>>3835431
Boy

>>3835431
Boy

>>3835431
Boy

>>3835431
Boi

>>3835450
>>3835474
>>3835482
You will be born a boy, perhaps one day endowed with the earthshaking might or inscrutable cunning so common to figures of myth and legend, but that is yet to come and remains to be seen.

> Second, which of your parents was mortal and which was divine?

> Like most, your father was divine and your mother was mortal
> Strangely, your mother was divine and your father was mortal

>>3835498
>> Strangely, your mother was divine and your father was mortal

>>3835498
>> Like most, your father was divine and your mother was mortal

>>3835498
>Strangely, your mother was divine and your father was mortal

>>3835498
>Like most, your father was divine and your mother was mortal

>>3835498
>strangely, your mother was divine

>>3835504
>>3835518
>>3835532
Unusually, your mother was divine and decided to take on the burden of childbirth for the sake of a mortal, though he must've done something to attract her attention and may not have been so mere.

> How significant was your mortal father?

> He was beneath notice, no more than another unwashed peasant but something about him struck a chord with your mother in a way none other could.
> He was exceptional, a warrior, artist, or sorcerer of some acclaim and aroused your mother's attention, but to most divines, skill or fame alone wouldn't be enough and there must be more than what there seems.
> He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.

>>3835543
>He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.
Why would we choose anything else?

>>3835543
>> He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.

>>3835543
>> He was beneath notice, no more than another unwashed peasant but something about him struck a chord with your mother in a way none other could.

>>3835543
> He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.

>>3835543
>He was exceptional, a warrior, artist, or sorcerer of some acclaim and aroused your mother's attention, but to most divines, skill or fame alone wouldn't be enough and there must be more than what there seems.

>>3835543
>> He was exceptional, a warrior, artist, or sorcerer of some acclaim and aroused your mother's attention, but to most divines, skill or fame alone wouldn't be enough and there must be more than what there seems

>>3835543
>He was beneath notice, no more than another unwashed peasant but something about him struck a chord with your mother in a way none other could.
The purest option.

>>3835543
Switching >>3835583 to
>He was exceptional, a warrior, artist, or sorcerer of some acclaim and aroused your mother's attention, but to most divines, skill or fame alone wouldn't be enough and there must be more than what there seems.
It's the second best.

>>3835543
>> He was beneath notice, no more than another unwashed peasant but something about him struck a chord with your mother in a way none other could.

>>3835543
>> He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.

>>3835543
>He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.

>>3835589
Switching to
>He was exceptional

>>3835543
> He was a paragon, fleet of foot, keen of mind, strong of limb, and legendary in the field he chose to pursue mind, body, and soul, it is no surprise that of the numberless masses she would've chosen the one who stood out.

>>3835546
>>3835559
>>3835567
>>3835591
>>3835604
He was a paragon, magnificent among men and far surpassing his peers, but who was he? What profession did he so excel in that even a goddess beyond the primordial plane took notice, and deemed him worthy to father her son?

> He was a warlord, a conquering master-at-arms more monstrous in might than the beasts he slew, of a savagery so fierce it stirred something all too earthly within the heavens.
> He was a thief, so skilled at unraveling and evading even the strongest locks and entrapments, so brazen and bold he pierced the veil between realms and stole her heart.
> He was a prophet, speaking the wisdom of the divine even from before his birth, and such was his faith, he brought countless multitudes to kneel and incurred even her affection.
> He was a craftsman, a master of a manufacturing discipline so refined it became an esoteric art in his hands, and the creation of an artifact beyond all else earned her affection.
> He was an artist, whether silken in poetic tongue or delicate in canvas touch, the culmination of his life's work so profound as to bring even a goddess to weep.
> He was a humble wise man, so strong of will as to gaze beyond the heavenly firmament and into the dreamless murk beyond, yet retain his sanity and so much more.

>>3835612
>> He was a warlord, a conquering master-at-arms more monstrous in might than the beasts he slew, of a savagery so fierce it stirred something all too earthly within the heavens.

>>3835612
> He was a humble wise man, so strong of will as to gaze beyond the heavenly firmament and into the dreamless murk beyond, yet retain his sanity and so much more.
S A G E

>>3835612
>>3835616
switching my vote to
> He was a humble wise man, so strong of will as to gaze beyond the heavenly firmament and into the dreamless murk beyond, yet retain his sanity and so much more.

>>3835612
>He was an artist, whether silken in poetic tongue or delicate in canvas touch, the culmination of his life's work so profound as to bring even a goddess to weep.
I guess /qst/ hates love

>>3835612
>He was an artist, whether silken in poetic tongue or delicate in canvas touch, the culmination of his life's work so profound as to bring even a goddess to weep.
Orpheus, more or less.

>>3835612
> He was a warlord, a conquering master-at-arms more monstrous in might than the beasts he slew, of a savagery so fierce it stirred something all too earthly within the heavens.

>>3835612
>He was an artist, whether silken in poetic tongue or delicate in canvas touch, the culmination of his life's work so profound as to bring even a goddess to weep.

>>3835627
>>3835643
>>3835665
He was an artist, whether he was a master of the spoken word, tufted brush, or music instrument matters little, only that his talent and singleminded dedication to honing it was such he inspired even the heavens, and among them, brought a single divine to weep.

> Who was she?

> A young and newly risen goddess, overseeing what some would say is an insignificant and petty sphere of power, yet able to invest herself fully into the love she wished to have with him and her child.
> An aged and established goddess, holding onto a minor but no less grand sphere of power and holding onto him for some time before returning to oversee her duties.
> An ancient and authoritative goddess, wielding a truly significant sphere of power, but forced by the potential consequence of idle amusement to part with her lover in time.
> A venerable and unquestionable goddess, boasting sovereignty over a major and tremendous sphere of power, but such were her responsibilities she was far more absent than present.
> A timeless and unfathomable goddess, claiming authority over a sphere of power nothing less than essential to existence itself, she could've spent as much time loving him as she pleased but so far beyond mortality was her true self, she was forced to stay distant for his sake.

>>3835761
>A young and newly risen goddess, overseeing what some would say is an insignificant and petty sphere of power, yet able to invest herself fully into the love she wished to have with him and her child.
Goddess of the lute. Not surprising that she'd fall for a surpassing devotee of the instrument, given her focused domain.
Also, how long is chargen going to go on, QM? Any chance of starting the quest?

>>3835761
> A timeless and unfathomable goddess, claiming authority over a sphere of power nothing less than essential to existence itself, she could've spent as much time loving him as she pleased but so far beyond mortality was her true self, she was forced to stay distant for his sake.

Son of mother earth

>>3835761

> A timeless and unfathomable goddess, claiming authority over a sphere of power nothing less than essential to existence itself, she could've spent as much time loving him as she pleased but so far beyond mortality was her true self, she was forced to stay distant for his sake.

>>3835761
>> A timeless and unfathomable goddess, claiming authority over a sphere of power nothing less than essential to existence itself, she could've spent as much time loving him as she pleased but so far beyond mortality was her true self, she was forced to stay distant for his sake.

>>3835766
There are around five more questions, give or take, relating to your mother's sphere of power, the circumstances of your childhood, and what general talents you have.

>>3835761
>A young and newly risen goddess, overseeing what some would say is an insignificant and petty sphere of power, yet able to invest herself fully into the love she wished to have with him and her child

>>3835761
>Timeless

>>3835767
>>3835769
>>3835775
>>3835841
Your father was a lifelong student of the lute, a player of such unparalleled potency it brought one who had listened from the beginning to tears for the first time in as many generations as there is sand on the shore, and he became the one and only among his kin to receive her true love. Your mother descended from the firmament clad in the raiment of a lowly peasant, for such was her power she was beyond such trifles as presentation, and in that epochal, eternal gaze the lowly maker of legendary music found something worth so much more than the instrument his fingers plied. Each of the two abandoned the worlds above and below in favor of each other's arms, and in the embrace of a distant and quiet woodland hearth, the rest was history.

> What sphere of power was she preordained to oversee?

> The Earth, in all its still unflinching majesty.
> The Sky, resplendent in a crown of storms.
> The Flames, furious in hate, yet warm in love.
> The Seas, peerless in their mysterious depths.
> Time, eternally demanding exacting precision.
> Space, holding all in its grasp, yet nothing at all.
> Death, imminent and implacable, ever-patient.

>>3835906
>The Sky, resplendent in a crown of storms.
If this was greek mythology I would definitely choose seas.

>>3835906
>> Death, imminent and implacable, ever-patient

>>3835906
>Time, eternally demanding exacting precision.
Time is the core of musical composition, so it would make the most sense for a goddess of time to fall in love with a musician.

>>3835906
>The Flames, furious in hate, yet warm in love.

>>3835965
+1
Yeah that makes sense

>>3835965
>+1
I can't argue with the logic.

>>3835906
>> The Sky, resplendent in a crown of storms

>>3835965
+1
Wanted to vote Death because it's comfy but this actually makes sense

>>3835965
>>3835982
>>3836002
>>3836047
She was the goddess of Time, eldest of the Creator's firstborn and such was her wisdom, she was tasked to oversee the continuation of all things, a duty she did not abandon even in the aftermath of His fall. For an eternity she bore witness to the passage of Time, setting it in motion and maintaining its momentum with monolithic precision known not even to the greatest smiths and sages of a thousand ages. Over the span of Time she had come to terms with the notion that she would be forever alone, for none, mortal or divine could hope to match her, and none other was worthy to see the Timekeeper's face.

