((Internet...I had thought I posted!!))
Theri noted concisely the problem with being jerks as prisoners.
"While it is true this isn't our war--you made it our war. You opened fire on us without provocation, and made sure to ambush any person in this vicinity, including civilians not associated with your "war". We will be keeping you as prisoners until and unless you give information.
"That or I can coax it out the hard way," she said, adding a lingering tone to her voice--they needn't know she was a total softie, and that she never meant anything she would say that would involve even harming them, but she did like telling stories...
"I do deftly recall you were hired with folks who bandied with beastmen and otherwise; I'm wondering how well you know folks like me and what we can do to...extricate information from those who wish not to. Magic won't help you here; just trust, and the sooner you get it out, the better...for all of us."
Um...persuade! Wait no that's intimidation.
Intimidate the prisoners! As retcon action! Before the Glider happened!
After the hubbub of many many things having happened, Theri approached Ike (and let Irine know too) via comm wire.
"What's the plan, boss? I've got ideas from the prisoners! ...Um, to be detailed later after your ideas, that is."
Your Renegade score is not high enough to use Intimidate. High Paragon players should use Charm instead.You do an awfully good job intimidating the prisoners. By the end you think they're trembling slightly. They are in no mood to get tortured. They're not getting paid to be tortured by a savage beastwoman, they've seen what they do to people firsthand. In fact, they're very likely not getting paid ever again, at least not by the same employer. They say they hold no loyalty for the Sovereignty, in fact it's highly likely they will be punished for their failure if they return to the commander that hired them. So they decide to talk in exchange for no longer being prisoners.
They say they were hired as part of a greater mercenary-hiring effort in progress in the Sovereignty and assigned to protect the mage that was captured with them (who so far has remained completely silent and under constant guard, in case he tries anything). The mage was supposed to be a big deal but they don't know the details. The mage was assigned to oversee the beastmen, maintain the Lightning Cannons, provide support and direct the monsterbirds (which they call Cherubs).
The beastmen were not under the mage's direct command. They were led by one of their own called Sword-Tusk, named after the way he executed defeated opponents in the Arena. When the Sovereignty's soldiers captured the Arena, they freed the beastmen kept there, armed them and promised them support as long as they didn't target the Sovereignty's soldiers. The mage persuaded the beastmen to set up ambush on the pass, capture those passing through and sell them as slaves to the Sovereignty in exchange for more weapons and supplies. Sword-Tusk and a small number of his warriors were not at the pass when you attacked, having left several days ago with money and supplies. The mercenaries are unsure about where they went.
If there isn't anything else you wish to ask, they're quite eager to get out of here and find some place to spend their coin.
((note: by "good/better" I was referencing "good/better" from the user's perspective. not objectively. If you think it'll make things better for you to kill everyone you meet and steal everything they own, fire can help you do that 
. Was simply assuming that when people want to change things, from their perspective, changing things will make them better, at least for themselves or whoever it is they concern themselves with, even if everyone else disagrees including their past/future self.))
In that case the Order part of the Sword would argue that with that logic
all magic is good. The only bad magic would be a totality of Void, since if we assume the world inherently holds value and that all actions merely transform or transport that value then the only way to reduce that value and thus cause total evil would be to destroy the world.
Or perhaps it would be enough to merely prevent the existence of living things, if we assume only living things can determine the value of the world and it is not some inherent property. However in that case the same would apply for evil and thus even total destruction of the world would reduce that sum to 0 instead of creating good or evil.
The Sword refuses those viewpoints as without merit. It says it is better to believe there are objectively good and bad things, even if people do not posses full knowledge of what they are. That way people are more likely to feel obliged to stay good instead of trying to weasel out of it with philosophical excuses.
