Lunar Interlude 5 - OOC post

[balancemod]

lmao yall are walking into some shit now NAVIGATION 1. WELCOME NEW ARRIVALS Welcome, new Reclaimers! You have been pulled straight from your worlds right before it was consumed by the **kkkhhzzattt** (you'll be getting more details on that later), and unceremoniously plopped on a large expanse of plush grass and trees. Above you, a glass dome that separates you from the heavens. In front of you, a woman dressed in regal robes, and a somewhat... er, well, completely panicking scientist. The woman — you might recognize her hands as she lifts them; they did just pull you to this universe, after all — speaks. Veteran Reclaimers, if you don't happen to be in the Quad at the time, this message is relayed on all your bracers: "Welcome. I know you have a lot of questions — and we are more than equipped to answer them, in time. What you need to know right this moment, though, is that yours, and our, very existence is in peril. "And you are exactly the ones who will be able to save us all. "In a few moments, you'll be officially initiated into our little bureau, and you will be given all the details of our mission. I just know you're going to do wonderful things here. "To those of you listening in right now, let me thank you once again for your hard work. Though you weren't able to reclaim the **kkzzattthh**, you were able to restore peace to a city that had completely fallen apart, and Her Royal Highness has proven herself to be an indispensable ally for us. "As a side note, there is ... a matter that has come up that I must attend to. I apologize that I won't be here to address any needs you may have, but with the incredible work he's done in Vista Virs and Lyrabar, I believe that Lucas here has proven himself competent enough to handle anything you might give him in my absence." "W-wait, you want me to do what?!" THE VOIDFISH + TEST OF INITIATION New Reclaimers will be shown down to the chamber of the Voidfish. There are some rites and rituals that need to be performed before any of thise makes sense to you. People around you mention words like "relics" and "Reclaimers," but all you can hear is the low humming static of a television screen that's lost reception. No worries, a nightcap from the giant nebulus bearing jellyfish's tank will clear most of that up... provided you can stomach it. It smells, and tastes, just as bad as you can imagine. From there, you will be paired into groups of two for the Test of Initiation. When you and your partner walk into the Arena, a form-fitting space, the simulators switch to Initiation Mode, the scenery shifts, and your test begins. The experience is wildly different for each group — that's because the test will be drawing from both of your experiences back home. Initiation Mode replicates an amalgam of thoughts, metaphors, and ideas between the two people who signed up in order to make an obstacle course suited to appropriately test their ability to stay focused. This is a good opportunity to introduce new CR to some of the thoughts and feelings that your character has going on through their mind, their preferences, or give away a piece of information about themselves that might not be on the surface level. For example, let's say that your character was born on a ship, and spent their entire childhood growing up at sea. Your partner's life involves a lifetime of academic research (setting aside our dearth of smart archetypes for a sec here). An amalgamation suited for the Test of Initiation may involve navigating a ship through choppy seas with flying book monsters that breathe fire. Be as creative as you want! The design is 100% left up to you. All tests will eventually lead toward a room with a relic locked within it. What that looks like is up also up to you! If you need a few ideas, though, it could be: A bright red pair of gloves that can manipulate matter, or a ball of yarn that can roll up pretty much anything. Regardless of what the relic looks like, all you have to do to pass is retrieve the relic without using it. Generally speaking, however, no one should actually fail the test outright. Think of it as a little bit of plot armor; you shouldn't be at the Bureau of Balance if you can't get through one relatively easy (or insanely hard?) trial. As a final note: New Reclaimers may submit their Test of Initiation thread for a bonus reward! There's a form to do so on the AC page. This Interlude, you will be rewarded with a small, nonmagical item from your home. Think of it as a small memento to remind yourself what you're fighting to restore. Additionally, as always, veteran Reclaimers are free to help out newbies on their test if they want. 3. LAGNIAPPE We'll have more in the log prompts on Thursday, but in the meantime, here are some deets to get your gears turning: ○ See that static icon and cheatspeak up there? That's Miss Zarves, a technomancer who, indeed, got herself into some unfortunate interplanal shit, and has been infecting the Moon Base's communication/simulation technology ever since. You can text her if you like (Her username is Zarves♥Scarves), but gleaning information out of her is kind of like trying to find a single functioning bit among a pile of movie scripts, bizarre messages, puns, and terrible drawings. Just a fair warning. You're going to see a lot of her this month. ○ Lucas has returned Bender to his intended function, meaning you've got almost a 50-50 shot (A DC of 11) to actually get what you've ordered. If you've never met Bender before, he's the robot in charge of providing meals to Reclaimers, with ... very mixed results. If your character has a favorite food, feel free to try to order it on the upcoming log's RNG thread, if it isn't already on the menu, success or failure. On that note, when Lucas restored Bender's recipe database, he wiped the banned recipes — so feel free to try to roll for those again! Please cross your fingers that he doesn't ruin ramen a third time. ○ This is supposed to be your time of rest, if you're coming back from Lyrabar, or your time to acclimate, if you're just now jumping on board the Bureau. But something feels ... kind of off, doesn't it? Maybe it's because Lucretia isn't there. Maybe it's because Lucas is kind of panicking while simultaneously filling in for her. Maybe it's something else. Any section of the Moon Base is available for you to explore. You may also visit Lyrabar, in a state of rebuilding, Vista Virs, also in a much further along state of rebuilding, or New New Aspen, which just wrapped up its Candlenights in July celebration. Half off on hand carved ornaments! You know you want 'em. Additionally, if you participated in the Call to Action of the last mission, congratulations! You have earned a token to use in the fantasy gacha globe at the Artificer's office. Grab the link to your thread and head on over here to roll for a new magic item. 4. AN OOC NOTE First off, welcome to Balance, New Reclaimers! Our Lunar Interlude log will go up Thursday, August 1. If you have just apped in, you won't be required to submit full AC, but you will need to check in by 11:00 p.m. EST August 31. If you have a thread with 5+ comments though, you are free to submit bonus AC and pick up a new path ability. Additionally, as we said earlier, if you submit your Initiation thread on the AC page, you'll qualify for the reward. Please make sure your Initiation thread and your bonus AC threads are two separate threads! You can view the activity page here.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[balancemod]

