Tuesday, January 22, 2008

French Resistance in 6231 BC

More continuum notes. I'm actually quite surprised this one only filled one page of the file, considering how much happened there. Things were rolling pretty fast at this point, and rapidly approaching the wrap-up, so I worried less about the details and more about providing a satisfying conclusion.

-6231 BC - March 20th at 8:00pm - Southern France - Cancerean -
Engineer Corner named “The French Resistance”. Playlist: Continuum

The culture is known as Merankea.

When you arrive: It’s very dark out. You are inside a large structure. Lighting is poor, you cannot see the cieling, and what you can make out of the walls seems woven from thin strips of wood.

A man with a thick but expertly cared for beard stands before you. Two others stand just inside the exit. There clothing is furs and skins, with ornate wooden jewelry.

There is a large wooden table behind the man, and the table is covered with short curved pieces of wood, each looking to be lacquered and made composite layers. You can’t imagine this level of woodworking being normal for 6231 bc. He picks up a long gently curved piece of wood, and sets it upon the ground.

This is a test of spatial relations and cleverness. The pieces on the table allow for the Cancerean Age symbol to be made by only one specific arrangement of curves.
Any engineering, repair, or art skill can be used to solve the puzzle. It’s a Master-level difficulty roll.

The woodworker with the beard is named Hurgle.

By The Light Of Day: You are inside a large wooden structure of amazing engineering. Interlocking poles twist in a helical pattern around you. The walls are sort of woven from treebranches, and they culminate in a point above you, suggesting that the building is sort of teepee shaped, but it must be 50 feet tall.

Fun things to do in Merankea:
  1. Marvel at the architecture. Giant woven wooden structures, most hollow, and some nearly 200 feet tall. Tusk shaped, pointing skyward. Several are aligned towards the sun currently. An apprentice-level roll of art, engineering, or architecture will show you that the one you spanned into is woven clockwise, the rest are woven counter-clockwise. There is also a wooden sculpture that rotates. It’s shaped like a helix, and manned by 30 slaves who turn it in ceaseless motion. Slaves work in 3-hour shifts, whereby 10 are replaced every hour.
  2. Manly Culture. People here are hardened and stoic. Woodworking and wrestling are the two biggest passtimes. Hunting is done via wooden implements, archery and traps. Their bowcraft is not surpassed for more than 7,000 years. But eventually, the destruction of this culture is so complete that nothing of it remains for archaeologists to discover. But you will be careful, for Hurgle believes there may be Antedessertium spies active within the culture.
  3. Strike a blow for The Continuum. Hurgle is certain that the point of this culture’s woodworking is to push forward the agenda known as the Hunt of the Sun. If it succeeds, it will wipe out all life up from this time. If you could find a way to destroy one while Hurgle was somewhere public with an alibi, it would be appreciated. If the rotating helix was what you destroyed, the continuum would remember you as heroes.
Before you leave: If you destroyed a Hunt device, he gifts each of you with a longbow and a lacquered wooden medalion. The shape of the medallion symbolizes your bravery. The pieces interlock like a puzzle, to symbolize your cunning. It has a hollow capable of concealing small objects, to symbolize the secret that no one will know what you have done.

1 comment:

rbbergstrom said...

Cool mongolian archer photo by Jerrold.