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The rest of the day after everyone left the relic on the coast was spent preparing makeshift camps, and settling in for the night. In addition, your villagers managed to create a map from the location of the relic, back to where you decided to make camp. It's not much info, but its a start.

Today marks the first true day of survival. Whether the villagers decide to work together, or strike each other down one by one is up to their respective village heads, whom they determined overnight. You're not sure the names of anyone, but sure enough five people, one to represent each village, have shown up today.

The relic meanwhile, remains as silent as it was when you left it. Icarus does not appear to be making contact with you today.

@fresh_out_the_oven
@PerforatedPenguin
@Petros
@Yummyfood
@WizzyCat

--Day 1 Begins--

Uros pulls on his chubby cheeks, grinning at the 4 others. A pair of sharp eyes hidden in his round jolly face darts from face to face.

@fresh_out_the_oven
@Petros
@Yummyfood
@WizzyCat

"You all, what are your names?"

Jim.

Because I'm that epic.

 Pinguis Mediocris of The Sagitta Pabulum looks around suspiciously at his fellow leaders. He strokes his salt-and-pepper beard thoughtfully. He knows that in a month, anything can change. Uros seems peaceable enough, but this Jim fellow is a mystery. Mysteries are potentially hazardous in this world and should be treated with extreme caution. He decides to answer the question, though only because a name could not be used against him in the long run.

"I am Pinguis Mediocris of The Sagitta Pabulum. I hope to leave this world without bloodshed, and I hope for all our sakes that you feel the same." His chubby cheeks jiggle slightly as he speaks. He wants desperately to go back to his village but knows that intel is needed.

Jim looks at all these chubby people in amusement. He himself is rather thin, and while he's not entirely proud of it, at least it's not a problem. He's smart enough to know that Pinguis' claims of being the peace-loving type could be entirely false, but decides to trust him... for now. 
"Personally I have no qualms with bashing you chaps heads in, except that your villagers might retaliate and there may be some point where I'd rather have you alive," he says with a cheerful smile.

A man with a long, unwashed mane of hair interspersed with small bones and beads smiles an incredibly wide and obnoxious smile. His smile consists of six yellowed teeth that almost seem white in contrast with his skin, colored and textured like old leather.

“I’m Ashko of the O’oee people. I hope the spirits are kind to all of you.”

After several hours, which some may say felt like days, of awkwardly staring at one another in complete silence, some of the villagers exchanged small talk to pass the time. Not much was learned on this day, but one of the five did nearly burn their eyes out by staring blankly at the sun for the entire duration without so much as a sound, so there was that.

The rest of the day is uneventful, and the night even less so.

The next morning the five appear once more. The relic today, as yesterday, is silent.

--Day 2 Begins--

Pinguis looks at his four counterparts. The one called Jim, despite the implied threat of yesterday, has not eliminated anyone yet, so he takes that as a good sign. The other two, Uros and Ashko, didn't seem interested at all in violence, though they could just be charismatic. The silent stranger from yesterday is still an undetermined risk. He decides that he will keep attending these meetings until any aggression arose, in which case he would stay at his camp to guarantee that he isn't collateral damage.

 "So..." He states somewhat awkwardly, "How did everyone's first day go?"

"No one from my village has died, yet." Jim looks at the relic, his eyebrows furrowed. "I sure wish that thing would talk, though. What if they've forgotten us? Why do we even trust them?" He lifts his chin and makes eye contact with each leader gathered around the relic, a challenge in his eyes. "Maybe we should focus more on building some kind of society. I say we trust each other a little more, all of us. This would be easier if I knew a thing or two about where we are." After a moment, he nods to himself and begins to walk off and find a spot sitting against a tree. Before he was completely out of earshot, he said, "Come talk to me personally if you're willing to let us help each other." 

lol moved this message down if someone could delete this.

Ashko looks even more disheveled as he did the day before and is clearly quite tired.

“Do any of you realize how fast rabbits are? Chased them suckers all day and barely got a meal. I think I may need to rethink my strategy.”

Uros, as jolly as ever, chuckles and snacks on a few berries. He says nothing, though he seems to be confident in his situation.

Pingius gathers Ashko and Uros in a sort of huddle. He doesn't actually want anyone too close to him, but close enough to be heard while talking softly.

"What do you two think of Jim? He basically threatened that he would kill us if he felt like it yesterday. Now he seems to be doing some kind of kumbaya routine."

Uros laughs lightly, and shakes his head.

"I'd bet that the man is mad, but in these times perhaps it's the madmen that can survive."

He tilts his head at the other two, round cheeks curved into a grin.

Ashko smiles even wider, as if competing. “A little murder goes a long way in getting your way in diplomacy. Not that I approve of Jim’s approach, I just understand.”

And with that, Pingius decides that he will probably not share his location with Ashko. Trade and such could still happen, but at an agreed point like this. He also decides to announce to everyone that H1 is coastline, just to help out a bit. He then leaves towards his villagers, making sure to take a path where people would either lose him or be spotted following him.

you gotta be like that ):

Just an observation and what the character would more than likely notice.

Oh I know, I was kidding. 

But, food for thought:

Maybe Jim is lonely. Maybe poor Jim has ran into some issues already and is in a tough spot. Maybe he doesn't wanna spend all his time expanding his map and would much appreciate it if someone would provide him with help in this area and is willing to basically do anything to be interacted with because basically I'd much rather have a devious side plot going on than be a complete loner.

But yes I might kill people. But not friendly people!!!

e: I can now see how my Jim might be hard to trust. Yeah, he's crazy. But then again so am I XD. The problem here is I wish to make drama (teenage girl speaking) and the best way to do that is to have a partner in crime. So while I might be a very treacherous character who really really really wants to kidnap and possibly wound other village's villagers (it's not winning if everyone else wins too!!), I also... want... friends...

This is complicated. How to be a trustworthy bloodthirsty person...

^^see, he's even talking about himself in third person, to himself, by himself, or maybe it's to the tree

Well, the man is mad, there's no doubt in that anymore.

Glad that's established.

Conversation dies down as the group decides to head back to their homes for the night, which thankfully is uneventful.

The next morning the group arrives at the meeting zone. The relic is still silent, however there also appears to be a massive feast before them! Placed on a large stone in front of the relic, are various meats and fruits!

There seems to be exactly 500 units of food present. There's no telling who left this food, or why, but there's no one aside from the five of you around at the moment...

--Day 3 Begins--

Ummm what I want all the food. Since no one else is around to claim it can I just, you know, take it?

I mean what, no...

The thought briefly crosses Jim's mind but he dismisses it. Let them have their share.

Pingius looks suspiciously at the food before him. As much as he would like to trust this gift, it is just too odd.

Uros takes a large plump apple and weighs it in his hand. He sniffs it “cautiously”, and takes a large bite.

“It’s good, no poison,” he says, reaching for another.

"No fast acting poison, anyway..." mutters Jim, slightly upset at himself for not even considering that it could be poisoned.

Ashko smiles and scratches his head. “I’m sure we can all agree to divide this bounty five equal ways, right friends?”

Uros takes a step forward and carves out 100 units of the juiciest, largest fruits out of the pile.

"Excuse my greed," he smiles, embarrassed. "The apples are very good."

Jim takes his one hundred units and eyes the others warily.

Ashko takes 100 units, then as if he made a mistake, puts 1 back.

“A gift to the spirits never hurts,” he shrugged.

