Ooo, money!
Oct. 1st, 2005 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothLast night we had a session of Lazar's Shadake game, in which we were seduced by the profit potential of being a black marketeer.
Under the influence of not-quite-alcohol, Wayne's reaction was to retreat to the ship and start work on a prototype, based on the rainbow-spider web strands he'd salvaged earlier... unfortunately, the effects wore off before he'd finished, and he sort of cut corners to be done with it as soon as possible, with the result that the 'charm bracelet' (aka 'slave collar') wasn't really guaranteed to work [they got a willpower roll to resist] and could be taken off normally [he never got around to adding the addiction to it].
By the time he was finished, everyone was missing. Lord Chadin's relative had headed home, Balthazaar and Perrel were nowhere to be seen, and Jardin had taken a manta and several food processors and headed off into the jungle. Wayne guessed Jardin was going to the Chadin estate to deliver them, and headed north.
Near the estate, Wayne ran across a group of five centaurs on patrol. Unfortuantely for him, he hadn't been really paying attention to the 'no higher than ten feet off the ground' rule while in the middle of the jungle, so seeing him flying too high, they shouted "Rebel!" and shot at him! He ducked behind a tree and begged for mercy, explaining that he was trying to find Lord Chadin who'd abandoned him in Ishiro (which was, in fact, true), and they ceased fire and let him go.
But during the brief not-quite-a-battle, he'd heard Jardin's voice from a little ways off, saying 'Look, a birdie!' This wasn't entirely out of character for him, but he decided he'd better investigate anyway. So after circling around to avoid running into the centaurs again (who'd surely be suspicious at him staying in the area) he found Jardin and Perrel dancing with a herd of cattle, obviously stoned out of their minds.
He didn't have much time to react before he heard the centaurs approaching -- he grabbed the manta (since the existence of the mantas was still supposed to be a secret) and dragged it off into the jungle to keep it (and himself) out of sight. There was some shouting, and a rumble, and he got back to find the cattle had stampeded, killing three of the centaurs and revealing the entrance to the rebel base, which was apparently right there -- Jardin had been heading for it, not for the Chadin estate.
There was screaming from inside, and realizing that some of the centaurs had survived and had probably seen Perrel and Jardin right next to the base, he decided that they had to die. So to counteract the craziness, he put his charm bracelet on the still-stoned Jardin, who reacted by trying to hug him, falling out of the tree in the process. Wayne was a strong flyer, but not strong enough to lift a full ton of centaur. OWIE.
The noise distracted the centaurs down below from their busy slaughtering of stoned rebels, and they headed up the stairs, where they were met by the party. There was no talking this time, just a lot of missed shots on either side... but Jardin took down one with his giant spear, and Perrel the other with an axe-filled leap, while Wayne took... a rapier in the side. x.x
Down below, it was a mess -- most of the rebels in the base were dead, and Chochang was loose, wandering around putting flowers in their mouths. Two of the centaurs were still alive, but were put to death (Chochang killed them after Wayne remarked that they'd be better off if they were dead, but lacked the stomach to kill them himself) so that there would be no witnesses.
Once out of the area, everyone quickly recovered from whatever gas had made them all crazy. They send someone back to recover the rebels' money and the fake documents Jardin was supposed to deliver to help trigger the attack, and talked about what to do next.
Wayne explained his evil plan to save the centaurs, and while Raj was shocked that Wayne thought the centaurs had been enslaved in the past, he admitted that many of his allies would enjoy seeing them enslaved in the future, although not as much as they'd enjoy seeing them dead. Eventually they come up with a combined plan -- Wayne could offer to charm other centaurs for Lord Diechek, which would certainly alarm the other centaurs if they found out, causing the war the slaves wanted to cover their revolt. If they didn't find out, and Diecheck won, then the charm-immunity item he'd have given Lord Diechek as an assurance against being hoisted by his own petard would have a subtle flaw that would allow the slaves to take control of him, and through him his new empire.
But first, Wayne wanted to convert all their wheels (the money of the island) into intrinsically valuable trade goods, in case things went south and they had to leave and not come back. The discussion of what was especially valuable or cheap on the island degenerated into a week-long binge of trading -- Jardin's share of magitech supplies was pretty much all metal, and metal was very valuable on the island. Using that as a stake, and trading for things that were undervalued (ivory, fire opals, peridots, weaver silk, floatvines, and magical herbs), they managed to make a 1000% profit. Plus a little extra on top for the spearhead-stamping machines Jardin built for them.
During the week, Roshan went into a coma. Perrel had finally brewed an aura-healing potion for her, and fed it to her... and it seemed to work! Except that her aura was *different* now, as was her entire personality. She was happy and innocent and childlike... and a total pacifist.
Wayne also realized that he didn't have that huge of a supply of the rainbow-spiderweb strands, and looked over the side to see if he could spot any rainbows, that would indicate other similar nests. And he saw some! Several dozen of them, all in close proximity... approaching those without some sort of protection would be suicidal.
On the sixth day, they also heard what had happened to Balthazaar -- while drunk out of his mind on various types of centaur mind-altering booze, he'd tried to break into the library to steal some books, and had been captured and hung out in a cage to die of exposure. Obviously, he had to be rescued... somehow.
Also, one of the Vlindar was found nearly-murdered -- his ribs had been surgically removed, as had his eyes, eardrums, and vocal cords. Perrel was able to keep him alive, but didn't think that he'd be able to fix the missing ribs -- they needed Balthazaar for that.
