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765391 No. 765391 ID: a107fd


http://tgchan.org/wiki/Please_do_not_Take_these_Organs
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4587981


You all met in a tavern in some no-name logging town out on the frontier. Scruffy prospectors, scheming merchants, disgraced minor nobles, and deranged veterans from thousands of miles away converged on rumors of a ruined fortress from the Old Empire and the priceless treasures within. Seemed like a great way to get rich, make a name for yourself, or at least keep busy while avoiding the big cities for whatever reason.

You assembled a team, planned an expedition, set out for one of the better-known cavern entrances... then things started to go wrong. Currently you're deep underground, separated from the rest of the expedition and known paths to the surface by a sliding-wall trap, and the way forward is blocked by some ridiculous chess puzzle. Engraving on steel plaque, on a low stone pedestal covered in smudged-out chalk notes, reads

"Life is a dirge of shadow and light
A terrible chore ‘ere blessed sleep
Resting in peace of eternal night
A knightly prize for those who would leap
Into the fray knowing their right
A foolish whim whose meaning is deep
Fraught with the force of clerical might
A bound to the left and so we shall reap
Yet stay the true course in blooded sight
A castle falls east in a weatherworn heap
Then comes freedom to victors of peril-fraught fight
And journey continues with prize one can keep.

Seek the prize within the eightfold field.
Orcus watches and cheers the struggle.”


Pick a class (hedge witch, rich bastard, soldier, or townie), and a specialty within that class. A hedge witch specialized in healing can resurrect the dead, if all the key giblets are in place, but after they start to go rancid it's like pushing an avalanche back uphill.
Pick a higher ambition (compassion, fame, honor, wealth, rule the world, etc.), and a lower ambition (fetish).
Pick either a phobia, a concealable mutation/parasite, or a supernatural vulnerability - or all three plus an innate power.
For example, an elf could have a phobia of disfigurement (an un-pretty elf is called an orc), pointed ears providing acute senses but vulnerable to overstimulation, and the power to balance effortlessly on any solid surface, no matter how narrow or fragile. An adventuring vampire could have a phobia of holy powers, concealable fangs to heal by drinking blood, vulnerability to immersion in running water, and the power to transform into mist. A corrupted princess could have a phobia of slime, vagina swarming with ravenous centipedes, supernatural incompetence at stealth (due to perfume, sparkles, and ghostly theme music), and the power to channel magical energy blasts through jewelry, although the actual jewelry is sold separately.
Obviously, you can't have any power that would make escape trivial... but since the surrounding rock is effectively sealed airtight, and twisted geomancy interferes with scrying or teleportation across different dungeon levels, that doesn't rule out much.

Everybody starts with travel clothes including boots, gloves, a hooded cloak, knife, flint for sparking, and food and water for a day.
Pick up to seven additional pieces of equipment, carried on the left hip, right hip, left shoulder, right shoulder, chest/neck, top of head, and hidden somewhere uncomfortable. Armor only protects the part of the body you're wearing it on. Concealed armor is only useful against nut shots, garrotes, and similar precision attacks to areas covered by clothing.
Equipment options:
arrows (specify bow or crossbow; 20 for a hip slot, 12 for a shoulder slot)
axe
big hammer (requires a hip or shoulder slot)
blanket
block of soap
boiled leather armor (on shoulder or hip, upgrades corresponding glove or boot with vicious spikes)
bow (requires a hip or shoulder slot)
bronze statuette (dildo-sized; specify a saint, demon, etc.)
candles (longest-lasting but weakest light source)
canvas (hang it up for a tent, throw some leaves on it to conceal a pit, add a sail to a small boat, etc.)
chain armor (on shoulder or hip, upgrades corresponding glove or boot with sturdy scales)
chalk
clean cloth, hooked needles, & thread (fishing, first aid, etc.)
crossbow
coin purse (simplify trade and bribery, distract intelligent monsters)
dried bread (one human's food for a week, or ten days for a soldier, improvised weapon or tool)
dried fruit (one human's food for a week, sugar buzz, distract slimy monsters)
dried meat (one human's food for a week, or two weeks for a soldier, distract toothy monsters)
feathers, penknife, lots of parchment & ink (for mapping)
fishing net/hammock
iron spikes (jam doors and traps, add handholds to walls, distract rusty monsters)
iron statuette (dildo-sized; specify a saint, demon, etc.)
jade amulet (rumored to have some mystical protective value, certainly looks pretty)
jug of fortified wine (disinfect wounds, or drink to postpone loss of sanity)
jug of oil (enough for a dozen lantern refills, or one big slippery mess)
jug of water (one human's drinking water for two days, quench a small fire, etc.)
kindling (feed a small cooking fire for 6 hours, or get a big bonfire started if you can find some heavier logs)
knives (in a bandolier if carried openly)
lantern (burns for 6 hours on internal supply of oil)
lead bullets & sling
manacles (includes padlock, key, and about four yards of heavy chain)
mining pick
plate armor (only available for head or hidden slot, unless you're a rich bastard)
rope (ten yards per slot, 3/4" thick)
shovel
spear (requires a shoulder slot)
tools for lockpicking and field surgery
wooden shield (requires a shoulder slot)
wooden statuette (dildo-sized; specify a saint, demon, etc.)

Hedge witches can also take consumable magic items: Brass Balm (for cuts & burns), Cinnamon Incense (smell makes demons sleepy & suggestible), Dragonweed (for ingested poison & rune-borne curses), Garlic Vinegar (disinfectant, repels parasites), Greekfire (burns ferociously on contact with air), Salamander Salve (knead to produce heat without fire), Wolfsbane (for blood-borne curses), etc. One slot per type, but that represents several applications and knowledge of how to prepare more.
Rich bastards get better-quality versions of most equipment, and also one seriously expensive thing, such as a master-quality sword (requires shoulder or hip slot), knife made of all-penetrating starmetal, jug full of honey, slab of salt, pocketwatch. telescope, or minor permanent magic item.
Soldiers don't have any extra equipment options, but make more efficient use of weapons, ammo, armor, and food, and are generally tougher.
Townies can take books (anything from 'cooking for beginners' to the Necronomicon), drugs, or poisons. Again, one slot per type gets you several doses and familiarity with the production process.

New players, or new characters for players whose current character has been incapacitated, can join in at almost any time; adventurers wander into the ruins and get lost on a daily basis, it's plausible enough they could encounter each other.
Limit one character per player to start. I'll explain further mechanics as we go, but for now, any nontrivial action should be accompanied by a 3d6 roll. That means you should type "dice 3d6" without the quotes, in the e-mail field, not the subject field. No initial space, just a single space between the word and the numbers. No capitalization. If you're on a phone, you might need to disable autocorrect to avoid accidentally capitalizing the first letter.
Expand all images
>>
No. 765424 ID: b9aa79

rolled 1, 3, 2 = 6

Name: Maru Red
Race: Tiefling
Class: Townie
Specialization: Skald (bardbarian)
Higher Ambition: Fame, glory, and the perks that come with it
Lower Ambition: 420 blaze it
Phobia: Being forgotten from this world/dying without becoming famous
Mutation: Filed down horns protruding from her forehead
Supernatural Vulnerability: much like a reptile, gets sluggish in the cold, and will become comatose if she is in extreme cold for extended periods of time.
Innate Power: She can summon forth a two-handed, spectral ax, fueled by blood, which sings a battle dirge to inspire her allies and intimidate her foes

Inventory:
Left hip - Lead bullets & sling
Right hip - clean cloth, hooked needles, & thread
Left shoulder - feathers, penknife, lots of parchment & ink (for mapping)
Right shoulder - Weed, or an appropriate substitution
Chest/neck - Lantern
Top of head - Blanket, wrapped to conceal horns
Somewhere uncomfortable - Coin purse

Maru was conceived via rape, and was largely unwanted and resented by her mother. Her mother had demonic blood in her ancestry, and Maru inherited these traits. After running away from home, a group of towns people from a nearby village found her, and filed her horns down in an attempt to purge the demonic influence from her body. Not long after a group of "orc" bandits raided the town, and ended up taking her in and nursing her back to health. She joined them, and some time later was put on trial for the murder of her father, of which she was proudly guilty. She escaped the custody of local law enforcement, albeit on her own, and made her way out to the frontier to get a clean start and make a new name for herself. She entered the ruins hoping for gold glory and inspiration for a epic to be told through the ages, but after being cut off from the main expedition force, a rare voice of reason tells her that perhaps a hot meal, soft bed and cheap wench would be preferable to starving to death in a crumbling fortress. And so, she now attempts to get un-lost, and hopes that the others can figure out the riddle behind this puzzle because she is stumped.
>>
No. 765435 ID: b346d2

Name: Hore Wutashi
Species: Gnoll-Human Hybrid
Class: OUTSIDER SHAMAN (Technically Hedge Witch)
Higher Ambition: Go 'Home'
Lower Ambition: Murder-Sex. Endless. Murder. And. Sex. At the same time.
Phobia: Realization of Nightmares - Every time she falls unconscious by any means she will switch her phobia to a new entity or phenomena found within her dream. Should she witness something similar to her nightmare she grows twice as afraid of it. If she actually FINDS a physical manifestation of her nightmare she shuts down completely, falls unconscious, and dreams up a new nightmare. Being stunned or drugged causes her to also develop a second phobia, one that causes her considerably less distress but requires a full rest to recover from. Note that if for some reason she is unable to dream, she will have no phobia for that period but will have considerably less mental acumen.
Equipment:
- Superior Clothing
- Malfunctioning Plasma Pistol (1/10 chance of actually firing)
- Plasma Core (Holds seven shots, automatically used when the pistol is fired)
- Datapad (CORRUPTED DATA, DRAINED BATTERY)
- Random Assortment of Pills
- Mother's Locket
- Scythe

You're probably wondering what this sci-fi geared character is doing in a medieval low fantasy story. Well, twenty years ago, a magic experiment performed by the chieftain of a generic gnoll tribe accidentally latched onto a quantum portal energy signature from another world. As you can guess, one of the staff from the lab was sucked in and fell into the arms of a really lucky gnoll. She wasn't even one of the scientists, just an intern from the biology department! But then, all the actual scientists that went through the portal fell in less fortunate places and died in a matter of seconds. So after five rapes, a few medical miracles, and one really loud childbirth later, Hore was born into a tribe of rapists with a deity-figure as a mother and showered with all the attention of a classic chosen one. She learned much about mathematics, biology, natural sciences, and basic quantum mechanics from whatever her mother could still retain.

Then her mother died in a freak accident when she was ten. Perforated by falling bull horns. Go figure.

After fighting her way out of her own paranoid psychopathic tribe, Hore wants to know more about her mother's world and if she could have a place there. Barring that, like any among her tribe she has a lust for murder and rape matched only by her desire to create a working system for endless murder and rape. The weapons and gear she inherited are almost shattered and will not work in most situations, but could give her an edge in battle if she has enough luck on her side.
>>
No. 765437 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 3, 2 = 6

Decaro Vos
Eel-man knight, worshipper of the God of Flesh and Growth
Class: Soldier
Specialization: Grappling
Higher Ambition: Protecting the weak
Lower Ambition: Bedding other sentient species
Phobia: Deserts
Mutation: Big eye on chest
Supernatural Vulnerability: Big weak point on chest
Innate Power: Flesh growth - can touch a creature to cause a horrible mutation

Inventory:
Left hip - Spear
Right hip - Jug of Water
Left shoulder - Lantern
Right shoulder - Blanket
Chest/neck - Chain Armor
Top of Head - Plate armor
Somewhere uncomfortable - Block of Soap

Vos was born of noble parents, the fourteenth hatchling in his clutch. He was raised steadfast in the teachings of his deity, and one day decided to leave his village to spread these teachings and give aid to the many other people of the world. During his travels he heard tale of a dungeon full of secrets and possibly evil, so he joined forces with a band of attractive people to investigate. Vos is now lost and a little bit scared, but he knows his faith will protect him. He was never much for poetry and does not know how to play chess, so instead he attempts to force his way through whatever door/obstacle is in his path.
>>
No. 765441 ID: a107fd

To clarify what I mean by 'chess puzzle:' past the stone pedestal, the floor is split up into an 8 by 8 grid of alternating black and white tiles, 54" square, separated by 6" wide borders of red-veined stone inlaid with gold images of elvenoid figures and demons. The demons are, for the most part, depicted in the act of eating the mortals. Another pedestal is dimly visible on the far side, and a door beyond that. The whole room is filled with dull orange light, just barely enough to read by, so lanterns and such will only be necessary if you're concerned about colors.

Let's call the eight tiles closest to the door 'row 1,' and the eight tiles flush with the left wall 'column A.' A1 is black, A2 and B1 are white, and so on. Rather than flowing evenly, the pervasive red mist hangs in dusky columns over the darker squares, leaving the air over the lighter squares relatively clear.

You could easily step out onto any part of row 1, or attempt various clever tricks. What do you do?

>>765424
>an appropriate substitution
Pipeweed, of the sort cultivated by the little people known as 'mound-builders.' Relatively mild and slow-acting euphoric. Stored in a dried-and-compressed brick, like tea. Kit could also reasonably include a small water pipe (in a padded box for travel) and packet of seeds. Grows well in a variety of climates, hence the name, but subtleties of post-harvest treatment have dramatic effects on flavor and potency.

>coin purse
More copper than silver, but also holds a ruby of extraordinary size and quality, "inherited" from her father. It's got to be worth hundreds of gold, but strangely difficult to find a willing buyer, and wasn't confiscated by the law while she was on trial. Might be cursed?
>>
No. 765450 ID: af6e04

"their right' seems to be a play on words. Vos steps onto H1.
>>
No. 765451 ID: 3abd97

Oh boy, this is back. Marijke's player here, but I think these circumstances call for rolling up a new character.


Name: Davina
Class: Rich bastard
Sub-specialization: fencer (Or in sillier slash broader terms: the non-tanky quick on her feet style of swordsperson)

Higher ambition: Legacy (explained / elaborated on in character bio).
Lower ambition: Ladies. Doesn't help with establishing a family legacy, but hey, dad had mistresses too.

Phobia / parasite / vulnerability / innate power: Gonna try lumping these all into one. In the course of earlier adventuring Davina has acquired an extra-planer / extra-dimensional / incorporeal parasite. As a result, this makes her metaphysically less here than she should be, and her position in our reality less stable. (Granting the parasite more stability than it would have otherwise, and a kind of anchor).

Her connection to an otherworldly entity means she shares a vulnerability to banishing or abjuring effects ordinary mortal creatures lack (I'm thinking pain to incapacitation first as it interferes with the thing connected to her, escalating to random displacement, then being knocked outside reality if subjected to repeated attacks without recovery). Also makes teleportation / spacial effects targeting her unreliable (will either fail, or send her elsewhere than intended. Going inside a wagon of holding would probably be a Bad Idea).

Innate Power, would be some form of limited control blink (pending GM balance). Reaching out to her connection to the parasite and exploiting her instability to change location within a short range. (Overuse would probably trigger the same problems as the vulnerability, making her less stable and open to negative consequences).

(Potentially, some kind of phase power could be stacked on her sword style to cut through things she has no right cutting through, but that's probably a bit too far to reach for level 1).

Not 100% sure on the phobia, but I feel it should be something from the parasite's influence? Something it fears.


One seriously expensive thing: Ancestral sword, appropriate to style. (I'd think due to material and/or enchantment it would be more durable and have more penetrating power than a real-world equivalent).

Equipment:

Left hip: coin purse (gotta live up to the rich in rich bitch)
Right Hip: Aforementioned sword
Chest: Armor (I'm not sure what the appropriate type to pick would be? Assuming she needs to both maintain mobility and being a rich bitch means she might have better gear for less weight / encumbrance than otherwise).
Right shoulder: (I assume that's where you'd put a bandoleer) Knives (throwing, worn openly)
Left Shoulder: Dried fruit
Top of head: signet ring, hidden / tied in her hair
Hidden somewhere uncomfortable: soap

(Left handed, so weapons are drawn from the right).


Backstory: The daughter of a noble house (or at least a rich and successful one with a good history), Davina benefits from an upbringing where she had everything that was needed to prepare her to face the world. She was the heir to and recipients of these advantages as part of her legacy. A legacy that no longer exists, as her house has fallen.

(Exact details as to what happened to said house flexible to fit in with world building- I imagine between politics, military conflict, disaster, there are many ways a once-powerful and established family could be largely destroyed).

She's now on a quest to restore that legacy. Nothing so trite as taking back her exact family holding- this isn't about a right to rule or a territory. As far as she's concerned, she's a link in a chain, and she will not be the point where it breaks. Before she dies, Davina wants a reestablished power base or holdings to see that the next generation of her family gets at least as good a shot as she did.
>>
No. 765457 ID: a107fd

>>765435
>phobia
Something consistent, please.
>equipment
Please pick starting equipment from the given equipment list, and specify where you're carrying it. If you want a plasma pistol, either make that an innate power, or change class to Rich Bastard and take it as your minor permanent magic item, as Letkra did.
>gnoll-human hybrid
If you want functional canid features, take that as a concealable mutation.

>>765437
Given mutation already implies your chest-eye would be a physical weak point. Anything specific the extra eye is useful for? Nonstandard wavelengths of light, resolving microscopic details, piercing magical invisibility, sizing people up based on their auras? In any case, supernatural vulnerability should be separate. How about dehydration?

Phobia of deserts will also be associated with any dry and excessively dusty environment, thorny plants, mummified corpses, scorpions, and powdered silver (or silvery metals, but not, for example, liquid mercury, silver coins, or iron filings), or apparent unnaturally-accelerated erosion of stone. Nightmare scenario might involve being trapped in a room with the exits barricaded by animate cacti while white sand pours in through rapidly widening cracks in the walls and ceiling, with the roof blowing away like a cheap tent in a hurricane only after you're buried to the neck.

>attempts to force his way through
Onto which square?
>>
No. 765466 ID: b346d2

>>765457
FINE.

Phobia: Fear of the unknown, mostly anything that can kill her without showing itself.

Innate Power: Plasma Beam - Based on her mother's broken plasma pistol, this signature spell allows Hore to fire a concentrated beam of generated plasma at any opponent. She has been working on plans to modify the quantum wave pattern of the plasma, which would change the beam's special strength from armor piercing to enchantment piercing.

She has lost two fingers from misfires. She doesn't like using this spell without ample protection, which is in short supply.

Also, she'd like two replacement fingers. Please.


Inventory:
Left hip - Knives
Right hip - Lantern
Left shoulder - Axe
Right shoulder - Spear
Chest/neck - Leather Armor
Top of head - Tools for Lockpicking and Field Surgery (disguised as a headband)
Somewhere Uncomfortable - Jug of Water

Mutation: Canine Features. Ears. Tail. And yes, Gnoll [[censored]].
>>
No. 765483 ID: 750f88

Name: Eric Grimwald
Race: Human
Class: Rich Bastard
Specialization: Commanding others.
Higher Ambition: To become a lich and rule a mighty kingdom.
Lower Ambition: To lead others.
Phobia: Monophobia - Fear of being Alone/Without companion.
Mutation: Bouts of Trismus.
Supernatural Vulnerability: Due to a weak fortitude, Eric tends to pass out if he feels enough pain.
Innate Power: Eric is able to command undead* creatures of a lesser intelligence to follow basic commands.
Minor Permanent Magic Item: Necromancer's Amulet. Grants the ability to raise a defeated creature back to the mortal coil that is life.

Starts with boots, gloves, a hooded cloak, knife, flint for sparking, and food and water for a day.
Inventory:
Left hip - Dried Bread
Right hip - Crossbow Arrows - 20
Left shoulder - Crossbow
Right shoulder - Boiled Leather Armor
Chest/neck - Jug of Water
Top of head - Plate Armoured Cap.
Somewhere uncomfortable - Coin Purse

If Eric becomes incapacitated, any creature under his command shall be free to act as they please.
>>
No. 765488 ID: 13d7b7

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

>Anything specific the extra eye is useful for?
Sizing people up based on their auras sounds good. I assume he has to lift his shirt to use it.

>In any case, supernatural vulnerability should be separate. How about dehydration?
Sure thing. Dehydration sounds perfect.

>Onto which square?
H1. I'll roll again in case I don't get to keep my sweet 6 haha.
>>
No. 765494 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 5, 6 = 15

Maru finds most things you can't solve with an ax distasteful, but currently she's tired of waiting around and decides to see is she can get anywhere with this riddle. If she thinks of it like a poem it's almost bearable.

Almost

From what she can gather, the second and third line seem to be referring to death as a peaceful and restful slumber

lines four and five seem to indicate a prize for charging into battle with their convictions, but the use of the possessive form of "their" rather than the contraction "they're" might have been intentional; there is a chess piece commonly referred to as a "knight", so perhaps it's a play on words, indicating that a specific piece somewhere on the board needs to be moved towards the right, from the perspective of the plaque

lines six and seven are less clear to her, possibly a continuation of the ideas from lines four and five; she doesn't quite know what to make of them

line eight again refers to direction, this time to the left

the phrase "stay the true course" could mean go straight

line ten could indicate direction again, with the word east, and lines 11 and 12 seem to indicate that successfully solving the riddle will lead to some sort of valuable prize

The final lines seem to indicate that the aforementioned prize is tied to the grid in front of them, and that the dark god Orcus is perving on them and getting off to watching them dick about in his dumb puzzle room. What an ass.

She's gonna wait to see if the floor bursts into flames or any such non-sense when Vos steps on it before making a move, but assuming nothing happens, she's gonna scope out any potential exits from the room, and check to see if they're currently functioning as exits she can use. She'd rather get treasure from shit she's killed than fuck about with some underworld god and his play toys if possible. After all, no one sings about how the great hero tottered around in a dusty puzzle room for 3 hours before they slayed the dragon; that part of the song is usually just covered with the word "clever".
>>
No. 765498 ID: a107fd

rolled 1, 3, 5, 7, 6 = 22

>>765450
Whatever number I just rolled, Vos takes half that much damage from a mostly-dodged lightning bolt. Six or more damage from a single hit probably requires prompt and prolonged medical attention, more than nine damage cumulatively is going to slow you down structurally even if you're immune to pain, more than 12 cumulatively is incapacitating, more than 24 cumulatively is potentially 'sudden death' territory (in which case, make another roll to see if you can stabilize on your own), and it's all downhill from there.

Assuming Vos is still standing, where next?

>>765451
So, breaking that down, how about this:
Phobia: Spoor of those bodiless hounds which lurk in the corners of time, such as deep yet bloodless wounds in otherwise normal flesh, stringy blue caustic-alkali slime, locked-room murder mysteries, sharp corners on convex architectural elements (especially when filled in with something more smooth and round which has cracked or been left incomplete), and ill-conceived efforts to directly observe the distant past.
Mutation: Appears normal when calm, but becomes blurry, and thus harder to sense or strike, when in the grips of passion, including most combat situations. 'Clipping' through solid walls or out of manacles is possible, but usually involves heroic exertion and a risk of injury. Berzerk rage, paralyzing grief, blind panic, etc. result in total intangibility for the duration of the insanity, which may be a lifesaver or a debilitating inconvenience depending on context. Clothing and other equipment comes along with, if it's touching and you honestly think it's rightfully yours.
Also, odd dietary requirements, and downright bizarre (though consistent) distortions of smell and taste, ever since a childhood incident that shifted some birthmarks around and made you left-handed.
Supernatural vulnerability: Bags of Holding, portals, and other technological exceptions to Euclidean geometry are treated as if wrapped in razorwire, though you'll need something far more exotic than heavy gloves for safe handling, and banishing or warding effects never treat you as 'one of the locals.' If you don't yet have any native realm to be banished back to, or are already there, I'll roll on the Fascinating Parachronic Disasters table or something.
Innate Power: Teleport anywhere within line-of-sight, including through windows, and even around corners with the aid of an appropriately-angled reflective surface, but no more than a few hundred yards per hop. Requires a fine sword with which to cut a hole in the air (or at least some edge sharp enough to cut paper, but the very thought of using any tool lesser than your ancestral sword feels gross and wrong on an instinctive level) and the tunnel stays open for a minute or so, allowing partners or pursuers to follow unless they're considerably larger than you. If your feet are glued to the floor or you've broken your spine or something, you might be able to open a hole and then fail to propel yourself through it, but you can't reliably do that on purpose. If you want to open a tunnel while staying in place, or for that matter, teleport several times in rapid succession, there should be some surface solid enough for you to kick off of as part of changing direction.

As for armor, plate provides the best protection against all conventional threats. Properly fitting it to torso and limbs, and maintenance and repair and so on, is just too expensive for commoners. Leather might have a small edge against exotic stuff like rust monsters or electricity, but how often does that kind of thing really come up?
>>
No. 765508 ID: 13d7b7

rolled 2, 1, 2 = 5

Regretting his poor problem solving skills, Vos lets out a screech and scurries off of the board as soon as motor function allows. He examines himself for surface injuries.

Considering the riddle again, it's possible 'eternal night' means white squares aren't safe. Either way, Vos is reluctant to test things with his person again.
>>
No. 765510 ID: b9aa79

>Vos takes half that much damage from a mostly-dodged lightning bolt

Called it.

"Ay mates, unless you wanna get fekkin fried like that lot, I suggests we forget the treasure and look for a way out. I haven't had anything hot in my body for longer than I'd care for, and 'm not too eager to keep playing with the death god's death puzzle."

She'll approach Vos, check for blood or other surface wounds she might be able to help stitch up.

"If I touch you I'm not gonna fuckin swell up and grow warts or anything am I? I've seen what you can do and I'm in no rush to grow a third eye or any of that shite."
>>
No. 765517 ID: a107fd

>>765483
For the mutation, how about difficulty chewing solid food, combined with willingness and ability to eat stuff that's badly rotten, and resistance to poison in general? Fits with the lichdom, that image of a withered king slowly picking at his plate of moldy yet once-fine food in some sepulchral feasting hall.
Magic item still needs to occupy an inventory slot. How about combining the power to reanimate bodies (but only those slain by you personally, or by those under your direct command) with the authority over weak undead, and getting a magic quiver that can transmute any dry bones you find lying around into more crossbow bolts?
Tendency to pass out when in pain isn't enough of a vulnerability. Instead, let's say conventional healing magic causes problems for you. Agonizingly painful, sometimes makes the wound worse instead of better. Alchemical potions work fine, though.
Pick something else for the lower ambition, preferably something weird and tangential. Solid concept overall but sorta one-note.

>>765466
>Top of head - Tools for Lockpicking and Field Surgery (disguised as a headband)
>Somewhere Uncomfortable - Jug of Water
Switch these two. Tools are concealed, so the big jug of water should be balanced on her head rather than improbably tucked into some orifice.

Phobia of invisible assassins and mutation are both fine. Let's say you've got the plasma pistol built into a cybernetic arm, and treat potential complications from damage to the cybernetics as a supernatural vulnerability.

>>765488
Decaro Vos collapses on square H1, severely burned and apparently having some sort of seizure. After a minute or two his head clears. Feels like he could stand up and move under his own power, but might be wise to have something or someone available to lean on, and avoid any strenuous exertion without a healer's approval. His cloak's on fire, but only a little bit, thanks to that unplanned 'stop, drop, and roll.'

>>765494
Maru Red has deduced, from literary analysis of the poem's various cultural references, basic principles of logic, and observation of Vos's mishap, that D1, C3, and either E5 or F4 (but definitely not both) are probably safe.
>>
No. 765520 ID: b346d2

rolled 6, 2, 3 = 11

Hore decides to use a mathematical algorithm to determine the shortest possible means of getting the enemy King in check, using a knight, bishop, rook, and her fists.

Specifically, she decides to cheat by preventing the enemy pieces from moving. If she can stop that one pawn from moving two spaces forward and declaring checkmate in three, that one strategy could win...
>>
No. 765523 ID: a107fd

>>765510
>>765508
>diagnosis/first aid
>rolled 2, 1, 2 = 5

Could have been much worse, but it's still pretty bad. Vos probably owes his life to that chain shirt creating so many conductive paths that didn't lead through his heart. No bleeding per se, no foreign matter in the wounds (despite rolling around on the floor) since most of the damage was underneath clothing, but burns so extensive still present a major risk of infection. Even if you get it all sterilized and properly bandaged up, the cooked skin tends to slowly ooze lymph over the days or weeks of healing, which, if fluids can't be replaced quickly enough, leads to dehydration, reduced blood volume, and a slow, miserable death. If only somebody here had some brassfruit balm.
>>
No. 765526 ID: a107fd

>>765520
There aren't currently any visible pieces on the board, so most of those grand strategic calculations come back 'insufficient data.' As for unconventional approaches... the hewn stone walls are pretty rough, so it could be possible to climb along them without touching the board. You could try jumping over undesirable squares, or tiptoe along edges, or soak your boots in lamp oil, get a really good running start, and maybe just power-slide across the entire board without technically stepping on anything. There are probably even crazier options.
>>
No. 765528 ID: 3abd97

>>765498
You have a marvelous talent for apply interesting flavor to an idea. I approve of this implementation.

>but becomes blurry, and thus harder to sense or strike, when in the grips of passion
Combined with the low ambition, my mind very quickly goes to a dirty place with that. http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=2020

>Also, odd dietary requirements, and downright bizarre (though consistent) distortions of smell and taste, ever since a childhood incident that shifted some birthmarks around and made you left-handed.
I'm reminded of a science fiction story where they accidentally mirror reflected an individual and the cost of keeping him alive skyrocketed as they had to artificially manufacture certain chiral molecules that were now a dietary requirement but did not appear in nature. (Proooobably not exactly what happened here or I wouldn't have survived childhood).

>innate power
Ooh, I really like that you tied that to the sword.

If it works with any sufficiently sharp object, I might want to swap out the soap for a needle concealed somewhere in my clothes. A holdout, emergency teleport focus if I'm unforgivably disarmed.

Technical questions:

How dangerous are we treating these portals to someone who attempts to follow me through one? Portal-the-game-style portals that are "safe" and at worst prevent transferal if one closes on you, pushing you back? Portal-cut danger for anyone who's timing is off? Wheel of Time style ridiculous razor edges at the seams? (Honestly I think a teleporting melee fighter is deadly enough without weaponizing the portals, but if other party members risk dismemberment trying to follow me, they deserve to be forewarned).

There's no use count or cooldown specified- do I treat it as an at-will ability like Yeven's gravity? (Sufficiently paid for in vulnerabilities and fears).

>As for armor, plate provides the best protection against all conventional threats
I was unsure if plate were a reasonable choice for a dexterous type fighter, but if it works, it works. And teleporting sure does a lot for speed.
>>
No. 765531 ID: af6e04

>"If I touch you I'm not gonna fuckin swell up and grow warts or anything am I? I've seen what you can do and I'm in no rush to grow a third eye or any of that shite."

Gonna go ahead and assume it's not a Midas' Touch situation, or my lower ambition will be a little complicated. For the sake of getting treatment, Vos replies by shaking his head, which is probably about the only thing he can get out considering the amount of pain he's in.
>>
No. 765534 ID: b9aa79

>>765523
Bandages won't do much of use at this point it seems. Nothing on their for burns currently, no one around with magical healing, so she does her best to help Vos up and into a comfortable position without getting electrocuted herself and leave them to nurse their wounds.

She calls out to Davina
"Mate, ya fancy sword lets ya jump all over the place right? Think ya can cut us a tunnel across this death trap so we can sidestep all the "dirge of shadow" nonsense?"

Traditional plate armor actually didn't restrict movement to that great of a degree! The major restriction was the weight- as long as you were buff enough to wear it though you had a pretty full range of movement
>>
No. 765543 ID: a107fd

>>765528
>Combined with the low ambition, my mind very quickly goes to a dirty place with that.
Kind of the reverse of the situation in that link, actually. It'd be incredibly frustrating: the more excited you get, the more difficult it is to interact in any firm tactile way with your latest paramour. Sooner or later you'll want to invest in a +1 Ghost Touch strap-on.

>I'm reminded of a science fiction story where they accidentally mirror reflected an individual and the cost of keeping him alive skyrocketed as they had to artificially manufacture certain chiral molecules that were now a dietary requirement but did not appear in nature. (Proooobably not exactly what happened here or I wouldn't have survived childhood).
That is absolutely exactly what happened. Remember, this setting has magic which can conjure the cosmic essence of Well-Balanced Food and condense it into a physical object so easily that overuse of the technique is a major political issue among elves. When some rich family's heir shows signs of malnutrition, they don't need elaborate chemical synthesis industries, or even an exact diagnosis. They've got an over-the-counter panacea for that entire category of problem. Sure, it's got some long term side effects...

>If it works with any sufficiently sharp object, I might want to swap out the soap for a needle concealed somewhere in my clothes. A holdout, emergency teleport focus if I'm unforgivably disarmed.
Use the class ability to get nicer versions of stuff to upgrade the soap into an all-purpose hygiene kit, including small scissors and a razor, and move it to your head slot. Some sort of carrying case that doubles as a fancy hat. Take the signet ring out of your hair, put it on your finger where it belongs, add a needle and maybe some reservoir for poison (currently empty), then expand that to a full spread of covertly-weaponized jewelry. Mechanically, a second slot of knives, all uncomfortable to wear and somewhat impractical to wield, and hidden in plain sight. Plain? Nay, gloriously extravagant! She'll show them all, but those fools won't really see until it's far too late.

>How dangerous are we treating these portals to someone who attempts to follow me through one? Portal-the-game-style portals that are "safe" and at worst prevent transferal if one closes on you, pushing you back?
Mostly like that, but, as requested, it's inextricable from the vulnerability. Trying to carry a Bag of Holding through one of those tunnels would be ill-advised for anyone who values whatever limb they're holding it with.

>use count or cooldown
It takes precisely as much time and effort as cutting something and then stepping forward. Might be able to do it two or even three times in a second, with considerable practice and some compromises on precision, or maintain a more reasonable pace to tear across the surface world at highway speeds for a few hours per day.

>I was unsure if plate were a reasonable choice for a dexterous type fighter,
Plate on the chest only means a breastplate and maybe something for the back. Her limbs are free. Going by GURPS rules, there isn't any special mobility penalty for armor, it's all about the weight. With abstracted inventory slots like this, weight for different options is assumed to be approximately equivalent. If you wanted a full suit of plate armor, that would mean using all (or nearly all) your inventory slots on it, having presumably discarded other supplies in order to more effectively flee one of those previous problems.
>>
No. 765545 ID: a107fd

>>765531
>Gonna go ahead and assume it's not a Midas' Touch situation
Generally speaking, mutations are always-on, while innate abilities are strictly intentional. You won't zap somebody with sacred mutagenic energies by accident unless the situation is messy enough that you might punch or stab them by accident. It's possible to direct the growth toward beneficial effects to a certain extent, classic example being an approximate replacement for some recently removed limb or organ, but it's pretty much always going to resemble deep sea horrors, half-melted tumor-tentacles, or both.
>>765534
Dressing the wounds somehow is still a sensible precaution against infection. It also helps slow the leakage, and prevent painful abrasion or irritation from shifting clothes which could delay the healing process. Bandaging and treating for shock takes thirty minutes, and once that's complete, Decaro Vos's HP is back up to 2 out of 12. He's also fully recovered the three points of fatigue lost to that seizure. He can stand and walk unassisted, or maybe even run... but it'd really be more of a limping jog, at half normal speed, at least until he can somehow recover two more HP.

What is everyone else doing during that time?
>>
No. 765550 ID: b346d2

rolled 1, 1, 1 = 3

Hore decides to find a large boulder and throw it onto the board. Vos nearly died because he threw himself into a deathtrap, might as well play it smart and create game pieces. Better yet, Hore beckons other characters to help her smooth out the boulder into a die shape and carve out chess pieces on each side, thereby acting as both an easily interchangeable piece that can be transformed on the spot if someone is standing nearby, AND can be turned into a stepping stone / cover if things get dicey.
>>
No. 765551 ID: a107fd

>>765550
With a few quick, tidy bursts of plasma you've sliced a perfect 30lb stone cube out of the wall and seared it's faces with recognizable chess-piece symbols. An underhand toss sends it soaring across the board, bouncing noisily on F4 and the edge of E7 right near D. Then it comes to a stop right up on top of the far side's pedestal, balanced on one corner.

No traps seem to have been triggered.
>>
No. 765552 ID: af6e04

>but it's pretty much always going to resemble deep sea horrors, half-melted tumor-tentacles, or both.
Heehee excellent...

Well if Maru is helping Vos dress his wounds then he'll go ahead and make small talk. "My power acts only by will of Tittivila, Flesh God. Tittivila favors you. Its many many eyes gaze upon you with kindness!"
>>
No. 765556 ID: b346d2

rolled 2, 4, 4 = 10

Hore: Gawp for five seconds. Stare. Begin laughing maniacally.

Then dodge to safety.
>>
No. 765561 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6

>>765543
Cool, works for me. Character frustrations are a fun to play with, and who doesn't like a jaunty hat. I'll assume my starting fruit is appropriately left hand molecule fortified if that's all right, since counters to make purchases over may be in short supply underground.

>>765551
>Kome rolls a perfect crit immediately
Of course.

Davina eyes the offending die with a literal flicker of irritation as something inside her insists that's not how corners are supposed to work.

>>765534
I suppose if we're the survivors of a larger organized expedition, we'd know each other's capabilities. (For what it's worth, I didn't choose a build specifically to bypass the first puzzle. I didn't even bother paying attention to that part of the OP at first).

Davina considers the proposal. On the one hand, as the child of nobility a simple chess puzzle should be well within her means to solve. And the lightning demonstrates this is no mere mechanical puzzle, and may have mechanism for retribution against attempts to 'cheat'.

On the other hand, a Gordian solution that cuts through the matter entirely is attractive to her on several levels.

"I am no pack beast for your convenience, but I suppose where I lead, others may follow."

Davina draws her sword and steps, attempting to reach the far side of the cavern and bypassing the chess board all together.
>>
No. 765563 ID: a107fd

>>765556
You successfully dodge the harmless non-event.

Planning to dig further into the walls next, or mess with the chessboard more directly? That plasma pistol isn't actually a very efficient rock removal tool, you just hit some conveniently aligned pre-existing fault lines with that first shot. It could be enough to carve out some handholds, though, which would simplify the process of climbing.
>>
No. 765564 ID: a107fd

>>765561
Tunnel opens easy as slicing a piece of cake. Davina finds herself standing on the far side of the room, two paces away from the suspiciously upright stone cube. Anyone who follows her has a brief but intense sensation of being watched.

>didn't choose a build specifically to bypass the first puzzle
I handed you that teleportation when you were barely even asking. Also, please remember that skipping past this challenge isn't quite the same as solving it enough to secure the prize.
>>
No. 765565 ID: 3d2d5f

>>765564
That's fair, I assumed bypassing the puzzle would be skipping the reward for solving it fairly.

Waiting to see who else follows before taking other action.
>>
No. 765566 ID: b9aa79

>>765564
Maru follows, more than happy to skip the puzzle altogether, even if it means forfeiting treasure, and brings Vos along for the ride if the other-worldly eel creature is amenable to her help. She suggests to the others that they follow suit, and focus on the very real treasure of not having to spend any longer in the poorly lit dungeon than necessary.
>>
No. 765568 ID: af6e04

>>765566
Lifeless trinkets hold little value to Vos, and he's not too keen on getting zapped again. He follows happily.
>>
No. 765573 ID: a107fd

Beyond the door (stone slab pivoting on a vertical axis, inch-wide gaps at the top and bottom, no obvious locking mechanism) on the far side of the room, there's a 10' wide hallway that continues more or less straight for 30', then turns sharply to the left, curls right again, and zigzags for another fifty or sixty feet before opening into the next large open area. Lots of crimson fog in the hallway, and no more ambient light. What's your marching order, who's mapping, who's got a lantern lit?
>>
No. 765580 ID: b98619

Eric follows closely though the portal sliced open by his companion, as his Monophobia keeps him from staying behind. He takes up the rear of the group as his indecisiveness in leaving the puzzle made him last to follow.
>>
No. 765583 ID: 3d2d5f

>>765573
Maru should either be the one mapping, as she actually has the supplies, or she should be the one out front if she hands them off? She's itching to sink her axe into something, after all, and her background makes her the closest thing we have to a rogue who might spot traps, I think.

Vos is injured, and the closest thing we have to a healer, so he gets the safety of the middle.

If Maru doesn't take point, and Vos as the other melee type is injured, that leaves me I guess.

I'm not sure I'm such a great break stop though as rather than holding a line, my best option would probably be stepping behind anyone attacking us from the front and stabbing them in the back. We don't really have a tank, I think.

Or maybe we could just put Kome out front to blast everything, if crossed.

We also don't have an actual hedge mage, so that leaves us without someone to check for magic, unless Vos' eye or Eric's ability give them any second sight.
>>
No. 765585 ID: 3d2d5f

Uh, translating that ramblings into actually orders that might work:

Davina, Maru (Map), Vos (Lantern), Eric, Hore (If she hurries up and isn't left behind)

Or

Maru, Davina (Map?), Vos (Lantern), Eric (Map?), Hore (If coming)

I hope I didn't forget anyone already.
>>
No. 765586 ID: b98619

>>765585
I suppose Eric could be our Map-maker for now if you want. He doesnt really have too many Melee combat capabilities unless he uses the generic knife.
>>
No. 765587 ID: b346d2

Hore decides to follow the expedition party. This puxxlr wasn't getting solved anyway.
>>
No. 765595 ID: b9aa79

>>765583
Maru isn't so much blood thirsty as glory hungry; solving a puzzle is simply a much lamer way of attaining treasure in her book than epic battles packed with nail biting suspense and dazzling heroics.

As for the map making supplies, Maru actually uses them for composing songs and poems inspired by her travels; she not only has no real inkling of cartography besides star navigation, but has no real inclination to do so either. If someone wants to use the supplies though they're welcome to them

As for travel order, Maru suggests the following order

Maru, front line fighter and defense
Hore for ranged support
Vos in the middle, so that they are insulated and hopefully protected from further injury
Eric towards the rear due to the less combat oriented skill set
Davina bringing up the rear as the other melee fighter, to act as a rear guard from any surprise attacks and offer more defense to Eric who is, as noted, less combat focused. It's also much easier for her to jump to the action than anyone else in the party.

Maru also has a lantern, which is generally the most helpful to the person in front trying to see, and would be happy to pass mapping supplies back to Eric if they think they're up for it

She is also to other ideas if her suggestion isn't well liked, but she insists that protecting the wounded needs to be a priority in the formation line. If there's contention about the order, or any other future matters, she suggests problems be solved via voting. Her first choice is obviously her plan, but wants to play by majority rules to ensure team cohesion and unity
>>
No. 765596 ID: e7ca6e

>>765595
Vos concurs with this plan but insists he can still fight if the need arises. He offers to light his lantern instead, as the light radius should be sufficient to illuminate the way ahead while leaving the one taking point unburdened and prepared to defend themself.
>>
No. 765597 ID: a107fd

The space up ahead isn't really a room so much as a chasm. If you'd continued walking in a straight line (rather than turning about sixty degrees left, to follow the ledge that's hugging the wall) you would have plummeted off a cliff, hundreds of feet down, far beyond lantern-light range in the mist, toward the source of some titanic thrashing noises. Perhaps two to five scaly serpents the size of freight trains fighting and/or making love.

The ledge is about ten feet wide, straight along the wall, for about fifty feet. At that point, there's a natural-looking bridge, connecting to another ledge on the far wall, forty feet away. If you don't feel like crossing the bridge, the ledge on the near side continues past it, beyond range of vision. Off to the right, the chasm gets much wider, but there aren't any convenient ledges to walk along, so further exploration would require flight, teleportation, or mountaineering.

Currently on the bridge are a dozen mutilated elvenoid corpses ululating in joyous polyphony. These are no run-of-the-mill shambling zombies. They prance about almost weightlessly, seemingly pulled upward by random strands of skin, viscera, or sinew, constantly unraveling and restringing as they move. Any grisly fragments that tear loose seem to fall upward. They either haven't noticed you yet, or don't care. The crowd is spread out enough that you might be able to cross the bridge without shoving any of them aside, or even touching - provided you time it just right, and they continue ignoring you - but not without passing through arm's reach.

Mortally deep yet unbleeding wounds, strings of slime, and the smell of lye, in combination, set off a chain of mental associations to something Davina would prefer to pretend can't possibly exist. That eerie cadaver-song, drifting in and out of harmony with itself and with the grinding from below as it reverberates off the uneven stone walls, isn't a problem in itself, but certainly doesn't help. Accordingly, she must roll to resist her phobia.
>>
No. 765598 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13

>>765595
That works. Hore was basically only tacked on in my order since I wasn't sure if she was coming, and that makes better tactical use of her. (If laser gnoll is technically a hedge witch putting her near the front might mean she spots magical traps before walking into them).

And yeah, putting me at the rear makes sense with portals.

Forward march, roll spot and mapping checks.

Rolling for spot, not that I'm likely to notice danger first in the rear.
>>
No. 765600 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>>765597
Davina takes a shuddering (and stuttering) breath and tries to remain calm, fingers tightening on her sword-hilt.

Roll versus phobia.
>>
No. 765606 ID: e7ca6e

rolled 2, 3, 2 = 7

>>765597
Vos makes an apprehensive squealing noise and lifts his chain shirt to attempt to more discern the nature of these corpses. The undead are an abomination unto Tittivila.
>>
No. 765608 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 6, 1 = 11

>>765597
Maru Will Pull out her pen knife and grit her teeth as she makes a quick surface laceration across her thigh, hopefully just deep enough to draw blood. She'll smear the blood across her palms and summon forth her her spiritual weapon, a large ax, made from crimson mist that seems to coalesce- no, congeal, into a solid form in her hands. It lets out a soft, dull rhythm, bp-bp, bp-bp, thumping gently like a calm and untroubled pulse.

To her undiscerning eyes she'd guess the cadavers were being puppeted around on some sort of invisible strings, like a children's marionette gone macabre. She turns to the others, to see if anyone else can get a bead on these creatures, and notices Davina apparent discomfort; she suggests the group back peddle a bit and take 15 minutes on solid ground so Davina can perhaps get a better grip on herself and not risk plummeting into the snake fuck death ravine. Roll to ensure I dont slip and gouge myself, and to see if I can help inspire any confidence in Davina that the nightmare corpse puppets are THAT bad
>>
No. 765609 ID: 72a030

Eric retrieves a bolt from his quiver of magical properties and begins loading it into his Crossbow. That is, until he sees the dancing creatures with his own two eyes. Eric aggrees with Maru, and thinks that a quick retreat to more stable ground would benefit the group.
>>
No. 765610 ID: a107fd

>>765600
Slime in question is the wrong color, and there isn't a stationary straight line or square corner anywhere to be seen in the immediate environment, so Davina just barely manages to keep her wits. The borrowed writing kit flickers through semitangible hands, though, and she wastes a few moments fumbling to catch it.

>>765606
>aura sight
They're definitely undead, but not completely mindless. Maybe on the same level as monkeys? No exotic immaterial attack forms, thank the Deep, but they'll resist blunt force, and rapidly regenerate from any type of damage until and unless the magic holding them together is somehow disrupted. Cold-forged iron would work, but you haven't got any on hand. Your mutagenic power... might do the job, but it would probably have other weird effects as conflicting energies mixed, and somebody would still need to physically hack them apart to finish the job.

>>765608
Between Sami and Payet Best, I'm having trouble picturing Maru Red's weapon as anything other than a magical electric guitar which incidentally has some blades on it. Anyway, down by one point of injury for the blood price, and Davina seems shaken but functional.
>>
No. 765616 ID: b9aa79

rolled 3, 4, 5 = 12

>>765610
That's exactly what you should think because it is 100% an electric bass guitar-ax. The devil loves rock n roll "dawg".

Seeing that Davina is keeping it together, she takes point and continues down the ledge, whispering in a hushed tone her intention to explore the ledge past the bridge in case there's a way around the dozen DR5/cold iron corpse puppets with magical regen; she points out the simple existence of a bridge does not demand they cross it.

Roll to
A) keep an a watchful eye on the puppets to see if they become aggressive upon closer proximity
B) Check their possessions and the surrounding area to see if there's anything of value on the bridge or signs that it might have been used for foot travel or regular crossing at some point- any worn grooves, torch holders, long rotted remants of a side railing, or anything else that might indicate and ancient civilization utilized this area.
C) Not do anything that excites or draws the attention of the corpse puppets
>>
No. 765621 ID: e7ca6e

rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6

Vos will of course relay this information to the others and make an attempt to calm Davina with a minor gesture of affection. He rests his lower jaw on her shoulder, about the equivalent of a pat on the back for his culture. Assuming the same formation as before, Vos keeps moving, using his mutant eye to continually check the puppets for any change in aura.
>>
No. 765634 ID: a107fd

>>765621
Vos manages to shift his chain shirt around so his chest-eye can peek through a gap where three or four rings came undone many years ago... which, considering the position, may have been the same day some previous wearer stopped needing it.
That raucous coppery twang of Maru's axe being drawn forth sends nauseating ripples of lavender and green through meat-puppet auras. They aren't turning to attack just yet, but some cyclical acoustic equilibrium has been disturbed, and the mad dance is accumulating eccentric wobbles, like a neglected potter's wheel with an off-center load.