Pinguis looks at the guy who hasn't said anything, wondering if he will say anything or take the food, before grabbing his 100 units. He makes sure to grab anything with potentially useful bones or seeds.

"If the silent guy over there doesn't get his food, I say we split the last 100 units between the four of us equally."

“@WizzyCat ,” Uros says, “tapping shoulder of the silent stranger. “Have you any say about this decision?”

He's gonna go blind from staring at the sun so long.

"Name's Whiz, but you can call me Big," the man appears to snap out of a delirious state of daydreaming. "And I need that food, dammit!"

"He speaks!" Jim takes a startled step backwards. He'd almost taken for granted that "Big" was either deaf or mute or both.

The group, with little convincing or caution of any sort, divides the unknown food amongst themselves easily without conflict. They then head to their camps for the night.

The next morning the group arrives at the meeting zone. The one morsel of food left behind is no where to be seen, although the cause of its disappearance is unknown.

The relic, briefly, appears to make some noise to the excitement of everyone, but then promptly dies back down without any contact from Icarus.

--Day 4 Begins--

Uros squints at the now silent relic.

"Hello?" he calls, waving his hand around any strange bumps or holes on the device.

After waiting a few more moments for any response, he crosses his legs and sits down. Looking towards the four others, he raises an eyebrow.

"Anything fortunate happen yesterday?"

Pingius shrugs. "None of us are dead. That's about it."

The day ends without much happening, and the night is the same.

Today, the relic actually turns on. There's some static, before a familiar voice is heard.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

It's Icarus.

"Are you alright still?"

--Day 5 Begins--

Jim rushes to the relic, ecstatic. "Yes! Yes, we're alright, we're here, we're alive!"

"Ah, that's good to hear friend!" Icarus replies, a sense of relief in his voice. "The radiation has finally died down for the moment, so I thought I might check in."

There's a slight pause until he speaks again.

"I meant to ask before, but how many of you are there?"

"Five of us are here currently, and we each have our own groups. I believe we all started with the same amount of people, five, but I can't guarantee that everybody else has managed to keep their villagers alive. Everyone in my village is nice and accounted for," he replies. After a moment of thought, he frowns.

"Why do you ask? Is there not enough room on your ship?" His tone grows increasingly frantic.

Ashko grins at the talking relic. “All survivors here too. As long as nobody died, should be twenty-five. We’ve had good luck, so far thank the spirits.”

"Yes, 5 of us representatives for the 20 others," Uros chimes in. "I wish for all the best, but I won't guarantee 25 when you arrive. Food's going to run a bit low soon."

"Yes, send more food." Jim has a slightly childish, hopeful look in his eyes. "Much food."

Side note: wait, were there implications of cannibalism in your words there Uros? HmMmMmm

Uros raises his hands, "you said it, not me."

"I don't think any of us will resort to cannibalism," he mutters. "If we play this out smartly, at least."

Pingius looks at the relic. He tries to concentrate on observing the relic and the other four leaders, but his arm is in too much pain. "Is there a chance that medication could be sent down?"

"Uh, no," Icarus begins, "I'm in a ship, very far away in space. I'm afraid I cannot send you anything."

There's then another brief pause.

"Twenty-five people should be... fine, probably. This is a cargo ship, so it is meant to carry a fair bit... Yes, I'm sure we can work something out when I get there. I probably can offload some of that once I reach Knossos, and as far as that goes, hmmm..." He begins to mumble, clearly referencing something that none of you can see.

Big, who continues to remain silent, looks nervous and tenses up when he hears the word cannibalism.

Icarus stays on the line a bit longer, before realizing no one has anything else to add.

"Well, I should be another 3 weeks yet, if all goes well. I might be able to cut some time with a, er, shortcut of sorts, but we'll see about that when the time comes. For now good luck to all of you! I can detect radiation approaching, so signing off. I'll be in contact when I can!"

With that, the transmission abruptly cuts off. The group decides to end in there, and head home for the night.

The next morning, they all arrive again. The relic is, unsurprisingly, not making a sound.

--Day 6 Begins--

"Well, at least we know that Icarus hasn't forgotten us," Jim says in an attempt to make conversation.

Ashko swivels his head, his matted hair swinging wildly. “I have a suggestion. To prevent possible conflict from food shortages in the future, what if we shared a fe nonviolent good solutions? I would hate for us to have to kill each other.”

"I have a solution: do your foraging, go fishing, hunt. Then you won't run out of food."

Uros pats his rather round belly and grins, "we're in this together, no?"

"You have food for us, yes?"

"No extra food here," Big states.

"Sadly I have no food to share, though I wish we were so fortunate." Pinguis says. 

Ashko grins extra wide at this.

“But friends, this isn’t about sharing food, I’m talking about sharing ideas to get food. That way, all of us are better off and there is no food violence. As a show of good faith, I will share a secret with all of you. Today, I am testing a fish trap made of reeds woven over a wooden frame. I will let you all know the results.”

Ashko spreads his arms wide in a magnanimous gesture.

"Oh. I mostly just use spears, but it's not the greatest method unless there's big game in the area. Had sheep recently."

After sharing some information with each other, the group heads home for the day.

The next morning, they all arrive again. The relic is quiet today, but ominously there appears to be a single piece of bread on the stone slab which previously hosted a large feast. No other changes appear to have been made to the area.

--Day 7 Begins--

"I don't really need a single loaf, I'm not that hard up." Jim grins with a slight pride. "What about the rest of you?"

After a second of thought, he adds, "Maybe Ashko should get it, since he left the one unit during the feast. Maybe this is his repayment."

Uros takes a quick glance over the slice of bread, before nodding.

"On a side note," he says, looking around furtively. "Any sightings of those strange iron men?"

 Pinguis looks longingly at the bread. His brain and his stomach begin debating on whether morals or hunger are higher on the list of priorities right now. He ultimately decides that he is not the kind of person to be controlled by his appetite. His arm was a little better, but the new pain in his leg is about equal. He decides that he needs to distract himself.

 "We have not seen any of the iron men." He states, answering the question. "I think that it won't be long before someone or something finds us though."

 

Ashko eyes the bread warily. “We haven’t seen the men either. All has been peaceful. As for the bread, if this truly is a reward from the spirits, I would certainly share it with all of you. Like some sort of ritual, I guess.”

Suddenly Ashko smiles, as if satisfied with his own explanation.

While the mystery bread prompts some questions, collectively nothing is done to it, and the group decides to leave it as is.

The next morning the bread remains, almost taunting them, but strangely Pinguis is absent. After waiting for a little while, it becomes apparent that they aren't showing today. The relic remains quiet.


--Day 8 Begins--

"Well, shall we share the bread then? Assuming nothing happened to it overnight to make it inedible."

"The bread is bad omen, Big Whiz will not touch," Big says resolutely.

"Very strange," Uros mutters. "I'm not sure about splitting this, there's something about it that unnerves me."

Ashko suddenly stands up, and with tears in his eyes, urinates on the bread. “Forget about the bread!” he cries in between sobs.

“Our tribe member, Nausk is missing. If you have information, I need it. If not, I should be out there looking for him, not here talking about bread!”

"It would seem that Pinguis is also missing. None of my tribe members have disappeared, though. Who was it who was saying something about the metal men yesterday?"

"It was I," Uros solemnly stands, casting a strange glance towards the soaked bread. "I had an apprehensive feeling that day, seeing that we haven't had any sightings of those ...things recently."

