The Spiram of the Seer

"They will likely travel to the town upon their Skymounts, artifacts that fly through the air like a ship upon the sea. If they do not deviate from tradition they will send a large one to carry the slaves, and several personal craft to carry the Timmermen. It is likely that they will try to show strength and send a full delegation, that would mean 10 Timmermen. Two on the transport craft and eight on personal craft."

He turns to look at Carrick, "As to the teleportation device, I do not know why it ceased functioning. I have tried many times to get it take me back to the Timmerman fortress, but it will not. It will only work if there are two functioning devices and you know the destination codes for where you are going and where you are at. I can provide you all the information I have on them. I can only assume the fortresses device has been damaged or was powered down for some reason. Either way, the only way to make use of it is to be in the Timmerman fortress.

A rumble of thunder draws your attention to the south. It is at difficult to be sure what you are seeing at first, but it seems a small group of the black clouds has broken away from the large mass surrounding the mountains. Lightning seems to be arcing back and forth from a large cloud formation to several small ones that circle around it. "The Skymounts have been dispatched. They will arrive in the town soon. I must make my way to the village to greet them, or they will suspect trouble. You must make a decision soon."

Galen looks to his friends and smiles, "Only ten of them? I like the odds here. Once we beat them here we can head to their fortress and take care of this once and for all."

Pha chews his lip hearing the latest of the news from the Seer. His hands long since reverting back to normal run across his face palms first coming together in front of him palms together as he thinks. "I think the Seer is right in that the destination on the other side doesn't work because the other teleport device is broken or purposely powered down... If we can get the code it might be useful later on if we find another teleport device to get someone back to give the village information.
If the Seer goes to talk to them hopefully we can move during the distraction or worst case if a fight ensues." he states before shaking his head, "It may be only ten but that is the number they send to quill the village after so long when they likely know there will be resistance, they're either overconfident or measure on a different scale to normal people... I think we need to move carefully, facing them headlong in a fight ourselves isn't the best of options and you’ve seen firsthand someone with numbers on their side doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the greater threat. Us starting a fight will force the villagers hand in what they do, we have no idea if they’ll try and resolve things peacefully with the Timermen or try and keep casualties to a minimum for the village at this point. It'd be great if some of their numbers died in a battle but at the cost of how many from the village? Best case I would hope we could sabotage the larger transport craft with the help of some from the village maybe, that will slow down whoever they take back or at least let us know that among the one’s they bring on these kinds of meetings that are smart enough to fix things. Worse case a battle will erupt in the village with half or more of the village slain or injured. I do agree though if the villagers start a fight and we see an opportunity where one of the Timermen is injured if a fight breaks out we should try and isolate him and take him down, his craft will be useful in following the others back."

Pha knows the Seer has little time but he’ll see if he will let them know of the device’s code here and let him be on their way, they’d need to figure out where they wanted to be when this all went down as well… Pha would see if there was a quick way down if possibly besides falling when talking with the Seer. Pha knew his thoughts and ideas were all over the place... much like the story told to them after the Rite was done.

"I will fight with the rest of the village -- if we fight -- but I won't start one. We are capable -- but the foe seems unknown and has access to numenera we have never seen. I think it would be wise to be cautious about what we can do." Yaru will pay attention to Pha's query to the Seer and add the question, "Is there a place where we can safely watch and make sure that we can move to the aid of the village if there's trouble? This seems too far away."

Galen nods. Now that the anger of everyone hiding has worn off he begins to think tactically and logically, as Irving taught him to, "Yeah, we need a place that's good to observe from that will allow us a chance to intervene if it does turn to a fight. If it does come to that we will have to hit hard and fast to take them down before they can take to the air. Once they're up high I don't think we'd have a chance."

They will require that everyone in the village be present at the time of tribute. It would be difficult to hide in the village as they will likely search for anyone hiding. From the tree line you can see straight into the village green, where you can observe. Getting closer unseen might be a challenge though." The Seer pauses and thinks, "I don't want to force your hand, you are free to reject this idea if you want, but Pha might have had a good idea. You could avoid conflict in the village and offer yourselves, then work against the Timmermen once inside the fortress. It is a bold plan, with much peril, but it would save the village any turmoil, at least for now."

:::This is me just spelling out the options that I've seen discussed. You guys come up with the plan though. Totally your call, but making a decision in the next few posts would be cool. Hiding in the village is possible but will have a higher difficulty. Waiting at the tree line to see what happens will work, but you will be farther away so sneaking up with prove more difficult. Offering yourself as tribute (as it were) likely saves any violence in the village, but it puts you in the lion's den. All good valid plans, just different. And if a new idea strikes you by all means suggest it.:::

"I vote for the treeline or... for offering ourselves up." Yaru really doesn't like either plan -- he'd much prefer that his day was not this complicated.

"I'm with Yaru on the treeline, if there's too much turmoil in the village on what to do and panis on who goes some of us mixed in with the offerings voluntarily wouldn't hurt... they don't want all of us in the village in truth anyway." Pha lamented, "But we need to get moving regardless of which way we go..." looking to the Seer for the best way down.

Galen agrees with Pha and Yaru, "The treeline would be a good choice. Once we figure out what's going on in the village we can make a choice on how to proceed."

"I'm worried about Kylia. If what you say is true, there's little risk they'd take her, as she hasn't completed the Rite, but it has been many years, and they may not be quite so selective in who they take. I would feel better about watching from the woods if she were with us." He cast a worried look back in the direction of the storm, "Perhaps we should spring our surprise from under their very noses. They will probably see us coming when we charge from the woods and will have time to brace themselves or even flee. We could go back to the village and tell our loved ones to escape to the woods, and when the Timmermen arrive decide if it'd be better to attack or surrender. And if we attack, we should try to not let any escape alive."