>>765616
No readily apparent attachment points for lights or railings. In terms of tracks, countless feet have worn a smooth path over the bridge, but far fewer continued along the ledge without crossing.
>>
No. 765635 ID: 3abd97
File 148167742987.png - (6.39KB , 421x386 , crude map.png )
765635

rolled 3, 6, 1 = 10

>The borrowed writing kit flickers through semitangible hands, though, and she wastes a few moments fumbling to catch it.
Ah, well if I'm on mapping duty, here's what we currently see. Should be mostly to scale, although I didn't have a number for the bridge width, nor the degree of widening of the chasm to the right. (Rolling for cartography).

>>765621
I'm going to say this actually works, and after a moment or two, Vos more often than not has an actual shoulder to rest his jaw on, compared to the jittering outline before. Her nerves still show in occasional flicking or blur- those things are not pleasant to be around.

Davina is somewhat nonplussed by this- usually attempts to grab hold of her when she's not there are more frustrating than comforting.

>whispering in a hushed tone her intention to explore the ledge past the bridge in case there's a way around the dozen DR5/cold iron corpse puppets with magical regen; she points out the simple existence of a bridge does not demand they cross it
>40ft chasm, other side in line of sight
Her wits about her once more, Davina points out she can simply cross here rather than pushing through the... creatures, or searching for an alternate bridge.
>>
No. 765644 ID: a107fd

>>765635
>Rolling for cartography
>rolled 3, 6, 1 = 10
>I'm on mapping duty, here's what we currently see. Should be mostly to scale,
Yep, looking good.
>although I didn't have a number for the bridge width,
I figured it'd be hard to judge that kind of thing from the initial perspective. With a quick jaunt to some toehold higher up the wall, you can tell it's about twelve feet wide and two feet thick at either end, narrowing and arching up to eight feet wide and three feet thick in the middle.
>nor the degree of widening of the chasm to the right.
The chasm is about sixty feet wide wall-to-wall right above the bridge, and twenty yards is more or less the blurry limit of what can be seen by lantern light through blood-hued fog. Widening just means the far wall curves away out of view. You'd need a stronger light source, or clearer air, or... I dunno, some sort of echolocation? Judging by the gut-churning acoustics, there's probably no more than another fifty or hundred feet of horizontal open space beyond what you can see. However, given current resources, your only adequate option to observe the overall contour of that wall (let alone tactical details such as doors or monsters) would be to move closer.
>>
No. 765653 ID: 383927

>>765635
>Davina points out she can simply cross here
At this point Maru lets out a sharp, loud laugh that sounds more like a seal bark than anything else, her ax echoing a metallic but somehow upbeat riff that mirrors her mood

" 've had to chop my way through so many situations in the past 'a downright forgot about ya little sword trick. All in favor of following the lass of the hour with the magic sword that's saved our asses not once but twice in the last 10 minutes, shuffle on through. I'll bring up the rear just in case THESE FELLAS decide to get a little fresh with us since we've so cleverly avoided their shag pit" she proclaims, perhaps a bit louder than nessicary, while rather aggressively pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the undulating bodies behind her
>>
No. 765670 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 4, 5 = 11

Eager to leave this unpleasant room, Davina nods and cuts across the chasm, making her own damn bridge, 100% zombie free.
>>
No. 765679 ID: d41523

>>/questdis/106459
I can accept those terms.

Yisheng Ji
Hedge Witch
Specialization: Healing / Medicine
High Ambition: Become immortal and eternally youthful
Low Ambition: Make money
Phobia: Being crushed to death
Mutation: Feathers growing from arms, legs, and back that passively help regulate body temperature in non-extreme conditions, and ward off damp, but are obviously somewhat disturbing to look at
Vulnerability: Consuming birdflesh makes him incredibly sick
Ability: Frictionless, lightweight movement - He can treat non-solid surfaces as if they were perfectly solid and rigid, and move as if he were near-weightless. For example, walking across the surface of freshly-fallen snow without leaving any trace of his presence, walking across water without causing it to ripple, jumping into long (albeit quite slow) glides like 90s/00s wire fu movies, and slow-falling in the same fashion.

An ancient, divine spirit beast came down from a celestial realm on business, taking human form when it arrived. (Specifically, its true form was a celestial rooster.) However, before it returned home, it encountered and was infatuated by a village maiden who happened to pass by, and inevitably seduced her. Yisheng Ji was the product of that pairing, although his father left before he was born, likely to never return. Due to this unusual heritage, he enjoys some measure of divine power, not granted by an external source. As he gets more experienced, he'll naturally unlock more and more of that bottomless divine potential. (aka standard level progression) He was apprenticed to, and eventually became a local doctor when he grew up. However, he felt his quiet life was too stagnant to allow him to truly grow, so he set off on his own to master both his medical skills and latent powers, hoping to eventually cheat death and the passage of time itself.

Left hip: Brass Balm
Right hip: Jug of wine
Left shoulder: Clean cloth, hooked needles, & thread
Right shoulder: Tools for field surgery
Chest/neck: Blanket
Top of head: Dragonweed
Concealed: Greekfire
>>
No. 765682 ID: a107fd

>>765670
Ledge on the far side is only about forty feet long, with the bridge in the middle. It tapers away to nothing at either end. When you arrive at the near end, you're facing an archway of neatly dressed stone, immediately beyond which there are two perpendicular hallways. The wider one - roughly ten feet square, but slightly arched at the top, with a river of thick vermilion mist flowing around knee-height and pouring out into the chasm like a ghostly waterfall - continues straight in the direction from you entered the chasm area for twenty feet, then turns 45 degrees left and slopes upward.
The other hall is only four feet wide, but at least sixteen feet high, and filled floor-to-ceiling with opaque rust-colored vapor. Mostly stagnant, but the occasional ripple or swirl resembles fragmentary calligraphy. Any experimentation with projectiles reveals that it seems to go on, perfectly level and arrow-straight, for a very long distance, though you can't see more than arm's reach ahead.
>>
No. 765692 ID: a107fd

>>765679
Looks good.

So, one not-so-fine day, or possibly night, Yisheng Ji was lost underground, meditating on a stubbornly inscrutable demon's riddle. He came to some incomplete, yet possibly valuable, enlightenment, and asked to borrow a bit of chalk from one of his companions in order to record it, but was met with silence. Looking around, he found that they had somehow already crossed the chessboard and were swiftly departing without him. In that moment of dismay he forgot his partial insight into the riddle.

What did he do next?
>>
No. 765702 ID: d41523

rolled 4, 1, 6 = 11

>>765692
Yisheng Ji sighs unhappily at the lost potential for treasure and puts the chessboard out of his mind. Anticipating no difficulties, he passes airily across the board's surface to rejoin his companions.

Vos's injury will require some minor medical attention, so he'll try to treat it when he arrives. A little brassfruit balm and he'll be right as rain, yes?
>>
No. 765718 ID: a107fd

>>765702
>Anticipating no difficulties, he passes airily across the board's surface

Please specify exactly which part of the board he's gliding across. If the traps were simple pressure plates, don't you think that rock would've set off at least one?
>>
No. 765745 ID: d41523

rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8

>>765718
Ouch. Alright then, diagonally straight across, from one corner to the other, like a bishop, on the black tiles.

Roll is for reflex.
>>
No. 765748 ID: 750f88

rolled 3, 3, 1 = 7

Eric follows Davina through the portal, not wanting to be left behind. He wonders just loud enough for Davina to hear if it would be possible to destroy the bridge while they are still on it and take them all out.
>>
No. 765750 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 5, 4 = 15

>>765595
Hore is more of a close quarters combat fighter with some ranged powers for Tank enemies. Her fighting style is based around taking out squads of weak melee enemies in record time, before they can dog pile.

>>765597
Hore really wants to fight the zombies, but after some thought she decides that dying from a few zombie scratches isn't a risk worth the murder high. Hore decides to check for traps while following Maru.
>>
No. 765752 ID: 3abd97

>>765682
Davina looks between the two paths, and then turns and eye back on the direction of the bridge, wary that the dancing zombies might pursue.

"Between the two paths, I vote for the one in which we can see."

>>765718
Noooo. Here's hoping the puzzle-board doesn't nuke him. The backstory was neat, and I see potential for power interactions.

>>765748
"My talents lie in precision and speed, not demolitions. Others might posses the necessary aptitude." Davina here spares significant glance in Hore's direction, "But I am not sure that is wise. They are held aloft, and might survive the felling of the bridge. This is not a foe I wish to face on equal terms."
>>
No. 765767 ID: af6e04

>"Between the two paths, I vote for the one in which we can see."
"Agreed."

>"This is not a foe I wish to face on equal terms."
"They mock us. Perhaps they will follow; attack from behind?"

While the party deliberates, Vos takes a moment to examine his companions' auras.
>>
No. 765769 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 1, 2 = 8

forgot to roll
>>
No. 765788 ID: 383927

>Hore is more of a close quarters combat fighter with some ranged powers
Maru takes note- she got tunnel vision on whatever that impressive ray of magic was back in the chess room, but the main goal is protect the people who aren't good at fighting so whatever gets the job done. Preferably, in her personal opinion, without any sort of murder fucking occurring in front of her or anywhere that she's consciously aware of, but right now she'd rather have you with her than against her so she's not gonna do anything to endanger the group

Upon suddenly remembering the existence of a doctor with very useful skills pertinent to their current situation, Maru suggests they take the 5 minutes needed to back track and portal jump 2 times in order to secure his safe passage before returning to their current location as a group

She makes this suggestion, not knowing that the venerable doctor has just decided to hurl themself as fast as they can across the span of the chess board and will likely be incinerated before they manage to rendezvous.

To save time, if they make it to Ji before they're blasted into a charred lump, Maru votes they take time to rest up and apply the appropriate salves and healing items to their injured party mates, and take the green mist entrance upwards, in the following order

-Maru - front line muscle
-Ji - made sight, falls back when combat occurs
-Vos - injured, not to fight unless the front lines are broken and Ji + Eric are endangered
-Eric - Picks up mapping where Davina left off, and carries the light so it doesn't get stuck on either end of the formation. Fall back with Vis and Ji when combat breaks out
-Hore - back line defense and ranged support if needed
-Davina - flexible defender, ensures that whatever group is getting attacked, they can flank the enemy
>>
No. 765812 ID: a107fd

rolled 2, 2, 3, 4, 5 = 16

>>765745
The only square on that path which has an outwardly apparent harmful effect is F6, which bursts into flame, inflicting the amount of damage I just rolled. However, by the time he's reached that point, Yisheng Ji is suffering mental fatigue equivalent to a day or two without sleep, unwholesome yet fascinating intrusive thoughts, and a disorienting feeling like he's been cursed to never again find the auspicious path toward Heaven. Also, when he stepped onto E5, all the white squares turned red, almost as if the reddish veins in that border material were spreading.

Assuming he survives the brief inferno and decides to continue (it would be possible to sit down on F6 and treat his own wounds before proceeding, if he remains conscious), upon crossing G7 he is struck blind, and at H8 his problems are compounded with clumsiness equivalent to a night of heavy drinking, but that's the end of the immediate ordeal.

>>765748
Demolishing the bridge would amount to cutting through a two-foot-thick stone wall, and nobody brought rock-breaking tools... unless you count Hore's plasma pistol, but the waste heat from a continuous beam would probably make her arm smell like overdone bacon long before it finished vaporizing a structurally significant portion of that much rock. Also, the meat puppets could just walk over and interrupt whoever was digging, unless you had some way to climb around underneath, and, well... do I really need to explain the problems inherent in deliberately bringing a thousand cubic feet of rock down on your own head while dangling precariously over a chasm of indeterminate depth?
More generally, major earthmoving projects are possible, but require either relevant magic, or appropriate tools and many hours of hard labor, or a little of both, as in the case of delegating the brute force effort of excavation to tireless constructs or undead.
>>765750
No traps are apparent on the visible portion of either path.
>>765767
The team's spiritual health seems to be within acceptable parameters overall, but something's missing... Vos realizes Yisheng Ji was left behind, just in time to hear an anguished squawk from back the way they came. To be audible over the chasm's racket, that god-blooded roosterman must have impressive lung power, once he sets aside the usual quiet, unobtrusive decorum and really tries his best to attract attention.

Of course, in an environment like this, more attention isn't usually a good thing. The 'river' of mist starts to get lower and slower, as if blocked off at the source, and there's a faint slurping, sucking sort of sound echoing from the upward passage.

>>765788
>take the green mist entrance
Vermillion is a bright red, not green. All the fog in this whole maze so far has been various shades of blood-colored.
>>
No. 765813 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 1, 4 = 11

>>765812
Could our bird man resist some of the fire damage if he's treating the gaseous flame as a solid object per his ability? Running into a hot, irregularly shaped object instead of being immolated.

>forgetten party member
>squack
Davina's form blurs as she turns and cuts her across the chasm, and then again from the chasm to the door, disappearing back down the twisting hall at a run alternating with jumps as far as line of sight will allow along the turns of the irregular path.

(I expect attempting to follow her will probably result in the pursuer losing the trail of portals somewhere in the hallway as they wink out).
>>
No. 765824 ID: a107fd

>>765813
>resist some of the fire damage if he's treating the gaseous flame as a solid object
To the extent that such a thing might be possible, doing so would have required better reflexes.
>losing the trail of portals somewhere in the hallway as they wink out
Hasty, ragged cuts take longer to heal. The faster you're going, the less useful that ability is for evading pursuit.

Speaking of pursuit, the meat puppets' dance on the bridge has completely broken down. Six of them charge toward whoever is still standing around the archway, wailing and swinging their fists with murderous intent, while the other six chase Davina.
>>
No. 765825 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7

>>765813
As soon as Vos sees the portal open he pushes past Maru and rushes after Davina's trail, trying to navigate the frequently opening and closing portals left in her wake.
>>
No. 765830 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

>>765824
Hmmm. So how far along my rapid backtrack do I get before I notice the hostile pursuit of my would-be rescue, how close are they, and what sight greets us in the chess room, if I've made it that far?

Rolling for spot / awareness.

(Gonna laugh so hard if the parts floating upwards or the regeneration are spacial effects and react explosively if/when they cross a portal).
>>
No. 765832 ID: d41523

rolled 5, 6, 1 = 12

>>765812
>16 damage
I'm not sure how much health I have, but if Decaro Vos only has 12 hp as a soldier... well, at least everyone'll be treated to a nice roast.

Roll to cling desperately to life, I guess?
>>
No. 765834 ID: b9aa79

>>765813
Maru is dismayed as the party decides the best thing to do when trapped on a small ledge with hostile creatures to either side is to split up and leave half the party to be assaulted on both sides, without even stopping to consult with the group or ask if maybe taking half the party's muscle is a good idea.

If at all possible, Maru would like to round up Eric and Hore and follow Davina, so as not to split the party. This isn't too far outside of her original plan anyways as she was suggesting they travel back as a group to retrieve their feathered medic; she is baffled and unsure as to why Davina would attempt to dash off without a word to the rest of them.

IN THE CASE SHE CANNOT FOLLOW, she will suggest Hore take on the zombies, using the power of ranged weaponry to crisp them up a bit before they engage, while she turns to face whatever is oncoming in the red mist. Eric can support Hore from range for the time being, but she doubts that his crossbow will be of much use against those things given their regenerative powers and seeming resistance to normal weapons.

Again, note that this is only her preferred action if she cannot get the others to follow davina through her portals.
>>
No. 765924 ID: 750f88

rolled 2, 1, 2 = 5

If Eric is unable to follow, he will grab his crossbow and aim it at a zombie closest to an edge. He hopes that hitting the creature with one of his bolts will be enough to have the creature fall off into the abyss. Aiming for head/chest region.
>>
No. 765943 ID: a107fd

>>765832
Yisheng Ji is still conscious, but too dizzy and injured to confidently stand. He could speak, or crawl, or attempt to treat his own wounds with chi manipulation (restores 1d8+1 automatically, no materials required, limited uses per day) or brassfruit balm (restores up to 4d6 depending on how skillfully it's applied, works by transmuting the damaged flesh to brass, which is physically inconvenient for about as long as it would have taken the wound to heal naturally).

>>765830
Meat puppets are stumbling and partly crumbling whenever they emerge from a portal, but pull themselves back together pretty quick. Davina will have 20-30 seconds in the chess room before the first meat puppet arrives, and they're strung out rather than clumped in a close-order mob, so if she can disable them quickly enough one-on-one, they might not get a chance to do any tricky flanking maneuvers.

She also sees the group's main healer half-collapsed on square F6, looking charred and miserable but clearly still alive. Also, all the formerly white squares are now red for some reason.

>>765924
Critical hit! One down, with s bone bolt right between the festering eyesockets, five more to go from that group. Apparently whatever force pulls them upward isn't enough to support the full weight when they stumble off into open air.

>>765834
Maru hops through Davina's portal back across the chasm, but then find that she's landed right between the last two meat puppets in the group which is pursuing Davina, and her axe's strings have somehow become severely tangled. Roll to cast Power Chord: Dismember without being grabbed.
>>
No. 765950 ID: 3abd97

>>765943
For clarity: did Eric manage to run and gun that kill, or his he now stranded on the far side of the chasm with 5 zombies and (possibly a mist monster)? I suppose Hore must still be there too.

Where did Vos end up? I'd guess he's somewhere between Davina and Maru, but if he's made it to the room with me, or if he's further back with a zombie close on his heels feels like something that should factor into my immediate decision making.
>>
No. 765955 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13

Power Chord: Dismember, for all you zombie obliterating needs

Maru now realizes that with the way davinas portals work, who she was asking to follow her and the number of creatures attempting to intercept them her plan to keep the group together was doomed from the start. Internally she curses herself for stupidly hoping it might work, and externally she curses just about everything else

"Damn these strings, and damn these FEKKIN ROTTERS and DAMN davina for leggin it like that and DAMN THAT BIRD FOR BEING SO! DAMN! QUIET! AND FORGETTABLE! Damn that STUPID FEKKIN MUTT AND THEIR DISGUSTING MURDER BONER, and may CALISTRIA STING THIS FEKKIN CHASM! IN IT'S SNAKE FEKKIN DICK! SHITE SHITE SHITE SHITE S H I T E"
>>
No. 765962 ID: c10644

rolled 2, 2, 6 = 10

Hore begins her assault! Playing it smart, she starts off by throwing a few of her knives at the zombies that look the fastest, then equips both her axe and her spear. Using the spear first, she tries to stab the zombies until they get into cleave range, at which point she uses her great cleavage (and her boobs) to force momentum into the axe, potentially killing many zombies at a time. Hore's knife and spear skills are below par and she may not kill many zombies with them, but her dexterity with an axe is unmatched by any in the party and she is expected to kill any zombies within punching distance without a scratch.

Note that Hore will use her Plasma Pistol spell if she gets a bad roll (13 or more) and is in danger of dying, but an EXTREMELY low roll will cause the Plasma to misfire and fire in a random direction, which if she is unlucky [16+] can hit her somewhere vital and if she is REALLY unlucky [18] can even hit her in the FACE, potentially killing her (second roll to determine if she survives). The plasma will continue in the trajectory until all its energy has been spent.
>>
No. 765965 ID: 750f88

rolled 6, 5, 1 = 12

Eric looks deep within himself, contemplating what kind of Lich would be slain by some simple undead. He musters up the courage to try and command these lesser creatures to do his bidding. A simple order of "HALT KNAVES. CEASE MOVEMENT IMMEDIATELY." would do.
>>
No. 765969 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 3, 3 = 10

It's hard to make a call without knowing where I am, but if Vos is surrounded by zombies he will try to reach out and mutate the closest one. If he is lost somewhere in the dark hallway he will light his lantern and continue to the chess room. If he's with Davina he will try to look for a way to get to Ji. Another question worth asking is whether Ji managed to make it across the chess board or is still stuck where he got roasted.
>>
No. 765972 ID: a107fd

>>765965
Two of the meat puppets kneel and groan some approximation of "Yes, my liege." Not a moment too soon, as one of them was closing it's hands around Eric's neck. He's got a few bruises, but thanks to that armor, nothing serious.

Hore is having way too much fun with the remaining meat puppets on your side of the chasm. Two were run through on her spear before they managed to close the distance, then the one in front walked into her axe and lost both arms somewhere around the elbow, and some leg ligaments to knife-work. The one behind keeps trying to step past, but just ends up getting them both turned around. Both of them are at least partly on fire. Last got decapitated by a tighter-focused plasma blast, and she's making ready to impale it's exposed neck on, ah, let's just say a different spear. All three remain animate and hostile, but will be combat-ineffective for at least a few minutes as regeneration catches up.

>>765962
>Note that Hore will use her Plasma Pistol spell if she gets a bad roll (13 or more) and is in danger of dying,
You can't just change what action you're taking based on the die roll for that action.

>but an EXTREMELY low roll will cause the Plasma to misfire and fire in a random direction, which if she is unlucky [16+] can hit her somewhere vital and if she is REALLY unlucky [18] can even hit her in the FACE, potentially killing her (second roll to determine if she survives). The plasma will continue in the trajectory until all its energy has been spent.
I ask that you refrain from telling me how to handle critical failures, or for that matter, any of the dice mechanics.
>>
No. 765975 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12

Okay, Davina sees Ji is alive, but quickly decides she cannot safely render aid, even telporting, if the tile he's on is trapped It is, but she didn't see that, she could set it off again and kill him trying. The more immediate risk to his life is the approaching zombies, who might kill him themselves, or set off more traps approaching him.

I'll turn and try and pick off the strung out zombies with swordmanship. Teleporting behind the lead zombie is likely a bad idea as that puts my back to the next, but I might be able to safely surprise it by coming at it from the side / the wall.

>Another question worth asking is whether Ji managed to make it across the chess board or is still stuck where he got roasted.
He's on F6, so he's two rows deep into the board from our edge.
>>
No. 765976 ID: a107fd

>>765969
Vos is two or three paces behind Davina. Ji is still stuck where he got roasted; reaching him would most likely involve somehow crossing rows 8 and 7 of the board. There are several ways to do that, including at least one option that everybody seems to have overlooked so far.
>>
No. 765978 ID: 3abd97

>>765975
>Meat puppets are stumbling and partly crumbling whenever they emerge from a portal
Too late to edit / delete without messing with my roll, but this means it would be strategically sound to try and time attacks on pursuing zombies as they emerge from one portal, and are off balance and less able to relatiate or defend adequaetly.
>>
No. 765982 ID: a107fd

>>765975
That last portal makes an excellent choke point, but shallow cuts and flicker-swift thrusts to traditional vital areas fail to efficiently incapacitate the meat puppets. The hole in the air begins to close, and then they're approaching through the hallway the old-fashioned way, two or three abreast.

Obvious options at this point would be to lure them onto the chessboard somehow, or close the stone door and hope Maru chops 'em all apart.
>>
No. 765986 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

>He's on F6, so he's two rows deep into the board from our edge.
Sorry, missed that

Vos stands front and center before the doorway ready to jab whichever meat puppet provides a target first, and also prepares to mutate any that get closer than jabbing range. He quickly asks Davina if it's possible to open a portal beneath Ji and simply let her fall through.
>>
No. 765996 ID: a107fd

>>765986
Davina is momentarily distracted by superficial contradictions, and underlying possibilities, of oddly-angled portals. One of the meat puppets slips past her defence, and is now loose in the chess room. When Vos attempts to smite the giddy abomination with mutagenic energies, it seems to be unfazed, but there's a feeling of maggots slithering under skin from the point of contact, moving rapidly up his arm.
>>
No. 766011 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 1, 4 = 9

>>765996
Awwhhh fuck. Vos immediately retracts his hand and circle steps the meat puppet. He lays the haft across the abomination's belly and shoves in the direction of the nearest chess board square. If this is successful and the creature's still moving, he'll run it through from a safe distance.
>>
No. 766032 ID: a107fd

>>766011
Fortunately, the meat puppet seems to have no sense of self-preservation. Upon being knocked back onto E8, all it's flesh melts away from the bone like spun sugar dunked in a hot bath.

>>765955
Maru bisects one meat puppet at the waist and sends it's majority portion tumbling into the abyss, then removes an arm and several ribs from another, but that second one tackles her and grabs on like a constrictor snake with it's "strings." Rim pf the ledge is digging into her mid-back, leaving shoulders and head dangling over what might as well be a bottomless pit. Despite both her own hands digging into it's deliquescent wrist, the meat puppet's remaining hand is inching steadily closer to her neck.
>>
No. 766037 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 4, 3 = 11

>>766032
Maru is, at this point, seeing red. ha

She tries to use the extra leverage of dangling off a bit to whip her head upwards and slam it as hard as she can into the creatures face; she hopes to conserve the momentum of her sudden jerk upwards to roll so the creature is underneath her, allowing her to add body weight and gravity into the occasion as she tries to turn the creature from corpse to paste with a combination of blunt force trauma and slamming any part of it she can against the stone beneath them
>>
No. 766038 ID: a107fd

>>766037
The meat puppet's forehead caves in, but it doesn't let go. After some confusing tumbles, Maru is clinging to the ledge with her left hand and forearm and a few fingers of her right hand, while the meat puppet is hanging off her right elbow with it's remaining hand, and has semi-prehensile entrails tangled around her legs.

Rancid cerebrospinal fluid is dripping into her eyes. Not her own, fortunately, but it's still very unpleasant, and she doesn't have a free hand to wipe it away.
>>
No. 766043 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 5, 2, 5 = 12

Davina feels a growing frustration- not only are the creatures repellent, not only do they lack traditional weapoints, but their regeneration prevents methodical disassembly!

>>765986
"I cannot easily nor reliably move without moving."

>What do
Davina will open a portal directly ahead of the undead, obscuring their view of the door.

The other side I'll place immediately behind the balanced die, perpendicular to the path across the chess board. (So the view through the portal is not facing the board, but along the edge).

This should allow me to carefully step or hop over the die (I'm assuming it's not bigger than a milk crate, to be 30 pounds and throwable?), and clumsy zombies to trip over it as they stumble through the portal.

If we're lucky, they might fall into the board. If we're not, we might be able to follow up with a shove or flesh blessing the tangled pile of undead. We'll see.
>>
No. 766045 ID: c10644

rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7

Hore is done @#$%ing with zombies for now~

She decides to throw zombies into the portal, starting with the limbless ones!
>>
No. 766046 ID: 3d2d5f

>>766045
Uh, the portal near you has probably expired by now, and just leads to near Maru if it hasn't.

You're probably better off aiming for the cliff.
>>
No. 766047 ID: 60f74d

rolled 6, 1, 1 = 8

"One of you! Assist the Gnoll in fighting these fleshy corpses. The other! Assist my companion hanging off of the cliff edge over yonder!" Edwin begins loading a crossbow bolt into his crossbow (19/20). He looks back towards the supposed mist monster's location expectantly.
>>
No. 766050 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 6 = 14

>follow up with a shove or flesh blessing the tangled pile of undead.

Sounds good, though Vos is a bit reluctant to touch the things again. Speaking of which, he takes the short reprieve to examine his arm/hand, grabbing at different points along the length of his forearm and wiggling his fingers.
>>
No. 766051 ID: c10644

>>766046
Huh? Okay...

Still, we should find a way to keep them dead. Bury them? Force their regenerating limbs to fuse together? Fire won't work. Hore contemplates what power source they run on.
>>
No. 766067 ID: d41523

rolled 8, 7 + 2 = 17

>>765943
He'll stop to treat his own wounds. Since his body is pretty much charred all over, the Brassfruit Balm will probably be a significant inconvenience, so he'll opt for chi healing x2.
>>
No. 766071 ID: d41523

>>766067
Nice heal, even if it's only the physical injury. Yisheng Ji will crawl backward one tile, onto E5, juuust in case the fire tile decides to act up again, and stay there for now. He doesn't like the look of the red tiles.
>>
No. 766099 ID: a107fd

>>766045
>>766046
Two more meat puppets off the cliff, and Hore even manages to safely retrieve her spear, though the haft is somewhat burnt. The third one she was 'dealing with,' however, has reassembled it's lower jaw, along with a lot of miscellaneous bone fragments and giblets, into a sort of belt around her waist.

>>766047
Eric's first lieutenant starts punching the torso of the feral meat puppet around Hore's waist, cracking it's ribs and spine, but is oblivious to the friendly-fire risk which this presents. Hore is now experiencing severe pain (-4 to most rolls).

Eric's second lieutenant bounces across the bridge and grabs Maru, one hand around her left upper arm, the other tangled in her hair, and starts hauling her back up onto solid ground. Feels like her left shoulder was nearly dislocated in the process. The one-handed meat puppet is still clinging to her, squeezing hard enough to cut off blood circulation to her feet, but she's no longer at immediate risk of a long fall.

>mist monster
A section of oddly clear air approaches, it's back edge defined by a perfectly vertical wall of vermilion fog.

>>766071
Yisheng Ji's burns are fully healed, but that's about as much heavy chi manipulation as he can safely do in a day. There are still a variety of minor tricks available to him, and it's possible to 'dig deep' for more, but those disturbing intrusive thoughts just doubled in intensity, so it's really seeming like a bad day to take risks.

>>/questdis/106536
>>766032
Sorry, that was an error on my part. Flesh-dissolving acid trap is on C8, not E8.

Speaking of which, the puddle of goo and disarticulated bones on C8 is visibly pulling itself back together.
>>
No. 766109 ID: 383927

rolled 5, 6, 1 = 12

Maru will very loudly and aggressively use whatever means she has at her disposal to detach the remainder of the creature from her body and send it hurtling into the chasm below, and assuming success, insists that Eric and Hore get across the bridge as quickly as possible. She hasn't yet seen the creature in the mist most likely, given the description concerning its lack of a visual component, but her intent is to hold the bridge from a monster she assumes is coming and guard the rear as everyone crosses, hopefully reaching solid ground and getting one step closer to reuniting with the others
>>
No. 766110 ID: af6e04

>Speaking of which, the puddle of goo and disarticulated bones on C8 is visibly pulling itself back together.

Vos will scatter whatever bones are still loose with his spear. Standing back as far as he can, he pushes them one by one off in random directions across the chess board, trying to take care not to send any toward Ji.
>>
No. 766111 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 3, 2 = 11

>>766110
>>
No. 766120 ID: a107fd

>>766111
Reassembly process seems to slow down, though not halt completely, once part of the mess is smeared over onto B7.

>>766109
Visible portion of the one-handed meat puppet has been reduced to a few tenacious strands of tendon coiled around Maru Red's ankles, but the rest of it seems to be hanging on just below the ledge. Whenever some other part starts to come up, Eric's minion kicks it back down. Only so much can be done to further detach it without amputating her own feet; a bloodthirsty two-handed axe is not the ideal tool for this job.

Laying down like a spent fish and taking a few minutes to catch her breath is starting to seem like a very appealing option.

>>766050
Maggoty feeling fades away just as the leading edge was spreading into his chest, but Vos remains uncertain whether it was psychosomatic, or if a swarm of parasites have now settled in to positions they find comfortable.
>>
No. 766123 ID: 3abd97

>>766043
Um, I don't think this action got resolved in the last batch or two. Unless it's not relevant anymore due to other things that happened, or I badly misinterpreted the size of the die?
>>
No. 766134 ID: 750f88

rolled 5, 4, 4 = 13

Eric grants new commands as he makes his way across the bridge. "Follow me my lieutenants! We must make haste to our other companions! Without causing them injury this time!" Eric waits for his first lieutenant to follow across the bridge before continuing with both of them to the chess room.
>>
No. 766152 ID: a107fd

>>766043
Considerable misunderstanding of the situation here.
>Davina will open a portal directly ahead of the undead, obscuring their view of the door.
Her portals are about 6' high and 3' wide. while the door is a 10' square stone slab on a vertical pivot, so that's like trying to hide an elephant behind a phonebooth. Might be possible to jam the door partway closed and set up a pair of portals so that when they try to move past it on one side, they pop back into the hallway from the other side, but you'd need something the right size to wedge into that inch-high gap under the door, or some other method to keep it from opening the rest of the way.

>This should allow me to carefully step or hop over the die (I'm assuming it's not bigger than a milk crate, to be 30 pounds and throwable?)

Stone cube is about 6-7 inches on a side. The more relevant obstacle is that waist-high pedestal it's balanced on top of.

>clumsy zombies
If anything, they're somewhat more agile than average humans. Various pratfalls can be attributed to lack of forethought, structural damage, and active opposition, rather than lack of basic physical coordination.
>>765597
> These are no run-of-the-mill shambling zombies. They prance about almost weightlessly,
>>
No. 766160 ID: a107fd

>>766134
The remaining meat puppet on that side of the chasm stops thrashing as soon as the first lieutenant stops pummeling it, then picks Hore up in a symmetrical hands-free variant of the fireman's carry and moves to follow Lord Grimwald across the bridge. With no head, and a blockage in it's throat besides, it can't speak at the moment. The fact that it can apparently listen for and understand orders is already some sort of noxious miracle.

Going to help Maru first, or charge ahead and flank the three that Davina's been holding at the chess room door?
>>
No. 766163 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 3, 2 = 9

>>766152
Hmm. Thanks for the correction, then.

Further random trivia: what do the portals look like from the "back" (invisible? Semitransparent?).

>suggested action
Simpler plan then: Davina shuts the door in front of the zombies, and jams a dagger or two into the inch gap as improvise wedges when they try and shove it open.

Not sure how strong these particular zombies are, but if that doesn't keep them out, it'll at least slow them down and buy the three of us a little time to regroup (get Ji off the trapped board, maybe cross to the other side and so we can hide behind the traps).

>discussion

>Decaro Vos
>Specialization: Grappling
Hmmm.

"Vos, if I go to open a door, are you strong enough to hold me back from passing through?"

Ji's on a "safe" tile of the chess board, unless there are rules against two pieces occupying the same space, or captures are enforced. I could just step to him to open a portal for him to exit by, but it's probably safer if I don't actually set foot on that side.
>>
No. 766192 ID: d41523

>>766163
>safe tile
It's not 100% safe. It fills your head with intrusive thoughts. Being tele-fragged would be a pretty nasty fate though. Think I should I just dash across and take my chances?
>>
No. 766197 ID: a107fd

>>766163
>what do the portals look like from the "back" (invisible? Semitransparent?).
Like a funhouse mirror, a really cheap one with lots of bubbles in the glass and so many gaps in the silver it's almost more of a window, getting hit by a sledgehammer, in slow motion. Higher-dimensional scar tissue. If somebody runs into it, the texture's sort of like mud mixed with cobblestones on a rained-out road, main difference being that if you force a hand in deeper, it seems oppressively hot and oily rather than cold and damp.

>Davina shuts the door in front of the zombies, and jams a dagger or two into the inch gap as improvise wedges when they try and shove it open.
Available knives are slightly too narrow for effective wedges, and would probably snap if stuck vertically into cracks in the floor, but they function well enough as reinforcement for a tibia and the pelvis from C8.

On closer inspection, the underside of the door seems to have a series of deep vertical holes, which would suggest a locking mechanism involving bars rising from the floor. No sign of a keyhole or lever or any other readily accessible method to engage such a lock, though.

>"Vos, if I go to open a door, are you strong enough to hold me back from passing through?"
Seems likely to work, but potential consequences for a slip-up are serious enough that he'd definitely need to roll for it.

>Ji's on a "safe" tile
There are some important differences between "no immediate deadly explosion" and "safe."
>>765812
>when he stepped onto E5, all the white squares turned red
>>766071
>Yisheng Ji will crawl backward one tile, onto E5
>>766099
>those disturbing intrusive thoughts just doubled in intensity
>>
No. 766199 ID: c10644

rolled 1, 2, 3 = 6

Hore regroups and tears the zombie off her waist, then asks her teammates which tile she should throw it on. Hore defends and asks where the lowest common denominator of cluster@#$%s is.
>>
No. 766201 ID: 3abd97

>>766192
Oh, good catch. Intrusive thoughts of that nature might be particularly bad for me, since it might skew me toward intangibility and uselessness.

>Think I should I just dash across and take my chances?
Honestly, I would try rolling for insight against the initial poem / riddle to try and determine safe squares before running blindly. Worst case you don't lose anything, and your character is kind of suited for it?

>telefrag
Unless the board itself has a "one piece per tile" mechanic magically enforced, I don't think I actually can. Not with the portals, anyways. Unless you find a bag of holding. Or I'd have to try and clip through you when I was blurred intangible, which would be terminally stupid.

Also worth considering, in addition to portal mechanics:

>There are several ways to [move across the board] that, including at least one option that everybody seems to have overlooked so far.
Might be worth thinking on this. Maybe if you "jump" like a knight you're only exposed to the start and end tile traps? (And maybe not the end, if you go off the board).

>Other possible portal antics
If I jumped and cut up, could I open a portal above me? (And fail to follow through it due to gravity). Now that Ji is actually standing and I can see the the floor under him, I *could* open the other end under him. Normally that would be a dumb idea that would immediately drop someone on me, but Ji has built in feather fall.
>>
No. 766202 ID: 3abd97

>>766199
The tiles should be down a hall and behind a closed door from you. Throwing anything there would be pretty hard, unless you're holding onto it till you get there.
>>
No. 766203 ID: 750f88

So are there undead between Eric and the Chess room? Also is the door closed? Just want to confirm some things before posting.
>>
No. 766204 ID: a107fd

>>766192
Specifically, the intrusive thoughts resemble a pair of obnoxious children, with voices like crows, competing for your attention. They refer to square E5 as "the Cube of Extremely Limited Psyche," but are just bored to tears with this whole room and refuse to discuss it's other features any further, except to confirm that "the prize" is real, and they aren't it. Both have promised (with obvious sincerity) to depart and trouble you no more just as soon as you attempt any one of the many courses of action they constantly propose... which are mostly nonsensical atrocities, but seem to reflect profound insights into the labyrinth's greater geomantic structure, so their advice might, eventually, turn out to be useful.
>>
No. 766205 ID: a107fd

>>766203
Yes to both.
>>
No. 766209 ID: d41523

rolled 1, 2, 3 = 6

>>766201
>>766204
It says to "stay the true course in blooded sight", and all the white tiles turned blood red. I'd think "the true course" would have been a straight shot across, but E8 melts all the flesh off your bones, so that's right out. I could hop forward-left like a knight onto D7, then forward one to D8, onto the King's space, and hopefully capping the King = Treasure? Alternatively, I could move diagonally onto B8 and then right to C8, which would clear the knight and bishop, which would allow the "castle" to "fall east" and allow the king to "bound to the left" as the black player castles their king, which is kind of a "foolish whim whose meaning is deep" move?

Roll for insight on the puzzle + voices, I guess. I really don't want to take another 5d8 damage.
>>
No. 766213 ID: a107fd

>>766209
Some hint from the smudged-out chalk notes left on the pedestal by previous adventurers clicks together in Yisheng Ji's mind. Loaded with vague symbolism and contradictory implications, it's not a riddle at all; more of a koan, turning the reader's cleverness against itself. If he's right, that poem contains no information whatsoever about which squares are safe.
>>
No. 766214 ID: 92ca6b

rolled 3, 3, 2 = 8

>>766163
Sure willing to try it. Wish me lucky dice
>>
No. 766215 ID: 750f88

rolled 1, 3, 4 = 8

Eric stares down the unloyal beasts and attempts to gain control over them. He clenches his fist as he commands "Kneel to me and accept me as your one true king!"
>>
No. 766216 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 2, 4 = 7

>>766213
Hahahahahah, wooooow.

>>766213
>>766214
Davina nods, then turns does her best to ignore the eel-man behind her and what she's trying to do, focusing simply on what she's doing. It's easier that way.

Just a push and a cut like any other.

Opening a portal to Ji's tile and hopefully being stopped from passing through by Vos.
>>
No. 766219 ID: d41523

rolled 1, 2, 6 = 9

>>766213
Alright, new tactic then. Yisheng Ji will call out to Davina, if she can hear him, to drop some nasties onto the board in front of him, to see if the tiles are safe, and then he'll be able to cross based on that information.
>>
No. 766235 ID: a107fd

>>766215
At this point, half the meat puppets have been more or less irretrievably pulped, and the other half are successfully recruited.

>>766214
>>766216
>>766219
Ji is interrupted in mid-sentence by a blade, appearing as if from nowhere, pressed against his throat. Davina and Vos grab him from behind and yank him through the portal, off the chessboard, without further complications.

Vos still has some fairly serious injuries, which brass balm would be useful for treating. One of the disembodied voices "helpfully" interjects that the balm is made from fruits of a tree which only grows in the Murderfuck Forest, demon realm of Hrotsvitha. This claim is... probably false? One of the major components is imported from some otherwise unfamiliar distant land, but that's metal, not fruit. A particular type of brass with unique alchemical properties. Every other reagent is well-understood, and can be produced locally.
>>
No. 766236 ID: af6e04

Vos sets Ji down safely on solid ground and releases his grip on Davina, clearly looking pleased with himself. His posture quickly weakens again though as the adrenaline high seems to wear off. "Should regroup with others. Let's go."
>>
No. 766250 ID: a107fd

>>766236
>Regroup

Eric Grimwald, Hore Wutashi, Maru Red, and six no-longer-hostile meat puppets are right outside, ready to reunite as soon as somebody un-jams the door for them.

After that, and possibly treatment for their various (comparatively minor) injuries, there's the matter of which way to go next.
>>
No. 766255 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 2, 2 = 10

>>766250
Assuming someone communicates through the door that they're not a group of hostile zombies and would like to be let in, Davina will remove the improvised doorjams and reclaim her daggers.

She's going to be less than happy to see the zombies brought along, though.

"You're ke——ing them?" she says with obvious distaste, flickering momentarily.

>there's the matter of which way to go next
Is there an apparent alternative exit to this room besides the hall to the chasm chamber? (There's two or three possible paths once we get there, at least).

Does the mist in the hall show whatever it was in the other room following the group? (At least as far as we can see from the door).
>>
No. 766263 ID: d41523

rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15

>>766235
>>/questdis/106571
Yisheng Ji will apply some Brassfruit Balm to Vos. Here's hoping the mental debuffs aren't severe enough to make me fail basic medical treatment.
>>
No. 766273 ID: a107fd

>>766263
>rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15
>various curses and distractions

Some embarrassingly haphazard pawing at Vos's wounds nonetheless manages to restore 3 HP. The remaining damaged tissue is now sealed under a layer of brass, which largely removes the risks of longer-term bleeding or tearing something open by exertion, but, if something in there was already contaminated, you'll have a hell of a time cleaning it out surgically when the infection starts to spread.

Yisheng Ji feels like eight to twelve hours of sleep would fix maybe half the things that went wrong during his own attempt to cross the chessboard, including some things that are impairing his medical skills.

On Vos's end, the restricted movement from brazen scar tissue is comparable to wearing slightly-too-tight clothes on the relevant areas.

>>766255
>Is there an apparent alternative exit to this room besides the hall to the chasm chamber?

Door you came in through leads to a dead end, courtesy of that sliding-wall trap.

>Does the mist in the hall show whatever it was in the other room following the group?

Nope, no sign. Given the rate at which it was moving, though, you wouldn't expect the fog anomaly to have even crossed the chasm yet, unless it's much faster in a wide-open space.
>>
No. 766289 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11

Vos fidgets and squirms painfully during the process, but when all is said and done he is very grateful for the minor reprieve in pain. He nuzzles Ji's face in appreciation. Vos asks if Ji can look at his arm, and goes chattering on about feeling a very unpleasant sensation when he touched one of the creatures of stagnant flesh.

His train of thought is interrupted however by the sound of Davina's protest and then the sight of the targets of his ire. He immediately moves to impale one of the meat puppets on his spear.
>>
No. 766300 ID: d4fc8d

rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6

>>766255
>>766289
Eric's eyes shoot to attention at Decaro Vos's sudden movement and Davina's disgust towards the now tame creatures. He shouts in protest to the assault on the undead elvinoid creatures.

"Wait! I have them under my control. There is no need to continue fighting Vos!"
Eric shoots a glance at his creatures.
"Do not harm these beings, they can be useful to our escape."
>>
No. 766306 ID: a107fd

>>766289
>He immediately moves to impale one of the meat puppets on his spear.
>>766300
>Do not harm these beings, they can be useful to our escape.
>There is no need to continue fighting Vos!
>rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6

Lieutenant Dangle is stabbed somewhere in the general vicinity of the heart, and, as ordered, makes no move to retaliate. Hole in the meat puppet's chest closes up again almost immediately.

Lieutenant Dan burbles some semicoherent questions about this larger strategic objective of "escape."
>>
No. 766313 ID: d41523

rolled 3, 2, 5 = 10

>>765682
>>766204
>two perpendicular hallways to choose from
>intrusive thoughts reflect profound insights into the labyrinth's greater geomantic structure
Yisheng Ji, now capable of walking and out of immediate danger (albeit too woozy to accomplish anything useful), figures he may as well query the horrid voices in his head as to what lies down each of the available path options, once everyone's regrouped and he's been informed said options exist.
>>
No. 766340 ID: 63f62b

rolled 1, 5, 2 = 8

Hore, feeling absentminded, decides to carry whoever needs help moving. She's not sure what is going on anymore.
>>
No. 766366 ID: a107fd

>>766313
"You mean the chasm? There's way more than two. Ten, at least, depending on how you count. Most just have rocks and fog and stuff that kills you. Say what you want, we'll tell you where to go, one decision each. Tools? Secrets? A giant mantis who squeals and moans while being ripped apart? Gold? Safe place to sleep?"
>>
No. 766370 ID: af6e04

>>766300
>Lieutenant Dan burbles some semicoherent questions about this larger strategic objective of "escape."

"They talk?" Vos is significantly alarmed by this revelation.

I assume since everybody knows of each others' talents, Vos had an idea this would happen. He decides to go ahead and lay a ground rule. He'll tolerate Eric's practices for now, as long as Eric does not kill a creature for the sole purpose of converting it into an undead pawn.
>>
No. 766389 ID: d41523

rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8

>>766366
Yisheng Ji snaps his fingers loudly in Maru Red's direction to get her attention and urgently requests a piece of parchment and a writing utensil from her to record "what may well be supernatural guidance being channeled through [him]," and assuming he receives them, prepares to record in writing the responses to his mental queries.

"Knowing the most reliable path to the nearest safe location to rest and recuperate would be ideal," Yisheng Ji mentally vocalizes to his unwelcome intruders, and after a moment's thought clarifies "where 'safe' refers to the personal safety of both myself and my present companions, as well as that of any and all items belonging to us, and not necessarily any other item or entity, up to and including yourselves. Furthermore, 'the absence of threat' implied by the term 'personal safety' should also consider the 'threat of starvation and/or dehydration' brought on by a lack of supplies exacerbated by, for example, being imprisoned in an otherwise perfectly safe chamber."

After a short pause to collect his thoughts, Yisheng Ji continues with the second request: "While it is true that material wealth is a goal of this expedition, the love for gratuitous violent suffering you two, in the short yet eventful time we've so far spent together, have made quite well-known, coupled with my understanding that this labyrinth will most certainly couple any available treasure with profound sources of precisely that, make me reluctant to request it of you. Therefore, I will instead request a reliable route, not from this location, but from the safe location you will be providing in response to my first request, to a location where may be found more detailed and reliable information regarding both this labyrinth's layout and inhabitants, with emphasis on the hostile. I suppose such information could be considered secrets, though it matters little to me whether or not others exist who know it already."
>>
No. 766397 ID: 750f88

>>766370
"Of course! They also have regenerative capabilities, are seemingly unstoppable, and in general make very useful subordinates. If we just work along side them then fame and glory is sure to come." Eric smiles, seemingly beaming with admiration towards the undead creatures. "Imagine the possibilities my friends. hmmmm. I best start naming them, unless they remember their old titles? Do any of you have a name that you wish to be known as."
>>
No. 766412 ID: a107fd

>>766389
>safety
"Cross the bridge, down the narrow hall to the end, and flip the table."

>decent map
"Request an audience with the fallen duke, whose servants you may recognize by their being entirely covered in blood apart from hands and lips."

>>766397
>Do any of you have a name
The six meat puppets briefly burst into... song? Something like an attempt to reconstruct the laughter of children using only mis-tuned violins, a pipe organ, and terminal emphysema.

Seems to be a 'no.'
>>
No. 766414 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8

>>766412
Hore's ears perk up. That music sounds familiar...

Roll to determine if her eldritch lore (from her mother's nerdy attempts at horror stories) can figure out what dialect they're speaking in.
>>
No. 766415 ID: d41523

>>766412
Got it. If Yisheng Ji was granted parchment and writing utensil previously, he'll return them now, with information recorded. Either way, he'll relate this information verbally to the rest of the party.

Once that's accomplished, Yisheng Ji will await the rest of the party to finish their immediate business, so they can cross the chasm. Notably, he'll be standing with someone else between himself and the bridge, such that anything hostile coming from that direction doesn't find him to be the most convenient prey.
>>
No. 766416 ID: 24aec8

>"Cross the bridge, down the narrow hall to the end, and flip the table."

Maru hands over the parchment and writing supplies without qualm, but makes a statement leveled with a tone of seriousness not customary in her regularly brazen and unfiltered cockney voice:

"Ay doctor, 'eres the deal: we go down that tunnel we can't fight. 4 feet wide aint enough space to swing an ax, and we can't trust how reliable ya "guests" are. If ya fink'in this is a good idea, or at least betta than wandering aimlessly, I'll back ya up. Hell, I'll walk in front. But if this goes tits up, im 'oldin ya responsible, ya 'ear me?"