"I haven't heard of any sightings of this Nausk, but my tribe members are exploring the area. You'll be the first to know if we find anything," he adds, hoping to console Ashko.

The mysterious disappearance of Nausk and Pinguis remain unresolved as the group decides to head their separate ways for the night.

The next morning, any concerns about the state of the relic are immediately put to the side, as instead a large and seemingly crazed woman stands atop the large stone slab. She is heard far before she is seen, as she continuously screams into the device, in between loud sobs.

As you all approach, what you initially assumed to be pleas for rescue turn out to be some sort of religious praise, as the woman is treating the relic as the entry point to some sort of unknown deity.

"AND ALL OF YOU!"

She screams, as you finally approach.

"YOU FEASTED UPON THE DIVINE FEAST DID YOU NOT? IT WAS MEANT FOR THOSE IN THE GREAT BEYOND; THE VOICES THAT SPEAK TO ME THROUGH OUR GREAT CHANNEL," she proclaims, raising the relic far above herself.

"YOU HAD NO RIGHT! WHAT SAY YOU?!" She screams, pointing what appears to be a metal staff in her other hand towards the group.

Although she appears quite unkempt, you all note that she seems to be quite bulky. The relic, to your relief, does not appear to be active, so Icarus is blissfully unaware of this woman. For the moment at least.

--Day 9 Begins--

"I would suggest not feasting upon it," says Big Whiz.

Uros puts some distance between him and the old woman, before carefully saying, "I don't know what you are talking about, you old hag. What is this feast that you speak of?"

"LIES!" She shouts, slamming her staff against the stone slab, the sound echoing for some distance.

"THE FRUITS OF MY LABOUR AND THE MEAT FROM MY GREATEST HUNT!" She then pauses.

"YOU MUST REPAY WHAT YOU STOLE. ALL OF IT. NOT A MORSEL SHALL BE MISSED!"

Jim sidles closer to Uros, whispering under his breath in hopes the crazy lady won't hear. "Maybe we should just... get rid of her?"

Ashko smiles as he addresses the woman. “We meant no disrespect. In fact, we believed the food to be a gift from the Great Ones. I will personally restore all the food you lost. I will even give you extra if you have any information on a member of my tribe that went missing a short time ago.”

"By feast, I think she meant the 500 units of food. Well, 499 since you put the one back. Do you have 500 units of spare food?!"

Ashko turns and winks at Jim so the woman can’t see. “Not all at once. I can give one hundred and fifty now, and pay it back as quickly as I can. One can see, of course, by the shape of her beautiful skull, that this woman is intelligent and understands that the best investments have waiting periods. I desire peace above all.”

The woman scoffs at Ashko.

"A gift? A GIFT? WHY WOULD YOU BELIEVE YOURSELVES WORTHY OF NOTICE, LET ALONE GIFTS, FROM THOSE IN THE GREAT BEYOND?!"

She then seems to calm down briefly, and as if only now realizing she still has it, carefully places the relic back to where it was on the stone slab, then hops down in front of the group. Her arm then raises, as she points her metal staff at Ashko.

"Every day they are not praised is a day closer to the end of us all. We live by their mercy and nothing else."

She then returns the staff to her side.

"Return that which you have stolen. Take no more than two moons. Any longer, and it is you that will be given as gifts."

The woman then waits for your response.

Uros turns to Ashko, "Are you sure that we're going to do anything with this ...lady?"

He pauses for a moment. "But if it means that we all survive, I can chip in with a bit of excess food that I have."

Ashko smiles. “Do not worry. By hook or by crook, the feast will be here.”

He turns to Uros and the rest of the leaders. “I will need your help, though we can discuss the specifics after our honored guest leaves. We needn’t bore her with the details.”

The woman looks Ashko up and down, then scans the remaining three present. She the nods and promptly walks off towards the coast.

Gesturing to the others to stay silent, Uros eyes the woman suspiciously, then gingerly trails her at a distance.

Uros is able to trail the woman all the way to the coast, where he sees her push a canoe which had been left on the shore into the water. She then paddles away from the shore out to sea.

"I still think we should've done away with her," Jim says, pouting a little as he watches her leave.

Whiz grunts affirmingly.

The woman gone, the rest of the group is unable to decide if they want to simply end her, or actually make an attempt to come up with the massive amount of food that she's demanding (somewhat rightfully so).

Regardless, that's a problem for another day, as the group split away for the night.

The next day the four arrive at the meeting zone to another surprise - Somehow Pinguis has returned. He stands attentive on the apparently ever so popular stone slab, spear in his hand at the ready, although his condition is rather poor.

"Everyone!" He begins, "it is clear that Icarus has forsaken us! The relic must be appeased in order for our salvation. A sacrifice must be made!"

The four of you awkwardly glance at one another, partially because you're not sure what he's talking about, but also because you don't want that sacrifice to be you.

"Rest easy, fellow villagers! Myself and my clan will sacrifice ourselves for you. WITNESS ME, OH GREAT RELIC. WITH OUR SACRIFICE, SAVE THE REST OF OUR PEOPLE!"

Before anyone is able to stop this clearly deranged Pinguis, he swiftly spins his spear in his hand, turns the pointy end to his neck, and stabs right through. There's some sickening gurgles and some of his coughed up blood almost reaches you, then he falls forward, impaling himself even further as his now lifeless body crashes onto the stone slab.

The woman meanwhile, does not appear like she is around today.

--Day 10 Begins--

"Oh my goodness."

Uros, turning slightly as to not see the bloodshed, casts a sympathetic glance at the others.

“Alright, the spirits have given a blessing and a curse here,” Ashko said, eying the corpse with a strange look smoldering in his eye. “Our friend has gone mad and killed himself which is tragic, but his sacrifice will truly not be in vain. If we take his body and process the meat, that results in more food for the feast to placate the strange woman.”

“On that note, I have a plan to kill her without incurring her tribe’s wrath. I make a batch of poison and hold it in my mouth while we get the preliminaries done. One of you convinces her that we have a custom of worship which requires all the practitioners to drink from a communal bowl and pour the remainder before the artifact. Make sure my turn is before hers, and rather than drink from the bowl, I will backwash poison into it. Next, if she intends to leave the food as a feast for the artifact again, we simply let her leave. If she intends to take the food, we attempt to stall her until she dies. Whenever her tribesmen inquire, we can simply say that the spirits struck her dead for attempting to attack us, as we are the chosen ones.”

“Of course, this plan will require us to furnish as close to the amount of food that was originally here as possible. I am personally willing to process Pingius into food and provide a total of 250 units of food. Will the rest of you go along with me on this plan?”

"I'll go along but I'd have to try and scavenge food. It's not a short supply but someone fished my fishing spot clear so I currently don't have much to spare. I'll see what I can bring tomorrow."

Big Whiz grunts several times. He clears his throat and begins, "I will avoid this feast entirely, and I will not help, uh, process."

Ashko nodded at Jim with approbation, then looked at Big Whiz in surprise.

“Are you saying that you won’t contribute anything to the feast? With you, each tribe would only need eighty-four units. Without you, they would need to provide one hundred and twenty-five. We are simply trying to avoid a war, while still murdering the woman. I strongly recommend full cooperation.”

While there's some contention over who will bring how much food and what will be done at said feast, the group seems to have something resembling a plan, so they head their seperated ways for the night.

