WickedCadrach

Kill. Winter is coming and sacrifices must be made to ensure we last through the dark months.

Instant noodles

There it was. Emily felt Magda shake against her, her captain's throat vibrating as a needy, breathy sound preluded the look and the words... the confession and surrender. This wasn't indulgence, there was no patronizing concession or game here. There was recognition and need. As Magda's hooking finger pulled at Emily, the taller pilot's waist pressed against her captain's bare stomach, her own heated sex pushing from the opposite side of her hand while she worked in serpentine curls against the glistening warmth of Magda's opening—wet sounds softly accenting the sliding of her digit as it coaxed another tremor from the other woman to match the rippling rising up Emily's spine. They had worked each other up until even the ghosting pressure of their breath on their skin scintillated like St. Elmo's fire, and Emily couldn't take it any more. Magda's chest pressed to hers, the hard bud of her dark nipples accidentally tracing across Emily's own, and the thunder broke. Emily's cyber whirred, a faint, high whine that whispered of power behind the restrained movements as her palm dropped from Magda's throat to her chest. Pushing firmly and slowly, she turned and stepped into the motion so that her CO's thighs caught on the edge of the desk. And turning the hand that had been inside the other woman, Emily hooked her panties by the waistband, keeping them in place while she pushed Magda further, the unrelenting pressure putting the other woman back-first onto her desk, with a scattered clicking of loose data chips knocking together while a stack of papers fluttered off the edge like grey and white doves taking flight. The conflicting motions caused the fabric to pull free of Magda's hips and down over her thighs as Emily followed the slow collapse, never allowing the space to grow farther than the delicious pressure of her captain's finger inside her backdoor would allow. One knee posted on the flat metal desktop, and she crawled over Magda, gripping the edge of the desk behind her shaved head. "Mine," she said softly, the word low and resonant in her chest as she mirrored Magda's words from a moment before—and with the word, her finger tip gave a final teasing circuit around the flowered rim of Magda's drowning pussy. When she entered her again, it was with two fingers. Steady. Smooth. Her wrist curled in a pistoning coil that reached inside for the sweet spot she had hunted out with one scouting finger before. And as her own hips joined the motion, Emily began to pick up the pace, her breath coming faster to match the motion in her arm.

Oh, God no! love it here, but Izzy, take the wheel!

Let me see if I can help a little, lol Character Sheets are here - People also have notes in their character sheets about some of the NPCs tied to them, so that's a good place to look for that too. Rules Reference (important lists) are here The Board (our web of connections) is here (you'll need to make an account of some kind, and probably want to use the same user name as here since it's how we'll see your cursor and notes on there) --A quick PC rundown-- Edmund Blackwood (MagnificentBastard) is the wealthy, casino/brothel owning playboy who is rumored to be connected to occult societies and dark (sexy?) magic. He has an automaton butler, TIAL-V, as well. Alicia von Vulf (Chiyako) is a scientific prodigy living out of her laboratory. Her disconcerting complexion and ailments have given rise to the rumor she is a vampire, and she is being pursued by those who seek her ruin, like the obsessive Aldert Helsink. Carlo (Kojo) Amankona (AsBloodTurnsEverCold) is a virtuoso musician bound by contract to Kirsa Autenrieth. He performs at the Thane-Cash Rebirth Hall, a newly constructed music hall in the booming town, but beyond this, there is a strange eldritch power to his music, a torturous gift that he keeps secret. Millicent Gerenhart / Millie Gearheart (StarlitSiren) is a tinkerer and machinist with her own shop. A genius of her own kind, she nonetheless is struggling under the weight of a debt to the irascible Willis Sloan. And though shy and unassuming in public, she has been working on 'personal projects' in her workshop resulting in devices of a scandalously 'carnal' bent. Millicent 'Missy' Fisher (WickedCadrach) is a con-artist with a velvet voice who has convinced the world she's a spirit medium who can speak with the dead and psychically divine the unknown through her clairvoyance. In reality, she's as psychic as a baked potato and relies on the cunning she picked up as apprentice to a travelling snakeoil salesman. Nonetheless, she has Jane Montgomery, daughter of automaton magnate, Adelaide Montgomery, wrapped around her finger, and Missy harbors ambitions of high society life. --My First Thoughts on your character (since you asked) -- Love her. We're doing kind of an alt-history vibe, but it's 1880 which means the US Secret Service was founded about 15 years earlier. If you're looking to play a secret agent type of character, an actual G-Man here to cover the burgeoning city feels like it could be a good hook. Edmund Blackwood being a suspected occultist feels like a natural connection, as does an investigation into rumors about Kojo, Alicia, and Missy. If you have a some steampunk style gadgets, then you might have a working relationship with Millie Gearhart (or more?). Anyway, look around! We're here if you have questions.

If the steps are all paced like the ones we've covered so far (make a few choices and one or two additions to the map), I feel like we're getting into a good rhythm with it. I'd go as far along the Pathways as you'd like.

Welcome, @DreamsnThings! I know there's a lot to catch up on in the web so feel free to ask questions if you're having trouble finding what a name or location actually is.