She turns to Vos- "Lieutenants Dan and Dangle is it? The way I sees it, they can't all be lieutenants o'wise the title means notin, ya see? So I'm thinkin Lts Dan and Dangle, with their mates dip dodge Delilah and bob, what ya think a that? And, while we're on the subject can ya ask if they're plannin to get all antsy again next time I swing my ax? I don't like the idea of gettin flanked by these... things."
>>
No. 766422 ID: d41523

>>766416
Yisheng Ji handwaves (literally making a hand-waving gesture) Maru's statements. "Both concerns easily solved. Have the deathless creatures sent first. If there is danger, they will bear the brunt of it. You may choose to 'hold me responsible' for whatever comes of this route if you wish, but future harm is assured whether we choose to take the path or not, and in my regrettable current state, I am capable of doing little to mitigate any injuries that may occur. I believe the potential benefit to be worth the risk." With particular dryness, he adds "If it does indeed go wrong, perhaps you can leave me to be cursed and charred to death somewhere alone. That would certainly give me cause for reflection."

Eyes flickering tiredly, he finishes with the assertion that either way, a course of action should ideally be decided upon in short order, before any more hostiles converge on the area.
>>
No. 766423 ID: 3abd97

>>766370
>>766397
>>766412
Davina watches the exchange between an alarmed Vos, the enthusiastic Eric, and the cheerfully horrifying band of cavorting corpses with an expression caught somewhere between incredulity and disgust. She almost speaks twice, only to be shocked back into silence first by "Lieutenant Dan"'s elocution, and then by the chorus' mockery of anything even resembling music.

Eventually she responds "If they must accompany us, put some of your toys on point. Better they run into the next trap than any of our number."

>>766415
>>766416
Shaking her head and making a deliberate effort to put the creatures out of her mind and focus on other things, Davina joins Ji and Maru's conversation.

"We are to trust these spirits that the path to safety is the one in which we blind ourselves? I cannot step where I cannot see, and we would all be in a poor position to defend ourselves if attacked."
>>
No. 766424 ID: 24aec8

>>766422
"Touché gov, didn't think yad take to runnin full speed across the board after seeing what happened to Vos, but we don't know eachother that well so I guess I shoulda kept a closer eye on ya and reminded ya not to play with the death trap. Smart thinkin what with the meat sacks takin the lead though- have 'em split rear guard and front, walk down the path ya monster friends suggest, and upend some furniture for us, make 'em a right handy tool what with their regeneration and all. 'Ere, for the time bein lets revise our marchin order.

Lt Dan
Dip
Delilah
Maru
Ji
Vos
Eric
'ore
Davina
Dodge
Lt Dangle
Bob

Sound good? Remember, there's still an invisible mist monster waitin to do what 'ore does best, so let's all be on our best behavior alright luvs?
>>
No. 766435 ID: a107fd

>>766424
>Remember, there's still an invisible mist monster waitin

Hore Wutashi should definitely roll for that phobia of hers if you're going to be discussing a potential enemy whose only known feature is how hard it is to see.
>>
No. 766438 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 4, 4 = 12

>>766397
Vos does not share one bit of Eric's enthusiasm. He makes a sound that resembles a sheep receiving a surprise heimlich maneuver and stows his spear.

>Remember, there's still an invisible mist monster waitin to do what 'ore does best, so let's all be on our best behavior alright luvs?
"If foe still stalks us, should confront it before making further discussion." Not wanting to waste anymore time deliberating, Vos cautiously approaches the dark hallway and scans for any hostile auras.
>>
No. 766439 ID: 750f88

>>766424
"I want my Lieutenants by my side, so here is how I believe the marching order should be. We should surround ourselves with a reliable shield of undead flesh."

Pvt Dipper (Undead Elvinoid)
Pvt Delilah (Undead Elvinoid)
Maru
Ji
Vos
1st Lt Dan (Undead Elvinoid)
Eric
2nd Lt Dangle (Undead Elvinoid)
Hore
Davina
Pvt Dodger (Undead Elvinoid)
Pvt Bobby (Undead Elvinoid)
>>
No. 766471 ID: a107fd

Remember that in a 10' wide hallway it's possible to march two or three abreast. Might make sense to compress the group into four, five, or six such ranks for most of the trip to the narrow hall.

>>766438
Examining the unlit, zigzagging hallway with aura sight finds no signs of life (nor undeath) more advanced than slime or lichen on the walls.
>>
No. 766472 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13

>invisible mist monster
If it's smaller than than the narrow hall (not that we know that yet), that would be one reason to risk being blinded by fog (although I really think any advice from Ji's headvoices is trapped).

If I can see through it, and it's larger than a portal, that means blinking past (or through it) could be an option... although that might be a Bad Idea if it's a snake or some other long creature. Not sure how attempting to open a portal inside it as opposed to beyond it would go, but I doubt well.

>preparing to move on
>>766439
Inner and outer screens of disposable minions seems reasonable. Prevents losing them all to one trap, and provides layers of cover for the PCs.

>before we move on
Maru's looking a little battered, and Hore lost, um, well. Perhaps our healers should attend to them before we charge back into battle?

>>/questdis/106610
To keep her mind off the zombies while waiting for that, Davina will contemplate the chess board. The poem seems to make reference in turn to a knight, a bishop, and a rook. Possibly implying a series of moves, one as each piece? (Although the rook sounds as if it is captured, so maybe East-rook-position is just telling us the square the knight finishes his journey on, capturing A8).
>>
No. 766478 ID: 3abd97

>>766472
Sorry, that should be "if it's larger than the narrow hall"
>>
No. 766483 ID: 49a7c1

Vos would roll his eyes if he were physiologically capable, looking back at his companions still arguing over what order they should walk in. He idly steps back over to Davina as she ponders the chess board. "Perhaps could simply cross along space between squares?"
>>
No. 766496 ID: 77f1b6

>looking back at his companions still arguing over what order they should walk in

Maru will point out that the 5 minutes needed to get a plan together and organize yourselves can make the difference between life and death. If you all want to attempt a puzzle solution, she'll stand guard with Vos, on lookout for the potential threat approaching.

If they need to walk down the wide hall before anything is discovered and slain she suggests a box formation like so:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12

1: dip
2: dodge
3: bob
4: maru
5: davina
6: hore
7: Eric
8: Ji
9: Vos
10: Dan
11: Delilah
12: Dangle

Meat shields in the front and back, fighters make the second row with Ji, who is less combat oriented and also somewhat impaired in the middle, Vos and Eric to the sides as padding

She's fine with Eric's proposed matching order for the narrow hallway. We just need to make sure the group all stays together and no one wanders off. It's a shame no one brought rope.
>>
No. 766499 ID: 77f1b6

A point of clarification I forgot to add:

She insists she and Vos stay inside the chess room with the door closed. Whatever was in the hallway seemed to take up a respectable volume, so if they can see it normally it's safer to have a visual cue, like a door opening, that said creature was approaching. She'll ask that someone else put their blanket at the foot of the door in case the creature can become gaseous or something like that and slip undearneath.
>>
No. 766501 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 6, 5 = 15

Hore tries to calm herself with a swig from her water canteen. Assassins would need to spend two bombs, fifty knives, and a suicide zombie to assault this phalanx... right?

Focus, Hore. Time to march.
>>
No. 766502 ID: a107fd

>>766496
Everybody okay with this marching order and overall plan? Any last-minute experiments before heading out?

>>766414
>figure out what dialect they're speaking in
>rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8
It's either some fiendishly sophisticated code, or random noise on a really creepy carrier wave.

>>766472
>contemplate the chess board
>rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13

No further insights.
>>
No. 766505 ID: 3abd97

>>766496
This also seems reasonable as a marching order.

>We just need to make sure the group all stays together and no one wanders off. It's a shame no one brought rope.
Davina has an sudden and unpleasant mental image of gutting one or more of the zombies to harvest their intestines and then quickly discards this idea as both impractical and distasteful.

>attempt a puzzle solution
I'm not going to advocate for this, though if Eric insists on sending a few of "his boys" across, I'll provide a portal to the far "starting" side of the board for them.

(I think the anon in the dis thread had the right idea though).

I'm ready to move on, though I still think Ji or Vos should take a look at Maru and Hore before we continue. Maru's probably just a little battered, but Hore suffered an amputation, didn't she?
>>
No. 766506 ID: a107fd

>>766501
When Hore squeezes her waterskin, a little puff of the ubiquitous red mist comes out. What if it's been poisoned? Sure, still smells like normal slightly-stale water, but some poisons are really hard to detect. What if they're already inside this room, tying our shoelaces together and slipping black lotus extract into our rations?

Hore is mentally stunned for a few seconds, and loses 3 points of fatigue due to hyperventilating.
>>
No. 766508 ID: a107fd

>>766505
>Hore suffered an amputation, didn't she?

...no? She stuck her dick down a meat-puppet's esophagus, which then got punched a few times, but by the time the two of them disentangled it was under explicit orders not to hurt her. Maru and Hore have both taken bruises and scratches from close combat with the meat puppets. Nothing obviously serious, maybe 3-5 total damage each, but some attention from a competent medic would still be time well-spent once you find a safe place to rest.

Unless you're counting those two missing fingers, from goofing around with the plasma pistol before she even came to the dungeon.
>>
No. 766509 ID: d41523

rolled 5, 6, 5 = 16

>>766472
>>766505
>Hore suffered an amputation
I'm re-reading to see if I missed this, but it looks to me that Hore only took a sucker punch to the groin? That's just normal pain. Nothing that requires special treatment. ( >>766099 )
Similarly, Maru seems to have just been squeezed and knocked around a bit. Some blunt trauma from being grappled by an undead creature.

Nevertheless, since there seem to be complaints, Yisheng Ji will look over them to the best of his currently-somewhat-addled ability to determine whether or not their injuries may necessitate brass balm, or if they'd be able to walk it off for now. He'll also offer Hore a drink of his wine to help soothe her panic, on the stern condition that there'd better still be most of it left in the jug after she takes her drink.
>>
No. 766510 ID: 3abd97

>>766508
I believe I misread the earlier exchange as something being bitten off when it was just bitten, then.
>>
No. 766512 ID: a0aed0

>>766510
Same here

Maru looks around the room. Hore is going off about imaginary threats, and doesn't look too hot. Ji and Vos have both seen better days, and she herself is feeling the effects of combat. She proposes that the group should take a short rest soon, but that there's 2 options she can conceive of for how to do this. First off, they could rest in this room for an hour or two. However they've been rather loud, and she's not confident their possible pursuer is the only creature aware of them. The inscription of the room even mentions Orcus watching them. Given the grim reputation of that particular being, this room may not be the best place for a breather.

The second idea would be trusting the voices in Jo's head, which are a result of the highly deadly Orcus dedicated death trap treasure puzzle mind you, and go to the "safe room" they've outlined. This obviously assumes these voices are real, and furthermore can be trusted, neither a fact Maru can be sure of. It should be a group decision, but perhaps an hour or two of rest here wouldn't be so bad. She'll trust Ji and vote for whatever the doctor votes for, bar any new ideas or information.
>>
No. 766520 ID: af6e04

>>766512
Vos votes we keep moving. Ji's lead is as good as any.
>>
No. 766523 ID: 3abd97

I don't think the choice is between rest and trusting the voices. There's the perfectly valid choice of not trusting the voices and taking the other path (assuming we circumvent or deal with the invisible presence in some manner).

Either path, I'd vote to return to the chasm room for now.
>>
No. 766613 ID: cd076d

Eric aggrees with these line ups. He goes on to discuss if the group should rest or press on.

"This room offers a very defensible position. Its got a door, and a section of flooring that can kill. If we wish to lick our wounds here would be the best choice. We could rest on the opposite side of the board, get accross via portal or possibly climing the walls."

Eric sizes up everyone individually, then continues, getting progressively quieter and quieter.

"However, there could be a beast in the fog, and we dont want to be caught at a bad time. We could lead it here and fight it on our own terms...."
He starts to mumble to himself, possibly to lost confidence or a sore jaw.
>>
No. 766616 ID: a107fd

>>766509
>Yisheng Ji will look over them to the best of his currently-somewhat-addled ability
>rolled 5, 6, 5 = 16
He concludes that Hore has too many kidneys, that Maru's sprained ankle will need to be firmly punished before it becomes self-aware and embraces the Ysbelite Fox Heresy, and that he'd very much like to lay down and take a nap.

>>766523
>>766496
>>766520
>>766439
Alright, one more question before setting out: who's got light sources? Even a meat-shield can hold a lantern, and hedge witches can create various magical equivalents, but should beware the doom that came to Sergeant Nick.
>>
No. 766624 ID: 094652

Move. Move before they find us and find a way to ambush us all at once, never giving us a single chance to attack. Check the path for traps, check the walls, the floor, the ceiling, check your inventory, and GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, HORE.

Hore takes a deep breath. She'd like to @#$% someone to relieve stress. She wonders why even the staunchest of perverts refuse to lead her into a dark alley for a quick rape. Seriously, she's got big honking DDs and she keeps her dick in baggy pants, why does everyone stay ten feet away from her, even when it means staying within five feet of that fat orc who swings a giant axe while singing "The drunken drake who ate my trouser snake"?

Boy, that was a weird weekend. Hore and 'Porky' split the dead bystanders' corpses and @#$%ed them raw before the guards even heard about the accident. Hore isn't sure what he's doing these days.

Actually, people stay away from the girl who can shoot plasma beams out of her hands. Accidentally. While aroused. Word travels fast when the rumormongers don't know what that green, armor piercing light show of gore-tastic decapitation is and want to make rumors about what it could be.
>>
No. 766650 ID: 77f1b6

>>766616
who's got light sources

Maru's got a lantern that she'll pass off to Eric for the time being in case she has to get her hands bloody

>taking the other path
That's good and all, but Maru suggests that path is less likely to get them somewhere they can rest, simply by virtue of not being the easily defendable chess room, or a room vetted as safe if we trusts the voices. We don't have to rest, but take a look at the rest of the group Davina- we're definitely not at peak performance right now. Maru says she's fine pressing on herself, but she's not so sure about Hore and Ji currently- who knows what actually happened to him on that chess board? Just a thought that an hour or two of down time might do some good for those of us who are less well off
>>
No. 766662 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 1, 4, 4 = 9

>>766510
Though for future reference Vos is more than capable of regrowing any lost or missing genitals.

>>766616
Vos has a lantern.

>>766624
Lower ambition dictates Vos would be willing to have sex with the hybrid murdergnoll, but he's also terrified of her.

Vos turns his attention to the die still resting on its corner on the pedestal. He sets off across the chess board, trusting blindly in Tittivila's sudden provided inspiration, going along the small 6" trim space between squares A8 and B8. He carefully plants one foot in front of the other, making sure not to accidentally step on a square.
>>
No. 766673 ID: 3abd97

>who's got light sources
Maru, Vos and Hore all have lanterns. As a hedge witch, Hore could also create light another way. (Although considering flavor, that probably means trying to hold a ball of plasma on the end of her blaster without firing. Which probably has a even more room to go wrong than Marijke's gum-fire if she rolls poorly).

In the skinny marching order this spaces lights around the middle (which is probably fine, since no one can see more than a foot or two in the mist anyways) but it the compact marching order that puts all light in the second (living) row. We might want to pass one to one of the lead corpses?

>Lower ambition dictates Vos would be willing to have sex with the hybrid murdergnoll, but he's also terrified of her.
I'm gonna say in spite of lower ambition, half-crazed dog things with extra organs lie safely outside Davina's preferences. And even if that weren't true, humping a zombie would have been a deal-breaker.

>>766662
Concern and alarm flicker across (and through) Davina's expression as she witnesses Vos walk out onto the trapped board.
>>
No. 766681 ID: a107fd

>>766662
>He sets off across the chess board, trusting blindly in Tittivila's sudden provided inspiration, going along the small 6" trim space between squares A8 and B8. He carefully plants one foot in front of the other, making sure not to accidentally step on a square.
>rolled 1, 4, 4 = 9

Vos slowly but surely reaches the far side without incident. Replicating the feat at full combat speeds might be more difficult, but puzzle solution attempts no longer need to worry about intermediate squares between those deduced to be safe. Yisheng Ji, or anyone else with perfect balance, can walk along the borders at speed without even needing a roll, provided the floor isn't slippery and nobody attacks or otherwise severely distracts them mid-traversal.
>capable of regenerating
With exciting new variations every time.

So, assuming Eric passes Maru's lantern to one of the expendable corpses on point, so they won't be in the way of the beam... just after you round the last corner and the straight path to the chasm comes into view, Bob notices something wrong and raises it's fist to silently signal a halt. There's a section of floor and wall with less ground-in grime, no fog, and it bends the light just slightly.

Something unseen grabs Bob, lifts it up near the ceiling where everyone can see (thanks to Vos's light) and starts twisting limbs off with glacial slowness. The lantern Bob was holding gutters and goes out, as if dropped into water.

Davina now has a just-barely-usable line of sight all the way across the chasm, thanks to some rock over there still glowing cherry red from plasma fire. Hore should roll vs. phobia.
>>
No. 766685 ID: eb983d

rolled 6, 4, 4 = 14

HORE IS FIRIN' HUH LAZER!
>>
No. 766686 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 1, 2, 6 = 9

Does this unusual floor section take up the entire hallway? Vos quickly balls up his blanket and tosses it forward.
>>
No. 766687 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 3, 6, 2 = 11

Oh, also checks for weird auras. Don't know if that's a separate roll.
>>
No. 766689 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12

So, this might be the same thing the original party ran from with the goblin patrol back in thread 1.

>"Yeah, an Empty Sweeper. Maybe you heard it seal off the way back? Unstoppable. Kills at a touch. Slow, st least, and up here," he kicks up a splash to indicate the liquid on the floor "we see where it is."

We never saw the sweeper pick anything up before, but none of us got that close, and it would make sense that a death touch doesn't work on the undead? (Hence the methodical dismemberment).

I don't think barricading the chess room door would stop it (can't fully plug the gaps at the top and bottom of the door).

Vos' aura sight might pick up on a weakness we can exploit (not that we can know for sure it's unavailable, just that the goblins didn't know of a way), but otherwise our best bet is probably bypassing it and then getting a move on before it can catch up. Call Bob and the lantern acceptable losses. (Hopefully it's too slow to reach the portal, or too large to fully pass through, before it reaches us. Although if it is like a big slime or gelatinous cube, I'm not sure what happens if the portal closes on it).

>what do
Rolling for attempting to open a portal to bypass the murderous invisible obstruction.
>>
No. 766701 ID: a107fd

>>766685
Default self-control number for phobias is 12, -4 for ongoing severe pain, so that's a failure by six. Rolling some additional dice and looking up the result on the Fright Check table... looks like Hore Wutashi will spend the next fifteen to twenty seconds vomiting. Apart from the obvious effects, that's a further -5 penalty to most actions, and mental concentration is simply impossible.

She also squeezes off a bolt of plasma into the ceiling, to no immediate effect. That's one of the better plausible outcomes at this point, surrounded by allies and with marksmanship down at 'miss the broad side of a barn' levels.

>>766686
Full width and both walls, yes. Whip the blanket out and the far end gets stuck in mid-air at about the same point Bob got grabbed, then the weave starts to separate, fray, and dissolve.

>>766687
Aura sight shows only extremely primitive life, much the same as before, >>766471 but it's incredibly dense and dimly hungry.

>>766689
Davina is now safe on the far ledge, and one person can follow her per second. Who's first?

She could also pop back and open additional tunnels, accelerating the evacuation while increasing the risk of pursuit.
>>
No. 766704 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 6, 2, 2 = 10

>>766701
Guessing I can't get my blanket back without risking life and limb, but if I can just tug it back then I will.

Vos will carefully pull Hore back and try to comfort her while allowing the rest to evacuate first.
>>
No. 766707 ID: 88bdc5

>>766704
I mean, don't know what I'm thinking. Hore should definitely go first unless we want to be swimming in puke.
>>
No. 766713 ID: cd076d

rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12

Forgot to roll

Eric shoots the invisible creature with a bone bolt, he orders his boys to back away from the invisible death mist and to not engage.
>>
No. 766715 ID: eb983d

Hore would REALLY like to @#$% someone to ease the pain. She'll focus on defending herself until they reach a safe room.
>>
No. 766716 ID: d41523

rolled 2, 4, 3 = 9

>>766701
>>766704
Yisheng Ji will take Davina's escape route without complaint, then. He has nothing to contribute to the situation, and is not at all eager to be slaughtered.
>>
No. 766722 ID: a107fd

>>766715
>>766704
>>766707
Hore goes through first, and Vos's blanket now has far too many varieties of digestive juices soaking into it.
>>766716
Yisheng Ji goes second.
>>766713
Eric steps to the right, into the space Ji just vacated, and leans around the portal to deposit a crossbow bolt in the tentatively-identified Empty Sweeper. The projectile glides smoothly to a stop, as if fired into clear water.

Dip and Dodge retreat into the spaces previously occupied by Hore and Davina, and not a moment too soon. The Sweeper advances. Looks like it's moving about a foot and a half per second, so you've got two or three more seconds before it's touching the back of the current portal.
>>
No. 766724 ID: 77f1b6

Maru goes last among the living, but preferably before the rest of the dead
>>
No. 766728 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9

So... we can get 2-3 people out of the current portal, and we still have Vos, Maru, and Eric to evac, plus 5 zombies (Although we're gonna lose some of those, I think).

Davina curses under her breath, then attempts opening a second portal, further back back as lighting / tunnel curvature will allow (delaying how long till it's overrun). Should be obvious, but the second safety-side portal should be spaced some distance away from the exit of escape portal #1, so if the sweeper starts coming through the first one evacuees don't find themselves immediately running into it.

Davina will suggest Eric order any undead who do not evacuate in time to attempt to lure the creature into following them back down the hall and across the chess board, perhaps delaying it turning to pursue us.

She will then step back through portal #2, rather than opening a third.

>>766707
If the sweeper has to stop or slow down to eat / break down organics it overruns, maybe leaving the puddle of vomit will delay it slightly?
>>
No. 766733 ID: a107fd

>>766728
New portal opens just behind the back rank of meat puppets, and it's lower edge is about four feet off the ground. Passing through that way efficiently will require either a jump after a running start (made easier by kicking off the adjacent wall), or some sort of assistance.
>>
No. 766734 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 4, 6 = 11

Rolling for a safe and speedy evac. Won't fight Maru on going last.
>>
No. 766735 ID: af6e04

>>766733
>>766734
Roll is now to help Davina back up into the portal, and then Eric next.
>>
No. 766740 ID: 3abd97

Did my roll and stated action cover returning, or am I still in the back row with the zombies?

(Because if I'm still there, a hard to access mid air portal is trivially solved with another portal).
>>
No. 766751 ID: a107fd

>>766740
>Did my roll and stated action cover returning
Yes. There's a certain amount of tricky simultaneity going on here, though. In the two seconds after opening the first portal, while Hore and Ji were coming through, Davina moved six yards away from the first portal (by the glowing rock), right up to the edge of the ledge, opened a second portal (facing the archway that leads to the perpendicular halls) and stepped through it. Then she fell four feet, and started rattling off tactical advice to Eric about where to send the meat-sheilds. Takes at least a second or two to pronounce a fifty-syllable sentence intelligibly. Once she's done that, Vos is kneeling and cupping his hands to help her step up and back through the second portal.

With Maru and Vos arguing (however briefly) about who gets the honor of being rear guard, and considering how Eric's phobia applies to a situation where someone might be left behind, the aspiring lich presumably followed Yisheng Ji through that first portal, and was out of earshot when Davina began speaking. You see, Davina's portals don't transmit sound very well, due to some sort of boundary effect, like the surface of a body of water.

Dip and Dodge, in turn, followed Eric through the first portal just before it was engulfed, as a reasonable extrapolation of their standing orders. Vos boosts Davina, Maru boosts Vos, Davina and Vos turn around to hoist Maru by the arms, that just leaves the two lieutenants and Delilah.
>>
No. 766771 ID: af6e04

>>766751
Vos sees no reason to help the puppets, if the portal even stays open long enough for him to try.
>>
No. 766780 ID: 750f88

rolled 3, 4, 6 = 13

Keep forgetting to roll. Sorry guys.

Eric looks back at his lieutenants/Delilah with regret.

"Don't let the creature get close to you! My two Lieutenants, get through the second portal over to me. That is an order!"

Eric issues some commands, knowing time is of the essence... He then looks over to bob's remains to see if there is anything left.

"Delilah, lead the beast back to the chess room and try to stall it! Dont touch the chess board and dont attack it. Just waste its time long enough for us to get away, then try to return to my side!"
>>
No. 766784 ID: 3abd97

Cool, all living party members alive and undissolved.

>>766780
You'd have to stick your head back through the portal to be heard, but yeah, the zombies should be able to pass one or two of their number up in time?

We should probably getting the heck out of here though, since the blob will have engulfed the first portal by about now, and we have no idea if it can get though.

Which passage are we fleeing down? I favor the wider one, as the fact the sweeper came down it means there will be nothing living in our path for a while, and we can see, and I don't trust Ji's voices.
>>
No. 766788 ID: 77f1b6

>>766784
Maru favors speed over arguing and discussing right now. First idea gets first choice, Mary will let Davina take point while she herself guards the rear, with a commanding
"Ya got it mate, take da reigns and everyone else get ya asses in gear. Eric dere's more dead fings in dis 'ole guaranteed, so get ya bleedin 'ead out dat portal and move it."
>>
No. 766790 ID: a107fd

After that corner, the wider passage climbs about 40' over the course of 60' horizontally, then there's a T-junction. Left or right?
>>
No. 766792 ID: d41523

>>766784
Yisheng Ji favors the narrower one, on the grounds that he'd like to get some rest, and if the monster came down the wider path, it can easily go back up that way and kill us in our sleep.
>>
No. 766796 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 3, 3, 6 = 12

>>766792
If Ji tries to argue or go down the narrow path, Maru will attempt to knock him unconscious with blunt force to the head.
>>
No. 766797 ID: 77f1b6

>>766796
An important caviot to this action is that she intends to carry his unconscious body with her as they go, to ensure he doesn't run off alone and get himself killed or waste so much time stalling and arguing about where to go in the hallway that the creature catches up and does them in. This is an act done with the intent of ensuring everyone makes it out alive; if it works is an entirely different story.
>>
No. 766798 ID: d41523

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

>>766796
Awfully generous of you to surrender your share of any future healing from this source. Roll for reflex save.
>>
No. 766799 ID: 750f88

If he gets K.O.ed then two undead will most likely carry him.
>>
No. 766800 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 6, 5 = 16

Vos will also try to grab/grapple Ji if needed and carry him if he's knocked out. Vos does not trust zombies with the healer's life.
>>
No. 766803 ID: a107fd

>>766798
With total defense, and a retreat, bonus from the innate power and penalty from the curse more less canceling out... that's just barely enough to dodge. Maru's punch grazes Ji's nose as he backs away down the narrow corridor. After those first few steps back, Yisheng Ji discovers something odd:
>>766800
Vos is stumbling after him, groping around as if blind, bumping into the walls and audibly complaining about the impenetrable fog, but looking back toward the archway intersection, Ji can see everything clearly, only obscured by a few faint rust-colored wisps here and there.
>>
No. 766818 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 2 = 10

>>766803
Huh. Well no point in trying to turn back now. Vos will continue and attempt to follow Ji's aura, if he can see it. Not gonna try to grab him if I find him now, just want to meet up.
>>
No. 766825 ID: a107fd

>>766818
Assuming Ji keeps backing away, and/or continues with his previous plan...

The 4' wide hallway is about a hundred feet long, then turns sharply left and continues another thirty feet. Along that entire distance, it's filled with rust-colored fog which has the bizarre property of allowing more than thirty feet of visibility one way, less than three the other way.

At the end, it opens out into a 20' cubic room with a 6' x 15' table surrounded by twelve chairs. There are no other apparent exits. The table is set with the picked-over remains of a feast, most prominently the skeleton of a giant boar. There's a large open barrel of dark green sludge in the opposite corner, apparently collecting a slow drip of water from the ceiling, and a web of rotting timbers 10' up which might once have supported a second floor.

One of Yisheng Ji's head-voices is insistent that he "flip that table turn-ways," apparently the final necessary step before he can attain a safe place to sleep and it can be on it's way, but fails to elaborate further.

Vos's aura sight confirms that the skeletonized boar is not an undead monstrosity. On the contrary, it's still alive, and in considerable distress.
>>
No. 766832 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 1, 5, 1 = 7

Go to bed for a few hours and I discover we've split the party again and chased the healers off. Eesh.

Uh, that brief bout of the party turning on each other happened behind me, and they went in the opposite direction- should I assume I missed that?

Rolling for a spot check I guess. Do I notice anything about the left and right paths on the T intersection, who do I see following me, if anyone? Any sign of the Sweeper (or another one) approaching ahead or behind?

>>766825
Pff. Is the voices' safe space literally baricading a dead end with a wooden (?) table. I don't think that will stop an amorphous organic eater if it comes that way. A stone table might work, although I'm wondering if you need a water tight seal.
>>
No. 766838 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 1, 3 = 6

"I sense life in these remains." Vos makes a quick prayer to Tittivila. Assuming the plate is not too huge to move, he'll set it gently on the ground and then prepare to attempt to flip the table. "Will need your help. Table looks very heavy."
>>
No. 766844 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 1, 3 = 10

ZZZ...
>>
No. 766853 ID: 750f88

Eric followed Davina, along with his small army of 4
>>
No. 766860 ID: d41523

rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13

>>766832
>voices' safe space is literally barricading a dead end with a wooden table
Classic jackass genie moment. I'd have hoped being as specific as I was would prevent this sort of thing, but apparently not.

>>766838
Yisheng Ji will help flip the table, once everything on top of it has been safely moved to the floor, and then prop it up tightly against the entryway.
>>
No. 766866 ID: a107fd

>>766844
You've got to give me something to work with, here. An actual action, or at least a complete sentence somehow related to what's going on in-game.

>>766860
>jackass genie
You asked for the nearest safe place, while inside the Bloodmist Labyrinth. There ain't many to choose from. This room has a supply of food and water, in the form of a rain barrel full of palatable pond scum. That one-way fog combined with an arrow slit in the table gives you plenty of options for posting sentries, and in a narrow hallway like that, a single heroic guard could hold off an army. You could even rearrange the chairs into halfway decent beds.

Once Ji and Vos wrangle the table into position, it turns out that an odd fist-sized lump on the floor is perfectly positioned to brace one of the table-legs. If some outside force were trying to move the barricade aside, they'd need to somehow lift it over the obstruction without the benefit of any good handholds.

>>766832
>Do I notice anything about the left and right paths on the T intersection
Judging by the echoes of grinding and thrashing, the left path leads back to the chasm.
>assume I missed that?
Sound carries well in narrow corridors with flat stone walls. If there was any shouting, or even somebody getting cut off in mid-sentence by a punch, you'd probably overhear even if you'd already run off scouting ahead. Working out the direction a sound came from can be much trickier, but in this case it'd be obvious.

>Any sign of the Sweeper (or another one) approaching ahead or behind?
Nothing ahead. It seems to be held up on that first portal, which is bulging and rippling somewhat, but there's enough debris on that part of the floor from Hore's fight with the meat-puppets that it would be fairly easy to notice if it came all the way through.
>>
No. 766874 ID: 88bdc5

>>766866
After the table is moved into place, Vos sits down on the floor. He takes a long drink from his jug of water and then offers it to Ji. "Why did you run? Do you not trust us?"
>>
No. 766884 ID: b72c34

Maru grunts angrily, and presses onward with Eric and Davina
"Blast it all, I 'ope those two make it to the surface some'ow. F'now doe we betta press on and try not to get ourselves killed. Maybe if dey're lucky dey'll find a way to catch up wit us soon."
>>
No. 766885 ID: d41523

>>766874
Yisheng Ji will politely refuse the offered water, preferring instead a drink of his own wine. "It's not a question of trust. It's a question of priorities. I rather enjoy being alive and functional, and when myself being in such states are assigned a low priority among group decision-making, it is occasionally necessary to take one's fate into one's own hands. We will surely rendezvous with our companions again. I do not expect them to fall victim to a monster as slow as that one, invisibility or otherwise." Almost as an afterthought, he'll add "Hopefully, that monster does not attempt to break in here. I am not certain this impromptu barricade will hold against it." With that, he'll arrange four chairs into a roughly-square shape in a corner of the room away from the entrance and curl up with his blanket to roost.
>>
No. 766898 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 2, 2, 2 = 6

>>766885
Guess Vos will keep watch. Turning off the lantern to save fuel, he'll stare at Ji all night with his big eel eyes and bigger chest eye. Roll to stay awake.
>>
No. 766936 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 3, 4 = 13

Hore is too stressed, scared, hurt, and exhausted to consider any form of modesty whatsoever.

Hore offers sex to any who want it! Roll against her low charisma to see if she can convince the others she isn't that scary. If not, she'll fap herself to sleep.
>>
No. 766943 ID: 3abd97

>You've got to give me something to work with, here. An actual action, or at least a complete sentence somehow related to what's going on in-game.
Assume it was dialog and rolled for delivery?

>>766884
"What was that." Davina demands of Maru. She is understandably upset to discover their successful reuniting of the party and evacuation spoiled by the seemingly sensible (if coarse) voice of cooperation in the group attacking one of their number, undoing the rescue she just executed and somehow getting Vos lost in the process.

Assuming Maru answers honestly:

Grumbling: "You couldn't have just grabbed him and dragged him along? He's as light as a bird. He floats."

Davina will reluctantly agree to continue without their missing comrades and hope for a later reunion. If they're in trouble in that mist, they're beyond her ability to help.

>Judging by the echoes of grinding and thrashing, the left path leads back to the chasm.
To the right, then.

>>766936
"Put that away lest you wish it cut off. And get up, we cannot afford to sit on our heels and allow that creature to catch up with us."
>>
No. 766994 ID: a107fd

>>766898
>>766936
Vos will have no trouble staying awake, thanks to a faint but unscratchable itch inside his brass-bandaged wounds. He overhears Hore howling about her urgent need for certain reproduction-related sacraments. Shout back, inviting her in, or remain silent?

>>766943
>To the right, then.
Passage continues about 40-50 feet, curving gently to the right, then there's another T-junction, but this time you're on the crossbar. Straight on ahead, or turn left toward a musky smell and sound of running water?
>>
No. 767006 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 2, 6, 2 = 10

>>766994
Hahaha absolutely will do. Roll for lung strength.
>>
No. 767044 ID: a107fd

>>767006
Unless someone's willing and able to physically drag Hore Wutashi along, I think that brings the two groups to 3 PCs each. Group A, mobile, has the bardbarian, the necromancer, and the air-tearing fencer; group B, encamped, has the healer, the tumor-paladin, and the lusty DPS.
>>
No. 767059 ID: 24aec8

Maru won't stop Hore from joining them- hopefully she won't have to deal with its fetish and the added muscle will add to the second groups survivabity

"Look mate, do ya really think I'd do somefin like take a swing at the doctor wifout good reason? I was finkin he wanted to peel off and get 'imself killed lickity split like, and not wantin to waste our time arguin and chasin and the like, I figured if I gave 'im a good clout round the backside 'e'd be out cold before he knew what 'it 'im, and we could wake 'im up later after whatever 'appened in Orcus's death trap wore off. He didn't take kindly to me poppin off and split. Bloody rooster musta been a fast one." She pushes on towards the route with the hint of water, signaling to the others that they should move slowly and with caution because water generally tends to bring out things that are thirsty, not all of which will be friendly.
>>
No. 767060 ID: 24aec8

rolled 4, 4, 1 = 9

>>767059
Rolling for stealth
>>
No. 767063 ID: 750f88

rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11

(Except he doesn't do that, because Maru wants to be stealthy and yelling at a huge band of undead to call out is a bad bad decision.)


Eric follows closely behind Davina and Maru, careful not to be left behind.
"I do hope no misfortune comes to them. I have started to grow attached to you all and would feel great remorse if any of you were to join my undead escapade."

Eric looks over his shoulder to his compatriots.
"Follow from a short distance behind, men. Be as quiet as you can, and do not make any sounds as you follow".
Eric does a quick head count to make sure everyone is here, or at least, everyone but Bobby and Delilah...
>>
No. 767064 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 1 = 8

>physically restrain the offensively crude lusty bitch prone to indiscriminate plasma fire from running off.
Dav's good, thanks.

>>767059
>Maru's explanation
>Vos calling out in invitation
*Sigh* "Well at least they appear to be alright."

Davina accepts that their half of the party will be scouting ahead, and will attempt to regroup with the holed up half later.

>She pushes on towards the route with the hint of water, signaling to the others that they should move slowly and with caution
No objections.

Rolling for spot, stealth, etc.

Marching order? (Assuming Maru took the lead, and we're following).

M
Z Z Z
E D
Z Z
>>
No. 767079 ID: af6e04

>reproduction-related sacraments
Why would anybody want to worship another God? Vos will never understand.

>able to physically drag Hore Wutashi
Pff

Vos will perform his duty to Tittivila, ignoring any protests Ji tries to raise.
>>
No. 767103 ID: a107fd

>>767060
>>767063
>>767064
Mobile group moves quietly toward the sound of water. Passage continues relatively straight for a hundred feet or so, then abruptly opens into a massive natural cave, comparable in size to the chasm area but oriented vertically. Blood fog is mostly concentrated near the ceiling.

Immediate area is around a hundred feet square, with three obvious exits. Most prominent feature is a 40' wide scorch mark on the floor, surrounding a half-melted full suit of orc-sized plate armor and several dismembered goblinoid corpses. Looks like there was a battle here relatively recently. Measuring from the center of that mess, with the way you came in at 6 o'clock, there's another 10' wide tunnel at 8 o'clock, the main bulk of the cavern (including a small lake) from 2:00 to 3:30, and a musky-smelling side chamber from 4:30 to 5.

>>767079
Rank these objectives by relative priority, and gimme a roll:
* Hard enough to satisfy her lust
* Steady enough to calm her fears
* Religious indoctrination
* Other social influence - specify (optional)
* Personal gratification
* Bondage and other safety precautions (see where it says "murder" on her character sheet?)

Using algae-water from the barrel to rinse some of the vomit and doom-slime off your blanket before getting started, or other contextually appropriate preparatory actions, might provide bonuses on the roll.
>>
No. 767104 ID: 74621b

rolled 1, 3, 1 = 5

>>767103
How about a wine-boosted roll to stay asleep through all this.
>>
No. 767109 ID: a107fd

>>767104
You attain near-perfect emptiness of mind, and for those 12 hours of sleep, will remain a serene little feathery spheroid no matter what sounds, smells, sprays of fluid, etc. may fill the room.
>>
No. 767111 ID: 094652

rolled 1, 5, 4 = 10

Hore is nervous, she needs to do something to calm her nerves!

...

Hore decides to fap in a corner. She pays attention to her hands, decreasing her stress relief but also lowering the odds of her accidentally burning her dick off. She feels that she can trust the others to protect her but is worried that they cannot protect her from living walls... Hore faps harder...
>>
No. 767122 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 1, 3 = 9

>>767103
Assuming kome reads the last several posts and gets caught up, I will go with the following...

1. Hard enough to satisfy her lust
2. Steady enough to calm her fears
3. Religious indoctrination
4. Personal gratification
5. Bondage and other safety precautions

Vos is nothing if not a selfless lover. He specializes in grappling so should be okay if things get out of hand.

>Using algae-water from the barrel to rinse some of the vomit and doom-slime off your blanket
Will do this. Also will arrange a nice bed from the remaining chairs and lie down on it awaiting Hore's arrival.
>>
No. 767127 ID: a107fd

rolled 79, 96, 26, 31, 73, 22, 1, 49, 32, 62, 37, 61 = 569

>>767111
>>767122
Before you know it, it's been an hour, and you're idly discussing the possibility of going for a third round. Hore is feeling much better, and was joining in on some the sacred chants without even being asked. Vos had an enjoyable enough time himself. However, that's... rather more blood than is supposed to be coming out of an eel-man's butt. Might have been wise to at least scrounge up some sort of lube.

I'm rolling for twelve hours worth of random encounters. Feel free to specify how you're using the remaining eleven. Rest, food preparation and/or consumption, investigating various features of the room, and guard duty would all be reasonable options, I'm sure you can think of others. Since both Hore and Vos brought lanterns but no refills, you've got a bit less than twelve hours of lamplight remaining, so some thought should be put into oil rationing and/or alternative light sources.
>>
No. 767144 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

Okay, first up, let's keep our distance from the water, in case something hides in the depths.

40 ft scortch and the tableau suggests battle with offensive spellcasting rather than a group stumbling across a trap.

Davina will examine the "crime scene". She's no forensics expert, but martial training and an education should help with insight after the fact for combat. What happened here? She'll be careful not to touch anything with her hands (using a blade to turn things over if necessary) in case one of the dead carried a bag of holding or something similarly dangerous. Are any of the dead identifiable as members of our original expedition? Is there anything of practical use or value undestroyed by flame or heat?

I suppose mechanically this is search / spot.
>>
No. 767167 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 6, 2 = 14

>>767127
Knew I was forgetting something important.

>joining in on some the sacred chants without even being asked
Tittivila is pleased.

>blood
Vos is sure his good friend Ji will be more than happy to provide some sort of remedy when he wakes up.

Rest is much needed, and Vos feels safer with Hore around. He would like to take the time to get a closer look at that boar though. Perhaps with Tittivila's blessing he could grow its flesh back. Pieces of the wooden supports could be used for makeshift torches. He'll fill his canteen from the rain barrel and try to eat some of the algae. Probably not very appetizing, but also not the worst thing he's ever eaten.
>>
No. 767187 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 2, 2 = 9

Hore feels much better now~

Now that she can think straight, Hore analyzes the boar's skeletal structure for abnormalities. Since the boar is kept alive by unknown magic / tech and is technically not an undead, Hore proposes that they take the boar, bones and all, as emergency rations as the inside bone marrow is nutritious; her mother taught her that bones produce blood from nutrients. Hore is worried that the bones might be coated or enchanted, but if someone cleans them they should be safe to chew. Besides, the fat from the boar would obviously make a good candle wick, there should be just enough for an hour of candlelight, but the fat would serve greater purpose as calories. Hore doesn't really care that her teammates don't know what calories are.

Hore also spends some time reciting the periodic table while searching for anything that could be useful. Roll to see if she finds anything.
>>
No. 767193 ID: 750f88

Eric shuffles around, uneasy about all the dead bodies. He asks Davina if he should make like a necromancer and Undead-them.
>>
No. 767195 ID: a107fd

>>767144
Armor has some charred bones inside and bears a barely recognizable insignia of the Fire Hawks, a somewhat more reputable "troubleshooting and frontier archaeology" company than your own. Looks like the armored orc and somebody else, agile (judging by the oddly-spaced footprints) and wielding a pair of handaxes (judging by the wounds), ran into a patrol of goblins. Somebody set off a fireball, killing the orc and most of the goblins, then chopped up the remainder and ran off toward that other narrow tunnel.

>valuables
Nothing magical. Armor is basically scrap. The Fire Hawks might reward you somehow for retrieving one of their fallen, if you can find them once you get out. Thorough search of the bodies could turn up a few intact arrows, mediocre knives with grips sized for goblin hands, and maybe some coins. If you're hungry enough or have something unpleasantly clever planned, there's also the goblin bodies themselves. Everything else either got burnt up, or picked over already.

>>767167
>Pieces of the wooden supports could be used for makeshift torches.
Standard torch is a bundle of rushes dipped in tar. The beams are too thick and too damp to ignite directly with flint and steel, difficult to apply directly to a lantern without damaging the lantern, and nobody brought kindling, so let's say another hour to get a little fireplace and fuel supply worked out
>He'll fill his canteen from the rain barrel and try to eat some of the algae. Probably not very appetizing, but also not the worst thing he's ever eaten.
It's like really thin, bland, lukewarm vegetable soup.
>He would like to take the time to get a closer look at that boar though. Perhaps with Tittivila's blessing he could grow its flesh back.
Soon as he touches the boar's skull, that maggoty feeling from before comes unraveled all at once, like the tingle of circulation returning to a no-longer-constricted limb. Hurts, but it's a good kind of hurt. Necessary.

The boar starts to regenerate, a flash-flood of flesh flowing from nose to tail. Leg bones and even ribs slough away, replaced by a random array of misshapen fins amid fine, green-black scales. Each scale curls around into a tiny barbed hook.

Long ago, during the decadence and decline of the Old Empire, Duke Aerim got it in his head that "you are what you eat." Accordingly, he began to dine exclusively on plants and animals characterized by extreme longevity. Bread and beer of amaranth-grain, the flesh of tortoises, olives and pine nuts from gnarled thousand-year trees, jars of honey stolen from tombs that were already ancient even in those days, wine of dragon's-tears, and yet stranger delicacies. Eventually, longevity alone no longer satisfied, and he desired to consume part of a creature that would truly never die. Some hired wizard worked abominable arts of stasis upon a boar, changing it's body into something which could survive any conceivable injury or deprivation, yet remained edible. In this very room, there was a banquet, but Duke Aerim found the taste disagreeable, so that was that. His servants ate the rest, and the empire fell before they got around to cleaning up.

Your goddess thanks you for bringing her a new convert, and providing a channel through which she could break that ten-thousand-year old curse. With it's form changed, the unnatural stasis no longer applies. Now you just need to lay the poor, maddened creature to rest.
>>
No. 767197 ID: a107fd

>>767193
Reanimation wouldn't work. Apart from being burnt to ash or chopped to pieces, they all died before any of your people got there.

>>767187
Hore notices that the rain barrel is slightly warmer than it's surroundings, and the photosynthetic algae are still alive, implying that there's a source of heat and light sunken somewhere down in the opaque green water.
>>
No. 767203 ID: 094652

Hore twitches slightly as the realization that Vos just undid the elder magics of a potentially unlimited food source (given that the boar could have been relocated to the surface and spammed with enough genetic modification to induce regeneration without interfering with the stasis enchantment) sinks in, and to add insult to injury, he anointed it with his goddess' blessing so eating / using what will be left of the damn thing after he puts it out of its misery would get her cursed. Hore is slightly pissed off that Vos did the ethical thing and saved a boar from eons of torture, when he could have brought it back to civilization and saved hundreds of orphans from starving to death. EVERY. @#$%ING. YEAR. Not to mention all the expensive-to-maintain pigs that will be slaughtered for a few meals.

Focus, Hore. The boar would likely have died on this nightmare of a campaign. But given Vos' mutterings about the boar, if this really is a ruined capital of the old empire, and they had this level of magic, this expedition might come out with a profit after all. Hore decides to fish out the nearby miniature artificial sun, as it likely acted as a magic power source for the boar's stasis. Hore calls over to Eric to help her, as her recent bad luck has made her apprehensive about doing anything alone. (Hore will roll for fishing check once someone comes over to assist.)
>>
No. 767206 ID: 88bdc5

>>767195
Vos is honored he could serve his deity and offers a prayer telling her so.

He finishes off the boar as humanely as possible.
>>
No. 767207 ID: 3abd97

So the moral of the story here is if we come across an elvenoid with hand axes, they might be able to fireball us.

>The Fire Hawks might reward you somehow for retrieving one of their fallen
Yeah that's not really going to be feasible. If there were dog-tag equivalents or an emblem or something similar we could carry it out, but we can't afford to drag the orc's remains with us. (If there was something like that though, the Orc's surviving companion likely took it).

>a few intact arrows, mediocre knives with grips sized for goblin hands, and maybe some coins
Dav's not hard enough on coin to scrabble for coppers, and she's already covered in knives.

Eric might be able to use the arrows (even if they're likely inferior to his bone bolts), and maybe the zombies could use the knives? Actually, the fire might have left some burnt-dry bones for his quiver to process.

>He asks Davina if he should make like a necromancer and Undead-them.
>Reanimation wouldn't work. Apart from being burnt to ash or chopped to pieces, they all died before any of your people got there.
Doesn't apply in this case, but in general, Davina would probably favor the tactical utility of disposable pawns over leaving the remains of slain enemies unmolested. (So long as they don't have creepy, bloodless wounds, run of the mill zombies shouldn't trigger off her phobia).

>what do
So the obvious question then: "Do we follow the path the survivor took, or the other?"

If we assume neither the goblins nor Fire Hawks had means to bypass the sweeper as we did, that means they arrived here via the other two passages into this room. So one passage likely leads (eventually) to the dungeon entrance the Fire Hawks used, and one passage likely connects to a goblin settlement. (Too bad that there's no way to know if the elvenoid pressed forward, or retreated).

Probably more likely the Fire Hawk, after losing a companion, would retreat? That's probably the more promising path. How do Eric and Maru feel?

>insane flesh horror boar covered in hooked scales
Well on the plus side, if you kill it, maybe Eric can reanimate it as a zombie pet.

>>767203
To be fair, Hore probably isn't privy to the insight the flesh god granted the flesh paladin. Unless Tittivila opted for the booming voice and glowing lights thing.
>>
No. 767238 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 5, 6, 3 = 14

>>767206
Maru votes they check out the musty side chamber, solely on the property of it being a side chamber with a hopefully smaller and more easily searchable space, before they move on to follow the other path. She does however, leave it open to a vote- provided we can be relatively quick about it. Rolling for a general perception check to keep an eye out for any threats or important sensory cues that could give valuable information
>>
No. 767241 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6

>>767238
Ah, sound logic. If we assume the side chamber is a dead end, it would make sense to check there first.

(If it is a dead end, and we assume they didn't get past the Sweeper, then the potential exit and potential goblin settlement would lie off the same path).

