The players explain their characters and the GM outlines the starting city. Then... the adventure begins!
Knights of the Night
KotN Actual Play Podcast - 148 Numenera - Serenity
[Music] Hello, and welcome to Nights of the Night actual play podcast. This new Monera adventure, Sandscape, was written and run by your GM Scott. [Music] And now, please enjoy episode 148. [Music] Titled Serenity. [Music] Actual play begins 9 minutes, 16 seconds. [Music] We'll cover some feedback before we get into the first actual episode of the new Monera. Facebook on episode 147 are a new Monera world creation. Taylor McClorg said, "As I mentioned in previous comment, I recently wrapped up on Apocalypse World campaign with my own group. And Apocalypse World is along with Burning Wheel, my system of choice. So naturally, my ears immediately shot up when I heard that you mentioned that you might give Apocalypse World a try in the future." Did we say that? I did mention that. It's not like you regret saying that now? No, I said if we were ever going to go back to Dungeon World, I would like to try Apocalypse World instead because it's the place where all of these derivatives of that come from. And I think... How did you listen to that today? You said that. I did. We haven't done some post apocalyptic in forever. Probably the biggest mechanical difference between Apocalypse World and Dungeon World, based on what I heard from Dungeon World on this podcast, is that the class moves are much more fleshed out in Apocalypse World. For example, the only time that I remember any of the class moves being used in the Dungeon World campaign was the first session once Scott's pal then used the "I Am the Law." Actually, he had a lot of times throughout the adventure, but yes. To get attacked, mostly. Which, by the way... They really got cowed by it. They just all attacked me instead. Which, by the way, is a direct port from the Touchstone's powering presence from Apocalypse World. And when Jared used wizard powers to send the Mantis Man home and rewrite the memories of the Imperials in the final session apart from those instances, the special class moves either never came up or weren't memorable enough to stick in my head. Option number two. Option number two, it didn't stick in his head because it wasn't Jared who did any of those things. I did. Those were all jobs. Those were the parts. The part. Sorry to interrupt. I had to do some magic. Do you want to hear? In Apocalypse World, however, the class moves have much more weight in them. This allows for much more customization of character. A gun-lugger, for example, with the prepared for the inevitable move, which allows him to serve as a combat medic, plays very differently from the gun-lugger with the blood-crazy move. This increased customizability, in turn, lends more weight to the advancement system, as gaining new moves can meaningfully change the feel of the play. Additionally, the class moves can help fill in the holes left by the general system. In particular, social interaction is much less mechanically problematic. As the basic manipulation move is reinforced by an array of special class moves, the Skinner's hypnotic, the maestro's finger in every pie, operator's reputation, the touch tones, visionary, and the choppers, hack, alpha, etc. Overall, I think it's a much more complete system, and I hope you guys will give it a try sometime. Just drop a line and I'll be happy to share any experience that I've had. I actually feel kind of weird saying that, given that I am 20-something. It was only gotten into role-playing games for a few years, where many of you have decades of experience. I don't. Actually, two of our players are 20-something's in the game. Have had decades of experience. That's true. I started doing role-playing at a very, very young decade of experience. That is true. Stop whining that you can't read. Just play. Just roll the dice and I'll tell you what happens. Yes. But I don't think it matters how long you've been playing. You've played it longer than we have, so you win. Any advice you have? That would be great. Joshua Grasco also mentioned, "Wow, Earth Dawn. I haven't heard about that in a long time." But it sat on my shelf with no group to play with. Another one I would love to hear KLT and tackle is Amber. And I enjoyed the dice list system a great deal. Amber Dice List, and you never heard of it. There's as many physical looks around the table. Amber is not like Amber. Yes. Series Amber. Yes, it is. It is exactly like that. You got an iron princess of Amber. There in Merck T. I also had a comment. He said, "D&D 3.5 is not miniatures." When you run 4E for two months, 3.5 becomes the best storytelling game ever. Just no more combat oriented stuff. Secondly, you caught my attention with new manera. Seems I'm already getting curious. Though I had a bit of distance from Money Cook Productions since the Money Cook World of Darkness, which I call Mackwood, because it's MC. Right. Well. Last dreadful question. Does Mike want to run a game for you all? Or do you guys keep him from running upon the themed game? Boy, you picked the wrong day to ask that question. Cheers. Cheers. Light out about a lot. Well, to be fair, Mike has run. Yes. Several adventures. He just has chosen not to release them. Actually, one since we've been podcasting, which he has now-- When I was going to modify to release when I lost the source code. One that you just happened to lose a source code for. I went looking for it and I was going to try to do something with it. It was-- Yeah. And I even had an idea to drop in some narration and edit it as almost a recounting or retelling of a story from the past or something and try to work in a modern version or a current version of the game with everyone playing to what happened as flashback events that you guys are building up from. It would have been a little tough only because when you ran that, our sound's equipment was much worse. It was much like the first-- It would have been-- You would have been going back and forth between-- And we were layering we had all sorts of music playing. It would have been for obvious flashbacks because it would sound different. Well, that's what I mean. That's how I was going to work around that. For our listeners. It was a world of darkness, actually. Mike ran a world of darkness, which I don't think a lot of our listeners would guess that it would have been. Was it based in the same world that was at college? It wasn't based in the same city, but it was in Ohio. It was a world, but it was a college town in southern Ohio. Yes, it was Dominion University, and I was thinking of revamping that I also have an idea for Dresden, involving the current characters for Dresden, minus Ellen. So, behind the mic eventually. No pun intended. I'm just afraid of comparing to the awesomeness that is Scott in town. No, please. One quick thing I did want to mention is Luke Green, one of our listeners, has a kickstarter. So, I'm going to throw that out on our webpage, and I'm going to also include the link in the show notes. It's Divine