The next day the relic is still silent... and beside it sits the woman. She is alone again and still has her metal staff, and a little further to her side you see a pile of wood. The woman appears to be quite unphased by the fact that the corpse of Pinguis is only a couple feet beside her. Seems like he's not quite rotting yet.

As you approach she stands and points her staff at you all.

"So, have you returned with what you stole?"

[As no one actually said anything about it during their turn, I'll let you post here how much you brought with you]

Before anyone can respond however, someone else bursts into the scene. A rough looking man shouts triumphantly as he almost sprints towards everyone.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IF I CAME HERE I WOULD FIND PEOPLE," he then goes on to explain his name is Attentum, a member of Pinguis' old clan, who refused to kill himself. As he speaks he glances past the buff woman, and sees Pinguis' corpse untouched on the stone slab.

"He... he really did it..." Attentum then collapses to his knees, overcome with shock and grief. "A part of me was hoping he had just abandoned us and ran away..."

Just as you're all about to get emotionally invested in his pain, the woman slams her staff on the ground.

"STOP STALLING AND ANSWER ME!"

--Day 11 Begins--

Jim brings forth the 125 units he brought. "Hunting was good last night," he elaborated. He smiled a little, proud of his offering.

He then turns to address Pinguis' poor tribe member. "If you want, you may come and join my tribe. We'd be delighted and honored to have you with us."

Then he speaks to the group. "We should bury Pinguis. He deserves at least that much."

Attentum is too shocked to respond at the moment. He doesn't appear to even hear you.

Poor guy. Oh well, he can die on his own out there I suppose.

Ashko silently steps forward with only 180 units of food. He visibly winces before bowing to the woman and stepping back.

The woman begins silently collecting the food presented thus far and placing it on the stone platform. She'll occasionally give quick glances to the group as her back is turned to them, not entirely trusting them yet.

"I still have my doubts about this woman," Uros mumbles, casting a suspicious glance in her direction.

Nevertheless, he unslings a sack containing 50 units of food, and begrudgingly throws it forward.

"Food has been tight recently," he says, resignedly.

Big Whiz arrives with 25 food units, in the form of an assortment of small fish. He leaves without saying a word.

"Is that enough to satisfy you?" Jim asks the strange woman.

"I am satisfying the ones from the great beyond," she states, clearly upset at the implication the food is for her. She finishes placing everything on the stone, and counts it. She then becomes angry.

"A GREAT PORTION (120 units) IS MISSING!" She screams, pointing her staff at the group.

"PRESENT IT NOW OR I WILL PRESENT YOUR CORPSE TO SATISFY THEM," she continues, targeting Uros.

Big Whiz wisely had already left the area before the count was finished, so just Uros, Jim and Ashko remain. Jim and Ashko both guess that Uros' corpse is probably enough to meet the requirements (the body of Pinguis has been ignored by her this whole time, so perhaps she doesn't deem it "fresh" enough).

It's clear the woman will attack Uros if nothing is done soon.

Hurriedly, Jim darts to his village, then arrives back with 75 more units of food. "Can anyone else help, just a little more?"(Never mind about my attempt to save Uros' cowardly ass)

His eyes seem to rest on Attentum in an eerie way. "I wonder how many units of food a fresh body could provide..."

(150)

Also, while you're allowed to come to the meeting area as a free action, it'd still take you more time to rush back to your village than she's willing to wait (from her perspective she'd just see you run off like whiz).

What if I tell her what I'm doing beforehand

She wouldn't really care because she's angry. Besides her focus is on Uros. She's expecting him to give the food.

"Oh, don't point that at me," Uros sighs.

He stands, boldly, and directly runs back to his village, not intending to return.

"Coward!" cries Jim.

Unfortunately for Uros, as the woman was already prepped for combat, he doesn't make it far before she's already attacked him.

(Result of first wave of combat to come in a bit).

As Uros attempts to run away, the woman sprints after him, and moments later smashes her iron staff against his left leg, dealing enough damage to injure him severely and causing him to fall to the ground (64 damage).

Mid fall, Uros nimbly turns his body, and catches the woman off guard. He swings his wooden club as hard he can upwards towards her, and makes connection against her chin, dealing a heavy blow (54 damage) [CRIT]. The woman stumbles back briefly, stunned by the power behind the hit, but then proceeds to attack again.

[Giving others a moment in case they want to jump in/run away. Uros is no longer capable of escaping with his injured leg.]

Ashko’s gonna stand there and watch Jim. This plan has gone more sideways than a Michael Jackson lean and this is getting played by ear.

With a sigh, Jim goes to attack the woman in Uros' defense. "I'm taking the units of food you brought with me after this is over, as payment for your life."

Ashko spits the poison and moves in to join the attack muttering blasphemy the whole time.

Since everyone is committed to fighting I'll work on the combat later today. For reference I rolled her randomly when she first appeared... and she rolled with a 4 to melee + brawler perk, so 5 total.

Asko joining in increased your odds of success quite a bit (lol Jim), so hopefully it goes well.

I'll point out with such a high stat she gets a chance to counter hit each time she's attacked, although people can still dodge said attack. She gets a pretty heavy penalty per addition person in the mix though.

Shh don't point out Jim's only flaw like that lol

Hey now, he's gonna be publicly outed soon enough lol.

Also, the woman is good enough at fighting that she'll attack the person most dangerous as everyone is joining in, so don't expect the crippled person on the ground to be her primary target for much longer.

Well that still leaves me safe, as another not very dangerous person.

Thank you Ashko for providing backup to my non thinking bravado. May the gods look at you with favor.

Uros mutters a curse and shifts his weight to the non injured leg, steadying himself and getting ready for the woman’s next move.

Big Whiz's villagers, done with their tasks for the day, gather atop a nearby hill with roasted corn kernels to watch the spectacle.

kek

As the group collectively decides they are better in numbers than alone, the woman lets out a loud war cry to assert her dominance.

----Round 2

First, just as Uros manages to stand, the woman slams her staff against his chest, doing 64 damage to his torso, and knocking him out of the fight. Uros attempts one last pitiful swing at the woman's right leg as he crashes to the ground, but hits nothing but air. Uros is now considered maimed and can no longer fight.

Jim attacks during this time, again aiming for her right leg, but he stumbles forward and completely misses. The woman laughs manically, and hits the back of his left leg as he goes past her, dealing 18 damage.

Finally Ashko arrives on the scene, and he swings his stone axe expertly at her, but she narrowly manages to dodge. Then, time seems to slow down for Ashko, as the woman prepares her counter attack. She spins expertly, as if dancing, and Ashko knows the next moment may very well be his last. He manages to bring up his wooden shield up just in time to block the blow that would have no doubt otherwise killed him.

The woman's staff majestically spins, and then slams against the shield, which shatters it to pieces, but it performs its function beautifully by blocking 50 flat damage. The blow then continues, slamming into Ashko's chest, which after the reduction from the leather armor he is wearing [-20 damage], still takes a surprisingly high 36 damage. [Attack did 106 damage total, was a crit].

--------Round 3

Letting our his own war cry, Ashko counter attacks the woman's counter attack, striking her left for 43 damage. She attempt to hit him in the chest again, to finish him off, but Ashko is ready this time, and dodges her accordingly.

Jim again attempts to poke the woman with his stick, this time aiming for her right arm. He fails, of course. She counter attacks by poking him in the stomach with her staff, dealing 28 damage to his torso.

