"I am guessing that yes their destruction will set off a warning or if not a warning its creator will know they no longer exist. Unfortunately, I cannot learn more about them as I lack the specific spell needed. The other option is to try to climb over the wall. I also believe this city is large enough that if danger comes, we can find a place to lie low. As I doubt Tsien Chang has every inch of this city under surveillance. I suggest we move away from here and do more investigating in regard to anyone still awake." says Aoufie glad that they reverted back into stationary statues.
Anthony nodded in agreement "Every city has smugglers." He hoped.
Glancing up, Anthony tried to estimate how close they were getting to dusk. He shouldn't try to go another day without sleep. "Do you know where we can find your family? Asleep I mean?" Looking to Ming. "It might not be bad to stay here if this area doesn't have much activity." but he knew making sure her family was safe was her priority right now.
Ming relaxes visibly once the dragons return to their inanimate states. Climbing the wall sounds far better than trying to fight creatures that are literally made of stone. She hesitates when Aoufie says he doubts Tsien Chiang has every inch of the city under surveillance. It's not something she's really thought of all that much, but it's hard to imagine that there is something Tsien Chiang couldn't find if she really wanted to.
She looks to Anthony in surprise when he asks about her family, not really registering his earlier statement about smugglers. "Oh,"she says. "They are in the Wind Ward... somewhere. Hopefully they are where they were last time I checked on them. L...like I said, the jiangshi move things and sleepers around all the time, so they might be somewhere else." She fidgets a little, setting the butt of her glaive on the cobblestone ground and averting her eyes. "Though they aren't usually far from where I left them. It can just be a pain to find them sometimes." Sometimes they aren't even all in the same place... rarely, but, it has happened. That always freaks her out since she never knows until she finds whoever's missing whether or not they woke up.
Kora can see Anthony's weariness and turns to Ming, "When is the best time to sleep again?" she looks a bit down after seeing the gate and being very unsure of what to do next.
Akyan waits until the dragons return to their original form before dropping his ready stance. Just as he'd figured, they gave no response to Anthony's question. Seems a ladder may be the only option unless Kora really can get them all over the wall.
He turns to Anthony and Aoufie, "I'd suggest we move away from this area anyway. For all we know we could have set off some sort of alarm just by approaching those things. There may be smugglers, though I'm not sure what anyone would be smuggling here, but Aoufie's plan is as good as any. May as well start by seeking out more people who have escaped the dream."
He falls silent as Anthony inquires about Ming's family. There's no harm in checking on them, but he's not sure what the benefit would be other than seeing their faces so they can recognize them in the dream.
Anthony subtly steered Aoufie east. "The Wind Ward is this way?" Confirming with Ming. They may as well steer that way in the absence of a better immediate destination. "Do you know of a place other than the place where food is left where people gather?"
He glances at Akyan. He was a ..people finder of some kind. And Anthony knew from his.. sketchy background that some organizations left signs around for each other. He'd never been connected enough to know how to decipher them, but if there was any kind of underground or resistance here, they'd have to have a way to communicate across the city..
Deciding to head towards the Wind Ward, the group sets off and leaves the dragons and gate behind. As you leave the damaged portion of the city, much like the Wave Ward, you begin to notice slight structural differences and changes in design. The buildings seem more elegant with more curves instead of sharp edges. Many of the buildings are open to the air, large windows and balconies lining the walls. You spot a few delicate stone statues carved in such a way that it reminds you of a gust of wind.
After about an hour or so, Ming leads you to the spot where her family last was, one of the mansions closer to the center of the city and therefore relatively well-maintained. It's about mid afternoon, and you'd guess you have about 4 more hours of sunlight left.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ming-Yue thinks for a moment as they start moving towards the Wind Ward, nodding as Anthony asks about the direction. To his other question she says, "Not really... from what I've seen people are pretty distrusting here. I haven't seen anyone moving in large groups, and those that are in groups probably are related to each other somehow." She hesitates, "But then again, I haven't really looked for groups either. I guess I just assumed everyone was out for themselves so decided it was best to just keep to myself too."