Blood, which is his setting that he's creating, and he's looking for money so that he could purchase art for a book he's writing. But he also, in the kickstarter video, talks about a role playing game and other things that he's created in an entire universe. So, give it a listen, and if you have a chance and some extra money, feel free to donate to it. And other than that, we have a few tweets from Twitter. Santa Gurman said, "What the fuck is a Ravage Bear?" Ha ha ha, that was the best moment. Great podcast, by the way. That was actually Thomas, who saw that. Wow, those ones. It was under your breath. Mand Mjolnir also said, "You're not the only one who is a bit wellmed by Dungeon World. It's a polarizing game." Mmm. Mmm. We also got a tweet from Tandy, who is from the Dice Heroes, and he said, "Whoa, D&D 4th Edition was a flop." Then it's fighting words. "Do you really think you can't play 4E without a grid?" Yeah, I really did. Yes. I really do think you cannot play 4E without a grid. Is this a reveal of that? Unless you have two players? No, no, I don't care how many players you have. No, maybe two players just didn't give a fuck, like, one in the game. No, into the fucking game. Everything about the game is movement, and hexes, and facing, and whether you're touching. No, there's no way you can play without a grid. It cannot be unless you modify the game. And if you modify the game, if you modify the game, you're not playing it anymore. You're playing a different game. So that's everything. No iTunes reviews. But I kind of died down on the Amazon link, but anybody who wants to can visit kotmpodcast.com. It's on the right-hand side, and we appreciate the help, and then we'll get on to the Nominera. This is Scott. This is the first chapter in the Nominera story, "Sand Swept." With me on my right is? I'm Tom, and I'm playing an intelligent Jack who hauls at the moon, and that's a character who's a Jack of all trades. I'm actually thinking about playing a female character. I'm going to do Howl at the Moon, which is a type of character that can change into a rare creature. And I'm going to base it on a Ravage Bear, which I chose because there's no wolves. There's no bears that exist anymore. This is billions of years later. Yeah, you know, I was reading one of the states or countries or whatever, and he's like, they prey on deer and antelope. And I'm like, wait, there's deer and antelope, but there's not bears and wolves? What the fuck? The wolves and the bears might still exist, but I decided I want to go with something that was more definitely Nominate. I think at the beginning they say, we may talk of bears and deer and whatever, but they're just like a log. They perform the same thing. There's some crazy air diversion of it. So I like the fact that they're both blind and deaf. Why do you like that? Because it gives a limitation to the character. It's not just a mindless killing beast. It's something that has limitations. It's a blind mindless killing beast. Well, that's even more dangerous, but it provides interesting role-playing. Right. But also, it had in the flavor that they are very protective of their cubs. And if Mike and I are going to be playing siblings, then I'm the female. I'm the mother bear protective of my younger brother when I'm in that form. That's right. I will never in this form harm you again. In the beginning, that's how you became. But I also want to, I chose intelligent because I want my character when she's not in bear form to be not strong at all. But I'm very intelligent and a thinker. A Jacqueline Hightoke situation that Scott mentioned in the previous one. But when I wrote my character, I've got as my ciphers. And one of them is a friction-reducing gel and it comes in a spray. [laughter] Yeah. You guys are growing up. It's a snicker here. And the other was a flash bomb. And then I get an oddie, which is one item from a previous era, but it's basically useless. And it's a small musical box. When you open it up, guys show up, they play music. And we decided, Mike and I, that this would be an item that I'm actually just going to give to your character. So this is something that you can use to call me. Even though my bear is deaf and can't possibly hear it. Vibrations man, though. It's either the vibrations. Or the sight of it. Or just the sound of it reaches the human inside me. Not the bear, but the human, and that's what brings it out. I'm treating the sonic vibrations or the... You're amplifying it to try to... Yes. I think the vibrations of the music are what reach you. Okay. Then let's go with your character next. What is your character? I'm playing Bosco or Bos, depending on you, if you know me well. I think I like Bosco. Then his full name is Bosco, but he goes by Bos. And he is a tough glaive who fuses flesh and steel. And the reason why he fuses flesh and steel is that his sister Tila, in one of her earliest transformations, if maybe the first one, tore me apart. And... I got you. Through the quick action of our father who has since gone missing for reasons that we have yet to discover, he used some type of noumenera or technology to fuse nanotech to me. And therefore, I'm part-flash part-steel. I work with Tila and we stick together as a family. I feel obligated also to kind of hang around to help protect other people from her changes every full moon. I'm pretty much a warrior who has kind of helped protect the family business, which is a caravan, a very small caravan roaming the cold desert. And some of the cool ciphers that I have are a detonation web, a sleep inducer, and a hoop that sharpens blades. So... It's cool for glaive. That's a detonation web. The last one is an oddity, yes? The last one is an oddity, I'm sorry, that's correct. Yeah, the detonation web is kind of like a grenade that explodes into a net or a sticky web that kind of restrains or contains people for a short time. Okay. Your character's focus is mainly butt-kicking. I would consider, yeah, I'm a glaive, so I'm pretty much a warrior type. You are only glaive? Yeah, but I think in this one it really doesn't matter. We didn't really specify the age of our characters. I assume I'm 23 and you're younger than me, so I must be 26. Sure. I am Jim and I'm going to be playing a character named Eshman, who is a mystical nano who works miracles. He believes that he will someday be a god if he lives long enough to be there. Why does he believe that? I'm wondering what makes him think he's going to become a god. Like, what is the psychology that makes him think that that's even attainable? There's not that many people that really have a lot of superpowers. Kind of like we do, we're supposed to be rare. Right? Sure. And then it's even where he figures for people to be able to affect other people with their powers. A lot of people, stuff is internal, stuff they can do for themselves. Okay. But I can actually change the way other people want to feel. I can hurt them or heal them. And he feels that this is part of being a god. He doesn't really know. That's been given to him from another god? And he thinks