Roll for spot / search / movement / not getting killed by a surprise attack / whatever as we go to check the side chamber then.
>>
No. 767257 ID: a107fd

>>767206
Perhaps I was unclear. The former boar is still somewhat bigger than you, entirely covered in sharp bits, and flailing around trying to eat your face. That mercy kill is neither trivially easy nor safe, so you're gonna need to roll.

>>767207
>if we come across an elvenoid with hand axes, they might be able to fireball us.
Might also have been a single-use item, possibly even set off accidentally. Goblins are reputed to be pyromaniacs.

>Eric might be able to use the arrows (even if they're likely inferior to his bone bolts)
Overall quality is actually somewhat higher, and barbed broadheads do more damage to flesh (at the expense of armor penetration) but they're arrows intended to be fired from a shortbow. Crossbow bolts are shorter, with thicker shafts, and a different sort of stabilizing fins. Using the wrong ammo type wouldn't be quite as disastrously stupid as loading the wrong sort of bullets into a modern gun, but it certainly wouldn't do accuracy any favors. A long, thin arrow would probably buckle when fired from a crossbow, and then you're basically throwing a flimsy bent stick at the target with excessive force.

>>767238
>>767241
Side chamber is sort of an egg shape, about 30' front to back and 40' side to side, with the narrow end on the left. It's piled with shredded dried fungi, shed fur, and other debris in a sort of nest. Smells like a large, lonely, carnivorous mammal with poor personal hygiene spent a lot of time there.

It's not a dead end. Half-buried in the back wall there's a tunnel, about 15 feet wide.
>>
No. 767259 ID: f1bc32

rolled 5, 3, 4 = 12

Hore decides to help Vos kill the boar first. She also decides to take the barrel when they leave the room.

Hore throws her knives at the boar's face, then follows up with a few quick attacks to the boar's limbs with her spear, and chomps into the boar's chest with her axe!
>>
No. 767273 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 4, 4 = 13

Ah yes, should have realized. Vos will bait its charge, and then evade while trying to lunge for the throat with his spear. Gonna laugh if Ji sleeps through this too.
>>
No. 767279 ID: 3d2d5f

>>767257
>Might also have been a single-use item, possibly even set off accidentally. Goblins are reputed to be pyromaniacs
True. It's not unlikely there was an accidental or improper use however things went down, since whichever side set off the explosion suffered friendly fire. Still, I'd rather be wary of a fireball that's not coming than not anticipate one that is.

>arrows vs bolts
Whups, missed a detail there.

>what do
Now that it's clear this isn't a dead end, Davina favors exploring the path the surving Fire Hawk took as more likely to connect to an exit. She'll stick with Maru and Eric if they vote to explore this direction instead, though.
>>
No. 767297 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 1, 3, 4 = 8

>>767279
Maru voices her unease with their current situation

Currently they are down 3 members who may or may not live long enough to find their own way out or even reunite with them. The ooze is most likely still on their tail, but with the way the bloodmist is clinging to the top of the cave, they likely won't be able to spot it should it come through here. So that's definitely not a good thing. They could lay the armor in the entrance to the cavern but that only lets them know it's here, not where it is.

In addition, they're faced with 2 tunnels- one likely leads to a horrible labrythn monster that Maru would normally be all about slaying and looting for treasure, but it's not all that likely it guards an entrance to the surface. Their most likely path towards the surface may have them walking into someone or something which can roast a dozen goblins and a heavily armored mercenary to a charred pile of remains with a single attack. Or they might be walking towards a goblin encampment, which would likely know a way out, but would also likely want to kill them and sacrifice them to Orcus or some such. Slaying beasts and killing goblins is good and all, don't get her wrong, but she doesn't want to rush headlong into a nameless death. If they go down this tunnel in front of them in search of a beast and treasure then when they get out they may find themselves wounded or less equipped to protect themselves from whatever lurks down the other path. They also have no way to signal to the others where they've gone in the case they survive and come looking for them.

She thinks retracing the footsteps of whoever was here is a bad idea, but it might be the only one that leads to the surface provided they can survive getting there. What do Eric and Davina think?

While this discussion goes on Maru wants to place a goblin body in the entrance to the cavern, the path they haven't explored, and the entrance to the side chamber, as markers to see where the ooze might have passed. If the scrap of armor with the insignia of the Fire Hawk isn't too awkward to carry she'll take that as well. She wants to investigate the tunnel in the side room to see if it looks like it was burrowed or otherwise tunneled out by some sort of animal, or if it looks more natural or was carved by tools
>>
No. 767302 ID: 3d2d5f

Davina isn't happy leaving Ji or Vos behind either, but unfortunately, if the sweeper is already between us and our allies, they are beyond our ability to help. The fog filled passage prevents portalling around it. If it has followed them that way, we cannot pass it. If we enter and it follows us, we'll be trapped, only able to flee forward.

The bodies suggest the sweeper didn't come this way recently (assuming the stone and bodies are already cool, they were dead before we encountered it). The evidence of a creature making this area a nest suggests an even longer absence. This might imply the sweeper has a limited territory, or that it's new to this area. If the first is true, that's some comfort to us.

At least we can take comfort in the knowledge Vos was still alive, and we didn't hear Hore die painfully.

Using the bodies as sweeper checks at the doors is a reasonable idea.

We might be able to parley with goblinoids rather than fighting them or being subjected to involuntary religious observance... *shrug* but I will admit my own talents lie more in martial action rather than diplomacy.

Also, if this turns out to be the same goblintown as before, Davina might not even be able to cross that big Orcus ward out front. Nor Eric's boys.
>>
No. 767369 ID: 750f88

Eric looks at his companions while they speak, nodding at certain points.
"I am slightly perturbed at the aspect of running into a goblin settlment or any band of Hawk warriors whilst at the command of an undead army. Additionally, the farther we travel away from our companions, the less likely we are to meet again. I will follow whatever path you choose for me, however. Im not keen on being abandonded solely for loose sentiments of companionship towards those we split from."

Eric looks toward his Undead, then at the fallen corpses.
Alright. Boys, equip thyselves with any functioning armour and weapons, then report back to me so that I may inspect your protection.
Eric looks back at the goblin corpses, wondering if he could mix and match parts of different goblins to make one functioning creature.
>>
No. 767462 ID: a107fd

>>767259
The fish-snake-pig-thing dodges a thrown knife, and strikes to the limbs, ribs, and breastbone strike only dry bones which it is in the process of abandoning, as a hermit crab abandons an outgrown shell.

>>767273
Spear only manages a shallow cut down it's side, while it's hooked tusks snag Vos's pantleg.

Looking the thing over for potential weak points, it clearly bleeds, but has no space where lungs or a digestive tract would fit.

>>767297
>While this discussion goes on Maru wants to place a goblin body in the entrance to the cavern, the path they haven't explored, and the entrance to the side chamber, as markers to see where the ooze might have passed.
With some thread and various bits of scrap it's easy enough to set up some crude noisemaker traps. Anybody walks through incautiously, or picks up the meat, you'll hear a little cascade of slagged platemail and pebbles.

>If the scrap of armor with the insignia of the Fire Hawk isn't too awkward to carry she'll take that as well.
The metal's fairly brittle at this point, so with some help from Eric's meat puppets you manage to remove a roughly palm-sized portion around the insignia.

>She wants to investigate the tunnel in the side room to see if it looks like it was burrowed or otherwise tunneled out by some sort of animal, or if it looks more natural or was carved by tools
Lots of melty-wax-looking geological formations, and the width varies, so it's either natural, or the result of some sort of stone-melting magic that mimics natural erosion. There's plenty of claw marks as well, but somebody digging a tunnel for utilitarian purposes wouldn't waste time and effort making it wider than it needed to be, or if they did, wouldn't leave narrow spots further on that would block an oversized load.
>>
No. 767464 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15

>no space where lungs or a digestive tract would fit.
That sounds like the opposite of a weak point. Unless it simply can't survive very long in this malformed state?

>>767462
Vos will try to untangle himself before he gets ragdolled. Not failing this, he'll move over to the upturned table and try to tip it back down onto its legs to unblock the entrance.
>>
No. 767465 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 3, 2 = 11

Hore is NOT going to die to a crippled pig that has been chained while in mindless suffering for ten thousand years.

Hore begins slicing at the pig in the back with her axe, using her basic biologist skills to find and open up the boar's weak spots, and fires plasma beams through them! Hore yells at Vos about how his ass is now her property for mindlessly resurrecting a walking death trap that's in constant furious agony!
>>
No. 767470 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

"I vote we stall for time until somefin passes through dat entrance. If it's friends we press on and if it's nasty we press on faster. I'd like to explore dis 'ere tunnel, but if you two fink it's too dangerous den maybe you can fink of a better way to pass da time."
Rolling to stay alert.
>>
No. 767516 ID: a107fd

>>767464
>try to untangle himself before he gets ragdolled
>rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15

The fish-pig-thing's hooked scales dig right through clothing and into skin, or at least the parts of Vos's skin that haven't already been transmuted to brass. It's wrapped around him from chest to knees like a constrictor snake, and struggling seems likely to result in further injury.

>opposite of a weak point
Yep. You 'cured' it's total inability to die, but not the immunity to hunger, thirst, and asphyxiation, so finishing it off is probably going to require pulverizing the brain or heart.

>>767465
>using her basic biologist skills to find and open up the boar's weak spots,
Hore saw this thing grow together with her own eyes, and it still makes no anatomical sense. Under the scaly skin, it's got basically nothing but skull, spine, and muscles. Can't figure out where the major veins and arteries are, can't even figure out how it's still moving around with so few vital organs. From a structural standpoint, though, separating the vertebrae from each other would have to do something.
>slicing at the pig in the back with her axe,
Lining up a blade with the notch between vertebrae is surprisingly tricky when the subject refuses to hold still, but Hore nonetheless manages to land a blow which would have paralyzed the pig's hind legs, if it still had any. Follow-through from that swing also has some unpleasant effect on Vos's ribs.
>plasma beams
Vos and the pig-snake-fish-monster are now both on fire.

Yisheng Ji is still soundly asleep in the far corner of the room. Those chairs are the most comfortable thing he's rested on in months, no question. Sky-blue velvet upholstery that feels soft as clouds, structural bits are carved from some dark lustrous tropical hardwood, and either assembled with joinery so masterful that it involved neither nails nor glue, or somehow carved as a single piece. They'd have to be enchanted, somehow, too, to be so unaffected by the ravages of time. Heard of an end table or stool or something, of similar quality, that sold for it's own weight in silver despite the fact that one of the legs was snapped completely off. A matched set like this, barely even scratched? Get 'em to an auction house and there's just no telling. Problem is, furniture can't just be tucked away in a small backpack.
>>
No. 767519 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

>Vos and the pig-snake-fish-monster are now both on fire.
Vos screeches and tries to rip himself loose in a panic. If that's successful and he's still conscious, he'll try to put out the fire.
>>
No. 767525 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 1 = 1

>>767470
Waiting for the Sweeper to catch up seems a poor idea, and if Vos and Hore are engaged the way it sounded like, that may not be anytime soon. (Especially since they're currently fighting a reanimated pig an hour in the future right now, although that's OOC).

Davina still favors following the Fire Hawk's exit rather than exploring the den exit. If Eric isn't willing to break the tie, flip for it?

1 = Dav, 2 = Maru
>>
No. 767567 ID: a107fd

>>767519
With strength born of atavistic desperation, Vos tears himself free of the cursed beast's grip, along with most of his clothes, and degloves considerable portions of his torso and thighs, then sprints over and dives head-first into the algae barrel.

The splash and a rapidly spreading puddle soon extinguish the fire. The beast slithers through discarded clothes to groom itself and chew on Vos's shed skin, but is apparently unable to swallow. It moves as if gagging for a moment, then gives up and simply drools out bloody shreds of connective tissue and subdermal fat while turning it's attention toward Hore.

>>767525
>an hour in the future
Timelines aren't necessarily out of sync, given that the mobile team also spent time marching around, checking for traps, laying new traps of their own, and meticulously examining some fifteen hundred square feet of crime scene.
>>
No. 767572 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14

>>767567
>Upside down in a barrel full of slime
Pfff. Immediately following Vos' relief at no longer being on fire, he will kick his legs to try to tip over the barrel and free himself.
>>
No. 767630 ID: 3abd97

>>767567
Fair enough, though things happening simultaneously also mean they aren't showing up soon.

I still don't really favor standing around doing nothing waiting to see if anyone comes across us.
>>
No. 767653 ID: a107fd

>>767630
Rather than enforced simultaneity or strict accounting for time, I'm mostly going to allow things to happen in the order that they're posted. So, if the mobile group decided to turn around and rush back to the hall of polarized fog, and overcame any complications encountered on the way before Hore's next post, it could be possible for them to intervene in the current battle.

>>767572
Your leverage isn't so great, and the barrel still has three or four hundred pounds of water in it, and you're distracted by an unpleasant stinging sensation in the bare muscle under those three or four square feet of missing skin, so your attempt to knock it over is unsuccessful. In the course of pushing off against the bottom to climb out, your hand encounters something painfully hot.
>>
No. 767663 ID: 750f88

rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7

Are Eric's zombies able to equip themselves with a dagger and miscellaneous armour pieces? He would prefer if they had some protection and the added stabbing ability.
>>
No. 767682 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9

While the boar was distracted, Hore decided to do a death-from-above special by taking the time to climb the walls and attack its back (not the head, those tusks are clearly jagged). Hore LEAPS
>>
No. 767690 ID: a107fd

>>767663
Goblin armor is too small, and the single suit of plate took a lot of damage from that fire. Leather straps and cloth padding are charcoal, rivets are snapped, joints are warped, and the flat parts are brittle. Turning it back into something wearable, let alone protective... well, you'd want to start with at least a journeyman armor-smith and a proper forge, then see where the project goes from there.

The meat puppets can carry and wield knives, but lack instinctive skill at doing so. Dangle keeps trying to hold hers by the sharp end and 'stab' with the hilt. The other three are scarcely better.

>>767682
Half-gnoll drops from the rafters with a ferocious war cry and murderizes the modified boar into teeny little bits, most of which turn out to be delicious. By the end of the second hour in this 20' cubic room, both her arms are covered in blood up past the elbow, hardly any of that blood is her own, her stomach is full, and whichever gland sex goop comes from seems to be empty, so overall the day is looking good.

Of course, Vos still has some fairly nasty injuries, and decided to go swimming in what's basically swamp water, while the first-string medic is still asleep. Planning to 'borrow' some alcohol and brass balm to stop the eelman from dying of sepsis or blood loss? Attempt treatment with other materials, maybe some sort of skin graft from the defeated foe? Leave him to his own devices and/or divinities?
>>
No. 767692 ID: 094652

Hore will ask Vos if his species heals better in or out of water, pull him out if the algae bath isn't healthy, then instruct him to try and figure out what that miniature sun in the barrel is because it could help pasteurize the water, then wake up the medic before Vos is too infected.
>>
No. 767694 ID: 74621b

>>767692
You better not. If you wake Yisheng Ji up, you'll completely waste my near-critical roll, none of his mental debuffs will be cured, and he'll not only still be useless, but grouchy as hell.
>>
No. 767706 ID: 74621b

>>767694
Nevermind, it's fine. What's done is done. I wish you'd have just robbed Yisheng Ji instead of denying him a chance to get his full rest and recover his energy though.
>>
No. 767716 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 6, 1 = 13

>>767692
I guess it's JamesLeng's call on how amphibious Vos is. Either way, as soon as Vos gets pulled out of the barrel he'll cling hard to Hore, shivering pathetically and soaking her fur with blood and slimy water.

He tries to examine the hot trinket he found inside the barrel while Hore goes to wake up Ji.
>>
No. 767717 ID: a107fd

>>767692
>wake up the medic
How, exactly? It can be deduced that ordinary shouting isn't going to work. There's already been a lot of rough sex, a divine revelation, a brawl, and the room increasingly smells like a waterfront abattoir at low tide, but Yisheng Ji's still sleeping like a little angel. Are you going to attempt to directly inflict some painful but non-critical injury? Cover his mouth and nose until the panic of asphyxia sets in? Poke him in the eye? Some other stunt? Or abandon the attempt to wake him up, rather than escalating to such risks, and try something else instead?
>>
No. 767729 ID: a107fd

>>767716
Once it dries off, the 'trinket' (more of a brick, really; it's a rectangular prism bigger than two clenched fists, and weighs about eight pounds) remains as hot as a baked potato fresh out of the oven, and glows so brightly as to be painful to look directly at. The room is lit up like noon on a clear summer day, with sharp-edged shadows behind any obstacles.

>how amphibious Vos is
He can swim just fine, but can't breathe water. If you wanted gills, should've taken that as the mutation. Even for someone with working gills, though, particulates would have been a problem in that situation.
>>
No. 767751 ID: 094652

Hore catches wind of Ji muttering "juzt tk mh stff n' leavv me 'lone...". Hore complies, taking the sewing kit to help suture Vos' wounds.

Hore instructs Vos to use the miniature sun to help cauterize any severe wounds. Hore also considers cleaning and filling her waterskin with swamp water, followed by a quick boil using the miniature sun. Hore wonders if her lantern can hold this artifact.

Hore uses the miniature sun as a campfire to dry her fur. She's really worried that they won't find any clean water anytime soon. She asks Vos what they'll do with the rest of the barrel. Maybe they should put the artifact back in and carry it? On the plus side, if Ji has some magic to carry this tiny heated rock, your usual fears are over. You expect that whatever is following your party will stay ten feet away from the inferno artifact at all times, and you'll see whatever they're planning twenty feet away.
>>
No. 767761 ID: 88bdc5

>Remains as hot as a baked potato fresh out of the oven
So it's too hot to comfortably carry with bare hands but shouldn't set cloth on fire if used for insulation. Vos will experiment with his blanket.

Vos asks Hore to instead retrieve the brass balm from Ji's belongings and describes what the container looks like.
>>
No. 767788 ID: a107fd

>>767751
>cauterize
Not quite hot enough, and Vos's wounds are too extensive for cauterization to be an effective strategy anyway. Should be very helpful for preheating and drying fuel in preparation for starting actual fires, though.
>>767761
>So it's too hot to comfortably carry with bare hands but shouldn't set cloth on fire if used for insulation. Vos will experiment with his blanket.
Yep. With enough layers you can even cover it up to the point that it's not stealth-defeating.

>brass balm
Somebody roll to apply the stuff.
>>
No. 767790 ID: a107fd

>>767470
No random encounters during your first hour of scouting out the caverns by the lake, and no sign of the Empty Sweeper having followed you. How long are you planning to stay?
>>
No. 767791 ID: 88bdc5

rolled 3, 5, 3 = 11

>>767788
Vos will wash his hands with his soap and sanitize the wounds with Ji's alcohol too.
>>
No. 767795 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 3, 5 = 14

>>767790
I personally favor not sticking around. This is a poor defensive position, and we're better off advancing into the unknown at our own pace than driven by a sweeper at our heels. (Plus, we only have so long before Eric has to sleep and we potentially lose control of the zombies. We need to find a location we can lock them out of, or some place we can strand / store them with a portal, before we test that the hard way).

Explore the passage the elvenoid with had axes took?
>>
No. 767821 ID: a107fd

>>767791
Feels like you're doing at least as well with applying the balm efficiently as Ji was, though admittedly that's a pretty low bar. Might have missed a spot on the middle of your own back. Problem is, with all that muscle and gristle transmuted to stiff wiry brass, you're nearly paralyzed now.

>>767795
That hall arcs gently down and to the left for about 150 feet, then there's a 90 degree turn to the left, ten or fifteen more feet of hall, a 60 degree turn back to the right, and straight on for about a hundred feet before coming to yet another T-junction. Left or right? Left seems to be headed upward, while right sounds more like those worm-noises from the chasm.
>>
No. 767838 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 2, 4 = 10

Going upwards seems more promising than crossing the chasm again.
>>
No. 767860 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 6, 4 = 11

>nearly paralyzed
Eel man will sleep now. He'll try to tuck away his magic glow brick and climb into the bed he and Hore shared earlier. Rolling for ability to stand up and make it across the room and also to sleep soundly.
>>
No. 767866 ID: 77f1b6

>>767838
Maru agrees- up is good. She asks Eric to leave a zombie sentry in the cavern, to report back to him and guide the others should they show up, or fill him in on the approach of anything hazardous to our health
>>
No. 767868 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 5, 6, 5, 2, 5 = 29

Hore tells Vos before he goes to bed that she can carry him and Ji out of the room, away from the sweeper, or stand on guard duty.

Option A: Hore makes sure they have the artifact contained and ready to blind the sweeper before she picks them both up and carries them slowly out of the room, in the direction of the other party. Roll to determine if she can do this without waking either of them. Second roll to determine if she triggers anything, if there is anything in that direction.

Option B: Hore is on guard duty, but she pays more attention to chopping up the boar meat as future rations, using the artifact to dry the meat for later. Hore also attempts to use the artifact and the tools at her disposal to purify the remaining swamp water for clean consumption, she's really thirsty and her waterskin still has that red powder. Roll to determine if she can purify the water. Second roll to determine if she can figure out what that red powder is.
>>
No. 767887 ID: af6e04

>>767868
Vos tells Hore he'd rather stay put and offers her some of his water, since he brought extra.
>>
No. 767894 ID: 094652

Hore thanks Vos for the water. Hore takes a few swigs over the course of the rest period, with the intent of minimizing the amount of water her body uses as to not waste it on perspiration or... other things.

Hore analyzes the sun box as she works on butchering the boar's corpse. Whatever bones she cannot chew for sustenance, be they dried or broken, she places near the room entrances along with any useless debris as to prevent enemies from rushing in, making dangerous barricades. She also cuts the meat and places it over the sun box with her spear, cooking some for brunch to eat over the rest period, some for Vos and some for Ji, and the rest she dries out with closer proximity to the sun box for use as rations later.
>>
No. 767895 ID: 3abd97

>>767868
OOC, but a plan that depends on blinding something without visible eyes or other sight organs (or any organs at all) with a bright light isn't one I'd bet on.
>>
No. 767905 ID: a107fd

>>767866
The passage seems to be a spiral, about 150 feet in diameter. After ascending between half and three-quarters of a turn, you pass over a 10' section of hollow-sounding floor, then the spiral ends and the hall continues straight for about forty yards to another stone door on a vertical pivot, same design as the ones in the chess room. Sounds like some humans talking on the far side. What languages do you speak?

>sentry
It should be noted that Lord Grimwald doesn't have any unusual ability to communicate with his servants over long distances.

>>767860
Standing up or sitting back down (with a wall to lean against), maintaining balance, and walking around are still easy enough. Vos's arms and lower legs are relatively unimpaired, and shoulders still have full range of motion even if it's a bit stiff and creaky. Running, though, or anything that requires torso flexibility (most notably wrestling) will be troublesome.

>>767127
Ninety minutes later, after Vos has gotten a brief and mostly unsatisfying nap, he and Hore discover that there's actually a small gap between the upper edge of the 15' long table and the ceiling of the 16' high corridor.

This discovery comes in the form of a pair of undead fetuses, floating along starchild-style (we've all seen the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey, right?) in ten-inch-diameter anima bubbles. One on the right is getting ready to fire some sort of death ray out of it's umbilical cord.
>>
No. 767910 ID: 094652

Oh @#$%, where the hell is Eric when you need him?!

Hore quickly covers the hole with the table (quietly if possible), keeping her arms and head away from the most likely firing spots! She doesn't want to fire her plasma pistol out of fear that her lack of concentration might cause it to backfire, especially when the targets are FETUSES!!! How many kinds of stupid did it take for the old empire's necromancers to GIVE DEATH RAYS TO BABIES?!

Hore whispers to Vos if the negative-ten-thousand-year-old floating death babies actually sensed them and what do they do!
>>
No. 767913 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 4, 3 = 8

>death ray out of it's umbilical cord.
>what do they do!
"KILL THEM!"

Vos will throw his spear at the one on the right and then leap out of bed, grabbing dishes, pewter plates, goblets, steins, whatever looks heaviest and start madly pelting both dead floating babies with them.
>>
No. 767918 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 6, 6 = 18

Hore uses her spear to stab the baby with more death ray charge in the belly! She also tries throwing stuff, like the table and barrel (too bad about the swamp water but it might help), retreating to the sun box where she uses the poisoned contents of her waterskin to cool it down, then grabs it (with a piece of her leather armor as a mitt) and charges into the baby that has less of a death ray charge, shooting her plasma pistol a few times in the baby's direction, smashing the leather cup with the sun box in it to the baby's fragile shell! She pushes and pushes for dear life, using her fists and axe to pummel the death machine into deletion!
>>
No. 767919 ID: 3abd97

>What languages do you speak?
Considering we got two rich bitches and 1 bard in this half of the party, we've probably got better than average language coverage.

Last time this came up ( >>/questdis/99128 >>/questdis/99175 )the choices given were: Humish (Low Draconic), the five elemental languages (fae / spirits), orcish intertribal trade pidgin, and Quenyl (deep earth sign language). Are there other possibilities it would make sense for us to consider? (It might make sense for Eric to have learned some kind of dead/old/arcane language- searching for the secrets of lichdom probably involves investing in pouring over ancient tomes).

I assume a second language or two would be part of a noble brat's education? (So on the 0-3 scale we used before, 3 languages at 2-3 level mastery, and maybe a spattering of 1s for stuff encountered but not formally educated in). If Humish is Low Draconic, studying High Draconic would be like studying latin, which seems like it would be pretty standard for the upper classes (or for anyone expected to operate in the dracocracy's political sphere). And... I feel like Davina should have been expected to take something else in addition to that, but I'm not sure what. Something else her parents would have thought was useful to know in her position? Or something she might have been drawn to / found easier due to the parasite's influence?

>floating ghost fetuses with laser umbilicals
I am laughing my ass off over here.
>>
No. 767920 ID: 094652

>>767918
OH FUCK NO

IN DEEP PAIN, HORE DECIDES THAT NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO WAKE UP JI AND RUN THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!
>>
No. 767921 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 2, 3, 2, 6, 2, 3, 5, 6 = 33

(Rolling to determine if I am cursed)
>>
No. 767942 ID: a107fd

>>767913
The protective bubbles ripple and slowly shrink in response to impacts, but it looks like destroying these things is going to take as much work as chopping down a tree, before accounting for the fact that they dodge and hit back.

>>767918
Hore catches a beam of flesh-withering void essence square in the chest. A flurry of error messages swarms through her peripheral vision, while cherry-red fractal radiator vanes erupt from her forearm. The plasma pistol refuses to fire again until it's focal aperture has been field-stripped, degaussed, and properly recalibrated. It would be... theoretically possible to do all that maintenance with primitive tools. Not with just the stuff already in the room, though, and not before resolving those priority-blue organ failure alerts.

>>767920
>WAKE UP JI
Again I ask, how exactly?
>AND RUN THE FUCK OUT OF HERE
Table's blocking the only exit. Obvious options are heroic exertion to drag it out of the way, or acrobatics to clamber through a one-foot-by-four-foot window that's fifteen feet off the ground, either of which would require a roll, and risk further injury, even in the absence of enemy action.

>>767919
Scholarly research tends to be written in High Draconic, but it'd be unusual for any non-dragon to have fluency in spoken High Draconic above 1, due to a mix of deliberate secrecy and physiological limitations.

The deep-dwelling ghouls have their relatively insular society, complete with it's own language, often described in terms of 'gibbering' or 'meeping.' Passholdt had lucrative trade agreements with them until relatively recently.

Elven language has two spoken dialects (green and white), which are similar enough that it's impossible to achieve full fluency in one without at least minimal comprehension of the other, but only a single written form, consisting of densely-packed ideograms. Elves also have their own system of sign language, mutually incomprehensible with Quenyl hand-jive.

Intertribal trade pidgin is fine for arm's-length deals, but if you want lasting respect from orcs, learn the specific tribal dialect they use among their own family.

Dwarves and harpies are a minority in Passholt, less than 5% of the overall population, but control immense wealth through high positions in banking, heavy industry, and one of the main local religions. Their language is thought to be a distant relative of rocktongue, though any lingering similarities are readily apparent only to the most cunning linguists.
>>
No. 767945 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 2, 1 = 9

>>767942
Did the projectiles transfer any momentum, or did they stop dead on impact with the bubble?

Vos will jump up and grab one of the things, trying to get some sort of grip on the magic bubble.
>>
No. 767949 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

>Lord Grimwald doesn't have any unusual ability to communicate with his servants over long distances.

Maru's suggestion did not rely on this- she was saying the zombie could either lead friends back to their position by physically walking back the path we had walked, or that if it encountered the ooze it could outpace us and re-unite with Eric to tell him, or a similar case for anything else deadly that wouldn't be able to destroy the puppet before it could return to us. No long distance communication, just some walking back and forth.

As for languages, Maru is most likely fluent in the majority of the languages used by the elvanoid races- I would say a 3 in written/spoken for the dialect that would be pertinent to the Orcs she was raised by, a 3 for written/spoken for a human dialect, and probably a 2 for both written and spoken of the green and white eleven tongues- basically she should be able to sing and preform for the contents of most inns & taverns. If there's an old tongue from say, a crumbled empire that would have a lot of poems and songs and epics one could decipher, she might have a 1-2 in the written form, although would have like a 0 in spoken
>>
No. 767951 ID: 77f1b6

>>767949
Sorry, I forgot to add that I was rolling to eavse drop
>>
No. 767957 ID: 3abd97

>>767942
Okay, I'll say Humish / Low Drac 3, High Drac 1 (secrecy and limitations aside, it has to be useful for people in the upper levels of society), Elf written 3 Green-spoken 3 White-spoken 2 hand 1 (assuming wherever Dav was from, elves would have been more politically / economically important than the orcish factions, or a major elemental group), dorf-harpy 2 (definitely too important for a rich kid to overlook), and air elemental 1 (from an earlier interest in seeing if there was any insight or understanding of her own abilities in that direction, which rather quickly didn't pan out).

Where I don't bother to draw a distinction between written and spoken assume snotty tutors didn't either.
>>
No. 767962 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10

Hore flings into a desperate rage, grabbing the sun box with her bare hands and smashing it into the face of the nearest baby!
>>
No. 767974 ID: a107fd

>>767945
With brass-stiffened hips, Vos cannot lift his knees high enough, quickly enough, to perform an effective running jump. He crashes face-first into the underside of the table, then falls flat on his back. Thanks to long training in how to fall correctly, his arms whip back and slap the ground, and he manages to avoid bruising a kidney on that protruding stone doorstop. Quick roll to the side dodges another death ray.

>Did the projectiles transfer any momentum, or did they stop dead on impact with the bubble?
Mostly they bounced off. The bubble either has immense inertial mass, or the mechanism by which it flies is very smoothly controlled, or both.

>>767949
>leave meat puppets behind as message runners
In that case you'd want to leave one at every intersection or other path decision point, so they don't get lost trying to catch up with you. So far you've passed through four such, since the party split, which would be all the meat puppets on hand.

>eavesdropping
At least three people, speaking in White Elven about art restoration currently in progress. "No, not that brush! You'll smudge it." "Doesn't this one represent...?" "Yeah, but the pigment must have faded."

>>767962
Hore's eyes aren't coordinating properly, "seeing double," which a targeting subroutine somehow works out to mean there are three hostile targets, most important one being in the middle. She lobs the hot rock between the two undead fetuses. They shriek like teakettles when the light passes close enough, and dart away. All three continue through the accidental transom and out into the hall.

With the fight apparently over, Hore crumples to the floor, unconscious. She's deathly pale, sweating profusely, and a veritable forest of painfully hot metal barbs continues to sprout from her skin. Not quite dead yet, but uncomfortably close.

Combination of her own magitech cybernetics, shared faith in Vos's patron, and lingering influence from the modified boar can provide the equivalent of TL 6 trauma maintenance, propping up her vital functions. With Vos's full attention devoted to treatment and prayer, one roll per two hours, using Hore's constitution or Vos's esoteric medicine skill, whichever is better. Spontaneous recovery on a critical success, whereas on a failure she resumes dying as previously scheduled, but unless it's a critical failure, there'll be a chance to pull back from the brink. Without Vos's help, it's one roll per 30 minutes, and of course his medical skill doesn't apply.

Even if Hore Wutashi does die, Yisheng Ji could resurrect her with enough magic, but the less he needs to spend on putting her back together, the more is left for everyone else. Until then, she's definitely incapacitated, so Kome should roll up another character.
>>
No. 767975 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 5, 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 3, 2, 6, 6, 3, 2, 1 = 60

You know what? I think the dice rolls are broken for me. Can you PLEASE make higher rolls the success ones and low rolls the failures?!

I'm going to bet that most of these rolls are high. If not, then I lose. Okay. Here goes. Goodbye, everyone...

15d6: Roll 60 or higher to live.
>>
No. 767997 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 5, 4, 1, 3, 6, 6, 6, 4, 5, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4 = 64

>>767974
Well Vos will certainly help. Getting up and rubbing his sore back, he'll rush over and try to make his best to make her comfortable. Vos will pray to Tittivila to keep her new disciple of flesh from withering.

I'm guessing we do need to roll multiple times? Ten hours, one roll for every two.
>>
No. 768001 ID: f1cea9

Name: Maria Agate
Class: Hedge Witch (Specialization: Purifying Light, basically the use of magical light to burn and kill enemies.)
Higher Ambition: The destruction of Great Evil
Lower Ambition: Those she sees as "impure"
Phobia: The taste of Blood
Concealable Mutation: A tongue that can split in half, turning into two fully ambulatory tentacles.
Supernatural Weakness: Magical darkness causes her to suffer symptoms similar to sunburn.
Innate Power: Seeing the sins of others.
Items:
Left Hip: Dried Bread
Neck/Chest:Jade Amulet
Left Shoulder Iron Statuette of Saint Agate, a distant ancestor made a Saint for his singlehanded defeat of a Demon Lord.
Right Hip: Jug of Water
Right Shoulder: Dragon weed
Head: Platemail
Somewhere Uncomfortable: Rope

Maria is a descendant of the Agate line, a series of holy men most known for their unparalleled command of what they identify as the "Purging Light", light powerful enough to burn and even kill those caught in it. She grew up learning the techniques, and when she came of age she set out to do battle with evil. She considers purity very important, though she finds temptations lie stronger than she'd expected...

If there's anything wrong with this, don't hesitate to let me know!
>>
No. 768002 ID: a107fd

>>767975
AnyDice gives less than 15% chance of rolling 60 or more on a fair 15d6, which is at least as unlikely as passing five trauma maintenance rolls. Only 3.21% chance of rolling 60 exactly. So, Hore makes it through the ten hours until Ji wakes up.

>>767997
>>767127
A total of eight scavenging creatures, arrive and linger in the air around Hore's unconscious form. They're creepy but not aggressive. Seem to be intelligent, but uninterested in communication. It takes Vos some time to figure out what's so strange about them: under aura sight they're sharply defined flying insects the size of pigeons, while their physical bodies are spongy vaporous clumps which glow dimly in ever-shifting colors. They feed on fear and pain, but not by inflicting either; simply picking up excess off the ground, the same way ordinary beetles burrow in fallen logs and yet fail to hire lumberjacks.

Yisheng Ji is awake after the best night's sleep he's had in a while. His head is much clearer, only one of the intrusive thought-streams is still present, and relatively subdued at that. Still has that foreboding sense of being cursed with ill fortune, though, and upon looking around he immediately sees that the situation seems to have deteriorated while he was out. Approximately half the wine and brass balm have been expended, and something on the floor just outside the barricade is glowing like daylight. He could safely provide three applications of chi-based healing before another rest, and Hore Wutashi will need at least one of those.
>>
No. 768003 ID: f1cea9

>>768001
Oh fuck, forgot to mention, her species is Human.
>>
No. 768005 ID: af6e04

>less than 15% chance of rolling 60 or more on a fair 15d6
>rolled 6, 5, 2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 3, 2, 6, 6, 3, 2, 1 = 60
>rolled 2, 5, 4, 1, 3, 6, 6, 6, 4, 5, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4 = 64
Haha alrighty.

Vos will recount everything that happened through the night to Ji and ask him to help Hore.
>>
No. 768008 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12

>At least three people, speaking in White Elven about art restoration currently in progress. "No, not that brush! You'll smudge it." "Doesn't this one represent...?" "Yeah, but the pigment must have faded."
Huh. Okay, so sapient people. If we're lucky, they're actually civilized folk we can speak to (archeologists? Historians? Religious types? Not too many who would be maintaining sites down here). If we're unlucky, they're cultists doing something unspeakable to "restore" whatever art is installed here and we might need to defend ourselves.

Let's try pushing the door open and giving greeting in the same language they're speaking? (Short of retreating, I don't see any option but opening it). Roll for diplomacy, spot, reflex versus a trapped door or the people lashing out at us, what have you.

Might want to have the zombies stand back; if we want to avoid provoking unnecessary hostilities with people who may assume they're being attacked by monsters.

>Can you PLEASE make higher rolls the success ones and low rolls the failures?!
Flipping that 4 threads in would really just be confusing for everyone else. (And would lead to tons of bitterness about good rolls turned bad and vice versa).

And hey, don't be too down. You managed to find the trick to driving off the evil laser babies despite a crit failure, a direct hit, and being half dead. And you're just incapacitated, not dead!
>>
No. 768009 ID: a107fd

>>768001
Looks good, apart from the innate power which is too passive. How about going for a bit of the Wonder Woman thing, knots which hold the soul as well as the body? Tie someone to a chair and prevent them from lying, bind a door and ghosts can't walk through it, sufficiently elaborate macrame and some demon can't escape until improbable conditions (of your choosing) are met, that sort of thing. Self-bondage to reinforce self-control, too.

She'll start back in the chessboard room, same as everyone else did. There's a meat puppet on the far side of the board, which promptly announces that it is under orders not to harm her, and bears an important warning from Lord Eric Grimwald, but it can't actually remember what the substance of the warning was.
>>
No. 768013 ID: f1cea9

I'm fine with that Innate Power change! It definitely works. For reference, can the Purging Light count as sort of a "Holy" element, so to speak? Or will it count as Heat/Flame?

Maria is perturbed by both this place, and the creature before her. It has stated it means no harm, but she is not entirely convinced. She frowns at its lack of a significant warning, then chooses to proceed onwards, an outstretched finger becoming engulfed in white flames. What would cause unimaginable pain in others simply warms her body as she advances.

She does not like this place. Who knows what dwells within... creatures of unimaginable horror, traps meant to slay the unwary, bandits or murderers... bodies honed by their cruel arts... confronted with a single, pure maiden...

Maria shudders and tightens the ropes binding down her chest. Her powers and the pain center her, and she resolves to escape as soon as possible. This location is doing odd things to her.
>>
No. 768014 ID: 4201a2

rolled 3, 2 + 2 = 7

>>768002
>>768005
Yisheng Ji is disappointed, but not particularly surprised by these turns of events. He'll first shoo away the little critters if he can, and then start right off with some qi healing for Hore. About two sentences into Vos's lurid descriptions of debauchery, he'll cut him off and instead request relative quiet while he works.
>>
No. 768018 ID: a107fd

>>768008
>try pushing the door open
Doesn't budge. On closer inspection, it's held in place by half a dozen thick vertical iron bars, which can be seen or touched where they cross the inch-wide gaps at the top and bottom.

>>768003
Species isn't actually a required field; relevant traits are covered by mutations and so on. Even backstory and name are optional.
>>
No. 768020 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 2, 2 = 10

>>768008
>In that case you'd want to leave one at every intersection or other path decision point, so they don't get lost trying to catch up with you.

Ah right, they ARE zombies, not homing pidgins. Maru briefly wonders if a zombie homing pidgin would be able to find its way home again, or if being dead would interfere with that. Might make for a good story.

She whispers to Davina and Eric to get back, stay out of sight and listen out while she goes on the approach. She'll signal if she thinks it's clear, or if she needs back up she'll use the phrase "stonework". With that, she approaches the door and raps loudly, saying
"Ay mates, I'm unarmed and comin in- don't mean anyone 'arm, so don't get yaselves in a twist aight?"
>>
No. 768021 ID: 4201a2

rolled 1, 4, 2, 4, 3, 1 = 15

>>768014
Then, any remaining injuries/notable horrid growths/other problems on Hore, he'll attempt to cure/remove/bandage/perform surgery on/etc with mundane medical tools. (First roll.)

Once that's done, he'll turn to Maru and attempt to channel some divine cleansing through her body to hopefully remove, or at least suppress, any infections she may have sustained under the poorly-applied brass balm. (Second roll.)
>>
No. 768022 ID: 4201a2

>>768021
Sorry, Vos I mean. Not Maru.
>>
No. 768026 ID: c834fc

From previous experience with near-death blows to her cyberware, Hore's augmentations will need some time to self-repair without help or resources.

About a week.

Hore really wants to leave this dungeon at the first opportunity.

She's figured out a way to carry the sun box artifact: four knives, wrapped in leather, a little rope, tie it all to the tip of her spear, and she'll have a makeshift heat spear!
>>
No. 768034 ID: a107fd

>>768014
Hore gurgles, gasps, and starts to sit up, color returning to her cheeks. Still weak and feverish, but foxfires lose interest once she's no longer dying and soon float away to explore the ceiling.

>>768013
Yeah, golden light to purge the unclean is fine. That's what specialties are for. Basic energy blast hits a single target out to ten yards. Do you want longer range than that, out to forty yards? A 'shotgun blast' option for multiple targets up close? Or the ability to create certain wards fast enough to be laying out new tactical cover after the shooting has already started?

More immediately, what's your plan for crossing the chessboard?
>>
No. 768036 ID: f1cea9

>>768034
I feel like the range works perfect for weaponized light. Maybe a close range "flashbang" option that inflicts damage, with a chance to blind demons/undead/Very Sinful People in a five foot radius around her?

Also, Maria moves forward three spaces and one to the right. She knows this game, and if she read the lines right she should be able to do this...
>>
No. 768037 ID: f1cea9

>>768036
W/regards to my flashbang idea, come up with whatever range is appropriate if you go with it, I dunno.
>>
No. 768038 ID: a107fd

>>768020
"Unarmed, huh? How about those others with you?"

>>768021
Medical treatment proceeds as well as could be expected. Many small cuts are cleaned and stitched shut.

Hore could have her plasma pistol ready to use again in a matter of hours, maybe minutes, if only she had a big enough spool of copper wire, some quartz, and a few other uncommon things.
>>
No. 768040 ID: a107fd

>>768036
>forward three spaces and one to the right
Starting from where?

>>765441
>Let's call the eight tiles closest to the door 'row 1,' and the eight tiles flush with the left wall 'column A.' A1 is black, A2 and B1 are white, and so on. Rather than flowing evenly, the pervasive red mist hangs in dusky columns over the darker squares, leaving the air over the lighter squares relatively clear.
>>765812
>all the white squares turned red
>>
No. 768041 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 3, 2 = 6

>"Unarmed, huh? How about those others with you?"
I'm assuming this is still Green-elvish, and not humish? Either way, Davina will follow suit choice of language.

"We're less unarmed, thank you. We seek no quarrel with you, nor to disrupt your efforts, merely a path to the surface."

(No one is going to buy travelers surviving down here for very long without being armed, and Davina is somewhat offended by even the implied suggestion she would allow herself to be separated from her ancestral weapon).
>>
No. 768042 ID: f1cea9

>>768040
Forward three spaces from A1, then a right into B3. She also examines the chessboard for any hint of previous passerby.
>>
No. 768043 ID: a107fd

rolled 4, 2, 6, 6, 5 = 23

>>768041
White elvish, not green.

>path to the surface
"We haven't got one." That response seemed a bit abrupt. "To whom do you make prayers and offerings?"

>>768042
Upon entering A1, the entire board turns jet black, and Maria's feeling of impending doom intensifies. Assuming she holds still for 15-20 seconds until the red squares and gold-on-red borders reappear...

Upon entering A2, roll to dodge. On a success, Maria only takes half as much damage from cold as that number I just rolled. Assuming she survives that...

>She also examines the chessboard for any hint of previous passerby.
From A3 she can see some scattered bones and a puddle of half-melted organs centered around C8. Gimme another roll to avoid fleeing in terror. Note that fleeing in terror will probably result in more cold damage when crossing back over A2.
>>
No. 768045 ID: f1cea9

The first three are to avoid cold, the second three are to avoid fleeing.

Assuming Maria doesn't run or die horrifically, she takes a deep breath and considers her next move. She checks how wide the spaces between squares are, and considers carefully navigating them.
>>
No. 768046 ID: f1cea9

rolled 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 = 24

>>768045
FUCK, lemme try again.
>>
No. 768051 ID: a107fd

Maria is now laying on her side on A3, curled up, pondering her mistakes in a slow, disjointed sort of way, and shivering uncontrollably.
>>
No. 768054 ID: 81819e

>>768051
Maria wonders why she came to this place, the decisions that led her here. A sense of adventure? She hadn't needed adventure, she could have stayed close to home and worked there. But how hard did she honestly work? She could have done so much more for her family... so much more...

She shudders in place, waiting for her mind to calm and the warmth to return to her body, the occasional pop of light flickering across her body unbidden.
>>
No. 768055 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

>>768043
"I make my prayers to myself and offerings to the cutest bint I can find. Anyone who gives a damn about who ya worship is pra'ably a cultist or a fanatic- givin our surroundins up to da point I'm assuming... what, priests of Orcus or some shit like that? Look mates I don't care what gets ya off down 'ere in dis blasted fog, but I'm really ready to stop muckin about and I'd fancy yoos can be a wee bit more helpful so it's best for everyone if we all get along innit?"
>>
No. 768058 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12

Dang, too touchy to get through with one good diplo roll.

>"To whom do you make prayers and offerings?"
Um. Too be honest I didn't consider faith at all in char gen. Didn't seem like it would be a significant character motivation. I suppose a noble family would be at least ostensibly observant in some form of worship or another (good optics, curry social favor and/or political favor with a church, and in a settling where gods are real, it can't hurt to pay one of them some respect) but I have no idea which deity would make sense to use for that purpose in this setting.

Who are even the prominent deities in this setting? Off the top of my head, I think we know of Brem Marst, Orcus, Tittivila, and the Old God whose sacred number is four (Garaile's patron), and Calistra?

That speaks for Maru (maybe, if she's actually an active worshiper / practitioner) but none of those guys sound right for Davina or Eric.

Although we might be better off lying and telling them what they want to hear. From the language used, the location, what we can hear and smell from the other side of the door, could we make a reasonable guess who the people on the other side of the door worship? (Limited spot slash lore check, not answering yet).

>>768055
>insults the religious types we're trying to get to open the locked door
>that roll
:x

Weeeeeeell, maybe the good cop / bad cop combo will work?
>>
No. 768060 ID: a107fd

>>768055
>insulting comments on the idea of religion in general and theirs in particular
>rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17
Door remains closed and locked. Somebody says, matter-of-factly, "If you come in here, we'll kill you." Then, they go back to what they were doing before.

>>768054
With Maria having just been incapacitated in near-record time, would you like to roll up a new character and try again? Bring appropriate skills and resources for treatment of hypothermia and you'd have a good chance of eventually playing both at once.
>>
No. 768064 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 3, 1 = 10

>>768060
She turns to Davina and Eric with a shrug
"Oh well, in a crumbling ruin de'icated to Orcus, I doubt we woulda found anyone nice anyways. Davina, can ya see frough the cracks in the doorway well enough ta get to da other side? I bet dey'll have somefin useful to say if we can persuade dem a little 'arder, yanno what I mean?"
She doesn't whisper or say this particularly stealthily in anyway but at this point she's stepped away from the door and is faceing Davina and Eric, talking regularly, so I don't know if they can hear me or not. Basically just not trying to talk particularly loudly or quietly at this point.
>>
No. 768065 ID: 81819e

>>768060
Can that character be her brother? He'll be his own distinct character, if that helps.
>>
No. 768067 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 2, 4 = 7

>Vos's lurid descriptions of debauchery
Heheehee

The eel man is very relieved that Hore is still alive and signifies this with much face nuzzling of both Hore and Ji. He suggests the group prepare to start moving.

>>768051
Is it possible we could have heard Maria's gasp/cry of pain? I'll roll for it cause why not
>>
No. 768071 ID: a107fd

>>768058
>Who are even the prominent deities in this setting?

Somebody with a solid education in comparative theology might explain it in terms of three broad categories, similar to points, lines, and spheres. First, you've got the 'spheres,' the Old Gods. Vast, impersonal, eternal, corresponding neatly to sacred numbers zero through eight. Their bodies are worlds, and more than worlds. To them, the greatest behemoths were as fleas and ticks are to us, and the Titanomachy was of no more significance than a skirmish between anthills over the right to harvest a spilled bag of candy.
At the opposite end of the scale, there are the 'points,' the local gods. This is a range from house-spirits who perform minor chores in exchange for trivial symbolic offerings, up through dryads and naiads and speleids, through "at first it was just another snake cult," through city-gods like Philista (who regularly appears in her burning aspect to make possible Passholt's tungsten-smelting industry), to demon lords like Orcus who are all but omnipotent within their domains. The common thread is, they have bodies and agendas at a comprehensible scale. They can be bribed, threatened, outwitted... not necessarily with ease, but it's at least a valid thing to attempt.
In between, you've got the 'lines.' Alliances, pantheons, philosophies. Living ideas, just a little bit beyond what individual mortals can fully comprehend. The Drakocracy is the main one, Brem Marst's Guild is arguably another. Conspiracies or mystery cults may pursue a yet-unrealized ideal, or seek the favor of a supposed individual who has never been known to hold court or otherwise appear before credible witnesses.

