Submergences (Lars Bregan, X’ral)

[Grognardsw]

It was what it was, X'ral realized with shaman wisdom. He couldn't be in two places at once; well, he could, but not for long enough. X'ral trekked east at an easier, unforced pace. He shot game the next day for food.



X'ral passed through desolate ruins that held the tracks of wildlife only.



The two fortmoons passed with few enounters on X'ral's journey. He hid from a flock of blood birds that did not see him. He was impressed by the sight of a herd of galloping brutorz. His thought of capturing and riding one passed quikcly as he considered their numbers.

One morning he awoke greatly weakened, barely able to move, mystifyied as to why before seeing a creep plant nearby. He managed to burn it before it completely leeched away his life force.

The day came when X'ral reached the region his Future Self told him was above the "subterranean kingdom of Arakar." The shaman searched for some way underground. The first day he found none. But that night he heard a strange sound echoing. He moved toward the source, keeping to cover, and was surprised to see...

If curious, the mentioned creatures can be looked up in the encounters section starting on p. 43 of the rules.

[Grognardsw]

[jemmus]

X'ral was amazed to see an ancient tech vehicle in operation. A rifle with few moving parts was one thing. But a fully-functioning vehicle in motion, with illuminating beams even-- that was another. Arakar. Were the hostile or benign, or something in between? He wanted to hail the vehicle. Both to see if the crew or machine knew anything about Lars. And, he had to admit to himself, because curiosity about the working ancient tech. He decided to try it, unfocused his eyes, and moved his mind into the near future.

Precognition - See 1 minute into the future.

Wow, I see that it's been 9 days since your post. Sorry, time got away from me every day. (Got a big home renovation starting, it's something completely new everyday when I'm at home. Like getting your car fixed, but doing it for a different car and finding a different mechanic and dealing with the job every time.

[Grognardsw]

According to his future self, X'ral was now in the lands under which Arakar had their underground empire. They must be powerful indeed to have such working machines. The mutant shaman tried to remember back to Vigo's words about where Lars had gone.

Curious, X'ral shifted his mind into the future to see what Fate had in store should he approach the machine. He saw himself run forward waving at the rambling thing of metal.

It stopped. A light was flashed upon him. The machine did not speak, nor did any humans emerge. Then a sound from the roof as something rose. X'ral didn't know what it was, but recognized the large weapon on top. It was like a large rifle, but twice as big as a rifle. It swiveled to take aim.

X'ral ran, diving for cover, as the great gun fired multiple times. The mutant shaman's leg was straffed by the bullets.

His concsciousness returned to the present.

[jemmus]

X'ral stayed low and still and waited for the machine to pass. If that was an Arakar vehicle, then the Arakar people were hostile to outsiders. Or very defensive, at least. His plan had been to ask them if they had seen Lars. That wouldn't work, if they shot at outsiders on sight. But perhaps it wasn't an Arakar machine. Vigo had said the city was underground. Did the Arakar people patrol above ground also? Or was the machine unrelated to them? It seemed that they would have to come to the surface sometimes, for food, if not for water.

If/when the vehicle leaves, X'ral will smoke some weed of enlightenment, then scout around the area, looking for signs of entrances into the underground city. Or for anything else that will give him more information about the situation.

X'ral's character sheet has a Word of Warding item. Is that an item with a practical use?

[Grognardsw]

Go ahead and make a few percentile rolls to see how well the search goes.

“Yellow ribbon with repeating word of warding” is the full item description on the sheet. It has some practical uses I suppose

[jemmus]

I guess X'ral with have try the ribbon out some time.

[1d100]=81 [1d100]=36 [1d100]=14 [1d100]=77

[Grognardsw]

The vehicle lumbered away to the northeast as X'ral watched from his hiding place.