((Note that the views expressed by my characters are not necessarily my own. You would get a very different answer depending on whether you asked the Sword, Charlie, Stellar, etc. on these sorts of things.))
the memories she's using are going to be:
attempt 1: the creation of her moon-home, formation of rock.
attempt 2: the creation of her moon-home, formation of moss.
attempt 3: the creation of her moon-home, formation of the magma core. (!CLEAR TESTING AREA FIRST!)
attempt 4: the creation of her moon-home, formation of a hot spring / water.
attempt 5: the creation of her moon-home, formation of multitail-fox
attempt 6: the creation of her solar system, formation of earthlike planet, formation of grass.
attempt 7: the creation of her solar system, formation of the sun (!CLEAR TESTING AREA!)
attempt 8: the creation of the physics of her home universe, fine-tuning of gravity (!CLEAR TESTING AREA!)
and then the one she's really after:
attempt 9: the creation of her interplanetary gate system, formation of a gate between locations.
You find a safe place to experiment while the Sword maintains the defensive field over the caravan.
1. Nothing
2. After a horrendous amount of concentration and effort you manage to feel a hint of something. You're not even sure what it is.
3. Nothing
4. Nothing
5. You sort of feel... yourself? You're not sure what to make of it. Feels like you or maybe something inside you. Some kind of loop maybe? It fades a second later.
6. Nothing
7. You accidentally end up using your fire and summon a giant fireball. You feel glad you went away from the camp to test that.
8. You stop when it starts to hurt. You don't want to push yoursel too hard or accidentally make your head explode or something. They say mages who push themselves too hard end up invoking the Void and that would be bad.
9. There's definitely something there. Like pushing against a particularly heavy curtain.
Generally you try not to push it too much with the experiments. You're already exerting yourself protecting the camp every night, you don't want to be hurt or so tired it lowers your effectiveness.
@shapeshift failure:
Good. I probably don't have any significant risk of accidentally turning someone into a fox in my sleep or when I shift forms while they're inside me or whatever.
((Yes, she was legitimately worrying about that. She's got people living inside her now, not even resisting the flow of her magic. There was a chance that her ability to shift would translate to gradually shifting the people inside her into copies of her, or into fire themselves, or just straight-up-absorbing them once they become fire-aligned enough. However, if even when she's intentionally trying to do it, it just results in them getting burnt, then they'll probably automatically resist enough to avoid it. Or at least that's Irine's theory. She could be wrong.))
Well, based on what others have told you everyone is made from a somewhat balanced concentration of elements (mages and magical creatures are the exception) and naturally resist foreign influences. Transforming someone using your fire-based mechanism would require not only overcoming their resistance but also momentarily replace their other elements with Fire. Perhaps you could achieve it by emulating their flows using Fire long enough to transform them, but that would require something like seeing/sensing all flows within them and you don't have that ability. Even if you had the ability to do all that, your transformation ability is linked with specifically transforming you, even going so far as transferring injuries from one state to the next, it's not a generalized thing.
That's not to say you can't badly mess up a Fire mage or at least torture them effectively by overcoming their resistence and manipulating the Fire inside them. But if you're looking to transform someone, you're better off using Chaos or Dark magic.
How is River's recovery progressing? He's been a puppy for a while now, shouldn't he be rapidly getting bigger and more whole? Does he need anything?
He's no longer a puppy, he's closer to his usual size now. You'd say he's the size of an adolescent. He hasn't asked for anything. In fact he hasn't talked at all. You remember how his soulsphere looked. His body may look OK but maybe his mind is not all there.
Then again he never was one for talking much or asking for help. And he does seem to be capable of understanding Theri, even if he doesn't talk back. He follows her around, he patrols the caravan and its surroundings, he plays with the boy, he eats a ton... That must mean he's fine or at least not in any immediate danger. Maybe he just needs more time to heal his mind. Maybe he's decided speaking tends to not work out well for him, so he should avoid it as much as possible.
River notices you staring at him. He looks up from where he's lying and wags his tail slightly.
<Do you need anything?>He looks at you for a second. He returns to resting his head on the ground and sends negeation. Well, I guess that answers that.
If I discover Nik's discussion about technology I'd actually be interested in joining in. I have a literally perfect understanding of the base principals that it all operates on, but don't have experience with the application of those principals the way Nik does since my home never developed advanced technology and I never had any need to really work with it. So I can help with verifying that what Nik describes does or doesn't work or whatever, and the principals behind it (which is arguably more important) but won't be able to really add on new applications. However, I actually find the Alchemist kinda fascinating, and although I want to maintain a safe distance, and know I can't trust her to look out for my or anyone else's wellfare, I'm really curious about her work and perspective in general. Unbounded curiosity leads to all kinds of fun things, and that's one thing the Alchemist seems to have.