Apart from the Old Gods, I don't have a tidy little list for you to pick from. In and around Passholdt, the most active religious division would be between monolatrist Philistan dwarves and urbanized laborer-orcs, versus more traditionalist Yrthakite orcs who maintain an elaborate calendar of alternate fasting and festivals corresponding to local spirits they'd encounter along nomadic migration routes.
>>
No. 768074 ID: 81819e

Name: Daniel Agate
Class: Hedge Witch (Specialization: Purification, removal of negative status effects and minor healing)
Higher Ambition: To do good
Lower Ambition: Men, men, men. A sufficiently attractive man can easily distract Daniel, and he finds it difficult to resist their advances.
Phobia: Large, feral dogs.
Mutation: Square pupils
Vulnerability: Magical darkness causes an effect similar to sunburn.
Innate Power: A less powerful version of Maria's "flashbang" ability, a short-range burst of light centered around himself that causes mild burns and can occasionally be accidentally triggered by unwanted touches.
Equipment:
Left Shoulder: Brass Balm
Right Shoulder: Brass Balm
Uncomfortable Place: Candles, strapped to his inner thigh and easily mistaken for a concealed erection. The wicks tickle from time to time.
Neck/Chest: Bronze Statuette of Saint Agate
Left Hip: Cloth, Needles, Thread
Right Hip: Knives
Head: Jade Amulet

Maria's younger brother, Daniel was the "black sheep" of his family. Rather than his family's abilities of Purging Light, Daniel was born capable of the art of Purification, being capable of "burning away" curses and illness, along with minor wounds. Combined with his homosexuality, he proved unpopular in his traditional family.

The day he turned of age, his loving sister Maria brought him along as a travelling companion, determined to treat him better than the rest of her family had.
>>
No. 768075 ID: a107fd

>>768067
>Is it possible we could have heard Maria's gasp/cry of pain?
Sure, especially with help from sensitive canid ears. No way to get a directional fix though. If you're going out to investigate, don't need to worry too much about marching order with just the three of you, nor light sources if you're bringing the hot rock, but Hore's phobia insists on composing and implementing something that at least vaguely resembles a good plan for detecting and evading an Empty Sweeper.
>>
No. 768079 ID: a107fd

>>768074
A blanket and some Blackfire Clay would be more useful for treating hypothermia than two more batches of brass balm.

Square pupils? Alright. Any visual oddity to go with that, or purely cosmetic?

For the innate power... he's got an aura, same damage type as his sister's rays but can't be focused in particular directions, just expanded and contracted. At max power he's standing in a golden bonfire which might be visible miles away on a clear night, but it never provides useful illumination outside the actual radius of effect. As a side benefit, so long as the aura is extended beyond his skin (and thus visible) he doesn't have to worry about penalties to balance, climbing, grappling, etc. for slippery surfaces, nor diseases and poisons that work by breath or skin contact. It acts like a forcefield, pushing nasty sludge out of the way. Very handy in a plague environment. Corrosives could still be an issue, or anything ingested, or pressed right into an open wound.
>>
No. 768082 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 5 = 14

>good plan
Vos will drape his blanket over the end of his spear and hold it far out in front of him as the group walks. Seems reasonable to assume a scream would come from the chess room since it's such a dangerous place, so after looking around the chasm a bit he'll lead the group that way. Roll to spot anything dangerous.
>>
No. 768091 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 1, 3 = 5

>"If you come in here, we'll kill you."
Humish: "...truly, Maru? You are willing to blithely, and ineffectively, lie about your weapon, but unwilling to even feign basic respect for the beliefs of others long enough to secure their goodwill? For a bard, you have demonstrated a remarkable talent for driving people apart."

Dav's annoyed. Visibly so. As conveyed by the fact she's blurred and less visible than she would be otherwise, and her clipped tone doesn't come wholly from pronunciation.

>Davina, can ya see frough the cracks in the doorway well enough ta get to da other side? I bet dey'll have somefin useful to say if we can persuade dem a little 'arder, yanno what I mean?
Davina is unwilling to invade a place of worship and attack those within simply because Maru insulted them, or because they happen to worship Orcus. (And even less willing after Maru announced Davina's mode of entry out loud, meaning attempting to peer through the gap may now be met with a blade to the face, and that what would have been an awkward entry to begin with now lacks any element of surprise). It would be one thing if the Orcites (Orcans?) had started it, or if they were deliberately and maliciously blocking our exit, or given some pretext for violence, but all they have done is stated an intent to defend their territory if we break in, which is a right that would be recognized in most civilized parts of the world.

(Surprise surprise, the noble brat with specific ideas about how the world is supposed to work has more of a lawful bent than the bard-zerker).

Also, if there is a exit on this path the surviving Fire Hawk was heading for, it stands to reason it's not through a locked Orcus-shrine. I'm marginally inclined to believe them when they say there's no surface-side exit on their side.

>What do
Making a (doubly) visible effort to calm herself, Davina turns back towards the door.

White Elvish: "I apologize for my companion's insult, and leave your god this meager offering in recompense." At which point Davina will remove several coins from her purse (I assume I'm carrying gold?), place them on the ground, then push / kick them under the gap in the door. "If hospitality is not on the table, could we purchase directions?"
>>
No. 768094 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

>>768079
>Square pupils? Alright. Any visual oddity to go with that, or purely cosmetic?
"Rectangular: Sheep, Goats, Octopuses and Toads have these rectangular shaped pupils. Typically classified as prey, these animals need to have a defense both day and night. But they don't have vertical slits due to their need to survey their surroundings more accurately. The narrower the pupil in relation to the horizon, the greater the accuracy of depth perception is in the peripheral vision of the animal. The perception of depth must be considered with these animals who spend their time evading predators in a rugged terrain."
Just for reference, if anyone cares to use that for references or inspiration

>>768091
>Humish: "...truly, Maru? You are willing to blithely, and ineffectively, lie about your weapon, but unwilling to even feign basic respect for the beliefs of others long enough to secure their goodwill? For a bard, you have demonstrated a remarkable talent for driving people apart."
"Luv if ya fink dis is talented, ya should see da taverns I preform in. If I can't get a bar fight goin before I'm too piss drunk to remember starting it, my name ain't Maru Red."

She will then turn to the door and speak once again, loudly with the intention of speaking to those behind the door
"Ay mates I'm awful sorry, if it helps at all I'm sure princess here would run me frough if we weren't trapped down 'ere, she's probably a lot more agreeable. If coin tickle you, my tits haven't started to sag yet and I'm sure wat wif bein stuck down 'ere and all ya probably get bored of shaggin eachother all the time."

I'm assuming after this there is, at the very least a dirty look from Davina and likely the instance that Maru remove herself from the conversation, at which point she bows, and whispers that she doubted Dav would be willing to go so far as to get her tits out for a couple of musty cultists, much less go the full mile, but that she's just trying to help. Anything to get out of here right?

Assuming she is sent away for her crude and inflammatory remarks she'll sit a ways away from the door and get out of paper to start working on recording some of the details of their "adventure" so far, and jot down any ideas for poems or songs she could preform after her hopeful return to the surface.
>>
No. 768095 ID: c834fc

rolled 2, 5, 5 = 12

Hore, anxious from worry with the serious threat of meeting the killer undead babies' parents - or worse, not meeting them as they snipe her and the others from afar - fills her with dread, but the fact that they have a reliable weapon to murder these death bringers and are walking in previously explored sections keeps her stable enough.

Hore keeps a watchful eye out for any undead, attempting to smell out the scent of Eric on them. She also focuses on protecting Ji and carrying Vos, hoping that they'll find a way back to the surface soon...

Roll to determine if Hore can observe, and observe quietly.
>>
No. 768121 ID: a107fd

>>768091
>(I assume I'm carrying gold?)
Rich, and packed a coin purse, so yes.

>could we purchase directions?
>rolled 1, 1, 3 = 5
"Turn back around, and you'll be on the Outer Spiral. Second hallway on the right leads to a ledge overlooking a huge chasm. Two paths from there besides the way you came in. Middle one leads up to the geodes, which are pretty, but you don't want to go that way. Instead, take the one on the opposite side. When you get to the eight-way room, there's only one hall with no fog. That... might take you where you need to go. I can't say for sure, besides the fact that it's a way out of this labyrinth. There's another way, closer to the Inner Spiral. The two spirals are coaxial, but have no direct connection, so navigating from one to the other is a major pain."

>>768082
>spot anything dangerous
Chasm bridge seems to be clear, and better light makes it a fairly impressive view. There are other ledges, above and below, and one approximately on the same level but off at the far end, more than a hundred feet away from the bridge, which appears to have three separate archways leading to/from it.

>>768095
>Hore keeps a watchful eye out for any undead, attempting to smell out the scent of Eric on them.
There's a meat puppet waiting in the chess room, but it's just standing there, not singing or attacking.

>>768094
>recording some of the details of their "adventure" so far,
>rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16
The resultant map is of poor quality.
>>
No. 768127 ID: 326fa0

rolled 5, 5, 4 = 14

Hore sees Danny Dick, and prompts to talk to him, only for Daniel to point to his little sister. Hore tries to calm Daniel down.

Hore plans to help Maria, then use the sun box and her body to help warm her up. Of course, It's been twelve hours and Hore's womb has filled with pussy juice again, so she thoughtlessly whips her dick out in anticipation of raping Maria in her sleep. Hopefully Danny Dick will have the sense to oblige her instead.

Hore wants her pals to help before she does anything rash, but she decides to ask Danny if he carried any luggage right before finding the chess room. Say... some copper wire? Roll for deep pockets check.
>>
No. 768129 ID: a107fd

>>768127
>It's been twelve hours
Only eleven, actually, with the generous assumption that she didn't do anything sexual to the boar-monster while butchering it.
>and Hore's womb has
...spent ten of those hours in an improvised ICU, at the brink of death? The spirit (of addiction) may be willing, but the flesh is weak. Also, most of the chessboard is in the way, and Davina's not here to provide shortcuts.

Also, Daniel Agate may or may not have any interest in women with penises, but he's definitely terrified of large, feral canids, to which Hore bears some resemblance.
>>
No. 768130 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

>>768121
Vos will attempt to convince Hore to behave herself and instruct her to stay still.

Vos will greet Daniel, trying to look as friendly as an eel man can, his chest eye darting between Daniel and Maria to examine their auras. He'll go ahead and carefully move across the board to Maria's position, not stepping on any squares. Then he'll wave Daniel over, pointing out where he should walk.
>>
No. 768132 ID: 81819e

rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7

Note about the items taken, I'll make that change. Daniel can see slightly better in darkness with his mutation.

Daniel has spent the past few minutes panicking over his sister's condition, trying to figure out how to navigate the board without getting himself killed. When Hore outright prepares to molest his sister the panicking intensifies, but Vos' admonishment calms him and he sighs, navigating the board to enter Maria's square the way he was informed.

He seems wary of Hore, his hand occasionally straying towards his knives, though he doesn't draw them.

"P-please, help her! I told her she shouldn't have gone ahead without me!" He attempts to Purify some of the hypothermia, warming her with the help of magic.

His gaze occasionally strays to Vos even in these troubled times, his cheeks reddening slightly.
>>
No. 768133 ID: 77f1b6

>>768121
>The resultant map is of poor quality.
Wasn't making a map. I assume parchment and quill can be used for more than just making maps right? She's just jotting down the juicy bits but perhaps she's taking some creative liberties and also distracted by how not high she is
>>
No. 768143 ID: 4201a2

rolled 6, 1, 2 = 9

>>768127
>>768132
Yisheng Ji is not particularly eager to cross the chessboard again, but being told that one doesn't have to actually step on the tiles themselves to traverse it will allow him to set out onto it again.

He'll take the sunbox from Hore's hands as she stands there distractedly ogling the fallen human and trying to work out how to procede, and with perfect grace, cross the lines between the tiles to reach Maria, stopping immediately if anything bad suddenly happens to him. Once there, he'll wrap her in his blanket, and attempt to use divine power to actively channel the sunbox's warmth into Maria's body.
>>
No. 768167 ID: a107fd

>>768130
>chest eye darting between Daniel and Maria to examine their auras.
Similar themes of purity, lust, restraint, and fear expressed in slightly different ways.

>He'll go ahead and carefully move across the board to Maria's position, not stepping on any squares.
>rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12
One toe slips over the borderline onto A5. There's a momentary flash of darkness - which Daniel flinches away from like a physical blow, while Maria groans weakly - and Vos finds himself teleported back to the point where he started crossing.
>>768132
>navigating the board [...] the way he was informed.
>rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7
Simple enough, once you know the trick.
>to enter Maria's square
Roll to resist panic.

>He attempts to Purify some of the hypothermia, warming her with the help of magic.
Hypothermia doesn't have much to do with impurities. Body heat from the requisite hug helps at least as much as his actual magic.

>>768143
>with perfect grace, cross the lines between the tiles
Thanks to his innate power, this is a trivial action. It would only require a roll if the surface was slippery, or in motion, or if he was physically struck or forced to dodge during the traversal, and even then a significant bonus would apply.
>Once there, he'll wrap her in his blanket, and attempt to use divine power to actively channel the sunbox's warmth into Maria's body.
>rolled 6, 1, 2 = 9
This will work, but not quickly. Planning to continue treatment in situ right there on A3, or move her off the board in a princess carry?
>>
No. 768170 ID: 4201a2

>>768167
Still wary of the chessboard's profound danger, Yisheng Ji will pick Maria up and carry her off the board for treatment. The side without the rape-gnoll, please.
>>
No. 768171 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12

Okay. Is the "outer" spiral we were on an enclosed passage (2 walls, a ceiling and a floor the whole way around) or was it open- as if we were walking up the inside of a threaded hole?

In the later case, if we have a double helix going on with the two non-intersecting spirals, it should be possible to portal between them by looking across the open cylinder, bypassing what would normally be a confusing transit between the two.

In the former case, it might still be worth search for a crack or something to use a portal-point. Likely around the hollow sounded part of the spiral we walked over?

I think it's worth a little time checking if there's a way we can cheaply access the closer exit before journeying towards the farther.
>>
No. 768174 ID: 34ae55

>>768167

First roll is to resist panic, second roll is to follow Yi.

Daniel seems a bit frustrated his magic didn't really work, but the fact she's being provided with medical attention soothes him... but not enough to fully stave off panic.

Assuming he doesn't completely flip out, he follows Yi carefully, trying not to trip any potential traps.

Maria seems to be recovering slightly from her hypothermia.
>>
No. 768175 ID: 34ae55

rolled 6, 3, 4, 4, 3, 1 = 21

>>768174
Fuck!!!

Rolling for real.
>>
No. 768177 ID: 77f1b6

>>768171
Maru is fully behind whatever portal experiments you wanna do- she'll let you take point on this in case there's anything else diplomatic that comes up on the way considering there's evident of goblins and elvinoids here. Just give her a heads up when it's time to start hitting things
>>
No. 768181 ID: 6261fd

rolled 3, 3, 3 = 9

Hore apologizes to Daniel for her abhorrent conduct, justifying her mental sickness as post-traumatic stress disorder from taking a death ray straight to the heart just half a day ago, and decides to overwatch for any new threats. Roll for spot check.
>>
No. 768182 ID: a107fd

>>768171
The former case. If it was wide open, I would've said so. Inner spiral is approximately fifty feet in diameter, while the outer is three times that, implying a fifty foot separation between them. You're not going to be able to poke a spy-hole through fifty feet of solid stone like it's some cheap paper privacy screen. Could try drilling through that hollow-sounding spot in the floor, though. Anyone bring a pickaxe, or other plausible rock-breaking tool?

>>768170
Yisheng Ji carefully picks up the patient, cradling her in his arms, >>768175 and then Daniel shrieks in terror, jumps off of A3, and grabs onto the doctor's back like a startled cat.

Somehow, perhaps drawing on some kernel of divine strength, Ji manages to put one foot in front of another all the way along the border between A2 and B2, then A1 and B1, then another step out onto clear floor before falling to his knees. Everyone's safe for the moment. Daniel soon calms down enough to take over his sister's hypothermia treatment.

Walking those ten feet, while carrying two other people and all their gear, has left Yisheng Ji feeling roughly as exhausted as if he just ran ten miles.
>>
No. 768183 ID: af6e04

>>768182
Vos sees that Ji seems to have things under control and that Daniel doesn't seem to have hostile intent. He sits down on the far side of the chess board and asks Hore to do the same.
>>
No. 768186 ID: 34ae55

Daniel, while attending to his sister, apologizes for his actions, his nerves apparently having gotten the best of him. He occasionally glances over at Vos and Hore, seeming interested in the eel man and rather afraid of the gnoll.

Maria is still slowly, but surely, recovering.
>>
No. 768197 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 1, 5 = 7

>>768182
Well hey, the directions didn't initially cover the respective radii of the two spirals.

>Anyone bring a pickaxe, or other plausible rock-breaking tool?
I don't think my rapier is suited to piercing stone, seriously expensive plus whatever bade or not. Maybe Eric's bread, if it's stale enough?

I doubt a spectral axe that specifically seeks blood is particularly effective on stone, although it's possible Maru might be able to crack something with resonant harmonics. Not gonna hold my breath on that one, tho.

Unless there's some hidden mechanism or release to find, or someone else has a clever idea, I'm not sure we have a better alternative that heading back down the the T-junction and this new chasm ledge as we were advised.
>>
No. 768200 ID: a107fd

>>768181
Hore doesn't notice any incoming threats during the hour it takes for Ji to catch his breath. Maria regains consciousness, and is lucid enough to recognize her brother's face and voice, but hasn't got much feeling in her limbs. It'll probably be another hour before she can walk safely, two or three before she's in any condition to fight. What's everyone else doing during that time?
>>
No. 768201 ID: e759f0

rolled 5, 2, 2 = 9

Daniel continues his vigil over his sister, letting out a cry of joy when she regains consciousness and hugging her... and whispering something into her ear.

Yi is close enough to hear the words "...don't trust her..." and catch Maria glancing at Hore and scowling, her eyes briefly flashing with white flames.

Daniel attempts to lift his sister, though with his lithe, girlish physique this probably isn't a sure thing...
>>
No. 768202 ID: a107fd

>>768197
So, back down the spiral, past the side passage leading up to the lake, then the next right? That's another sixty feet down the spiral, about a quarter turn. The side passage zigs and zags quite a bit, with some shallow corner or alcove that could provide cover for a sneaky opponent every twenty or thirty feet. Red mist is thin and spread evenly, but cold and clammy enough that Maru starts to feel stiff. Distant echoes of grinding and intermittent thumping get gradually louder until, after two hundred feet or so, you emerge into a different part of that same huge chasm. There are two other archways, as promised, and, judging by the shape of that cliff face on the left, the ledge onto which you originally arrived from the chess room is just barely out of sight.
>>
No. 768219 ID: a107fd

>>768201
>lifting
>girlish physique
You can help her sit up, or maybe stand, but trying to lift her off the ground all by yourself will just get somebody hurt.
>whisper
The acoustics of a roughly elliptical room, your relative positions, state of alertness, and sharp canid ears, ensure that Hore hears whatever Daniel said just as clearly as Maria does.
>>
No. 768220 ID: 6261fd

rolled 5, 1, 4, 1, 2, 2 = 15

Hore tries to explain that (A) she's delirious and insensitive from nuzzling with death and (B) her basic plan was to coerce Daniel into having sex with her by threatening Maria, she figured that Daniel needed some incentive because nobody likes her but she can be really nice when she's not killing things. She wasn't going to go through with the rape! Really! (Today.)

Hore decides to look at her cybernetics, see what's broken.

First roll for diplomacy check (puppy eyes and whimpering), second roll to determine if she can find another way to fix her plasma pistol, she doesn't actually touch it for fear that it will suddenly fire and hit Maria in the pussy.
>>
No. 768228 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 6, 1 = 8

>>768202
How are the three arches arranged? "Middle" is supposed to lead to the geodes, so presumably we've got three doors on the same wall, and we came in at the far end of the line?

Roll spot check before going anywhere else. Anything of note on this ledge, is anything down the chasm by the bridge area visible, any apparent differences between the archways?

>>768220
>her basic plan was to coerce Daniel into having sex with her by threatening Maria [with rape]
That's reprehensible and you're practically asking for someone to take a swing at you, or worse.
>>
No. 768238 ID: 6261fd

>>768228
Hore is not a good person, and Charisma is her first dump stat.
>>
No. 768240 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9

>>768228
>a spectral axe that specifically seeks blood

Just to be clear the intention was for the Ax to be blood powered not blood seeking. It's a case of needing to have blood touching her skin in order to summon and sustain it's existence. We haven't decided on a technical length of time for the ax to persist for one hit point of blood, but assuming she has 8-12, and is down at least 2-3, she doubts she could "keep it up long enough", as she so purposefully phrases it, to make any real headway even if it was an effective tool for digging through solid stone. She doubts the bread would do much good either.

In an effort to ward off the cold, Maru will wrap her blanket around herself and try to do some exercise while Davina plans their route, hoping physical exertion will generate some heat and help keep her from getting to stiff.
>>
No. 768243 ID: 3b108e

I'd like to join, let me know what you think of my character.

Name: Djan Seriv
Race: Elf (Orc)
Class: Soldier
Specialization: Slinger
Higher Ambition: Secure a quiet, peaceful life for as many people as he reasonably can
Lower Ambition: Avoid the death penalty for his desertion
Phobia: Being helpless, especially if it results in coercion or prolonged physical pain.
Mutation: Mostly vestigal second set of jaws in throat
Supernatural Vulnerability: Prolonged exposure to gold slowly saps his strength over hours or days, effectively acting like an increasingly severe case of anemia. Generally has to be on his person or in something he swallowed, worsens with increasing amounts.
Innate Power: Ability to make metal about as flexible as an equivalent thickness of vulcanized rubber upon bodily contact. For example, can slowly tear iron with considerable effort if thinner than half an inch or so.

Inventory:
Left hip - Lead bullets & sling
Right hip - manacles
Left shoulder - Spear
Right shoulder - Wooden shield
Chest/neck - Jade amulet shaped like a clenched fist
Top of head - Dried meat in a small basket
Somewhere uncomfortable - Plate armor

Djan Seriv had the fortune to be born in a relatively quiet, rural region, so even if he was born fairly ugly for an elf he didn't attract much notice working on his family's farm. He grew strong chasing after sheep, lugging crops, and plowing fields, and when his next stroke of misfortune hit as a war flared up, he was soon drafted into the local lord's army. When he was young and afraid, a fervent anger at the nobility, the enemy, and the world burnt within him, making him an effective soldier. As the years beat him down, he became too weary to sustain his hatred and with little more than what he carried, finally decided to desert his army when the war dragged without any sign of ceasing. He doubts his old allies have much time or energy to spare tracking down one deserter, but just to be sure he's gone all the way to these ancient ruins to shake off pursuers and get something that could let him live a quiet life at last. He doesn't have much and earning his status as a veteran soldier has left him less handsome than ever, but he's tough and determined.
>>
No. 768245 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 3, 5 = 14

>>768220
Vos doesn't need to see auras flare up to tell which direction this is going. He grabs Hore and roughly drags her into the hallway, shutting the door behind the two. In the darkness he speaks without his usual gentle demeanor. "Unless you are in danger, do not move from this spot. Understand?"

Vos lights his lantern and sets it down on the floor in front of Hore, then returns to the chess room to make sure Ji does not get attacked by those he is trying to rescue.
>>
No. 768246 ID: 3b108e

>>768243
To clarify, the plate armor is meant to be concealed. Think of it as an armored cup if that works. And his active power is automatic, which is a bit inconvenient if he really needs some metal to stay rigid, but it's helpful for protecting him a bit from cuts and punctures. It doesn't actually reduce the momentum, so he'd still get bruised by any hits, and it'd do nothing much to stuff like maces.
>>
No. 768249 ID: 77f1b6

>>768246
>his active power is automatic

I was under the assumption that in order to qualify as an "innate power" it had to be something you could use, as opposed to an involuntary trait. Might be wrong on that, but I'm sure JamesLeng will be along soon enough to confirm or deny. Since you're joining I'm assuming you like what you see so far- at the top of the disqu thread there's a link to our DM's patreon. I would suggest checking out the goals and rewards and chipping in what you can.
>>
No. 768252 ID: a107fd

>>768220
Let's go back to just one roll of 3d6 per post, please. Less confusing that way.

>another way to fix her plasma pistol
>rolled 1, 2, 2 = 5
Aperture control involves a lot of superconductors. Overheating led to a quench, some sort of emergency system kicked in to keep it from completely exploding. Repairs require a steady, externally imposed magnetic field for calibration purposes. Stronger the field is, easier it'll be for all those nanowhatevers to see what they're doing. Main plan was wrapping the whole thing in a coil of lacquered copper wire, then running a current through it with zinc and vinegar, but a lodestone would also work, or... there's probably dozens of ways to produce a magnetic field with local magic.

>>768228
If you were standing in the middle archway, looking out at the chasm, the arch you came in through would be fifteen feet to your right, and the third one fifteen feet to your left.

The archways are indistinguishable apart from some dwarven graffiti carved into the rock at about knee height. Path you came in through is marked with a single symbol representing a coil spring, middle path says "air" and then either "important workshop in active use" or "spirit which lacks personal ambition" (the carving is clear enough, just has multiple meanings), and finally a phonetic approximation of fingernails on a chalkboard. The third arch, which you've been told leads to an exit, has two symbols: one which represents a flooded or otherwise poorly-managed open-pit mine, followed by one which refers to cannibalism - very specifically unnecessary and depraved cannibalism, distinct from desperate measures while stranded in a hostile environment without supplies.

Quick search around the ledge turns up an iron nail, thumb-thick and 8" long, tied to about four feet of cheap rope which is frayed on the loose end, moldy, and nibbled by rats besides.
>>
No. 768261 ID: 6261fd

rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6

Hore sings a song from her tribe, loud enough for the party to hear but quiet enough to prevent the noise from luring in enemies. Hopefully it will calm her nerves, make her more focused.
>>
No. 768266 ID: a107fd

>>768243
Lower ambition is too passive. How about this: he's inordinately fascinated with beehives, termite mounds, traditional elven living-wood architecture, and other "organic" structures, and has recurring dreams of wandering in a vast city, constructed entirely out of his own (somehow resinous) bodily fluids, where there are no slaves and no masters, where no one dies and no one lives, because all the people speak with a single voice.

Similarly, that phobia is sort of generic. Being tied up and tortured is a perfectly rational thing to dislike. How about some specific insignia, or common characteristic of the sort of people who'd be hunting down deserters?

Vulnerability is good, but should be something that could become relevant at combat speeds. So, let's say aversion and nausea when gold is present in sufficient quantity to smell (which has the side benefit that he's supernaturally able to "smell" gold at all, which shouldn't be physically possible given it's extremely low room-temperature vapor pressure and lack of chemical reactivity), then painful blisters and eventual bleeding sores from skin contact.

>>768249
>I was under the assumption that in order to qualify as an "innate power" it had to be something you could use, as opposed to an involuntary trait.
This is correct. I like the idea of the rubberized-metal power, it's really interesting, but... also runs into some serious problems with the physics engine. I mean, say somebody tries to stab you with a knife. What happens? Suddenly it's a rubber knife?

Something more like Bei Fong-style metalbending would be much easier to adjudicate. Anything a smith could do with proper tools, you can do with your bare hands, usually faster and easier since you avoid the inefficiency of swinging a hammer around. Making useful items requires a roll against the relevant craft skill, since you still need to understand what you're trying to do. It's easy to temporarily rubberize, say, some iron bars you want to slip between and then leave seemingly undisturbed, but permanently reshaping stuff requires energy, which has to come from either your own body (fatigue), or oxidation of the item you're shaping. Accordingly, it's harder to work on anything corrosion-resistant, or in an oxygen-poor environment, or with an item you want to keep pristine and rust-free, but those problems don't stack. Twisting a sword into rusty scrap is just about the easiest thing in the world... provided you can grab it and concentrate for a second, which the sword's wielder might not cooperate with. Gold, platinum, moonsilver, pure lead (pewter and mundane silver are fine), and maybe a few other rarities or exotic alloys don't respond at all, no matter how hard you push. Along with, of course, anything nonmetallic, or not in contact with your skin. It's possible to reshape a large item far away by extending a thin wire over to connect to it, but anything more than you could plausibly lift with one hand (whether because of total mass or bad leverage) requires going very slowly, and even then is imprecise, like clenching a pool cue between your teeth and trying to write legibly with a half-dead ballpoint pen taped to the opposite end.
>>
No. 768270 ID: a107fd

>>768261
You're at one end of a 10' square pipe, which tends to focus echoes, while your nearest allies are on the other side of a stone door. Minimum volume to be clearly audible to them is also, inevitably, enough that
>>768228
Davina hears Hore Wutashi's distinctive singing voice faintly echoing around the chasm.
>>
No. 768283 ID: 81819e

Maria and Daniel are both visibly not impressed with Hore's "apology".

Daniel, bless his forgiving heart, explains that he's not interested, but she could have at least asked.

Maria, meanwhile, explains that she's willing to forgive Hore for now... but if she ever touches herself or Daniel, she will probably wind up burning alive.

Maria also explains she's giving the other two the benefit of the doubt and assuming they are not, in fact, rapists.
>>
No. 768287 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 3, 5, 1 = 9

>Davina hears Hore Wutashi's distinctive singing voice faintly echoing around the chasm.

Maru should be doing high knees while they walk within a couple feet of Davina, would she hear anything?
>>
No. 768290 ID: 77f1b6

let me re-phrase that for clarity's sake-

Maru should be walking with Davina, no more than a couple feet away, whilst doing high knees and other exercises to keep warm. Would she also hear Hore singing, or does Davina have an advantage here other than proximity?
>>
No. 768297 ID: 3abd97

>Quick search around the ledge turns up an iron nail, thumb-thick and 8" long, tied to about four feet of cheap rope which is frayed on the loose end, moldy, and nibbled by rats besides.
The nail might be useful for jamming another door, put rope that far gone isn't going to safely hold weight. Trying to imagine if there's a situation we would need a pendulum or plum bob dungeoneering. Might work for a trip wire or improvised alarm trap?

>>768287
>>768290
Unless we're assuming you damaged your hearing with lots of loud tavern rock concerts, it seems safe to assume you'd hear it too. And Eric too, presuming he's still with us.

>Davina hears Hore Wutashi's distinctive singing voice faintly echoing around the chasm.
Sarcastically: "Oh. Good. It managed not to get itself killed running off."

"Although that may change if she continues broadcasting her position in that manner..."

Hore not running facefirst into a pursuing sweeper is encouraging, since that suggests it didn't follow us, or at least didn't follow us very closely. The fact she's noisily attracting attention could work out to be a con or plus- possibly distracts things from us, possibly draws things seeking her right past us. No telling if the others are still with her.

>what do
Well neither of those runes are very encouraging. The first suggests a spirit or workshop that is unpleasant to be around, the second suggests some kind of monster or threat to me (that, or something that affects sanity).

I'm... inclined to hope that the directions we were given are legitimate, and not an attempt to get us killed. I think we should try the far door. How about Maru and Eric?
>>
No. 768300 ID: 3b108e

>>768266
I appreciate the suggestion for the lower ambition, but it doesn't fit the characterization I had in mind. If you want something more active, how about getting revenge on a few soldiers back in the army whose behavior caused him to desert?

By the phobia I meant that he's irrationally afraid of it more than normal people are, but if a change is still necessary, then how about swans, since that's the insignia of the noble who commanded his army?

The gold change works great.

As for the metal thing, yeah, you're right, and I'm happy with the changes you suggested.

Overall, I'm very grateful for the detailed feedback. Thanks for your time!
>>
No. 768301 ID: a629f6

>>768296
Maru thinks we should call out to Hore and get an update on what happened- risking the attention it attracts is worth it in her book to re-connect with whatever remains of the party. She warns though that while grouping up SHOULD be their their primary goal, that just hear Hore's voice doesn't mean they're safe. There's plenty of creatures that can mimic the sounds of others, possession or other mental afflictions that could make Hore dangerous to them, other intelligent races that could be coercing Hore or making a trap or something of that nature.

She votes we find a way to the lower level of the chasm that doesn't involve going through the hallway they last saw the sweeper, and allows travel back to their current location with the same stipulation in place. A portal would be perfect here if Davina could see down to solid ground below them, but given that we can only hear Hore, and that we we didn't see a bridge or ledge or anything like that before when we were on the lower bridge, I doubt it's bright enough or close enough to portal anywhere useful
>>
No. 768307 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 1, 5 = 8

>She votes we find a way to the lower level of the chasm
The lower level with the colossal writhing wyrms?

If you mean getting back to the zombie bridge area, that's laterally down the chasm wall to our left, not vertically down. >>768202

OOC, but with their improved light source, the other half of the party saw ledges at different heights, and what sounds like the platform we're on now, 150' distant >>768121

>Chasm bridge seems to be clear, and better light makes it a fairly impressive view. There are other ledges, above and below, and one approximately on the same level but off at the far end, more than a hundred feet away from the bridge, which appears to have three separate archways leading to/from it.

>I doubt it's bright enough or close enough to portal anywhere useful
For the moment, this is true.
My max range is "a few hundred yards" so 150' between ledges should be possible. The problem is illumination. I need to see the other ledge.

If the other group comes out of the chess room and brings the miniature sun with them, I should be able to open a portal between the two ledges. I'd have to double back quick, tho, since I wouldn't be able to see the arch-ledge well enough from the bridge-ledge to open a new portal back if it closed. Last person through would have to be the light holder, so I can see them if the portal needs renewing.

>what do
Go ahead and use your lungs, Maru. Davina will stand watch for anything that might be attracted by your yelling.
>>
No. 768309 ID: 3abd97

>>768307
Okay I don't know how I misread "more than 100" as "150", but point stands. If they bring the light source out, we can probably regroup.
>>
No. 768324 ID: 716fdd

>>768307
Oops sorry I didn't realize the layout was such. If that's the case, Maru suggests this:

she gets Hores attention, Hore brings out a light, and Davina can portal down with Maru and then portal back up before her portal collapses. We then gather up anyone left, and just have Davina zip back and forth as needed. Eric can hold a light on the far side just in case.

OY HORE. ITS MARU. 'OLD UP A LIGHT SO WE CAN SEE YA AND BRING ANYONE ELSE 'OO MADE IT, WE FINK WE FOUND A WAY OUT. YA NOT POSSESSED OR ANYFIN LIKE DAT ARE YA?
>>
No. 768328 ID: a107fd

>>768300
That's fine. Go with swans for the phobia, they can be fairly vicious under the right circumstances. Let's say Djan Seriv was working with the Agate siblings, hanging back to fiddle with that sliding-wall trap while they scouted ahead, but doesn't know everybody else very well yet.

>>768297
In combination with some sort of hammer, possibly Eric's hardtack, the nail is also a better-than-nothing tool for drilling into rock.

>>768287
Yes. Faint, but audible. Air in the chasm is a comfortable temperature, as it was before.

>>768307
The range limit on portals seems to be entirely a function of how far away she can clearly resolve man-sized objects, rather than anything inherent to the curvature of space. Telescopes don't work so well, but temporary magical enhancements applied more or less directly to her visual acuity have been known to extend the range. Scrying pools and crystals also seem to work, but remain dangerous. It's possible for her to hold a portal open by stepping back and forth through it, if she's still got a blade in hand, or open a chain of portals with each one facing the next, and then make a shortcut back to the start by peering through them like a hall of mirrors.

In this case, with a lantern in her off-hand, Davina can reach the other ledge by creating one portal out to a temporary toehold on the wall, then a second portal to the destination, and finally a third more direct route to make things easy for less acrobatic types.
>>
No. 768329 ID: a107fd

>>768324
A light about as bright as a torch promptly slides into view out of the fog, though it's a bit further to the right than you were expecting.
>>
No. 768333 ID: 3abd97

>>768329
Clarification. Closer to the right with respect to our original orientation walking out of the tunnel onto three-arch ledge, so the light is in the direction of the bridge crossing (to the left), but closer than expected?

Closer to the right, as in we've turned to face down the chasm, in the direction of the bridge, but the light is to our right, instead of dead ahead, which would be consistent with someone being on the far side (chess side) of the chasm to relative to us?

Or to the right as in along the chasm in the opposite direction from the bridge?

(I need to draw a real map just so we can point at it, I think).
>>
No. 768347 ID: 6261fd

Hore decides to call out to the others, nobody died yet, the chess room is nearby, and the Agate twins are pissed off but stable! Before she forgets, Hore warns the other team about the flying death ray drones, saying that she almost died from the blast but fireballs seem to work; they also collected some kind of miniature sun rock and rations for lunch. Hore knocks on the door and asks the her team to help her regroup with team A.
>>
No. 768366 ID: a107fd

>>768333
From the ledge with the three arches, you're looking down the length of the chasm from one end, rather than across it. With your back to the arch you came in through, the bridge should be about 150 feet straight ahead, and the nearest part of the chessboard-room-side ledge should be about 100 feet away along the left wall. Decent visibility with lamplight through the fog is limited to about 50-60 feet, so you can't directly see the bridge, or even the ledge, just a point source of light which is almost over at 1 o'clock, whereas you were expecting it to be at 12. A little bit clockwise, as seen from above, or closer to the right side when facing toward it from your current position. Maybe the chasm is curved? You don't exactly have top-shelf surveyor's tools on hand to examine the geometry of those irregular stone walls.
>>
No. 768371 ID: edbc12

>>768366
So basically if this goes wrong and we're being tricked then Davina could be portaling towards a light point with nothing underneath it
>>
No. 768372 ID: af6e04

>>768371
>>768347
Well now that Hore's knocked on the door, Vos will go out and investigate. When he's informed of the situation he can tell Davina to wait until he's retrieved a better light source, then go back and ask Ji to slide the sun brick across the chess board to him and return to the chasm room with it.
>>
No. 768378 ID: 4201a2

>>768372
>slide the sun brick across the chess board
Yisheng Ji declines to do so, as he's still actively using it to perform treatment. Wait until he is finished, please.
>>
No. 768402 ID: 3abd97

>with a lantern in her off-hand
Do we still have a lantern? The party started with three, then we lost one to the sweeper, but I'm not sure where the other two ended up after we ran for our lives and split up.

>the nearest part of the chessboard-room-side ledge should be about 100 feet away along the left wall
Left?

So the ledge we're standing on is somewhere off the right boundary of the map in >>765635 ?
>>
No. 768406 ID: af6e04

>>768378
Guess Davina will have to wait a couple hours then, unless we can figure out another way to make a light bright enough to allow her to portal down.
>>
No. 768411 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

Hore knows a few things about lenses and light focusing. Maybe she can come up with something? Roll for intelligence check (Hore's intellect is above average).

Hore decides that ripping the lenses out of her arm would be a VERY bad idea so she doesn't do that.
>>
No. 768430 ID: a107fd

>>768402
>So the ledge we're standing on is somewhere off the right boundary of the map in >>765635 ?
Yes.

>lanterns
Wutashi's got grabbed by the Empty Sweeper, then mysteriously reappeared, intact and upright but empty of oil, just outside the narrow hall with the one-way fog. Maru and Vos have been carrying their respective teams' light sources since the split, except when Davina needs it to scout ahead.

Lamp oil supply is getting a bit low. Might want to think about how to get more, or switch over to magical light sources.

>>768411
The focal aperture for a plasma pistol's magnetic bottle is unsuited to manipulating visible light. That would be an entirely different sort of energy weapon.

For field-expedient optics, ice can be sculpted into a decent lens (that's a great trick for starting a fire with sunlight in a cold environment), but the best thing would be some great big sheets of polished metal. Silver, usually, though gold's even better if you can get it. Mirror to redirect a beam, concave curve to focus and concentrate. The amount of gold in one standard coin can be spread across ten square yards or more using nothing but a hammer, a bit of soft leather, and extreme patience. Of course, for that to make an effective portable mirror you'd also need some sort of smooth, durable backing material, in the right shape, to keep the microscopically thin foil from tearing apart in a slight breeze or crumpling under it's own weight.
>>
No. 768488 ID: 3abd97

>Lamp oil supply is getting a bit low. Might want to think about how to get more, or switch over to magical light sources.
Other half of the party has three hedge witches, so improvised magelight should be relatively easy to come by (crit fails notwithstanding). We're less in luck, unless the regenerating zombies can be tapped for something like oil.

>When he's informed of the situation he can tell Davina to wait until he's retrieved a better light source
>Guess Davina will have to wait a couple hours then, unless we can figure out another way to make a light bright enough to allow her to portal down.
Uh. So, sitrep?

Davina, Maru, Eric and most the zombies are currently on the three-arch ledge. Which is to the right of the bridge (for someone oriented from the entrance to the room), and on the opposite side of the chasm.

Hore and Vos are on the Chess side of the chasm, presumably communicating with them.

Ji, Maria, and Daniel are in the chess room, on the starting / one-way door side of the chess board, treating Maria's hypothermia.

One zombie is hanging out on the far / openable door side of the chess board.

Has Djan entered the Chess room yet?

How long is Maria's treatment expected to take?

>the best thing [for making a brighter light source] would be some great big sheets of polished metal
If Djan has showed up, and there's anything metal in the chess room he can get ahold of (the recessed metal bars in the floor by the door?) he could probably manufacture polished metal sheets to amplify our current light sources.
>>
No. 768498 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 3, 5 = 10

>>768488
>It'll probably be another hour before she can walk safely, two or three before she's in any condition to fight.
So I guess we can start moving again within an hour.

Vos will relay all this information to Davina, Maru, and Eric from where he's standing, expressing great joy to see the three alive and well. After things have settled down, he'll sit down with Hore and have a long chat about the behavior Tittivila will expect from her and the church's views on consent. Rolling in case I need to.
>>
No. 768502 ID: a107fd

>>768488
>Has Djan entered the Chess room yet?
At this point I'm waiting on Djan's first in-character action. Note that crossing the board along those borders will be particularly difficult for someone who's physically vulnerable to gold.
>How long is Maria's treatment expected to take?
At this point it's just a matter of resting in a warm environment, or near a heat source, to recover hypothermia-related fatigue. One point per ten minutes, she had 12 FP to start with and lost 23, it's been an hour so far, so in another hour she'll be back above zero (and thus no longer at risk of fainting from the slightest exertion), roughly two more hours after that to be back at full. There's also some actual HP damage, tissue death from frostbite, but she could patch that up with her own healing abilities. The process doesn't strictly require a doctor's attention at this point, and could even continue without the hot rock, if someone's willing to cuddle up inside the blankets to donate their body heat.
>>
No. 768503 ID: 2cb678

>if someone's willing to cuddle up inside the blankets
Vos or Daniel or both?
>>
No. 768505 ID: 4abab6

>>768503
Daniel will gladly help warm up his sister. He looks to Vos and blushes slightly.

"You know... it'd probably be good to have two people warming her up... if you'd be willing to help?"

Whatever traces of Lust there are in Daniel's aura intensify.
>>
No. 768508 ID: a107fd

>>768505
This proposal presents some potential priority conflicts. Optimal arrangement for assisting Maria's recovery is for her to be in the middle, with all the available insulation wrapped around the outside in a cocoon rather than obstructing skin contact, whereas the optimal arrangement for minimizing incest requires Vos to be in the middle, and at least some undergarments to still be in place.
>>
No. 768509 ID: 4201a2

>>768502
>neither the doctor nor the sun brick is needed anymore
Then, before Daniel gets too cozy, Yisheng Ji will bring up the matter of his fee for saving Maria's life, plus the price of the blanket they're all about to wrap themselves up in.
Noting Daniel's sizable supply of Brass Balm, which Yisheng Ji is now somewhat lacking in, he will request half (one slot's worth) of Daniel's Brass Balm. (Or an equivalent value in cash, if Daniel refuses to part with it)
>>
No. 768511 ID: 4abab6
768511

Daniel does not have those anymore! Now he has Blackfire Clay and a blanket! He will, however, be willing to part with the clay!
>>
No. 768514 ID: 4201a2

rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13

>>768511
That's fine. Yisheng Ji will accept the Blackfire Clay. Taking the sun brick with him, he will return to the far side of the chessboard and reunite with his original group over on their ledge, passing the sun brick to Davina for her purposes when he arrives. Though his mobility ability will get him there without difficulty, he will be careful to keep an eye out for any empty sweepers sneaking around.
>>
No. 768515 ID: a107fd

Daniel doesn't have a supply of brass balm.

>>768075
>A blanket and some Blackfire Clay would be more useful for treating hypothermia than two more batches of brass balm.
>>768132
> Note about the items taken, I'll make that change.

Blackfire Clay produces heat for several hours after it's activated by kneading. With five pounds or more, it's possible to assemble the equivalent of a small campfire, hot enough to boil water, but without the stealth issues of light and smoke. One slot is about ten pounds.
>>
No. 768523 ID: a107fd

>>768514
No invisible all-devouring walls, but one of those will o' wisps is hovering near the far end of the bridge. With better light, Davina can clearly see where the actual destination is, and less than a minute later, everyone's safely reunited.

Wielding a close approximation of glorious daylight, it's possible to see at least a hundred feet through the fog, but the bottom of the chasm is apparently further down than that. Looks like slipping off the bridge would only have gotten you a 70-80' drop onto a jagged slope, where you'd be interrupting the mating dance of those scaly worms. They're big enough to swallow elephants whole, with multifaceted mouths that open like blooming flowers. Looks like there's at least one major tunnel leading out at that level.

Looking up, there seems to be another navigable ledge about 40' overhanging the one with the three archways, and two more (with stumps of a fallen bridge that once connected them) close to the opposite end of the chasm. Ledge on the chessboard side of the bridge tapers off to a dead end more or less directly underneath the fallen bridge, so it might be relatively easy to climb up there with some rope. Looks like the chasm as a whole is about 250' from one end to the other.
>>
No. 768527 ID: af6e04

>>768505
>>768508
"Always am glad to help!" Vos happily obliges Daniel and squeezes in with the two siblings.
>>
No. 768528 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 3, 2 = 9

Davina will express relief and happiness discovering Ji and Vos still well (though she'll be a little concerned to see the state of Vos, covered with so much brass).

Assuming she's informed there are people still stuck on the far side of the Chess board, Davina is willing to double back long enough to portal them across before we move on.

Once we have a party: where do people think we should go? Let's actually vote this time instead of splitting in a panic.

I favor returning to the Three Arch ledge and testing it the intelligence I purchased from that cultist slash art restorer about that leading to an exit is correct.

I don't favor exploring the ground level of the chasm with the worms, as once we portal down, we may not be able to get back up (Can't safely open a portal to the ledges when I can only see the underside).

If there's a good reason or consensus to explore one of the other directions, I'll go along with it.

>it might be relatively easy to climb up there with some rope
I think the only rope we have is the terrible stuff my group found, which is neither long nor sturdy enough for the task.

If we really wanted to get someone up there, Ji might be able to walk up smoke from a fire, maybe. Or if Djan has a suitable source of metal to work with, he might be able to make a climbing line that way.
>>
No. 768529 ID: 4abab6
768529

Maria is not entirely fond of Daniel's idea, but this is warmer. Meanwhile, Daniel is blushing deeply and generally visibly enjoying being so close to an attractive eel man.
>>
No. 768530 ID: 3b108e

Djan looks up from the wall he's been tinkering with for the last while, trying to figure out what he's missed while he was absorbed in the inner mechanisms of the trap.
>>
No. 768543 ID: a107fd

>>768527
Vos discovers that Maria is wearing forty yards of 3/8" rope (typically rated for 300lb loads). Removing it from her person would take, at minimum, several minutes, but with sufficient care the process could conceivably be passed off as tickling. Close examination with aura sight also reveals that she's under a recently acquired curse, probably from some mishap with the chessboard, which will persist until somehow actively removed, applying a -4 penalty to all her rolled actions.
>>
No. 768547 ID: 4201a2

rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13

>>768543
>mishap with the chessboard will persist until somehow actively removed
Hey, Yisheng Ji has that too! I didn't think about actively doing something about it. Since he's just resting near Davina at the moment and not needed for anything, Yisheng Ji will sit down to meditate and attempt to purge the curse from his body.
>>
No. 768552 ID: 81819e

>>768547
Upon being informed of the curse, Daniel will shrug, and Purify the curse. Rolling to see if it works.

Vos will probably also notice that the ropes are being worn entirely as a chest binding. A very, very tight chest binding.
>>
No. 768553 ID: 81819e

rolled 4, 5, 2 = 11

>>768552
This is getting embarassing.

Rolling for real.
>>
No. 768556 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7

>I favor returning to the Three Arch ledge and testing it the intelligence I purchased from that cultist slash art restorer about that leading to an exit is correct.
This sounds like the way to go, given that we don't have any leads on any other routes.

>>768543
Vos sees no reason to steal the lady's rope.

>>768547
Vos will offer to pray for Ji and Maria as well so that Tittivila may banish this foul curse that Orcus has placed upon them.