"They should be around here somewhere..." Ming says tentatively, first looking down the alley she'd left them in last. If they aren't there, she'll start scouting the nearby alleys and houses, quickly becoming distracted in her near-everyday task of tracking her parents and sister down.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Akyan walks in silence as Ming leads the way to the wind ward. He catches Anthony's look, and has a fairly good guess at what it was about given the older man's mention of locating smugglers or just 'awake' people in general. However, from what he understands of this realm, the city may make up its entirety. If that's the case, there wouldn't be much to smuggle. A resistance group would be more likely. As they walk, he keeps an eye out for any signs carved into walls or just paths that look more traveled than others. He has his doubts about locating anything of the sort due to the shifting nature of the city, and the constant renovation it seems to be undergoing, but he keeps an eye out nonetheless.
Perception: 11
The drow may have been a sort of people finder, but usually he had some sort of lead to go off of. Here, the only potential leads he can think of would be either confronting someone at the vegetable stand (though by what Ming states they probably won't be very helpful) or finding someone in the dream who seems out of place.
Once they reach the wind ward, he notes the suns position, then attempts to help locate Ming's family.
Aoufie admires the architecture of the Wind ward and how they sculpted buildings into a thing of art. "It's beautiful here though it would be even more so if he people who built this were awake. Hold on I will help look as well Ming. Can you tell me their general appearance?'
Once done so he will search the nearby houses.
Perception Check
6 rolled in game log
Aoufie is distracted by the masterful architecture to notice.
It's not really his thing, but Anthony does his best to keep a lookout himself, not really sure what he's looking for, he shamelessly gives himself a little magical luck. Not that it helps much.
((Investigation 3 +3 (guidance)))
"We haven't been very subtle. Someone will probably find us eventually." With good or ill intentions.
Giving up on finding signs of life, he focuses on helping Ming look for her family. He knew there wasn't much of a 'gain' for anyone finding a bunch of sleeping people, but she'd been helping them out, and it would make her feel better. Plus, they should try to catch some shut eye before the bell rang if they could.
With a spike of panic, Ming doesn't see her family when she reaches the place she last left them. The jiangshi must have moved them last night. Fortunately, it doesn't take much searching to find them on the second floor of one of the nearby buildings. Sequestered away in one of the bedrooms with a large, open balcony facing west to the reddening sky as the sun starts its descent towards the horizon. It looks like the other handful of people haven't woke for quite some time. Cobwebs and even a few pale mushrooms cling to their barely breathing forms, a grim reminder of the unnatural sleep hanging over the city.
Kora is relieved for Ming when they find her parents, but can' help but recoil when she sees the cobwebs and actual mushrooms growing on the people that have been asleep for so long. "Should we make a plan for sleep rotation tonight? I slept last night, I can probably skip tonight, but some of you.. you really need sleep, should we do it here where it appears relatively safe?"
Ming breaths a quiet sigh of relief upon finding her sleeping family members. She quickly rushes over to them, checking to make sure they weren't hurt when they were moved, and pulling out a cloth to wipe the dust off their faces. She uses water sparingly, but just can't bare not to at least wash their faces. Who knows how long it will be if they ever wake up.
Once that is finished, she lets out another sigh, this one holding less relief and more sadness than the last one as she stares at her parents and sister for a good while. Momentarily, she forgets about the mistwalkers she'd spent the last day with, and her mind wanders to other things. As the sky grows redder, her gaze shifts to the outdoors, and she feels that familiar knot in her stomach... anticipating the ringing of the bell.
"I can keep watch if needed," she says finally when Kora asks about sleep rotations. "The dream... doesn't really pose a threat to me, so I can afford to miss a night or so." She looks down at her little sister, blinking as if holding back emotions she doesn't want to show at the moment as she picks up the little girl's hand and holds it tightly in her own.
Yup. This sucked. Watching Ming taking care of a bunch of people stuck sleeping through life because reality was too much.. for someone ar least.
His plan to sleep before the bell went off was shot through from all the mostly pointless wandering around they'd done. Not pointless. They'd learned things. Just none of it was going to help them leave or accomplish anything here.
He didn't even think anything they did would help people like Ming's family. They were working to keep the prisons intact and the darlords in their places afterall. Anthony met her eye at her sigh of almost despair, not able to keep his thoughts from his face. If he'd known her better, he might have offered a hug or a hand.