Hmm... This brings up an interesting question: You have an understanding of the world (or at least your world) but do you actually know how to express that understanding? I mean you can probably explain things in broad strokes or maybe say if someone is likely to be right or wrong but can you explain in more detail? After all, one could argue humans created math and science in an attempt to cope with their weakness and imperfect understanding of the world. A being with power and perfect understanding of the world would have no need for such tools and thus have no need to develop them. But those tools would be necessary to transfer that knowledge to those with imperfect understanding.
Of course, you could make a Platonist arguement that math and science
is an essential part of the universe, not a tool created by human minds but something that inherently exists in the world and is discovered. Or that a god would use those things as tools, a starting point on which they build upon to create a universe, where a god is essentially the programmer writing the source code of the universe and humans are trying to reverse engineer her programming. Though in your case the universe or at least the mechanism around it was already there (from what I understand) so maybe in your case it could be more that a god needs to follow the same learning process as a human and thus requires the same concepts and processes, just to a greater extent. Or maybe you had to develop that knowledge in order to be able to transfer it to your avatar or to be more capable of talking about it when the time comes.
It won't significantly influence your action but it's still interesting to consider. That's what the alchemist would ask, though not with such terms.
*Audible Sigh* "Not helping."
She writes "Note to self: Tie test subjects before potentially long conversations, even sedated." on the margin of her notes. After a second's thought, she amends that by adding "Unless testing sedation duration.". After another second's thoughts she expands it further by adding "Or conversation boring."
"I just figure you don't need to worry about the weapons because they've pretty much got those on lock. I literally asked the Headwater for some high explosives and he came up with a magical fuckin' dirty bomb just like that. He was all like 'sure, have one, I'm sure you'll use this responsibly and not like give it to a crimelord or whatever, just don't jostle it and you probably won't explode into an annihilating void cloud'. Making nukes and steel would be taking the hard way around these parts, my dude, since everyone and their mother's a wizard anyhow. Probably more of them around than nuclear physicists back where I came from, that's for damn sure."
"It's exactly like that, magic gave them the easy way and let them skip the hard way! But the hard way has many advantages that they missed. You are right, they have very good bombs. But where are the intercontinental ballistic missiles to distribute those bombs? They have no good delivery method for real mutually assured destruction. Do not tell me that their swords and bows are equal to a machinegun, their wagons are equal to tank, or their gliders are equal to an attack helicopter. Their biggest problem is production. They might have a magic thing to equal everything I mentioned but they cannot mass produce because their production needs mages and the average grunt is no mage. Their medieval armies lead by powerful mages would lose to a mechanized modern army every time. It only seems like there are a lot of mages because we talk to a lot of powerful people and the powerful people here are mages."
"I agree. Mages are always taking the easy way out. They fall into a rut and end up missing so much! There are so many more fun ways to bend the world to your will and force others to do your bidding. It's like only eating one food all your life. But for a balanced diet you need everything. The spice of Fire, the sweetness of Light, the depth of Darkness..."If this was an inspirational musical, this would be the point she would break into song and dance about the virtues of alchemy over other forms of magic.
"Who is Pete?"
"There is a lot of improvements to do to our little army's equipment and training even before getting into guns and other modern weapons. Its not like we could get working firearms any time soon, it's all theory for years in the future. We can decide how much to teach them after they're all equipped okay at their current level of tech. I wouldn't teach them how to make nukes even if I knew how."
"Actually, hmm, might not be that hard to make a crude musket soon, just need a pipe and some explosive.... can't make a good gun better than this crossbow any time soon though."
The master alchemist finds the idea of guns and rockets quite interesting. Using explosives to propel ammunition is nothing new, it has been done in the past, but surprisingly nobody has thought to miniaturize it for personal use or to use weaker explosives as fuel (or if they have they have kept the idea to themselves). It should be easy to do, one just has to find the right kind of explosive and a way to make the ammunition accurate. She'd like to tinker with the concept when you find a place with a forge or if Irine is willing to aid with the shaping of the metal. With the right configuration it might even be usable in combination with her potions. Air magic or magical machines are better for distributing potions but since that is not always available guns and rockets might be a better alternative to the cumbersome slings and crossbows.