--------Round 4

Ashko and the woman exchange blows, but neither of them do any damage to one another.


Jim attempts to stab the woman's left leg, but misses, surprisingly. The woman, now annoyed that he keeps getting in the way, smacks him in his left leg in the exact same spot she did previously, dealing 50 damage. Jim's leg is now injured to the point where he can't use it, but he's heroically standing in place to prevent Uro's death.

--------Round 5

Wanting to end this, Ashko decides to tactically chop off her arm to prevent her from being able to fight. He succeeds in connecting, dealing 46 damage to her right arm. She winces in pain, then smashes her staff, yet again, into his torso. His leather armor holds strong, reducing another 20 damage, letting him be hit for only 26 damage (46 total). Unfortunately, that puts his torso health at 38, which makes him maimed just like Uros. Ashko collapses to the ground, defeated.

Jim is still around, and attempt to finish what Ashko started by stabbing the woman's right arm. To the surprise of everyone, he completely fails, and stumbles forward awkwardly. The woman responds by targeting his own right arm, and slams her staff down upon it, dealing 46 damage.

--------Round 6

And then there were only two left standing. Jim wasn't liking his chances, after all he didn't accomplish much of anything this fight, but he was still proud to lay his life on the line for that other guy who totally would have done the same for him.

He stabs his spear towards her chest, but misses. She seems to tire of his antics, and hits him hard against his chest for 46 damage. He feels his chest seem to cave in on itself, and he knows this is the end of the fight for him.

This brings Jim's torso down to 26 health, so like the others before him, he collapses onto the ground in pain.

--------------------

The fight now done, the woman let's out a triumphant battle cry, and walks towards Uros to claim her prize. She's injured, but undeterred in appeases those from the great beyond.

Everyone is awake and can talk, but no one is able to walk around/fight. Attentum has noticed the combat, but simple looks at the woman with a mix of awe and fear.

"Holy shit, woman," Uros mutters as he painfully looks at the others lying on the ground.

"I will be of more use in appeasing those from the great beyond alive than dead," he shuts his eyes, simultaneously making one last attempt at calming the woman and preparing for the worst.

The woman approaches Uros and just when it looks like she'll hit him with a finishing blow, instead opts smirk and to lift him over her shoulder. His groans of pain are ignored as she walks back to the stone slab and then, quite harshly, drops him onto the ground beside it. She then begins placing wood on the stone slab. It looks as though she's attempting to setup a large fire on top of it.

That crit was honestly just disgusting on her part (she was like 8 points off her max), and aside from that you guys got kind of unlucky with her continuously targeting the chest (the target in a fight is always random). Uros had a clean hit in, and Ashko put up a solid fight, but once Uros was taken out it was in her favour. With 123 damage total done to her she was only 27 damage off of reconsidering the fight (and if Ashko was in it still she would have wanted to stop).

Jim was also there.

That first whack was obscene. I almost didn’t make that shield.

"Attentum! Attentum, please do something! We didn't sacrifice you to her! We could've! Please!! Save us!"

Jim wishes he would've stayed out of this stupid fight over stupid food and stupid gods. 

Attentum gives Jim a confused look, as if to say "I wasn't aware sacrificing me was even an option," then solemnly shakes his head.

"Even if I wanted to, there's nothing I could do against... that... I suppose could patch you up so you could get back to your camp if you wanted," he then quickly glances to the woman "I-If I'm allowed of course."

"That would be absolutely spectacular!"

Attentum nods and after glancing at the woman for approval (who looks at Jim, laughs, then gives a nod of approval), begins applying medical attention to him.

A petulant cry of "Stop laughing at me!" almost escapes Jim's mouth, but then he thinks better off it and just shuts up.

Beat by a freaking woman...

Ashko coughs up some blood ant looks at Attentum. “Me too, please.” He looks at the woman and shakes his head. “I knew I should have brought Kevin.”

To this, the woman interjects and shakes her head.

"Not him. Too dangerous."

Attentum winces upon hearing the woman, then sheepishly looks to Ashko.

"Sorry... I could help you back to your camp once I'm finished with this guy?" He offers.

"Maybe join your clan too..." He adds, in a near whisper.

Ashko grimaces, shrugs at Attentum and lays on the ground, the pain only slightly assuaged by hearing the monster-lady call him dangerous.

As the woman's activity is near completion, it's very clear at this point she intends to create a large fire, and with the way the food is set up around it, it's about to be burned to ash to appease the voices from beyond.

Uros meanwhile, still awkwardly is slouched beside the stone. He hasn't been hoisted onto the platform to join the food, yet at least, so it's unclear what the woman intends to do with him.

The relic, if you were wondering, was very carefully placed off to the side already by the woman. It's not at any risk of being burnt.

Any chance I could cut my losses and just sneak away at this point

You're still being healed (it's going to be Attentum's action for the day to heal you), so you're left awkwardly on the ground for now. The woman doesn't seem much interested in you, or anyone aside from Uros for that matter, so you should be fine provided you don't antagonize her.

Aw, how nice of him. As soon as he's done I'm bolting. Sorry Uros, I truly tried. 
Antagonizing her would be suicide, and Jim has already tempted death once today

FYI as some pretty big things happened today (and can still happen) I'll give till tomorrow until the next turn occurs.

"Hey, uh, what do you intend on doing with me?"

The woman looks Uros up and down, before smirking and nodding to herself.

"You're useless when it comes to appeasing the gods, but I can at least put you to work pleasing me," she asserts.

Uros isn't quite sure what she means, but her smirk isn't very reassuring.

Time passes and the woman completes the fire setup, then promptly starts a fire by bashing her staff against the side of the large stone a few times. She chants on her own for the next few hours, as everyone else remains helpless to do much of anything.

Finally, the fire dies down, and the sun begins to set. The woman stands, and picks Uros up, flinging him over her should once again (to his unheard pleas for mercy). She then turns to the group for one last statement.

"Next time, do not interfere with gifts to those from the great beyond."

And with that, she walks away, down to the coast, with Uros still on her shoulder. Jim is healed by now, so he can choose what he wants to do. The woman now heading off, Attendum feels safe to go to Ashko's side.

"Where to?" he asks.

“If you can just help me back to the camp,” Ashko wheezes. “Then I don’t care. You can stay if you want, but I don’t think we can support you. You might be better off with Jim.”

Nah, he made his choice. I'm sure you'll do fine.

"He made his choice," Jim said, sprinting as best he can back to his base without a word as soon as he was healed.

Lol

Thoroughly defeated and demoralized, everyone returns to their villages for the night.

The next day the large stone was still smoldering slightly, with all of the perfectly good food, now completely useless.

Both Jim and Big Whiz showed up as normal the next day, but the injured Ashko was at a minimum late, and with Uros gone neither were sure who would come to represent his former tribe.

The relic briefly turned on today, much to the excitement of the pair, but rather than Icarus there seemed to be some strange chanting. It lasted a few minutes, before abruptly turning off.

[Petros and Penguin can have their people enter at any time]

--Day 12 Begins--

---Uros Epilogue---

As everyone else had seemed to abandoned him, Uros had resigned himself to the fate of death. He was tossed like a sack of rice into the canoe, and shortly after the woman stepped inside and began rowing them away.