he's going to ascend someday? He has no idea. He's trying to figure that out. He's a young man who's got these god-like, what he figures are god-like powers. And people have told them that this is stuff that is pretty rare. And so he thinks why not try to be a god? He just thought it would be a good idea to try. He figures what harm can happen if I try and fail or whatever. Okay. He figures that it's anything's possible in this crazy world. So he's going to try to become the first or the god. Because he doesn't see gods really interacting. So he's stuck in leaving the life everybody tell him that. He knows that in the world's past supposedly some of the people may have ascended or become gods or god-like. And he wants to see if he can do it. And ever since he's been concentrating on doing stuff like that and looking to change himself and be eternal, that's when he started to get some of this nano stuff. Okay. So it's worked on him so far. And he believes he'll get more powerful, the more he goes out and learns. He knows that. He needs to learn more about the new manera and nano stuff to help open up his abilities and... Can't you go ahead and heal? Isn't that why he was worshiped to begin with? Yes. I thought you came from a village and you were healing people and they thought that was where I was. Once I learned to heal in the city, I knew that people with powers in the city sometimes disappear or get recruited into the military. So he was trying to lay low for as long as he could. So you're from serenity from the city of serenity? From the city. I've been running around trying to just help the common man who's staying on the low on the authorities. Do you have a cult here? You know, and he's just starting. He wants to start at an occult and get people to follow him and stuff. But at the same time, he doesn't want to draw too much attention himself. He's thinking this is not the city to do that then. Probably true. He got some cypers. I got this little metal ball that, if I push a button, it turns into an instant servant. He'll do some things for me. He got liquid speed, which I know is like a red bull or something. And I have an x-ray viewer. So I got those glasses with little swirlies in. Except it works. He's on the back of the magazine. He actually is the bird. He's the one there. Oh, and my oddity is a paper-making machine which shoots out one piece of paper a day that he's going to start using to keep a journal. I also have a connection with Thomas' character Felix. I suppose that I might have had him help with him sometime. It's sometime in the past. He healed him. When he got hurt, maybe, in an exchange for protection since he's not super strong. So now he thinks I'm the mystic god that I think I am or will be someday. Oh, sick. My character is 19 years old. Young man. I'm John. I'm playing a character named Sig. He's a mutant human, a nano, who can talk to machines. His mutant ability is a physical attribute, a tail, that sprouts behind him. Like four or five feet long. It's pretty hard to hide. Yeah, it's pretty big too. And that's the downside because many people are against prejudice against mutants. And don't take kind of them. But his positive mutation is that he can detect new manera. He has a sixth sense for it. He can hear it whispering or worrying. As long as it's on. And he uses this to find and talk to machines. Does he have the ability to filter? Not so great. If there's a lot going on at once, which is uncommon in the wilderness and around. Most of the world has a fairly spread out or in concentrated wealth. The more powerful it is. We don't have much, but trinkets. He couldn't make any sense of this skill until Sig met the young priests. And he joined their ranks. He trained in key for a while. And after that, some politics ran him out of town. And he began traveling east, which is where he wound up in the cold desert. He was fixing a new manera that lowered people into the below. I think the city's cold. It's called serenity. Yeah, but the lower part of serenity is the below. Yes. This put some slavers out of work who manually had slaves hoist up and down these structures. So they rigged it and it collapsed and he was blamed for it and was thrown into prison. And that's where he met up with the group. He's been hanging out with Bos and I've helped him in the salt mines to maintain his mechanics. I've been able to apply my trade as that and that's how I met up with this group so far. Sig's slavers are a stim pill, which increases the difficulty of any physical activity by three steps. A force nodule that adds +2 to armor. A retaliation nodule that adds +1 damage that goes through armor whenever people strike me. It's supposed to be electricity, I think. If that matters to any particular enemy, my oddity is a scarf that defies dirt. You can plunge it into mud and it's amazing. It's also indestructible. And your connection to other characters? My focus talks to machines allows me to add later tiers, befriend machines. I have to have an ally on my team who these machines do not respond positively to. And I'm going to pick Bos for that. He's half machine. Yeah, he's half machine. They're jealous of your connection with Bos so they don't want to interact with him? Oh, they're human real man. They're just incompatible. How about that? Talked into a half machine. Talked into a full machine. This is magic. Maybe the guy who built your implants was a guy who also talked to machines. Yeah. It's his father, isn't it? I don't think so. His father knew a guy who could do it, right? I don't remember since I was unconscious, so I'm not sure how my new manera got inserted into me. So it was pretty cool. Me neither. Mmm. Okay. Hi, do you want to go next to me? Yeah, I got it. Okay. I'm Michael playing Nina, uh, stealthy nano, who exists partially out of phase, which means I can pass through things, walls, and apparently not energy. I guess maybe that's how I was held captive. Energy wall around me. Sure. At least at this level, I'm not sure. Or just nowhere to go. Could be two. Where are you wandering around? He's going, okay. Go back here. Go back to yourself, young lady. Yeah. There's no way out. We can't go back before the chemical properties of salt prevent, uh, electronic transfer or energy transfer. Isn't sodium somewhat, uh, electrical in some sense? It's an electrolyte. It's an electrolyte. It's an electrolyte. It's an electrolyte. Oh, that's it. It's a salt, man. I didn't like that much salt. The taste was overwhelming. You know, when you walk through the wall, you get the taste. Yeah. Your history is a bit mysterious. I'm going to say she's young. I'm not sure exactly how young. Quite young. And street smart. Is she legal? Well, on this road. Yeah. Good point. [laughter] She's got two cyphers, one's a sub-dual feel. Which prevents hostility for one minute. Is it on one target or is that an area? It's an area. I think so. Yeah. And a mental scrambler. Where victims cannot speak. Same kind of area effect thing. And the oddity I'm carrying is a circular stone plate with a face that appears to