Until your father came along. At first he did nothing to catch her eye, he was no-one special, no emperor of men or wielder of sorceries, but then he took up the lute, and even as a youth, he claimed mastery. This alone was not enough to earn her attention for a thousand godlings of music and prodigies of sound could claim the same, but then, for the first time in a thousand, thousand centuries, she was brought to pause for of all the multitudes who came before and were to come, his music was the first to reach synchronicity.

Where others saw fit to dazzle crowds with orchestral magnificence, or challenge the heavens themselves with stunning solo after solo, he remained within his chambers and little by little, over the course of decades came to well and truly learn his tune. To most it was nothing of note, merely a monotonous tone but to one with absolute knowledge of Time, its unrivaled hour of order, not an instant more nor less, without a single misstep no matter how slight or momentary, was enough to usher in a flood of tears.

Again and again he played for her, even and especially when he did not know that there was an audience in his personal room, and when she came into being before him, she brought all else to still so that his sound could be heard. Not once did he waver or shake at the manifestation of the eldest, and not once did he make any motion more than what he did each time he played, except to set his lute aside and bow upon completion. On the day of stillness he struck a chord with more than his instrument, and soon they were lovers, selfishly slowing Time so that in the first time in forever, they could take theirs.

> It wasn't long before you were born, but did you take more after your mother or your father?

> Mother, your power over Time could not begin to approach an infinitesimal portion of what she claimed, but its impossible, otherwise peerless and unprecedented presence could not be denied.
> Father, your grasp over Time is subtle and subdued, but where your mother could continue without end, your father knew how to weave true art from his spark, and you are the same.

>>3836130
>Mother, your power over Time could not begin to approach an infinitesimal portion of what she claimed, but its impossible, otherwise peerless and unprecedented presence could not be denied.

>>3836130
>Mother, your power over Time could not begin to approach an infinitesimal portion of what she claimed, but its impossible, otherwise peerless and unprecedented presence could not be denied.
Cool time powers pls

>>3836130
>Father, your grasp over Time is subtle and subdued, but where your mother could continue without end, your father knew how to weave true art from his spark, and you are the same.

>>3836130
>Father
Fineness over power.

>>3836130
>Father, your grasp over Time is subtle and subdued, but where your mother could continue without end, your father knew how to weave true art from his spark, and you are the same.

>>3836130
>Father, your grasp over Time is subtle and subdued, but where your mother could continue without end, your father knew how to weave true art from his spark, and you are the same.

>>3836157
>>3836194
>>3836235
>>3836255
Your birth was a momentous occasion, the first and more than likely last, son of Time crawled from his mother's womb to the sound of a lute, forty-seven months, no more no less after their original liaison. Much to the surprise of them both, you were the spitting image of your father though here and there were subtle hints at your heritage. To their seemingly endless delight as you grew you found yourself drawn to music, and while your attempts at playing were mere fumbling compared to your father's symphony, they nonetheless would've been impressive from an adult, let alone a toddler.

In Time all things come to end and tragically, as much as they would've loved to cast the cosmos aside, each of your parents knew they couldn't keep their affair going forever. Mercifully, it took you longer to mature than the average mortal child but eventually you attained a surprisingly sharp intellect and were asked to make what they felt was a difficult, but necessary choice. They promised they would visit no matter which way your decision went, but that was little consolation to the quiet child.

> Which of your parents did you choose to raise you?

> Your mother, in the eternal halls where she and her servants kept the wheels of Time turning.
> Your father, in the humble woodland cabin, so far away from your mother but never set apart.
> Gripped by stubborn will, you refused to choose and after much discussion, a compromise was met.

>>3836416
>Your mother, in the eternal halls where she and her servants kept the wheels of Time turning.

>>3836416
>Your father, in the humble woodland cabin, so far away from your mother but never set apart.

>>3836416
> Your mother, in the eternal halls where she and her servants kept the wheels of Time turning.

>>3836416
> Your mother, in the eternal halls where she and her servants kept the wheels of Time turning.

>>3836416
>Gripped by stubborn will, you refused to choose and after much discussion, a compromise was met.

>>3836422
>>3836451
>>3836458
It was among the most difficult decisions any child could make, but in time you came to choose and parted for your mother's halls with a tearful goodbye. Always silent unless something needed to be said, she reassured you that things would be alright but even so young, you understood your life would never be the same. The complexity behind the maddening angles and skittering shades of the Eternal Hall would've driven any mortal irrevocably insane but you sprung forth from its source and remained unscathed. Though your mother had watched as many childhoods as had come to pass since her emergence, she possessed nothing but a detached academic's understanding of childcare and isolated from any other save the strange spirits lurking there, your grasp of social niceties suffered. However pressing her duties were, she always made sure to make time for you and beneath her tutelage, as you matured in that realm of emerald and brass in equal measure, you laid claim to a number of talents.

> Demigod that you are, your superiority is beyond question but where do you truly excel?

> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.
> You are slight of figure and swift in motion, able to evade all but the keenest sight and your deftness could put even the finest clock's hands to shame.
> You have no unnatural strength nor fleetness, but your face could give a petty goddess of Beauty pause and rich oratory flows through your lips like water.
> You are an unassuming personage, but where your might, dexterity, and visage barely surpass that of mere mortals, your wisdom is far, far beyond your years.

> For all those years in the Eternal Hall, you did not lay idle and pursuing understanding with wild abandon, what did you master?

> You sought to emulate your father in the playing of the lute, and while you cannot truly mimic his absolute mastery of the song, you can come damned close and play many, many more conventional ones well aside.
> You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.
> You immersed yourself in meditation on the nature of Time's flow through you, and while you never could reach your mother's effortless height, you learned to *slightly* hasten and *briefly* reverse it in relation to yourself.

>>3836511
>You are an unassuming personage, but where your might, dexterity, and visage barely surpass that of mere mortals, your wisdom is far, far beyond your years.
>You immersed yourself in meditation on the nature of Time's flow through you, and while you never could reach your mother's effortless height, you learned to *slightly* hasten and *briefly* reverse it in relation to yourself.

>>3836511
> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.
> You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.
Futuristic bronze age clockchad inbound

>>3836511
>You are an unassuming personage, but where your might, dexterity, and visage barely surpass that of mere mortals, your wisdom is far, far beyond your years.
>You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

Is this some sort of elaborate shitpost or a legit chargen?

>>3836511
> You are an unassuming personage, but where your might, dexterity, and visage barely surpass that of mere mortals, your wisdom is far, far beyond your years.
> You immersed yourself in meditation on the nature of Time's flow through you, and while you never could reach your mother's effortless height, you learned to *slightly* hasten and *briefly* reverse it in relation to yourself.

>>3836517

>>3836511
> You are an unassuming personage, but where your might, dexterity, and visage barely surpass that of mere mortals, your wisdom is far, far beyond your years.
> You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

>>3836511

> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.

> You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

Proud mama

>>3836511
>> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.

imposing and unstoppable by the hands of men, like time itself.

> You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

As beings of Time, mother and I knew that father's Time would come to an end, one of our first creations was a simple music box, we could not play the lute like father but we programmed it to follow his exact tempo and replicate mother's favorite tune, The Song of Time (best played on an ocarina kek), she infused it with power later, so every time it played Time would stop, like in those lazy summer afternoons where she would listen to it while father played.

>>3836626
also, could Death be our aunt? I imagine the sisters Death and Time would work well together, one pushes all beings through time while the other picks them up after their time has ended, and confy death aunty

>>3836511

> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.
> You immersed yourself in meditation on the nature of Time's flow through you, and while you never could reach your mother's effortless height, you learned to *slightly* hasten and *briefly* reverse it in relation to yourself.

>>3836511
> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.
>You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

>>3836511
>You are an unassuming personage, but where your might, dexterity, and visage barely surpass that of mere mortals, your wisdom is far, far beyond your years.
>You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye

>>3836598

>>3836511

> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.
>You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3836578
I do my shitposting on >>>/bant/ and Demigods are complicated. The vote is eight for [Clockwork] to three for [Time] attunement and settled but you are the firstborn son of the definitive goddess of Time and understanding of the monolithic symphony of entropy your mother conducts will come in time. Pleasantly enough, the only tie is between [Might] and [Wisdom] and easily resolved with an unbiased coin flip.

> [Might]-1
> [Wisdom]-2

>>3836626
A music box is fine but stopping Time willy nilly is a no-go, she was already pushing it to the limit with your father.

>>3836635
You're the son of a timeless goddess, many ancient and unnameable things could claim close kinship to you, only some of them divine. Death is technically your aunt but you've never seen her and from what little your mother has said about theology, you grasp that deities of such power rarely leave their abodes and even rarer decide to risk contacting one another. Not that you or anyone that isn't a gibbering madman or learned scholar with a stack of ancient scrolls would know but your mother and Death enjoy a distant, if relatively amicable relationship.

>>3836996
now I'm sad we are not strong, guess we will have to lift the old fashioned way if we ever want to bust some heads and be goddamn heroes

the music box if a girf for her, what she does is her will only

>>3836511
> You stand at an imposing stature and when called upon, your hulking physicality can lift and endure hardship with the unrelenting force of a thousand eons.
>You decided that if you were condemned to be alone you would make your own friends, and after much trial and error, managed to devise clockwork machinations that never failed to bring a twinkle to your mother's eye.

