EPISODE I: THE DUST OF WARLORDS
Sahara Desert, thirty km SW of Mourzouk
April 19th, 1893
The evening air is still yet cool. Your bodies are awash with sweat from the hours of hiking it took to reach this forbidden place.
For nine days, Second World magazine has had you positioned in North Africa, undercover dredging up a story of the region's nomadic tribes. You've garnered some amazing photographs of Berbers, raiders, and reddish dust storms. It's been a sweaty, turbulent ride, but educational.
However, it is not why you are really here.
In the dead of night, you stole into local estates, paid off old men to comb through libraries buried underground, ancient parches pages written in Latin, Arabic and Greek. Somewhere in those pages lurked the key to a mystery. A foreign enigma. An extraterrestrial presence!
Long ago, aliens secreted themselves on Earth. Everyone knows about the blue-skinned Lunite warrior women. Some even live on Earth long after their race left the Moon. Jovians, whalemen from Jupiter, invaded and were defeated over a decade ago. But the Lunites left clues, clues that not only did they have more influence on the history of mankind than they admitted, but that there were other beings here in the past.
Theo Mason, owner of the magazine, bird lover, obssessor of the bizarre, has spoken with the Lunite warrior MG'latsoh (MEG laht-so, lit: 'remember crystal) on her deathbed. She spoke of a chalice used by the Lunite empress BH'neepht during the time of traveler Ibn Battuta. She said the empress travelled with him, and fought the Bedouin and Berber and more.
Her final words, "...on...chalice...map of...the Zerestry...to Battuta"
Zerestry: The Lunite term for an astro-geographical map. If found, and utilized, it would possibly pinpoint the location of Lunite artifacts, maybe buried orb ships, and other alien species.
So here you are, in the dead of night, clues gathered, librarians paid off, hush hush...in the desert. After wandering, you come to the ruins of a Roman city. columns jutting out of sand, a viper slithering off into the dark. Here, the Chalice of Battuta lies, supposedly (according to one text) in an iron chest beneath the ruins of the coliseum seats to the northwest. Daunting?
Perhaps. But you've got shovels, maps, water, and paranormal talents no one else possesses.
However, on arrival, standing atop hill of sliding sand, you notice an obstacle.
A campfire in the ruins. Shadows of men. Sounds of digging. Others are already here.
Did the librarians talk? Was someone eavesdropping on you conversations back in Mourzouk or Be Abbas?
Too late to worry about now. The only real question is...
...what do you do?
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Comment
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Comment by William J. Jackson on May 2, 2018 at 12:25pm
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Glad you arrived, Rooster! How were exams?
We have one more member coming, once he clears the Welcome hurdles. The Laughing Owl will make this a trio...
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Comment by Professor Wilbur Sterling on May 2, 2018 at 12:12pm
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Okay sorry it took so long for me to get caught up, I had exams.
Anyway Rooster appears behind the group with the sound of squeaking leather. When they look at him he tears off his breathable biking overcoat, and drops his heavy hemlet on the ground with a thud. "Dirt bike my toe," he grumbles "never ride a steam powered bike in the dessert!" he nearly spits out the last word angrily. After a moment he seems to calm down. "Any word back from the scouts yet?"
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Good idea, and you'll need to make a roll based on SNEAKY.
However, let's give the good Prof. Sterling some more time to catch up. Also, I invited another player, so someone may show up in the next few days...
Whenever you make the roll, Captain, take the total and add it to your SNEAKY and post it, along with whatever narrative description comes to mind.
Difficulty: 1
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Comment by Captain on May 1, 2018 at 5:56pm
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Since no one else is speaking up, we are burning moonlight, and Kaspar gets bored easily; I am sending my smallest, scruffiest, least lovable teddy bear to low crawl around the ruins, spy on the diggers, and report back to me.
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Also, SCENE ASPECTS: Darkest Night, Within the Roman Ruins
What are scene ASPECTS? Things which can be used in your favor by spending a Fate Point if you figure out how (EX: "I want to surprise my for. I will roll Sneaky and spend a FP on Darkest Night to get a +2 because he can't see me."). Conversely, enemies can use a Scene Aspect as well. Works both ways. Also, some work for/against all (EX: Flash Flood).
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Yes, you and Rooster. No other players yet. Maybe down the road.
As this is Play by Forum, take the time you need to compile a list, and you and Rooster can choose what you bring. In the story, your characters prepped for this (I wrote hiking, but just using a term). Feel free to note what you've got. Horses. Camels. Steam powered aerowing. Knife. Blunderbuss. Et cetera.
Ruleswise, Fate doesn't give a care about individual gear. You can simply roll to Create an Advantage to simply say you already had what was needed. Mechanical snake? Kite? Doesn't matter. What does is if it fits the character and the roll is successful. Then you decide.
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Just Rooster and myself?
Apart from a bag of marbles (I am sad that marbles do not work well in sand) I do not have a list of random toys to work with. Honestly, I did not anticipate this locale but I would tend to have enough toys in my pack and pockets to make my fellow travelers roll their eyes. GM - please provide a semi-random list of 19th century inexpensive toys to get me started. I should have already drafted a generic toy list but since I forgot it would feel unfair to do it now.
Otherwise, I am savy enough to stay unseen and in shade while I feign a lack of interest in what my other party members are doing. BTW - how did we get here? Horses? Camels? LPCs?
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