speak. What cannot be heard? It speaks to me. Okay. I hear, Dan. It speaks on another dimension. So she's probably out of phase. She's not even here, it's a political point. You have great conversations. The connection between your characters. Yeah. I think I'm going to go with SIG if that works out as far as explaining how to control my face. Where did you say you came from? The steadfast. I'm thinking she's been here for six months. Making a fair living, working in the streets. I came here only a month ago. Being stealthy. All right. I'm Thomas. I'm playing Felix Elintarius. I'm a strong-willed Jack who hunts with great skill. Pretty much everyone else has some magic ass powers. I just taunt with great skill. I'm the best hunter. There are everyone's. That's definitely what my character would claim. Are you like some bastard son of a noble with a name like that? We do wear nobles at one point. It hasn't come up yet. It's been a long time. We didn't even come from here. I've lived in Serenity for quite a while, probably the longest time except for Jim because he's lived there his whole life. Young, 25. Did you yourself move here or did your family? This is my family. Because my dad was in with a bunch of gangs. They've always been here. As far as you know, right? As far as I know. I've traveled around a lot though. I often escort people through the desert because I know how best to survive and I'm paid for such work. I also find things in people, which is my job as a hunter. I take work from just about anyone. I've worked for the police. I've worked for gangs. I've worked for people who just want to find something. Do you snipe people you find or you just find them? It depends on what I'm being paid to do. I have sniped people I've found and I've brought them back. That's what I was thinking. Maybe you did is snipe somebody I didn't like. Maybe the guy who I maybe wanted a paper machine? I'm sorry. His Messiah wanted me to assassinate someone. Well, he was needed healing. I said, "I'll heal you as long as you go over to this guy and you just wound him for me." So that way he'll ask me for healing and I can trade him healing for something I want. You are the most questionable Messiah I've ever met. Felix is small. He's short and he's tiny and he doesn't look very muscular or very threatening, except for the fact that he carries a crossbow almost as big as he is, made of white wood with some gold trims. It's old as hell. Do you have a name? The crossbow? It does Gabrielle. Cool. Yeah. It's also a little too big for me to use easily. So I also carry around another crossbow. It's got a crank on it. It holds five shots before I need to reload it. Its name is Otto. It does not look fancy. It looks like I bought it at the street vendor. But because that's where I bought it. All right. My ciphers are a ceramic sphere that, if I toss down hard enough, will shatter and then explode in a matter distortion field. And a ring that I keep around my finger that when I inject people with, it's got a little needle on top. When I inject people with it, it's a poison that then explodes. I'm happy to use either of these because they're one of you subjects. This is an explosion. It's a brain. Yeah. When it gets to their brain. It does 10 damage that is aneurysm ring. But it also doesn't take armor value into effect if I remember correctly. It explodes in their brain. My oddity is a magnifying glass. It helps me look for things. That's all it does. My connection to another character is I once hunted something and then they saw me not catch it. I believe we decided that I was paid to hunt down Nina who was going on not exactly a crime spree but they wanted you found. It's here, sir. I found her. And I believe we decided completely by accident. And then left her go because she was alright. I was then arrested. She was fine. She was fine. That's much better we're in because it implies exactly what happened. In your head anyway. Yeah. And then I got arrested for failing to bring her in. Alright, nice job of character descriptions everyone. This adventure, which will be called Sand Swept, will take place in the cold desert which is in the southern regions of the 9th world. Specifically, it's going to take place in a city of our own design called Serenity. An unusual city even by the standards of the 9th world. First off, you have what's called the below. The below is the town proper. It's anywhere from 20 to 40 foot below the surface of the cold desert. It was carved out by obviously a very advanced, yet ancient technology that made it a maze of warrens and corridors, streets, bizzars, living units. It's all mixed in together, made out of some unknown material that still holds up through the eons and makes for the streets and the avenues and even the units, the housing units and the businesses of the below. So this is, it's called the below because above are three platforms which hover at different altitudes above Serenity. These three platforms are known as the mirages. There's three of them. They're known as the three mirages. The lowest of the three, which is named our father of the mist. This platform is circular, probably somewhere around a half mile in circumference. It resides probably around 500 feet above the desert floor. So it's some 500 feet above the part of town known as the below. And what's really unusual about these floating platforms in general, certainly this one in particular, is the idea that they are lush, overgrown and tropical. They're just teeming with life. They are a jungle paradise or even like an oasis perhaps in the desert. The first one, our father of the mist has a holographic visage of what looks to be a male reptilian creature hovering about maybe a quarter mile above the platform in air. It's three dimensional. And out of his gaping mouth pours a huge waterfall that comes down and lands directly in the middle of that first platform, that first mirage. On this first or lowest mirage is really of the upper class. It's the business section of the upper class where the below is a teeming caravan city with markets and bizzars and all kinds of caravansaries. Just all kinds of life that revolves around trade. The first of the three platforms is actually again something that most people in the below have never been to. But it has a great deal of the more service oriented businesses that would be necessary for the three mirages to exist. So you have a lot of upper scale markets and parks and there are certainly some stores up with clothing and weaponry or fashion. Things that would be appealing to the upper class, they reside on this the lowest of the three mirages, our father of the mist. And then approximately a half mile above that platform is the middle platform known as Hard Lady of the Fountain. And this is the middle of the three disks as I've said. It's also the largest. It's become more or less the residential disk of the city's upper and upper middle class in royalty. The disk itself is again maybe instead of the half mile in circumference that the first platform is, our father of the mist. Our Lady