>>3836511
>you stand at imposing physicality

>>3836533
>>3836601
>>3836702
As you advanced in age, you found your physicality heightening and your voice deepening but to you these changes were trivial, superficial, fleeting distractions from what truly mattered. Far more noticeable to your mother and yourself alike was your wit, sharpening to an ever-keener razor's edge each mortal season and no different from either of your progenitors, never forgetting even the slightest of details it had learned. Analyzing the patterns of the Eternal Hall could only entertain such boundless curiosity for so long and with not a single one of your mother's servants willing to distract themselves from their sacred duty for a child's sake, you were forced to get creative.

She claimed the small hill of brass gears and shimmering wires was a 'birthday present' like so many mortals she'd seen so valued, but in its seemingly endless depths you saw far more than a worthless bauble or trifling trinket. It was a puzzle of someone to play and soon, you set to work fitting the pieces together with a bottomless patience even the eldest of mortal monks would envy. You don't know how long you sat fiddling with those disassembled parts but when you first laid eyes on the result you knew each instant was worth it. The contraption was a small, fragile thing, a windup toy no larger than a kitten with a makeshift propeller blade jutting from its top, but as you wound it and set it into motion, you were delighted beyond description that somehow, someway it was alive like nothing else you'd ever seen before and more than that, loved you as eagerly and earnestly as any childhood pet.

It didn't take long before the windup ran out and it fell apart in mid-air, but you shed no tears and picking up the pieces, resolved to do better next time. The next rudimentary automaton came sooner and was its predecessor's superior, the size of a small puppy it was much more resilient and stopped working far later than before but by the time it collapsed your next project was already well-underway. Manufacturing them only to enjoy what little company they could give and salvage what remained, time and time again, you learned the value of diligent work as these prototypes grew alongside you. Though she often seemed aloof, your mother was never absent and while the sight of those strange approximations of animal forms was far less impressive and imaginative than your father's work, it filled her with a warm, motherly feeling she had never before known for herself. Eventually your understanding of the clockwork reached the complexity of a man, albeit, one lasting only three months without the slightest grasp of complex commands but nonetheless baring the strength of fivefold mortals and the singleminded determination of many, many times their number.

> (1/3)

>>3837088

When you were a mere child your father stayed true to his word, visiting during every solstice and eclipse of the twin moons, no matter how minor, and there he tussled your hair, marveled at your machines, and oft-times to the tune of his lute, the two of you made merry. These were perhaps the happiest times of your life but as you aged in the Eternal Hall his returns came more and more seldom, and his figure, once straight-backed and impeccable in form, grew hunched and slowed. In those last visits he paid you little more than what heed was necessary, preferring to spend every moment he could playing the song of his lute in the presence of his beloved. Even sheltered and young, you were never naive and understanding what was coming, did not begrudge them this in the slightest.

The final time he took hands to the lute in his life, those knuckles he so trained were swollen with arthritis, his deft fingertips, worn to the bone, and his acrobatic wrists, trembling with the mere exertion of carrying it. At first he did not hesitate to play, striving to make music to the best of his ability but soon, cracks in that impregnable shield of prodigal skill began to appear and preferring death to disappointing his lifelong lover, he cast his instrument onto the emerald floor where it shattered into a thousand shards that to this day lie unswept. However, before he could fall into Death’s embrace each of the two, mortal and divine heard a faint droning sound that both would’ve deemed impossible were its source not playing before their very eyes. It was many years and much struggle in the making, but when the tinkling of that music box came to cease, your weary father closed his eyes and died in peace.

This was the first and last time you had ever seen your mother weep and you bore it in stoicism, offering the eldest among all else a shoulder to cry on when none other could be found. When she had finished, you pressed the music box into her palm and told her that this toy would never unravel, for you’d invested a part of who you are, were, and will be into it. There could be no doubt that you were the second near-mortal she loved, though it was an entirely different kind of love and in the aftermath of that embrace, each of you knew that your time in the Eternal Hall had come to an end.

> (2/3)

>>3837088
>>3837092

> Packing your clockworks, striding through that gate, and shedding the weight of a lifetime’s divine presence was easy enough, but even Time is powerless to influence the whims of Fate. From whence you came is well known, but to where, or rather, when did you go?

> An age of tranquility, the scattered lands have been brought together by a benevolent mortal despot and at least for the next dozen generations, the mandate of the heavens will preserve their work of unification.
> An age of strife, an empire thought unstoppable has fallen and in its wake, armed men and horrible monsters, only some laying claim to both, do vicious battle over the rotten table scraps of a bounteous feast gone by.
> An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.
> Another age, yet to be known by any save the maddened tale-tellers among the Fates. [Write-In]

> (3/3)

>>3837094
>An age of stalemate, the lands divided into warring city-states with petty kings. Foreign empires leer in the east, but the cities hold their eyes fast to the heavens which so rarely sing anymore and keep to their battles and sacrifices.

>>3837094
>> An age of tranquility, the scattered lands have been brought together by a benevolent mortal despot and at least for the next dozen generations, the mandate of the heavens will preserve their work of unification.

>>3837094
> An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.

>>3837094

> An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.

Maybe mother will walk the earth again? Maybe because of these changes she was able and decided to visit father?

>> An age of tranquility, the scattered lands have been brought together by a benevolent mortal despot and at least for the next dozen generations, the mandate of the heavens will preserve their work of unification.

>>3837094
>An age of tranquility, the scattered lands have been brought together by a benevolent mortal despot and at least for the next dozen generations, the mandate of the heavens will preserve their work of unification.

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>>3837094
>> An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.

>>3837094

> An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.

>>3837094
>> An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.

>>3837094
>An age of mystery, something glorious has come and gone in thunderous noise and flashing blazes, and in its wake the ways of old have begun to make a comeback, as have the divines once excluded from the self-proclaimed pantheon.

>>3837119
>>3837193
>>3837203
>>3837209
>>3837286
>>3837299
You have emerged into an age of mystery, fraught with perilous danger and unrepentant idolatry. There is an undercurrent of tragic loss but in its wake, unparalleled opportunity awaits. Some part of you can't help but wonder whether this was a poor decision, if you should've asked to remain within your mother's abode but this dissenting voice is overwhelmed and silenced by an overwhelming sense of anticipation. Here, you can put your automaton to the test and who knows what will become of you in a mortal era's time?

> This will be an experience unlike any other you've faced thus far, but before we begin, what name have your parents chosen for your soul to carry?

>>3837796
Chronos, herald of lady Time

>>3837796
Synchronos, after our father's music that won Time's heart.

>>3837813
Supporting

>>3837813
support

>>3837813
this

>>3837813
>>3837880
>>3837911
>>3838113
You are named Synchronos, in honor of the Song of Time your father played again and again for your mother’s sake. A Demigod born of the eldest goddess, your strength, swiftness, and charisma exceeds that of all but the most exceptional mortals, but where you truly shine is your wisdom, no savage cunning nor infallible intellect, it is a deep, innate understanding of the nature of Creation and your place therein. Taking after your father, your attunement to the divine is restrained but a portion of his precision lies within you, as is the potential to one day match and perhaps surpass it. Deep in the Eternal Hall, your childhood was assembling clockwork and after countless hours of arduous labour, learning to imbue a spark of the divine in your constructs to make something wholly new.

For a moment, you review your standing and consider your future.

> Synchronos
> Demigod of Time
> Attunement:
> Time (0): Even if you take far more after your father, you are still the son of a goddess and the blood of the eldest divine flows through your veins. At the moment it produces little more than a passive, monolithic aura in the astral realm and absolute immunity to that which would still or swiften your flesh without your consent.
> Mastery:
> Clockwork (1): If you have access to materials, you can create completely loyal clockwork automatons up to the complexity and size of a small humanoid. They are resilient and physically powerful but short-lived and lack the intelligence to follow complicated commands.
> Music (1): Though it hasn’t been honed the talent of your father lies in you and manifests in a lyrical and instrumental brilliance that could bring most mortal prodigies to pale. With enough effort, eventually this could yield much more than simply pleasant sound.

> Attributes:
> Might (5): You possess the strength and toughness of five mortal men, sufficient to give most mortal fighters pause but meaning little before the great powers of the world.
> Motion (5): You possess a sense of balance and coordination potent enough to match five mortal men, catching a loosed arrow isn’t beyond you but it might be unwise to try.
> Wisdom (10): You possess a wisdom matching ten mortal men, among the rarest sort of mindfulness and you gaze upon the world with a depth of insight seldom seen.
> Charm (5): You possess the social aptitude of five mortal men, instinctively knowing what to say and do to impress others during conversation, anxiety is near-alien to you.

> (1/2)

>>3838273

> Inventory:
> Timespun Robes, though their appearance is plain, they are of the finest make and will never fray or sully beyond the moment of their stitching.
> A Bag of Gears (20), a timespun sack containing a massive quantity of polished brass gears and bronze cogs, sufficient to make a number of potent clockworks.
> A Season’s Trail Rations, effortlessly born over your shoulders, more than enough to sustain your physical form for the span of no less than three mortal months.

When that is done, you decide to examine your surroundings and see where it is your mother deemed fit to release you. Unable to question the Fates or not, she is still a goddess of Time with more than enough metaphysical clout to direct an interrealm gate to wherever she so pleases. Laying eyes on the choice she made you can’t help but smile. This shall suffice quite nicely to start your journey.

> Where do you find yourself standing?

> In a remarkably clean if cramped alleyway in the center of what you intuit to be a primitive mortal city of some sort. The chatter of voices in the midst of haggling can be heard nearby, it seems you’re in the middle of a bazaar.
> In the depths of what would be a pitch-black cavern, were it not dimly lit by all manner of bioluminescent fungi. Already you can discern the glint of copper, gold, and many other ores beside embedded in these walls.
> In the middle of what could be nothing else than a decrepit shrine to a lesser deity gone by. Surrounding you is a throng of cloaked mortals caught in the throes of rapturous worship, and with a start, you realize you must’ve been expected.

