RQG 188 - Wibble Wobble

## Content Warnings

Argument, grief & loss (inc. loss of sibling), guilt & shaming, emotional abuse. Discussions of: falling, the void & space, existentialism, tunnels & claustrophobia, unreality, death, faith & afterlife. Mentions: cave-ins, human remains, mannequins, self-recrimination, paranoia. SFX: wind, vocalised wobbling sounds, rumbling, bells

## Summary

Join Alex, Helen, Bryn, Lydia, and Ben as they find themselves... elsewhere.
This week Zolf left, Hamid catches an encore, Cel cracks the code, and Azu has been here before.

## Synopsis

*[The PCs have leveled up to Level 10! Skraak is now Level 8. Details in mechanics section. During the leveling up chat, Lydia also reveals that Cel's Portuguese comes from having spent time in Brazil rather than Portugal, and that she (Lyd) imagines that, rather than the genocidal history of our world, there would just have been a few very small trading outposts on the South American Atlantic coast with majority Spanish and Portuguese populations- but that they probably mostly failed, just like the small trading outpost that Cel grew up in in North America. Alex says that that imagining works well enough. Lyd also says she spent some time looking up gender-neutral pronouns in Portuguese.]*

The party is falling through an infinite void... *[The players make vocal wibble-wobble sounds]*

**Break**

*[The players continue to make vocal wibble-wobble sounds]*

Zolf comes to. He doesn't know how much time has passed, and his darkvision is the only reason it's not completely dark. He is in a long, low tunnel of roughly-worked stone. He calls first for Wilde, then the others. Looking around properly, he realises he's in some sort of well-built tin mine with a gentle slope, unlit torches on the wall, and minecart tracks on the ground. He starts making his way upwards, and hears the sound of rock settling from maybe up ahead. He goes more cautiously, and smells smoke; perhaps a lit torch- this means air is flowing from ahead of him. The mine is otherwise silent. He gets out his glaive and continues approaching. After a while he finds a dead end; a recent rockfall. He starts to hear the tapping sound of someone mining from back where he came. He tries to dig through the rockslide with his glaive.

*[wibblewobblewibblewobble]*

Azu comes to in an empty wasteland, although it feels familiar. She is surrounded by ruins, with the largest ruin ahead of her up a little slope. Strange cries are heard in the distance. The ruins stretch as far as the eye can see in all directions. It's reminiscent of Rome, but it's not the same- Rome had seven hills, but this place seems just to have one, in the middle. she's standing at a crossroads, and summons Topaz. Topaz doesn't come. It feels like her magic has been rejected, but Azu refuses to believe that, assuming that she's in an unnatural place and that Topaz actually loves her. The larger building is similar to Nero's palace, but it's much larger and more decrepit.

*[wibblewobblewibblewobble]*

Cel wakes up to the sound of a lot of wildlife, trees, and waves. They are back at their original home in eastern coastal North America. It feels like something very bad happened a very, very long time ago. Cel had left the town 60 years previously as it was burning, but the decay and natural reclamation implies it's been longer than that. Cel knows this is exactly the kind of place they don't want to be, and surmises that this is the kind of place their psyche would cook up. They walk towards the sea, and come across a body.

*[wibblewobblewibblewobble]*

Hamid comes to in pitch darkness, but it's comfortable darkness. He recognises where he is immediately: he's in a large, dark theatre. There are people in the seats beside him, but they're not moving. He casts dancing lights successfully. However, instead of what he expects, a blinding spotlight appears in front of him, pointed onto a figure on the stage. It's Aziza. She's wearing a performance dress, looking directly at Hamid, and she doesn't look happy to see him. Hamid swallows, and greets her. The audience is well-dressed and stays unmoving. Hamid gets up from his seat. Aziza mockingly notes that's he's bothered to come back.