of the Fountain is more about three quarters of a mile across. It's a relatively sizable 50% larger than the one below it. And again, it's blessed with an abundance of sculptures and public art left over from previous civilizations. This is again the place where they live. The vast majority of the upper class live. So here you find parks in recreation. You'll find schools. You'll find some very upper cross businesses that aren't on the lower platform. Hanging about a quarter mile above this particular platform is the visage of a beautiful alien female. And she, much like our father of the fountain below, her mouth is opened and out poor waterfalls at three in particular. But from the height that you're looking at it from the below, you can only see it as one. It pours out from her mouth and again, lush, tropical, warm. Just everything the cold desert is not. On top of that, the highest of the three mirages is the Messiah of the First. It is the smallest of the three platforms, less than a quarter of a mile in circumference. It resides about a half mile above our Lady of the Fountain. On this highest platform, you would find the elite of the elite. You're looking at palaces, incredible parks, artwork that is of the highest quality. There are palace guards and honor guard. It is basically where the royalty of the city, the visier himself, lives on this uppermost mirage. And again, this mirage also has a face roughly a quarter mile above it. And that face is androgynous. It is neither male nor female. It is alien like the other two, vaguely reptilian in nature. And water also flows from this visage, this holographic image as well. So, there you have the three, the three mirages that float above the city of serenity, specifically above the area of serenity known as the below, which is of course a somewhat derogatory term for those on the platforms, but has been embraced by the population, the teeming population of the vibrant city underneath those platforms. The access to the second and third platform are highly restricted, and it's just not something that is possible for an ordinary citizen of serenity to be able to travel to those locales. Around the rim of the below, so on the actual desert floor, as opposed to below it, is an area of the city of serenity known as the rim. And up here, there's many businesses that cater to caravans traveling through the area that aren't going to be lowered by the huge slave platforms that lower the massive caravans down into the below. Up at the rim, you have businesses that are basically tailored to or focusing on servicing those caravans passing through. Again, for caravans that are stopping perhaps for some feeds and water for their caravans and for their aneans, which are the pack animals of the southern desert, the cold desert. But that is what resides around the rim of the below. So, probably the most unique feature about serenity besides the three massive teeming jungle platforms that float above would be the amount of mist that falls from these platforms. Obviously, three huge waterfalls cascading down into the below, you have a ever-present, cold, chill mist that covers the city. To the point where, as you walk down the streets of serenity, you really can't see more than 20 or 25 feet in front of you. You hear the muffled noises. You see these riotous flashes of color appear as you walk down the street out of the mist. These, again, these bizars, these marketplaces, these tents that open up as you round a corner in the mist parts as you get closer to the object in question. It lends a very mysterious air to the city because everything is cloaked in this ever-present mist, which is chilling and everything is consistently cold and wet, but it also allows to know small degree in the middle of a very dry desert, the ability for many of the people in the below and the rim area of serenity to have small little gardens that they can tend to, where they can almost live off of some of the small things they can grow. So it does help the population as well as add this air of intrigue or mystery to the city since you can't really see more than 20 or 30 feet in front of you, even during a perfectly sunny day that would be otherwise in the cold desert. That mistents to dissipate as you get more than half a mile outside of the city proper itself, but for those of you who live in the city, you've learned to basically become accustomed to this cloaking crannus that just floats over the city. It's strangely beautiful and wet. Again, as the colors kind of appear out of this mist and these globes of light that hang in the air to light the city end up being these foggy orange beacons that kind of just hover in the air, but it's a very interesting city dynamic. And so that's the idea behind the city of serenity, and now we'll go to the actual adventure as you find yourselves in the below, but even in a place below that known as the tombs where the salt mines are, where you've been in prison for your various transgressions. Each of you has been down here for a period of time. Tila, you were arrested for Tila coming out of her shape-shifting form over a dead body. I don't think they know she's a shape-shifter. I think they know. Yeah, I was next to her body. I'm covered in blood and it's obvious. Right, but somehow I killed them. Okay, and the body definitely was fanged up. I believe in the description I am supposed to devour them. Okay, so they're partially eaten. Partially eaten. Partially eaten this is, but our statements, I was too evasive trained to protect her, so there's a thing much to get thrown in jail here. So, I'm just moved. We weren't as forthcoming. Half a corpse is enough. Right. So, about a month or so, you've been down in what we now call the salt tombs, or the deeps, which is a prison run in the below where you all found yourself stationed. And at this point, Tila's semi-anipanic because it's getting close to the time, but she can't get to her chronometer, which would tell her exactly when she's going to change, because they've taken all of her stuff away. Nor is the music box available to control well. And that leads us to, that leads us to Sig, who has been down here for about a month as well. You were down here because there was a platform that brought the caravans from the ground level down into the below. It was a large platform that was done by slave labor. You came through this town, you're not a citizen of serenity, but you are passing through and you fix that through your ability to work with machines and pissed off some of the slave owners who service us. You lie on those services to get paid and found yourself on the wrong end of some powerful nobles in serenity and found yourself thrown in jail. With my skill with machines, wouldn't they still use that though? Have I been used for slave labor to fix things around town? No, you've been used in the salt mines for the last month. Exclusively? Exclusively. They don't value your input at this point in time. I thought they would seize value. I didn't offer it. I mean, it's not going to get me out of here. Right. They