"I love a good fireworks show!"
Send a team of recruits to search the remains of the glider (if any exist), and tell them to look for some elbow grease and headlight fluid while they're out. Mainly hoping for that one in a million chance that there is an intact air stone in the pile of ashes.
Ever seen one of those airline crash investigations, the ones where they painstakingly search some swamp inch by inch with a sieve to find any small piece of the aircraft they can find? That's pretty much what you'd need for anything more than what your men find with a quick examination of the crash site and its surroundings. Said findings are nothing exciting. Small pieces of wood and cloth that were blasted away and extinguished before they were too burnt along with various small pieces of burnt wood and charred glass (the last one probably from any magical weapons in the pilot's possession). The most intact pieces they find are those of the pilot (they were easy to find due to the Blood Vultures who found them first). They can tell there was a pilot and that he had a knife and some light armor but that's about it. None of them is a forensics expert but they're pretty sure that one of your attacks or the crash (most likely the first) damaged the power stone and caused it to explode for this kind of destruction to occur.
Your men say that while they don't condemn such behavior they're not really into that sort of thing, so they can't help you with procuring those items. Better ask the mages, they're the ones with the reputation for weird fetishes. Or maybe that accursed alchemist, gods know what weird things she's into, what devilish things she's hiding amongst her belongings.
After that go find the Alchemist. EDIT: Drag along a few smarter than average seeming recruits to the meeting.
"Who here can count above 1000?"A few soldiers tentatively raise their hands.
"Good, you've just volunteered yourselves for a seminar."You get a few questioning looks.
"Change your future with one session! Payable in 4 easy installments."If you ever need a job after you're out of the games, you can put 'Speaker in International Science and Technology convention' on your resume.
"It is time to learn about technology."
Slam the empty book down on her table. Draw a circle.
"This is what we call a Wheel."
"Oh, really?"
"You mean, that's what those things on the wagons are called?"
"Guys-""I always thought wagons just floated on their own! What a revelation!"
"Guys, I-""Such secrets! I feel so privileged to be able to hear them!"
Great. You haven't gotten one line off and everyone is already cracking jokes. You're starting to realize what your teacher must have felt like.
"My mind can't handle such mystical knowledge! I'm not ready! Oh nooo-"
"Guys! I was just making a point! If you would let me finish..."They quiet down somewhat, though they're still whispering and giggling amongst each other. This is not going to be an easy presentation.
"You know, I could just turn them all into pigeons.""How would that help?""They wouldn't be my problem anymore."The recruits become completely silent.
<Can you really transform them into pigeons?><I can make them think I've transformed them into pigeons.> she responds with a smile.
<That's not the same.><It's the same for them.>Start simple. Work our way up to steam engines, internal combustion, cars, trains, planes, and other vehicles.
Teach her the basics of electricity and circuits. Basic lead-acid battery, electric motor and generator, light bulb, electromagnet, etc.
Teach her about guns, working our way up from simple matchlocks and flintlocks to full auto machine guns. EDIT: Do not teach about guns or weapons.
EDIT: Also try to teach about the concept of a production line and a printing press. And the tractor, that's important.
Use lots of pictures and diagrams. Try to convince her that machines aren't magic, and that sometimes there are better ways of doing things than with magic. Be stubborn about this. Even someone with no magic can build a complicated machine if they do it right.
Nik's world is higher tech than "Earth", with sci-fi things like teleporters and nuclear cars and sentient AI not unheard of. Of course some groups have also regressed to medieval or prehistoric levels since the apocalypse. Averages out to ww2/cold war ish tech level for the most part. Anyway Nik doesn't go into any of that sci-fi stuff (or computers) because he doesn't understand them at all and has no evidence that they aren't magic.
There is the thought in the back of his mind that maybe technology isn't all that great, it did completely wrecked his world's environment and cause the apocalypse and all that, maybe he shouldn't teach these people about it or try to cause an industrial revolution here. But he thoroughly ignores that voice.
