The Ninth World Turns Recap #020 - Entering the Zhong Complex

Campaign Day 001

XP: Everyone has 3 xp from discovering the Glow Machine & Miasma Box & Mintz’ Pin

Turn 19 Recap

You make your way through the streets. They are mostly deserted. Shopkeepers throughout the city have dropped protective barriers or otherwise boarded up their shops as best they could. Smoke is becoming more and more present in the sky, seemingly coming from multiple points around the city. You don’t see any city guards, which is both good news but also worries you all, hoping they aren’t all holed up at Kesinger’s Estate. The streets were abandoned with some degree of haste. There are a few food carts and some clothing & knick-knack stalls left untended. Some goods are sprawled on the ground, making the carts look to have been already ransacked by some bold or desperate people. You can see curious and angry glances from high windows and through protective slats. The silence of the streets is eerie, broken only by the occasional blast in the distance, or pained shout carrying through the wind. The air still feels static from the Glow.

<Difficulty 2 Search> to find 2d4 Shins in the carts (may only succeed once for entire group)

<You may each Search for one item from ‘Other Equipment’ P81 - Search Difficulty is 3x Price> Example: Torch - Price 1 Shin - Search difficulty 3, Rope - Price 2 Shin - Search difficulty 6, etc.

You arrive around the corner of an alleyway, having a good view of the Zhong Tower from an angle. The front door appears to be swinging in the wind, left open. From here you can see that the tower windows have been sealed. Even if the team had wanted to place a beacon there, they would have needed to first find a way to open the protective barrier.

<Action 1 - Discuss & Approach>

You approach the front door and look in to see a room mostly empty. It looks like fighting took place here recently. The desk is no longer where it was in the plans, having been turned on its side and pushed away. The bodies of two guards and one rebel lay on the ground, the rebel by the door and the guards near where the desk had stood. These rebels were equipped differently than the guards at Mintz’ Compound, they had thicker brigandine style armor and were armed with broadsword and shields.

The door to your right is not how you had imagined it. It looks to have been long sealed and rusted shut. The warehouse building appears ancient from the inside, you can see now that the tower appears to be the new addition. Built from more crude materials it grows up through a hole in the ceiling of the older warehouse building. The foyer you stand in has a high ceiling, the tower appears to be accessed from wooden walkways extending from either side of the tower into the older warehouse building’s second floor. It appears that the rebels went down the hallway to the left, you can just barely see that there is an open door down the hallway that way.

<Action 2 - Discuss, Look Around & Proceed>

Basai moved with the group caught between hurrying along and strolling at a slow pace to take in the city. It was mostly abandonned away from the compound but the variety of things crowding the street fascinated the Diruk. Many of the shopfronts had shutters pulled down or shimmering fields arcing out before the doors and windows... Basai wondered if it was because of the rebellion. The Rebels had said they were for the people but perhaps the fighting had frightened the shop keeps and shoppers?

They passed a bank of rolling stalls, their overhangs rippling in the wind. The Diruk wandered up to one, poking hir finger through the wares curiously, moving them about on the wood. What was here? Did humans really purchase and use all of these things?

A pile at the bottom of the stall caught hir attention and shi crouched to inspect the strange spherical object. It activated then, and rose into the air, causing Basai to straighten abruptly in surprise. Intrigued, shi took one of the similar non-floating devices into hand and moved to return to the group with hir spoils but hir grip was too firm for the device and it cracked, crumbling in hir grip. Shi paused briefly, saddened by the mistake, but had to hurry to catch up with the group.

Search (Glow Globe, target 15): 1d20 ⇒ 13 (Fail)

When they arrived at the tower, Basai strode forward to take hir position at the front of the group. If nothing else, the guards would be unlikely to expect a Diruk to lead the charge. The thought made hir rumble in amusement. Perhaps shi would enjoy this mission stuff!

Shi pointed at the windows silently, believing their shuttered frames spoke strongly enough on their own. The beacon would have been useless with the covers over the windows... Shi approached, as quietly as shi could so as not to alert those inside but when shi opened the door, there was nothing living within. Basai turned back to hir group, ”No living, just dead. Enter?”