The mutant shaman lit a pipe with weed of enlightment. The plant had been traded from a group of friendly half-sized people who grew it in some secret grove in the west lands. X'ral's tense mood lightened some as he contemplated the situation. He could be standing atop an underground mountain containing hidden wonders of the Ancients, and clues to Lars disappearance. X'ral still held out hope for his half-brother's survival. Why hadn't he asked his Future Self? Did he want to find the truth himself, or was it subconscious fear of the answer? Bah - those Future Self's often came from Fate's different hands, instead of his own.

The trail of the vehicle was easily tracked for one such as X'ral. Along the way the shaman spotted a glint from a tree. It was a fist-sized metal square device with a glass eye camoflaged in tree branches. It's eye had caught the light at an angle X'ral caught.

He followed the trail for several hectares until it petered out in the rocky ground of crags that grew into rocky hills. Somewhere there was a hidden entryway into the underground, for such monstrous vehicles do not just disappear.

[jemmus]

X'ral realized that he'd probably been seen by the machine eye. The Arakar people probably knew he was out here above them. He followed the clear tracks of the vehicle, but didn't walk along them. He walked along the side, occasionally coming closer to the tracks to check them and see if he was still on the right course. When the tracks ended at a mountainside, he carefully looked for more machine eyes. And for weapons like the one on top of the vehicle that easily deal him some grave damage. His objective was to find Lars, and to do that he needed information about what had happened. But he didn't necessarily need to go into the underground city to do that. And if he got himself killed, that wouldn't do much good for Lars.

Here's a roll in case you need one for checking for surveillance and weapons. [1d20]=13

Does X'ral know how far in the future his future selves go? A few hours, a few days, etc.

[Grognardsw]

X'ral paralleled the trail, looking out for additional eyes and guns. Against the rocky hillside he observed a large unnaturally flat formation on the ground that implied a doorway. It most likely slid open allowing the vehicle to enter.

Above in the rocks X'ral spied an eye, and a 6' rock area that was discolored compared to those rocks around it. Likely an artificial rock concealing something, maybe a gun or a small door.

"Does X'ral know how far in the future his future selves go? A few hours, a few days, etc."

The temporal doubles are solid and independently operating versions of yourself from different points in the timestream. From past experience, X'ral has seen his ages range from teenager (once) to old man (once), so the time points can be quite far. The average seems to be young to middle-age X'rals.

Other info (which you may want to paste into your character sheet post for easy reference): They don't communicate mentally or see through each other's senses. Each version has memories based on its time - a past version won't know where it is (having not lived it yet), while a future version may know what is about to happen before you (the current version) do. This will cause all sorts of interesting situations which we'll work out as we go.

Past versions will be PCed by you. Future versions will be NPC, in that they possess future knowledge that they may/may not share due to paradox loops. The current X'ral can still suggest to them what to do, but they will do what is in their (your) best interest, even if such interests aren’t obvious to the present-tense X’Ral.

X'ral's past use of this power has taught him that the timestream can split; while the versions are from his timestream, events that happen to versions that return to their proper times can spawn alternate realities. So a future self may materialize who lived a future life that the current X'ral may not actually live. That is, the future self may have different memories of past events than what X'ral experienced (or is about to experience.)

It's a confusing concept, so X'ral doesn't dwell too much on it, but he knows there is not one Fate for people, but many possible Fates.

I curtailed the power some from the rules, as noted on the sheet, with 1d4 copies each of which needs a successful mental mutation roll on the chart vs. your own MS of 16 in order to successfully materialize. This reflects the amount of effort and strain on your part. So if you rolled 3 doubles, each needs a roll of 10 to materialize. That said, one will always successfully materialize. Their duration is 1d4 hours. The power can be used once a week. I decide where along your timeline they come from.

[jemmus]

With not a little trepidation, X'ral warily approaches the apparent entrance, ancient rifle at the ready. He full expects to be shredded by projectiles or otherwise instantly killed at any second. But he can think of no other way of finding Lars.