If anyone else feels like joining the tech talk they are welcome.
You continue your tech talks with the alchemist like you did in the past few days, this time with some extra audience. She asks questions about everything, as always. And, as always, she refuses to accept that technology isn't magic. After all, she's not a mage but she can use magic through properly crafted enchantments and potions, so your argument about technology is flawed. Checkmate technologists. The others suggest that this is merely a difference in terminology but by now you're both too entrenched in this argument to back down.
The recruits are not as interested. Some view it as a fun but sometimes boring story. Other just look bored. So you try to focus a bit more on the practical application of those sorts of things, how they could be used to solve specific problems they're having, how they can begin using that knowledge right now. Hopefully this will get them more interested. Then they can use that knowledge to improve their lives and their future... assuming they don't all die in this war.
Campaign, Ike!
"Listen guys, they've worked out interdimensional portals, superpowered reactors of ungodly fire, armies of the undead and boombox chaos raiders. I don't think you can fuck this world harder than it's fucked itself already, much as your idea that they're some race of noble unenlightened savages untainted by basic chemistry is endearing."
Chart a course to Traveller's Rest then! Make sure to scout ahead for the rest of the group, mind you, don't want to just blunder into an occupied village or whatever.
For the next few days, some distant wind throws dust high into the sky. The layer of dirt covering the sky makes shadows diffuse and results in an oppressive feeling. The fine dust constantly falls from the sky, covering everything, making your skin sticky, making you cough. You don't see any other gliders while scouting ahead. Maybe they don't fly in the dirt? Maybe they do but you can't see them? Maybe they don't have others? Who knows.
The trip to Traveler's Rest is uneventful. You make it close to the town without any issues. Your scouting group remains ahead of the main group, watching the town from a distant hill.
The town has been taken over by the Sovereignty, as expected. The most obvious sign that the town has been taken over is the small airstrip constructed on the back, a walled-off area containing about a dozen Combat Gliders and a couple of Scout Gliders. As you watch, a combat Glider rises out of the airstrip and starts circling the town like a vulture. It doesn't stray too far from it, probably patrolling the town from the air.
The front gates have been reinforced and soldiers on watchtowers scan the horizon, alert but not yet alarmed. An impressive amount of fortifications on the gate, they must be working hard. The rest of the town is surrounded by a short, thin wall, you could probably climb it with a simple ladder or a good jump or break it with a small explosion, however the watchtowers would probably spot you before you did so. Both the town and the small farms and houses surrounding it look abandoned, little movement to be seen. Most of the movement is concentrated around the central plaza, where the Sovereignty has set up camp, setting their tents and supply wagons.
The camp surrounds the Spine at the center of the plaza. Spines are buildings shaped like long thin pyramids. They used to support the Tower's magical network, before the Tower exploded. This one looks a bit damaged but mostly fine, unlike the one you saw in Areloggez. Irine said those things are most likely used in a Dark ritual to drain Fire magic, so there's bound to be mages in there.
An Airship has anchored itself and docked near the top of the Spine. It looks quite impressive, somewhat fragile and very dangerous, like an expensive sports car. Sleek, made mostly out of cloth and wood and with 4 Lightning Cannons poking menacingly from either side. Its wings are currently retracted and its sails are fluttering in the wind. The words 'Stormcloud Eater' have been written below its bow.
"Old Sovereignty joke." one of your men informs you.
"Because it eats clouds and poops lightning." he explains.
Overall, you'd say they have about two thirds of the men you have, but numbers aren't everything. They probably have better equipment than you and at least one Dark mage and some Wind mages. But you have the advantage of knowledge and initiative, as well as some very powerful special abilities and equipment. With some well-executed sabotage and a good battle plan, this town could be yours for the taking.
Then again, they are focused on holding this place, most likely a small garrison left behind to hold this town while the main force is deployed elsewhere. They most likely wouldn't attack you even if they knew you were here. You could just go around the town and stay on your guard. I mean, there's always the chance they could harass you and they'll definitely alert others. But you probably wouldn't feel much safer if you took out the town. You'd stay on your guard against attack either way, so what difference does that make, other than change the odds?
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