Daks had watched Breona and Basai. The whole thing was sweet. It was clear that The Diruk was nervous and Daks wanted to lighten the mood. As they walked along the streets he hung back with Basai and Breona, telling old tales of his time as a merchant with his father. About the time his father was swindled in Rarmon by a man by the name of "Nehi the Bastard", which was not the name he had given them at the time, but one other merchants had shared after the fact.Cut us for 40 shins and sold us faulty wire. Every half foot or so they where Metal eatin insect. The whole roll was worthless.Daks went on to tell them the tale of how two years later they ran into Nehi in Far Brohn and though Nehi had forgotten Dak's father, his father had not forgotten him.My father was a decent man. Honest and hardworking, but if there's one thing he couldn't stand it was a crook. Well, ol Nehi was all about artifacts ya see. Loved anything to do with the Numenera and my old man knew it. Well, my father walks up to Nehi and starts talking to him like they're the oldest of friends and Nehi plays along, though you can tell he's confused. Anyway my dad, he starts negotiating on this big ol contraption on the back of our cart. "Controls the weather he says". Convinces him it's true as the shins in his purse. Well by now Nehi is practically drooling. He know's exactly what something like that would be worth, but of course he isn't going to take my old man at his word. So my old man turns the old thing on and he turns some knob and pulls a lever and the old thing starts humming and my ol man tells him "You just wait, I'll have it raining within the hour." Now I'm in the cart with my ear to a crack in the door and of course I'm nervous. I mean that's one hell of a lie. But sure enough, not ten minutes go by before the sun goes dark and the sky opens up. Well Nehi he spills his purse, not to mention a bundle of some of the nicest clothes you've ever seen. Well we went our separate ways, us 120 shins and a bundle of fine clothes the richer, and Nehi? Well he had him a big heavy piece of broken machinery that we were gonna sell for parts. See my old man had a bad knee. Always hurt when a storm was coming. He could tell when a bad storm was gonna hit by almost the minute. It's like my old man always said. "Everyone's actions catch up to them eventually. This time I just happened to do the catching."

As Daks walked through the street chuckling at the conclusion of his story he grew quite. The streets where oddly quite. It was unnerving.

Search "Group Shins": 1d20 ⇒ 3 

Search "Grappling Hook": 1d20 ⇒ 16

Daks noticed a grappling hook hanging from a nearby cart and he jogged over, grabbing it as he went. This might come in handy. he said as he walked, throwing it over his shoulder.

Breona

As they walked through the deserted streets of Aian, Breona listened to Daks' story as they walked alongside Basai. She chuckled a bit at the conclusion but then turned somber again. There was so much smoke. So many buildings must be burning. Will all this destruction be worth it?

She stepped over a fallen food cart, a drawer open, and quickly rifled through it to see if there was anything of value.

Search carts for shins, trained: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 

Amount of shins: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

Breona always had a knack for spotting things, and found a meager amount of shins that she held out on the flat of her palm. "Four shins. I'll pocket them for now." She did not rummage around any more, her explorer's pack filled with everything she needed, including a glow globe.

To Basai she said, "I have one of those globes in my bag. You want it?" Breona couldn't say she could read the diruk's expressions, but hir head seemed to hang when shi broke the glow globe.

Jay Zin

At the cobbled group of rebels moved through the streets Jay Zin sullenly scanned the streets which were now devoid of life. For the first half of the trip he generally avoided conversation with the others choosing to simply listen to Daks prattle on. The day had been eventful and all the changes and new people weighed on the young mans head. He travelled with virtual strangers serving as a foot soldier in a war he knew almost nothing about. The few people he saw in the streets were scared and keeping their heads down. These were not the faces of people who felt liberated. Had he chosen the right side of this conflict? He chose to verbalize the concerns he was feeling.

Are we sure this is better for the people of this city and country. To be honest I'm an outsider and really don't know much about local politics. You know the "Merchant Lords" or Tarvesh for that matter. How do we know we aren't taking power out of the hands of 4 or 5 corrupt men and not simply consolidating it in one corrupt man's hands?

As he was speaking Jay's eyes glossed a fallen stand. He ran over and started looking through various bags. Most were ruined... and some were obviously intended for certain jobs... he poked through what hadn't already been scavenged to see if their was a better way to carry the handful of spears he had precariously strapped to his back.

search large quiver: 1d20 ⇒ 12

He was about to throw away a tangle of leather straps when he realized it was a webbing of sorts. It took him a minute to sort it out but he realized it was prolly originally meant as a tool belt or bandolier of some sort. He slung it on and played with the straps till It felt comfortable. Then he started sliding spears into the individual loops. He adjusted them and it worked out pretty well.

