Oblique Streams

A Tunnels and Trolls® play-by-post adventure run by shindorim7

Chapter 7: Adventure Interruptus

shindorim7

OOC

Hey folks. Look, I'm totally sorry, but in case it wasn't ridiculously obvious already, I'm just too busy to keep up on any of my RPG stuff these days. I'm in my last two months here in Korea and I'm burning the midnight oil with private lessons and so on to grab as much cash as I can before I leave. I'm pretty beat. Anyway, for those who were still on board for the Oblique Streams thing, thanks for being patient but she's dead in the water and I won't be able to continue it. You probably guessed this, but I figured I ought to be polite and tell you all officially. I figure at this point I won't even have enough leisure time to be able to play a character consistently either. It's been a lot of fun around here and I'll be sure to stop in from time to time to check up on you all.

See ya!

tarandracon

OOC

Shindorim7!

Could you have least wrapped it up with one of those classic, "All of a sudden you all wake up only to discover you were dreaming.... or were you?" kind of game-ending posts? Taran is now in limbo but I won't let him stay that way (since he's my only T&T character). So basically what I'm getting at is that I say that we, the players, write our own ending, short and to the point, or recruit a new DM to carry on. I vote for option 1, since I don't think even the great khara_khang GM knew what in Sam Shade what was going to happen in O.S.

What say ye? Shall we discuss at the next T&T Tuesday Chat? (12-1PM Eastern)?

Sadly,
Taran

eickeric

OOC

Shin,

I know the feeling---I had a good 2 years in Korea (although I'm across the sea now).

It was fun while it lasted, thanks for the effort, and various other platitudes.

Hope to see you in a few months when you get to your new teaching location. (Where will that be, anyway?)

khara_khang

OOC

Don't be frightened, I'm temporarily assuming control of this adventure due to the sudden disappearance of Shin7, may he forever R.I.P. For those of you who don't know, JeePeer's will be relocating to Canada where I have been informed he has ratted away a huge stash of gaming supplies awaiting his triumphant return from Korea. So much so that Ebay has recalled his VISA card and cut it up into tiny little pretty pieces to form a collage in the shape of a Hobbit's head in an attempt to recoup their losses.

GM pro tem

Everyone blinks their eyes and looks around at each other as they sit together at a somewhat clean table along the back wall of the Blue Frog Tavern. Taran and Jax both seem confused, but it isn't like they are twin brothers or anything. Both have grown to dislike time-tripping adventures, especially ones where you can die repeatedly [a reference to Lizardmen in Red Water Bay --ed.].

Ruth looks around perplexed, not knowing exactly what has happened, and then pulls a wayward piece of grass from her hair. Shipy touches his stomach and thinks of food. Blaen and Michael feel similarly confused. Has it all been a bad dream, have they been under some type of arcane influence? None of the scars from their operations are visible, nor is there any residual pain.

Shipy

"Look... Michael has a hickey on his neck! Har, har!" laughs the Hobbit. "Hey, you can't blame me for that... besides, I'm not that tall," explains the Hobbit, as only an innocent Hobbit can.

GM pro tem

Michael considers a quipping remark directed at the Hobbit, but instead touches his neck, and indeed there is a hickey or something resembling a hickey there. But why does only he have one and no one else? The wild-eyed sharp-toothed elf Blaen turns his arm over to reveal a similar mark. The last thing Blaen remembered was thinking about the possibility of green cheese and singing, and remarks from his friends for him to kindly shut the hell up. Ruth's mark is on her ankle, Jax and Taran have similar marks on their backs, and Shipy has one on his stomach.

Searching themselves, Jax finds 300 gold and a pair of black leather gloves. Taran finds 300 gold and a box of 12 fancy crossbow bolts. Michael finds 300 gold and a gold ring on one finger. Shipy finds 299 gold and a folded black cloak in his backpack. Blaen finds 300 gold and a pair of boots in his backpack. Ruth finds 300 gold and a new small brown pouch tied to her belt. None of you have any clue as to why you have the marks or how you obtained the new items you now have in your possession.

Each player character who played in Oblique Streams gets 2,259 adventure points.

eickeric

OOC

So, Taran needs a conclusion. Unfortunately, I can't make the Tuesday talks (time zone and all) so I'll offer my 2 yen here. None exceptionally interesting, but I don't have to be the funny one. [another ref. to Tara's Interlude? --ed.]