Zolf is still trying to dig through the rocks, but eventually realises it's not going to work. It's strange, though, because he had heard the noise of a small rockfall but the rocks here would only have been deposited by a large one. Something's not right. The tapping has grown louder. Zolf tries to reassure himself (he's not good with being trapped and buried). He goes up a cruder, narrower passage and continues to tell himself that things will be fine. He then hears a voice asking 'who's that?'. Zolf replies with his name, and the voice says that no, it can't be Zolf; Zolf left, and that he should ignore the voices and keep digging. Zolf calls his brother's name (Feryn). Zolf asks Feryn to stop digging and come out, although Feryn doesn't believe that it's Zolf. Feryn appears to have been here a long time- his tools are rusted, his hair is matted. Zolf looks down and sees that Feryn is wearing his ring; since Zolf is also wearing the ring, Zolf realises that this isn't real. Feryn asks again if it's really Zolf, and he says yes; Feryn then asks what he's doing here and again states that he left. It's been a long time. Zolf latches on to that, and asks how long Feryn's been down here, without food. Feryn says there have been supply boxes, and states that Zolf looks healthy. Zolf tries to convince Feryn that this isn't real and that Feryn is dead, explaining that the rocks crushed him and Zolf took the ring from his hand, the only piece of him he could find. Feryn retorts that he doesn't think Zolf is real, and Zolf says it's a philosophical matter at that point. Zolf says he doesn't know what's going on and wonders if this is a sort of hell for Feryn, and Feryn interjects, again saying Zolf left him here, and that he said he'd be there for him. Zolf says he's sorry, but he's spent a long time feeling like that was true (i.e. that Zolf left his dead brother in the collapsed mine), and indeed that he still feels that way. Feryn again interjects, saying he doesn't care how Zolf feels, only what he did, and that what he did was leave him there alone, and that Feryn has been waiting in the mine to tell him that. Zolf says that what he did to Feryn was worse- that he killed him and wonders if this place is an afterlife or whether Feryn is just a reflection of his own psyche. Zolf agrees that he didn't come back for Feryn, and indeed did cause his death- that if Feryn's trying to guilt-trip him, he has to up his game.

Cel looks again at the skeleton. *CW for graphic descriptions of decomposition and corpses:* Despite being picked-clean bones, it is lying in a perfect reposed position. No animals have ravaged the corpse (dragging away limbs and so on), the sea hasn't washed the body into any ragdoll positions, there are no little sea creatures making homes in it and no ragged pieces of flesh, and no signs of disturbance on the ground that would signify putrefaction processes have been at work. The skeleton looks elvish and female, and looks like it's been there at least 60 years, except that in that environment a skeleton just wouldn't stay in that position, and is unlikely to have been there more than a week. It seems real, however. Cel is intelligent and is looking at this as an analytical problem. There's no way that in New Greenwich, as they left it, there would be an elvish skeleton in this situation, and they are not currently emotionally attached. There are a few people that died in the town 60 years ago, victims of the megafauna, but they wouldn't be here, now. Its almost as if someone laid out a skeleton for them to find. The skeleton, or the person that the skeleton was, seems to have been trying to make their way to Cel's lab. Cel hears a distant ringing of a bell further along the beach. Cel muses that 'Ma' (their mother) knew where Cel's stuff was and may have sent someone to loot the lab. Further along the beach, a wrecked ship (the source of the bell) comes into view. It is the ship that Cel's fiancee had left New Greenwich in. There are a few more skeletons near the ship. Cel is bemused, wondering why their fiancee would come back. Reaching the ship, they see that the skeletons appear to have been sharing a meal. Cel rubs their temples and tells whoever's doing this to them that they'll need more clues about what they're supposed to be feeling. It doesn't make sense that their fiancee would come back when they were fleeing the settlement, and they know that the ship didn't come back for a while, because Cel had stayed at the town a while to bury the bodies of those that had died there when the defences fell. Cel hears the sound of fluttering paper. A clue! Cel sees that one of the skeletons is slumped over a sheet of paper that they were writing on. Cel notes out loud that that's suspiciously convenient. They then say to themself that their fiancee had left, and begs to be able to believe that the group that left were OK, and not to have come back here. Cel thanks their psyche (?, or whoever's doing this...) for the clue, and berates them for dong this, knowing that Cel's curiosity won't let them stop. The writing on the paper appears to be ciphered. They recognise the cipher as one that they used to play around with with their fiancee Haley. The writing appears to be a diary entry:

