Emo Shenanigans

Scene: waking up in the morning

Setup: Expected

DQ: What is the weather like? Quietly Creepy.

Perspective: Artemis

You wake before the others do. Mary-Lou is still snoring beside you, it’s surprising that you were able to sleep at all. You get out of bed and tiptoe toward the open window, all while staying mindful of not crossing the circle. It’s foggy outside and the sun is still rising, you can make out some shapes of trees in the monastery interior garden. You take deep breaths of fresh air, and shiver in the morning cold. You feel awake, calm, the anxiety from yesterday seems like a distant dream. Whatever this monastery or this world want to throw at you, you can handle them. You’ve been trained for this, after all.

FQ: has Derby joined him? (likely) Yes.

You notice a shape moving in the fog outside. It’s the deer again! You’re sure it’s the same one. “Hey, Derby” you call out quietly. He moves towards you slowly. You stretch out your hand. You still don’t have any treats, but he touches his snout against your hand. He’s telling you that you’re his friend and that he will come with you.

“Who’s there, Artemis?” you can hear Samyans voice. Right, you crossed the alarm circle. You move so she can see Derby. “Right.” she says and turns over in bed.

You spot a door leading to the gardens and decide to let Derby in. “Just me again!” you say before stepping over the line. Samyan makes a groaning sound.

You decide to look around the garden.

Discern realities: 2d6+1 = 8, success! AQ: What happened here recently? Ruin Information.

You find some books and other objects scattered mostly under the windows, many of them burnt, torn or smashed, as if a mob had tried to destroy all the literature.

FQ: are there books that have been printed? Exceptional Yes.

You cannot find a single handwritten book. You were curious to see if this world had invented some kind of printing press, and in fact they seem to be using it at all times. Or perhaps they have some magic to write their books. You checked because you are very interested in…

1-2: bookbinding, 3-4: the medieval period, 5-6: handwriting = 3

… the medieval period! Not all societies or worlds have one, they usually only come about when…

AQ: what tends to bring about medieval-type periods? Oppose Dispute.

an authoritarian power represses social rights movements right after an empire collapses, the recovering societies usually lack the technologies to rebuild properly and the repression prevents the creation of new ones. Not all of them are fascistoid societies like the current military dynasties on Mary-Lou’s homeworld or the reign of The High Truth on Tovore last century, and according to the tour books about Uvaitune only the nation of Callaheim on the Malarhill Heights mountain range was–

“Found anything good?” Mary-Lou asks behind you and your soul nearly jumps out of your body. He doesn’t comment on your jumpiness and instead picks up…

FQ: is there anything valuable? (unlikely) No.

… a random book titled “the ancestry of our noble kings of Callaheim”. He flips though it and then tosses it back on the floor. You chuckle and flip through the copy of “different types of grass of the Plateau Region and how to identify them” that you were holding without realizing. “I might keep this one. It’s good to be informed about the local flora.” “Sure, but we should get back inside. Let’s not leave Samyan alone in this creepy place.” You have to agree. You are more comfortable out here than in the abandoned hospital wing, but you shouldn’t get separated before knowing what’s wrong with this place.

Chaos: 4

Scene: Breakfast

Scene: Interrupt

Random Event. Focus: Ambiguous Event. Meaning: Waste Investment. –> spilling a secret you didn’t mean to. notes: i did some.. plotting in the off-time. mueheheh

Perspective: Mary-Lou.

Samyan is still dozing when you come back inside. She reacts to the two of you stepping over the spell-circle, and blinks at you drowsily. You decide to engage her in conversation to wake her up. “Do you celebrate birthdays down here?” you ask. “I am asking because…” ah man, you wanted to make it a surprise, but whatever. Keep talking. “because Artemis’ birthday is in”

in how many days? d4 = 2.

“because Artemis’ birthday is in 2 days. And I was wondering what the local traditions are for that.” You look at your elf friend with a smug smile. He hadn’t told you, but you found the date through the paperwork at your job. You hadn’t been looking for it, it just showed up when you filled out the paycheck forms for your lazy manager.

Artemis looks kinda pale though. Ah shit. You drop the smile. “What’s wrong? Don’t like birthdays? I found out through work, I thought you just didn’t tell me out of shyness or something.” He gives you a pained look. “Not really my thing.. No. Part of the reason I was getting away, actually. I didn’t even tell them I was going. Better this way.” Wait, what?

Samyan is upright in bed now. “Wait, what does that mean, your family thinks you’re missing? For how long? Months? Just because of a birthday?” “No no,” he replies, “it’s only been a day or two.” He stops himself and looks at you. Did he just give away that you’re aliens? You’re clearly foreigners, and two days is not nearly enough time to travel here from somewhere far away and sell it convincingly. You shrug, feeling ambivalent. Samyan is making the face again that she makes whenever you two are being vague and alien. “Might as well tell her now” you say. “If we’re going to stick together.” Artemis nods and starts explaining.

Artemis: lie. 2d6+0 = 6. Failure.

“We teleported.” You facepalm. Samyan scoffs. “You’re trying to tell me you shadow-walked. You two. Powerful wizards. I mean no offense but you don’t have what it takes.” She sounds hurt. “I’m trusting you enough to travel with you after knowing you both for one day, but you don’t deem me worthy of the same trust? Do you know what I gave up for you?”

You close your eyes and take a deep breath. You can fix this, you just need to ready yourself.

Mary-Lou: fix this. 2d6+2 = 9. Success with a cost.

You sit down on her bed next to her. “I’m sorry that we haven’t been honest with you,” you start. “We are no wizards, though I’m afraid the truth is even harder to believe than if we were really powerful yet shitty wizards. I wanted to tell you but my friend has trust issues.” You look at Artemis, but quickly withdraw your eyes when you see him glare at you. You bite your tongue and continue. “Uhm, we are from another planet. It’s kinda complicated. We actually wanted to land further north but due to a… diversion we came down close to here. That’s why our cover story is all messed up too. Probably explains some other things as well.” You look up at her, she’s biting her lip. “Where’s your space carriage?” “It left,” Artemis jumps in. “It was a whole thing. The captain didn’t want to get in trouble with interplanetary law so they… Actually, I don’t remember. Something about not telling the locals.” Samyan’s eyes widen, maybe angry, but not at you this time. “We are being kept in the dark? How- Why- No, you’re shitting me. That’s too unlikely.” She doesn’t sound sure.

FQ: Did any of you bring anything futuristic with you that could prove your claim? (very likely) YES.

DQ: What did you bring? travel a burden.

You get your Uvaitune LARP travel guidebook out of your backpack. It pains you to show this to her to her of all things but what quicker way to convince her that you’re honest this time?

Chaos: 5