, call to arms

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The absurdities really never do end. NAVIGATION 1. A YARN WE'VE WOVEN Not all yarns are spun with one character's grand idea to change the world, or reach a boiling point with a person's insatiable desire to take advantage of a Grand Relic for their own gain. Not all stories are told to necessarily make a vital point, they don't come with an important moral woven between the climax and the denouement. Life doesn't quite work that way. And sometimes, for no good reason at all, you really just get unlucky. HOW THE HELL WE GOT UP HERE So it goes for the the Lost Mine of Phandelver, which was ripped up and found again as the floating continent of Maru. About a year ago, the pieces of a seriously unlucky break fell into alignment: The dwarves many of you had been speaking with, the ones who refer to themselves as the Rockseekers, had, for several months beforehand, been toiling away to reach what they said is their rightful domain, a powerful forge that allows them to magically enchant weapons and armor. A war had been fought over it once before. They were not keen on losing what they feel was never finished. Vast untold treasures were said to be hidden down in the minds, for those who still remembered it. The goblins are not any of those people: the clan that inhabits Maru had simply stumbled upon it, little opportunistic scavengers that they are, and had largely remained on the perimeters. They pillaged what they could to survive and occasionally endured being used as bowling pins whenever they ventured too close to the general location of the forge. Eh, it's fine, they're durable and dumb enough. A Kenku bard who calls himself Jingler clicked his beak once or twice, his most valuable possessions locked away in his shack, and left, intent on finding a goddamn scheming warlock cat who owes him so much money. Not too far away, a dog that had somehow wandered very, very far away from her master and somehow survived, started playing with a dirty ball of yarn she'd found half buried in the muck from a recent rainfall. And just like that, with a playful bat with her paw, the yarn tumbled down the mineshaft. And a dog who now goes by Cocoa accidentally rolled up the entirety of the mine, the surrounding acres, and the people inhabiting it. The yarn stretched and grew into a magically enhanced rope, and strained to pull the mass together, knitting and weaving itself into a solid new (and inhabitable!) continent, and promptly launched itself toward the stratosphere. KATAMARU By this point, enough data and supplies have been sent back and forth between the Reclaimers and the Moon Base that the Director is able to offer a fairly solid guess on what the Grand Relic that created Maru is. That would be the Yarn of Earth's Binding — when activated, it works something like a last-ditch defense mechanism, an escape pod of sorts that literally builds itself by binding together a massive amount of inanimate matter within several square miles, and shoots itself as far away from danger as possible. It's a testament to the immense power a Grand Relic holds. A testament to how it could all end terribly in the wrong hands. A testament to how even an accident, like a dog finding a new chew toy, could have outrageously lopsided consequences. Lucretia can't help but smile to herself as she goes over her notes. She would never dare breathe a word of this, but it's a distant echo of someone she once knew quite well. A dear colleague, actually, and she's so happy to see that he's doing well. Troubled, of course, that he's quite literally wrapped up in this Grand Relic business, but it figures that Bread would find himself here, chasing a magical ball of yarn. She really can't be surprised by any of this; his will to protect people and keep them safe follows him no matter where he goes. Maybe it was just inevitable that he would end up Captain of the Guard back in New Aspen. Could it have gone any other way? The Yarn's full effects were pretty much immediately obvious — you know, aside from the fact that everyone is now on a landmass floating around all of Faerun. Rope is woven through the mines and nearly all of the underground. Rope is the reason the mountain is still standing to begin with. And somehow, a mountain guardian managed to make her home there as well. A Kenku bard returned to his shack, only to find an enormous gaping hole in the ground where his home once stood. It's quite possibly the most outrageously unlucky thing he's ever seen — and he just knows that bastard Garfield is behind it all. And there, a Kenku bard vowed to make a warlock pay. But perhaps the Reclaimers' — and everyone else on board Maru's — most pressing issue is the forge itself. Hidden beneath the Whomping Willow, it's nearly entirely wrapped in Yarn by now, and what was once a symbiotic relationship of ridiculous magical power between a Grand Relic and a forge has become something far more unstable. It's another awfully bad stroke of luck. With each day that passes, Maru breaks apart further — by the end of the month, the continent will have virtually disintegrated, the sum of its parts falling back down to Faerun. And if you are unable to unravel the Yarn yourselves, the Grand Relic may be lost forever. Here is what you will need to do, Reclaimers: ○ Get everyone the hell off of Maru. This is easier said than done! Wash has suggested the Director provide the resources to do so, and the Bureau has been frantically pulling together what it can — but convincing a bunch of dwarves to leave their forge, and convincing