Instead, the man sat heavily, taking off enough armor and his leg brace to be able to sleep and massaged his leg. A day of limping in circles hadn't done him any favors."You shouldn't need to stay up all night. Akyan and Zathon aren't affected by the dream either. So, regardless, you won't be alone." To Kora he added, "Here is as good as any place. I hope cuz, yeah, I gotta sleep at least a little tonight or I'll become useless real quick." Then sat back to slowly chew some rations while the others sorted out what they wanted to do next. He could get by on a few hours, he was still good on magic, but if he could get a full rest, all the better.
Aoufie feels a pang of sadness at the sight of Ming's family as it makes him miss Aunty Grym. Though he too is exasperated by their wanderings when they have made no progress. "I say again we should seek the Circle the people must eat somehow. In the morning, I say we stake out the food spawning areas."
He knows he needs sleep, but he does not wish to enter the dream world again. So, he winds down by eating a ration and drinking some water. Eventually he will sleep dreading that he may be stuck in the dream world.
He looked with mild confusion at the others at Aoufie’s comment. “What circle?”
A little later, as he was settling down and getting comfortable, he chewed his rations thoughtfully and studied Ming's family so he'd hopefully recognize them in a crowd. At least the dream promised to be better than what he usually saw when he slept. There were worse places to be trapped than some random crazy woman’s dreams.
Akyan doesn't say much when they find Ming's family. He is glad that they did, but right now he's more worried about how they will escape this place if need be. When the others start talking about sleep rotations, he speaks up. "Anthony, you got the least sleep last night right?" He slips his ring off his finger and holds it out to him, "Here, this should keep you from entering the dream unless you choose to do so. It doesn't really benefit me since as you said, I don't sleep."He looks to Kora and Aoufie, "You three can take turns with it until we get out of this place, or we decide to enter the dream together."
When Aoufie speaks up, he too looks at him with a bit of confusion. What Circle is he talking about? Sure, Akyan had the same thought about the food stands, but no one had mentioned anything about some circle.
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"We might be able to fight our way past them, but you think it the boss would know? Sets off some kind of alarm somewhere or something?"
The thought makes him suddenly wonder if that has something to do with the purpose of that eyeball creature...Eyes on the street?
"I am guessing that yes their destruction will set off a warning or if not a warning its creator will know they no longer exist. Unfortunately, I cannot learn more about them as I lack the specific spell needed. The other option is to try to climb over the wall. I also believe this city is large enough that if danger comes, we can find a place to lie low. As I doubt Tsien Chang has every inch of this city under surveillance. I suggest we move away from here and do more investigating in regard to anyone still awake." says Aoufie glad that they reverted back into stationary statues.
Anthony nodded in agreement "Every city has smugglers." He hoped.
Glancing up, Anthony tried to estimate how close they were getting to dusk. He shouldn't try to go another day without sleep. "Do you know where we can find your family? Asleep I mean?" Looking to Ming. "It might not be bad to stay here if this area doesn't have much activity." but he knew making sure her family was safe was her priority right now.
Ming relaxes visibly once the dragons return to their inanimate states. Climbing the wall sounds far better than trying to fight creatures that are literally made of stone. She hesitates when Aoufie says he doubts Tsien Chiang has every inch of the city under surveillance. It's not something she's really thought of all that much, but it's hard to imagine that there is something Tsien Chiang couldn't find if she really wanted to.
She looks to Anthony in surprise when he asks about her family, not really registering his earlier statement about smugglers. "Oh," she says. "They are in the Wind Ward... somewhere. Hopefully they are where they were last time I checked on them. L...like I said, the jiangshi move things and sleepers around all the time, so they might be somewhere else." She fidgets a little, setting the butt of her glaive on the cobblestone ground and averting her eyes. "Though they aren't usually far from where I left them. It can just be a pain to find them sometimes." Sometimes they aren't even all in the same place... rarely, but, it has happened. That always freaks her out since she never knows until she finds whoever's missing whether or not they woke up.
Kora can see Anthony's weariness and turns to Ming, "When is the best time to sleep again?" she looks a bit down after seeing the gate and being very unsure of what to do next.
Akyan waits until the dragons return to their original form before dropping his ready stance. Just as he'd figured, they gave no response to Anthony's question. Seems a ladder may be the only option unless Kora really can get them all over the wall.