Mechanus

The streets did not feel like they had just liberated them.

Mechanus did a could take. The loonie was making sense. he was voicing the same questions that he had in his mind. Was this some sort of trick?

Mechanus slowly neared him, making sure he saw him coming. There was no need to surprise a loonie.

Hoping he did not anger or offend him again, "I too have these same questions but I think it's too late now to answer them. At least until we finish this mission. We can't be of two minds here or we will fail or worse, be killed."

He asked, "Will this conundrum be a problem for you?"

Jay Zin

I'm sure that eventually the conundrum... will either become a problem for all of us... or it will resolve itself. Like the rest of you I'm just moving forward blindly... hoping that the choices and actions we make here actually do some good.

Azzuretta flew above the group keeping an eye out for trouble. There were fights and confusion but most of the people avoided each other and stayed away from Jay Zin and the others... The few times that people in the street became aware of them they had moved away quickly. It was obvious to her that most of the people in the city did not know what was going on. They had not been warned of the fights that broke out. They did not know why people were fighting. All they knew was that things were changing. In Azzurettas experience most Humans didn't care for change.

Action 2

Daks

As they approached the building Daks noticed the bodies lying on the floor. He looked from the thick brigandine style armor to his own broken beast hide which, frankly, still stunk. After a quick scan of the area Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 14 Daks stepped into the warehouse and pulled the armor from the dead rebel. He stepped back out to the group and slipped into the new armor. Not used to being on the front lines. This is the most hand to hand combat I've ever had outside of my training. Daks held up his newly obtained grappling hook. We could take the stairs but perhaps there is a way we could sneak in from the outside? He looked around the group and then remembered Basai. He grinned sheepishly. "On second thought. I think I like the stairs better.I'm uh... I don't like heights. He said, unsure of the quality of his illusion. Man, I hope I didn't hurt Basai's feelings! Maybe she didn't notice…

Basai

When Daks suggested going through the second floor, Basai backed up and eyed the height. Shi could jump fairly well, probably crash into the window and climb through easily enough but it wouldn't be very stealthy... ”I am not afraid of heights...” Shi responded, venting thoughtfully as hir crystals shifted through the yellows of curiosity. It never even occurred to the Diruk that Daks might be being insensitive.

Having watched Daks proceed, and come back, Basai decided to enter. It was a relatively low ceiling compared to the spaces shi usually occupied but not too cramped. The door to the right was rusted and appeared ancient. Shi vented again before approaching the door. Was it truly rusted closed? She could probably bash hir way through if need be... they had come for the Cyphers as well, hadn't they, and it would provide assistance upstairs.

Search/Perception (Inspect Rusted Door): 1d20 ⇒ 15

”What about Cyphers behind this door?” Shi asked, trying to keep quiet as shi addressed the group.

Breona

Arriving at the warehouse, Breona's eyes skimmed over the bodies, then tried to take in the situation. She tilted her head, trying to listen if there were any sounds of conflict that she could make out, putting a finger to her lips.

Listening, trained: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Turn 20

Basai - Inspected the door and observed that it was a very sturdy metal. As shi ran her hand down the seam, shi realized it had been joined in many places by extreme heat. Shi knew it would be a very difficult task, even for her, to open this door. <Bash door Difficult 7>

Daks - Removed the guards armor and put it on himself. Dropping the beast-skins to the ground. He looked forward to Breona as he discussed which way the group should go from here.

Breona - Scouted ahead slightly, listening for sounds. As she cleared her mind and quieted her teammates, she could make out a few noises. An a-rhythmic thumping sound, as if against metal, was faint but clearly coming from out the open door. She also heard some muffled sounds of movement coming from out the second floor of the Stone Tower.

Jay Zin - Peered down the other hallway and saw that it was in disrepair. It looks like a tarp had until recently hung down from the second story balcony, obscuring much of the hallway. The ground was littered with clutter and dust. Near the end of the hallway he could see the outline of another door on the right wall.

Mechanus - Inspected the overturned desk, noticing a guard log that clearly listed the arrival of five men to trade with Lord Zhong.

<Actions - How do you want to proceed?>

Group Loot: 11 Shins - I will track looted Shins and distribute when appropriate

Cyphers: (Most pages #’s refer to Technology Compendium - let me know if you don’t have book and I will add more detail. If page number begins with “c.” - the cypher is in the Corebook)