The Grail Works Mission Dossier (Discussion & Ideas)

[Xamusel]

...uh-oh. I'll have to find a way to fix that part.

Actually, before I forget, do you use Word or Open/Libre Office? I'm thinking of emailing you the Origin Story in one of those two formats.

[Kieran]

I use Word 2007 (which is probably half the problem . . .).

[Xamusel]

Hmm... Kieran, when you get back, care to help me with getting Baba Yaga's personality right?

[Kieran]

Well, first, read the relevant Pathfinder books and see how that version of Baba Yaga is laid out; that will give you the best idea of how she thinks and reacts. Failing that, look at the original Russian folktales Baba Yaga appears in. She's very big on politeness, and cannibalistic of small children when they fail to meet her standards, amongst other things . . .

From what I remember of "Reign of Winter," Baba Yaga is perfectly willing to sacrifice anyone who isn't her for her own gain, and takes the long view - hence the whole cycle with the Queens of Irrisen in the first place. And given the lengths she went to in order to ensure her immortality, any threat to that I imagine would be eliminated with extreme prejudice.

[Xamusel]

So, essentially, she's like that witch from Hansel and Gretel? At least, in regards to the Slavic folklore, anyway.

In any case, gonna be sure to revise what I have so far, at least before I actually post the origin story here. I also want to make sure that you see what I have ready this time.

[Kieran]

More or less like, yes - as I said, since you're using "Reign of Winter," that's the best source for you.

[Xamusel]

Okay, while I'm not normally the best at these sorts of things, I decided to start up my Character Sheet creation ideas for the story ideas I have. Also, bear with me, I need to find a way to write these things down properly. As I'm hoping to use specific advancements for how to 'level up' my character in each system, and as I'm keeping my character at the low end of the scale until properly leveled, I have to admit that this will be a lot of the equivalent of First Level characters in a d20 game. This way, I won't be stealing the spotlight from the Type-MOON cast, to be fair.

In any case, I was going to start off by sharing my Numenera Character Sheet in progress, but I realized that I don't have all the rules memorized from the PDF (drat!). On top of that, I need to show Kieran what I have for a revised version of my origin story so far, which... well, that's gonna bite me hard, truly. I also wish to have him be the one arbitrating the stories I tell while I upload them... you know what I mean?

[Xamusel]

Okay, for Kieran's benefit, here's the new version of the origin story I'm working on: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Xamusel]

Kieran, I'm still working on updating the Origin Story I'm writing, even if I'd just managed to get it on my Google Doc for it a bit ago. Hopefully it'll be better when I have all the details figured out that I need to figure out how to put to paper.

[Kieran]

OK - I'll be waiting.

[Xamusel]

...you can read it as it is now, since I updated the Google Doc, Kieran. I forgot to make that obvious for you.

[Kieran]

Actually, I can't - it insists that the file has been deleted when I click the link.

[Xamusel]

...what? That shouldn't be possible. Hold on a second.

****************************open?id=1o4...9BN4MXh2zVA8uE

Does that work for you now?

[Vigilantia]

Actually, I can't - it insists that the file has been deleted when I click the link.

Did you try incognito mode? It seems to open fine when I look at it.

[Kieran]

Did you try incognito mode? It seems to open fine when I look at it.

I have no idea what that is - but he's readjusted it, it works, and the asked-for critique has been given. Thank you nonetheless for your suggestion.

[Kieran]

Prologue




Outside Chaldea Security Organisation Headquarters
Six thousand metres above sea level, Antarctica
2010








She trudged through the snow, even as the cold lashed at her limbs.

A mere child of ten, she wasn’t at all dressed for winter, never mind the perpetual snowy tundra of Antarctica; a hospital gown was no suitable protection from the biting chill of the wind, never mind the snowdrifts that came up to her knees. By all rights, she should have long since been paralysed by hypothermia; only the fact that she was too numbed to actually feel her physical condition kept her going. Even so, the blueness of her extremities would’ve been alarming to any other person.

Not to her.

She didn’t care—she had nothing left. Dying was as good as living, at this point; or at the very least, no worse. Given where she was, death would’ve come sooner or later, anyway; at least out in the cold, it would be quick.

But she wanted one thing, before the end—just one. The only thing she’d ever wanted for herself.

She wanted to see the sky.

Not clouds, not snow, but the actual sky—whether blue and sunny, or dark and filled with stars, it didn’t matter to her . . . She just wanted to see it, for real. Just for once in her short life, even if it was just before she died.

She kept her eyes on the sky, looking for a break in the clouds, and walked forward.