> (2/2)

>>3838275
>> In the middle of what could be nothing else than a decrepit shrine to a lesser deity gone by. Surrounding you is a throng of cloaked mortals caught in the throes of rapturous worship, and with a start, you realize you must’ve been expected.

>>3838275
> In the depths of what would be a pitch-black cavern, were it not dimly lit by all manner of bioluminescent fungi. Already you can discern the glint of copper, gold, and many other ores beside embedded in these walls.
Let's establish a power-base before starting a cult.

>>3838275
>In the depths of what would be a pitch-black cavern, were it not dimly lit by all manner of bioluminescent fungi. Already you can discern the glint of copper, gold, and many other ores beside embedded in these walls.

>>3838275
>In the depths of what would be a pitch-black cavern, were it not dimly lit by all manner of bioluminescent fungi. Already you can discern the glint of copper, gold, and many other ores beside embedded in these walls

>>3838275
>In the middle of what could be nothing else than a decrepit shrine to a lesser deity gone by. Surrounding you is a throng of cloaked mortals caught in the throes of rapturous worship, and with a start, you realize you must’ve been expected.

>>3838324
>>3838329
>>3838330
There, in the depths of what would be a pitch-black cavern were it not lit by all manner of bioluminescent fungi, you gaze upon the telltale glint of copper, gold, and a dozen other vital minerals besides and find your analytical mind racing with the possibilities. As you utter a prayer of thanks to your mother, your face breaks into its first smile since Death claimed your father and letting no time go to waste, you step forth to begin your work.

All around you is a beauteous abundance of minerals that would take a mortal a decade or more to harvest and there’s no telling what else lies in this cave network. Before you begin prospecting, it occurs to you that a tool is necessary to begin, but all of a sudden you find your attention piqued by a peculiar stalagmite and wandering there, you find a skeleton clinging to a crude copper pick. With a word of thanks to the unfortunate’s remains and your mother in equal measure, you wrest it from its ancient grip. The tool’s balance is poor and it was blunted long ago, but the passage of time has left it mercifully bereft of rust. It’s inestimably better than nothing and you feel it shall go far.

> What do you want to do?

> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A humanoid requires one month and (5) clockworks to manufacture, but can labour without pause for three months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.
> Begin exploring the cavern system surrounding you, there must be something more than mineral ore for this place to have warranted your mother’s decision.
> Begin mining ore, you’ll figure out a way to smelt and process it into functional gears when you’ve already gotten a respectable stockpile.
> Begin the pursuit of another, stranger task ordained by the Fates.

>>3838391
>Begin exploring the cavern system surrounding you, there must be something more than mineral ore for this place to have warranted your mother’s decision

>>3838391
>Begin exploring the cavern system surrounding you, there must be something more than mineral ore for this place to have warranted your mother’s decision.

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> Music (1): Though it hasn’t been honed the talent of your father lies in you and manifests in a lyrical and instrumental brilliance that could bring most mortal prodigies to pale. With enough effort, eventually this could yield much more than simply pleasant sound.

>eventually this could yield much more than simply pleasant sound.

>>3838391
>Begin exploring the cavern system surrounding you, there must be something more than mineral ore for this place to have warranted your mother’s decision.

>>3838391
> Begin exploring the cavern system surrounding you, there must be something more than mineral ore for this place to have warranted your mother’s decision.

>>3838391
-# Begin exploring the cavern system surrounding you, there must be something more than mineral ore for this place to have warranted your mother’s decision.

>>3838414
>>3838507
>>3838597
>>3838835
>>3838843
You decide it would prove better to explore your surroundings before undergoing the beginnings of industry, and holding the pick at ready against any potential threat you start your search. So far as you can determine there are three tunnels leading out of the cavern your mother has chosen, one of them too small and cramped to even attempt traveling through but the others permit some degree of movement. Advancing through the first of the two you’ve found, you’re intrigued to discover that it leads downward, deeper into the earth rather than up. Curious, you continue for what feels to be two weeks, going through no less than five smaller but no less minerally-rich caverns before it comes to an end, in two week’s time.

A massive, growing source of heat provides significant discomfort as you descend but you are a Demigod, no frail and feeble mortal and undeterred, you don’t stop until you reach a sixth and last cavern. This one has relatively little in the way of minerals and unlike its more circular predecessors is bent in a peculiar horizontal ‘L’ shape, but traveling to the long bottom, you find it split between two-thirds of stone and one-third of slow flowing magma. It causes you to break into a pouring sweat but already, the back of your head is devising the construction of a rudimentary foundry to make use of it.

This will take a massive amount of work to begin with any amount of efficiency, but in time such closeness to the earth’s life-blood could prove a significant boon.

> What do you want to do next?

> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A humanoid requires one month and (5) clockworks to manufacture, but can labour without pause for three months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.
> Begin exploring the other tunnel, this magma is of no use to you now and you’re curious to see what other mysteries might be lying in wait.
> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat here to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.
> Return to the closest cavern and begin mining ore, you’ll puzzle out a way to complete the foundry when you’ve already gotten a respectable stockpile
> Begin the pursuit of another, stranger task ordained by the Fates.

>>3838391
>> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A humanoid requires one month and (5) clockworks to manufacture, but can labour without pause for three months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.

Make a robot to mine ore for us with the copper pick we found.

>>3838861
>>3838868

Missed the update, but I'm still voting for the same thing.

>>3838868 >>3838869
+1.

>>3838861
>> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A humanoid requires one month and (5) clockworks to manufacture, but can labour without pause for three months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.

make it 2

one to mine and another one to find a passage to the surface

>>3838875
This but make the scout a smaller centipede-type thing

>>3838878
>>3838875
Agreed

>>3838861
>>3838875
>>3838878
Support

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279 KB JPG

>>3838878
>>3838875
>>3838885
>>3838887
sure lets do this

>>3838875
>>3838878
>>3838885
>>3838887
>>3838888
You decide to begin the construction of clockworks to accomplish twofold tasks, the mining of ores within the richest cavern and exploration of the tunnels in search of one leading to the surface. The first is simple to produce as you've memorized the process by rote and by the end of a month's time an automaton roughly half your size is pummeling nuggets of ore from the walls with carefully calibrated strength. Its might is equal to yours, though this model is somewhat limited by its clumsiness and lack of creativity. Perhaps you could resolve these shortcomings sometime in the near future, but at the moment, you are entirely preoccupied with another endeavor: The production of a new kind of clockwork.

> Roll 1d10+10 to develop a centipede clockwork
> DC: 8

To accomplish skill-dependent tasks, you roll a number of ten-sided dice equal to your amount in the relevant Mastery, then apply the number of corresponding Attribute as a bonus in an attempt to defeat the difficulty check. Some tasks are outright impossible without legendary skills and/or godly stats, but being a Demigod gives you a leg-up on most of the mortal competition. In this case, you would roll 1d10+10 to research and produce a semi-autonomous centipede clockwork capable of exploring the cavern system. An ambitious task to be sure, but your inhuman Wisdom will do much to avail you.

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3839007

Rolled 2 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3839007

question, will we be able to improve our mother's heritage and get some form of time skill since we are attuned to it?

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3839007

>>3839016
Eventually your Attunement will rise on its own but investing time and resources into self-improvement will speed the process. You can also acquire other Attunements through a variety of esoteric means such as the consumption of other deities, the assimilation of a manifestation the concept, or the enhancement of a Mastery to truly divine levels. The worship of mortals does relatively little influence the nature of a deity in any time scale that isn't best measured in centuries, but it can and does slowly, slightly improve their overall power though this is much more noticeable with weaker divine entities. The reverence of mortals is sought after to prevent the rising of rivals as much as to strengthen a deity or stroke its ego.

>>3839025
so for exemple, while our drones do their work we could spend that time meditating like we could do at the time hall

>>3839013
You gather the smattering of cogs and wires before you with the same, innocent excitement that consumed your childhood and once you’ve devised a schematic of how you feel it should function in your head, you begin with enthusiasm. To you, this isn’t work anymore than practicing the lute was to your father as a youth, it’s merely doing what in the back of your mind you feel the Fates put you into this world to do. A mere two weeks pass before the completion of a working prototype, a hyperactive skittering thing with a deep, insatiable curiosity, a healthy degree of cowardice, and enough of a mind to memorize what it senses and relay it back to you on skin-to-carapace contact.

As much as you would like to while away some time cavorting with the construct, you both have urgent work to be doing and you release it with a smile. It scurries from the stone before you to scan the cavern, then sprints through the second of the two open tunnels, the one you haven’t explored. According to your calculations it should last another two months before the cogs unwind but it will return to you with all that it’s learned before then. You’re hoping for the best and hope to receive it, though even as a fledgling godling, your insightful wit knows such success is far from guaranteed.

The first automata is still chiseling out a speck of the cavern and stacking a pile beside itself, and unless you give it additional orders it shall do so for another ten weeks. You decide to produce a list of everything you’ve gotten so far.