*"Day 37. Still no sign. I have to keep looking."*

Hamid is stood, surrounded by the static audience, being watched by his disappointed sister. She says she's surprised Hamid's here, that he can show his face. Hamid is very confused, but gets the feeling that things aren't quite real. He asks her where they are and what the last thing that happened was from her perspective. Aziza throws it back in his face, saying that if he doesn't remember the details, it was clearly unimportant to him. Hamid says he doesn't think they got here from the same places and that they might be somewhere outside of time, or in an illusion. He goes up to the stage at Aziza's request, and notices that all the audience members are in fact mannequins. He tries to open his bag of holding, and it doesn't open- this tells him that he's not on the material plane at least. He tells Aziza it's really nice to see her again, and that from his perspective she's dead, and that he didn't ever think he'd get to see her again. She asks why she's dead, sits down, and indicates that he should sit by her. Hamid keeps trying to be loving to her- asking how she is etc, but she just says that from her perspective, Hamid is the reason she's dead and that (i.e. the guilt) is probably why he's here. Hamid says no, her death was the worst day of his life, and she scoffs back. He says he did his best to save her, and that trying is all you can do sometimes. Aziza isn't impressed, saying that he still failed. Hamid insists that one shouldn't berate oneself for the times where one's best isn't enough. Aziza attacks again, asking if Hamid's over her, and he rebuts that he thinks about her every day. Aziza starts crying, saying that if he cared that much he should have done more. He responds by putting his arm around her and hugging her.

Azu recognises the avenue she's walking up, and it's Roman, despite being bigger and more ruined. She comes across the chamber that had the gate spell, although there appears to be no gate there now. There's a short figure there, but they haven't noticed Azu. Azu calls Grizzop's name, and Grizzop turns around, and says "Oh. It's you.". Azu asks what he's doing here, and Grizzop asks the same question of her. She surmises that she's not dead because Aphrodite isn't there (and Grizzop would be with Artemis). Grizzop retorts that he's here nonetheless, and that Artemis is with him. He picks up his bow, lights it on fire, and shoots it between her feet. Azu picks up the arrow to check it's real. Grizzop reminds her that, since he's good at what he does, he's always managed to talk to Artemis (i.e. even in Rome); Azu's connection with Aphrodite, on the other hand, isn't as reliable. He states that he can keep calling on Artemis in this place because he has faith; does Azu? She replies that she does. Grizzop, scoffs, saying that if she's had faith, maybe she wouldn't have let go of him. Azu says that's not fair, and Grizzop disagrees, saying that he's trapped in this awful place now, because of Azu. Talking about fairness is pointless because they're both trapped here; maybe Azu just got what she deserves.

## Quotes

**Helen**: "My total number of hitpoints is now 89, so, Nice plus 20."
―Discussing leveling up.

**Hamid**: "He- hello?"
**Mean Aziza**: "You bothered to come back then?"
―Hamid tries to greet the figure of his dead sister in the theatre.

**Zolf**: "How am I wearing this [Feryn's ring]?"
**Mean Feryn**: "How am I wearing *this*[Also Feryn's ring)]?"
**Zolf**: "Well yeah, I mean that's... that's my question"
**Mean Feryn**: "Let me put it another way: You say I'm not real, I say you're not real. Where does that leave us? I'm saying you left me."
**Zolf**: "Philosophical is where it leaves us."
―Zolf argues with what appears to be his dead brother about which one of them is real.

**Feryn**: "I don't care how you feel. I care about what you did and what you did is you left me here and you did not do what you said. You said you had my back and you left me here alone and I have been waiting for you so that you could come here so that I could tell you that."
**Zolf**: "Feryn, I did more than that. I killed you."
**Feryn**: "Then how am I here?"
**Zolf**: "I mean- Yeah, exactly the question here is: Are we in an afterlife? Are you, I dunno, a reflection of my own psyche back on me? But everything you're saying, yeah, it's true. I didn't come back for you and I caused your death, like, if you're trying to guilt trip, you gotta up your game." (*Everyone laughs*)
**Alex**: "Fabulous."
―Zolf is unimpressed

**Hamid**: "This will always be one of the worst days of my life, losing you was-"
**Mean Aziza**: "Of *your* life!?"
**Hamid**: "-awful, but I didn't let you die, I went up, more or less solo, against one of the most powerful wizards to exist and he took away my ability to act. This- I wish something could have been different, i wish so much that I could have done more, but I did the best I could."
―Hamid tries to be kind to Mean Aziza, who is blaming him for her death.