He approached the Seer and asked, "Is there a transport pad in the village you can send us to? Or is there a faster way to return than climbing down and running? And what is the code to return here from the Timmermen's fortress?"

"I vote we wait in the village and offer ourselves up. We need to know more about these creatures if we are going to fight them. And, if we are in the village, we can keep an eye on the situation there first hand."

The Seer retrieves a small object from a belt pouch that had been hidden by his robes. It is less than the length of his hand, but slightly wider. It has a worn brown covering that seems to be some kind of animal hide. Inside are several sheets of stiff material. Symbols like the ones on the teleportation machine are printed on each page along with writing in the common language of Uncegilla Cove. The first page claims to be the Fortress Stronghold of the Timmermen. "This is a codex of the places known by me that have transport devices. My duties would not allow me to explore them, and I did not wish to draw attention to myself by being to active, so I cannot tell you much about the other places. I do know that there is, or at least was, a place in the city beyond the mountains. It is called The Temple. There the Timmermen are worshiped as messengers of the divine. They have cultivated this reputation in many areas beyond the mountains, but they are only men and women like us."

"As for a faster way, no. The Timmermen are mistrusting of the people. It borders on paranoia. They feared that left unattended the people of the aldiea would learn more than was desired and find a way to rebel. So they elected to use this place as their staging ground if need be." The Seer looks south again. We must hurry. There is a tunnel and staircase over here. It will provide us a quicker exit than climbing, but we must travel through the woods to get back. And we must hurry. They will be here soon."

As you descend The Seer stops and you see a door hidden in the inner wall of the Spiram. The door slides open at a touch from the seer. He disappears into the darkness within, then suddenly soft blue light sparks from a tubular ring near the ceiling. "I have managed to obtain a few items that may be of use to you soon." In the center of the room there are four crossbows and quivers of bolts 12 bolts to go with each. Then the Seer walks over to a drawer and opens it. First he withdraws what looks like a small knife handle, "This device creates a Monoblade, a 6-inch blade that can pierce nearly any armor." Then he gets a silver disk, slightly rounded on one side and four small spkies on the flat side, "This is a Phase Changer, once activated you will exist slightly in another realm, becoming insubstantial and immune to attacks form anyone not in the same state. But the user will also be unable to affect anything physically." Next a fist sized node with two metal prongs is brought forth. "This device can be attached to a melee weapon or worn over your fist." He demonstrates the strap. "On command you may use this Shocker to apply devastating damage to one attack." Finally, a black bag of shiny fabric containing six silver runes on synth cards. "Each of these runes can be peeled off of their cards and affixed to someone's forehead. When one of the bearers of a rune wishes, they may communicate with any other bearer through mental contact only, over nearly limitless range, for one hour."

:::So it looks like it is currently 3 to 1 in favor of the treeline plan, but I don't have a problem splitting things up. If one or two of you want to go in to town and others want to stay at the treeline. Carrick is correct in thinking Kylia and her family are in town, waiting for your return. And her parents would know they need to be in town if they don't want trouble with Timmermen even if she isn't a candidate. Nothing will be stopping you from getting back to the town, so I'm going to open a new scene thread. I'll leave this open for a bit in case there are any last minute thoughts before leaving. And if anyone wants to look up the cyphers I am giving you here this is the list: 56 Momoblade lvl8 Light weapon that ignores up to 8 points of armor; 59 Phase Changer lvl3 lasts for one minute; 77 Shocker lvl10 +10 damage on hit; 88 Telepathy Implant Lvl 3. Keep in mind the limit on cyphers. Taking more than your limit will cause a check for Cypher Danger. The Telepathy Implants only count once, not as six items.:::

Pha breaks down his Synth Egg pulling out the few meager items in the process before putting a crystal back on top and affixing something to himself, "We have to be quick about this... I've managed to cobble and find things in my teacher’s shop but some of these I can't see myself using." he explains putting a small Crystal nodule a distance away from the rest trying to move items a bit apart where needed. Pha shakes his head, "If I have time to prep and get close I would want to use the Shocker myself to try and take down one of them if there is a battle. If some of you really want to get close to Timermen this magnetic shield disc would prove useful… not only because it can stop metal from an attack but if it can be put into their larger transport device somehow it might start causing it to hinder its movement but it is dangerous if they realize what you’re doing. If used in concert with the Phase Changer maybe it could be more destructive..." he stated.

Pha also reminds others what happens when one carries too many numenera.

Giving up (free to the group the nodule lasts 28 hours I believe and I can post the actual stats if someone wants them) the Disruptive Nodule L2 I had since it needs to be on a Weapon, and the Magnetic Shield L3, using the Retaliation Nodule on myself and would like to grand the Shocker and a silver rune Numenera... Oh I'd like to grab a Crossbow and bolts since I'll be starting from a way out most likely.

Before descending, Kveit pulls out what looks like a set of matching mirrors with ornately carved frames. She sets one up on the exterior of the Spirum, at an angle that shows the best view of the approaches to the village from the direction of the Timmermen.

She activates the Numenera device as we all descend, so she can keep an eye on the progress of the Timmermen.

OOC: Freeing up a Cypher slot for the Monoblade.

Yaru looks at the collection and passes. "I'm good, thanks."

"Thank you for your help. I can't imagine the risk you've taken to go against the Timmermen as you have." He grabbed one of the crossbows and quiver and hefted it, getting a feel for the balance and weight. It was a bit different than the harpoon bows mounted on the ship, but he figured it operated under much the same concept. He also picked up the spiky disk, wondering when he might need to use it, but had the thought he could potentially give it to Kylia as a way to protect her while he was gone.