As Magda's finger slid back inside of her, the curl of the digit felt like the pull of a trigger. A fresh shudder ran through the pilot, a jolt that caused her mouth to open in a hot inhalation that also sucked in the scent of Magda's glistening skin mingled with her own juices—and her dark eyes flashed. Emily's teeth found the other woman's bottom lip, coming together with a sharp pressure that was less a playful nip than a wordless, feral assertion of 'mine' ... at least for the moment. One hand slipped over Magda's wrist, the pressure on the tendons hovering on the soft-side of painful. The palm of her free hand came up to catch Magda by the throat, her fingertips light enough on the pulsing arteries to feel her CO's rushing heartbeat without cutting off the flow. Holding her there, staring, Emily's hand slid across Magda's wrist. She grazed her hip, trailing the edges of her underwear until she found the waistband and slipped within. "This for me, Captain?" Emily asked, torturing herself with the restraint of getting the comment out as she stared into Magda's midnight eyes. She slipped a finger between her slick folds, feeling the heat pulsing off the dark, swollen flesh. She watched for her reaction. She wanted to catch every shift and micro expression in the older woman's face as she started to move inside of her, curling up and across the bumps of her inner walls, her thumb moving in downward sweeping ovals that massaged the peeking nub of Payarkoon's clit. The tension between them was condensing, turning solid the way grey clouds turned black when thunder was about to break. Emily watched, her thumb sliding over Magda's jugular as she watched for the moment—the moment when the rumbling would break. "Say it," Emily said. There was no right answer, just like there was no wrong answer. All she was doing was calling the lightning.

I'm less worried about it being a balance issue if he has longevity but no durability (if he can still be shot, stabbed, and catch cholera). For me, it's more of a setting and vibe question. He's an occultist in a world where some of that stuff is real, so if it's something like 'he's 100 but looks 40', that vibes for me. If he's actually from the Crusades like MB teased earlier, that starts feeling odd for the setting. He's already filling a place as 'old money' and part of the 'rich and elite', and immortality (making him literally old money) feels a bit like putting a hat on a hat. I'm also a little worried if he's that old... well, I wouldn't want it to be a catch-all for excusing Edmund having a ton of free knowledge, skills, and know-how.

I went with Reputation for Missy's Focus. Bumped up Velvet Voice again Bumped up Adelaide Montgomery Resource Bumped up Relationship with Jane Montgomery Missy has been working hard to cultivate her reputation as more than a side-show attraction. She has a toe-hold in the parlors of the wealthy and is spending her money as fast as she makes it trying to keep up the appearance that she belongs there. While stories of secrets revealed and messages from beyond have been making the rounds since her spook show came to the city, the decisive moment came when she turned her 'clairvoyance' to helping Adelaide Montgomery locate a missing piece of her mother's ancestral jewelry—putting on a compelling performance channeling the Montgomery matriarch's spirit to relay her guidance from beyond the grave. The reality of the situation is much more mundane, as it's quite easy to lead people to their missing accessories when you are the person who stole them to begin with. -- For the second step of the Pathways Map, I've added a new NPC. Red Jenny The Scarlet Lady, The Veiled Ghost, Red Jenny... Some say she was a prospector, murdered for her claim after showing off a bit of the shine she'd found in the saloon one night. Others say she was a working girl, beaten and strangled in her bed by a drunken customer. The immigrant rail-workers claim she's a fox spirit, a vengeful specter who was never human at all, here to claim the souls of prideful men. No matter which version you hear, her description is the same: a woman in a ragged dress wearing a veil that clings to her hidden face by its wet, red stains. They say if you walk the streets at night and hear her humming behind you, close your eyes and pray, but do not look back—there's no fighting the devil. And when a phantom comes to claim the sinful, the arrogant, the greedy, and the violent... who is safe in a city like this? ... When Missy invented 'Red Jenny' for her show, she thought the homespun legend would make for a compelling bit of fun. The chemically treated candles would flare and her voice would quaver as she pretended to speak for the vengeful specter. It became decidedly less fun when actual victims began to appear in the streets, and the frightened working folk turned to Missy for answers. d4 Red Jenny - "I have to get control of her." (completely open to comment and suggestions on any of these)

I misunderstood your question. I thought you were asking 'Do we add two arrows (presumably one there and one back) when making a connection.' Yeah, this is a new connection to draw.

Just one, right? A connection is a single arrow running from something to something else.

We love a rivalry! Particularly with a scrappy underdog.

Ok. Going a bit on a whim here, but... Aldert Helsink -> Gearheart Repairs "Ever since he found the hole in the wall, he can't stop peeking." @Chiyako + @StarlitSiren

Awww, the Tin Man has a crush!

Fuck. An excuse to portmanteau and join the Urgy.

Guilty. It's been a while though. I kind of want to check and see if there's anything happening nearby now. The next person has competed in an official cooking competition at any level.

Crisis center

Fuck. Because the only thing better than an older man in a nice suit is an older man out of his nice suit.

Fuck. Because I can't show off the toy box to AmberBi without a proper demonstration.

Mic check (Next show starts in five)

Fuck. Starting a dildo chain to prove to Leo that 'sex' does not begin and end at the tip of his dick.

I decided to go ahead with Rebel for Missy's Youth. Traveling with Clarence Whitty and running cons day after day cultivated this feeling of 'it's us versus the world'. After her break from Clarence, that became 'it's just me against everybody'. Partly because of the raw deal life handed her before she met Professor Whitty and partly because she herself has spent years lying and stealing, she holds a deeply seated belief that, on some level, everyone is out to lie and steal from her too. I bumped Velvet Voice to a d6, added Snake oil Salesman (obviously), and locked in that Relationship bump with Millie that I mentioned before.

Needle sharing

Not Guilty. I think they serve a purpose and are charming as fuck. The next person doesn't sleep with a cell phone within arm's reach.