**Azu**: "Grizzop?"
**Mean Grizzop**: "Oh. It's you."
―Azu sees a familiar face.
## Dice rolls & mechanics

### Leveling Up

Alex says that it is a 'soft' level-up, so spell slots are still empty and new spells are unavailable until the party rests, but more passive improvements take effect immediately. The party are now level 10.

* Hamid: Hamid's Will save and base attack bonus have increased by one. He gained a level 5 spell, lightning arc; his spell specialisation feat has been switched from fireball to lightning arc.
* Skraak: Skraak has gone from level 7 to level 8. Bryn has re-jigged some of Skraak's skill allocations and Skraak's Reflex save and base attack bonus have increased by one. Skraak has picked the rogue talent combat trick to gain the feat Death from Above, this means he gets bonuses to attack rolls if he is dropping on an enemy from above. Skraak has 50 hit points.
* Zolf's Will save, Fortitude save, and base attack bonus have increased by one and he has gained a second daily level 5 spell slot. He has also increased his rank in Knowledge (planes). Ben also notes that he had previously thought that channel positive energy was Wisdom-based, but it turns out it's Charisma-based. This mean that Zolf had been assuming 7 uses per day, when actually he should have only had 2 per day (Zolf is high-Wisdom but low Charisma). This does change the tactics the party might have used in Shoin's dungeon, but ultimately it wouldn't have changed the final outcome. This also means that Zolf has already spent both of his channel positive energy uses today in Yerlik.
* Cel's Reflex save, Fortitude save and base attack bonus have increased by one. They have also learned the level 4 alchemical extract beast shape 2, to allow them to become more kinds of animals. They will also have fewer problems in the dark as beast shape 2 can grant darkvision. (Due to their possession of the level 2 extract alchemical allocation, they can also swish an potion around their mouth and spit it back into the bottle once per use of alchemical allocation to gain use of that potion without using it up, meaning they can cast high level spells using a level 2 extract slot, as long as they have them in potion form.) They have also achieved another discovery, making all their bombs sticky, on a direct hit they will deal extra splash damage on the following turn. They also have access to heroism, a level 3 extract, after having seen Hamid cast it. Lydia says Cel is a fan of Hamid, hence having previously bought the elixir of dragon breath for use with their alchemical allocation. They also have new skill points, many of which went into Knowledge (nature). Lydia also mentions gaining the class feature poison immunity but as a beastmorph alchemist, Cel would instead gain greater beastform mutagen.
* Azu's Will save, Fortitude save, and base attack bonus have increased by one. She now has 89 hit points. Azu now has access to one 3rd-level spell slot per day, and will probably use it on prayer, but could also give Topaz wings with the spell sky steed!

### Episode

* Fortitude save, purpose to be revealed later: Zolf (22), Cel (Nat 1), Azu (17), Hamid (13), Skraak (11)
* Will save, purpose to be revealed later: Zolf (32), Cel (8), Azu (23), Hamid (17), Skraak (18)
* Reflex save, purpose to be revealed later: Zolf (15), Cel (17), Azu (23), Hamid (23), Skraak (18)
* Alex confirms that in those saves for Wilde and Sumutnyerl there was at least one Nat 1
* Zolf makes a Perception check to get his bearings: 29
* Azu makes a Perception check to get her bearings: Nat 1
* Azu makes a Will save for summoning Topaz: 24
* Hamid makes a Perception check to get his bearings: 34
* Hamid makes a Spellcraft check to cast dancing lights: 20
* Cel makes a Knowledge (nature) check: 35
* Cel makes a Perception check on the skeleton: 24
* Cel makes a Linguistics check to decode the cipher: 24