a bunch of goblins to leave their loot, will be the challenge. ○ In knitting, unraveling stitches in order to fix a mistake is called frogging. And boy, is this mistake in desperate need of some frogging. There is a very simple way to do it; the mechanism can be found at the forge. ○ Which means you'll have to find a way to contend with the Whomping Willow, or, if that doesn't work, brute force a new path to the forge. While we do think that the willow would make very neat lumber, and that is certainly a path you could consider taking, it is highly advised that you do not engage with it head-on. ○ Relic retrieval: Once the remains of Maru have fallen to the ground, you must locate the Yarn. This will not be an easy task — the remains of Maru are going to leave behind a huge mess. And the creatures who survived the fall, the ones who were hidden away in the mines, are now out in the open. And they are pissed. 2. WHAT THE BUREAU OF BALANCE DID We hope you enjoyed your stay on Maru! You've uncovered and accomplished so much in such a short span of time. Unfortunately, though, all things must hit the ground eventually, and Maru was never really as stable as it should have been. In an attempt to keep this brief, we'll go with bullet points. Here's what you did over the length of this mission: ○ Vista Virs has been secured enough resources to begin the rebuilding effort, by the hard work of many Reclaimers who have filled the drop bubbles with materials. Salmon is now the official desert food of Vista Virs and will now populate the oasis lake. Some people begin to wonder how Garfield is really running his operation, which how many flyers have been found recently in ancient ruins. ○ You've found out about the history of the Lost Mine of Phandelver, a treasure trove of supplies, and the home to an ancient forge that has the power to enchant magical weapons. A long forgotten battle has occurred here between dwarves and orcs. It looks like both sides lost that battle. ○ The fate of one of the Rockseeker brothers, Tharden, has been sealed. Found dead in the grotto, his body showed signs of magical blunt trauma. The same sort of trauma that Maya endured in a valiant effort to find out what's below the tree. Zelda tried speaking to it, but it seems that its sentience is part of a pact that was formed with its enchanter, and only lives because it protects what's below it. As it currently stands, someone has a bone to pick with the Rockseekers. Mista was possessed by one Mr. Snakgraer Hornbelly, and all he got out of it was a crappy t-shirt. ○ The mountain has been hollowed out and is currently kept together by a lot of magical string. The same string that's found deep below, in the mines- solving the puzzle of getting there by using luminescent fungi from the Wave Echo Cave leads to an empty storeroom where the lines of rope are tangled and strewn about. Terezi's gotten a whiff of what's under the soil of Maru- it seems the only thing keeping this place afloat are all these tangled up pieces of rope. Rope also protrudes out in every direction at the bottom of a hatch under the lake. ○ As for the maze, Lion found a red robed skeleton by the storeroom door, and won a contest of wills against it. They now have a very interesting magical weapon in their hands. Shinjiro, on the other hand, was not a good candidate for that umbrella at all. ○ The gerblins have found new friends, new religions, been sufficiently weirded out and have been publicly shamed in numerous places. Strongmouse was not tickled by Kaede's awful pun attempt. ○ Two additional lost pieces of lore have been recovered, outlining the potential for two new paths to eventually open up. You could say that it was written in the stars. ○ A local idiot has made a lifelong friend of a bear. A local detective and his friend who is definitely not a door, befriend a very cute and very good doggo. ○ Hibiki falls down a waterfall and perishes. ○ An evacuation plan is coming together. This entire floating continent is about to blow once the relic has been recovered, making for a very tricky situation. ○ And Bread has been with you every step of the way. 3. CALL TO ARMS: STITCH BY STITCH Taking in the player feedback we received on the state of the game from the beginning of the year, here are the rules for this round of CTA missions. ○ Utilize this post as a discussion board if you're interested in teaming up! It might help to hit upon your character's path actions, strengths, magic items and abilities. This way you have an idea of what's available to you as a team when the assignments go live. ○ As requested in the SotG, we're going to RNG team rosters if there's overflow. Each of the CTA missions below have the required archetype in the header, along with a maximum group size allowed to undertake the mission. Each group needs at least one character with the required archetype, so keep that in mind when signing up. If one group gets more than the maximum allowed signups, we'll RNG a final group roster for you. ○ Sign ups for the threads will close on Monday, April 22 at 6PM EST. ○ CTA plans are due on Friday, April 26 at 6PM EST. Results will be rolled and posted. ○ The CTA log will go live on Saturday, April 27 at 6PM EST. Remember, if you signed up and submitted plans for a CTA, you must thread it out or you will be considered ineligible for the following mission's CTA plot. ○ Happy hunting! A visual reference of the timeline can be granted by viewing the game calendar. ○ MISSION SUCCESS will be contingent on at least 2 of the 4 CTA's coming back with positive results. blurb code by photosynthesis

