Salvus and homeward

For in-universe game play. Journey through both familiar and foreign settings, explore lost ruins and forgotten cities, and try to bring light to the darkness of the world... or, you know, blow stuff up. Either way.
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Graybeard
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Re: Salvus and homeward

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: I think we can consider time here to be elastic enough that characters can be available as needed. So to pick up where Desiree left off:]

"Maybe we should have a word with one of them before we talk to Rose?"

Therese scowled. "Can't really see much point to it. That strange man seemed to be saying our 'Sasha' and 'Compassion' were heading for Delphiniel, which is somewhere in northern Veracia, right? So if we're heading toward Saus, it shouldn't be badly out of our way. Rose will know for sure, though. And speak of the devil..."

Indeed, Sister Rose and Argus were just walking into the bar, the former looking peaceful and pleased, the latter also happy but ... stunned.

[OOC: A bit of homework regarding Delphiniel may not be a bad thing, the more so since Therese is missing something here: it isn't a city, but rather, a fairly large region. Suggest looking here for some background as we decide where to go next, although most of the characters, even Rose, have not read the Chronicles of Heretic Knowledge. :D ]
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Drusia
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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OOC: Oh, Saus is IN Delphiniel. That's helpful.

Yeah, I was assuming that Delphiniel was a city, not a region. I didn't remember that particular history lesson (and Delphiniel doesn't appear on modern maps like the one shown here.

So yeah, since apparently Salvus is near the border with Veracia, then all that is requried is traveling south into Delphiniel.

I didn't realize this when I posted as Desiree. It also makes the information a lot more vague - Sasha could have just walked south across the border and then gone in any direction (other than north). There's no real reason to go to Saus since Saus is on the southern side of Delphaniel - I (and therefor Desiree) only suggested it because I'd forgotten that Salvus was on the border with Veracia.

Anyway, just excuse all the errors in my previous post as Desiree not being very good at geography. Once she sees a map, she'll come to the same conclusion I did - that simply heading south is probably the best bet.
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Graybeard
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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OOC: It's all fine as it stands. Desiree would of course know about Saus, but would not be expected to know much about Delphiniel. (How many Americans living outside the state of Texas know much about the Republic of Texas? Even though it's a much more recent "country" than Delphiniel in the Errant World.) It's not obvious that even Rose would know all the details about Delphiniel, although between her Special Forces past and her not-completely-authorized poking around the Heretic Knowledge Vault, she'd know more than most Veracians. So we can proceed directly from here just as it was all written.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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OOc Hey all, just a note to reassure you all I'm still around and, after some filming next week, I should be able to get back to regular posting again. I'm also planning on pushing the Rallahiem story forward with the next month if anyone is interested in joining up./OOC
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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[OOC: As you probably know, there's been a death in my family :cry: , which is why I've been marginal for a couple of weeks. Things are finally settling down to "normal" (such as it is) after that, so that I should be able to post regularly again, although I'll be out of pocket for a while at the end of the month. So to tee up some choices for people to decide between:]

She has news, Therese reckoned (correctly), appraising Sister Rose and Argus. Good news. And I bet I know what it is. Time would tell whether she was correct in this part of her thinking. "Let's go back outside, where it's quiet, and I'll fill you in on what happened while you were looking for the route to -- your daughter's and step-daughter's home." The time seemed right for that, as the Tsuirakuan band was firing back up again.

As she spoke, Rose's peaceful, almost beatific smile turned first into something more neutral and then a frown. "Delphiniel," she repeated when Therese had finished. "That's -- a little complicated. Delphiniel isn't just a city in Veracia. It's more like the entire northern third of the country. Way back in our history, there was a whole country called Delphiniel. They -- got merged into ours after we helped them fight off a troll invasion. But that was a long time ago. Anyway, saying Sasha was going to 'Delphiniel' really just means she's somewhere in northern Veracia. There are half a dozen medium to large cities there. Even Saus is technically part of what used to be Delphiniel, if I remember my history right."

"I can see where that might be a problem," Therese allowed. "We're back to looking for a needle in a haystack. At least it's a slightly smaller haystack than it was ... although still too big for us to take it on."

"Maybe not," Argus volunteered. "She is an anthropologist, isn't she? Where are the sites in old Delphiniel that might attract an anthropologist?"

Rose thought about it. "Good question. As I recall, she was researching the history of humanity between the Errant War and the Mage/Priest War. That covers, uh, a rather long time, like say two thousand years or so. Still, it does narrow things down some. She probably won't spend much time in the northern part of old Delphiniel, because that's where the trolls were and its history of human habitation is comparatively short." Not to mention that's where both Albigenish and the Ensigerum homeland, whichever Luminosita-forsaken mountain valley it's in, are, and no way am I going back to Albigenish and we'd all be in trouble if we bothered the Ensigerum. "And not much point in an anthropologist looking at things in the south-central part of the region, between Saus and Emerylon, because that's where most of the current population lives and most of the traces of ancient Veracia would have been obliterated." Which wouldn't necessarily stop her if she managed to repair that magical gadget, but I'm pretty sure she'd avoid Emerylon like the plague ... not that I'm that anxious to go back there under the present circumstances either. "So the choice is either the west coast, which is sparsely populated by little fishing villages similar to Getsemiel, or the east coast, which has one decently large city called Phidelphiel." She smiled wryly and rolled her eyes. "Not a very welcoming place, but there are at least a concentration of elven ruins there that might attract the interest of an anthropologist."