either didn't see it or you're a mutant or the people who arrested you didn't give a shit enough to report it up the ladder for whatever reason you find yourself still in jail. Or maybe, would it be possible that because they were afraid of this losing their thing that they actually sabotaged it and framed you or blamed you for it? I could go either way. Okay. It becomes important. I like to sing out slave owners, but if I pissed them off and then they sabotaged and they're still pissed off, so whatever. Right. Which takes us to Nina and Felix. Felix, you were hunting, bounty hunting. Nina, are you a citizen of serenity? Yes. All right. All right. And so, I'm assuming that you don't belong to the approved because the grand vizier of serenity basically controls the underworld as well as most of the more approved services and government offices. Well, I'm not involved in any of that. If I were, I wouldn't be working for somebody like that. I'd be freelancing. Which is why they hired Felix, the bounty hunter, who again is probably also a serenity resident. Yes. Who's taken up jobs in the past, but he fell under the sway of the most charming and affable Nina and decided not to arrest her. Yup. Lie about it and then got thrown into the salt tombs. 14 days ago. 14 days ago. And then Nina was tracked down by a less formalistic bounty hunter. Harsh. Who was the real bitch? Yes. Who then incarcerated Nina about 10 days ago, which takes us finally to Eshman, who's been in here for two weeks. And Eshman, you refused enlistment into the city guard. It's a city state, so there's a small military. And you decided that you did not want to be involved as a field medic helping them with their various duties. Yeah. I heard about what happens to the field medics. Right. Now, were you a citizen of serenity? No, I am a citizen. Okay. So, maybe this town that you have is something you're just kind of coming into now, which is why they finally realize that you have this ability. I heard that whenever anybody attacks them or they attack anybody else from one of the other kingdoms or whatever, that they usually target the medics first, that they find out they're in the parties. Right. For obvious reasons. Gotcha. And then to flesh out the background really quick of Tila and Bosco. We had a father who was a traitor who went from city to city and he... Did he own a caravan company? No. He was on a smaller scale. He had like a wagon of his own. Okay. Was he a tinker or a... More of a tinker. Okay. Cypher's in... Yeah. But the, uh, a wagon over land trading company. Okay. But was it based in serenity? No, but serenity was on the route. We traveled to the area, so... Okay. You're from another city state or even a small village. The majority of our time we've wandered the cold desert. Yes. Some of the cities around here, but what a fun trade round. It sucks. We're surrounded yet again. I know it sucks. I live here. It's not the best. Are we right here? Where the city is? It's unmarked. Sure. Between... We're to the east of the fountain stones and to the west of Nailash. Okay. This is the southern atmosphere because as you go north it gets warmer. Yes. Yeah. Very cool. Okay. I've been to the field of frozen fun. I'm going to speak from the north. Okay. Our father also traded in produce like ice candles which are a favorite melon that comes from. Your delicacy of the cold desert if you look. Oh, the local ice peppers. Okay. So, yes, he dealt in produce, both ice candles and ice peppers. And was also a tinkerer apparently. He was a Jack. Sure. Your dad was absolutely a Jack. Maybe he didn't even realize. I learned that his knee. Or older. You just don't know about his past. And he's the reason why I'm in my condition because after I was mauled by Tila, accidentally of course. The tinkerer you into. I got, he put some noumenera in me that caused the whole using of the flesh and metal. And it's a process that's ongoing. Is dad, is dad still alive or is he? Don't know. We don't know what happened to him. Yes. He's missing. And it's the reason we were traveling around looking for him. And that attack on Bosco was the last time I ever harmed Bosco. I would never hurt him. Until this story. No, I can't. It's in my character. I'm actually in your character. I can't. I'm not hiring him. And anyway. Okay. So I got that going for you. Yeah, at least I got that going for you. So after working in the salt mines for several days, weeks or even up to a month for some of you, you find yourself pulled into a separate room. Different people walk in at different times, obviously they grow. One person that is gathering you, his name is Dre. He's an older guard. He's probably in the 60s or 70s he has thinning white hair in any way friendly. Yeah, he is pretty friendly. He's after feeling in a way, you know, his muscles are after thing. He's got that one. I am all over Dre saying, I need my stuff, Dre. You don't understand. This is important. I need my stuff. Somebody's going to die. Okay. So Dre is probably your main jailer, if you will. He has. He's the one you see most often. Certainly our ships because they don't, you know, 24/7, but Dre of the guards, he's probably the one who you've all come to know the most and he's come to know you the most. He'll talk about his daughter occasionally who he relates to you that she died actually here in the salt tombs and he had to watch over her, which is partially why some of your pleas Tila are falling on deaf ears is because he fears that if he gets thrown into the salt tombs, he will absolutely die. He seems relatively friendly, but he's not going to go out of his way to jeopardize his own wife or career. I don't like to tell people where you lie. I mean, I don't. Right. People lie, but I'm trying to convince him to do something illegal. So he's never going to do it. Right. He seems more sympathetic than the other guys. I mean, you would have been bringing up the other guards because they don't. He's not a grandfather like Buddy. Yeah, but he's still a company man, he seems to be, but I'm just trying to edge out of him if he knows what's up, what's, you know, what's the catch, what's going on. Right. He tells you that occasionally there are people down here, because eventually you'll all get into the room. He fetches each of you in turn, doesn't matter who's first or last unless you want it to, but you're all in this room. And the last person he drops off, he says, yeah, yeah, I just got news from above from the Marajas that, you know, you're wanted. The Marajas being the three platforms above the, I was thinking of the faces. You're talking to you now. That's, that's what they call the three platforms, the three Marajas. He just knows that there's someone has sent a message from the Marajas saying that they, you're wanted for an audience. This does happen sometimes. What do you guys do? He, he says to you that, you know, people who, who show strength and who don't buckle under down here tend to get summoned for a chance at their freedom. So he's happy for each of you in a sense, you might have an opportunity