> Time: Week 10

> Followers:
> 1 Small Humanoid Clockwork: 10 weeks remaining
> Might (5), Motion (0.5)
> 1 Tiny Centipede Clockwork: 8 weeks remaining
> Might (0.2), Motion (2)

> Resources:
> Food: Two weeks of rations remaining, but the mushrooms seem somewhat edible
> Gears: 12
> Ores: 2.5

> (1/2)

>>3839056

You feel your ambitions are well underway, but far from approaching completion. Eventually you envision this cavern abuzz with dozens of automatons, each one tirelessly labouring to gather material to smelt the cogs you need for more. Maybe one day, you could even make a construct dedicated to making more of them to free yourself for greater pursuits. It’s a fascinating notion but too far in the future to consider.

> Here and now, you think you want to:

> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A humanoid requires one month and (5) clockworks to manufacture, but can labour without pause for three months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.
> Begin exploring the other tunnel, it’s illogical but in hindsight you worry that the centipede is too fragile to properly get you a map of this place.
> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat back there to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.
> Begin mining ore alongside the lone construct, you’ll devise a way to complete the foundry when you’ve already gotten a respectable stockpile
> Begin the pursuit of another, stranger task ordained by the Fates.

> (2/2)

>>3839033
Yes but Attunement takes a lot of time and effort that could go into improving the drone's capacity to work, laying down the groundwork for infrastructure, etc. Anything within reason is possible but you only have so much time to do it.

>>3839058
>> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat back there to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.

>>3839058

> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat back there to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.

At least while we wait fpr the automaton

>>3839058
>> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat back there to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.

>>3839058
> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat back there to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.

>>3839058
> Begin the pursuit of another, stranger task ordained by the Fates.
Let's confirm if the mushrooms are indeed edible. considering we take about a month to build a automaton, i don't like the idea of only having two weeks of rations.

>>3839058
>> Begin mining ore alongside the lone construct, you’ll devise a way to complete the foundry when you’ve already gotten a respectable stockpile

>>3839058

> Begin planning the start of a foundry system, there’s too much heat back there to properly apply a forge but if you could find some way to dissipate the magma and direct it where you deemed fit, this could be a tremendous boon.

Might be a good exercise for our muscles to work on those foundations too.

>>3839103
Contemplating the dwindling rations in your pack, you decide to determine for certain whether the fungi and moss growths surrounding you are safe to consume. Having no other way to test, you tear the nearest mushroom from its crevice and sink your teeth into its pale, stalky form. It releases a watery fluid, bitter enough to taste but so much it isn’t plain, and boasts a remarkably sturdy yet spongy structure. You then go about the rest of your day (or is it night down here?) without noticing any significant changes. No obvious ones, at least. From what you can tell this subterranean fungus might be mildly poisonous to mortals but Demigods are made of sterner stuff and it afflicts you no worse than any bland meal.

Over the next two weeks of travelling to the magma pool you supplement the few rations you have left with them and soon they’ve become a filling, if uninteresting staple of your day-to-day diet. Hopefully you won’t have to consume these indefinitely, but you’ve never been one to indulge your culinary appetites and really, wouldn’t much mind.

>>3839062
>>3839064
>>3839078
>>3839093
>>3839189
Much more important to you than the banal necessity of sustenance is the issue of your future furnace and keeping that in mind, you brought the automaton along. Sure, it hasn’t been mining ore for the duration of the journey but that’s an admittedly minor concern and you wouldn’t want to waste a month traveling back and forth if you could’ve brought it to begin with. The magma pool hasn’t changed since you left it, and the stone beneath your feet feels resilient to its influence but plenty willing to bend and break for a swung pick.

Considering that you don’t have the best of tools or much, if any prior knowledge of smithing your work is certainly cut out for you, but your godly mind is already making sound theoretical headway into how it could function and you’re confident you can accomplish it in time. Hopefully your mother isn’t worried sick.

> Roll 1d10+10 to devise the beginnings of a magma foundry
> DC: 14

Rolled 1 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3839388
Does mother hear prayers? We could send some her way to let her know we are ok.

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3839388

>>3839394
Presumably, but being the goddess of Time she has an extremely widespread perception and would certainly take interest in what her offspring was up to.

It seems you've wasted a month of time puzzling out equations based on false parameters for no tangible gain. Being raised in a realm of non-Euclidean geometry has its downsides but it's doubtful you'll make the same mistake again.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>3839388
>Roll 1d10+10 to devise the beginnings of a magma foundry

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3839438
Oops

>>3839388

>>3839394
Staring into the bubbling pool of slowly shifting molten stone, you consider the manner of its motion and apply your practical experience crafting amphibious clockworks to paddle in the mercury pools of the Eternal Hall to your calculations. You set the automaton to mining the cavern nearest to the magma as there’s no reason to have it stand idly by while you conduct your work. For the span of three and a half weeks you contemplate the intricacies of the magma, then consider the precise measurements of the divots and rivulets you’ll need to carve to get the earth’s life-blood into a forge.

When you have a full schematic mapped out in your head you travel back to the nearest cave to collect the automaton and pause. From a stalactite drips water at a steady pace and while that’s not strange in and of itself, there’s something off about it you can’t quite put your finger on. Pip, pip, pip it goes before ever-so faintly splashing on the floor, but that’s not you’re focused on. No, its curvature is all wrong. Instead of looping in a tiny, perfect circle it simply plunks straight down which could only mean…

You’ve just wasted a month’s mathematics on a flawed foundation. Confound it all, you’ll have to scrap the foundry’s plan and start again from scratch abiding by this crude, primitive realm’s laws of existence! Of course you don’t even know them yet, but you haven’t seen a single recursive tesseract since arriving, so it can’t be that hard, can it?

> How do you want to respond to this setback?

> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A humanoid requires one month and (5) clockworks to manufacture, but can labour without pause for three months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.
> Resuming planning the start of a foundry system, your understanding of the finer details may have been flawed but the base idea should still be viable.
> Begin mining ore alongside the lone construct, you’ll devise a way to complete the foundry when you’ve already gotten a respectable stockpile
> Begin the pursuit of another, stranger task ordained by the Fates.

Boy

>>3839518
BOI

>>3839492
More automaton the centipede type is probably the best right now

Can we make it so they could combined?

>>3839527
How do you mean combine them? A clockwork somewhere between a humanoid and a centipede, or a humanoid clockwork with a convenient hatch? You're only so skilled at putting gears together but pushing your boundaries is the only way to get better.

>>3839492

> Resuming planning the start of a foundry system, your understanding of the finer details may have been flawed but the base idea should still be viable.

>>3839492

Ok

can we scrfap the humanoid for parts? I want a new design and humans are not very adapted for this enviroment

we should build a human sized tunneler/mole construct, it would be able to dig and separate minerals from waste and most importantly, widen whatever tunnels we find that are too narrow for us, maybe that is the way to the surface when we can set up our lair here and explore there later

>>3839543
You can scrap any automaton for parts at any time, and if one isn't horrendously damaged or completely destroyed upon expiration, you can reuse the gears that went into their construction without issue. A tunneling construct is markedly more intricate than a baseline humanoid and would require more time and resources to manufacture, but could likely extract much more ore than the equivalent.

>>3839535
No like multiple Clockwork centipedes coming together to make one giant Clockwork centipede

>>3839586
It would be less complicated to make a singular giant clockwork centipede to begin with than making several smaller ones and splicing them together, but it's possible. Getting a combination centipede to be modular, that is, capable of splitting into its component clockworks would be difficult but not impossible to do at your current level of skill.

>>3839492
>> Resuming planning the start of a foundry system, your understanding of the finer details may have been flawed but the base idea should still be viable.

Might as well try again.

>>3839687
Support

>>3839492
> Resuming planning the start of a foundry system, your understanding of the finer details may have been flawed but the base idea should still be viable.
I wonder how long our lifespan is

>>3839539
>>3839687
>>3839699
>>3840202
Never one to be deterred by a temporary setback, you return to the magma and sink into that same unstoppable, methodical frame of mind you so often immerse yourself in when labouring over the gears. This magma isn’t an obstacle to overcome, it’s another problem to analyse, a new set of calculations to uncover and in time, unravel.

> Roll 1d10+10 to devise the proper beginnings of a magma foundry
> DC: 14

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3840226

>>3840227
Now that you know how you made your mistake you know how to avoid it, and accounting for what seems to be a simplified system of fluid dynamics, you’re able to run your calculations much quicker. Occasionally you run tests back in the cavern to clarify a handful of misconceptions and map out how the downward force influences liquid flooding and flow, but this time you are far more cautious and in time it pays off. Two weeks go by before you reach a genuine understanding and from there, it’s near trivial to ascertain the ideal architecture of the foundry. You wager it would take a team of ten mortal men four months to bring your plan to fruition if they were working night and day, or eight if they took time to rest, eat, and maintain their health. Mortal flesh is so inefficient, not like your clockworks, not at all, but you suppose it is intricate and worthwhile in its own way.

When you’re about to begin drafting the plan you hear a skittering noise on the stone behind you and turn to see the centipede is back. It wags its serpentine form back and forth in an excitement you reciprocate, because aside from a dent here or there, it is intact. A whistle brings it to still and present its clacking mandibles. You lay an open palm on its forehead, focus, and are briefly stunned by the wellspring of memory that enters your psyche. This lasts only a moment though and you begin to scrutinize what it’s found in earnest.

> Outside of the first cavern are three more, smaller and less rich extending for a week of skittering or two of conventional travel. In the last are two tunnels branching out, one is a dead end leading to a fourth, cramped cavern with a deep underground lake and the other twists and winds for no less than another week, but eventually ends in a fifth, far larger than the fourth but its mineral reserves are partially depleted.
> There are what must have been several extremely sparse, crowded living quarters in the distant past that were abandoned in a hurry. Judging by the broken skeletons of many, many mortals and a handful of misshapen, strange things with skulls and feet not unlike the clockwork hounds and paddleboats of your youth, there was no small amount of violence. It’s interesting but more so are the fourteen picks and hammers left to rust beside the dead. Each is heavily damaged, with horrendously snapped handles and nastily chipped edges but you feel adequate repairs could be improvised with a bit of time and effort.

