Session 11

Currently I’m pretty heavily caught up with the idea that I’m only getting access to one perspective here.

I can’t tell whether Elk’s being elevated above the rest of the people in this world just by virtue of the fact that I’m pulling him through this experience.

Conversely I could be putting him through undue danger with the consequences I’m laying out.

I really only have the one data source for the time being, so context is impossible.

Maybe it's the weight of the stakes this guy holds that’s got me arbitrating his actions like this.

-Gamemaster

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Arm rental 19 - (1d4) 2

17 filigree remain

Accretio’s bigger.

Their sudden expansion seems to have lodged shafts of shattered scaffold into the spaces between mountain ranges.

There’s a curl of heavy smoke pluming from under them. Volcanic glow emanates from every opening on them.

They pulse with an agitated discord.

How does my arm feel?

Still a bit numb, but functional.

I’ll sling my way up on top of Accretio, trying to snap out my arm like a tongue and grapple up.

Dreadcoil snap-tongue (body 1d8)

6

Vs

Accretio’s exterior

Short distance (environment 1d4)

3 +

Permanent talent: grapple short distance (1d4)

3

You can now transport yourself short distances with your hook arm with no difficulty.

It comes naturally, actually.

You pick your preferred spot near the bow of Accretio’s shell, and the arm snaps out with precision. You course through the air for a moment before landing comfortably.

The space you’ve become familiar with has expanded, and your view past the rocks at the shell’s apex is a little more obscured.

There’s a piece of old scaffold that has survived and wedged into a relatively level platform a little higher up.

I scramble up and peer down.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I ask them, “Were you trapped or something because of that steering wheel I put on you?”

There’s a familiar rumble throughout the shell that you haven’t felt since entering Port Orbital. They speak:

“We were held static. Your rudimentary but effective enchantment would have failed given time. The transformation would have been more dramatic.”

They speak at a slightly quicker clip. It’s not as tied to the seismic pulsing of their physical structure, more ephemeral and freeform. Still bassy and deliberate, but the cadence is less restricted.

What’s the little city look like?

Its borders have expanded. The pieces themselves haven’t gotten bigger, but there are more of them and the plate itself has grown. The intricacy of the binding and structural elements that affix the platform it hovers on has developed, and the depth of the white light that comes from it has intensified.

You gaze into the structure of the little model city and after a moment, the pieces conform themselves to be a rough approximation of your surroundings. On your right, the steep incline you fell from continues for a ways. Ahead of you the elevation seems to rise steadily but slowly and the dense plant canopy lessens and allows some light into the forest floor.

This is all depicted with small beads of differing colors of marble that coalesce into a relief map of maybe a hundred feet around you. You can see a small depiction of Accretio as they rest here in this bog.

“Can I still get you to go where I need you to?”

“My concern for our direction remains arbitrary, even if yours has shifted. Simply make your intent known and I will move.”

I want to interface with the little city. I dab a little of the rust toxin that's coming from my hook hand and draw a little line from the miniature Accretio on my map in the direction I want to go. Uphill toward the clearing.

Actualize a User Interface for travel:

Rudimentary

(1d6) 4

Clean and serviceable + (1d6)

6

Intuitive and advanced + (1d6)

2

Total: 12

Vs

Part 1 - Portable Orbital Board (1d6)

2

Part 2 - Godbeast incorporated (1d12)

11

Part 3 - rust toxin conduit (1d4)

4

Total: 17 (5 carry over)

I want it to be able to track things. If I feed something to Accretio, I want to be able to see where more of it is, and stuff related to it.

Added function: tracking node (1d8)

4 vs. 5 (carry over)

Accretio quickly begins to trod up the mild slope, crunching through loose rooted swamp trees as they do.

The pathway you’ve drawn lights up within the little city, and several legend icons appear to give you further information on your surroundings. The rust toxin you used to highlight the walking path dissolves into small motes of shifting energy, then into a little icon of a dreadcoil spring toad's face among the legend markings.

There are several smaller versions of the same image at the peripheral of the map’s view, denoting the locations of more of these creatures in the nearby area.

You find you can manipulate this interface without further use of rust toxin as the conduit. The swivel of the map is adjustable and you can alter the scope of the map to show the immediate area in higher detail.

After a spell of navigating Accretio in this manner, the forest cover gives way to a chest-height wall of stone, and a cobbled pathway a long time out of maintenance. At first glance you see mundane buildings comprising another section of occupied city, but as your glances settle into appraising looks, you see the natural topography of a heavily wooded forest, but the material of brick buildings, lamp posts, mailboxes, glass windows and shingled roof.

Not constructed, but naturally grown structures made from the pieces of civilized dwelling. Fractal patterns of stairways twist into grand flower petals, the cobble street turns to a babbling running river of gravelled white stone.

Your little city has a difficult time displaying any of this in further detail, as the incongruity and abstract nature of this place overwhelms the skeptic’s eye. It’s a jungle of architecture and a blasphemy to deliberate design.

Beyond this initial stretch of logic defying forest, you spot the iconography of the Guilds Position on your little city map. Glancing to its approximate depicted location you see a solidly constructed stone tower with a little outlook built into its top floor. It seems like a maintained outpost of some kind, a stark contrast to the bewildering struggle of chaos and structure in the jungle before you.