Also have we noticed Djan yet?
>>
No. 768557 ID: a107fd

>>768547
Breaking the curse by brute force would require magic of at least the third circle. None of the PCs currently have anything above the first. If you could make it back to civilization, there are professional curse-breakers, but that costs money and is a big "if" at this point.
Higher-circle effects than would otherwise be possible can be constructed through the combination of exotic ingredients and ritual actions, but normally that kind of thing takes weeks of effort, in a controlled environment, with a lot of specialized supplies.
The specific curse in question manifests as a sense of having wandered off the correct path and lost the mandate of heaven, so it might be counteracted by somehow being spiritually 'found,' realigned with what's written in the stars... but that's unlikely to work while you're still literally, physically stuck in a nightmarish labyrinth underground.
So, your best prospect for a cure prior to escaping the dungeon might be to somehow locate, and secure the cooperation of, a sufficiently initiated priest of Orcus, whether by some distasteful bargain or at swordpoint.
>>
No. 768559 ID: 2cb678

>>768528
>I favor returning to the Three Arch ledg

Maru agrees, lets trust the instructions, just watch out in case the reason the doorway in the room with 8 paths has no fog is because the door is occupied by another sweeper or some such
>>
No. 768560 ID: a107fd

>>768530
The trap's accessible components consist almost entirely of stone or solid-state enchantment, against which Djan's powers are useless. That wall isn't going to move again until some remote mechanism tells it to, or a team of miners tear it down.

Maria was injured by charging heedlessly into some other trap, but survived and is recovering. Daniel secured the assistance of some other adventurers, notably including a doctor (to whom Maria likely owes her survival) and a fencer who can teleport by cutting holes in the air. They've acquired some dubious information about a possible exit, and are currently debating which way to go next.

>>768556
>have we noticed Djan yet?
Yes.
>>
No. 768568 ID: 4201a2

rolled 5, 2, 6 = 13

>>/questdis/106980
Hey, it's worth a shot, and I've got nothing to lose, since I haven't yet accomplished anything worth any exp, and have only managed to get cursed and had my supplies used up, and if Yisheng Ji dies in the starting room, the next character will be right there to take over.

Yisheng Ji will politely request Davina look after his belongings, with the exception of his remaining brass balm, as he thinks he's had a sudden burst of inspiration, and would like to attempt to solve the chessboard puzzle again. He'll walk between the lines back to the starting side of the chessboard, and then step across the tiles in this order, hopping like a knight: G1, F3, G5, E6, D8.

Roll for reflex against deathtraps.
>>
No. 768579 ID: 094652

... Hore begins to whimper as the sound of Ji's pain-filled cries fill the hallway. Hore charges back to the chess room, yelling at the others to hurry up. Hore stops at the door, knocking and asking Daniel and Maria if the situation is bad enough that they need her in the same room as them. And that they should speak truthfully, the others don't deserve a deathtrap javelin in the face.
>>
No. 768624 ID: a107fd

>>768568
When you step onto G1, there's a momentary burst of magical 'white noise' out to a seven yard radius, all the red squares start turning black, the black squares start turning red, and the columns of mist shift accordingly. Looks like the process is going to be done in 6-8 seconds. Hold still until it finishes? Hurry up and complete the planned movement before then? Something else?
>>
No. 768634 ID: 4abab6

>>768579
Maria sighs, and says she supposes Hore can re-enter. However, if the gnoll touches herself or, more importantly, Daniel without permission it'll end poorly.

Daniel nods in agreement, then goes back to letting his Lower Ambition completely destroy his concentration.
>>
No. 768636 ID: 4201a2

rolled 6, 6, 1 = 13

>>768624
I have to get the timing right? What kind of chess puzzle is this? Yisheng Ji will just keep going, and try to complete the entire planned movement before the effects stop. Another roll to stay focused and evade deathtraps, despite everything else going on.
>>
No. 768637 ID: 3b108e

>>768634
Djan approaches the others and turns to Maria.

"Seems like I've missed out on some drama. What's been going on?"
>>
No. 768639 ID: 4abab6

>>768637
Maria scowls. "This entire dungeon wants to kill us, and my brother and I have already been threatened with rape. I'd say I'm shocked, but the only way this place could be more stereotypical is if Orcus Himself arrived wearing a white bedsheet over his head and making ghost noises."

Daniel nods. "It's... it's disconcerting. But look! There are others here we can make friends with!" He says, tilting his head to Vos and then gesturing to the others in the room.

Maria frowns at Vos. Seems she's noticed Daniel's interest in the eel-man.
>>
No. 768645 ID: a107fd

>>768636
Ji bounces from G1, to F3, to G5, to E6, to D8. Nothing else happens. A1 remains red, B1 and A2 remain black, and so on in the usual alternating pattern.

>What kind of chess puzzle is this?
An unfair one, built, maintained, observed from beyond minimum safe distance, and regarded with cruel levity, by a society of demon-worshippers.

>>768634
>Daniel nods in agreement,
To communicate with Hore, who's on the far side of a closed door at the moment? While he is, himself, hiding under a blanket? Gestural communication tends to work better with line-of-sight.

Is Djan doing any metalcraft (mirrors, for example, or magnetized needles for compasses, or that coil of copper wire Hore could use to repair her plasma pistol), or anyone working on anything that could plausibly take more than ten minutes? I'd like to move along to the next bit of exploration and/or hourly random encounter roll.
>>
No. 768647 ID: 3b108e

>>768639
"Well, damn. Thought I'd left that shit behind. Anyone had any luck with the traps and puzzles?"
>>
No. 768648 ID: 4abab6

>>768645
Daniel didn't nod for Hore, he nodded for his sister. To show he was cool with what she was saying. Sorry I didn't get that across well.
>>
No. 768650 ID: 3b108e

>>768645
Djan's willing to produce mirrors, magnetized needles, and coils if someone asks him, and assuming someone mentions a need for those he'll busy himself doing so.
>>
No. 768654 ID: 3abd97

Davina finds herself handed a bundle of Ji's belongings which she then struggles to prevent literally slipping through her fingers when she sees him walk back out onto the thrice-damned game board that has caused so much trouble.

She'll be considerably relieved and stop looking so much like a faulty hologram when nothing untoward actually happens.

>I'd like to move along to the next bit of exploration and/or hourly random encounter roll.
No objection here. Assuming no one else is interested in tempting fate or entertaining Orcus, Dav will take the first opportunity to ferry Maria, Daniel, Djan and Vos to exit-side of the room, and hand Ji's belongings back. (When he's off the chess board. She's not setting foot on that thing).

I heard a few votes of support for heading on to the Three Arch Ledge, and no dissent.
>>
No. 768657 ID: af6e04

>anyone working on anything that could plausibly take more than ten minutes? I'd like to move along to the next bit of exploration and/or hourly random encounter roll.
Nope, Vos will continue snuggling/flirting with his new friend until we are ready to move, maybe stopping once to let Hore back in since she seems properly repentant. I think a time skip is in order provided Ji is alive and in one piece.
>>
No. 768665 ID: 4201a2

rolled 2, 1, 1 = 4

>>768645
>nothing happens
"Curious. I was sure that would have been the solution." Yisheng Ji will mutter to himself. "Perhaps I was too hasty?"
He'll try the same thing again, but this time waiting a full ten seconds on each tile, unless of course, a trap springs, in which case roll for reflex again.
>>
No. 768687 ID: a107fd

>>768665
This time, G1 produces the same 'white noise' but no color changes. Stepping onto F3 costs that third use of chi-based healing for today, and feels like it could have been fatal to someone slightly weaker in spirit. G5 releases a bolt of pure death-essence, which Yisheng Ji just barely manages to dodge. As a result, he accidentally continues forward onto G6.

There's no light show, no outward sign at all. Time is held in abeyance. He hears a voice like thunder, declaiming Name your boon, mortal... though if it would cost more than 21 soul-motes to grant, I'll give you nothing, and smite you for such impudence besides.
> +1 overall dexterity
> doubled running speed
> supernal mastery of a single trade skill
> +1 overall intelligence
> sorcerous powers
> +2 abstract cognition
> supernal memory palace
> +4 perception
> ears like a dolphin
> eyes like a hawk
> nose like a hound
> +4 willpower
> eyes like a shrimp
> luck like a cat
> vigilance and virtue become perfect substitutes for sleep and bathing
> +2 overall health
> eternal youth
> categorical immunity to specified hazards ('the sorrows which living flesh is heir to' would be too broad, costing 30 motes to grant, but 'all curses' would only cost 15)
> +2 overall strength
> scales like a dragon
> +4 striking strength
> supernal mastery of a single weapon
> +7 lifting/crushing strength
> a personal extradimensional pocket
> something else? These are merely examples of the possibilities.

Once that decision is made (and time resumes), red squares turn white, leaving the board a mirror image of it's initial appearance.
>>
No. 768689 ID: 094652

Hore senses something wrong with the voice, as if the very sound waves themselves were supercharged heat pulses! Hore's ears perk in response to the heat from the thunder, worried that their healer is one last skip away from an epic taser! Suddenly, her cyberware jitters and her and twitches to the thunder, which is really weird because she turned it all off while working on her plasma pistol! Insight kicks in, and Hore warns Ji that an influx of pure magnetism is centering around him!

Nonetheless, Hore yells out to Ji that RIGHT NOW, they need mastery over spacetime to get out of this hell! A single folding of space and time, and they (and anyone else who enters this chess room) can escape this endless nightmare once and for all!!!

Barring that, if Ji thinks it costs too much he could always develop mastery over bioengineering magics so those curses become typhoid marys.

Hore also considers mastery over magnetism magic to be a good trade skill but screw that, she can just wait for one of the technomancers (thunder sorceresses) to find their way here. What matters is getting everyone out of this dungeon alive, they got the sun brick - the sun brick! With fear overriding her reluctance to surrender such a beloved artifact, Hore suggests that Ji offer the sun brick to the entity as a means of increasing the number of divine motes he gets to like 45!
>>
No. 768720 ID: a107fd

>>768689
>Hore senses
No, she doesn't. Hore (and everything else) is effectively in temporal stasis while the boon negotiation takes place, and furthermore
>>768687
>There's no light show, no outward sign at all.
>>
No. 768774 ID: 4201a2

>>/questdis/107021
>automatic package deal means no motes actually wasted per choice
After scarcely a moment's consideration, Yisheng Ji will, naturally, select eternal youth. It's been his lifelong ambition, after all. Whether or not he'll actually live long enough to enjoy it, well, we'll just have to see.
>>
No. 768834 ID: a107fd

>>768774
Granted,says the voice like thunder.and by the way, that board's about to reset.

Yisheng Ji can feel time's flow resuming, counting the seconds as clearly as holding out his hand to count posts while walking alongside a fence. His breath comes easier, heart beats slightly slower. Many small aches and slightly stiff joints, present so long he'd come to ignore them, suddenly clear up. Overall, he's bursting with giddy confidence. And all that from a misstep!

Having made undeniable progress toward his Higher Ambition, the curse is broken. The karmic wound remains in place, but will eventually heal on it's own. Roll for recovery every time you get a night of sleep that's not wracked by nightmares. Could also be cured by magic, but only within a specialized facility framed by auspiciously-positioned standing stones. There are less than a hundred such sites in the known world, and every last one has had wars fought over it at one time or another.
>>
No. 768860 ID: 750f88

Sorry for falling out. Ive become incredibly sick as of late. If Eric is still alive, then i suppose grant him NPC status until i get back from my trip to the hospital.
>>
No. 768875 ID: 3abd97

>>768860
Oh geeze, you're not supposed to be becoming an irl lich. Feel better.

Eric is fine I think. He missed a chance to insult / bribe some Orcus worshipers through a door, and then just followed Mare and Dav as they exploring some tunnels and find our way back to the other half the party.
>>
No. 768966 ID: 4201a2

rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9

>>768834
Hopefully not giddy overconfidence, since one more misstep could easily undo everything this particular happy accident has granted. He'll carefully traverse the lines back to the far side of the chessboard and reunite with Davina again to retrieve his belongings.

Roll for perception vs hidden threats.
>>
No. 768984 ID: a107fd

Just when Maria's feeling strong enough to stand without assistance, ten more elevenoid meat puppets wander in from that seemingly dead-end ledge beyond the bridge. Lord Grimwald successfully recruits them all before they make it into the chessboard room or seriously injure anyone. Current expendable minion count: 15. He claims not to feel sleepy, but has been quiet and droopy, with a thousand-yard stare.

If nobody else wants to mess with the chessboard, or has a map of the chasm sketched out for me to approve or revise... you can stay put for another hour or two, facing more random encounters while waiting for Maria to be back at 100%, or explore the various hallways leading away from the chasm. Alternate branches on the way to the lake, three other halls on the same level which Davina's portals can reach (one of which supposedly leads to "where you need to go"), four more up above, an indeterminate number down below.
>>
No. 769012 ID: 77f1b6

>>768984

After seeing Eric take care of the meat puppets, Maru does her best to remind everyone, minus Hore for fear of once again upsetting her, something Maru isn't keen on doing given her rather emotional reactions, that there is still and empty sweeper on the loose, and that the longer they wait around the more likely it is that something is going to come their way that they aren't equipped to deal with. We were mysteriously fortunate in how well prepared our mages were for the various traps and tribulations that assaulted us, but we probably won't be so lucky pressing forward.

With this reminder set, she suggests a plan of action. She feels their best bet for escape is trusting in Dav's "persuasion" skills, and trying the arch ways. They march 3 abreast, everything living in a single file line, flanked by undead, and get ferried over to the archways via portaling. Once there they send 4 zombies down each tunnel, staggering them in pairs, under the orders to return to use once they've explored the areas beyond, or return if they see their comrades destroyed. This should give us enough boots on the ground to explore all the tunnels, and leave a few with the group as added muscle and defense. We wait no longer than an hour, and if nothing comes back, we advance down the tunnel suggested to us by the nice fellows locked away in the Orcus dungeon, as their map has been accurate thus far. If the puppets do return, obviously we get their intel, and decide what to do from there. Assuming all in favor, let's head out immediately; Marina will be protected safely in the middle of the formation near Vos and Daniel. We can't afford to wait around until something really nasty decides we'd better suit their needs without beating hearts.
>>
No. 769023 ID: af6e04

>>769012
Sounds good to me, though Vos still isn't too fond of the idea of being surrounded on all sides by stagnant flesh. He is also concerned about Hore as she is still in very poor shape. Ideally he should probably stand between her and Maria and Daniel.
>>
No. 769054 ID: a107fd

>>769012
All three scouting groups return within five minutes, asking for clarification on what they should do if the path branches. Middle-archway group is down by one. (Minion count: 14) When asked what happened, the three survivors... avoid eye contact, whistling nonchalantly? One of them balances on tiptoes, spinning in place with arms over it's head like a ballerina.
>>
No. 769116 ID: 3abd97

>>768984
>[Eric] claims not to feel sleepy, but has been quiet and droopy, with a thousand-yard stare.
How are the rest of us holding up? (Or at least the rest of us who were in the exploration group, since the others either rested or are new). Plausible the caster with a death wish might be the least fit of the three of us, but if we're falling over too, that's significant.

If Eric is in need of a break, we might want to use a portal to strand his zombies on a ledge or something similar so if he loses control they don't take us apart.

>>769054
Hm. One of those three scouting groups is unnecessary (spiral rune), as it goes back down the way our forward group came from. And they'd need to go through a few turns / rooms until they reach a branch we didn't take. They hit the T-junction that goes to the spiral or the scorched battle / lake room and came back.

Middle path is the geodes / spirit / workshop path. Pantomime suggests... something that pulled a person up and left it dangling / spinning?

Directions for the "correct" path (depraved cannibalism rune) didn't include any turnings or splits before the 8-fold room. Can we ask that group how many ways they had to chose between? (Hopefully zombies can count and hold up fingers?).
>>
No. 769168 ID: a107fd

>>769116
>How are the rest of us holding up? (Or at least the rest of us who were in the exploration group, since the others either rested or are new).

Hore Wutashi, Yisheng Ji, and Decaro Vos were in the room with the fancy chairs for more than twelve hours, but only Ji got a significant amount of sleep, unless you count Hore's near-death experience. Eric Grimwald, Davina, and Maru Red were out scouting for two or three hours at most. Any longer than that, hunger and thirst would be noticeable by now. Stationary group had an opportunity to restock from a barrel of water and a monster corpse, so apart from Yisheng Ji's wine, none of you have started on the rations you grabbed when the main expedition broke up.

Davina, in particular, keeps strict accounting of her supply of preserved fruit from that tiny patch of orchard where she had 'the accident.' Anything else, besides quintessence-bread, is like eating random bits of wreckage from some spice merchant's caravan crashed down a muddy ravine. If this missing time (and persistent incongruities in their map) were something as simple as having memories of a brief captivity erased with a combination of drugs and magic... the captors must have fed them, or they'd be hungry by now. Rings of Sustenance take an order of magnitude longer than that to attune, and tend to leave little bruises on the finger, of which there's no sign. Regular food wouldn't satisfy Davina's aberrant metabolism, and even small quantities cause severe indigestion, of which there's also no sign.

This hypothetical captor would therefore have to either have known about her unique condition in advance (months or years in advance, with deeper understanding than the finest guild-licensed alchemists or physicians, to develop efficacious drugs without even testing on the only known subject), or else habitually give quintessence-bread to everybody. Only people known to produce quintessence-bread in bulk and apply it indiscriminately are White Elves, and admittedly they also tend to prefer covert ops, and know a thing or two about drugs and poisons that aren't listed in guild medical libraries, but they don't usually range this close to the ocean. Well, there could be some deep scouts, adventurers, and forbidden-romance types, of course, but not full strike teams with logistical support. Bad blood between them and the Church of Orcus, too, going way back.

Lord Grimwald, meanwhile, has completely different (though less extreme)dietary restrictions and drug-or-poison resistances, and can't have been knocked unconscious or there would have been some discontinuity in his control over the meat puppets, which they claim there wasn't. There are lots of ways to control undead, but such control tends to be all-or-nothing, with very few ways to subtly mess with their minds and absolutely no known way to edit their memories. Furthermore, meat puppets are too stupid to keep track of convoluted orders like "follow Eric's instructions as if he still controlled you, except if he asks you to talk about this one subject, in which case tell him these specific, consistent lies." Unfortunately, they're also too stupid to have kept track of how much time has passed. You could order one of them to make marks on a wall or operate some mechanical counting aid at regular intervals, but doing so would require the thing's full attention to be reliable.

>Can we ask that group how many ways they had to chose between?
Two at first but one was straight ahead, so went that way. Down that way... lots? More than five.
>>
No. 769199 ID: 77f1b6

>>769168
>Time shenanigans

Upon the discovery of the party seemingly experiencing time in some relative or altered manor compared to each other, she offers that they're not dead yet, and they really shouldn't be surprised the voices in Ji's head lead them to a room where they experienced time differently. Basically, it's not a big deal right now, and they shouldn't waste their time and brain space worrying about it. We've got a room that looks like the place on the map, and doesn't seem excessively deadly. Let's move out people.
>>
No. 769218 ID: 094652

Hore wonders if spacetime is warped in this location. Hore proceeds to explain that in the same way her mother was pulled from space and time from two simultaneous quantum hubs that happened to find and link to each other by a matter of randomized chance, certain ruptures in space and time may in fact be natural but astronomically rare occurences throughout the entire universe, much like hailstorms and hurricanes. Of course, if some mage, say, a grand archwizard working for a duke the old empire were to throw copious ammounts of expensive magic around because he was bored, then it would be relatively easy to create or capture one or two foldings in time and space, of which they had no realistic application whatsoever. Such things would be exquisitely useful to the party if they knew where the fold in timespace would move in the fourth dimension and could actively manipulate the fold's exits around with technology so advanced even her mother's world would consider it magic. So it's useless.

Hore suddenly remembers that she needs to tell Eric about the death ray undead babies and hopefully he'll be prepared when he needs to recruit them or any other members of the death ray family.
>>
No. 769222 ID: 595d54

Djan's interested in what he's been hearing of the second path, and decides he'll head down there in search of whatever workshop or spirit's waiting, along with anyone else curious enough to make the journey.
>>
No. 769230 ID: a107fd

>>769199
>We've got a room that looks like the place on the map, and doesn't seem excessively deadly. Let's move out people.
Same marching order, no plans to mess around with the side passage? Roll for vigilance and so on.

>>769218
>tell Eric about the death ray undead babies
Apparently the proper term is "mordnaissant." The child born of a corpse. Not anything as simple as a stillborn, or a woman dying during or shortly after childbirth, no. Not a Cesarean section, either. Carried to term and born, "naturally" if you can call it that, days or months after the mother died. Eric is dismayed to learn that more than one exists, and is far from confident of his ability to command them. Even worse, there's some curse laid on whoever strikes the final blow of their destruction, so it would be most preferable to finish them off in an indirect manner not readily attributable to any specific individual, or at least not anyone you like.
>>
No. 769231 ID: 77f1b6

Maru moves to block Djans path, and suggests the party stays together, with perhaps a bit more venom in her voice than nessicary as she glares at certain faces in the party, and that if Djan doesn't want to go down the path we believe to be the exit, he should put it to a vote. She implies that she will not let him wander off and die alone or let the party get split...

...again.
>>
No. 769232 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6

Here's a roll in case I need it
>>
No. 769233 ID: a107fd

>>769222
Who's going where?
>>
No. 769235 ID: a107fd

>>769232
>>768553
Put the roll and the description of the action for which you're rolling in the same post, please. If you're having format problems, copy in the relevant bit of text from your previous post. Just for ease of reference.
>>
No. 769239 ID: 3abd97

>>769199
The weird, one-way fog might be consistent with the area Ji, Vos and Hore visited being responsible for our temporal discrepancy, though there's no way for us to be sure right now. Davina will agree there's not much to be done about it at this point.

>>769218
I want to assume this wall of technical jargon largely comes across as a madwoman's gibbering or babbling mage-speak to the rest of the group, but Davina's background means she picked up on one important detail:

"I am reasonably certain we didn't pass through any significant distortions of space of geometry, or I would have been made painfully aware of it."

>Maru wants to explore the way the Orcus art restorer (?) said leads out
>Djan wants to explore the the Orcus AR said leads to useless geodes, and the ruins say hold a spirit and/or workshop
"We have no guarantee our source was accurate, but do we have a reason to explore the one passage apparently capable of dispatching one of Eric's thralls?"

Leaning towards the supposed path to the exit still, willing to follow group decision instead of splitting again.

>Same marching order
Has to be a new marching order, doesn't it? We added more people.
>>
No. 769244 ID: 094652

>>769230
Hore INSISTS that Eric hone his powers and converts one of those mortissants - mortessant? Mortissiants? Whatever, D.R.B.s to his cause. Having one of those at his beck and call would be worth more than his share of treasure.

Hore is even more afraid of the baby than the lethality of its death ray - few people would willingly shoot a baby, and even Hore shakes from hesitance and can't aim straight, and ultimately the baby has no sense of self-preservation and may willingly throw itself into certain death just to get a fatal shot in, not because it's suicidal or zealous but because it doesn't even know what death is. Or even why shooting its death ray without taking cover would result in horrible, horrible pain inflicted by avenging adventurers. Or what cover is. Or even pain. Or anything for that matter. The fact that these D.R.B.s will curse the adventurer who strikes the killing blow makes their suicidal strategy even worse.

Hore continues to think, disturbing the Agate twins as she leans on Vos and continues to yap while they're walking. She's not thinking about sex with them, though.
>>
No. 769246 ID: af6e04

>"mordnaissant."
Vos points out that the creatures seem to be afraid of the light from the sun brick and may also flee at the sight of any sufficiently bright light.

He suggests perhaps a lullaby would help too if no other options are available. And speaking of the sun brick, who is holding onto it right now? We should probably keep track of it.
>>
No. 769251 ID: 4201a2

rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11

>>769246
>who is carrying the sun brick?
Davina has it at the moment. I believe she was planning to use it as a teleportation beacon for long-range portals.

>mordnaissants
Yisheng Ji isn't disturbed by the various forms of unliving flesh available to our party, but is somewhat concerned about the total size of our group including undead servants being large (and noisy) enough to draw attention from further undesirables. He suggests taking in a mordnaissant or two, if possible, for the purposes of stealthy advance scouting, while at the same time shedding a portion of the full-size zombies by spreading them out to locate that empty sweeper. It's possible that was the fate of the missing member of the middle-archway group.

>>769231
>Maru moves to block Djans path
Yisheng Ji calls out a casual warning to Djan to watch out for that left hook.

>>769230
>vigilance and so on
Rolled for whatever decision we eventually make. Yisheng Ji will stick with Davina whichever way she chooses to go, but voices his preference for avoiding both the Half-Life Barnacle workshop and the room full of Orcus cultists.
>>
No. 769258 ID: 3abd97

>Davina has it at the moment. I believe she was planning to use it as a teleportation beacon for long-range portals.
I should hand that off to someone else. If something startles or upsets me enough to flicker intangible I might drop and lose it when it phases through my hand. Per my mutation, only my own stuff comes with me, and I'd consider the sun stone borrowed, not transferred or gifted to my possession.

So long as someone has it to provide illumination, I can still use it to do longer-range portals than I can with lantern-light line of sight.

Who wants to be the light bearer?
>>
No. 769262 ID: 77f1b6

>>769251
>Yisheng Ji calls out a casual warning to Djan to watch out for that left hook.

Just to ensure clarity, Maru is simply trying to block the path with her body and stop Djan from leaving the party. She isn't trying to punch anyone.

Yet

>>769258
>Who wants to be the light bearer?

Marina can do little other than carry things for the next couple hours, it's probably not a bad idea to leave it with her and ensure everyone else has their hands free for self defense. That or one of Eric's Lts, whom Eric is more likely to keep safe and doesn't really fight with conventional hand based attacks anyways.
>>
No. 769264 ID: 2169b1

Maria visibly perks up at the mention of Undead that don't like light. She mentions that this is basically exactly the sort of thing she'd be into, and then demonstrates by activing a very, very weakened version of her light aura, only giving enough to be uncomfortably warm to Vos. Daniel, however, seems unaffected.

Daniel mentions he can do something similar, but his sister is capable of making it deadly. He also mentions that neither of them can actually produce light to see by. It's either harming or healing.
>>
No. 769269 ID: af6e04

>>769264
>Marina can do little other than carry things for the next couple hours
Sounds fair. Vos will pass the light brick back to Maria. He mentions that the power to heal is very precious and that Tittivila looks kindly on Daniel, regardless of his religious affiliations.
>>
No. 769272 ID: 2169b1

>>769269
Daniel blushes at Vos' compliment and mutters something about not being that good at it. Maria frowns, but says nothing.

For now, though, Maria accepts the sun brick and waits for everyone to figure out what's going to happen.
>>
No. 769280 ID: a107fd

>>769244
>Hore INSISTS that Eric hone his powers and converts one of those
Eric patiently tries to explain that it just doesn't work that way.
>ultimately the baby has no sense of self-preservation and may willingly throw itself into certain death just to get a fatal shot in, not because it's suicidal or zealous but because it doesn't even know what death is. Or even why shooting its death ray without taking cover would result in horrible, horrible pain inflicted by avenging adventurers. Or what cover is. Or even pain
A mordnaissant does understand death, and pain, as well as a living baby understands warmth or the taste of milk, and for much the same reasons. Sages theorize that it knows very little else! A meat puppet can handle orders and hierarchy because it was once an adult, who had at least heard of such things. Setting aside the contest of wills, the sheer power seething within such a horrid creature... commanding a mordnaisssant to refrain from attacking living beings defined as allies might be as futile as issuing a normal newborn written orders, however artfully prepared, notarized and countersigned, to either cease crying, or explain it's reasons for doing so.

That's not to say they're stupid. If anything, they're slightly cleverer than meat puppets, in terms of potential for tool use and tactics.
>>
No. 769301 ID: a107fd

>>769272
Maria could sit down or lean against a wall, with the brick as a heat source, to continue recovering cold-related fatigue at a rate of one point per ten minutes during the debate.
>>
No. 769321 ID: af6e04

>>769280
Vos is amused by Hore's obsession with death ray babies and their hypothetical death ray families. He rests his jaw on top of her head as she leans against him, and points out that the creatures are very dangerous and should probably be destroyed, not recruited.

He starts asking Eric logistical questions. If one were to construct a trap for the mordnaissant, and it triggered its own demise, would the trap setter be cursed? If somebody were to push the mordnaissant into said trap, who would then be cursed? If one were to induce a transformation of the flesh in a mordnaissant that decreased its body's structural integrity while obstructing its vision, and it destroyed itself by bumping into a wall, would the one who administered the flesh blessing be cursed? Does light actually harm the abominations, or are they only scared of it?
>>
No. 769323 ID: 77f1b6

>>769321
Maru points out that they can very easily talk while they walk, and instead of spending our precious time waiting around chatting and trying to split off again, we should all pick a direction and move forward. Like, right now. Please.

She once again votes we head towards the room we were told was the exit, but isn't going to move until she can ensure the group will be moving together as a whole.
>>
No. 769333 ID: 3abd97

rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11

>instead of spending our precious time waiting around chatting and trying to split off again, we should all pick a direction and move forward. Like, right now. Please.
Okay so I think that's... two and a half votes for the path that supposedly leads to the eight-fold room (Dav, Maru, and if we count Ji voting "not the way leading to the cultists or workshop") one vote for the middle path (Djan), and a bunch of votes for "indifferent and/or follow the group".

I think that means unless Djan wants to make an impassioned argument to persuade others, or to strike off on his own, we're headed eight-fold-ways.

Roll for vigilance etc while moving.

Marching order should probably recycle the same model of forward and rear screens of zombies, more injured / fragile people in the middle of the group, Maru more forward, Dav more back. Ji, would you please keep an eye on Eric? If in your medical opinion he's approaching the point of collapse, we'll need to take the preventive measure of stranding the zombies somewhere with a portal or locking them behind a door while he's still awake, in case he loses control while asleep or unconscious.

If the glow-brick is a sufficient light source, lantern users might want to conserve fuel.

>>769230
>mordnaissant lore
"...does this mean we should infer there is a practicing necrophiliac in these caves?"
>>
No. 769373 ID: a107fd

>>769321
>Does light actually harm the abominations, or are they only scared of it?
The latter. Sufficiently intense magical light-based attacks probably work, but they can survive outside during the day for at least an hour at a time, contrasted with vampires which are reduced to ash inside thirty seconds under such conditions.

>avoiding the curse
Insufficient data. Your best bet would be a trap that two or more people built collaboratively, and which the thing then triggered by it's own voluntary action.

>>769333
>we're headed eight-fold-ways.
A reasonable option, when surrounded by so much death and suffering. But enough about philosophy.

Has Djan built a compass yet?

The path beyond the archway in question meanders off to the right, relative to the chasm's major axis, for about 80' - roughly parallel to the hall leading back to the chess room, though the two are at least sixty feet apart. Then it turns 90 degrees left and continues for 120' (with a little jog to the left side after the first 20'), 60 degrees right, another 120' with some more meandering side to side, curve to the left for about 60', and then there's a a much neater and straighter passage branching off to the left side.

Assuming you continue straight ahead, like the meat puppets did and the directions could be taken to imply, there's another 40' of hallway curving off to the right, and then a great domed chamber with seven other exits equally spaced around the perimeter. All eight hallways have some amount of crimson mist, but only the one at 3 o'clock lacks a visible current of the stuff, whether in or out.
>>
No. 769376 ID: 2169b1

Assuming Maria's just been holding onto the Sunstone this entire discussion, how is she doing as far as her health goes? Is she feeling good enough to actually fight, or just move around?

Daniel, meanwhile, mentions that he's not the best at curing serious wounds, but things such as curses or diseases are things he specializes in... but unfortunately, he adds on with a nervous frown, he hasn't had an awful lot of practice. But he figures he should mention it, so that everyone knows what he's capable of.
>>
No. 769379 ID: 77f1b6

>>769373
>the one at 3 o'clock lacks a visible current

Lets send a zombie down to test the waters
>>
No. 769400 ID: 094652

Hore argues with Ji that a larger party with expendable minions, while susceptible to artillery, is far more preferable in a dungeon crawl than small and disjointed teams. The clattering noise from the 'legion' means that any backstabbers and even small parties of seasoned warriors will think twice before taking on an army - especially if said army can also make enough noise to draw in other enemy armies, which would result in a bloodbath. From Hore's experience with her tribe, her pack leaders would usually stop the whelps from bravely attacking a full legion of knights because the knights would quickly overwhelm each target one by one until all enemies were killed, with minimal losses on the knights' side thanks to their armor taking on the first thirty seconds of scratch damage. The few times when multiple gangs dogpile on a legion, they end up infighting and by the time the knights are dead most of the bandits are also dead or too wounded to make a profit off the spoils. And since they're patroling small corridors, bombs and traps are less effective due to lack of line-of-sight, with the zombies taking the brunt of the attacks, so the only real issue would be armor-piercing weapons or damage-over-time splash attacks.

But yes, without any viable scouts, they're screwed the moment they fall into a trap or ambush. Hore wonders aloud what Eric will need to capture and convert a D.R.B.

Hore also remembers that she was going to ask the other members of her party if they know technomancer or magnetic - Hore corrects herself, low-powered thunder or electricity skills, or even enchantments on metal. She informs the party that her plasma pistol 'spell' was wrecked when she took a death ray to the chest, but she just needs the magnetic field that all thunder and lightning generates to cast it again.
>>
No. 769408 ID: a107fd

>>769376
By the end of the discussion on the ledge with three archways, Maria's back up to 2 FP out of a possible 12. At 4 or less, her effective strength is half what it should be, so combat would be possible, but she wouldn't be very effective with anything but non-muscle-based energy blasts, and would probably collapse, injuring herself, once the adrenaline wore off. Compare: http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/res/516181.html#543461

>>769379
Later, in the room with eight exits, after waiting half an hour for a meat puppet scout to come back and report that it couldn't find any waters to test, Maria is back up to 5/12. Still miserably cold, but no more uncontrollable shivering. Feels like she could contribute usefully in a tavern brawl (dodging, punching hard enough for the target to notice, etc.) and have a reserve of stamina sufficient to walk away afterward, provided she didn't get hit.
>>
No. 769420 ID: 77f1b6

>>769408
>it couldn't find any waters to test

Let's get specifics before we press on- was there any:
-Splits in the tunnel
-Doors or doorways
-light
-moving things, present company excluded

we could try to figure out distance based on time spent traveling and movement speed, but given the lack of aderance to the laws of time, why bother?
>>
No. 769428 ID: 3abd97

>Has Djan built a compass yet?
Does he have the materials to attempt that? Even with metal bending, he needs supplies.

>>769376
"I'm certain your efforts will be better than nothing, and will be appreciated if they are needed."

>>769400
>dee are bees
"Could we concern ourselves with the disposition of resources that we actually possess and less with hypotheticals you wish we did?"

"We're regrettably rather far underground if you wish to be hit by lighting. Short of a lucky magical effect we're likely out of luck."

>doorway that seems to match with our directions
>zombie scout doesn't run into any immediate difficulty
So... shall we advance, then?
>>
No. 769456 ID: 13d7b7

Vos briefly considers reminding Hore that the chess board had a lightning trap, but he realizes it's probably a bad idea.

>So... shall we advance, then?
Let's go! Vos is ready.
>>
No. 769458 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7

>>769456
Okay, assuming the group advances down the fog-less corridor, rolling for vigilance / etc.
>>
No. 769473 ID: a107fd

>>769420
>Let's get specifics before we press on- was there any:
>-Splits in the tunnel
>-Doors or doorways
>-light
>-moving things, present company excluded

Not that it can recall.

>>769458
After an uneventful fifteen minute hike down the increasingly wide and fog-free corridor, you come to a dead end.

>rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7
The last little bit of ceiling over the 'dead end' is actually a vertical shaft, ten yards in diameter. Sun-brick isn't bright enough to reveal more than the first hundred yards of height, but it appears to continue beyond that.

>>769428
Steel knife and a bit of string is enough for a crude compass. Tie string around the center of gravity so it hangs horizontally, magnetize the blade (actually just a matter of straightening out field lines already present within the metal, like combing the knots out of hair) and then try to figure out whether the pointy end is twisting around to face north, or south.
>>
No. 769478 ID: 77f1b6

>>769473
Maru votes Davina climb first, on the premise that if she can see the surface she can portal up if they're in danger. Maru will let the zombies take up the rear but fall in after them
>>
No. 769494 ID: 3abd97

>Maru votes Davina climb first
>300 ft minimum free climb, straight up
While inspiring such confidence from one's allies is reassuring, Davina wonders if this has gone a touch too far.

How does the shaft look, from a climbing perspective? Is it smooth and shear? Irregular? Footholds and handholds? Ledges? Are there visible signs of a previous ascent or descend (holes where pitons would have been driven into the surface?).

>what do
Before we attempt a long free climb, or we try something with portals that leads to someone falling to their deaths or that causes an earthquake and kills everyone, let's consider other options.

If Djan is willing to reshape some metal into a proper reflective surface, we could focus the light from the sun brick to see further up the shaft, and perhaps get a more accurate idea of the height. (And maybe find a ledge or other surface that can be portalted to safely). Although we'd have to decide which metal to sacrifice (maybe the drained lantern? Or the iron spike? Or a dagger or two from a larger set?).

"Frictionless lightweight movement" should mean Ji could scale a wall of indefinite height with little exertion, and at almost no risk of falling, and he has built in feather fall besides. His carrying the sun stone aloft to scout ahead for a portal location is also an option.

I wonder if Maria's binding ability is applicable here. If she spiritually bound the rest of us to Ji, so we shared in his ethereal weightlessness, we could all climb pretty safely. (Although I don't know what materials she'd need for something like that, and she'd probably have to use the rope binding her to daisy chain us together). Probably can't bring the zombies this way.
>>
No. 769495 ID: 2169b1

>>769494
Unless his weightlessness is entirely due to a spiritual or magical effect, it's not likely. Getting Maria to unbind her chest is also a bit of an uphill proposition, considering she uses it to assist her in spiritual and mental purity.
>>
No. 769498 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 2, 2 = 10

>>769494
Oh right. No ladder. Sorry I missed that little detail, I'm up late relative to my normal bed time. Happy new year everyone.

I'm sure we can manipulate a gold coin or something to reflect light, but how far is a good question. 300 meters is a long way for a mist filled dungeon. She does point out that she has a red ruby, likely possibly cursed, which might be usable in some fashion as a lense. Rolling to stand guard while we figure out a plan.
>>
No. 769500 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12

Hore sniffs around, looking for some kind of lever or instruction panel that could trigger a ladder or something. She doesn't touch anything and has Vos escort her in case something happens.

As Hore wanders in search of an ending to this nightmare, she hears the distinct ringing of bells. But they quickly fade away, and Hore is unable to understand why only she heard them, unaware that she was one of the final witnesses to the echoing roars of a dead age...
>>
No. 769510 ID: af6e04

Vos mentions that, with Tittivila's divine blessing, he may be able to mutate an arm of one of the zombies into an elongated tendril that could be used as a rope. He'll allay any doubts of the tensile strength of such a cord by relating the story of an eel from his home village who dragged a carriage eight miles using ropes that were tied to hooks embedded in his nostrils.
>>
No. 769512 ID: 2169b1

>>769510
Maria blinks at this. "...aaaan interesting blessing." She says. "I prefer the flames of Agatia to... well, rampant mutations."

Daniel pouts. "Maria! Be nice!" He says. "The question is, would everything hold up the same way? There would be differences in muscular structure, tensile strength... how fresh are these corpses? Decaying muscle won't hold up as well as recently deceased!"

Daniel takes a breath, then blushes. "Uh... n-not that I'm putting you down. I just want everyone to be safe!"
>>
No. 769513 ID: af6e04

>>769512
"Ah, but the stagnant flesh will be filled with virile, pulsing strength of Tittivila! It will not break."
>>
No. 769517 ID: a107fd

>>769494
>How does the shaft look, from a climbing perspective?

Fairly smooth and sheer. There's a rough texture to the limestone, and occasional tool marks, but no real handholds.

>Ji could scale a wall of indefinite height with little exertion
Not quite. Yisheng Ji can jump extraordinarily high, and bounce off the walls for additional distance, but he only makes that look effortless. Focusing chi for such a jump costs FP, and each sequential wall-jump is about half the distance of the previous one, until you fail to reach the far wall and the sequence ends. Lots of math for this kind of thing in GURPS Martial Arts. If there was something sticking out for him to perch on, partway up, even just a little sprig of grass growing out of the wall, that would make the ascent much easier. Dad's a celestial rooster, after all, not a gecko.

>Maria's binding ability
Even mundane rope bondage tends to interfere with, rather than smoothly transmit, vigorous athletic activity, and a feather can't catch a brick. http://www.zebragirl.thecomicseries.com/comics/553

If somebody had the "personal extradimensional pocket" boon from that list of prizes, Maria's knotwork would be ideally suited for folding people up inside such a space without hurting them or overloading the pocket. As a partly technological geometry hack, that strategy would be dangerously incompatible with use of Davina's portals as a shortcut to the top, and of course any rope tied up in bondage can't simultaneously be used as a climbing aid.

>Probably can't bring the zombies this way.
Frustrates me how people keep forgetting.
>>765597
>These are no run-of-the-mill shambling zombies. They prance about almost weightlessly, seemingly pulled upward by random strands of skin, viscera, or sinew, constantly unraveling and restringing as they move. Any grisly fragments that tear loose seem to fall upward.

Emphasis added. If ethereal weightlessness is all you need, there's plenty to go around, but it's mostly rotten and disgusting.

>>769495
Mostly spiritual, due to his divine ancestry.

>>769498
>300 meters
A yard is a little bit less than a meter, and you can only see about ONE hundred yards. Still a really long way to climb.

>>769500
Hore finds some spots on the wall that smell like footprints. Neat little 3-inch squares, in a zigzagging pattern leading straight upward as far as you can follow it. The foot-smell spots are slightly smoother than surrounding stone, but show no sign of an actual mechanism, not even a hairline crack.
>>
No. 769527 ID: 3abd97

>>769517
>zombie frustrating
Actually, I meant, if spiritually binding ourselves to Ji to tap into his ability worked, that method likely wouldn't be compatible with soulless meat puppets. No spirit to anchor a spirit to spirit connection to.

I have been wondering though, what happens to the unraveling bits in the tunnels we've been passing through? Are we leaving a trail of viscera on the ceiling?

>If ethereal weightlessness is all you need, there's plenty to go around, but it's mostly rotten and disgusting.
Huh. Honestly, didn't think they had enough to carry us upwards. I mean, the ones that got pushed off the cliff in the first fight didn't have enough buoyancy to keep themselves aloft. A flotation device needs to at least be able to do that.

I suppose this idea might be more feasible if we went with Vos' idea of trying to flesh-sculpt the undead to better suit our purposes, first. (Provided he can do so without destroying them).

>If there was something sticking out for him to perch on, partway up, even just a little sprig of grass growing out of the wall
>grisly fragments that tear loose seem to fall upward
...

Could Ji just perch on one of those detached falling-up zombie bits and ride it up the shaft. Or you know, bounce and perch between them.
>>
No. 769609 ID: a107fd

>>769527
>soulless meat puppets. No spirit to anchor a spirit to spirit connection to.
They're animate, dimly self-aware, and significantly self-repairing. Vos was able to observe color changes in their auras. As undead, their spiritual anatomy is completely different from your own, but there's still something there.

>Are we leaving a trail of viscera on the ceiling?
Yes, but not a very distinct one. They don't shed all that much outside of combat, and there were a lot of nasty little bits of grue scattered around the Bloodmist Labyrinth already.

>the ones that got pushed off the cliff in the first fight didn't have enough buoyancy to keep themselves aloft
Same applies to Yisheng Ji. He can balance on impossibly narrow or fragile surfaces, and make long gliding jumps, but not hover unsupported in midair or achieve outright powered flight. If somebody had shoved him off a ledge under identical circumstances, he also would have fallen down.

>perch on one of those detached falling-up zombie bits and ride it up the shaft
Possibly. They have the additional complication of being slippery, which his perfect balance is not a flawless solution to.
If you want a snowstorm of the stuff, just have Eric instruct two or more of the meat puppets to attack each other with bladed weapons.

>Vos' idea of trying to flesh-sculpt the undead
>(Provided he can do so without destroying them)
That sculpting would involve severe challenges both technical and theological, so it's definitely going to require a roll.
>>
No. 769617 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 3, 6 = 12

>>769609
Well, Vos is willing to try but he's not sure where to begin. It looks like the skin and viscera is light enough to float up while the muscle, fat, and bones are not. He supposes he could try to grow the creature's skin into some kind of flabby parachute.
>>
No. 769642 ID: a107fd

>>769617
It's like trying to use a flaming chainsaw to smooth out cake frosting. The meat puppet recoils from Titivila's judgement, flailing and struggling to reassemble itself. Shrieks echo along the passage in both directions.
>>
No. 769654 ID: 595d54

Assuming Djan is present, he'll start working on a focusing lens for the sun brick and speak up.

"How much metal we got available? I could try and make us a ladder and platform. Climb up, attach the platform, get on, move the ladder up, rinse and repeat."
>>
No. 769659 ID: af6e04

>>769642
Vos retracts his hands, admittedly feeling more than a little pity for the shrieking abomination. "Maybe Djan's plan works better."
>>
No. 769662 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

Rolling for perception / alertness, since that racket might have attracted something.
>>
No. 769682 ID: 094652

Hore instructs Vos to start with their vocal cords first, the screams might attract beasts!
>>
No. 769693 ID: a107fd

>>769662
Davina makes a scouting trip back to the last intersection, which was the eight-way room, and sees a big puddle of dark red slime. It extends tendrils, like roots along crevices in the stone, then the roots get thicker, merge, main mass shifts forward, and the cycle repeats. Slow, but definitely heading your way. It'll reach folks still on the floor at the dead end in... an hour? Maybe hour and a half?

>>769654
Davina and Eric are both carrying enough gold in their respective purses (and in Davina's case, plated on all that jewelry) that Djan finds standing close to them intensely unpleasant. A few silver coins could make an excellent parabolic reflector, if they were smoothed out across a big enough indentation in the floor. You still need to roll to set it up.

Conveniently, the floor directly under the shaft seems to be hard-packed earth, which is much easier to dig holes in than actual stone.
>>
No. 769695 ID: 094652

rolled 1, 4, 3 = 8

Hore is sick of waiting! She begins following the footsteps in search of an aclove or control panel. Hore takes her time but she wants out of this stupid dungeon, they got loot and killed stuff and now it's time to leave!
>>
No. 769696 ID: 595d54

rolled 2, 6, 2 = 10

>>769693
Djan will try to dig enough of a hollow to shape the silver into a decent lens.

If I'm missing something, is there some particular limit on Djan's abilities? Other than losing time there doesn't seem to be much of a reason he can't just keep trying until he succeeds.
>>
No. 769700 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 2, 1, 2 = 5

Maru asks Eric if she can get some scrapings from the puppets and see how the red ...

... creature moving towards them interacts with organic flesh. She'd throw a whole zombie at it if Eric lets her, but I doubt it. Rolling to skillfully throw zombie flesh at the red slime thing without getting caught in it's slow moving embrace
>>
No. 769701 ID: 3abd97

>approaching slime
Well, if it's not too big, and moves slowly I guess we can portal past it and double back when it catches up, if we haven't found a way up yet.

Let's leave one zombie watching the tunnel with orders to alert us when it sees something approaching so we can't be caught by surprise.

>>769696
Well, a particularly bad failure might result in ruining materials or injuring yourself?
>>
No. 769708 ID: af6e04

Vos wonders aloud if handholds constructed by Djan could somehow be attached to the shaft's wall using brass balm and zombie flesh as a sort of epoxy.
>>
No. 769713 ID: 2169b1

Unfortunately, Maria and Daniel aren't much help here! Maria sits against a wall and mutters prayers to Agatia, while Daniel seems to just be keeping an eye on everyone, licks of warm golden flame occasionally flicking across his skin.

Anyone who can hear Maria would probably he a bit disconcerted by the contents of the prayers, stuff about "Souls to fuel the Pearl Fire" and "Seeding the world with your purging flame".
>>
No. 769785 ID: a107fd

>>769695
The path leads straight up. If there's a control panel for some sort of magical morphing stones, it must be at the other end.

>>769696
Twenty minutes to spread a single silver coin into gossamer-thin foil across a 10' radius, ten more to spin the scavenged piton into a latticework of iron supporting it half an inch off the ground. Soil at the center is broken up and passed toward the edge, as if by picks and shovels scaled for mice, turning the flat reflector into a bowl. Progress toward an ideal paraboloid is slow, with so little workable material, but even a flat reflector improves the situation quite a bit. Should be bright enough at the top of the shaft (turns out it's only about four hundred feet) for Davina to safely slice a path up there before the blob arrives... assuming somebody can hold the sun brick steady at the focal point until then.

Eight pounds with your arm fully extended is hard enough, even without it being too hot for bare skin. Covering the underside would block the light you're trying to reflect, while dropping it would flash blinding low-angle glare in everybody's eyes and shatter Djan's delicate machinery. Any clever plans, or steady-handed volunteers?

>>769700
Bone and hair appear to be unaffected. Meat and skin dissolves, not instantly, but you wouldn't want to step in this thing.

>>769701
>portal past it
A thick knot of crimson fog closely follows the perambulatory puddle, rolling along like a ghostly cart, returning from the market behind a liquidated ox, too exhausted to lift any part of it's body more than a few inches off the ground. Portals as far past the thing as you can see would open up right above it's trailing 'roots.'