He turns to Anthony and Aoufie, "I'd suggest we move away from this area anyway. For all we know we could have set off some sort of alarm just by approaching those things. There may be smugglers, though I'm not sure what anyone would be smuggling here, but Aoufie's plan is as good as any. May as well start by seeking out more people who have escaped the dream."
He falls silent as Anthony inquires about Ming's family. There's no harm in checking on them, but he's not sure what the benefit would be other than seeing their faces so they can recognize them in the dream.
Aoufie nods in agreement with Akyan as he begins walking away from the gate and aiming towards the middle of the city as they can talk and walk.
Anthony subtly steered Aoufie east. "The Wind Ward is this way?" Confirming with Ming. They may as well steer that way in the absence of a better immediate destination. "Do you know of a place other than the place where food is left where people gather?"
He glances at Akyan. He was a ..people finder of some kind. And Anthony knew from his.. sketchy background that some organizations left signs around for each other. He'd never been connected enough to know how to decipher them, but if there was any kind of underground or resistance here, they'd have to have a way to communicate across the city..
Deciding to head towards the Wind Ward, the group sets off and leaves the dragons and gate behind. As you leave the damaged portion of the city, much like the Wave Ward, you begin to notice slight structural differences and changes in design. The buildings seem more elegant with more curves instead of sharp edges. Many of the buildings are open to the air, large windows and balconies lining the walls. You spot a few delicate stone statues carved in such a way that it reminds you of a gust of wind.
After about an hour or so, Ming leads you to the spot where her family last was, one of the mansions closer to the center of the city and therefore relatively well-maintained. It's about mid afternoon, and you'd guess you have about 4 more hours of sunlight left.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Ming-Yue thinks for a moment as they start moving towards the Wind Ward, nodding as Anthony asks about the direction. To his other question she says, "Not really... from what I've seen people are pretty distrusting here. I haven't seen anyone moving in large groups, and those that are in groups probably are related to each other somehow." She hesitates, "But then again, I haven't really looked for groups either. I guess I just assumed everyone was out for themselves so decided it was best to just keep to myself too."
"They should be around here somewhere..." Ming says tentatively, first looking down the alley she'd left them in last. If they aren't there, she'll start scouting the nearby alleys and houses, quickly becoming distracted in her near-everyday task of tracking her parents and sister down.
Perception: 18
Akyan walks in silence as Ming leads the way to the wind ward. He catches Anthony's look, and has a fairly good guess at what it was about given the older man's mention of locating smugglers or just 'awake' people in general. However, from what he understands of this realm, the city may make up its entirety. If that's the case, there wouldn't be much to smuggle. A resistance group would be more likely. As they walk, he keeps an eye out for any signs carved into walls or just paths that look more traveled than others. He has his doubts about locating anything of the sort due to the shifting nature of the city, and the constant renovation it seems to be undergoing, but he keeps an eye out nonetheless.
Perception: 11
The drow may have been a sort of people finder, but usually he had some sort of lead to go off of. Here, the only potential leads he can think of would be either confronting someone at the vegetable stand (though by what Ming states they probably won't be very helpful) or finding someone in the dream who seems out of place.
Once they reach the wind ward, he notes the suns position, then attempts to help locate Ming's family.
Aoufie admires the architecture of the Wind ward and how they sculpted buildings into a thing of art. "It's beautiful here though it would be even more so if he people who built this were awake. Hold on I will help look as well Ming. Can you tell me their general appearance?'
Once done so he will search the nearby houses.
Perception Check
6 rolled in game log
Aoufie is distracted by the masterful architecture to notice.
It's not really his thing, but Anthony does his best to keep a lookout himself, not really sure what he's looking for, he shamelessly gives himself a little magical luck. Not that it helps much.
((Investigation 3 +3 (guidance)))
"We haven't been very subtle. Someone will probably find us eventually." With good or ill intentions.
Giving up on finding signs of life, he focuses on helping Ming look for her family. He knew there wasn't much of a 'gain' for anyone finding a bunch of sleeping people, but she'd been helping them out, and it would make her feel better. Plus, they should try to catch some shut eye before the bell rang if they could.