> (1/2)

>>3840270

It would have gone further but the automaton began to reach the end of its allotted lifespan and rushed back to inform you as quickly as it could. This is a fascinating discovery and while some part of you wonders at what strange circumstance could’ve come to pass so long ago, the rest of your mind is fixated on the possibility of new, workable tools. First though, you need to decide what to do with the centipede.

> Reuse and recycle the small amount gears that went into its manufacture
> Take the time to recalibrate its components so it can be released again

When that’s done, you consider your next course of action.

> Begin assembling an automaton to fulfill a specific task. A centipede requires two weeks and (3) clockworks to manufacture, but can scout without pause for two months before expiring. Less complicated automata are easier to make, but without a predetermined schematic you would have to be specific with your intentions.
> Begin working on the foundry system you’ve planned because as loyal as it is, you don’t trust the dimwitted automaton to follow your instructions without error.
> Begin travelling to the partially mined cavern discovered by the centipede, in part to retrieve the broken tools there and in part to see it for yourself.
> Begin travelling to the subterranean lake discovered by the centipede, you’re somewhat curious about what could be found there.
> Begin the pursuit of another, stranger task ordained by the Fates.

> (2/2)

>>3840271
> Take the time to recalibrate its components so it can be released again
> Begin travelling to the subterranean lake discovered by the centipede, you’re somewhat curious about what could be found there.

>>3840271

> Take the time to recalibrate its components so it can be released again
Surface little one, surface.

> Begin travelling to the subterranean lake discovered by the centipede, you’re somewhat curious about what could be found there

>>3840271
> Take the time to recalibrate its components so it can be released again
> Begin travelling to the subterranean lake discovered by the centipede, you’re somewhat curious about what could be found there.

>>3840275
>>3840283
>>3840286
Taking the centipede in hand, you deactivate it with the flick of a wrist, sling its dormant form over your shoulder, and begin to walk. In the cavern you’ve left behind the automaton continues to mine, and will do so until its gears exhaust their momentum and it unwinds where it stands. You imagine a large pile of raw ore is going to be waiting for you when you return, though there’s not much to do with it at the moment. After two weeks of travel you return to cavern at the intersection of the three tunnels and there, you take a third week’s time to recalibrate the automaton’s clockwork.

When you’ve finished it regains consciousness and sensing your intentions, begins skittering back through the tunnel it’s explored. You walk after it at a leisurely pace, hoping it can reach the surface in time but knowing you’d be more than content with any new information it could bring. Retracing the centipede’s path is a tedious task rendered trivial with your memory and you’ve always had your mother’s patience. After two more weeks you reach the third of the caverns there, briefly consider which of the well-hidden cleft tunnels you’d like to explore, and decide to continue on your way to the underground lake.

It’s quiet in these depths when the tick-tocking of clockwork, bubbling of magma, and slamming of picks isn’t near to preoccupy your senses but you don’t mind. The stillness gives you space to think and focusing deep within, feel the passage of Time. Never stopping, never slowing for a moment, each instant preordained, ordered, and recorded in the Eternal Hall, the serenity of solitude in silence lends you an inner peace. Soon the density of the mushrooms goes from occasional sprout to frequent cluster, and you know you’ve arrived at your destination when the dimness of the tunnel gives way to the radiance of a false twilight.

> (1/2)

>>3840328
The centipede’s small size must have exaggerated its senses, this is no cramped cavern but a tight cave, and in its entrance you would be hard-pressed to put ten of yourself shoulder to shoulder. Not to say that there isn’t any room, far from it, but beyond a thin gravelly shore every whit of it is filled by a vast, stagnant pool. This is the lake you were looking for and between the positively glowing fungi and mineral pockets reflecting their light, it is an impressive sight. However, you’re beginning to sense something that can’t be seen above the surface, something old, no more than a mewling babe compared to your mother but ancient all the same. Though it was once grand and glorious, its presence is a faint and pitiful shadow of its former self, like the tattered robes of a skeleton king.

You catch sight of a faint ripple and feel that whatever it is won’t initiate contact

> What do you choose to do?

> Shout, demanding it show itself before the son of Time.
> Speak out, politely requesting to see it in person.
> Throw caution to the wind and go for a swim in the lake.
> Sit in silence, allowing the entity to decide on its own.
> Turn and leave, if it wishes for solitude it shall have it.

> (2/2)

>>3840329
>Sit in silence, allowing the entity to decide on its own.

>>3840329
> Speak out, politely requesting to see it in person
>I am synchros son of time I wish to parley with you as a f
Self resident of these caves

>>3840329
>> Sit in silence, allowing the entity to decide on its own.

time is always on our side

>>3840329
> Sit in silence, allowing the entity to decide on its own.

>>3840329
>Sit in silence, allowing the entity to decide on its own.
I think we should shoot for being a forge god.

>>3840329
> Speak out, politely requesting to see it in person

Presenting our knowledge of its existence would show him our wisdom.
Waiting can be missunderstood as oblivious behaviour?

>>3840329
>> Speak out, politely requesting to see it in person.

>>3840329
>> Speak out, politely requesting to see it in person.

>>3840329
>> Speak out, politely requesting to see it in person

Also QM quick question,you said that we where as strong as five mortal men,does that mean that we can kill one with one punch ?

>>3840594
You could fracture someone's skull with a punch but you aren't strong enough to casually shatter them in one blow. Most mortals would be hard-pressed to defeat you in bareknuckle combat but weapons, armour, and experience do much to bridge the gap, not to mention that some mortals are exceptional or even superior to you in some areas. At your current lack of skill, the chances of an instant-kill depend on your luck and the specifics of the target.

>>3840615
Thanks.

>>3840351
>>3840400
>>3840408
>>3840417
>>3840527
You consider waiting for the underwater presence to come to a decision on its own, then reject the notion, because Time is sacred and ought not be wasted. Holding tightly onto your sack of gears in case anything listening takes offense, you step onto the shore, speaking loudly and clearly. The tone of your words is polite and kind but an eternal, unquestionable authority belying your years undercuts each syllable.

“Greetings, lake-dweller. I am Synchronos, son of Time and if you are willing, I would speak with you.” Bubbles froth on the surface of the waters, giving way to a cloud misty steam before a dull chuckle can be heard and the fog disperses. In the center of the lake floats a hunched figure in lotus pose, shrouded by a ragged cloak. From its sleeves hang strands of algae and around its throat dangles a necklace of strangely curved fishbones. It makes no attempt to draw back its hood and reveal itself, opting instead to stay in the shadows, though whether it does so out of outward scorn or inward shame you cannot tell.

Minutes of harsh silence go by as you wonder whether you’ve made a mistake in your haste, then you think better of it, set your sack aside and sit cross-legged on the shore. The tension in the air seems to lessen but redoubles, almost crushing your psyche as the strange figure speaks in a raspy, hissing croak. “One would think… the self-proclaimed son of Time would... have more patience…” It seems to consider each word for some time before speaking, and in your wisdom, you discern that this stranger is trying to appraise your character. “Tsk, tsk… Such is youth… Such fanciful delusion… Though... I smell something about your hide… Something strange… Something old…”

“So bold… Mayhap you tell honest truths… Mayhap you weave silken lies…” It goes quiet, seeming to nod its head before slowly, as if struggling, rising to face you. Beneath the cowl of the hood you see a whirlwind of oily smoke and dying embers, from it pours a sense of tiredness and your insight gathers, trepidation, though when it next speaks the latter is absent. “Godspawn, why do you come… to my hiding place..? I have lost much… to you and your ilk… More than most can ever know...”

> How do you wish to respond?

>>3840658
"why I came is mere chance, why are you here and what you lost is what intrigues me"

>>3840658
>>3840669
Supporting

>>3840658
My foot first stepped in thine cavesystem a few weeks ago .I knew or did you no ill as I am a foreigner to this world.But the strings of Fate brought me here from the palace of my mother.Now I ,a foolish stranger to this world seek to find a way to the surface and make a life and name for myself. Tell me of your loss or how to find a way to the surface if my company does not bother you elder one.

File: 1552933907122.jpg (63 KB, 544x584)

63 KB JPG

>>3840658
does lenght of answers make a difference or do you search for something like key phrases/actions that you made previously?

>>3840691
The length of answers makes no difference to me, and there's only been a little foreshadowing so far. Any answer that seems reasonable (and many that don't) is more than reasonable.

>>3840686
change of heart
now supporting :
>>3840669

>>3840658
>>3840669
supporting

>>3840669
>>3840658
Sure

>>3840669
Support.

my theory for the anons to appreciate

this is the era of change, this guy seems like an old and forgoten god or titem of some sort
I don't think he wishes to cooperate since he yhas some base prejudice against us.

my guess is that this will turn into a absorb or be absorbed kind of deal

>>3840726
No surrender anons ,we fight !

>>3840669
Support.

>>3840658
Iv oyk came here by chance, si im going about exploreing thr place and making s home for myslfe.
What is the year and what has happened for i know little.