The fate that Uros got was... not quite as bad? He guessed to some, maybe. The woman blindfolded him an hour or so into the journey, and several hours later they appeared to finally reach a coast. He was then carried again, this time into some sort of tent. He was then yet again, harshly thrown to the ground, but this time it was rather soft. The pleasant sensation was rudely stolen from him, as he suddenly heard the woman say "You won't be needing these anymore", before savagely beating his legs until they became unusable shattered limbs.

Between screams of agony and pain, Uros realized he was no longer blindfolded, and standing directly above him was the woman, this time stark naked.

"I like my men chubby, so I give you chance. Let us see if you have use after all. Now, we SNU SNU!"

And that was the last conscious thought Uros ever had.

Out of the forest stumbled a rather bulky man, he looked at the pair in the clearing dully, and sits down.

"H-have you all seen m-my tribesman Uros?" He stutters in a deep voice. "H-he used to come here every day."

"Yeah, he's dead, and good riddance."

Jim spits on the ground. "I don't have time for all this. I have a revenge to plan and resources to regather. A certain someone raided my village yesterday, even after I so kindly RETURNED their villager after a mistaken kidnapping."

"I should've bashed his head in harder. I should have thrown him in the river. I should've crunched him up and ATE him. After the kind of mercy I showed you, you cowards go and do THIS!" Jim keeps mumbling to himself, ignoring that the target of his rants isn't even there.

"All your talks about peace and goodwill, and then you turn around and betray everything you've ever suggested." He's practically shaking with anger. "Hypocrite! Liar! Coward!"

Finally, he turned and stormed back to his camp.

"Man, that was fu--fucked up! Y'all really got dismantled by that random woman. Well, I have no food and no medicine to spare, so good luck finding Uros and good luck fixing yourselves up!"

Whiz turns to leave, but hesitates. After a second he speaks again, "Oh, before I forget, there's traps surrounding my village. If you guys are visiting, let me know ahead of time so I can show you the correct way. I wouldn't want you taking the wrong way, because anything I find in those traps is getting killed and eaten! Step carefully, friends."

The group leaves for the day, tensions rising as the animosity between them becomes palpable.

The next day they arrive again, to find that this time the relic is actually active! It had been over a week since the group had actually heard from Icarus, so his voice was a welcome change.

"Hello? Are you all still there?" Icarus asks through the relic.

"That last storm was a rough one. It should be quiet for the next while I think, but I'm finally at that 'shortcut' I mentioned earlier. How are things? Do you think you can hold out for another two weeks?"

--Day 13 Begins--

"No."

Ivarr looks at the buzzing relic, and stutters out one and only one word.

"h-hungry."

Jim nods in agreement, though Icarus can't see that.

“Yeah, I give my tribe a week tops before we’re all dead,” says Ashko who actually showed up today.

"I'd offer to help, but someone ransacked my fucking village," Jim mumbles petulantly.

"I...I see" Icarus replies, clearly disturbed. You then hear him sigh loudly as a bunch of noises occur in the background.

"Look, I'll level with you. I can make it there sooner, in the next few days, but I can't take all of you if I do." You then hear more noises in the background, as if he's pressing buttons furiously.

"I'll spare you the details, but my cargo is going to be heavily ruined if I take the shortcut. I can make the money back, by passing by another system and trading with a guy I know, but that cargo is much larger, so I'll have far less space at that point."

There's another moment of silence. It's clear Icarus isn't too thrilled about the situation.

"I could take, maybe, 6 people?" He reveals. You think that's all there is to the bad news, but then he continues.

"But there's more. I know of those iron men you spoke of. Or at least, I looked into them after you told me of their existence. If I do this shortcut jump, they'll be able to detect me as I enter the system. They will lock onto my jump signature, and attempt to intercept me at this location."

Everyone looks at each other; the painful memories of the last time you saw the men of iron still fresh in your minds.

"It's entirely possible none will show, or at least, none will reach the area before I arrive... But if one does..."

He then takes a deep breath.

"You would have to disable or distract it somehow. My ship isn't equipped to fight it. If I attempt to land with it operational and nearby, it'd destroy my ship before I even have a chance to escape."

"... Are you sure you want me to take the jump?"

"Nope. No, too risky. No way." Jim's shaking his head vigorously. "I'll take my chances."

Ivarr muses for a moment or two, but ultimately shakes his head. It was clear that the big guy didn't want anything to do with the iron men.

“Wait a second!” Ashko stands up excitedly. “Don’t blow this off so quickly. We might be able to make it a couple weeks if everything works perfectly, but so far our luck has been bupkis. If we pooled our resources, we could definitely build something capable of killing one of those iron men. Maybe like a ballista. We could take the four of us, Attentum in honor of old Pingius, and maybe a female so we could have descendants. I’m less afraid of an Iron Man than that psycho lady.”

"You don't need to 'kill' it," Icarus adds. "You just need to distract it, or immobilize it, while people board. It should only take 15 minutes to land, board, and get off that rock."

"Then let's take a vote."

“Only fifteen minutes? I for one vote yes. We can do this.”

"Well, I actually care about most of my villagers, and would rather not leave them to die here. So I vote no."

"@PerforatedPenguin and @WizzyCat still haven't officially voted," says Jim. "Do you two have any thoughts on the matter?"

"I-"

Ivarr fumbles with his words.

"I just w-want to leave."

"We'll all be able to leave, all of us, if we just wait a little longer."

Icarus waits for any sort of real consensus, but gets none. He then sighs.

"I'll go for it. It seems like your situation is dire, and even if you can't manage the machines, I can still escape safely."

He replies, moving the plot forward at a breakneck speed.

"In three days time I should be able to speak to you again, and on the forth day I'll be there. It's not a lot of time to prepare, but it sounds like if I don't save you now, something else will kill you soon enough anyway. Remember, you need to buy me at least 15 minutes, and I can only take 6 people with me... so... decide on who before I arrive."

With that somber thought, there's a short pause, and then he signs off.

"Executing jump now... Good luck you guys."

Everyone exchanges glances, the gravity of the situation not really weighing in on them quite yet. They'll need to think of some plan, together or as individuals. For now the day is done, so everyone returns home for the night.

Strangely, the next day Ivarr doesn't arrive. One can only hope nothing too bad has happened, and that a different representative will come in his place soon...

Even stranger still, Ashko also doesn't arrive. Hopefully this isn't some strange morbid trend...

--Day 14 Begins--
--It has been one day since Icarus took the shortcut.--

A little bit late, a large, angry looking man arrives and sit’s down in Ashko’s place.

“My name Kevin. Ashko fall in fire. Face burned. Still alive barely. I came in his place.”

Big Whiz arrives for the day, and begins talking despite the new faces around him, "I will go. I also suggest Josephine from my village as an option. As for defenses, I have ideas."

“What kind of ideas?”

"I thought an idea would come to me after saying that, but I'm actually kind of at a loss. Maybe, uh, more traps?"

Also completely unrelated reminder that totally isn't applicable, starvation:

Reaching a nutrition stat of -15 will result in the villager dying. Villagers start at 10 nutrition. Anything under -5 will result in a chance to die (10% at -6 rising to 100% when -15 is reached). Villagers that go below 0 nutrition gain the malnourished trait, which incurs a massive -1 to all stats penalty, even if they eat enough

*starving noises*

While agreeing they should think of a plan, no one actually puts forth any idea. The group leaves for the day, all wondering what they can do to survive their impending doom.

The next day they arrive again. Kevin comes in place of Ashko again, but no replacement for Ivvar is seen yet...