to get the hell out of here. What does his system work here, is he considered a slave or is he an employee? He's an employee. But if he does one thing wrong, he's just one step away from being, I'm just saying. He's definitely an employee. He has a weapon. He has a uniform. He gets paid a small salary, but is he free to leave? If we ever strike it rich, could we come back and save him as well? He is, I mean, he lives in the below. So he doesn't live in the, yeah, he is free to leave. If he ever really wanted to, he'd go walk out of town and just book and just say the hell out of this. If he wasn't 70, he'd be caught and tracked down and then murdered horribly. Yeah, probably. That's not free to leave. That's my money. It's not free to leave if he was tracked down and murdered. Well, yeah, but you were, I'm sorry, I thought you meant by free to leave. Like, does he, does he live in the salt tombs? Like, does he have a residence here? That's not the case. And that's not the case. He has a home. He has a wife who he's told you about many times, Marta. And he and Marta have carved a little life out, you know, for themselves in this city of serenity. But his sad story is he didn't lose his daughter down here. And that's something that he regrets not being able to save her or do anything to help her. And so you can sense a lot of regret in him for that. But at the same time, he's not going to get your stuff because his wife is going to be hanging by the gallows tomorrow if that's safe. Are the citizens of this town able to leave if they want to? Not the ones that are locked. Well, I can't. I get that. Right. Yes. The citizens themselves are able to leave if they want to. It is a trading town. If they want to and have the means or the government hasn't deemed them important enough to make sure they don't leave. Right. Well, they've done that. They're arrested. There's probably some people of skill that are not really detainees good and they are detainees. It seems to me that pretty much in this world that if you step outside the boundaries of a lot of these cities, who knows what the hell is out there and what's going to happen. Yeah. Or get killed by some random whatever. Yeah. So the ab humans in the cold desert are fierce and so it's dangerous out in the roads. If you don't have, I mean, your father being a good example, if you don't have some sort of armed escort, and for many times you too were his armed escort and maybe even another sibling who might have died protecting the family business. I was tough before I was. So yes. Even waiting in the room, he tells you they're going to be summoned to the mirages and he's just waiting for the orders. So you're talking amongst each other. You probably saw each other on the line, meaning working the line, which was digging salt out of the earth. How's salt? Can we get cleaned up? Yeah. What's the water for? Actually, the water is so you can clean yourself up a bit to make yourself a little more presentable. He apologizes that he's not able to provide soap or a change of clothes or whatever, but use the water, clean yourself up a little bit. I stop mid-gulp. All right. Cleaning? Oh. Okay. We have more of this. Well, it's a pretty big bite. And there's some large ladles there that you can kind of pour in. There's like a little wash and a little indentation, you know, in the ground, a little basin, if you will. Drain. Drain. That is in the floor. I'm just grumbling about how much I hate salt and how I'd never want to eat salt again. Yeah. And just underneath your fingernails, it's in your eyes, it's in your hair, it's coated in it. It's very hard to get clean. Six suffers a little from this. Salamanders need to be wet and his tail is just a giant. Dry up. Yeah. Shrews a little. Right. I'll stay lean. Straight up. You certainly have some water now to be able to. That's fucking gross. So he kind of rolls on the ground when he dripped it through the drain, trying to rub off as much as he can, which he looks a bit self-conscious about, but what the fuck are you going to do? Meads must. So without anything major happening here, maybe 30 minutes passes. If one cleans up a bit, makes themselves a little more presentable, although there's only so much you can do with some water and having not bathed. And I think the minimum right now is 10 days for Nina and up to one month for some of you, which means there's, again, not a lot of-- Right. Our sackcloth is sagging. Yes. And he's able to get you a new rucksack. Yeah. Spicidads. All right. And he will, more of the time, unlock your manacles so you can change. There's no privacy, so you just got to do what you got to do. Everyone kind of averts their eyes if they will and-- Yeah, nothing to hide. Really? Wow. You are a shiver. It's nothing I haven't seen a holy mackerel. What the hell? All right. Gentlemen, turn around. Everyone, turn around. Go ahead. You can change. And protect your wheelchair. Okay. Yeah, you're a big guy, so the women can hide behind you if they want to change. So eventually, Dray-- Well, she's half a serial anyway, so-- Yeah. She just waits until she phases out and then changes and then phases back in. I don't appear to give a shit. Okay. Fair enough. So clean up as much as you can. You are then led from the holding cell, if you will, to a much nicer-looking room, which has on the firewall of it five-- what look to be tubes. There's metal, like a half shell type of metal above it, a half shell type of metal below it. And there's a large tube that's probably about three foot wide or so. There seems to be a metal or some type of metal that you might not recognize, but there's some type of metal right about chest level for most of you. And in that seems to be the holographic image of a hand. And so as you walk in to this room, which is bereft of anything, but these five tubes, a small desk off to the side, which there's another guard that you have not seen in the prison as of yet, sitting at the desk, pouring over some notes and some papers. He kind of looks up for a second and then looks back down to his papers. Looks to be maybe in his mid-40s, very robust looking. It looks like he hasn't been here that long to be-- is beaten down as someone like Dray has been. He mumbles under his breath to Dray, are these the transfers? And Dray says, yeah, they are. And he's like, each of you go up to the teleportation tube, put your hand up to it, door will open, go in, turn around, face me, the door will close on its own, I'll take care of the rest from here. Everyone understand it? I start doing it. When he said, put your hand up, he didn't press your hand against it. So you do this first, doesn't work, flip the hand over, there are six of us here tonight. Who's the one who waits? I'll wait around. I want to check these out. Oh, I'd go first. Well, actually I think that. Well, there's five tubes. And six people gone. And six people. I don't want to leave my sister behind. That is Sig, John's character that is waiting to see what happened. So each of you put your hand up to the, absolutely, to the metal plate. Yes. Okay, you