1. Go with Taran's "Dallas Dream Season" sequence.
2. We enter the building, and it turns out to be the legendary Floating Vagabond bar. After a short stint watching the Orc brothers drink Space Nazis under the table and get so drunk they go back to wearing hospital gowns, we leave through the side door, exiting in another realm---our home.
3. The paperwork Herr Doktor had me sign was voided when I signed them all with "Shippppo" (4 p's). We're recalled, and sent home.
4. There is no number 4.
5. Our HMOs refuse to pay for the unnecessary surgery, and pull us out where we languish in insurance hell for a few weeks, filling out paperwork before we go home.
6. We find the pig guy in the hut, grab him, and teleport out. We get our hearts' desires, and our employer gets that atomic wedgie he was promised. Shippo's [sic] river of gold turns out to be a river of pyrite.
7. We crowd inside the blue police box behind the hut to call for help. "But, Doctor, where are we off to now?"
8. We just abort the adventure for no reason, having accomplished nothing, and having made no progress whatsoever, and use the characters elsewhere. Anyone who refers to the adventure is immediately declared a traitor, a mutant, and a Commie (in reverse order) and is immediately summarily executed. Those who keep quiet may start wearing orange clothing.
9. One of the wishes I made earlier actually was on a wishing star. A pony appears, and we ride home.
10. .nrevaT gorF eulB eht ot gninruter ,ti hguorht ssap dna esuoh eht edisni rorrim a dnif eW
11. We show up in the Goblin Lake adventure. (Why not, everyone else just seems to be doing it---everyone except my Toad, that is.)
12. A fervent prayer to the Troll God for mercy and compassion gets us home.
13. We could arguably claim to be a collection of fiends, demons, and imps according to the Webster word "gawd." Thus, a Banishment spell should return us to our home plane. Triple M is pretty sure he could pull that spell off. Material component: either a a tub of bleach while yelling, "Out out, damn spot!" or better yet, a Tracey Ulman impersonation. "Go HOME!"
14. Chronos negates the past 72 hours when we defeat the champion of the past.
15. We take the out Shin gave us a while ago, the first time we were told there'd be delays.
16. We run widdershins around the building, which is actually a church, instantly transporting us to Fairyland.
17. We threaten a gazebo hidden behind the hut. Luvia, the wuss gawd, takes direct action against us for threatening the last remaining member of the gazebo race and transports us off the planet.
18. I click my heels three times, and recite "Auntie Em! Auntie Em! There's no place like home! There's no place like home!"
19. We go inside the hut, and have a conversation with a delightful Russian grandmother. The hut grows chicken legs, dances a bit, and transports itself to another plane.
20. For a flake, MMM has a darn good IQ, and he's been reading lots of Lovecraft while on hiatus lately. A couple good angles, a few math calculations, and viola! We're either home at the Blue Frog, on R'lyeh, or in a piccolo shop.

Hang it, I just realized that I'm still a lousy 100 points away from next level. Shin, how could you leave us in such dire straits?!? I'm not racking up the xp in two games, like some fuzzy-footed burrower I could mention....

<cough>

Bloody Ro

eickeric

OOC

Unfortunately, I posted my 20 suggestions for better living before I received Khara's post. Oh well....

Michael

We control the horizontal, the vertical, and the all-snow channel.

A somewhat clean table in the BFT? "Obviously, we're in some horrible mirror universe."

Business as usual.

Fortunately, I never acknowledge or realize irrelevant details like this.

What, a combination of #1, #4, and #18?

"A problem you never seem to have, short, squat, and ill-favoured."

Considered? I just did! Look up a line or three...

Prolly because I insisted on 2 glands?

Well, it was a good theory for a while there... If Grannie Witherspoon ravished me while I was under the anesthesia, I'll scream.

Of course! Initiation tattoos of the Vulture Dimension Ex-Warriors!

I hope it's only on one finger. Does it have anything to do with Hobbit Lessons 101, and the special letter?

It says, "Esteemed reader of the fiery letters, I'm hoping this ring finds you well (in whatever prison... er, military service you are in).

I am writing this so you will not believe any silly notions of this ring being a ring of power. It is a simple ring; I made it for my dear friend and strange poster Mr. Eickeric.

When Sauron came to power, he claimed that he had made a ring to rule all others. Please do not believe this. Do not think by destroying it that the world will be saved. Please, do not send any innocent creatures to try to sneak in to Mordor and throw it into his crack.... er, crack of doom I mean.

It will profit nothing! Dear reader, I implore you, don't believe the lies.

Your pal,
Sauron (oh, crap did I just sign my real name)

One film to rule them all. One film to find them. One film to find them all. And in the cinemas bind them! ...Coming soon to a theater near you?!

Caution: side effects may include invisibility, mind-control, and a general "wraithlike" feeling....

Hey, Khara, does this mean you won't let my giant Toad in the Goblin Lake adventure?

Bummer.

tarandracon

(Long after the adventure ends, tarandracon raises the subject of the mysterious marks again. Though Jax and Taran's are revealed to be Talo Tattoo Worms (ancient symbionts with magical powers) in Dangerous Creations and The Pirate Blade of Rahnian, the others' similar marks were never mentioned again. The GM finally sets the story straight in this postscript.)

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