>>3840669
>>3840683
>>3840697
>>3840702
>>3840721
>>3840723
>>3840814
Demigodly confidence overriding mortal cowardice, you utter, “Why I came here is mere chance, why you are here and what you have lost is what intrigues me.” Moments of silence stretch into minutes as you remain seated, before the tattered figure nods. “So forward… So young… So reckless… It was so long ago… In an age forgotten, abandoned… left to decay and lay dying… by all but the scribes… I was glorified…”

The stranger raises a hand so withered and gnarled by the passage of time you nearly mistake it for a claw, and from the lake rises a second, denser mist than shifts into the image of flowing water, thinning and winding until you realise it is the approximation of a river. “This was…” For the blink of an eye, you could almost swear you heard it choke, “Irricarres… The grandest waterway… of all the peninsula… and I was once… Udhum, its keeper… No petty spirit… but a master, demanding tribute… receiving it in turn… I oversaw those outsiders... who sought to sail its center… and those who plied their way… along its banks…”

“I, once Udhum… once cherished them… I nurtured them when... they were pious… punished them with utmost wrath when… my law went unspoken… “Be good”... “Give back”... “Revere the land”... So young… So foolish… but for some, scant time… so happy… Then came the Telkhine scourge… their Giantish slaves… the white plague of wretched sun… Fierce peoples worshiping foreign Idols… No spirits there, false gods… No room for peace… No place in them for mercy… Black souls, blacker steel…”

“The river peoples… Slain, subjugated… the blessed… the beloved… the Irricarres… Gone, destroyed by vilest blasphemy… “Dammed”, they said... “Irrigation”, they promised… Nothing but drought… so dry… Old, young alike… Damned to thirst… Condemned to chains… the memory of a thousand generations… undone… scattered to the winds… only silence in their wake… shattered was their faith...”

“Udhum fought, but he was one… No false idols… They were a storm… overwhelming, all-consuming… He did the undoable… marshalled the spirits, bid them fight as one… It was not enough… The proud lord’s river… reduced to dust… banished from his lands he fled… buried himself in the earth.... to hide his shame… to forget was lost… never to be regained… the shrines splintered… Irricarres, a myth… “

“Udhum died... long, long ago… Young one… You speak to a corpse… No-one, ancient names unworthy to be said… This stagnant pool reflects my soul… Master of no more than a puddle... I am forgotten by Death…" You pause, weighing its, no, his words. Gazing on his ruined visage, you struggle to imagine a fraction of the bygone glory before this living tomb.

> What do you want to say or do?

>>3840937
"Does your river still run underwater ancient one? or are you as still as that puddle?
It seems your Time came and went, you lived laugh and fought, but now you ended.
What is your purpose here, once Udhum, now corpse?What do you wish for yourself?"

>>3840947
*not underwater, underground

>>3840937
I could help make your river run again if its possible, if you aid me or i could put you to rest if thats what you wish,

>>3840937
Black souls, blacker steel…”
Did the black company get a new job?

>>3840947
+1

>>3840947
Support

>>3840937
>>3840947
>>3840970
Those

>>3840947
support

>>3840947
>>3840959
>>3841259
>>3841285
>>3841289
>>3841581
The two of you sit in silence for what feels to be an eternity before you find your words, and in your boldness speak. "Does your river still run underground ancient one? Or are you as still as that puddle? It seems your Time came and went, you lived, laughed, and fought, but now you’ve ended. What is your purpose here, once Udhum, now corpse? What do you wish for yourself?" Across from you, the stranger seems to stiffen, whirlpool receding into the black, mist rising about his feet, before a titanic will loosens his limbs, forces the flicker’s return, and banishes the fog to the shallow depths.

“Young one... Syn-chron-os… The Irricarres is gone… dried, drained… dammed, its people damned… without it, I… am lost… No more than a dryad… whose tree has withered… Nothing but a hearthling… whose home has fallen… No greater than a tome… whose pages have rotten… its foolish tale forgotten… reduced to forbidden fantasy... in the tongues of slaves… forever apart from the land… it was written…”

“My river has dwindled… no more than a stream… and then, nothing… This pallid pool is all that remains… Its flow has slowed… its lustre tarnished... its fish, eyeless… its reeds, moss… It is of no use to any… mortal or spirit… I am a shade… my ink can be read no more… I am forsaken… surrounded by memory… I recollect my failure… and wish to fade... “ You see the fallen river lord raise one sleeve, bring it to his face and slowly, deliberately, wipe it, before returning to its place at his side.

“In you… It is not so… I see a spark… the folly of youth, yes… but something older… something elder… something, perhaps in time… grander than I could ever become… Syn-chron-os… I am no seer… envy has left me… I only wish to know… what is it you seek..?”

> What do you say in reply?

>>3841681
Think hard
" To find what I seek is why i left my mother's side, for now, I seek what most do, to learn, to grow, to love, to enjoy the Time given to me and along the way to offer my help to those I can, that is certainly my youth to blame.
If fading is what you wish, can I be of help?"

>>3841681
"I seek to create and in Time, build a legacy that will last a thousand generations."

>>3841681
"to perfect my craft and to learn more"

>>3841681
To explore what fate has prepared for me and to walk the best path I can see until my inevitable death

>>3841681
"I'm here to see what Fate has in store for me, I wish to witness or cause the raise of great things, and the fall of many others, as there is no sadness at the end of one's Time, all things run out of Time, no matter how great or how loved they were.
I want to learn more about Time, I want to perfect my skill, I want to hone my body and mind to be everything they can be, and to face my Fate."

>>3841722
>>3841709
I like both of these

>>3841722
I'll support this

>>3841722
>>3841747
>>3841761
You contemplate what the stranger asks you, digging deep within and casting self-doubt aside before you find what you seek and pour it out at his feet. “I’m here to see what Fate has in store for me, I wish to witness or cause the rise of great things, and the fall of many others, as there is no sadness at the end of one’s Time, all things run out of Time, no matter how great or how loved they were. I want to learn more about Time, I want to perfect my skill, I want to hone my body and mind to everything they can be, and to face my Fate.”

The wretched one watches, considering the merit and measure of your words, and you sense, does not find them wanting. As he floats upon the waters, his gaze pierces your soul and subtly, slowly, the tension surrounding you ceases, falling away in favour of a profound, melancholy sense of loss you can scarcely begin to conceive. “I see now, that… You tell no lie… Godspawn or not… Your Fate is unfound… Your life, unlived… Your Time, untold… Your tale has not yet begun… The ink has not yet dried… It may yet be erased…”

For a moment, the whirlpool spins swifter, burning brighter, then slows, coming to a stop. “I… think not… Such fiery arrogance… Such willful certainty… Such blind, boastful naivety… Such… as I once had…” A sense of stillness fills the air, as his voice carries across the waters with all the finality of a funeral dirge. “Young one… Syn-chron-os… I see myself in you... and have no other... no legacy… to leave behind... Young one… Son of Time… Spawn of Gods… You are not worthy…”

“But you will do…” You stare, transfixed as the cloak collapses in a shroud of steam and the whirlpool flows forth, carried on the cloud and dwindling all the while until it lies at your feet, no more than a cold, fist-sized shard. No, you realise, as you take it in hand and feel the warmth of the ashes in its core. It is a spark. This is it, Death has claimed Udhum and this is his memory. Examining the substance, your instincts tell you that this is an irreplaceable artifact, weak, dim, and feeble but nonetheless, an echo of the river lord remains.

It could be consumed to gain some portion of its power, embedded into a clockwork to strengthen it manyfold, or perhaps... Kept, not as a keepsake but in anticipation of what could be done much later, when you are greater and grander than before. Who but the Fates know what potential lies here? Not you, that much is certain, but this is your choice, yours, and yours alone.

> What do you want to do with the spark?

> Consume it, here and now. Udhum is dead and best forgotten.
> Deposit it in the sack of Gears, for later use in an intricate clockwork.
> Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.

>>3841863
Consume the dead god

>>3841863
>> Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.

luike he said, we are not worthy, and I believe in him, let's keep it for a time when we are

>>3841863
I want to keep it but I also want to try something, can we concentrate on it and "travel in time" see what he saw in his memories, witness the dead god in all his glory when he was at his peak?

>>3841863
> Deposit it in the sack of Gears, for later use in an intricate clockwork.

>>3841863
> Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.
I kinda wanna pitch it in a river and see what happens

>>3841863
> Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.
>>3841872
I like this idea, but i think we should wait until we have a bigger control over our time powers. Don't wanna risk ruining the spark or anything

>>3841863
>> Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.
lets honor his wishes then

>>3841863
>Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.
I just want to see if any other purpose for it will arrive later on.

>>3841961
Could probably make an artifact with it but I don't think he's an actual god

>>3841872
this would be awesome if we could pull it off

>>3841905
kek, pitch the ancient spirit in the river nice

>>3842006
He's/was more like a very powerfull spirit thant a god since he seems to hate them.

>>3841863
>> Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.

>>3841868
he said we will do. And I really want to see if he will give us any powers and what they would be

>>3841863
Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it the river will flow again

>>3842037
He said he was dryad without tree
maybe I’m taking it to literally and it’s just an analogy but I think it’s some nature shit

>>3842090
Don’t dryads die if they lose their tree?
And since we kept asking if we could help, this was probably just another way of saying “I’m dying and there’s no way to stop me from dying.”

>>3841863
>Store it in a pocket of your robes, Time will tell what becomes of it.
This is some brilliant writing by the way.

>>3842142
I agree

>>3842142
It is, isn't it?