Finally, just as she was about to give up—to give in to the bitter cold—a star appeared. Only one star, but it shone brightly, promising a clearer sky up ahead, if she could just go a little further . . . So she walked, and walked, eyes on the sky—and as she watched, she could almost swear the star itself moved closer, as though it was trying to get to her, rather than the other way around . . .

She walked until her lungs burned. She walked until her legs stopped moving. She walked until she fell down, into the dark . . .

And her last sight was of that one, brilliant star.








Warm.

That was the first thought, the first sensation, that came to her mind as she shivered herself awake: she could feel warmth. It surrounded her, even as she shivered; her body—which rapidly-returning memory said should literally be a frozen-stiff corpse out on the Antarctic tundra—was warm enough, somehow, to feel cold.

And she was moving . . .?

Carefully, she opened her eyes—half-expecting find the wind stabbing her frozen tears into them once more. Instead, a blast of hot air reached them; which, admittedly, had her blinking just the same. Still, it gave her a reason to take careful note of her surroundings.

The Antarctic wind was still howling, but it could no longer reach her. She was shielded—and sitting—in a vehicle (a car, her implanted knowledge informed her), with the heat blowing harshly in her face. There was a blanket wrapped around her body, and a restraint across her chest. It was, however, a much looser restraint than had been used on her in the lab—she could move her arms, for example.

The driver of the car spoke, drawing her attention. “You’re awake—good. How do you feel?”

“C-c-cold,” she admitted, even as the stutter provided evidence of it.

“The thermos in front of you has hot chocolate,” the driver said. “Just the instant stuff, I’m afraid; I wasn’t sure of your diet, so I thought water might be better for you. Just sip through the straw slowly, all right?”

She blinked, a bit confused, but noted the named object, and followed instructions.

Liquid heat filled her mouth and flowed down her chest to settle in her stomach—only then did she taste it.

Sweet . . . She’d never really had a context for the word before, but she understood that this was “sweet.” It was delicious, in a way that her carefully-processed meals at Chaldea had never been—another word that she’d never thought to gain a context for. It might, she decided, even provide a context for a third heretofore-unused part of her vocabulary: “favourite food.”

“. . . Are you a magus?” she asked at last, unsure of whether to watch the driver or the view outside the car—she’d seen the outside through windows before, but never moving.

“Not in the sense you mean it,” the driver answered, “but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves just the same.”

She absorbed that, unsure of what it meant, but equally unsure of how to get a clearer answer.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I want to give you a better life, Mash,” he answered. “The kind of life you deserve to have—and I’ll take care of you as best I can, I promise.”

She flinched as certain memories (trying—and failing—to hold back her hand) surged to the front of her mind; what she deserved, she thought, was to have been left in the snow . . .

But she had nothing else.

“. . . What does ‘mash’ have to do with it?” she asked at last, knowing the word, but not understanding its relevance in regards to her, or what he’d said.

A creak of leather drew her attention to his fingers tightening on the steering wheel.

“. . . People—and other entities that have feelings—deserve names,” the driver said tightly. “That one is yours, if you want it. If not, we can pick something else.”

Not sure if she did want it, she asked instead, “What’s your name?”

“A really hard-to-pronounce name that I usually shorten to ‘Frid,’ because it’s easier to say,” he answered. “But since, with any luck, I’m going to be your legal guardian, I suppose I need a title, too—you can pick that.”

“. . . Sempai?” she asked uncertainly.

He laughed at that, for some reason.

“I suppose I should have expected that,” he said, smiling at something she didn’t understand. “But I guess it’s true, too: I am older, and we’ll be learning a lot about being a family together.”

“Being a family?” That was . . .

She didn’t know what that was, outside of what SHEBA had told her—and given the difference between what SHEBA had said about snow and what it actually felt like . . .

She settled into her blankets, and sipped her hot chocolate, thinking about “being a family,” and she felt . . .

Warm.

Initium iter . . .

[Arbitrarity]

Eeeeeeee eggplant kouhai fluff!

Interesting take on Mash's possible reaction to her condition. That Babylonia episode gave a lot of interesting setup that we're mostly familiar with from the game already, but Mash's stoicism and resignation is definitely one of the saddest parts of it. It really colours how you look at her afterwards. Assuming this is an alternative reaction that kicks off our plot divergence.

[Xamusel]

...okay, sorry about the question that should be obvious for those who have played the game and watched the episode, but what am I missing​?

[RanmaBushiko]

...okay, sorry about the question that should be obvious for those who have played the game and watched the episode, but what am I missing​?

From what Kieran told me, and I have to watch soon myself? Mash pulls a Unit 0 activation, ala Evangelion, in the first Babylonia episode, showing her backstory of how she got a certain heroic spirit in her in the first place.

[Xamusel]

Okay, thanks for the heads up, RanmaBushiko. I appreciate it.