Lunar Interlude 6 - OOC post

[balancemod]

Exhausted Reclaimers aren't really reclaiming anything. Please, take this time to rest. NAVIGATION 1. WELCOME NEW ARRIVALS Welcome, new Reclaimers! For those of you who were just pulled through the dimensions and plopped right on down on the soft grass of the Quad, things might seem ... awfully quiet. Generally, the people of the Moon Base view the arrival of the newest batch of Reclaimers as something of a grand spectacle, and considering the (technical) success of the last mission, you'd expect them to be up in arms in celebration. Not quite today. The Bureau of Balance was successful in retrieving the latest Grand Relic, giving them a solid four out of five successes, but it came at a great physical and emotional toll, far greater than anything they'd experienced before. And the woman who welcomes you, who introduces herself as Madame Director ... though her voice is steady, there's also a weariness there. "I assure you that any questions you might have will be answered in due time. In a few moments, actually. But I would also like to stress the importance of acclimating yourself, of getting to know your fellow *kzzzztt* as well as possible. After ... what I will describe as a particularly trying past few weeks, I must continue to believe, fiercely, that there is nothing stronger than the bonds we share with each other. "Cultivate them. Cherish them. You and your friends, your strength, are the ones who will save our universe." Next to her stands a precocious child, a bracer attached to his wrist. With no where else to go, with no one to watch over him, Lucretia thought to take him in. His name is Angus. 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. AN IMPORTANT NOTE FOR VETERAN RECLAIMERS: This is a brand new Test of Initiation, and something the Director feels everyone might need to experience. So, everyone, not just newbies, is strongly encouraged to participate. There will be more details about the test on the log. Before you go into it, though, consider the following question: What is one thing your character values most? 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. Since everybody will be ICly encouraged to participate this go around, everybody will be able to submit their Initiation Test thread for a bonus. 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. You can fill out the form for Test of Initiation threads on the AC page to claim your reward. 3. LAGNIAPPE We'll have more in the log prompts on Friday, but in the meantime, here are some deets to get your gears turning: ○ After five missions, the Bureau of Balance has found footing in several cities and settlements across Faerun — and despite some (a lot) of collateral damage, the people who live there are grateful for the work you did to end the conflicts they were trapped in. You have restored the spirit of Candlenights to a town that cherishes it. You saved a desert town from a powerful, impending threat from another plane. You helped rebuild said desert town after an unrelated mishap with a ball of yarn. You drove out a cluster of pirates and returned power to a royal family. And the contacts who remain in Vista Virs and Lyrabar would like to give you all a chance to visit their cities as they're intended to be visited. No missions. No relics. No impending doom. Just good, old-fashioned tourism. There will be prompts for each settlement, and anyone is welcome to visit each city, but please keep in mind that we will not be fielding investigation rolls for any of these settings. You're just there to kick back! Please kick back. ○ Lucas and Miss Zarves, the two people on the Moon Base who are most familiar with the tech up there, have been hard at work, too, though Lucas might comment that his new colleague is, ehm ... a bit difficult to work with? A lot difficult to work with. Nonetheless, they've made some new additions to the Moon Base for you to check out. Please look forward to it! 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 Friday, Oct. 18. 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 Oct. 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]

[dialetheism]

Two Four FIVE super quick questions, mods, as I wake up-

1) I know y'all said no investigation rolls for old locations, but can I still ask a small path-related question regardless? Namely at some point Lion's going to pop back down to Lyrabar and try to learn a little bit about... um. how worship of both Silvanus and Selune actually works for themself and Will, using Acolyte. Even if I just get tossed a link like "oh here you go", as it's a path action so I figured I should post it somewhere.

2) .... and on a similar note, Lion's research roll in the IC post might include some stuff they asked/will ask around New Aspen, but is primarily just checking if facts line up (and is primarily about the shadow stuff from way back when) from their own research. Is that cool with you guys?