She scanned the group. "So what do you think? Of course, there's always the option of just going and seeing Lillith and Brad; we ran into a couple of young women that gave us an idea of how to get there."
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Alberich
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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Meantime, in a town to the south, a likely stop for the explorers on the way to Delphiniel, a bold adventurer sat in a fortuneteller's sanctum. His walk in had been a little unsteady, and his walk out would be the same, but for now he was happy where he was.

Udo Fujomori had changed during his adventures with Sensei, but wouldn't be hard to recognize. His blonde hair and beard had grown back, and he'd found a Tsuirakuan-style robe to replace his festive tatters from his forays into Port Lorrel. He was a little thinner than he'd been before, but enough rum, candy, and rum candy would fix that soon enough. If someone didn't take him in hand. The buccaneer's spirit was flowing through him now and he smiled beatifically at the grim-faced young psychic, as she shuffled her deck, invoked her spirits, and laid out his doom in scuffed, artistic plaques.

Her eyes widened at the Dominant Influence, a card of ill fortune. "That, sir, is the Black Cat, and it portends..."

"Kobold!" said Udo, glowing and grinning.

"What?"

"Don't say cat - say kobold. 'sa best sign I've seen sin' Sensei set a sack of silkashot on my solarplex. Training, like. Kobolds in my future! No, no, I know issa dominant influence, inna superior position, and thass great...they can get on top if they want to! Fine by me. Kobolds all the way! My good luck's holding! Wha's next?"

Perturbed, the fortuneteller laid out the Minor Influence. "This is the Goddess of Chaos, a dreadful sign. You can see the burning huts behind her, the flowing river she stands astride. It betokens destruction, suffering, and an influx of energy. It is a Sign of Pain. On a more positive Dominant Influence it can mean change for the better, but beside the cat it portends an influx of negative life energy...

Udo was staring attentively at the card. The Goddess of Chaos was topless. Boobies! But he supposed he'd better pretend to be paying attention. He'd paid for this anyway. "Okay, so, wha's the path, thing?"

She laid out the third card and sucked in air through her teeth. "The Battlefield." The scene was desolate, the battle long since over, the bones picked of their valuables. The artist (a distant cousin of one of Udo's favorite illustrators, though he didn't know it) had conveyed the futility of war, or at least of that particular war, in brilliant miniature. Wherever it turned up in a spread, straight up or reversed, the sensitive felt a sense of unease. It was especially bad for a Path. The fortuneteller drew in a breath, struggling to find the words. Udo filled the silence himself.

"Fighting's over, tha's what it means!" said Udo. "No more torture training!" She gave him a strange look. His slowed wits caught up with it. "No, no, no, not like training <I>to</I> torture. Like torturing to train. 's a big difference. 's like, 's like, have you got a brick I could put on my head? Oh, you don't. Well, it's like standing like this..."
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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"So what do you think? Of course, there's always the option of just going and seeing Lillith and Brad; we ran into a couple of young women that gave us an idea of how to get there."

"Find friends or fairies?" Tamina quiered. "Can't we do both? Oh! Do fairies have fairy magic? Fairy magic might be interesting! Umm... what's a fairy?"
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Drusia
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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"So what do you think? Of course, there's always the option of just going and seeing Lillith and Brad; we ran into a couple of young women that gave us an idea of how to get there."
"Find friends or fairies?" Tamina quiered. "Can't we do both? Oh! Do fairies have fairy magic? Fairy magic might be interesting! Umm... what's a fairy?"


"I wouldn't mind doing both if possible," I agree. "As for direction... East. The elven ruins sound like they might be related to what she's researching."

I pause, then add "So, where is - are Lillith and Brad from here? Direction wise, I mean?" I know that Santuriel is nearby, but I have no idea which direction.

-- Desiree
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Graybeard
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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"So, where is - are Lillith and Brad from here? Direction wise, I mean?"

[OOC: We don't have enough detail in our maps, either actual or imagined, to answer this definitively, so let's make something up...]

"East," replied Sister Rose. "We ran into a couple of young women from there who say it's a day's ride away. Turns out they even know Lillith." She giggled. "Their view of Brad was... entertaining."

"East," Therese repeated. "That means close to the border. Can we get to Veracia from there?"

"They were oddly evasive about that, but they said the trade routes all run through here from there. In other words, it's a side trip." Rose, of course, had no way to know about the clandestine cross-border traffic of Veracians seeking healing magic in Santuariel, and Leah and Riley certainly weren't telling.

Therese was a bit more worldly-wise in the ways of her own country than that. "I'll bet there's a way. Shall we?"
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Drusia
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Re: Salvus and homeward

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"East," replied Sister Rose. "We ran into a couple of young women from there who say it's a day's ride away. Turns out they even know Lillith." She giggled. "Their view of Brad was... entertaining."
"East," Therese repeated. "That means close to the border. Can we get to Veracia from there?"
"They were oddly evasive about that, but they said the trade routes all run through here from there. In other words, it's a side trip." Rose, of course, had no way to know about the clandestine cross-border traffic of Veracians seeking healing magic in Santuariel, and Leah and Riley certainly weren't telling.
Therese was a bit more worldly-wise in the ways of her own country than that. "I'll bet there's a way. Shall we?"


"Yes, I think so," I agree. "It's in the right direction, and I'd love to see how Lillith and Brad are getting on." Besides, I've always wanted to visit Santuriel.

"Do you want to spend the night here and head out in the morning then?" I ask Rose - and the group at large, really, but I direct the question generally in Rose's direction.

-- Desiree
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