feel some warmth to the touch. You could actually see a color move around, like almost kind of emanating from your hand like you're transferring some sort of biometric feedback to the plate. Now, once you do that, you feel a slight buzz in your hand. What do you do? I'll take my hand off. Wait, wait. I'll take your hand off. So you take your hand off a little bit. What is this? I'm not a very trusting man. Does anyone else take their hand off? Painful. No, it's just a slight. Are we encased or? No, no. You're on the outside. It's a tube. So it's facing towards you. You know, it's kind. We could talk to each other. See each other one. Do you want to? Yes. Yes, convex tube. You can all see each other. There's no tubes. There's a metal plate right in the middle. You put your hand on. You see some color kind of emanate from on the plate, from your fingers, from your hand, as if you're kind of transferring some kind of warmth or touch or some biometric feedback. There's a slight buzzing after about three seconds. You remove your hand. That would be Felix. Felix. The other four of you. I'm going to use my hand on there. Leave your hand. Until it tells me this. Because everybody told me to put my hand on there. It's not painful. I'm leaving it. It's not on the thing. I'll take it from there, right? I am looking at... That's not good. See? See? I am looking at Sig. Like, he knows these kind of stuff. What is this? Like, question. How I execute people. But let's look at it. But I'm sure they change functionality. Yeah, I'm kind of looking at him like, is this okay? Because as I know, he's good with machinery. I have the ability to identify them in a hurry. And I'm going to try to do this. All right. So I'm looking at him like... Yes. You look towards him. Waiting for him to, like, shake his head. No, because... But I'm holding it there until he does something. Right. Felix, you're to... You hear a slight hissing noise and your tube attacks... No, I'm kidding. Right. Why did you tell me? Your tube then slides open so that there is... You are now facing the concave part of the back of the tube and you can step into the actual three-foot chamber inside if you want. In the meantime, as everyone else is holding their hands up, you take a look. At the eye gestures of Pila is kind of imploring you to, "Hey, what's going on here?" And you take a look at this Numenira. So go ahead and tell me what you're using. You have the Numenira skill? Yeah. But that's all I can do. I can't really run up and touch it because they've all got their hands in the past. You cannot, but you can look it over and see if anything you ran into in the past, right? Yeah. You can go ahead and make a rule. You can apply your Numenira skill. Do you have a specialty? Yeah. All right. So we're going to remove one step from it for that reason. Are you going to put any effort into this? Are you just doing a basic search? Yeah, I think I might be about to die, so I'm going to do that. Fair enough. You're not done with it. So you go ahead and you can modify one step by spending three intellect, I believe. Two, because I have an edge. You have the edge, or an edge, excuse me, of one. So that takes it down to two, so you spend two intellect, removes a second level of difficulty. Okay. Okay. So I now know what your role is that you want to know, your target, excuse me, thank you, and go ahead and roll. Whatever. You go to 19. That's a minor effect. Minor. You have heard quite well, actually, and quite often of the phasing devices of Serenity. These are devices that are well known on the mirages, the platforms, as the devices people use to teleport from platform to platform. Some of them look different. Some of them have different styles, but there were literally, from what you remember, of the stories you've heard in some esoteric conversations with another tinker or an eon priest that there were hundreds or even thousands of these phasing devices throughout the three platforms, the three mirages, and that it was a common source of mode of transportation, if you will, and then they were moved about all over the city once the city was inhabited. So there are these devices in the below as well. And obviously, this is a set of them in the prison to move guards and prisoners to various locations. That's what I tell them to. All right. It appears to be a teleport. On the up and up. So usually... So I just nod and get the... It's okay. So the fears are supposed to... Yeah, and you might want to say to them, because you, with a 19 or a 16 or whatever the hell you want. I'll catch you up. No, take your hand off. Keep your hand off. Do that. Yeah, also. Which the guard did not tell you. The fucking guards. So, the five of you go into the phasing tube. Right. I'm sorry. You explained that? He just said, I said, I look over at him, he nods, like it's okay, and then he's like, you know... Yeah, take your hand off. Motioning, pull your hand off, and I do. And your phasing tube opens, as does everyone else's who does that, you step into the interior of the tube. I glance to be assuring like a boss guy. It's okay. It's okay. I'm fascinated by integrating with the technology. So maybe I'm focusing. Right. So everyone is in the phasing tube. At that point... You'll spin. No, the guard who was at the desk lifts up the top of the desk, and there's actually some type of control panel underneath. And he starts fiddling with the desk or the controls underneath the desk. You each disappear. Thanks for listening to Knights of the Night actual play podcast. Visit kotnpodcast.com for more information on this and other adventures, where you will find character stats, photos, storytelling, props, and even a forum for comments and suggestions. Or you could email us directly at feedback@kotnpodcast.com, or contact us via Twitter, or leave a message on Facebook. All music for this podcast was created and performed by Zen Audio Smith. If you'd like custom professional music created for your podcasts or business, please visit zanaudiosmith.com and please join us next episode for more Vistry and Adventurer. [Music] Watsy. WOTC. W-O-T-C, Wagon Overland, Trading Company, Wagon Overland, Trading Company, Wagon Overland, Trading Company, Wagon Overland, Trading Company, Wagon Overland. Okay. So, you're from another, from another, it's Easter egg, I'm sorry, buddy. We're going to test later on, I'm going to spray friction, yeah, the lubricant on myself and then he's going to hit me with the web bomb and we're going to see which one is more powerful. That's definitely wise, it's definitely a complete waste of sight. I would rather you spray the lubricant on yourself and then you and Michael's character can rustle. Yeah. You're a dirty old man. That's the kind of guy I can get behind. He's a dirty young man, unfortunately it's going to be in front of his job. Okay. Just think of Tom Bosley. That doesn't help, I don't know who that is. It has nothing to do with that, it might actually have something to do with that because I have no idea. I just don't know popular culture. It's all popular culture.