cureforsuffering | CHARACTER SHEET: Wanderer

The shrine shifts around you again, and you find yourself sheltered in the makeshift tent you constructed for yourself—a kind of lean-to made of tarp and scavenged rebar and what remains of a fallen bridge. 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. Nor will they.

Your clothes have changed to a tatterdemalion collection of patched and mended layers, topped off with the one fine thing you own—perhaps a shawl or vest, embroidered with a surprisingly skilled hand to depict a design of pomegranates, myrtle branches, and wings. There is a strange peace in you, despite the surrounding chaos: you have been helping people through the worst of life—including the parts of this cruel world that most would never have believed real—for so long already, after all. To aid them through this, too, feels right. Even if you die doing it. …And you may well, given how much out there now exceeds even your experience and ~~paranoid stockpiling~~ preparation.

You're still yourself (...aren't you?), but now you are also this: a second truth.

Also by your side is a handheld communicator, customized with an engraving of an eagle'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 the last three people in the world you might still be able to help: a soldier, a priest, and a scholar.

[ 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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All sessions have the same list of solutions, but each session has a differently RNG'ed determination of which will and won't work.

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.

FAIL: coordinates of nearby stashed emergency supplies
succeed: crafted protective talismans (you're always prepared, so you just so happened to have some nearby that your companion can activate…)
FAIL: "Ah, I remember this one." (that is: you've seen this exact thing before, and you can talk them through how to counter it themselves, no special tools needed.)
succeed: "It is no more." (that is: Call upon the true nature of the apocalypse, and will the problem out of existence. Trigger your character's twist.)

succeed: coordinates of nearby stashed emergency supplies
FAIL: crafted protective talismans (you're always prepared, so you just so happened to have some nearby that your companion can activate…)
FAIL: "Ah, I remember this one." (that is: you've seen this exact thing before, and you can talk them through how to counter it themselves, no special tools needed.)
succeed: "It is no more." (that is: Call upon the true nature of the apocalypse, and will the problem out of existence. Trigger your character's twist.)

FAIL: coordinates of nearby stashed emergency supplies
FAIL: crafted protective talismans (you're always prepared, so you just so happened to have some nearby that your companion can activate…)
succeed: "Ah, I remember this one." (that is: you've seen this exact thing before, and you can talk them through how to counter it themselves, no special tools needed.)
succeed: "It is no more." (that is: Call upon the true nature of the apocalypse, and will the problem out of existence. Trigger your character's twist.)

You'll start knowing one of these; then, at the 30 minute and 90 minute marks the other two will be revealed at random (i.e. have their respective comments unscreened).

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~.

Edited 2025-03-23 16:16 (UTC)

The earth is drying up; God has revoked the gift of water. Soil cracks, plants wither, the surface bakes hotter and hotter each day. You can imagine soon that everyone under it will dry to a husk.

Moment by moment you can feel yourself drying out; your skin dries roughly, beginning to crack and bleed at first across the backs of your hands and then everywhere else. Patches begin to flake off in sheets. If you don't solve this problem soon, you can imagine drying into a bleached, bony corpse.

Requires help from: the Scholar

The sky has darkened—the sun and all the stars remain hidden all hours of the day and night. Besides the disastrous effect on the ecosystem, the constant darkness is starting to drive people mad; they start babbling nonsense prophecy until they die of exhaustion.

You can feel the darkness creeping into the edges of your vision, also—strange images flicker through your peripheral vision, and waking nightmares replace your daydreams whenever your mind wanders. And just at the edge of what you can see is a light that feels like it's boring into you. It speaks to you. You can only keep yourself from listening for so long.

Requires help from: the Priest

Destruction of the environment and many species has created chimaeric monsters ready to tear apart humans and their civilization for survival—

—and they snarl at your gates next.

Requires help from: the Soldier

Instructions:
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).

Who were you, before you started wandering? You've never been able to remember, but also it's never felt like it actually mattered. Certainly not more than the places you could see and the people you could help. Why would you need an identity beyond those, as precious as they are? This world certainly is remarkable.

…But there's something prickling at the edge of your mind. With each new horror, each new portent, the feeling strengthens. It's becoming harder to ignore. Maybe you shouldn't ignore it any longer. Maybe you can't.

Trigger: When you use your UNIQUE SOLUTION, uttering "It is no more" to instantly save one of your companions.
Probably you won't want this to be the very first solution you use, and probably you don't want to save it for last either, but ultimately it's your call.

Remember and reveal. (click for more)

Oh. Of course. How could you have forgotten.

The light bursts out from around you—a mandala of sacred flame—and the wings burst from your shoulders, their feathers all in gold. (Possibly the changes go even further than that, and you gain three more faces: a lion, an ox, and an eagle.) Even on the grainy screens of everyone's video transmitters, the change is unmistakable—and that's not even including the sudden flare of light they might be able to see on the horizon. This is what you are, and what you have always been: a sacred creature, a piece of higher truth. A guide that will bring them all to the end that was foretold.

You know your purpose: to ensure this world ends. But by walking among mortals, you have accepted their fragility: whatever it is that makes you you, and not pure energy or truth or higher will—that can still die.
And still, one vital question remains. To these people—your companions, your friends—are you a blessing, or are you destruction?

Edited 2025-03-23 02:46 (UTC)

CHARACTER SHEET: Wanderer

SOLUTIONS

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

COPPER

PROBLEMS

Desiccation

Madness of the Dark

Torn Apart by Wild Beasts

TWIST

Remember.