[feytality]

-For a Reclaimer helping out on the test of initiation, could mission memories/backgrounds be applied instead of/ in addition to their home worlds?
-this is a really dumb question but..... Would Maya be able to get her hands on a bag of food holding? like, an enchanted bag or backpack that could store a lot of food and would keep it at the temp it's meant to be at? or something along those lines?

[balancemod]

- Yes!

- If she harasses Lucas sufficiently, he'll cave and make her a giant delivery-style pizza backpack that can keep things warm/cool. It won't be magic, but in his opinion it's better!

Re: QUESTIONS

[diffidentive]

for shuichi's regain, I'm leaning towards giving him a "helping yacchi" which is "a robot mascot that looks like a killer whale. It can sense when its owner is distressed, and offers a research solution". i assume it can just connect to the internet to research and the solutions it provides are just simple little self care tips or things of that nature. it's not magical and it doesn't have a super advanced ai or anything...would this function still work in balance? or would i need to nerf it to just a regular stuffed whale?

[balancemod]

Unfortunately this veers a little too close to advanced technology to be functional in the setting, and sensing the owner's distress is also a little too close to magic for this particular reward. Additionally, there is actually no internet on the moon! The network is just a communication device between Reclaimers, so Shuichi's whale pal would have no way of quickly researching things in the way you've described.

After some discussion, what we've come up with that would work is a helping yacchi that, when a button on its fin is pressed, will provide randomized self-care tips from a finite list. Think stuff like "Drink some water" or "If you're feeling down, get up and go outside" or similar. Plus obviously a cute stuffed whale.

[diffidentive]

I had a feeling it kinda toed the line a little too much, but that's just fine! Thank you!

[gotyourbach]

If Kaede were to use the Message spell (○ Message: (M) You can use magic to send a telepathic message to anyone you can see.) as an equivalent to passing notes in class, is there any chance she could get caught for this? And if so, what would the consequences be...

She'll specifically be messaging back and forth with both Minato and Honoka who both have the spell themselves, and then probably eventually her classmates, too. Followup to that, unlike the DND spell, the path action doesn't allow for two-way communication, correct?

She just. has a lot to say!!

[balancemod]

First, you're correct, the path action doesn't allow for two-way communication.

Secondly: the first few times Kaede does this, the professor won't mention anything, hoping she'll knock it the fuck off on her own. If she continues, which let's be real, she will, she will be embarrassingly shouted at and forced to clean up after class, just like in the animes. On the way out after class, the professor will "accidentally" knock over the trash can as a parting gift.

Don't pass magic mind notes in class, Kaede!!

[gotyourbach]

Unjustly punished for thought crimes!!!!

but thank you! she'll be really pouty about it and this is what she deserves

[unrecovered]

What's the state of the combat class? Is it NPC-taught, or can Wash take over, or...?

[balancemod]

It's currently taught by an NPC substitute, but if Wash wants to take over he's more than welcome!

[unrecovered]

He will absolutely take over teaching duties :D

[petsthedog]

hello! any chance that zarves' arcade hacking shenanigans might apply to the dojo too? shinji tends to prefer it to the arena but i can make up an excuse for him if necessary

[balancemod]

Sure! Go for it, live your best dojo struggle life.

[unrecovered]

How's Leon doing? Wash wants to check in on him and see how he's holding up now that the base is no longer Water And Boats Everywhere. (This might turn into questions about Advanced Paths and the Restricted Section later, but for now, Wash just wants to see how he's doing.)

[balancemod]

Leon is doing okay! As okay as he ever does, anyway. He seems kind of unhappy that everyone is back, especially since the Director isn't, and he's a little anxious, but that's also just Leon's default state. He does appreciate being checked on, though, underneath it all.

[ribticklers]

Will Zarves be acting the same as she is in general to Sans as well? I assume so, but since they are terrible pun buddies, I figured I'd ask.

[balancemod]

Sorry, Sans! Being pun buddies doesn't make you immune to Miss Zarves's chaotic wiles. He will get the same treatment as everyone else.