3) Another prep for rolls: uhhh. so y'all asked me to tell you way back when if Lion was going to try and make A Thing. After Wonderland, they're gonna try. They've been practising their channeling circles and reading Maria's grimoire from home (which is less directly relevant, but Maria's magic was about creating things, and might give them insight into how theirs works by proxy) and they're going to ask Leon how to get started / what the next step might be. (If this should go on the RNG thread I'm gucci with that, I just wanted to put the post-it note in)

4) hi can we check in with angus and see how he's settling in, lion worries for this small boy

EDIT with #5) Is it possible for a healing-y type to ask Dr Tank for practical training when the medbay is... less. busy? That "no healing" stint in Wonderland made Lion nervous.

[balancemod]

Howdy!

1. That's fine! You can find more information about the Church of Selune and Silvanus's priesthood here and here. As an example, if Will would like to dance to encourage dryads to get horny, he can do that!

Examples of rituals for worship were entreaties for spells at sundown or in moonlight. The Dryad Dance was a replenishing ritual of wild, wayward dance that called out dryads to join the ritualists for mating.

2. Yep, go for it!

3&4. We're lumping these together because they both fall under NPC contact, which means that for the sake of this log we ask that you pick one. As a sly stage whisper hint, we can tell you that Angus is fine. If you'd like to drop in on Leon, please hit us up here.

5. Please do! Honestly he'd see it as a relief at this point. You people get injured every minute of the day.

[dialetheism]

1) wow that is incredibly cursed content, thanks silvanus. but information is.... information... so that's technically what they asked for!! even if they now want to Die

3&4) mods why would you make me choose - I'm still deciding but I will definitely hit those DM's up for one or the other. However, as an additional question: If I end up going with Angus, can Lion still possibly roll to see if they make any progress studying the creation of magic items on their own, or would they need to talk to Leon to understand any of it?

5) thank you dr tank

[balancemod]

I think the way we'd handle the magical item creation aspect would be... a bit of a lower DC if you had went with Leon rather than Angus, if that makes sense! It's invariably difficult to be an artificer in general. If only this world had an entire society of people who knew how and could teach Lion. :(

[dialetheism]

I mourn that fact every day mods you have no idea :( :(

That does make sense though, and it makes the decision so much harder!! aaaa- Is it possible to ask what the general scope of the DC difference might look like? Alternatively, would just researching it further this time possibly help a roll for it next Interlude, assuming we're not on fire by then?

(I'll be 100% real, I'm mostly ???? about this for IC reasons, not for any actual mechanical benefit.)

[balancemod]

We're thinking the DC would be -3 after talking with Leon and having some guided research with him in his fancy artificer library.

[dialetheism]

Makes sense! I'll take that into account while thinking about what to choose

Re: QUESTIONS

[eastofeden]

Can the thing for the test of initiation be a concept (for example, an angel's faith) or a person?

[balancemod]

It absolutely can!

[aceso]

AngoAngoAngoAngo

Ahem. Would it be possible to cultivate a friendship with the precocious lad? Christine will be going into mama bear mode big time. She wants to know how he's coping, if he's eating his fruits and veggies, etc. Also, will he be attending classes? If so, Christine will offer to help him with his homework. Look, Christine just wants to be one of many who want Angus living his best life and being happy. ;_;

[balancemod]

Please slide into our DMs!

[ribticklers]

lucretia turn on your location sans just wants to talk

I know there were some tentative plans for a fun group conversation with Lucretia (whether it's oocly written out or an ic thread). Is that still a thing?

[balancemod]

Please slide into our DMs!

[dialetheism]

.... also another question in a separate comment now-

What does the Test do if your Most Important Thing is, um... already here in Faerun? And your backup Most Important Thing, too.

[balancemod]

That's perfectly fine! The test will take that into account. :)

[rockymountaindie]

RAVEN QUEEN QUESTIONS what up death mom, its ya boy again. not on a mission? twice in one month?? not under duress??? fucked up!!! has alex got "closure" or something (no, he just wants to help people-)

1. Those death sacrifices, are those something that she specifically imposes, or is it something to do with exiting the astral plane?