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EVACUATION ORDERS (CHARISMA - MAX OF 4)

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Thanks to Wash's efforts, the Bureau of Balance will be providing as much assistance in evacuating the people living on Maru as it can — even the hostile gerblins that don't fight fair.

○ The dwarves and the goblins are your priorities.

○ Speaking of the goblins, there are about 30 to 35 of them that are on the Reclaimers' side, thanks to Komaeda's sermons, Kaede's debate minigames and Wash feeding them onions. You may be able to use this to your advantage.

○ Speaking of the dwarves ... well, you'll have to figure something more convincing out. They're not about to leave the forge, something they've been searching for all this time, quite so easily.

○ However many decide to evacuate will actually need to be evacuated. It will be an awful lot like trying to herd cats who want to bring as much catnip with them as possible.

THE WHOMPING WILLOW (WISDOM - MAX OF 4)

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Every inch of Maru has been exhaustively searched, save for the small opening underneath the Whomping Willow (Unfortunately, a previous attempt to get past it didn't pan out). This is pretty clearly where the forge, and the Yarn's epicenter, as it were, is located, but you'll need to clear a safe path to it first.

○ The Whomping Willow is capable of delivering magic-infused attacks that are difficult to heal. Whatever first aid or healing options you've got, bring them to the table.

○ To that end, it's highly advised that you don't engage with it head-on.

○ As a note, it's not flammable, and it can't see — it detects approaching creatures by sensing movement in the nearby soil. Use this to your advantage!

○ If all else fails, digging a hole from outside the Willow's reach is an option — but this may be a higher roll.

FROGGING (DEXTERITY - MAX OF 2)

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Once a way to the forge is cleared, the duo assigned this task will need to get to the forge and begin the process of unraveling Maru. The Yarn is roped entirely around the forge, feeding off of its magic, but leaving the area, and eventually Maru itself, highly unstable.

○ Unraveling the Yarn's grip around the forge will cause it to begin frogging itself all across Maru. Cutting it helps a little, it'll reform itself, but there are ways to speed up the process.

○ Speaking of unraveling, there are at least four of those missing Rockseekers you've heard about stuck down here. They're completely tangled up in the yarn — try not to get yourself tangled while saving them.

○ You will be essentially hitting the detonate button on Maru. You will need to high-tail it out of there to your waiting bubbles the second the Yarn begins to frog itself. You will be the last Reclaimers to leave Maru as it is actively falling apart. This mission comes with a very high risk of death!

FIGHT AND RETRIEVE (STRENGTH - MAX TWO GROUPS OF TWO)

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How well your fellow Reclaimers pull off their own tasks will affect your advantage or disadvantage here. Once Maru has tumbled back down to the ground, regardless of whether it was via frogging or instability, these two groups will clear out as much debris as possible in an attempt to locate the Yarn, which will have returned to its original state. Like finding a needle in a haystack. An assigned Bureau member, should you be successful, will bring it back to the Director.

○ Why is this titled fight? Because even though that was a very long tumble down, there are some very sturdy creatures who survived the fall. And they are pissed. Every fighting skill you have should be accounted for here.

○ One of those creatures is Hethi, an Oread and self-appointed guardian of Mount Mâché who had made her home inside the mountain. She has stony armored skin and favors melee with her equally stony-armed fists. You may fight her, or you may choose to try to reason with her (Note: We'll roll for an encounter with her for both teams, which will ultimately factor into the final roll for locating the Yarn).

○ Bread is a very skilled fighter and protector, and will be available to both parties.

QUESTIONS

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