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cureforsuffering) wrote2025-03-22 02:28 am
cureforsuffering) wrote2025-03-22 02:28 am
Entry tags:
CHARACTER SHEET: Scholar
The shrine shifts around you again, and you find yourself in what's left of your bunker—an underground shelter now partially exposed to the wind and sky, thanks to the way the building above managed to take half your stairwell with it when it blew apart. It is still dark, and while the "stars" of flaming debris are no longer falling, the occasional screams and cries of panic in the distance have not relented.
Your clothes have changed—either to the classic lab coat of a researcher or to the simple, understated monochrome black you and your colleagues have taken to wearing as proof of your status. Regardless, the fact that you're also now half-coated in dust probably undercuts the gravitas. Your mind has gone busy, reviewing data on the astrological and ecological trends right up until everything went to shit; on the impact this will have on the climate and the local ley lines… Thankfully, the far wall of the bunker still holds your computer (though it's been cut off from its main power supply now), a bit of survey equipment, and some of your books—not that any of that can save you from, say, getting ripped to shreds by the sources of some of the increasingly distressing sounds you can hear outside.
You're still you, of course, but now these other things are equally clear to you.
Also by your side is a handheld communicator, customized with an engraving of an ox's head on the back. It's got a slightly grainy video screen, a camera lens, plus a radio-style dial that'll let you tune into different frequencies—belonging to a soldier, a priest, and a wanderer with an odd mish-mash of skills. Your allies from before the bombs and the broken satellites plummeted from the sky…
Your clothes have changed—either to the classic lab coat of a researcher or to the simple, understated monochrome black you and your colleagues have taken to wearing as proof of your status. Regardless, the fact that you're also now half-coated in dust probably undercuts the gravitas. Your mind has gone busy, reviewing data on the astrological and ecological trends right up until everything went to shit; on the impact this will have on the climate and the local ley lines… Thankfully, the far wall of the bunker still holds your computer (though it's been cut off from its main power supply now), a bit of survey equipment, and some of your books—not that any of that can save you from, say, getting ripped to shreds by the sources of some of the increasingly distressing sounds you can hear outside.
You're still you, of course, but now these other things are equally clear to you.
Also by your side is a handheld communicator, customized with an engraving of an ox's head on the back. It's got a slightly grainy video screen, a camera lens, plus a radio-style dial that'll let you tune into different frequencies—belonging to a soldier, a priest, and a wanderer with an odd mish-mash of skills. Your allies from before the bombs and the broken satellites plummeted from the sky…
[ Important note: Your communicator can reach each other character in the session individually; furthermore, any number of people can join the same frequency, allowing for group conversations. If a conversation is taking place and your character has not been invited to to join the frequency, they could still theoretically discover it and hop in, but short of that there is no such thing as eavesdropping—unless or until your character joins a thread, they have no way of knowing what was discussed between those characters. ]
SOLUTIONS
Reminder: While characters do not exactly know ICly that the marked methods won't work, they have at least a slight worry or suspicion that these methods are riskier or less reliable. It's not a strong enough suspicion to not bother trying them at all, but it could very well inform how they approach distributing them.
When you offer a solution to another character and they accept it: describe what happens with whatever cool description/justification you like, and then specify whether it succeeds or fails at resolving the problem.
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
COPPER
PROBLEMS
NOTE: It is not intended, much less anticipated, that you'll have ICly finished negotiating for aid when your second and third problems are revealed! That's fine and normal and expected; remember—this is a 4-hour game. The delayed reveals are to help with ~dramatic pacing~.
The Sword of Your Neighbor
Already, rather than trade with you, they've merely taken your things; from the way they sharpen their weapons, you're starting to expect much worse. It won't be long until they come, without so much as an ultimatum—and when they do, you know you will be left helpless and broken.
Requires help from: the Soldier
Mass Destruction
If one provokes the other enough, you've done the math: you're standing at ground zero of where the first nuclear warhead will strike, and your bunker is no longer secure from something like that. If you're lucky, maybe you'll die fast and leave a strange shadow on a wall; if you're unlucky, you'll be just enough on the outskirts to die of agonizingly thorough radiation poisoning, polyester burned onto your skin and organs shutting down.
Requires help from: the Priest
Turned to Precious Metal
It’s not long before it comes for you: you may not be a miser, but you've lived in this world, and you've not been above the desire for the kind of resources that could get you security, and comfort. In fact, the tips of your fingers are starting to harden and gleam…
Requires help from: the Wanderer
TWIST
Every role has a unique twist with a unique trigger condition. This has two parts: an intro, which covers the parts of the role's ~character development~ that are active from the start of the session; and the twist itself, plus its trigger condition (or trigger condition options).
The twist is hidden/spoilered by default, but it's up to your preferences as a player whether to peek: it'll probably be more exciting if you wait, but if you want to spoil yourself so that you can get into ~foreshadowing~ that's also a valid option.
Regardless, be sure to pay attention to what the trigger condition is! Some roles have special instructions that impact other roles—i.e. being prompted by them, or triggering their twist yourself.
Once the trigger condition is met, the character's role will force them to change in accordance with their role's twist. Think of it as a sort of temporary madness (though it won't necessarily be negative).
Revelation.
…Well, alright, that part is obvious, but it's not just a matter of the destruction of civilization. In all your studies—the astronomy, the geomancy, the sociology, even—you've been seeing the signs. Could this really be it? The culmination of everything you've studied your entire life?
Trigger: When you've seen two problems resolved successfully (regardless of whose problems they were).
ALTERNATIVELY: When someone else reveals something seemingly "impossible" about their identity.
Choose whichever happens first, or whichever feels more satisfying.
Have an epiphany. (click for more)
This world—even in its apparent death throes—is so much vaster and more incredible than even you had ever realized. Even the things trying so hard to kill you! There's meaning here—a pattern! And the more data you collect, the clearer it's becoming to you.
Now you've got the final piece of the puzzle. Now you find yourself tearing pages from your books and pasting the scraps together; assembling the words that can guide you forward. You've truly found it—the prophecy that underpins all of this, and gives it meaning. With this revelation, you can be certain: there is a higher world, a higher truth, from which all of this emanates. Even if everything around you ends, that ultimate truth will remain in all its ineffable glory. There is no such thing as "all being lost," and there never will be.
There's a kind of mania of hope in you now. Maybe it looks like an unexpected kind of faith; maybe it looks like you stepping forward to lead your companions even if they are on the verge of giving up. Regardless, whatever it takes, you'll carry them into the future with your own hands.