>not too big
Currently it's fifteen feet wide, wall-to-wall, at least twelve feet front-to-back, and six inches thick at the crest of the wave. Certainly more than a cubic yard of goo, maybe more than two. Wherever tidbits of corpseflesh landed, it spat out geyser-tentacles, tall as a man and swift as swords, groping around blindly a few seconds before falling and flowing back into the rest.
>>
No. 769786 ID: a107fd

>>769785
Sorry, that should be 10' diameter for the mirror.
>>
No. 769789 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 3, 3 = 10

>Any clever plans, or steady-handed volunteers?
>brass balm and zombie flesh as a sort of epoxy.
I am now stuck on this idea, so will ask Ji for a small amount of his brass balm and attempt to use it to attach the brick to the end of Vos' spear, first asking one of the meat puppets for permission to cut off a chunk of flesh.

If this actually works Vos will eat his helmet ask his companions to help him hold the brick steady above the mirror.
>>
No. 769802 ID: 77f1b6

Let's test whether or not a zombie can do it by having it hold the sun brick, arm fully extended for about ten minutes or so, over the dungeon floor rather than over the reflector. If it can hold it steady without dropping it then we've got our guy.

Meanwhile, think up some backup plans in case it doesn't work out
>>
No. 769818 ID: 3abd97

>assuming somebody can hold the sun brick steady at the focal point until then.
>Any clever plans, or steady-handed volunteers?
Finagling a way to hold an object perfectly steady with a little prep work sounds like exactly the kind of thing Maria's power would be suited for. Bind the sun stone in place such that it can't move from that position (until released). Or bind whoever / whatever is holding it to be perfectly still (until released) despite discomfort.
>>
No. 769869 ID: 4201a2

>>769789
>using brass balm as adhesive
Speaking as the doctor, Yisheng Ji refuses to allow his remaining supply of brass balm be used for non-healing purposes without the guarantee of his supply being refreshed as a result. He suggests perhaps Djan could craft sturdy metal wire to affix the brick instead.

>>769517
>ascending a shaft of unknown purpose, of which both the top and bottom are also unknown
Even if there were ample footholds to make ascension easy, Yisheng Ji would still refuse to attempt it without knowing at least something about the shaft ahead of time. In such a narrow space, a large boulder or other somesuch thing could easily fall down without warning, and there would be no way to evade it. Yisheng Ji would really prefer not to be crushed to death.

>>769693
>red ooze
Seeing no particular use for his presence at the dead-end, Yisheng Ji will turn back to meet up with Davina, and become aware of the red ooze. Noting the color, he'll wonder aloud whether it is immune to the effects of fire, or if it is merely a a semi-transparent ooze engorged with the blood of its victims. He suggests that if the party has something flammable they can afford to squander on an experiment, it would be worth testing that.
>>
No. 769887 ID: d31055

Hore... Hore reluctantly offers her cybernetics as wire and other metal scrap. It's not much, but it will do.
>>
No. 769909 ID: a107fd

>>769887
Futuristic cybernetics contain too many platinum-group metals and exotic alloys for Djan to work with (which might be a good thing for Hore, in the long term),
>>769498
but if Maru's willing to donate most of her copper coins,
>>769789
and Vos is willing to have some excess brass plucked from his own day-old wounds (incidentally reducing the mobility penalty, although it's extremely painful on the way out), that's just enough material for the amount of
>>769869
>sturdy metal wire
>>769818
that Maria needs to bind three meat puppets together as a tripod, leaning over the mirror-lens to support the sun-brick by friction between their outstretched palms.

As a convenient side effect of having the light source's sides thus covered with translucent, smoldering flesh, it's now much safer to look directly at the assembly from ground level.

>>769869
>Yisheng Ji will turn back to meet up with Davina, and become aware of the red ooze. Noting the color, he'll wonder aloud whether it is immune to the effects of fire,

Yisheng Ji's magic can create and project small amounts of fire, just enough to light a candle from across the room, kill an ordinary-sized insect, possibly scare off a larger animal. Used as an attack, this seems to cause some damage to the slime-beast, but not enough to destroy it in any kind of hurry, nor delay it's tidally slow advance.
>>
No. 769911 ID: 77f1b6

>>769909
Maru donates without complaint; what's a few coppers to get us out of here?
>>
No. 769921 ID: 2169b1

As much as Maria would rather not touch shambling undead constructs of terror, she admits that everyone does have a pretty good idea, and agrees to binding the undead together with wire. It should be able to hold them still, especially due to their nature as undead.

Daniel thinks it's a pretty good idea too, but seems a bit concerned at the idea of Vos donating brass from his wounds. He offers to heal up any minor bleeding and such that said brass donation would cause, more comfortably warm flames erupting on his hands.
>>
No. 769934 ID: 595d54

rolled 4, 4, 4 = 12

Djan's amenable to the plan once it's clear he doesn't have to touch the zombies himself, and he's quick to begin reshaping the coins into wire.

"So... what're we gonna do once we get out of here, lads?"
>>
No. 769956 ID: 74621b

rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13

>>769909
>ooze suffers damage from fire
Satisfied with the results of his brief experiment, Yisheng Ji will unhurriedly retrieve his concealed bottle of Greekfire, and with a careful windup, make this ooze's day much, much worse.
>>
No. 769958 ID: 77f1b6

>>769934
"Women, gode, bar fights , and grog, in dat orda. What about yaself old soldier? I know ya don't care much for gode on account of the 'ives 'nd all, but I bet stiff drink topside is up on ya list 'innit?"
>>
No. 769986 ID: a107fd

At this point, Davina can see ceiling above the top of the shaft clearly enough to 'port, but there's no apparent safe way to establish line of sight to the actual floor up there. Could be a steep slippery slope, a funnel leading back into the shaft. Could be spikes, or some other horrible trap. Could be almost anything. Once Davina is up there, the only surfaces she can count on to push off of will be the ceiling itself, and the walls of the shaft, which - assuming an actual room up there, fifteen or twenty feet ceiling to floor - gives her approximately one second to peer into relative darkness, with a spotlight shining from below, chose a safe spot to land, then either catch the rim one-handed (can't just drop your ancestral sword, might impale an ally, or worse yet the floor, hard enough to snap the tip off) or make a second cut. Not an easy task, and failure could mean a terminal-velocity fall. So, gimme a roll for that.

>>769956
There's a satisfying roar of immediate combustion when the glass shatters. Before the good doctor can be sure of a kill, the scene is obscured by billowing smoke, within which lurid yellow-orange light dances to the crackles and pops of foul living liquid boiling away.
>>
No. 769994 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 5, 4 = 15

>"So... what're we gonna do once we get out of here, lads?"
*Quietly* Restore my family name to the status it deserves, and see that the chain remains unbroken.

>can't just drop your ancestral sword, might impale an ally, or worse yet the floor, hard enough to snap the tip of
Nevermind that the very thought of dropping it is offensive. That's no way to treat a weapon of that caliber, let a lone the living symbol of your legacy.

>Not an easy task, and failure could mean a terminal-velocity fall. So, gimme a roll for that.
(Well terminal velocity would seconds to achieve (around 8 seconds to get most the way there for a skydiver, ignoring the fact Dav won't be in a diving pose but is probably wearing more metal), depending on several factors. Moot point though, since I don't know how fast I have to be moving before functionally being in a moving reference frame breaks everything. Falling faster than I can run, I'm guessing?).

Davina will take a ready pose. She closes her eyes, and take a meditative breath to center herself. This is no time for distractions, and her physical form remains steady.

"I suggest standing back. If I fail to open a safe path I may be able to recover from it, but a portal opened in free fall will cause collateral damage."

Another beat, her eyes focus on her destination, and she cuts and steps, in between one breath and the next.
>>
No. 770000 ID: 3175ff

rolled 1, 5, 3 = 9

>> "So... what're we gonna do once we get out of here, lads?"
Hore would like to stick to the party and keep adventuring, though she'd rather stay away from dungeons for the next five years. Too many traps and unfair battles. But as for the short-term, she's going to buy an old hog from the local farm, murder it in front of schoolchildren, give a bloody lecture to said children about the various organs that make up the digestive system and the basic theorems of genetics and biology, and then serve the hog to the party herself using her... Hore decides to go with a basic butter-and-horseradish sauce recipe that she learned on her previous mercenary missions. Screw her special 'sauce', these people don't deserve to be tortured.

Hore decides to contribute mathematically! Carefully observing the shaft and the angle that light comes through, using the best of her damaged cybernetics, she tries to calculate the approximate height of the actual shaft, the angle that it may be slanted in, and the composition of the walls as to whether they can hold a person or can be punched through without breaking the dirt. Hore also volunteers for any menial tasks that need getting done, as she expects to contribute little mentally.
>>
No. 770008 ID: 2169b1

>>769934
Maria shrugs at the question of what comes next, taking the wire and beginning to shape it. She feels a sense of decreasing freedom with each twist, movement and the very universe itself hindered with magic and simple mathematics. Daniel had always told her it was wrong to feel good about it, but... she felt good about it. "I suppose I shall continue my travels. Purifying evil, spreading Agatia's gospel, and perhaps settling down to begin a new generation of Purging Children in time."

Daniel seems to be considering the question. "W-well... I guess I'll keep travelling with Maria... u-unless I find a reason not to. Or someone else I'd prefer to travel with..."
>>
No. 770016 ID: 77f1b6

>>769986
>Not an easy task, and failure could mean a terminal-velocity fall.

>>769994
>rolled 6, 5, 4 = 15

Shite.
>>
No. 770019 ID: af6e04

>>769921
Vos graciously accepts the offer of healing, nuzzling Daniel in appreciation.

>>769994
Once Davina begins her cut, Vos' attention immediately snaps to her. He skitters back over to the shaft to look up and watch what happens.
>>
No. 770025 ID: 595d54

>>769958
"Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good. A stiff drink, hot water, and a soft bed."
>>
No. 770026 ID: a107fd

>>769994
The good news is, it's an actual room up there, with a full thirty feet of ceiling, and Davina managed to angle the portal such that she came through on an upward trajectory. Probably two full seconds of observation time. Clever trick with a twist of the blade sent a thin beam of light zipping across the floor to sweep for adequate flat spots.

The even better news is, she's not dead yet, or even all that seriously injured, and the cave isn't imploding from a catastrophic dimensional rupture.

Bad news is, twisting the blade around for illumination meant that, in the crucial moment where her fingertips brushed the ceiling, a practiced cutting motion was executed with the flat of the blade rather than the edge. The second portal didn't form correctly, just produced enough of a distortion to dissipate and spoil the momentum needed for plan B, continuing forward and planting her feet on solid ground. Landing was basically a graceless belly-flop. Lower half of her body is dangling over empty air, and there's a distinct shortage of hand holds with which to pull herself the rest of the way up.

Worse news is, her armor took the brunt of the impact. Sure, that's better than whatever ruptured organs or broken bones might have otherwise resulted from falling nine yards and then being punched in the gut with an immovable mass of black marble, but now the plate's all bent and dented, interfering with her ability to breathe.

>>770019
Vos observes one of Davina's boots falling. Roll to defend, and specify whether you're trying to dodge or catch it.
>>
No. 770028 ID: 094652

rolled 1, 3, 1 = 5

Hore tries to catch the boot. Might be a little hard, considering she has only eight fingers. So she decides to use her spear to stab it at an angle.
>>
No. 770035 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 3, 5 = 9

>>770026
Death by terminal velocity boot, a fitting end. Vos will dodge, in case Hore doesn't ninja snatch it out of the air above him.
>>
No. 770037 ID: 3abd97

>plate dented
Well, if I can manage not to fall to death or suffocate, Djan can fix that.

>>770026
Was it the second portal that dissipated, or just the momentum?

More importantly: do the currently established portals leave a path others are capable of following? What's the ground team see from the ground-side portal?
>>
No. 770039 ID: a107fd

Davina's portals tend to stay open longer the more rushed and ragged they are. That first one was carefully planned for precision, and thus very clean. Anyone who wants to follow her up there, maybe try to help, had better hurry.

>>770028
One short of a critical success. The boot is successfully intercepted before it would have struck the mirror, but in the process is punctured and torn severely enough that it will no longer be usable as a boot until repaired.

>>770035
Vos successfully dodges Hore's spear-thrust.
>>
No. 770040 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 3, 2 = 11

>>770039
>Anyone who wants to follow her up there, maybe try to help, had better hurry.
Vos jump through without a moment's hesitation. Trying to land on solid ground without actually landing on top of Davina.
>>
No. 770042 ID: 77f1b6

>>770039
Ronk 'n roll babes, Maru tries to rush Ji and the others through the portal before it closes, going last of the living party members.
>>
No. 770043 ID: a107fd

>>770037
>Was it the second portal that dissipated, or just the momentum?
Mostly the momentum. Instead of an actual portal, it's the hyperspatial equivalent of a skinned knee. Looks like heat ripples, works sorta like a tiny patch of 'solid fog.'

>What's the ground team see from the ground-side portal?
Facing almost directly upward, so mostly they see the eerie ripple-edged shadow it's casting on the ceiling.
>>
No. 770044 ID: 2169b1

Daniel blushes intensely at Vos' nuzzling, pretty sure his attraction has upgraded from "vague crush" to "actual crush". "It's, uh, n-no problem..." he says.

Maria is currently just waiting for more work to do, muttering more prayers and occasionally checking the tightness of her ropes on her shoulders.
>>
No. 770045 ID: 2169b1

>>770044
oh, fuck, missed the update. Daniel still does the whole "big gay crush" thing, but also brings himself and Maria through the portal.
>>
No. 770047 ID: 3abd97

>>770042
>>770045
Uh, guys, I think you missed a detail. The portal opens mid air. This isn't a nice safe one. At the very least it's going to take a roll for the jump.

We don't need everyone through before it expires (if fact that would almost certainly lead to a pile up on a cliff and someone dying) we just need a person or two who can make the leap and then help Dav up off the edge and out of her armor. Assuming that happens, she can then open a nice, safe portal back down to ground level.
>>
No. 770050 ID: a107fd

>>770040
Unfortunately, Davina is sprawled across the most convenient bits of solid ground, and her exact position isn't visible until it's too late. Vos plants a foot right between her shoulders (on more armor, fortunately, though ribs creak in protest nonetheless) and narrowly avoids kicking her in the back of the head as he stumbles to a stop.

The room at the top is 50' square, with the shaft in the center of the floor, and only one other obvious exit: through the center of the south wall, a steep flight of stairs leading up to a massive 10' diameter iron vault door, it's top edge level with the ceiling.
>>
No. 770052 ID: 2169b1
770052

>>770050
Is it too late to change my mind again and just go with my first post? I'd rather not murder Davina.
>>
No. 770053 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 5, 5 = 15

>>770050
Vos wastes no time turning around and dragging Davina to solid ground, ignoring any personal injury resulting from the fall.

He'll ask if Davina is okay, and upon noticing her breathing difficulties attempt to disassemble her breast plate.
>>
No. 770054 ID: 77f1b6

>>770052
Probably not with Maru sheparding everyone through the portal- she's rather insistent, even if you hadn't made it an action to go through on your own
>>
No. 770056 ID: 750f88

Eric walks up to the mutated undead and examines it. Is it still in pain? Dead? He wants to know real quick.

Also, are his main undead still about? Im talking about Dan, Dangle, Dipper, Delilah, and Dodger. I know Bob was defeated on the field of combat, but are the others still around.
>>
No. 770058 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13

Rolling to haul myself up and not get killed by Vos' clumsy handling. (Although he is a grapple, and should have that bonus helping him).

>>770052
Considering you didn't roll for it yet, and apparently misread the situation, probably not? There's no reason to force characters to do something suicidally stupid because their players ignore something that should be obvious to the character. (I had an action ignored for critical failing to understand part of the battlefield in the first zombie fight).

I mean just stepping through without a jump means falling strait down. And Maru didn't roll to force you through either?

>>770054
>There's no reason to force characters to do something suicidally stupid because their players ignore something that should be obvious
>portal opens mid air
Hint hint.
>>
No. 770061 ID: 74621b

>>770042
>>770054
>Maru trying to get Yisheng Ji to go where she wants
Unlikely. At this point, Yisheng Ji is rather ill-disposed to doing anything Maru wants him to, and won't move away from observing the slimefire on her word alone. He certainly won't allow himself to be hustled anywhere by force if he can possibly help it.
>>
No. 770062 ID: 3abd97

>>770061
Although Ji's ability means it would probably be easier for him to jump from the portal to the ledge safely than anyone else.
>>
No. 770067 ID: 74621b

>>770062
True, but there's such a thing as common courtesy and explaining a dangerous situation before attempting to forcibly thrust someone into it. Yisheng Ji has had rather enough of blindly leaping into deathtraps.

If he's close enough to the situation to actually hear everyone panicking and rushing to their untimely deaths without needing to actively listen for it, Yisheng Ji will begrudgingly turn from what he's doing to see what the matter is. Otherwise, there are seven other party members who could fetch him. If only Maru has approached him to try to get him to hurry up and go somewhere, well, he's heard that story before.
>>
No. 770068 ID: af6e04

>>770062
Ji is halfway down the very long hallway preoccupied with his fascination for sentient strawberry jelly. You'll just have to settle with eel-man rescue!
>>
No. 770071 ID: a107fd

>>770053
>Vos wastes no time turning around and dragging Davina to solid ground, ignoring any personal injury
>rolled 5, 5, 5 = 15
Triple fives! Not as exciting as triple sevens, but let's see what you've won...
Under stress, people tend to fall back on instinct, or training. A shadowy wrestler moves toward the trampled fencer's left side, setting up for an arm-lock, but she's still got a grip on her family sword. She parries without conscious thought. Slices up the inside of his elbow real good. Lots of blood, and may have damaged the tendon connecting bicep to forearm.

Adding liquid to that polished marble floor does not make it any easier to grip.

>>770056
>Eric walks up to the mutated undead and examines it. Is it still in pain?
No, seems to have recovered from the effect within less than a minute.
>Dead?
Tricky question! Overall, 'bout as much as it was before.
>Also, are his main undead still about?
Yep. Got ten more, lost one of those under mysterious circumstances on a scouting run.

>>770054
If Maru's going to go full Hamelin and try to herd the rest of the party in like lemmings, while Davina and Vos are both protesting how it's not safe yet, you'll need to roll for that.
>>
No. 770075 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 1, 5 = 11

>>770071
Not the jackpot I was hoping for!

Vos screeches in pain and recoils momentarily, falling onto his eel butt. After a moment to gather himself, he lurches forward again and tries to grasp Davina's sword arm. He pulls with all his strength, scrambling to find purchase as his feet slip in his own blood.
>>
No. 770078 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 6, 3 = 12

>She parries without conscious thought. Slices up the inside of his elbow real good. Lots of blood, and may have damaged the tendon connecting bicep to forearm.
Davina freezes when she realizes what she's done.

In between labored breathing she manages to choke out a swear and "Vos. I'm sorry."

Rolling for... not maiming Vos any further and cooperating with his rescue I guess.
>>
No. 770079 ID: a107fd

>>770058
>haul myself up
>rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13
You manage to slip the fingernails of your right hand into some tiny crack in the stone, so you're not slipping further down just yet, but if you pull harder they might break off.

New personal side-quest: raise a statue of that old athletics tutor, somewhere your heirs will have to look at it on a regular basis, engraved with the words "Clever Tricks Won't Help If You Neglect The Fundamentals." Climbing practice always seemed like a waste of time.

>>770067
>begrudgingly turn from what he's doing to see what the matter is
By the time he gets back, Davina's initial portal has closed.
>>
No. 770093 ID: a107fd

>>770078
>>770075
Once Davina's leg is over the rim, it's easy. Standing up, and then unbuckling the armor (with skilled assistance) is a matter of a few seconds. Between those deep dents and the subsequent wallow in a puddle of blood, both plates are kind of a mess, but nothing a competent armorer couldn't fix,

Obvious potential priorities:
*checking out that big circular door
*staring into the spotlight, to portal back down
*shouting tactical info at the rest of the party
*shouting instructions at the rest of the party
*improvising some bandages for Vos's arm
*applying mutations to Vos's arm
>>
No. 770129 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 4 = 11

Okay. First things first. Move to assist Vos (at a glance, how serious does the injury look to someone used to inflicting that kind of injury, pressure to reduce bleeding) and quick spot check / look around the room to make sure nothing has appeared to attack us while we're vulnerable.

It's Ji's call if he wants to try and deal with his injury by calling down holy mutations. If not we'll move onto other measures.

I assume portalling down is a problem, since starring down into the spotlight would mean I probably can't actually see the floor actual floor, and risk missing the target and opening the portal at the wrong height.

I'll yell down for one of our allies to cover the silver mirror so I can look down.
>>
No. 770130 ID: 3abd97

>It's Ji's call
Vos's.

Getting ahead of myself, we haven't got to the healer yet.
>>
No. 770137 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 4, 1 = 9

Roll for mutagenic healing!
>>
No. 770143 ID: 2169b1

rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13

Maria has been staring up at the hole in the ceiling for a bit, biting her lower lip in a combination of nerves and concentration. What the heck's going on up there?

Unfortunately, in her distraction, a droplet of Vos' spilled blood lands on her exposed teeth... which causes her to draw them back in in surprise, the coppery, salty taste spreading across her tongue.

Oh no...

Daniel realizes there's something wrong before she does, and he immediately goes to hug his shaking sister, warm golden flames flaring across his body.

"What the hell's going on?!?" He shouts up, a bit dismayed.

Rolling for phobia.
>>
No. 770149 ID: a107fd

>>770129
>how serious does the injury look
Pretty serious. That heavy lifting he just did tore it open even further. The brachial artery... might be intact, but appears to be exposed to the air.

>look around the room to make sure nothing has appeared
Nothing making noise except you two, and echoes from the bottom of the shaft. Nothing moving except your own oddly-angled shadows cast on glossy black marble. Some quality of the room's neat, tidy, perfectly square corners gives Davina the flickering heebie-jeebies, but she keeps it under control for the time being. Roll again for that phobia if you have to spend more than ten minutes here.
>>
No. 770158 ID: a107fd

>>770143
Failure by 1, so rolling on the Fright Check table: 2, 1, 1, = 4 plus the margin of failure adds up to five. Looking that up on the table...

>4, 5 – Stunned for one second, then
recover automatically

Maria shudders with disgust and horror, spits out the offending material, but otherwise seems to handle the incident remarkably well.
>>
No. 770165 ID: 9f3729

A slightly overweight man flies screaming down from the ceiling and onto the floor with a heavy thud.

Geoffrey Vargas, former Royal Guardsman and professional coward, hazily makes his way to his feet.
Mumbling something about "fucking vampires," the man wipes his bloodied nose and surveys his surroundings, spear at the ready.

[Character Info!]
Name: Geoffrey Vargas

Race: Human

Class: Rich Bastard

Higher ambition: Being safe and happy

Low Ambition: Being safe and happy, at all costs

Phobia: pretty much everything that's even partially dangerous

Innate Ability: Is able to physically escape from anything hostile to him.

Supernatural Vulnerability: Cursed with bad luck as part of this power. Not catastrophically bad, but certainly enough to cause him to suffer a wicked papercut or unfortunate stumble now and then. Supernatural escapism only works against hostile living creatures, so a good trap will still get him good.

left hip, right hip, top of head,

Equipment:
-standard kit, plus:
-Battered plate-mail, chest slot
-single plate pauldron, right shoulder slot
-Spear, left shoulder slot
-Strong skullcap helmet (well maintained), Top of Head slot
-Dagger, Left Hip slot
-Self-reloading Shotgun, right hip slot (rich bastard special item) (charges new shot every two turns, only chambers one shot at a time) (feel free to nix this if too op)


>>
No. 770166 ID: 2169b1

Maria shudders at the coppery tang still left in her mouth, but for the most part she's okay. She gently hugs Daniel back, but informs him that she's okay. Daniel nods, then goes back to worrying just why there's blood falling from that hole.

He calls up again, just in case there's a chance they could hear him. "H-hello?!? Are you guys okay?"
>>
No. 770167 ID: 9f3729

>>770165
(oh, right: mutation is a physical marker for the curse, a vaguely-ominous sigil etched into the back of his shoulder. Doesn't bleed but looks RIGHT nasty.)
>>
No. 770168 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

Hore suddenly realizes that Vos is bleeding from the scent of the blood drop that Maria spit out. She begins nervously pacing around, asking when can they jump into the portal and leave. Hore realizes she forgot to tell Davina about robots, as per those strange square footprints-

Struck by inspiration, Hore begins digging through the area that had the tiny square footprints. She also proposes that they bury the entrance to this area with dirt so that anything that comes this way will take longer to find them.

Hopefully Hore will not unearth the monsters...
>>
No. 770169 ID: a107fd

>>770137
Just trying to heal, not direct the mutation toward anything specific? Alright. The wound scabs over with nubbly chitin, which then continues to spread until your entire left arm below the elbow is a big ugly crab claw. Two pincers and a smaller opposable thumb, overall dexterity comparable to wearing a mitten. Might be concealable if you had a shirt or robe with long baggy sleeves. Strapping on a shield would also help.
>>
No. 770175 ID: af6e04

>Might be concealable
Why would Vos ever want to conceal Tittivila's gift?

He clacks his new claw appreciatively a couple times and then pulls Davina into a careful nuzzling embrace. "No more stunts like that! Promise me. No more!"
>>
No. 770176 ID: a107fd

>>770165
Ambitions are too vague and too similar. How about "destroy vampires" for the higher, and "eat fruit-filled pies" for the lower?

Phobia and innate ability are WAY too broad, vulnerability... have you even been reading the thread? Everybody's got absurdly terrible luck, you can't just take a second scoop of that.

I'd say, stick with the mutation by itself. You've got a cursed brand on the back of your shoulder, which needs to be re-bandaged on a regular basis (at least every day or two) or it starts to fester, and getting hit there hurts more than it otherwise might, but your armor covers it adequately and paying close attention to aches can provide early warning of inclement weather, magical traps, or other bad news.

Replace the dagger (everybody gets one knife as part of standard kit) with a pack of clean cloth for those bandages.

If all that is acceptable, what's your plan for crossing the chessboard?
>>
No. 770182 ID: 9f3729

>>770176
[Hm, fair point. The "running away" thing is a gimmick I'm trying to weave the character around, though, so it's a bit of a catch-22 there. He's /primarily/ a coward.
Running very fast away from things that want to kill him is his skill and his profession, as a scout for a mercenary band (whoops spoilers).

I was actually planning his phobia of everything as somewhat of a problem with the curse /and/ a tie-in to his main character trait. IE, he spooks very easily and it's hard to keep a grip on him when he's running. Perhaps instead of piss-poor luck things are more likely to attack him? the goal of the curse is to keep him in perpetual terror as originally applied.

I'm amenable to those nerfs, but I would very much like to keep that aspect of him intact. Perhaps instead of easy escapes he's just supernaturally fast? Probably better to go with that actually, both for character arc fluff and working with his limitations.

On ambitions, I might have misread what lower ambition means, change that to "eat fruity pies" for sure. Problem with the higher ambition though is that he has kinda mundane aspirations.
Dude genuinely just wants to stop having things try to kill him, which has been a problem since the curse started.
Perhaps "Own an army," as a sort of way to accomplish that?


(finally, I admittedly did not. I do have context on the situation and setting, but mostly from tertiary sources on irc since I thought I could better play this particular character with limited understanding of the situation beyond "It's a deathtrap dungeon full of weirdos")]
>>
No. 770192 ID: a107fd

>>770182
Class: Rich Bastard, specialty: escapology and evasion
Higher ambition: maintain just barely enough professionalism as a mercenary to avoid being fired, then retire and collect a pension

Swap out the shotgun for an enchanted belt which provides enhanced strength and/or speed, but only during moments of heroic desperation. Combine that with the Houdini skill-set, he'll be almost superhumanly adept at slipping out of restraints, running away, hiding, etc. but only when 'properly motivated,' and when there's some logical mundane way to do so.

The brand could also make monsters prefer him, when given a choice of targets, rather than attracting additional foes outright. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120702 Everybody loves a tank who consistently draws aggro, even the healers, since such a dynamic saves them the trouble of wondering who needs attention first.

There isn't going to be any shortage of mortal peril, and you can simply choose to respond to it in a cowardly sort of way without being compelled to do so. I'm imagining a personality somewhere between Itami Youji from Gate: Thus The JSDF Fought There and Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Consider those examples in the OP: shooting energy blasts, transforming into a cloud of mist. Innate powers should be absolute and impossible, talents that no normal human could acquire through training or even major surgery. 'Escape danger' as an innate power would mean being able to outrun avalanches and hurricanes, shatter barrier wards, glitch-teleport through solid walls, and more besides. I said in the OP "obviously, you can't have any power that would makes escape trivial." What you were asking for is every power that makes escape trivial.
>>
No. 770201 ID: 3d2d5f

>He clacks his new claw appreciatively a couple times and then pulls Davina into a careful nuzzling embrace. "No more stunts like that! Promise me. No more!"
Shaken by a near death experience and maiming her rescuer (failures she should have had the skill and self control to prevent, especially the later. She's supposed to better than that. She can't afford to be less than excellent), witnessing Vos' mutation (absolutely cannot allow that being done to herself) and the display of emotion from the eel man, Davina returns the hug.

"I'll... be careful. Thank you."

(Vos continues to score all the social points. Even autocorrect is impressed, it wants to call you God).

I'll peer over the edge carefully, shielding my eyes from the spotlight. Can I make out the people on the ground, or are they obscured by the light? (If the later, someone down there may need to turn the spotlight off by covering the mirror or moving the light source so I can open a safe portal from shaft top to bottom).
>>
No. 770202 ID: 9f3729

>>770192
(Haha, true enough! This is an excellent compromise though, and I'll go with that! ONWARDS, TO SHENANIGANS)
>>
No. 770212 ID: a9068b

>>770201
Vos peeks his head out over the edge next to Davina.
>>
No. 770213 ID: bcb7d0

Eric tries to rub the tiredness from his eyes as he walks to the edge of the shaft and looks up at his companions. He tries to occupy his mind to stay awake.

"How goes it my amphibious friend? Is Lady Davina alright? I heard quite the scuffle from up there."

He tugs on his jaw-bandage, loosening up his mouth so that he can amplify his voice more easily.
>>
No. 770244 ID: a9068b

>>770213
Vos reveals his crab claw and clacks in response.
>>
No. 770247 ID: a107fd

>>770202
You're in the chessboard room, as described in the first few posts (apart from black and white being reversed). What is your plan for getting through that?

>>770201
>Can I make out the people on the ground, or are they obscured by the light?
Obscured by glare, but you've got a nice obvious fixed reference point this time thanks to the light itself, and you're not trying to go around a corner into an unfamiliar area. You could at least attempt a portal back down. If you're shouting instructions, the acoustics are favorable but it's still a significant distance. Either way, roll.
>>
No. 770265 ID: 9f3729

>>770247
Geoffrey stares blankly at the glaringly obvious trap set before him.

"Ffffuck, of course," he mutters, checking to see if he can tiptoe around the edge of the blasted thing without tripping anything.
>>
No. 770275 ID: a107fd

>>770265
Chessboard's pattern is flush with the walls on both sides. Please include a roll with any non-trivial action.
>>
No. 770278 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 1, 6 = 9

"Well, back down should be much less exciting. Hopefully I'm not breaking my promise already."

Open a portal connecting the upper room to ground level.

If successful, Davina is going to cross back and forth periodically to keep the portal open, not lingering long on the side with the disturbing geometry. Other people can go ahead and figure this next room out.
>>
No. 770282 ID: 9f3729

rolled 6, 6, 5 = 17

Geoffrey ponders, scratching at his weak and stubbly chin. He eyes his spear, then the chessboard, gauging the both of them in his head, then comes to a decision.

Stepping back as far as he's able,
He readies his spear handle-end first in front of him.
He dashes as hard as he can towards the board, determination flaring in his eyes. He jabs that shaft hard into the ground, and the shaft bends under his weight as he attempts to pole-vault over the board!
>>
No. 770300 ID: a107fd

rolled 7 = 7

>>770282
Since you neglected to specify which column, and that's a critical failure unless you've got skill 16+ (unlikely, though I'd at least consider it if somebody was actually specialized in pole-vaulting), I'm going to roll randomly. One is A, two is B, etc.
>>
No. 770303 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 4, 3 = 11

Um... Hore is still digging...
>>
No. 770306 ID: a107fd

rolled 7, 5, 1, 3, 7, 8, 6, 2 + 15 = 54

>>770282
>>770300
Geoffrey manages to trip over his own feet, snap the head off his spear, and tumble face-first along column G. His brand stops hurting for a few moments, but that sense of relief is soon replaced by a sharp tightness in his chest, a shriek that leaves him bleeding from the ears (the first five dice I just rolled, sonic damage), then muscle cramps all up and down his legs, and finally a bolt of death essence slicing into the joint where his soul connects to his body (the remainder of the roll, negative energy damage).

Skidding to a stop on G6, it feels like he's looking down at his body from above. He can't hear anything, not even the rush of blood pumping through his own ears, besides a distant thunderous voice declaiming Name your boon, mortal... though if it would cost more than 21 soul-motes to grant, I'll give you nothing, and smite you for such impudence besides.
>>768687
>>
No. 770308 ID: 9f3729

>>770306

Geoffrey wasn't quite surprised by this, just disappointed as he felt the explosion ripple through his ample body. "Oh, fuck m-" he started, cut off mid-complaint by the icy chill of his soul being severed from his body.

It took him a moment to get his bearings back, and no sooner did he get them all bunched back together did that booming disembodied voice scatter them back to the far corners of the metaphorical room.

"Oh- uh! Well most pressingly, not being dead would be nice."
A glance at his dying body jolted him to a quick amendment: "-Or dying! Very important, that one! Also, uh. Probably a bad idea to ask, but what's a soul-mote?"
>>
No. 770313 ID: a107fd

>>770303
It's slow going. Breaking up and moving enough earth to block the hallway, figure maybe five or six cubic feet per person per hour without any proper picks or shovels, thirty feet wide at the near end and at least ten feet high... call it thirty man-hours of work for every foot of thickness you want this wall to have, and a 10' high packed-earth barrier would have to be at least three feet thick to avoid collapsing under it's own weight. Hard grimy work, costing 2 or 3 FP per hour, so anybody but the meat puppets will need periodic breaks to rest, and you won't all be in top condition if something arrives while the job's half done. Might cut the work in half, and make it strategically sneakier besides, by building at the far end where it's only 15' wide, turning the eight-way room into a seven-way, but for that to be at all efficient you'd need a wheelbarrow to move the loose dirt, or at least some really big bags or baskets.

Underneath the hard-packed dirt, right below the foot-smelly bits of stone is... more dirt, with the occasional bone fragment or other bit of unidentifiable detritus.

>>770278
Portal opened, party reunited. Davina's sword still has fresh blood on it, only a tiny portion of which was wiped off on the fabric of space, and in the better light she notices that the hand-guard was slightly damaged where it struck the floor, either in that initial fall or during her struggle to pull herself up. One more thing to have a smith look at.
>>
No. 770321 ID: af6e04

>>770313
Vos goes through his usual affectionate exchanges with the rest of the party. He asks Ji to examine Davina for injuries, as she took a very nasty fall. He points his claw at the smashed breast plate for emphasis.
>>
No. 770324 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 2, 2 = 8

Dang it.

... Hore DID leap through the portal when it opened, right? Because she took a few choice bone shards and gave up when she realized there wasn't a metallic structure right behind those on-the-wall footprints.

Hore is still absentminded about all this. She asks the others if they're going to be okay. Hore is also slightly nervous... just a few more miles and they could finally leave this dungeon...

Hore also apologizes to Davina about the boot. At least the mirror is still intact.

Hore decides to look around for the square prints. She also recommends they block THIS entrance, since it's not like they're going back down to meet the sweeper anyway. Barring that, one zombie guard stationed here at the top of the shaft should give them an advantage.
>>
No. 770325 ID: 595d54

rolled 2, 3, 2 = 7

>>770321
"Can't do much about the injury, but if you'd like, I can try and fix the armor."

Rolling to fix it in case the offer's accepted.
>>
No. 770326 ID: 3abd97

>in the better light she notices that the hand-guard was slightly
Minus one thousand family legacy points. Davina eyes the damage with disappointment, acknowledging yet another failure. At least it wasn't the blade.

>Davina's sword still has fresh blood
She can still care for the blade within the limits of her ability, though. Will wipe that clean. (No slain enemies to use. If I don't have a cloth for this purpose already, I guess use one of the tripod zombies?).

>what do
Davina will politely ask if Djan is willing to straighten out her damaged breastplate. (She's not going to let him touch her sword. Sorry, nothing less than a professional is good enough for that).

She'll also reclaim her damaged boot with a dirty look at Hore.

>>770213
"I am well enough, and Vos is whole, if again altered. Thank you for your concern, Sir Grimwald." (I assume that's the correct way to address him as a peer of the upper class? I don't think background specified if Eric was a noble or just wealthy).

To the group: "A safe door to the next chamber has been opened. I bade you to advance and explore it. I shall hold the door open should we need to retreat."

(No roll, just adding flavor / dialog on top of what I was already doing).

tl;dr- safe portal guys. Head on up and explore.
>>
No. 770327 ID: a107fd

>>770308
You're already alive, and technically in stable condition, thanks to that belt's last-second boosts. Ten max HP, so 20 damage is immediately life-threatening, with the risk progressively increasing at 30, 40, 50, and finally becoming an absolute certainty at 60 damage.

Immortality in the sense of being able to bounce back from having one or more of your vital organs energetically disassembled costs fifty motes, plus another fifty for an invulnerable core to endure if your body is otherwise totally destroyed, and then either forty for the ability to regenerate severed limbs, or fifty for automatic transportation to somewhere safe and a clean start with a new body. That kind of thing is almost certainly beyond your budget, even if the basic power had severe restrictions.

Maybe pick something off that list of examples I already linked, when Yisheng Ji found the prize, instead of risking the smite. As an additional option, you could gain the ability to hibernate: sleep like a corpse, unmoving and unbreathing. Only need to wake up for half an hour every year or so, eat a meal and drink a few mouthfuls of water. Decent chance to recover from those wounds before your rations run out.

>>
No. 770330 ID: 74621b

rolled 3, 5, 3 = 11

>>770321
Right, let's see what we've got. Roll for quick diagnosis, and if necessary, a quick patch job with available resources. If Davina's injuries necessitate more major action, Yisheng Ji will put it off until a better location can be obtained.
>>
No. 770340 ID: 2169b1

Daniel feels... strange, about Vos' injury. He's a bit bothered that he didn't bother to wait for any sort of medical attention, and now he had this claw! It was so... impure! So filthy...! ...so why did he find it so fascinating?

Maria, meanwhile, is just glad nobody's dead, but a bit annoyed that nobody bothered to do any exploration. They were right there, after all!

Daniel, nervously, approaches Vos. "Er... s-sir... I'd like to ask if, perhaps, the next time we have some free time, you could... t-tell me a bit, about your deity?" He glances to Maria. "P-preferably without my sister knowing?"
>>
No. 770342 ID: a107fd

The massive vault door has an elaborate and sturdy-looking locking mechanism, with dozens of bolts all around the perimeter, on display under a plate of magically reinforced glass. There's a little ratchet-wheel you can turn to unlock the whole thing, and then just push it open, but there's no apparent way to re-lock the door from this side.

>>770325
Djan isn't actually an expert armorer, and may be distracted by how this material is soaked with the lingering itchy stink of gold, but it's still a fairly simple repair job. Just a matter of straightening out creases, then realigning the metal's internal structure to match the surrounding plate so there won't be a lingering weak point. Probably a day or three of tedious hammering and heat-treating, the normal way.

Four minutes later, looking winded and slightly nauseous, Djan returns the repaired armor. Still doesn't fit quite right, but it's tolerable.

>>770326
>a cloth for this purpose
Reasonable component of the hygiene kit integrated into that hat. A lady should be prepared for anything. Helpful instructional inscriptions on the blade-cleaning kit mention preventative techniques including 'chiburi,' essentially a simple flick of the wrist by which almost all blood can be removed before it coagulates. That kind of practicality doesn't come up quite so much in sporting duels with wire-basket helmets and padding everywhere.

>one of the tripod zombies?
Apart from Lord Grimwald's increasingly strenuous objections to having his retinue misused, the cleanest part of any of the available meat puppets is in every way less clean than the blood-encrusted portion of your ancestral sword. Might have more luck with some of that dust and debris Hore Wutashi was burrowing into, which is at least dry.
>>
No. 770349 ID: a107fd

>>770330
Right ring and pinky fingernails are torn to the quick, but that's easy enough to disinfect and bandage up. Bruises all over. No sign of internal bleeding. Distraction, mood swings, and slight oddity in the way her pupils react to light may indicate a concussion. Can't conclusively check if ribs are broken because she goes intangible wherever you poke. Rapid heartbeat (which is normal enough in stressful circumstances) more audible on the right side than the left (which is normal enough for her).
>>
No. 770352 ID: af6e04

>>770340
Vos reacts to this request like a child on Christmas morning, tittering ecstatically. "Tittivila is God of flesh and growth! Her tendrils are always open for embrace. We will talk more later. And name is Vos, not sir."

Provided a few companions are willing to accompany him, Vos will go ahead and examine the vault door. He points out that this might be a good place to rest, as the only two methods of approach are a huge metal door and a four hundred foot vertical climb. Vos says he's tired.
>>
No. 770355 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 3, 4, 1 = 8

After everyone makes it top side, Maru will take Davina off to the side and speak to her, one on one.

"Listen Gov, dat was a mighty brave fing ya just did, sticking ya neck out like that for us lot. I respect dat, and for what its worf, I cannae imagine us makin it out of dis 'ell trap widout ya. Ya've saved lives today, more dan once. If we make it out of 'ere, that's a legacy ya can be proud of now innit? I owe you 2 fold. Ya've got my body and my ax should ya find need for it.

Maru is gonna roll to check out the room, staring extra hard at anything that looks like it could be a way out. Perception/investigation.
>>
No. 770373 ID: a107fd

>>770355
No traps, no secret doors. All that black marble, and the glass on the vault door, appears to have been enchanted to be ghost-proof.
>>
No. 770406 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12

Hore taps the wheel with her spear. Then she uses it and any other spears she can borrow from the party as a fulcrum to turn the wheel at a distance.

They're wasting time. Might as well waste it safely.
>>
No. 770419 ID: 9f3729

Geoffrey thinks for a moment, idling over his choices, then a moment more passes when that thoughtful engine decides to stall out for a moment on a tangent about fruit pies.
Shaking his head clear, Geoffrey rephrases himself to the strange voice.
"Oy, ok voice, I got a better one! Healy powers, like- like I can heal fast!"
>>
No. 770425 ID: a107fd

>>770406
Vault door unlocks easily enough, after a lot of cranking. Hinges are so well-maintained, one person could push it open without noticeably straining against friction, just inertia.

Who's standing where when the door opens? As a reminder, the room is 50' square and 30' high, with the 30' diameter borehole in the center of the floor. The door is at the top of a 20' staircase set into the center of the south wall, so there's ten feet of level floor between the bottom of the stairs and the edge of the pit.

>>770419
Congratulations, you're now a moderately powerful sorcerer. Your children will likely inherit similar abilities. Casting spells with any reasonable chance of success will require precise full-body movements, and excluding any other sapient being from a fifteen foot radius around you, but you have no need to speak aloud the words of power. You know the following spells, all at skill 12:
*Lend Energy (transfer FP)
*Lend Vitality (temporary healing)
*Minor Healing (up to 3 FP to restore 3 HP)
*Major Healing (up to 4 FP to restore 8 HP)
*Great Healing (exactly 20 FP to restore all HP)
*Light (1 FP per minute for glow equivalent to candle's flame)
*Apportation (basically telekinesis)
*Deflect Missile (1 FP per parry)
Casting any of those first five spells on the same patient more than once in the same week applies a cumulative -3 to skill, except for Great Healing which is strictly one attempt per person per day, and Lend Energy where the penalty resets after four hours. This type of healing doesn't work on dead people.

Geoffrey Vargas has 10 FP, and will recover one per ten minutes while resting. Losing more FP while at 0 or less causes HP injury, one for one, so an expenditure of 16 or more FP all at once, right now, would kill him outright. His body's natural healing has a 50% chance to recover one HP per day, so getting back to positive HP with simple bed rest would take about three months, on the off chance nothing else went wrong before then.
>>
No. 770430 ID: 3d2d5f

>Who's standing where when the door opens?
Davina's been keeping the portal to the bottom of the shaft open (so if this turns out to be a dead end we can turn around without another bout of death defying acrobatics) and spending most her time on the lower side in between occasional renewal cuts up and back down (cause the room up top is unsettling her).

So by the portal, most likely on the lower side.
>>
No. 770431 ID: af6e04

Vos is probably right in front of it, since he's the one who initially went in for a closer look.
>>
No. 770432 ID: 2169b1

Maria stands wherever she can get a good shot at what's inside without being directly in the way. Daniel activates his aura and stands behind Vos, close enough that the healing warmth also hits the eel man.
>>
No. 770433 ID: 9f3729

rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10

Geoffrey, now blessed with the gift of sorcery, makes his way back to consciousness.
He immediately comes to regret his decision, clutching his skull and various extremities in sequence as the aftereffects of his misadventure makes itself known. By the end of it he has a decent stock of his various injuries, at the cost of some slightly-bloodied gloves when he found out about his bleeding ears.

Buggery.

Then the sorcery makes itself known as well, a dim reverberation of foreign knowledge assailing his thoughts as the deluge of information scrambles for the limited real-estate in Geoffrey's brain.
Geoffrey is a bit overwhelmed by all of this for a moment, understandably.

However, after a few minutes it fades, and while he's still in pain from the detonation he's at least capable of moving back to his feet...
...which are still rooted in the middle of the booby-trapped chessboard.

"Aw piss."

Deciding to delay any further chessboard shenanigans as long as he can, he instead flexes his newfound sorcery with an attempt at mending himself a bit with some Major Healing.

"Uh... 'ᚺᛠᛚᛖᚦ᛫ᛗᛁᚾᛖ᛫ᚨᛋᛋ'..?"
>>
No. 770434 ID: 77f1b6

Maru was standing near the shaft, waiting on Davina. She's got a sneaking suspicion the room is ghost proof because behind that door there are ghosts; she makes this worry known
>>
No. 770437 ID: 2588b2

Eric is next to Davina and Maru, whilst his undead are probably randomly spread around the top bit of the shaft next to their leader.

"Oi, do you need something to clean your blade? I've got this hooded cloak here that's relatively clean." He grabs at his cape and offers the underside of it to Davina.
>>
No. 770441 ID: a107fd

rolled 47 = 47

>>770433
The casting process is a weird little dance-step, possible while writhing on the floor but requiring both hands and both feet to be unrestricted. Speech is entirely optional. Spell works as intended: 6/10 FP remaining, current HP increased to negative 46. Shortly after that spell is complete, the pain of those injuries finishes catching up with him. His entire body feels like a dishrag wrung out so hard it started to tear apart, which is now being magically stitched back together. He blacks out and wakes up an hour later... (rolling for random encounters)
>>
No. 770443 ID: a107fd

>>770441
...to the smell of bacon, and the sight of several arrows embedded in the ceiling. Not actual bacon, sadly, just an incinerated corpse crumpled up next to him on square F6.

One of the dead man's hands, reaching out onto the border between F6 and G6, isn't burnt at all. In fact, it's completely intact, clutching a plain leather pouch which contains exactly 128 gold coins (worth $51,200 - enough to support an itinerant knight for almost eighteen months, or commission the construction of some small but sturdy stone building suitable for use as a village church or frontier bunker, depending on the details).

F6, the square which that roasted corpse sprawled across, is blood red. Pretty sure it was white before losing consciousness. Looking around, the whole chessboard is black-and-red instead of black-and-white now.
>>
No. 770449 ID: a107fd

>>770432
>>770431
Hore and Vos push the vault door a little bit harder than absolutely necessary, and while it seems not to be moving all that fast, it stops at the far end of it's range of movement with a boom that shakes the walls. In the dry air, that shock of white dust and apparent rapid erosion trips Vos's phobia.

On the far side, you're looking down the long axis of a 20' by 30' room, ceiling 20' high. No other apparent exits. Only obvious feature is a throne at the far end, carved from the same red stone as the borderlines on that chess puzzle. On the throne is a withered elvenoid corpse, barely more than a skeleton, in a black robe.

When Davina hears of a dead body, found alone in a room which was locked from the inside, and that somebody just shattered the rounded-off plaster out of all those straight lines and square corners, need to roll for her phobia too.
>>
No. 770452 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 6, 3 = 15

>She's got a sneaking suspicion the room is ghost proof because behind that door there are ghosts; she makes this worry known
"Zombies, slimes, ghosts. Gods grant me an enemy that bleeds."

(Maru can tell glass is ghost proof just by looking? Guess being a skald or having her weapon grants some degree of spiritual awareness or perception).

>locked room murder mystery and squirelly geometry
Welp. Rolling for not panicking, going fully intangible, and rocking back and forth humming to myself trying to calm down.
>>
No. 770458 ID: 37ebd5

rolled 2, 4, 3 = 9

Eel man is brave
>>
No. 770462 ID: d2455c

rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11

Hore, noticing Davina shaking visibly, instructs the party to muffle and hold her in case she screams again. Or goes for her weapon.

Hore decides to cheer up Davina with some Gallows Humor.

"... So the real treasure was his stupidity? Because from where I'm standing, he really wanted to keep it safe! Hey, I bet we can twist the knife further by taking the vault's expensive metal plates and shooting his body down the shaft! Heyoo!"

Hore is not good at gallows humor. She tries her best, though.
>>
No. 770463 ID: 74621b

rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11

>>770452
>crit fail on not going intangible
Farewell, Davina. Bring us back a souvenir from the center of the planet, if you can.