Wayne was more concerned about who had done the deed, and with his little slave collar prototype started questioning the usual suspects. Chochang said she hadn't done it, and Roshan was shocked at the very idea that *anyone* could do such a thing to anyone else! And the fixer-skeleton was still locked up in his box. So who was the sort-of-murderer?
last week | next week
Under the influence of not-quite-alcohol, Wayne's reaction was to retreat to the ship and start work on a prototype, based on the rainbow-spider web strands he'd salvaged earlier... unfortunately, the effects wore off before he'd finished, and he sort of cut corners to be done with it as soon as possible, with the result that the 'charm bracelet' (aka 'slave collar') wasn't really guaranteed to work [they got a willpower roll to resist] and could be taken off normally [he never got around to adding the addiction to it].
By the time he was finished, everyone was missing. Lord Chadin's relative had headed home, Balthazaar and Perrel were nowhere to be seen, and Jardin had taken a manta and several food processors and headed off into the jungle. Wayne guessed Jardin was going to the Chadin estate to deliver them, and headed north.
Near the estate, Wayne ran across a group of five centaurs on patrol. Unfortuantely for him, he hadn't been really paying attention to the 'no higher than ten feet off the ground' rule while in the middle of the jungle, so seeing him flying too high, they shouted "Rebel!" and shot at him! He ducked behind a tree and begged for mercy, explaining that he was trying to find Lord Chadin who'd abandoned him in Ishiro (which was, in fact, true), and they ceased fire and let him go.
But during the brief not-quite-a-battle, he'd heard Jardin's voice from a little ways off, saying 'Look, a birdie!' This wasn't entirely out of character for him, but he decided he'd better investigate anyway. So after circling around to avoid running into the centaurs again (who'd surely be suspicious at him staying in the area) he found Jardin and Perrel dancing with a herd of cattle, obviously stoned out of their minds.
He didn't have much time to react before he heard the centaurs approaching -- he grabbed the manta (since the existence of the mantas was still supposed to be a secret) and dragged it off into the jungle to keep it (and himself) out of sight. There was some shouting, and a rumble, and he got back to find the cattle had stampeded, killing three of the centaurs and revealing the entrance to the rebel base, which was apparently right there -- Jardin had been heading for it, not for the Chadin estate.
There was screaming from inside, and realizing that some of the centaurs had survived and had probably seen Perrel and Jardin right next to the base, he decided that they had to die. So to counteract the craziness, he put his charm bracelet on the still-stoned Jardin, who reacted by trying to hug him, falling out of the tree in the process. Wayne was a strong flyer, but not strong enough to lift a full ton of centaur. OWIE.
The noise distracted the centaurs down below from their busy slaughtering of stoned rebels, and they headed up the stairs, where they were met by the party. There was no talking this time, just a lot of missed shots on either side... but Jardin took down one with his giant spear, and Perrel the other with an axe-filled leap, while Wayne took... a rapier in the side. x.x
Down below, it was a mess -- most of the rebels in the base were dead, and Chochang was loose, wandering around putting flowers in their mouths. Two of the centaurs were still alive, but were put to death (Chochang killed them after Wayne remarked that they'd be better off if they were dead, but lacked the stomach to kill them himself) so that there would be no witnesses.
Once out of the area, everyone quickly recovered from whatever gas had made them all crazy. They send someone back to recover the rebels' money and the fake documents Jardin was supposed to deliver to help trigger the attack, and talked about what to do next.
Wayne explained his evil plan to save the centaurs, and while Raj was shocked that Wayne thought the centaurs had been enslaved in the past, he admitted that many of his allies would enjoy seeing them enslaved in the future, although not as much as they'd enjoy seeing them dead. Eventually they come up with a combined plan -- Wayne could offer to charm other centaurs for Lord Diechek, which would certainly alarm the other centaurs if they found out, causing the war the slaves wanted to cover their revolt. If they didn't find out, and Diecheck won, then the charm-immunity item he'd have given Lord Diechek as an assurance against being hoisted by his own petard would have a subtle flaw that would allow the slaves to take control of him, and through him his new empire.
But first, Wayne wanted to convert all their wheels (the money of the island) into intrinsically valuable trade goods, in case things went south and they had to leave and not come back. The discussion of what was especially valuable or cheap on the island degenerated into a week-long binge of trading -- Jardin's share of magitech supplies was pretty much all metal, and metal was very valuable on the island. Using that as a stake, and trading for things that were undervalued (ivory, fire opals, peridots, weaver silk, floatvines, and magical herbs), they managed to make a 1000% profit. Plus a little extra on top for the spearhead-stamping machines Jardin built for them.
During the week, Roshan went into a coma. Perrel had finally brewed an aura-healing potion for her, and fed it to her... and it seemed to work! Except that her aura was *different* now, as was her entire personality. She was happy and innocent and childlike... and a total pacifist.
Wayne also realized that he didn't have that huge of a supply of the rainbow-spiderweb strands, and looked over the side to see if he could spot any rainbows, that would indicate other similar nests. And he saw some! Several dozen of them, all in close proximity... approaching those without some sort of protection would be suicidal.
On the sixth day, they also heard what had happened to Balthazaar -- while drunk out of his mind on various types of centaur mind-altering booze, he'd tried to break into the library to steal some books, and had been captured and hung out in a cage to die of exposure. Obviously, he had to be rescued... somehow.
Also, one of the Vlindar was found nearly-murdered -- his ribs had been surgically removed, as had his eyes, eardrums, and vocal cords. Perrel was able to keep him alive, but didn't think that he'd be able to fix the missing ribs -- they needed Balthazaar for that.
Wayne was more concerned about who had done the deed, and with his little slave collar prototype started questioning the usual suspects. Chochang said she hadn't done it, and Roshan was shocked at the very idea that *anyone* could do such a thing to anyone else! And the fixer-skeleton was still locked up in his box. So who was the sort-of-murderer?
last week | next week