--Day 15 Begins--
--It has been two days since Icarus took the shortcut.--

The group awkward stares down one another, but no one says a word. After short time, they all head back to their villages.

The next day the meeting area looks different. There's a large 6x6 hole surrounding a large portion of the meeting area. Clearly someone had done some work.

Big Whiz does not show, but the other three leaders have shown. Ivarr is back again.

--Day 16 Begins--
--It has been three days since Icarus took the shortcut. Icarus will arrive tomorrow--

Icarus true to his word, can now be heard from the relic.

"Hello everyone! I've safely made it into the system! Are you all still alive? Any trouble with those men of iron?"

He then pauses for a short while.

"And have you figured out what you plan to do if any show tomorrow?"

A tall, lanky fellow stumbles into the clearing. He introduces himself as Forest. He says, "Hungy" into the relic and then turns to the other tribespeople. "Hungy. Build trap here. I help if get food."

Kevin stands up, “Are you landing here or wherever the relic stands?”

He thinks for a minute, the process looks incredibly taxing. “And will the metal men come here or wherever the relic stands?”

"All this talk of metal men... it doesn't sound like we have a plan, and I'd rather not tangle with them. Actually, I'd rather just stay in my village, where it's safe," says Jim. "I'll send another one of my tribe members to join you in your space mission tomorrow."

"Well, Ive locked into the position of the relic, so thats where i plan to land."

He then ponders for a moment.

"The metal men will have lock onto the source of the ping, which is where the relic is now. If you move the relic later both myself and the men of iron will still go to whereever it is now," he explains.

"That said, i can re-sync with it just before entering the planet, to find out where you moved it to. The metal men would be able to detect my new ping, but they'd still have to travel to where-ever you moved the 'relic' to, presumeably from the area you are at now."

Kevin nods. “Go ahead and resync just in case.”

Ivarr arrives today, a crude bandage tied around his head that only seemed to stutter even more.

"Rocks and s-stones and vines..." he fumbles, trying to explain that he wants to create some traps for the men of iron. "T-then we kill."

“What do you know about the metal men’s abilities. We need to know what kind of traps or obstacles would be effective.”

"I suppose you would all have more on-hand experience with what they're capable of," Icarus begins. "There's different models, but among them they all have the weakness of having no flight module."

He then apparently realizes your may have no idea what a flight module means, so he elaborates.

"That means they can't fly, so trapping them underground might work, or damaging their legs."

Just to clarify - Wednesday is the last over-night turn. If you have any plans you want to be secretive pm me, otherwise we'll resolve that turn, then in thread I'll post what's happening similar to the fight with the woman.

If nothing is specified (either here or via a pm) I'll assume you're just going to go to the meeting area and wait there.

Alright, doing everyone's last turn now. We'll see how the general plan of *checks notes* stand in one place and hope for the best, goes...

"Well, I wish you good luck tomorrow! I'll ping the beacon just before I decide to land, and make contact with you to confirm the area is safe," Icarus says, and with that he leaves you.

The group exchanges worried glances, but everyone heads back to their villages for the night.

When they return the next day, they return together... mostly.

To start, there's a trap that can rolls rocks down from a height just as discussed yesterday, with a proud Arun standing beside it. Beside him is Vesta and Arun.

To their side is Kevin, along with Tuola, Nausk, Glugol and Attentum, who followed them home one night and never left.

To the side of them is Jim and his group - Raca, Gulliver, Stan and Bronaugh. All of whom look absolutely starved, and will likely be of little use in the coming battle.

And finally, to the side of Jim, all alone but constantly posing and looking incredible, is Big Whiz.

All in all there are 14 people present. There's no men of metal yet, but they could arrive any minute. If there's any last minute changes to the plan, or any inspirational speeches, they're going to have to happen now. Icarus should be getting in contact with you in the next 5 to 10 minutes, and from there you only have to survive 15 more minutes.

It'll be the longest half an hour any of you have ever gone through.

--The Last Day Begins--

I'll give some time for you to do actions here and tomorrow I'll move things along. If nothing is said otherwise, I'll assume you attempt to fight the men of metal (should any show) to the death.

Whiz finishes flexing his pecs and speaks up, "Oh, does anyone want to move some rocks from our camp to this site? We might be able to keep the metal men away for a little longer!"

Kevin smiles at Big Whiz.

“No.”

Kevin turns to the O’oee and says, “Let’s do this for Ashko, our late, great leader and our last, great meal. Without his sacrifices, we wouldn’t be here!”

--Ending Fight--

As everyone tensely waits, a few people decide to idly spend their time. Big Whiz, flexing the whole time, decides to pick up large boulders and places them in front of everyone to give some semblance of cover. Tuola also decides to pick up the relic, explaining someone needs to have it to maintain contact with Icarus.

Unfortunately, Icarus is beaten by the men of metal.

In the distance, a single man of metal is spotted. It is seen sprinting towards the meeting area, as inhumanely as the first time you saw them. In place of arms are large metal swords, which you are somewhat thankful for, as you remember some others have large holes that could produce flames. It towards over everyone at 8 feet tall, making it seem impossibly large.

As it approaches Jim and his group decide to heroically man the front-line, with Big Whiz just behind. Ivarr and his group prepare to flank, and Kevin's group holds the rear with the relic.

As the man of metal approaches, Kevin lets out a heroic battle-cry, which Big Whiz and soon everyone else joins in with! Everyone with a ranged weapon sends a volley at the incredibly fast machine as it gets into range!

Jim and Drystan let off their arrows from their short bow, which hit... and simple bounce off doing no damage. The two curse the fact that they are so hungry they can barely draw the bow.

Vesta and Arun are next. Arun manages to breath deep in the moment and get a crit! He does a massive 83 (133 damage minus 50 due to armor) damage to the right arm of the machine. Its arm seems to be operational however, indicating it has more health than you guys. Vesta pulls out a mysterious weapon (revolver) and shoots 6 times rapidly at the crazed machine. It looks very impressive, but unfortunately only 1 shot manages to damage it in its left arm for 30 damage, due to a crit (80-50 due to armor)

Big Whiz also throws a rock at the crazed machine for good measure, but to no effect.

As the machine gets into melee range, everyone suddenly realizes no one from Kevin's team actually helped with the volley. They turn to find his entire group escaping like cowards towards the sea, relic in hand! Seeing no chance to run themselves, everyone decides to gear up for the fight of their life.

The machine easily steps over the 6x6 hole created, as it had eyes and was able to see it. It does however, get hit by the trap of stones, as Arun, hot off his strike against the metal man, lets loose the trap. Somehow, it actually works! But not exactly in the way you expected. The rocks do no damage to the machine, but it does cause it to lose its balance. It stumbles backwards and falls into the pit! Again, it does no damage, but it does momentarily cause it to be trapped. Deciding to take advantage of this, everyone begins attacking its head and arms that are now exposed!

(from here on assume damage shown was actually itself +50 taken away due to armor)

Ivarr manages to do 17 damage to its right arm!
Big Whiz manages to do 11 damage to its right arm!

Everyone else manages to connect, but their attacks just bounce harmlessly off the machine.

Then it strikes back. It runs the numbers and targets the only two people that managed to injure it. First it targets Ivarr, and with one swift strike, manages to chop his head clean in half (125 damage) killing him instantly. He then targets Big Whiz, who attempts to jump back to dodge, but the machines aim strikes true, and he chops Big Whiz's left leg clean off (116 damage).