[hijumpkick]

Hey there! Meant to ask this ages ago but life kinda caught up with me. A couple months ago Hayner came into possession of a particular sword and I was just wondering if there was anywhere on the Moon Base that Hayner could take it to and see if he could learn more about it? I'm totally cool with rolling it as a learn-as-you-go thing but yeah

[balancemod]

Sorry for the delay! We had a few things we needed to hash out as a mod team.

First off, we are only slightly sorry that Hayner's the proud owner of Beacon. Secondly, if he takes it to the local blacksmith in town (He goes by Bob the Smither), his reaction will be ... interesting, to say the least.

Bob knows a highly cursed sword when he sees one, after all. He almost doesn't want to hang on to it for too long, immediately shoving it back in Hayner's hands by the hilt, going on about what sort of person would be willing to use that kind of magic, what sort of person would go and essentially trap another being inside a weapon like that. That's the kind of thing only insane cults do to their enemies, right? Like, the kind you read about in stories.

Bob requests that Hayner never bring Beacon back to his shop. Beacon, meanwhile, is rambling on in his usual cadence about how to make a cactus fruit sandwich.

[hijumpkick]

Oh geez, that is quite a reaction! Hayner will definitely be stunned by that kind of reception to Beacon.

He'll probably flat-out ask Beacon if he's cursed, but I doubt he'd get a straight answer, if he gets one at all :B

[balancemod]

In the tiniest-violin-invoking voice there is, thoroughly woebegone, Beacon will respond that he is cursed. Cursed to never again taste his beloved cactus fruit sandwich. Why must you bring up his tragic backstory?

[hijumpkick]

Aw man... this is not what he expected owning a sentient sword would be like, that's for sure.

...he's sorry for bringing up the sad backstory, at least?

[napstar]

1) The post mentions that characters can research the Advanced Paths for themselves. Are the Advanced Paths published on a pamphlet? In a book? Etched into the Artificer Office's floor?

2) There were plans to escort Cocoa to New New Aspen and drop her off with Matthew back before the corporate retreat happened. Minato wants to take a trip and see how they're both doing. Is Cocoa getting along with the cats? Is Matthew happy being the mayor?

Minato also wants to thank Matthew for the violin that
Kaede Akamatsu commissioned from him. It helped stopped pirates from overthrowing a princess.

[balancemod]

1. At this point in time, it's not a super organized endeavor. Leon is just taking notes on Advanced Paths as they appear, trying to figure out where this information is coming from in order to make sense of it. He's basically got a ring binder in his office that you can ask to see.

2. When Minato visits New Aspen, he will find that Cocoa is doing really well and settling in nicely, with no catfights. However, Minato unfortunately won't be able to speak with Matthew. He's just left town in the past couple of days. Laurel is the temporary long eight arms of the law and other branches of government, and she doesn't really know why Matthew left, just that it's a personal matter. It must be important, though. He wouldn't leave if it wasn't.

[napstar]

COCOA'S SUCH A GOOD DOG (-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩___-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩)

He'll leave a message for when Matthew gets back then. Thanks, spider-mayor!

[ribticklers]

So, Sans is just going to check in the library to see the uses for diamonds aside from/in addition to revival spells, considering what Miss Zarves said. He's already checked on stuff like this so he should know where to look in the library.

[balancemod]

This information isn't hard to find! Sans will learn that, along with revival spells, diamonds are used in a lot of abjuration spells and specifically cleric rituals.

[ribticklers]

banished the subject of the spell to another plane of existence

CONCERN

We're researching that specifically now. Is there anything else it would require? Signs of it being cast? Single-target or area of effect?

[balancemod]

Actually, banishment spells don't use diamonds! Here is a list of spells diamonds are used in. Good thought, though!

[feytality]

Would Maya be able to notice anything about the dark side of the moon, like, from a spirit medium's perspective?

[balancemod]

In this case, unfortunately not! We're in demonic territory, not dead people territory, so the most Maya might get from this place is a worse than usual case of heebie-jeebies.

Re: QUESTIONS

[slieght]

regarding the TOS and only taking one item, does that only pertain to the loot table items? can someone stuff their pockets full of sweets from the dining car and be okay? sorry for all my questions recently!!

EDIT: actually this goes for junk found in paintings too!! can those be squirreled away and do they count as breaking the TOS if they can?

[balancemod]

In this case, anything found on the train falls under the TOS, so it would qualify as the "one item" and taking more than one would have the same result as taking multiple items from a loot table.

[gotyourbach]

If one were to be concerned about the Runaway Five, how might they go about trying to talk them into becoming Reclaimers? Kaede hates to see a skilled group like that trapped on a weird magic train for all eternity :(

[balancemod]

Should she ask, Kaede will get a resounding, enthusiastic yes from the Runaway Five. They don't really care about where they go as long as it's somewhere! They don't particularly want to be [staticky noises], whatever that means, but they're happy to find other occupations on the Moon Base if whoever's in charge is amenable to it.

However, they thoroughly disappear when the train does. Whoops. At least she tried?

[gotyourbach]

noooooooooooo i miss them already