With a spike of panic, Ming doesn't see her family when she reaches the place she last left them. The jiangshi must have moved them last night. Fortunately, it doesn't take much searching to find them on the second floor of one of the nearby buildings. Sequestered away in one of the bedrooms with a large, open balcony facing west to the reddening sky as the sun starts its descent towards the horizon. It looks like the other handful of people haven't woke for quite some time. Cobwebs and even a few pale mushrooms cling to their barely breathing forms, a grim reminder of the unnatural sleep hanging over the city.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Kora is relieved for Ming when they find her parents, but can' help but recoil when she sees the cobwebs and actual mushrooms growing on the people that have been asleep for so long. "Should we make a plan for sleep rotation tonight? I slept last night, I can probably skip tonight, but some of you.. you really need sleep, should we do it here where it appears relatively safe?"
Ming breaths a quiet sigh of relief upon finding her sleeping family members. She quickly rushes over to them, checking to make sure they weren't hurt when they were moved, and pulling out a cloth to wipe the dust off their faces. She uses water sparingly, but just can't bare not to at least wash their faces. Who knows how long it will be if they ever wake up.
Once that is finished, she lets out another sigh, this one holding less relief and more sadness than the last one as she stares at her parents and sister for a good while. Momentarily, she forgets about the mistwalkers she'd spent the last day with, and her mind wanders to other things. As the sky grows redder, her gaze shifts to the outdoors, and she feels that familiar knot in her stomach... anticipating the ringing of the bell.
"I can keep watch if needed," she says finally when Kora asks about sleep rotations. "The dream... doesn't really pose a threat to me, so I can afford to miss a night or so." She looks down at her little sister, blinking as if holding back emotions she doesn't want to show at the moment as she picks up the little girl's hand and holds it tightly in her own.
Yup. This sucked. Watching Ming taking care of a bunch of people stuck sleeping through life because reality was too much.. for someone ar least.
His plan to sleep before the bell went off was shot through from all the mostly pointless wandering around they'd done. Not pointless. They'd learned things. Just none of it was going to help them leave or accomplish anything here.
He didn't even think anything they did would help people like Ming's family. They were working to keep the prisons intact and the darlords in their places afterall. Anthony met her eye at her sigh of almost despair, not able to keep his thoughts from his face. If he'd known her better, he might have offered a hug or a hand.
Instead, the man sat heavily, taking off enough armor and his leg brace to be able to sleep and massaged his leg. A day of limping in circles hadn't done him any favors. "You shouldn't need to stay up all night. Akyan and Zathon aren't affected by the dream either. So, regardless, you won't be alone." To Kora he added, " Here is as good as any place. I hope cuz, yeah, I gotta sleep at least a little tonight or I'll become useless real quick." Then sat back to slowly chew some rations while the others sorted out what they wanted to do next. He could get by on a few hours, he was still good on magic, but if he could get a full rest, all the better.
Aoufie feels a pang of sadness at the sight of Ming's family as it makes him miss Aunty Grym. Though he too is exasperated by their wanderings when they have made no progress. "I say again we should seek the Circle the people must eat somehow. In the morning, I say we stake out the food spawning areas."
He knows he needs sleep, but he does not wish to enter the dream world again. So, he winds down by eating a ration and drinking some water. Eventually he will sleep dreading that he may be stuck in the dream world.
He looked with mild confusion at the others at Aoufie’s comment. “What circle?”
A little later, as he was settling down and getting comfortable, he chewed his rations thoughtfully and studied Ming's family so he'd hopefully recognize them in a crowd. At least the dream promised to be better than what he usually saw when he slept. There were worse places to be trapped than some random crazy woman’s dreams.
Akyan doesn't say much when they find Ming's family. He is glad that they did, but right now he's more worried about how they will escape this place if need be. When the others start talking about sleep rotations, he speaks up. "Anthony, you got the least sleep last night right?" He slips his ring off his finger and holds it out to him, "Here, this should keep you from entering the dream unless you choose to do so. It doesn't really benefit me since as you said, I don't sleep." He looks to Kora and Aoufie, "You three can take turns with it until we get out of this place, or we decide to enter the dream together."
When Aoufie speaks up, he too looks at him with a bit of confusion. What Circle is he talking about? Sure, Akyan had the same thought about the food stands, but no one had mentioned anything about some circle.