Thanks for the explanation about temporal fugue, I understand it better. X'ral decides not to use it to try to find out what happened to Lars. Because in a future X'ral's reality, he might still be alive (if I understand correctly).

[Grognardsw]

X’ral approached the entrance, knowing the camera eyes may be watching. He examined the suspected camouflaged door.

The other 6’ door higher up suddenly opened and two men in strange body suits with head covers stepped out. They held large gun-like contraptions with large flared ends, which they pointed and shot.

Please roll a 1d6 to see if you are surprised (on a 1), followed by a 1d6 for initiative and take action with rolls. Thanks!

The past few weeks of travel, with resting at night, will gain you a HP per day so add 14 to your current.

[jemmus]

X'ral fire the ancient tech rifle at the man to right, aiming for the middle of his chest.

[1d20]=9
Current HP 58/73
[1d6]=4 FYI, the character sheet says "Due to intuition can't be surprised." Not sure how absolute that is though.

[Grognardsw]

The Human Altercation - Round 1

X'ral's mutant precognition alerted the shaman a split second before the men appeared. X'ral fired his Mark VII rifle, hitting the man on the right in the middle of the chest. He flew back and slammed into the closed door, slumping to the ground unmoving.

The other human fired his strange contraption. A loop of red energy shot from the flared end, expanding into a glowing energy net that squarely enveloped X'ral. He could not move and felt like his body was buzzing.

- That's right, I forgot about Intuition's non-surprise power.
- Round 1 Initiative vs X'ral [1d6]=3 X'ral wins.
- Round 1 X'ral rifle damange [8d6]=28 Feel free to include damage rolls with any to-hit rolls.
- Round 1 man firing at X'ral [1d20]=20 critical

[jemmus]

X'ral's mind raced. He disliked doing it, because he only had the power to do it every few days. But the only solution was to bring his selves from the future and the past to assist him.

He does Temporal Fugue.

[Grognardsw]

X’ral focused his mind, ignoring the buzz of the entrapping energy net. He reached down to that place where temporal eddies shifted, waves lapping from the past to present, bubbles rising from alternate seas of reality. The mutant shaman felt the mental twinge that told him his other(s) was stepping through to the now...

Per the power, please roll 1d4 to see how many appear, and a d20 for each that may appear to see if they do. You need a 10 or higher. In any case, one will always appear.

I looked over the BH 3e rules. I like how they have a chapter for stats of historical and fictional characters, including Paladin! Mine won’t be so heroic though, to be in line with the group.

[jemmus]

[1d4]=2
[1d20]=16 [1d20]=6 Looks like just one appears.

Your Paladin will be heroic after some time.

[Grognardsw]

The Human Altercation, Round Two

A younger X'ral materialized next to the entrapped X'ral. He looked about in surprise and wonder, taking in the situation.

"What?!" the human said with some confusion. He started frantically cranking a lever on his contraption.

As a past self, you can control the additional X'ral. Let's start with initiative roll, and you can take actions and rolls for the two.

Human Initiative [1d6]=2

[jemmus]

Past X'ral took in the situation. The human had somehow incapacitated his future self. And he was preparing to take another offensive action. X'ral acted immediately and lashed at the human with his whip.

Present X'ral struggled to regain control of body and free himself from the net of energy.

Initiative [1d6]=5 Stun Whip [1d20]=2 Minutes Stunned [1d20]=7

Current X'Ral ST [1d20]=12

[Grognardsw]

X’ral Past lashed out with his energy whip at the human, but the lash fell short.

X’ral Present struggled mightily against the humming, sparkling energy net entrapping him. The mutant shaman realized it could not break.

The human continued to crank the lever on the energy net contraption.

The critical 20 I rolled means X’ral can’t break out. On the bright side, it doesn’t do damage.

The energy net contraption required a full round to crank up (reload).

Rnd 3 vs X’ral [1d6]=3

Roll for Round 3 initiative, along with actions/rolls.