The group realizes this may have been a bad idea at this point, but its too late now. They're all in on attempting to destroy this abomination. Realizing that their ranged attacks were the only thing to deal any damage, Vesta and Arun take a step back and each prepare a new ranged attack.

Meanwhile Big Whiz, undeterred by his lack of limb, goes in for another strike, and deals a respectable 30 damage to its head! No one else manages to deal anything of consequence.

The machine then counter attacks, chopping Bronaugh's left arm clean off (188 damage) and Big Whiz's right arm clean off as well (193 damage). Big Whiz is now down to two limbs, but he is able to hop and strike again if needed.

Its at this point the machine realizes something, he should probably aim for the human's squishy head and torso, as those are their weak-points. It re-calibrates itself to target those areas, at a loss to its efficiency.

Arun and Vesta tell everyone to step back, then shoot a volley of arrows and bullets at the machine... but there are no crits this time, so it does nothing.

Missing an arm and a leg, Big Whiz swings at the machine but without any force, just bounces off. Everyone from Jim's group again, through their intense fatigue and hunger, attack the machine, but it does nothing.

The machine targets Bronaugh and Big Whiz again. It cuts Bronaugh clean in half through the torso (135 damage) but miraculously, Big Whiz manages to hop back and dodge the large sword just in time.

The group all collectively attack the machine yet again... but again it does nothing. Tired of the games, the machine then takes this turn to lift itself out of the hole, and with it towering over everyone around it... it suddenly seems even more intimidating.

Letting out one last battle cry, Big Whiz jams his spear as hard as he can into the right arm of the machine with a clean hit, dealing 23 damage. The machine in response decides this weirdly powerful human is too powerful to let live any longer, and he cuts him down cleanly in half, from the his head to the ground (171 damage). So ends the tale of Big Whiz. It then swings at Arun, the other to deal decent damage to him, and separates his lower half from his upper half (147 damage).

From there the remaining villagers take turns getting chopped in half while feebly attempting to deal damage. First to go is Vesta, as the only other person left to deal any damage to the machine. He took a sword straight through the face (128 damage). Next was Dystan, who took a stab through the chest, which he somehow managed to survived (99 damage), but he promptly collapsed due to blood loss. Gulliver and Jim were next, each being chopped clean in half (117 and 145 damage respectively). Finally stood Raca, the poor, abused and bullied Raca. She threw her weapon to the ground in a last ditch attempt to be spared, but in turn the machine merely cut her head clean off (180 damage).

During all of this, Kevin and his group had been retreating to the coast. Their plan was simple, use some of the drift-wood that was lying around, to float into the water, and somehow escape the man of metal. It was a bold strategy, and no one was really sure if it would work, but it seemed far more sound than attempting to face one of those things.

Tuola, being quite fast, was the first to reach the shore. He tossed the relic on a large piece of wood, then ran into the water. Shortly after he saw the rest of his clan in the distance, sprinting towards the water as well. He smiled, if only for a moment, as they had barely reached the water before the man of metal could be seen in the distance, covered in blood.

Tuola thought for sure they could still make it... probably... all but Glugol at least. It seems everyone had forgotten about his minor leg injury that he still had. Normally it wouldn't matter, but in this life or death situation, it made all the difference. As he judged the distance himself, Glugol slowed down, and raised his arm in solidarity with his clanmates. He wouldn't be able to make it to the shore, but he certainly could slow down the man of metal, to ensure everyone else made it.

He turned and faced the man of metal, stone axe in hand. As the machine reached him, he swung forward with everything he had, and somehow managed a crit! He dealt 26 damage to the head of the machine as it leaned forward to strike him with its own blow. In retaliation, it struck Glugol's chest (156), then raised the sword up, to cut him straight through his head, gruesomely ending his heroic sacrifice.

It turned out to be a invaluable one, as the other members of his clan hit the water with their own pieces of driftwood as just body his the ground. The machine sprinted towards the group, as they feverishly swam further and further into the blue water.

For a moment everyone thought it would simply stop at the coast, but to their horror it continued to sprint forward, as fast as it could while in the water. Now together, the clan grouped their logs to make some sort of makeshift raft, with Tuola and the relic on top, and kicked forward like their lives depended on it. After several minutes of intense kicking, Tuola screamed with joy and pointed behind them. The man of metal had indeed gone into the water, but as soon as it had reached its torso, it stopped in place. It menacingly starred them down, but made no effort to move. It was at this point that the group was yet again thankful for it only having swords.

A short while later, the relic came to life. Icarus asked for the situation, to which he was informed. Satisfied the man of metal would be no threat, he brought his ship down, and in 15 short minutes the clan could see the a large object falling from the sky, directly towards them! Icarus calmed them, telling them it was him. The strange object was large, at least the size of several carriages, and made of a material everyone could only assume was what the men of metal were made of. No one had any idea how it was flying, but they were thankful for its presence.

Icarus held the ship, floating just above the water, so that everyone could get in. His initial descent caused the makeshift drift-wood raft to collapse, and the relic fell into the sea as a result. Tuola had tried to go after it, but Icarus stopped him, saying they had to leave.

The four survivors, Kevin, Tuola, Nausk and Attentum, all manage to safely get into the ship. Where they end up is another tale, but at the very least, the managed to survive this land as a tribe.

--Game End--

Thanks to all, especially Big Whiz, for that necessary delay.

Also thanks to Killa who somehow endured the painful bumblings of the tribes for longer than I thought possible.

Np, had fun with it.

Glad i put the out in though lol. This would have been tough to continue for another month especially with holidays.

That'll do it, folks. Thanks for hosting this, Killa.

Good move by Petros, can we have a health check on the machine?

Health-Head 94/150
Health-Torso 200/200
Health-Arm-Left 170/200
Health-Arm-Right 66/200
Health-Leg-Left 150/150
Health-Leg-Right 150/150

Almost took an arm out, and did solid head damage, but that flat 50 armor (intentionally so) makes it super tanky.

I may not have been able to finish this out myself, but it was fun going through it when I had the time. At least Attentum made it. 

So how do I save scum this???

Seriously though, thanks for running this Killa, it was actually a lot of fun. Personally, I think that after the holiday season calms down we should run another round (I'll also be able to respond more efficiently at the beginning of the semester rather than the end). I also really want to figure out a way to kill one of these robot fuckers at this point.

I might do a shortened combat variant, but probably not the full thing. I think people got overwhelmed with possibilities, or didn't realize they could ask to do whatever and most things would be accepted in some form. Most people made like one or two unique things, then just kinda coasted. I guess a game on a CYS website should be a bit more geared toward giving out options then letting the players think up some. Ultimately this led to people struggling at points they should have been fine at, which I think discouraged people.

Funny enough the original timeline had a much more kill-able robot. At about 1 week to Icarus' original return date, the rumoured injured one would show up and have to be dealt with in some way.

That makes sense, but I feel like people have a better idea of how the actual game works at this point, so it'll be more fluid to run a second round. On the other hand, it was still fun to do this as a one-off adventure: it's also up to you if you want to run more of this or not.

Yeah, I'm not against hosting a game again, but I'd probably make it less open ended. Endmaster's more clear cut "here's your options make your move" style forum game worked out a lot better as far as engagement was concerned. Probably par for the course given the nature of the site lol.

Maybe I could modify it to be less resource based and more event driven. We'll see.