Session 14:

If the most basic unit of gameplay can hold a strong enough shape, then that shape should echo through the entire design of the game.

If the moments are decided by a circle, then strung together they too will be a circle.

If the moments are determined by the shape of a well told story, then invariably the outcome will also hold that shape.

In this way, true uncertainty and chaos can test our heroes.

The creative act is no longer abstracted though contrivance and fate, but displayed to us raw.

Closer to the mind.

Closer to true communication.

-The Author

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Arm rental 63 - (1d4) 1

62 filigree remain

When we set out, I think I’d just get Accretio to follow the Woolings and the Silo.

Sounds good. You head out at first light through the well tread road beyond the outpost. A broad swathe of forest has been cleanly stripped and trampled, and the initial hours of the journey are easy and uneventful.

You see flitting shapes around the shoulders of this road, and following them for a moment you see they are painted plates, buzzing with small wire blades about their circumference, trimming back the dense foliage.

“I designed those.”

It’s Redarn. They’ve slowed the Silo slightly to match Accretio’s pace and trot next to them.

Hoppen is out on the little front porch that helms the walking hut, methodically producing small sketches of different aspects, limbs and features of Accretio.

Redarn is perched, resting on his hooves on the edge of the porch.

“These roads would be no good after a couple days with no upkeep. I call them ‘hatchets.’ They’ve been getting me all kinds of contracts. Can I join you?”

He motions toward the shelltop. The heavy steps of the creatures you ride hold sway the tops of them in a rhythm that every few seconds it would be an easy enough jump between the two.

I say, “If you can find some space. My platform broke.”

He launches off the porch and lands well enough on the shelltop, clambering a little before he takes up the same deliberate hoof perch on a slab of rock. It’s steep but he seems impossibly comfortable in his footing.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“This road goes on for another hour or two at this pace. The forest thins out from there toward the Wheel Ward. The old city buildings have turned themselves into a range of bluffs, canyons, cliffs and caves.”

What are you doing while you guys chat?

Probably just cleaning debris and broken wood bits off of Accretio. Trying to see if there is anything salvageable.

Seeing you busying yourself, Redarn does his best to assist.

“They say the lost Loom is somewhere in those twisted caverns.” He says to you in a quiet aside.

Tidy up and salvage operation:

Keen Eyed assistant (1d8) + Scramble (1d8)

13

Tier 1: Improve maneuverability across Accretio (1d6)

4

You and Redarn are able to scramble across the outer areas of Accretio’s now quite expansive topshell. You remove plenty of splintered wood and tattered bits of rope and canvas.

You also notice that some of the woodwork has been incorporated into the shell itself. There are some struts supporting rocky platforms, some footholds now supported by natural wooden steps and some convenient rope weaving in and out of a rocky wall around the back of the shell, making it possible to swing around the oven much faster.

Tier 2: Salvage adventuring gear (1d8)

2

Working your way further around the shell’s rear, you see some canvas sacks hanging from iron hooks that hang in a loose line above a wooden walkway that has cemented itself into the rim of the shell. There are a few lengths of rope in grabbable spools.

“I took the liberty this morning.” Redarn sees you notice the gear and small alcove platform. “A lot of it was already sort of,” he hesitates, “sort of already built in. Like the shell here just swallowed it up. I just threw some of our kit up and did a little finishing on the wood.”

Tier 3: Mineral Harvest (1d10)

3

Getting a better look at Accretio’s assemblage in this light, you get a better look at all the veins of different materials deposited within the striations of the topshell. You recognize the nature of them, as you’ve seen the contents displayed to you in the advanced interface of the little city.

What Accretio has consumed is materializing in these rock formations and they continue to grow and amass things.

You see Redarn take out a small rock hammer and sample bag. His eyebrows are raised.

“You ever try to work with any of this stuff?” He gestures to a shimmering vein of steel that looks eager to be knocked free from the shell, hanging in a fragile spike just above his eyeline.

I clamber to Accretio’s head “Would it be a problem to break pieces off of you?”

“The physical proximity of my makeup or the alteration of it is not within the dictate of my operating parameters. Material has either been consumed, will be, or will not.”

The two of you spend a while collecting samples of different metaminerals from the topshell.

Tier 4: Little City Integration (1d12)

8

Redarn returns to the Silo with a handful of sample bags now filled. He tips his fingers off a horn in a little salute and heads inside.

He gave you a couple of his Portable Orbital buildings as a little thank you. A little apartment building and what looks to be a multilevel parking structure.

As the thinning woods around you lets in more and more light, you attempt to incorporate these pieces into your little city.

The light emitting from the city pales and takes on a milky tone before these outside pieces are reduced to a rocky sand that slips through your fingers and dusts across your bare feet.