>>3842140
He seems like an ancient river spirit from a very big and powerful river, her people were primitive and were swept away and enslaved by the young gods and their followers it seems

>>3841868
>>3841905
>>3841907
>>3841927
>>3841961
>>3842035
>>3842082
>>3842142
You hold the spark, turning it over in your hand and thinking. This is the essence of Udhum, greatly diminished, yes, but he was once a mighty river spirit and you might get more use out of it later, when you are strong enough to subsume the whole of the source, bind it to an artifact in its entirety, or perhaps draw out a mindless facsimile of his final days, wrought unto your service and bringing the whole of its strength to bear. Though the temptation to tinker or devour runs deep, you think restrain yourself and keep it close until such time as you see fit. Luckily for you, mother made sure to stitch deep pockets.

Now that you’ve uncovered the secret of the subterranean lake, discounting the fish that might be a marvelous supplement to your diet, you need to determine where you’ll be going next. The cavern of skeletons and shattered tools, or deeper into the earth to retrieve the by-now fallen gears and begin your work on the foundry? Decisions, decisions...

> Which do you make?

> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on.
> You’ll return to the closest thing you have to a home at the present.

>>3841872
You can attempt to and that's well within Time's power, but your expertise is lacking, that's something you haven't done before, and Udhum 'died' long, long before your time.

>>3841905
That's a possibility.

>>3842006
You could, the body parts of supernatural entities and essence of divinities tends to make for excellent artifact material.

>>3842022
>>3842170
Both correct.

>>3842142
>>3842147
>>3842165
I'm glad you're all liking what you're reading.

>>3842186

> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on.

Maybe we can incorporate the bones into our constructs to save some metal, use them as the literal skeleton where the gears will go in

>>3842196
could we test that "time vision" on the corpses then? I'm sure they are way more recent than the river spirit

>>3842205
Of course.

>>3842186
> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on.
Better make full use of our current position so we dont need to go back and forth

>>3842186
>> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on.

>>3842186
> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on

>>3842186
>> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on.

>>3842186
> You’ll go to the ancient scene of slaughter your centipede stumbled on.

>>3842203
>>3842212
>>3842238
>>3842261
>>3842277
Keeping practical concerns in mind, you decide to travel to the second of the caverns, where the centipede found the shattered tools and yellowed bones. It doesn’t take long to get there, merely half a week but when you do the sight stops you in your tracks. From what you can tell this cavern began smaller than average, then came primitive industry, hollowing out a dozen vast, vertical quarries on ramshackle scaffolding long-collapsed. This must’ve been an operation thousands of hours in the making, an enormous scale, even moreso when you lay eyes on row after row of shattered, rust-pitted chains and realise this was the work of no tireless automatons, but flesh and blood mortal men held under threat of whip and iron.

All around the broken manacles lie signs of struggle; cracks in the stone wide enough to slip your palm in, picks swung in fury so swiftly their handles are splintered in three places, even the occasional, brutalised limb missing the rest of its skeleton. There are dozens of them here, the overwhelming majority of your father’s mortal kin but ten hulking, misshapen remains with malformed limbs and sinister, doglike skulls stand out. Nearly as you can tell this was some sort of slave rebellion, though what sparked it is unclear and if the casualties are anything to go by, the mortals won themselves a pyrrhic victory.

> What do you want to do while you’re here?

> Begin collecting and repairing any abandoned tools that can be found.
> Begin searching the subterranean killing field in meticulous detail.
> Begin trying to find an exit aside from the entrance you’ve taken

>>3842352
Pick up a skull, concentrate on it, try to see it's last bit of Time before it ended

>>3842352
first this:
>>3842366
and then
> Begin collecting and repairing any abandoned tools that can be found

>>3842352
This>>3842366
And then

> Begin searching the subterranean killing field in meticulous detail.

Befpre disturbing anything take a very good look at the place to make sure we didn't miss anytging

>>3842352
>> Begin searching the subterranean killing field in meticulous detail.

>>3842352
> Begin trying to find an exit aside from the entrance you’ve taken

>>3842352
>> Begin collecting and repairing any abandoned tools that can be found.

>>3842366
>>3842416
>>3842441
>>3842453
>>3842460
>>3842488
best to make sure we dont set of ghosts or anything like that best we examine everything carefully

>>3842508
I agree with examining after we do this>>3842366

>>3842366
>>3842416
>>3842441
Examining the remains of the dead, a strange, curious idea comes to mind. You are the first and likely last son of Time, the apple of her eye and among the few, if not the only, besides her attuned to the all-encompassing force of forward motion. Mother never tutored you in the study of that which is at once a moment’s eternity and an ever-lasting instant, but she never discouraged you nor warned you away from its truths.

Perhaps she wanted you to discover it on your own, deeming any experience she could give lesser than the one you’ve earned yourself. Perhaps she tried to shelter you from the burden she bore without complaint since the beginning. Either way, you’ve always felt its power, buried deep down in the marrow of your bones, and on this rare occasion the reckless part of your psyche overruns the veneer of rationality.

You walk over to the chains, grab the closest intact skull by its eye sockets with a murmur of apology, and sit cross-legged on a nearby outcropping. It sits between your knees, beneath your flowing robes and closing your eyes, you force conscious thought to flee in favour of drawing out the purest, most powerful and primordial instinct you’ve ever felt.

> Roll 1d6+10 to observe the end of this one’s Time
> DC: 15

Rolled 2 + 10 (1d6 + 10)

>>3843052

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d6 + 10)

>>3843052
Baby steps

Rolled 3 + 10 (1d6 + 10)

>>3843052
Is it the standard best of 3?

>>3843175
Assuming it is from the other rolls

>>3843152
You immerse yourself into the shape of the skull, running your hands along the smoothness of its contours until you know it inside and out, but try as you might to fall into a meditative trance and therein ascend, your subconscious is stubborn, and refuses to lose itself to the rhythm of the ages. Instead the clock ticks, stirring a brief, indescribable ripple and the stench of coppery blood you smell before you taste. Spitting in disgust at your own failure, you toss the skull aside and rise on weak, trembling legs.

It feels as if you’ve sprinted a dozen leagues in a fourth as many hours, and the pendulum drumbeat of Time’s passage, usually at the very edge of your mind, is deafening. You stagger, collapsing into the cave wall and for the briefest of moments, wishing your mother was here. Sudden shame buries weakness and again you stand, despite the spasming tendons and deep temptation to slumber. A Demigod of superhuman mental fortitude you are, born from the very womb of Time with every right to boast, but even so, you feel trying to scry the past again any time soon would be a poor decision. Nonetheless, the skull goes in your pocket.

> What do you want to do next?

> Sit down and take a breather, you’ve pushed too far, too fast.
> Gather any broken tools in sight, you’ll have time to rest later.
> Search the cavern, mayhap not all secrets lie beyond your grasp.

>>3843175
Not with 0 Attunement, when you reach 1 you'll be rolling a 1d10, 2, 2d10, etc. You add them altogether to try and pass difficulty checks, for example if you were fighting a small mortal army with a Strength Attunement of 4, you'd be rolling 4d10 and the combined result would go into beating a difficulty check of 20.

>>3843180

> Sit down and take a breather, you’ve pushed too far, too fast.

Respect Time and our body.

>>3843180

> Sit down and take a breather, you’ve pushed too far, too fast.

Meditate on our failure so we learn from it

>>3843183
>>3843184
support

>>3843183
>>3843184
>>3843196
Introspecting, you decide to put your health before your pride. You into a sitting position in the conveniently shaped groove of a nearby stalagmite and ponder your current place in the world. It has been twenty-one weeks since your arrival, most of that spent assembling clockworks or traveling back and forth between caverns. Outside of that, you’ve done little save plan the schematics for a primitive foundry whose immense heat will leave its quality control wavering at best, and you can’t begin to fathom how you intend to forge the machined and calibrated gears you need without proper smith’s tools.

The resources of this cavern system are bountiful, yes, almost certainly better than anything you could find elsewhere, but more and more you find yourself worrying you don’t have the proper infrastructure or experience to take advantage of them. Likewise, the near-total isolation it confers has proven to be a tremendous boon, but you can’t help but wonder, if the only obstacles you face are intellectual, how are you to grow stronger? You could labour in the caverns here for a thousand years before you mined them dry and the closest thing you’ve seen to sapient inhabitation are a dying, now-dead river spirit and little over fifty skeletons left to decay undisturbed for at least two decades.

Maybe leaving these caverns and striking your own path for a mortal lifetime or two would be a good idea. There’s nothing saying you couldn’t return when you gained the power worthy of a son of Time and oust or subjugate any squatters, after all. Alternatively, it might be better to look at things in the long-run. These underground chambers and passways are only partially explored, and depending on what or who else laid deeper in the hollowed stones here, patience could yield tremendous gains. Just as well, you suppose you could attempt both or neither, it makes the same difference, so long as each sunless day you awaken greater than the starless night before. Time will tell, and if you’re really willing to sink to that impetulant, nay, infantile low mother’s always there if you need her.

You simply need a plan for the future. The space between your ears is still throbbing, but at least some of the pain’s abated and you can focus. It’ll likely be a few more weeks before you can muster the force of will to tap into Time again.

> What do you want to do now that you’ve recovered your faculties?

> Begin collecting and repairing any abandoned tools that can be found.
> Begin searching the subterranean killing field in meticulous detail.
> Begin trying to find an exit aside from the entrance you’ve taken.

>>3843207

> Begin searching the subterranean killing field in meticulous detail.

Let's learn

>>3843207
> Begin trying to find an exit aside from the entrance you’ve taken.

>>3843207

> Begin trying to find an exit aside from the entrance you’ve taken.