2. The souls trapped in the Rolands in Wonderland...... Are they there? Are they...okay? (Christine says she's sorry, if he can pass on another message.)

3. Does that "more than three times" thing count previous death(s) in our own worlds, he doesn't THINK it does but the people would like to know.

[balancemod]

Please slide into our DMs!

[feytality]

Sooo Maya's going to have a lot of meetings with Hungerman huh

Should I assume yall will hit me up periodically when it's pertinent or should I ask every now and then?

Are there gonna be more opportunities to hang out with Zarves and Angus? I gotta reserve my NPC thread for Plot and I completely 100% understand yall not wanting to get overwhelmed but if there's ever time in the future I'd love to do some handwaved shenanigans at some point... and checking in on Best Boy

ALSO I'M SORRY TO ASK THIS but how is the kraken doing in Lyrabar...... would it be friendly(ish) if Maya went to visit w new Bender ramen..... asking for friend

And most important of all: how is Cat Mom doing!!

[balancemod]

Yep, that's the general, vague idea. We'll reach out to you when it's going to happen. :)

We'll take that into account! We held off on answering this until the SOTG was published, but we are accepting help and trying to figure out best to spend more time on the content that means the most to you as players. We have a feeling we'll be able to get a little more done soon, so please hang with us a little longer.

Jesus, Maya! At least she's picking up where Karsus left off. He's probably out there chilling below the tower of Babel or whatever it is that Mystra yote the shitty wizard into. We'd say he's probably a little more amenable to you now, it's been... what, three feedings now?

Cat Mom is fine!!!

[feytality]

thanks for that ominous response mods!!

what about like a catchall npc inbox or subsection on interlude/equivalent logs where characters can handwave small interactions with npcs with no mod response required? would something like that work?

oh it's been more than three feedings i assure u, many ramen have been sacrificed to Miso Fuu. it's to get it hooked on the tasty of salty food instead of human flesh, okay!!

[balancemod]

Hi there! We can probably work to achieve something like this. Give us a little time and we'll figure out some next steps on our part to minimize involvement and get you amazing Reclaimers some 1:1 time with your fave NPCs.

And by favorite, we mean Angus.

[unrecovered]

RE: every character getting one NPC conversation: is it possible for Group Conversations to be a thing but use only one person's NPC slot?

[balancemod]

Each character gets facetime with an NPC once. If a large group of characters goes to visit X NPC, none of them will get to see Y NPC (or at least it will have to be a handwaveable interaction).

[spacerock]

Is the one NPC/Bender roll per player or per character?

[balancemod]

It's one per character!

[gotyourbach]

Is it possible to run the initiation test more than once with different partners? if so, i assume you would only get a personal item from your first run?

[balancemod]

Yes and yes!

[petsthedog]

Is Shinjiro still a fite celebrity with the kitsune in Vista Virs? Also is the gravesite for Suwa/the others that died in the sandworm rampage still there?

[balancemod]

Oh man, you bet he is! Shinjiro will be immediately accosted by his biggest fans the moment he arrives in Vista Virs. That probably means endless high fives from the kitsune and a few cactus hugs from the Needlers who are interested in celebrities. Try your best to endure.

And yes, the gravesites are still there.

TEST OF INITIATION PARTNER SEARCH

[balancemod]

Looking for a test partner? Unsure of who to reach out to? Find someone here! Just fill out this textbox and slap it in a response so other players can find you.

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Ideas for the Test:</b> If you have any already! If not, that's okay too.

Re: TEST OF INITIATION PARTNER SEARCH

[usamin17]

Player Name: James
Contact: JellyWeasel #7773 (Discord), or DM me here
Character Name: Nana Abe
Ideas for the Test: Not entirely sure, but Nana's dreams are really important to her, and her imagination tends to run wild.