>>770449
>obvious trap
Yisheng Ji will urge the party to stay back for a moment before anyone enters. He'll point out the skeleton at the far end of the room, and make a request of Eric Grimwald. "Tóngzhì, are you capable of commanding that skeleton to rise from its rest upon that throne to obey your will? If it is impossible, I am beheld of a suspicion it may have already risen, and is merely biding its time until we enter. Profound caution is advised."

He also gazes up to inspect the ceiling, looking for any other possible entrances to the chamber that may be concealed, as far as is possible without actually entering the room.
>>
No. 770476 ID: 2169b1

Maria crosses her arms, frowning. "Agatia's cock, do they really expect us to fall for such an obvious trap? Like we've never seen this sort of thing before?" She raises her hands and waves them a bit. "Oh, gosh, an elven corpse on a throne when we've run into a bunch of undead already! Let me just put my guard down and start checking his pockets!"

Daniel chuckles softly. "Yeah, it does seem a bit silly, doesn't it? A bit too obvious. But we should be careful! If they're throwing something like this at us, there's probably something else we're not seeing." Daniel's aura flares. "I'm on standby for curse breaking."
>>
No. 770485 ID: a107fd

>>770452
Davina faints. She will remain unconscious - and fully intangible - for about five minutes. By the time she wakes up, the portal will be closed, and that red goo will have advanced to her current position.

>Maru can tell glass is ghost proof just by looking?
Not just at a glance. It's some subtle thing about the texture or temperature, a very indirect result of the enchantment.

>>770458
Vos notes that the middle third of one wall (to your right, the throne's left) didn't shed quite as much dust, and doesn't have any aura traces. That section somehow looks like a perfectly ordinary stone wall that has never had anything the slightest bit magically or emotionally interesting happen anywhere near it, contrasted with the usual muddle of spiritual grime on all other visible surfaces.

>>770462
Davina's limp, blurry form is unresponsive to jest, morbid or otherwise.

>>770463
>souvenir from the center of the planet
Incorporeal creatures seldom pass through solid objects thicker than their own height.

>inspect the ceiling, looking for any other possible entrances to the chamber that may be concealed, as far as is possible without actually entering the room
From this distance all you can see up there is cobwebs.
>>
No. 770486 ID: 689550

>>770463
"I must be the one to slay a creature in order to control it, but I will attempt to control it should it choose to raise up from the dead."

Is Davina's body at the top or the bottom of the shaft.
>>
No. 770487 ID: 74621b

rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16

>>770485
>Davina is at the bottom of the shaft, unconscious
How did the group already manage to get split up again? Wasn't Davina supposed to be one of the people trying to keep everyone together?

>can't see anything inside the trapped room without actually stepping into the trap
Screw that, Yisheng Ji will turn around and leave to return to observing the red ooze that he lit on fire to make sure it's dying on schedule. There's nothing in the vault even remotely appealing to him. Once he discovers Davina unconscious, he'll attempt to channel divine power into being able to lift her incorporeal body to bring her back through her own portal before it closes, at the very least so it's easier for her to re-open a portal down again when she wakes up.
>>
No. 770499 ID: 37ebd5

rolled 6, 4, 6 = 16

If Vos is aware of Davina's situation he'll try to go back down through her portal to help. Otherwise he'll cautiously enter the vault to investigate the plain wall.
>>
No. 770505 ID: 77f1b6

Maru, who is at the top of the shaft, announces to everyone in the room Davina's predicament.

"Ey mates, I fink we get a problem! Dav's freakin out down dere, and it looks like she's out cold! Eric and Goody 4 shoes over dere keep an eye on the room with our husky friend, the rest of you gimme a hand."

She turns to Ji, and asks if he's unable to lift Davina up, can he slow fall down? Davina is intangible right now, but it's likely that when she comes too the creature will dissolve her without a second thought. But if Maru can piggy back a ride down, she can try to get a running start and dive low and long over the creature, hopefully distracting it and leading it away while everyone else tries to keep Davina safe until she comes to
>>
No. 770509 ID: 3abd97

>Is Davina's body at the top or the bottom of the shaft.
Should be at the bottom. She was hanging out on the bottom (away from the freaky room, but not far enough) and occasionally passing up, and then back down through the portal to keep it active.

If anyone wanted to abandon the upper room, or find some way to move an intangible body back up with them (use a piece of that ghost proof glass to push her around, or as a stretcher?) before the door closes, you have a chance, at least, before the portal expires.
>>
No. 770523 ID: d2455c

Hore is agitated that Davina kept the portal open when there was nothing left to go back to and now she subconsciously trapped herself with an eldritch tentacle monster because she's even more scared of the corpse of a dumbass king who locked himself in an empty vault and suffocated himself to death. Hore suggests they use the sun brick to try and wake her up, or any other psychic ability that they can muster. Hore's plasma pistol could have an effect, but even if it wasn't disabled she figures it would deal extra damage to Davina in her quantum state.

Hore tells Maria and Daniel to use their lights, agitate Davina until she wakes up.
>>
No. 770533 ID: 750f88

rolled 3, 6, 5 = 14

Eric, seeing how a good chunck of the party is preparing to tend to Davina, decides to look around at the top of the shaft with his undead followers for the mechanism that would possibly make traversing the shaft easier. He would like to search for such a thing before heading down.
>>
No. 770548 ID: a107fd

>>770487
>observing the red ooze that he lit on fire to make sure it's dying on schedule
It has not been dying very much at all. Turns out topical application of a single concealable flask of greekfire isn't quite enough to cook 350 gallons of sludge.

>channel divine power into being able to lift her incorporeal body to bring her back through her own portal before it closes
>rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16
Yisheng Ji successfully grabs Davina, but then finds himself making no progress running toward the portal. His feet fail to gain traction on the floor. He's spinning in place, every step passing through dirt like it's not even there.

View through the portal is normal, but at the top of the shaft he can see the night sky.
>>
No. 770555 ID: a107fd

>>770499
>If Vos is aware of Davina's situation
>rolled 6, 4, 6 = 16
All the freaking out is happening at the bottom of the shaft, and happening fairly quietly. Portals don't transmit sound all that well.

>Otherwise he'll cautiously enter the vault to investigate the plain wall.
Cursory poking reveals that it's just the illusion of a wall, covering a 10' wide staircase leading further upward.

>>770533
>look around at the top of the shaft [...] for the mechanism that would possibly make traversing the shaft easier
>rolled 3, 6, 5 = 14
The body on that throne - which, based on hip geometry, is probably female - has a necklace with an amulet that looks like it would fit perfectly into an indentation on the vault door, right in the center of the wheel used to lock and unlock it. No other physical mechanism is in evidence.
>>
No. 770569 ID: 9f3729

rolled 2, 3, 4 = 9

>>770441
Geoffrey sits up, then blearily stares at the corpse.
Then the gold.
Then the gold again.
If Geoffrey was capable of doing it without excruciating pain he'd be doing a little dance, and starts towards it before noticing the whole scary red color scheme thing and thinking better of it.

He thinks for a bit, then gets up for another spellcast: apportation
"ᛒᚱᛜᛖᚦ᛫ᛏᛟ᛫ᛗᛖ᛫ᚦᚨᛏ᛫ᛋᚺᛁᛏ᛭," Geoffrey exclaims. He's somewhat aware it isn't actually making an effort, but it helps him focus as he does the moves to speak commands in the elder tongue.
>>
No. 770571 ID: 2169b1

Daniel carefully puts a hand on Vos' shoulder when he uncovers the illusion. "Er, Vos? Maybe we should wait for everyone else before we go up those stairs... just to be safe, right?"
>>
No. 770577 ID: 3abd97

rolled 5, 1, 3 = 9

>>/questdis/107433

Multiball time. Adding a second character while Dav is down.

(If you've been reading the dis thread you've already read 99% of this already, skip down).

tl;dr- dungeon meshi meets fire bender meets language barriers and lots of amusing mundane utility
http://pastebin.com/HMVfRZHr

>Also include an initial action and corresponding roll.
In apparent blasé indifference to her gloomy surroundings, a short and looking cheerful girl passes though the door to [whatever room I'm starting in], singing softly to herself in a strange tongue, ringed by small flames that bob and weave in time with the tune.

(Well I don't know where I am yet, so I suppose roll for spot check as I enter).
>>
No. 770584 ID: 3abd97

>Just to clarify, Rhea will be starting in the chessboard room, seeing Geoffrey Vargas amid the signs of a recent battle.
Oh, um, whups.

Rhea will stop, surprised to see what looks like a giant game board with people on it. What's that doing here? And, oh wait, is that a surface person levitating that thing from that burnt offering over there? Her first surface person!

Brightening and waving, she calls out in (accented, and less than perfect) humish

"Ah! Hello! Are you really from the surface? Are we close?"

If there's enough residue of the flame that produced the burnt corpse, I'll attempt communicating with it too, see what it has to say.
>>
No. 770609 ID: a107fd

>>770569
Spell goes off without a hitch. (It's possible, if embarrassing, to cast while laying on your back, so long as you're not tied up or sealed in a coffin or something.) The pouch, coins, and clutching severed hand all together weigh about five pounds, and any object more than 1 lb but less than 10 lb costs 2 FP to levitate, so Geoffrey is now at 8/10 FP and can concentrate to move the targeted item around at 1 yard per second for the next 60 seconds. Renewing the spell for subsequent minutes will cost more FP, but doesn't require a roll.

All his currently-known spells work best when touching the target, and will be at -1 to skill for each yard of distance, rounding up. This will only be an issue for Deflect Missile if you're trying to deflect an attack aimed at someone else. A properly enchanted and attuned staff or wand of formerly-living material (wood, bone, etc.) would count as an extension of his body, mitigating this problem somewhat.

>>770584
>If there's enough residue of the flame that produced the burnt corpse
Nope. Came and went, at least fifteen or twenty minutes ago.
>>
No. 770611 ID: 9f3729

>>770609
Geoffrey nearly loses his concentration at the sudden intrusion, bag dipping slightly before resuming it's path towards him.

"Bh- Cripes, you scared the piss outta me. My spear over there, lass?"

Near the edge of the board lays the shattered remains of Geoffrey's spear from his ill-conceived pole-vault jaunt.
>>
No. 770619 ID: 74621b

rolled 1, 2, 6 = 9

>>770548
>feet fail to gain traction on the floor
Seems like something his innate power should be able to prevent, but alright. Roll to... return to tangibility, hopefully not with his legs stuck in the ground.
>>
No. 770622 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

>>770571
Vos sees Eric eyeing the skeleton queen's amulet and the rest of the party gathered around the shaft again, seemingly already having lost interest in this scary dust room.

"Hmm...they seem busy. Think we should be fine. Stairs go up! Is a good direction."
>>
No. 770623 ID: 3abd97

For clarification, Rhea wasn't really bothered to walk into a room and discover a burnt corpse. Her people worship fire, she's a fire mage and a fire priestess, her mother is fire. In her experience, if you're a burnt corpse, you probably deserved it!

>My spear over there, lass?
Looking down and poking it the item in question with her foot. "Mmmm. Broken." Looking back up, a little less certain "Are you REALLY from the surface?"

>>770619
Maybe your power is actually making it worse? Friction-less and weightless when out of phase might take away what little ability you would have had to interact with the world to move around.

If you're seeing the actual sky because your vision is currently clipping through the ceiling, that's encouraging. We might actually be close to an exit! (If you're seeing some other plane or between place, not so much).
>>
No. 770626 ID: 9f3729

>>770623
Geoffrey sighs heavily, still not bothering to look at the intruder for fear of losing that sweet gold.
"Blegh. O'course it is. Yes, I'm from the 'surface', I'm not one o' them awful dwarf types."
He pauses.
"Oh, keep yerself off the chessboard. Trapped."
>>
No. 770627 ID: 595d54

Djan will hop up to the vault and have a look around. Once he sees the gigantic metal door, he'll check whether or not it makes him feel sick. If it doesn't, he gives it an exploratory push, tapping into the power deep in his bones, to find out how much of an effect he can achieve with reasonable effort.

If it does make him feel queasy, then he'll give it a wide berth and mention its strange composition to his companions.

(Not trying to do anything specific with his power, just looking to see how much and how quickly he can manipulate it within safe boundaries.)
>>
No. 770630 ID: d2455c

rolled 4, 5, 3 = 12

Seeing Eric work with his zombies to find the lift mechanism, Hore continues her search for the footprints and digs through them. At the top of the shaft, seeing as she can't really do anything for Davina right now.
>>
No. 770632 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12

>Yes, I'm from the 'surface', I'm not one o' them awful dwarf types.
Rhea lights up at the confirmation. Literally as well as figuratively, as the flame-wisps around her echo her excitement.

>"Oh, keep yerself off the chessboard. Trapped."
"What? It is?"

Her bubble of enthusiasm temporarily muted (again, somewhat literally), Rhea pauses and actually looks around, paying more attention to the details of her surroundings. She finally notices the chalk smudged plaque and tries to read it. Unfortunately, she's less fluent in written than spoken humish (it's not like books made their way down from the surface very often) and the poetic language and structure only make it harder to parse. Two important details stand out. That is is some kind of game and...

"Orcus?" she says, her nose crinkling in distaste. Followed by a spattering of mumbled flame speech, clearly pejorative in tone.

Rhea considers her options. The one-way door means she cannot simply turn around and bypass this chamber, but she absolutely no intention of dancing for the entertainment of the usurper. That upstart who pulled so many goblin tribes from the old ways, and who so diminished her own mother. No. That will not do at all.

Well, when one divinity stands in your way, you invoke another. A little sooner to be calling home than she was planning but... this warrants it.

Rhea backs away from the game board and begins the familiar ritual to commune with her mother. Place the idol so, pour a little oil in such a pattern, place a bit of incense there, set the offerings burning, and wrap the bronze in one of her own flames. She sits cross cross legged, and prays for guidance in safely navigating (or fouling) the moment to her faith's old enemy.

(tl;dr, sans ropelplayig: rolling for insight and/or assistance from mom slash god who should be petty motivated to stick it to Orcus whenever the opportunity presents itself. A safe way across, a way to ruin the game his cult built for him, cheating and heading right for the boon and forcing him to reward someone who opposes him? We'll see what path the flames provide).
>>
No. 770645 ID: a107fd

>>770619
Yisheng Ji has learned a new trick: he can share Davina's state of tangibility, but only while he's both in contact with her, and actively attempting to rescue her from mortal danger.

While intangible, he is effectively floating weightlessly, surrounded by illusory shadows of any material objects within a twenty-yard radius. Since things beyond that radius are invisible, and the shaft is far longer than that, he can see through the stone ceiling, earth, and possibly trees, to the dome of heaven beyond. It occurs to him that full-fledged gods, such as dear old dad, can probably slip in and out of the material world as easily as changing clothes.

Innate power lets him balance on any solid surface, and leap great distances, but not actually fly. There's probably some trick to swimming through the aether, which he doesn't have time to figure out from scratch. Instead, rescuing Davina is a simple matter of tackling her through the portal after a running start. Probably bad for those bruised ribs, but at least now he can actually assess the damage.

>>770622
Beyond the illusory wall, there's another 20' staircase, nearly identical to the previous one except that it's made from native limestone instead of black marble. At the top, instead of another circular iron door, there's a big stone slab. Hinges at the top, wrist-thick staples at the bottom, pulleys, counterweights... looks like it's designed to pivot up into the ceiling when eight separate buttons on the far side are pressed simultaneously. Should be fairly easy to bypass from this side, given any mechanical engineering skill whatsoever.

Aura sight reveals that all visible rope in the mechanism was braided and twisted together by a single artisan, over many years, as a labor of love tinged by grief. Normal sight suffices to confirm that this rope is the same color as the hair on the enthroned body in the previous room.

>>770623
>broken spear
More optimistically, it is now a somewhat splintery-handled dagger and a perfectly serviceable quarterstaff.

>>770627
No gold anywhere in the vault door. Mostly iron, more than a foot thick, with some brass for the locking mechanism. Djan could sculpt any part of it except the glass (of course) and the immediate vicinity of the "keyhole," which has some sort of magical reinforcement.

>>770630
Footprint smell continues up over the edge of the pit, circles around the perimeter, climbs the stairs, and follows Vos through the (scentless, and thus obvious) illusion of a wall. No hidden locks or levers, so whatever they use to make the footholds appear, it must be either within arm's reach of that path, or operate at a distance.

>>770632
Smudgy chalk marks on the side of the pedestal are swiftly traced through with blazing calligraphy, leaving crisp lines of charred stone, a shadow of the original text: "The poem above is entirely
false. Walk the true lines between squares; follow these and do not step on the tiles.
" It's signed "Captain Azarthraine, foremost of the Fire Hawks," so apparently mom's advice is to find and follow the advice of people who do this kind of thing for a living... and maybe to get better at reading and writing Humish, since puzzling out the meaning of those few simple sentences took longer than setting up for the prayer.
>>
No. 770661 ID: 2169b1

>>770645
Maria, who followed Daniel and Vos, has a bad feeling about this, for some reason. Perhaps the rope... "This doesn't seem right..." she says. "There could be something behind here."

Daniel raises an eyebrow. "Really, Maria? I never took you for the cautious type..."

Maria crosses her arms. "I know ominous rope when I see it, Daniel. This is ominous rope."
>>
No. 770663 ID: 37ebd5

rolled 5, 3, 2 = 10

"You have good senses, Maria. This is very ominous rope." Vos pauses and considers trying to form words for the feelings of melancholy the rope exudes, but he knows explaining such things to those without aura sight is a futile endeavor.

"Help me get door open."
>>
No. 770665 ID: 2169b1

rolled 5, 2, 5 = 12

>>770663
Maria frowns. "Fine. But this is probably going to go poorly." She says. "But if nothing attacks us, we're not touching anything in there until the others arrive. Or Daniel burns the curse out of it."

Daniel shrugs. "I... don't think that's how my powers work, but okay." He says, examining the buttons.
>>
No. 770666 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 1, 6, 2 = 9

Oh geeze does my last post have a lot of typos. Must have been up too late.

>Yisheng Ji has learned a new trick
Wow. Well, that is certainly going to get Davina's attention when she wakes.

>so apparently mom's advice is to find and follow the advice of people who do this kind of thing for a living... and maybe to get better at reading and writing Humish, since puzzling out the meaning of those few simple sentences took longer than setting up for the prayer.
The instructions were a lie? Rude. Mom was right, Orcus really is a jerk.

Rhea was planning on improving on her humish (I mean, how else will she read cookbooks?) but is surprised it became an issue so quickly. Although she found a human. Maybe she can just ask him to read the next obscure poem.

Rhea will scatter her flames ahead of her on the central border-line across the game board (like lights on a runway) and attempt to cross without stepping on any tiles.

(Since the flames are an extension of of herself she's aware of, I'm cribbing Skitter's increased spacial awareness trick, using flame blobs instead of bugs. Should reduce the chance of a misstep or loss of balance between tiles. Plus, hey, being petite makes this narrow path a bit roomier than it is for the taller elvenoids).
>>
No. 770675 ID: 595d54

rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12

>>770645
In that case, Djan will spend some time trying to see if he can sculpt out enough metal to remove the locking mechanism, or at least expose it for someone else to meddle with.

"Hey guys, the actual lock's magicked, can't mess with it directly but I can work with the door fine. It's pretty thick so I'm gonna see if I can finagle something with the lock, pull it out or uncover it for one of you to break or something. Could just carve out a big hole in the door but it's more than a foot thick, it'd take forever."
>>
No. 770677 ID: 4c2788

Eric decides to try somefin risky.

He walks over to the corpse queen sitting on her throne and kneels to her.
"My Queen...."

He shoots a quick glance up to the queen to see if anything has changed.
>>
No. 770678 ID: a107fd

>>770666
>attempt to cross without stepping on any tiles
>rolled 1, 6, 2 = 9
Rhea traverses the chessboard's borders successfully. Planning to help Geoffrey somehow, or press on to the chasm?

>>770665
>burns the curse out of it
There's an exasperated sigh from the direction of the throne. "Kids these days, it's always 'ancient curse' this and 'cleansing fire' that. Nobody asks politely."
>>
No. 770680 ID: b0ca32

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

Hore gawps. Again.

She gives Eric a quick pillow hug, then puts on her best Puppy-Eyes impression for this next trick.

"Um... may we pwease take you wif us? We would wuv to sing and dance and pway in the meadows wif you!"

Shot in the dark. Hore has abysmal charisma, but that doesn't stop people from gawking at the combination of fuzzy and sexy all the time. If this fails and the undead empress gets angry, Hore can pass herself off as a blabbermouth construct servant. If it works, it might trigger the empress' cat proximity.
>>
No. 770681 ID: 9f3729

>>770666
Geoffrey senses movement on his periphery, finally glancing over to his friendly companion.
He swears, urging the gold faster towards him.
"Augh, shit! Yer a goblin?! FF-"
Geoffrey clutches his abdomen, hissing in pain.
>>
No. 770684 ID: 2169b1
770684

Daniel leaps a foot in the goddamn air and lets out the most adorable surprised squeak ever. "I wasn't gonna burn anything!" He says.

Maria startles, then frowns. "Well, okay, that just shaved about a year off of my lifespan. Look, we don't want any trouble, okay? We're just looking around. Trying to find a way out of this place..."

Daniel hides behind Vos, hands on the eel-man's shoulders.
>>
No. 770693 ID: 37ebd5

Vos makes an amused tittering sound. "You made skeleton mad! Let's go apologize." He grabs Daniel with a comforting crab arm and heads back down the stairs.
>>
No. 770695 ID: 3d2d5f

>"Augh, shit! Yer a goblin?! FF-"
[Yelling noise, not a word, probably?] [excrement]! [Year?] [indefinite article] [goblin] (wait did I miss the verb) ?! [Stuttering]

"...yes?" Rhea responds, correctly assuming this is some kind of commentary on her own heritage, even if comprehension is hindered by Geoffrey's accent and the haste of delivery. She's not sure what to make of the apparent suprise, either. I mean, she's pretty tall for a goblin, but it's still obvious, isn't it? "Half goblin, half [goblin word for revered fire]."

>Geoffrey clutches his abdomen, hissing in pain.
"Are you well?"

What kind of shape does Geoffrey appear to be in? (To someone not performing a medical exam, and several tiles distant).
>>
No. 770706 ID: 9f3729

rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6

>>770695
"No, ya git! I tried jumping the board and fell onto a landmine!"
He snatches the bag from midair where he'd levitated it to himself, tossing the hand out onto the far end of the chessboard and stuffing it under his chestplate out of sight.
Now that you have a good look at him, he's in pretty bad shape. His clothes are in rough condition, and the sides of his head from the ears down are covered in dried blood.
Going on, as he goes for another wobbly Major Heal you see his posing is unsteady and his movements are simply painful to watch, like he'll keel over any moment.

On top of that, he's quite obese and clearly hasn't shaved in a good couple days.

He chooses to focus on his legs, so hopefully he can at least walk without passing out.


Still, the moment passed, and Geoffrey recovered from his momentary shock.

"Whatever, you seem friendly. s'long as you don't steal my eyeballs or somethin', sure."
>>
No. 770710 ID: 9f3729

>>770706
(*minor heal, fumbled it. Won't contest if you go with the orignal though, not trying to backpedal I swear.)
>>
No. 770756 ID: a107fd

>>770706
>Major Heal
>rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6
Assuming he waited for Rhea to be at least fifteen feet away, 8 or less would have succeeded. That includes the -1 penalty for having another spell active. So, Geoffrey is now at 4/10 FP, and his current HP is negative 38.

>>770695
>What kind of shape does Geoffrey appear to be in?
If two stout and hearty warriors each received half the wounds he visibly bears, it would not be unreasonable to expect both of them to die.
>>
No. 770766 ID: 3abd97

>If two stout and hearty warriors each received half the wounds he visibly bears, it would not be unreasonable to expect both of them to die.
And that's after the major heal, ouch.

>s'long as you don't steal my eyeballs or somethin', sure
*Grin* "Pickled eyeballs aren't to my taste, and I have yet to find a good recipe for candying them."

"Can you walk? The lines are safe."

At G6, Geoffrey's only two rows away from safety, and I could attempt applying the field surgery kit to him. Question is how steady he is on his feet right now. If he can't walk off that tile himself, Rhea's not exactly capable of moving him, especially not without tripping tiles. I suppose I could roll his spear shaft (quarter staff, excuse me) to use as a crutch or walking stick.
>>
No. 770769 ID: b9aa79

>>770766
Given that two grown men, at least as sturdy as the party warriors, would be dead if they took half as much damage, I find it hard to believe he can do anything. That's like running him through with a great sword, twisting it, and then turning around and doing the same thing from the back. I'm amazed he's even conscious after an hour or two of rest, despite all his healing. I would think one would bleed out from injuries that severe.
>>
No. 770843 ID: a107fd

>>770680
>may we pwease take you wif us?
>rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13
The dead woman on the red throne says that "Abandoning my post would dishonor his memory," with the same tone someone might use to explain why you shouldn't wipe your nose on the curtains, or set fire to hospitals.

>>770677
"You wish to... swear fealty to me?" She wasn't expecting that, and considers carefully for a few moments before continuing. "First of all, give me your word that you and those who serve you will never strike the person of, nor speak harshly of, nor hold imprisoned, any faithful priest of the church Deggin Tar gave his life to protect, nor despoil and plunder any shrine or temple attended by such a priest.
"Second, give me your word that whatever forces serve you will be available to make war, at my command and your own expense, for two months out of every year.
"Third... I am bored. Whenever you seek an audience with me, bring a gift. A book full of stories from distant lands, or a relic whose function is unknown, or something of that nature.
"In exchange, I will return such items to you when they hold no further interest, and share with you whatever secrets I extract therefrom, and grant you safe passage. Furthermore I will provide you with some of the cords I weave from my own hair, for whatever practical purpose rope may be used, and to display as a symbol of your allegiance, and to give to others in exchange for similar oaths."

>>770766
After TWO major heals, actually, though to be fair they prioritized internal and spiritual damage rather than the most visible stuff.

>770769
Sonic and negative energy don't cause nearly as much bleeding as, say, cutting or impaling damage. The emergency-boost belt also helped.
>>
No. 770846 ID: 094652

>>770843
Hore decides that Eric's got this and she'll cut the crap now.

"Well, I had to try. Look, there's this THING coming after us, not sure how to describe it but 'living tentacle oil monster' should be more than enough information. Our friends are stuck at the bottom of the shaft and for some reason they're intangible. As in, not solid. Don't ask. Can you make them solid in the next two minutes or get the elevator working in four?"
>>
No. 770857 ID: 2169b1

"WHO SAID ROPE, I HEARD ROPE!" Maria says as she enters the room. "Holy crap, are you gonna take the deal? Take the deal and let me have the rope! Mother of Agatia, can you imagine the sheer spiritual strength ropes formed from a queen's hair would have? Especially one heavily associated with a religion! You could garrote The Demogorgon with that sort of thing! It'd be-"

Daniel slaps a hand over Maria's mouth and blushes. "Don't mind her, she's just getting excited. Please, continue your conversation, and rest assured we don't intend on burning anything!"
>>
No. 770867 ID: 2588b2

>>770843
"All things that shall be done my queen. I shall bring no harm to such a church and it's followers, and my armies shall become yours upon request. May I ask which church Deggin Tar gave his life to protect?"

>>770857
Eric gives Maria a dirty look, but says nothing.
>>
No. 770869 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12

Vos tries to gently herd Maria and Hore out of the room so that Eric can speak with his skeleton bride in peace. He'll get a good look at her aura before he goes.
>>
No. 770934 ID: a107fd

>>770846
>Our friends are stuck at the bottom of the shaft
At the moment Hore says this, Yisheng Ji walks up behind the half-gnoll, carrying Davina (half awake and adequately tangible) in his arms.

>>770867
>All things that shall be done my queen
She flicks her fleshless fingers in an imperious gesture. Not casting, just simple silent instructions to some servant. A coil of that same supple dark blue-green rope floats out from behind the throne, landing gently in Eric's hand. It's twenty yards long, 3/16" in diameter, and weighs about a pound. She says that it will never rot, can safely support 230 pounds - inferior to cave fisher filament in that regard, but still two and a half times as strong as ordinary plant fibers - and, on command, flex itself slightly to cooperate with knot-tying, or become as stiff and rigid as steel wire. She can easily make more, in any desired thickness and up to 130 yards long, though large quantities will take some time to prepare.

As to safe passage, those riddles can simply be ignored while you're leaving, "garrald negg" must be spoken under the archway to avoid activating the guardian of breath, all the bonesuckers are sated right now, and trying to open those false double doors will drop the walkways into the guardian of bile. Everything else should be easy if you take ordinary precautions.

She murmurs to herself "I've never been a queen before. He would've liked that... always enjoyed seducing royalty. This might be fun."

>May I ask which church Deggin Tar gave his life to protect?
"Hm. I don't see any gifts, so... no. You may not ask. Were you already intending to plunder a particular shrine? To abduct, disrespect, or fight in self-defense against specific priests? I hereby forbid you and your forces from doing so, at least until I have had the opportunity to review and revise relevant battle plans."

>>770857
>You could garrote The Demogorgon with that sort of thing!
"Ah, such flattery." She giggles, and a loop of the rope unfurls from Eric's hand to extend invitingly toward Maria. "Feel free to try that, once you're properly subinfeudated, and do let me know if it works."

>>770869
>look at her aura
>rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12
She's undead, in case that wasn't already obvious. Some innate teleportation abilities, which seem to be very limited in terms of uses per day. She's also a spellcaster, capable of at least the third circle. Maybe as high as the fifth, though that could be interference from supportive enchantments on the throne. On an emotional level, she's caught up in obsessive love for somebody who definitely isn't Eric Grimwald, nor anyone else visible in the room.
>>
No. 770939 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6

>Our friends are stuck at the bottom of the shaft
>At the moment Hore says this, Yisheng Ji walks up behind the half-gnoll, carrying Davina (half awake and adequately tangible) in his arms.
"- oh. Phew. Nevertheless, ink monster. So, Queen What-Is-Your-Name-Anyway, exactly how long will it take us to reach the surface? Also, can you tell us more about the Old Empire?"

Rolling for pet-like diplomacy check. Hore is not sure if she should give the queen the sun brick.
>>
No. 770942 ID: b9aa79

>>770934
So to recap, We portaled into the ghost proof room, and found a large metal vault door. Davina was unnerved by the geometry of the room and somewhat shaken, portaled back down the shaft. Hore then opened the vault and discovered the undead sealed within, and after receiving a description of the room Davina was pushed over the edge and fainted. Ji and Maru attempted to help, with Ji being the primary force involved as he either descended down the shaft or was already at the bottom when it happened. Vos discovered a false wall that lead to a delorian style stone door, after which he turned back and began to check out the undead, to whom Eric was swearing fealty to. Now, at this point and time Ji has arrived back in the sealed room, with Davina, likely via tackling her through the portal while it was still up. >>770645 Davina is waking up, the party is united, and the sealed undead is not altogether hostile, and while it's making some rather questionable demands for everyone to be so gung ho about accepted right off the bat, we're currently safe and have an idea of where to go next.

Maru, upon seeing the safe return of Davina will approach the undead.
"I can understand boredom right eas'ly 'nough, I bet ya da type to fancy a good tale ain't ya? As long as we're safe in 'ere, I could spin ya a yarn of some 'eroics, in return for some answers. And, a 'eads up for ya, dese 'ere ruins 'ave been just dat for a while now. I ain't sure 'ow firm ya grasp is on da passage of time, but it's not unlikely dat yave been dead for a while now mate. Not sure if ya keen on such fings, but if we've time for a short rest I've got some pipeweed to pass around for anyone inclined."

Maru takes a seat, resting against the wall opposite to the false one, and breaks out her smoking supplies, beginning to pack a small bowl of pipeweed into her pipe.
>>
No. 770947 ID: 3abd97

>Yisheng Ji walks up behind the half-gnoll, carrying Davina (half awake and adequately tangible) in his arms.
Groggy and not exactly sure how she got where she is, and entirely unused to being held, steady and safe (something that no one has been able to do reliably since before her accident, bringing forth happy memories of her mother and childhood) Davina opts to say and do nothing, savoring the moment.

>3rd to 5th circle undead caster
Well we're lucky diplomacy worked.

>Hore is not sure if she should give the queen the sun brick.
Unless someone unbound it from the zombie tripod before the portal expired, it's currently at the bottom of the shaft, maybe being eaten by a slime. (And Maria is likely the only one who could have undone her binding quickly or easily).

>unable to speak ill of or defend ourselves from any priest
...well we better keep a tight leash on Maru's mouth. (And this potentially has amusing consequences if / when this group runs into Rhea).
>>
No. 770952 ID: b9aa79

>>770947
>we better keep a tight leash on Maru

The memory of Maru "fumbling" the interaction with the possibly-cultists-behind-the-locked-door earlier hasn't escaped either of their memories. She nods in silent acknowledgement to Davina that she'll try not to piss off the undead caster, especially when she's already not hostile, and doesn't have any visible treasure that might be procured via combat. Emphasis on the silent part
>>
No. 770978 ID: 750f88

>>770934
"I give thanks for such a serviceable gift, and for such important information towards my protection my queen. I shall treasure your gifts always, and shall begin my search for a gift to use next time we are to meet. "

Eric bows his head once again, then goes to put the hair-rope on his belt. He stops when Maria states that she wants the hair of magical properties. He looks conflicted.
>>
No. 771002 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 6, 6 = 17

Vos considers joining Maru, but the dry air stinging his nostrils and visions of his skin shriveling and cracking force him to slip out through the secret wall to take another look at the door. Roll to open it.
>>
No. 771004 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 6, 4 = 14

Hore will help.
>>
No. 771005 ID: 595d54

>>770675
(Does anything happen?)
>>
No. 771052 ID: a107fd

>>770939
>So, Queen What-Is-Your-Name-Anyway,
>rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6
"The more correct form of address would be 'Queen Aaphia,' or just 'your majesty.' Are you one of my new vassal's hunting hounds?"
>exactly how long will it take us to reach the surface?
"Perhaps less than an hour from here, depending heavily on how much you screw around."
>can you tell us more about the Old Empire?
"I can, but I..."

>>770675
Djan is sinking his hands slowly but steadily into the metal of the door as if it were thick clay, spreading ripples of rust as he goes, when the dead woman on the throne notices. She shouts that he should desist immediately, and reverse whatever damage he just caused if at all possible. Then, without waiting for a response, she begins readying some sort of ranged attack spell.

>>771002
Skipping the 'fiendishly complex' mechanism altogether, Vos opts to simply plant his boots on the riser of the topmost stair and haul on one of those staples, lifting by main force. There's an unpleasant twanging sensation in his back, followed by a sickening crunch when the door slides down to pin one of his feet.

>>771004
Hore's engineering skills successfully identify the latches, four on each side, which must be pushed out of the way in order to release counterweights and raise the door easily. Moments later, Vos's foot is no longer pinned (still structurally compromised, though) and the way forward is open.

Beyond the door is a 40' by 50' room with a high vaulted ceiling, and an open hallway 20' wide leading off to the right. Every surface except the floor is covered with an elaborate and strangely beautiful mural showing mortals (elvenoid, eohippid, and goblinoid, with troll-kin conspicuously absent) being tortured by various demons. In some cases the mortals are partially transformed, or otherwise given demonic aspect, and then turn around to inflict new torments on their former peers. The door has a slightly irregular shape, tightly fitted into the adjacent stone, while figures in the mural are cunningly arranged to draw an observer's eye away from the seam.
>>
No. 771055 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13

>>771052
Vos screeches and tries to catch himself before he falls down the stairs. He'll drag himself fully into the newly opened room and survey the damage.
>>
No. 771056 ID: a107fd

>>771055
Vos's right boot, the same one he stepped on Davina with (they can be destroyed-footwear buddies!), has more or less been creased and folded at a point halfway between the heel and toe. Attempts to peel it off and examine the mangled contents result in more pain than progress.
>>
No. 771057 ID: 2169b1

Daniel panics a little at Vos' incredibly horrible wound, and immediately grazes his hands against Vos' boot, trying to heal it as much as he possibly can, even though he's not really the best for this sort of thing.

"Here, l-let me see what I can do!" he says.
>>
No. 771059 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11

>>771056
Drool drips from the eel-man's mouth as he opens his jaw wide and lets out a sobbing moan. Trying not to pass out from the pain, he'll fumble for his spear and use it to try to cut the stitching and separate the sole from the leather upper part of the boot.
>>
No. 771062 ID: b9aa79

Maru yells out to Djan, not moving from her seat by the wall.

"Ey mate, ya fekkin inbred? Da doors open and ya wreakin our 'ost's fings widout a second fought. Maybe knock it da feck off will ya?"
>>
No. 771068 ID: 2169b1

Maria bites her lip at the queen's extension of the rope, reaching out as if she plans to take it... but then she stops.

"I can't... I've sworn fealty to Agatia, and I'm afraid swearing fealty to another would simply cause more issues than I could deal with. Though your mercy upon us is appreciated."
>>
No. 771099 ID: 2169b1

rolled 5, 2, 1 = 8

>>771057
I've just been informed I should probably roll for the healing, so I'm doing that.
>>
No. 771131 ID: a107fd

>>771059
>>771099
Daniel and Vos manage to get the boot (and underlying sock) peeled away from the injured area in a reasonable number of pieces, disinfect everything, and stop the bleeding, but a purifying aura isn't ideally suited to reassembling and knitting together a mass of bone fragments like a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. Restoring the functionality of that foot will require either mundane surgical expertise beyond anything money can normally buy, or more powerful and/or specialized magic, or some kind of splint or prosthetic.
>>
No. 771137 ID: 2b2d4d

Hore is panicking from the sudden injury Vos inflicted on himself next to her just before she opened the door for him, but her mind is racing rather than frozen.

"HEY, Queen Aaphia, does that rope help with injuries? Eric, make a splint out of these two spears and the rope! Queen Aaphia, can you close the main entrance before the Sweeper finds its way here? Everyone get inside, barricade the entrance, and take a few deep breaths! If any of you will freak out at demonic torture in watercolor, don't stare at the walls! Queen Aaphina, this way leads out, right? We're getting out of here, right? Right? RIGHT?!"
>>
No. 771139 ID: b9aa79

>>771131
Maru looks at Vos' injuries and sets aside her pipe for the moment. She informs him that if he can't find a way to heal his foot somehow, it's going to get infected, and likely kill him. Unless he can get it mutated or healed somehow before they leave the room, she suggests he let her, or Davina is she's willing, amputate it. They can make a fire beforehand and cauterize directly afterwards to keep it sanitized and safe from infection. If the surface is really as close as the recently apointed queen says it is, they've got enough people here to ensure he makes it out and has time to heal properly.

All this is of course only relevant if Vos cannot mutate or heal the damage foot in some way. Haven't been keeping track of Ji's chi healing pool, but that might be enough to solve the problem before we have to go to more drastic lengths
>>
No. 771140 ID: 91cfcf

rolled 5, 5, 2 = 12

>>771062
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fixing it! I was trying to work the door before she did anything, jackass!"

The orc abandons his efforts quickly, smoothing over any indents he might have made before steeping back.
>>
No. 771142 ID: b9aa79

>>771140
>jackass

Maru brays like a donkey in response
>>
No. 771143 ID: 9ab5d3

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

>>771131
Or just a little faith in one's patron deity! Vos waves Maru away and, his hand/claw shaking, prepares to perform the flesh blessing. He'll experiment this time, trying to reshape his lower leg into a cloven hoof. It this is moderately successful, he will perform the same procedure on the other foot. (symmetry is probably important in this situation)
>>
No. 771145 ID: 2b2d4d

... Hore considers the biological implications of mutating ones boneshard-scattered foot into a pure bone structure by means of magical transmutation -

"OH ^&*( WAIT-"
>>
No. 771155 ID: a107fd

>>770942
>As long as we're safe in 'ere, I could spin ya a yarn of some 'eroics, in return for some answers. And, a 'eads up for ya, dese 'ere ruins 'ave been just dat for a while now. I ain't sure 'ow firm ya grasp is on da passage of time, but it's not unlikely dat yave been dead for a while now mate.

"Thank you for the offer, but no. Ephemeral performances hold little interest. I'm well aware of the passage of time. Reading material, or something else intriguing, to be studied at leisure, is what I'd prefer."

>>771139
>Haven't been keeping track of Ji's chi healing pool,
It's empty at the moment.

>>771140
Once Djan is finished cleaning up after himself, she allows the spell to dissipate harmlessly, and commands you all to get out of her sight.

>>771143
>He'll experiment this time, trying to reshape his lower leg into a cloven hoof
>rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12
A proper digitigrade leg fails to form. Instead, it's more of a sturdy chitinous spike extruded from his undamaged heel, leaving the mangled foot in place. High enough that the injured portion wouldn't be dragging along the ground, but walking will be very lopsided unless you can acquire a crutch long enough to qualify as half a pair of stilts.

>It this is moderately successful, he will perform the same procedure on the other foot. (symmetry is probably important in this situation)
>rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12
>adding mutations to an undamaged body part, with no cooldown time
Both legs shrivel up into stumpy flippers, adding a matching spike for the left side. Vos's tail grows longer and thicker 'til he's almost twenty feet nose to tip, and twice his previous weight. Bony plates erupt from the tail's underbelly. Looks like he's going to be slithering instead of walking from now on, so straight-line movement might be faster, once you get the hang of it. There are obvious advantages for grappling, but precise 'footwork' and jumping will suffer.
>>
No. 771182 ID: b9aa79

>>771155
Upon witnessing Vos transform into some sort of naga creature Maru takes about 3 seconds of stunned disbelief to look first at Vos, then at her unsmoked pipe, then at Davina and the others in the room to confirm that she was not the only one to see that.

"Bloody 'ell mate, I've never seen a man grow like dat after I offered to amputate a limb! Well, a couple times maybe, but geez, you coulda warned me ya were into dat sorta shite before I offered. Blimey."

She will make for the illusionary wall she has seen the others pass through after a quick curtsy and "m'lady" to "queen" Aaphia, and wait for the rest of the group to join her. She assumes that the wall will satisfy the demand of "out of my sight" from Eric's new liege.
>>
No. 771231 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 1, 1 = 5

The tender mercies of Tittivila are great and...merciful! Vos not so good with words. He'll admire his new body structure, making sure all the important anatomy is still intact.

>warned me ya were into dat sorta shite
"Could write book about many obscure Sacraments of Tittivila I would like to try one day. You may have a copy!"

Vos coils up his body and tries to pull himself upright, then goes to slither after the rest of the group as they leave. I assume at this point that this won't be a trivial action, so I'll go ahead and roll.

Also, Vos will present his non-crushed boot to Davina to replace her shredded one.
>>
No. 771239 ID: 094652

Hore carries Vos by the shoulder, urging Eric's half of the party to convince Queen Aaphia to open the exit doors and give directions, while urging Maru's half to follow her into the next room. Hore does not want to die, not when they're so close to an exit!

Also, Hore asks Queen Aaphia if the secret room is death incarnate or just her personal collection of folk art.
>>
No. 771244 ID: 3abd97

Okay I want to assume the yelling, spell casting, and transformation that was enough to transition Davina from half-awake to awake-enough-to-wonder-how-she-got-here-and-what's-going-on.

>commands you all to get out of her sight
"...should we close your door behind us?"

(If we do, that lets us hang out inside of the top-shaft room instead of immediately going through the door that maimed Vos. Makes hanging around long enough to attempt retrieving the sun brick and the tripod zombies possible).

>Also, Vos will present his non-crushed boot to Davina to replace her shredded one.
Vos continues to score all the points with Dav.

"Thank you, Vos."

>what do
To the group, as we move away: "What happened?"

Look over the edge of the pit in the middle of the room. Is the sun brick still lit down there? The zombies still intact? Or has the slime enveloped them?
>>
No. 771252 ID: 9f3729

>>770766
Geoffrey is... visibly perturbed at her enthusiastic response.
"Sure. Bloody goblins..."
Geoffrey tries to move again, and his leg seizes up right on the spot.
"Augh! No, no I don't think I'm gonna be runnin' any marathons. How 'bout you, aren't you goblin types super strong or somethin'? Or am I thinkin' orcs? One o' you greenskin types."
>>
No. 771261 ID: a107fd

>>771239
>convince Queen Aaphia to open the exit doors and give directions
The door Vos crunched his foot in is already open, and Aaphia's not inclined to give any more assistance or advice until somebody provides either a good book to read, or an unidentified magical trinket to play with.

>>771244
>retrieving the sun brick and the tripod zombies
All 14 meat puppets, and all the materiel your group had possession of upon first arrival at the bottom of the shaft (other than one coin and one piton which were used to make the mirror, and then abandoned) are present and accounted for.

>should we close your door behind us?
"No, I'll get it." She stands up out of the throne, pointing toward the illusory wall with her left hand while walking slowly toward the damaged vault door. "Just go, already!"

Anyone who comes within a 12' radius of Aaphia, such as by failing to vacate the throne room in an expeditious manner, must roll to resist her aura of terror.

>>771231
Vos figures out the basics of serpentine locomotion without much trouble. It's almost like swimming. He can also form a stationary coil (takes about as much time and effort as standing up from prone used to) in order to reach and grab things up to about 14' off the ground without jumping.
>>
No. 771267 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13

>all meat puppets present and accounted for
Are three of them still tied together?

>"Just go, already!"
Right don't gotta be told again. Leaving expeditiously as directed, and not using a portal to do so, since drawing a weapon in front of an already annoyed mage might be misinterpreted.

Rolling for spot and/or alertness as we travel.
>>
No. 771268 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8

>>771252
>aren't you goblin types super strong or somethin'?
"As strong as I am tall?" Which, Rhea reflects, was a lot more impressive claim back home.

Not really sure where you're going with this line of thought. Little goblin gal (even fire blessed) isn't gonna be capable of carrying Geoffrey. Maybe she could drag him, but you're more than 6 inches wide so we'd be probably setting off a bunch of traps. (Although presumably Rhea and Vos are more than 6 inches wide at the shoulder as well. Having having parts of your body stick past the line over the tile apparently doesn't set the traps off then, even if Ji's experiment proved they weren't pressure plates either. Maybe you need a specific body part over a square to trigger the trap. Foot? Head? Heart? Maybe that means an undignified scooting along the floor is possible if you keep your feet inside the line).

Rhea might be able to help Geoffrey walk, except the height difference makes that awkward, she probably isn't strong enough to actually stop him them both from toppling over if he stumbles, and you usually have to be walking besides someone to properly support them, which the 6 inch safe aisle won't allow.

Rolling to... offer a quick prayer on Geoffrey's behalf? I might be able to try and treat his injuries or apply food therapy off the chess board but I can't think of much that would help while he's stuck there.
>>
No. 771281 ID: 9f3729

>>771268
(I'm thinking helping him crawl might work, he's surprisingly limber for a fat man. The problem is keeping him moving right now, his injuries have already made him pass out once and I'm worried it's going to happen again the moment we try to move.)
>>
No. 771282 ID: af6e04

>To the group, as we move away: "What happened?"
As the group moves, Vos idly recounts the events that happened while Davina was out. He spends more time on extraneous details like the sound Daniel made when he was startled and the grisly appearance of his foot after it had been crushed than he spends explaining anything important.

>Hore carries Vos
Vos points out that he is perfectly capable of moving on his own, but Hore is welcome to try carrying him if she wishes. He'll wrap his body around her to make things easier.

He'll also ask Maru if he can have a puff of pipeweed.

>>771281
Helen's drugs probably would have come in handy in this situation.
>>
No. 771284 ID: 9ab5d3

>>771282
To clarify, this is all after we've cleared the angry skeleton's throne room and her aura of terror.
>>
No. 771285 ID: a107fd

The twenty-foot-wide passage leading away from the room with the demonic murals is fifteen feet high, and has four straight segments (70', 80', 140', and 90', in that order) separated by right turns. Murals along the walls depict bizarre and perverse funerary rites. Hideous transgressive elements become less common and less severe over the hall's length, until illustrations near the black marble double doors at the far end are completely conventional and respectful, if somewhat archaic.
After the first turn, an unseen voice asks "To whom is our Lord's mercy granted?"
After the second turn, a slightly different unseen voice asks "What is the third sacrament?"
After the third turn, yet another voice asks "Who is the greatest of all masters?"
>>
No. 771287 ID: fc91ef

>>771285
>As to safe passage, those riddles can simply be ignored while you're leaving, "garrald negg" must be spoken under the archway to avoid activating the guardian of breath, all the bonesuckers are sated right now, and trying to open those false double doors will drop the walkways into the guardian of bile. Everything else should be easy if you take ordinary precautions.

Maru tries to form a small huddle, and in a hushed tone ask if they think here is where they're supposed to mention the negg guy

She passes Vos the pipe without complaint, and has a pull herself once the eel man is finished, offering it to anyone else who wants some
>>
No. 771312 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 6, 2 = 10

>>771282
>recap
>Queen Aaphia
"Hmm. I am unsure if that means the directions were an honest attempt to see us out, or to send us to our deaths. I suppose there's a certain poetry in it. Further rudeness would likely have been fatal, but discourse and deference saw us through."

>Ji moved her
This gets a start out her.

"When I was fully... no one has ever... how?"

>and in a hushed tone ask if they think here is where they're supposed to mention the negg guy
Do we see anything resembling an archway?

Either this is the place we're meant to speak the password, or there's a more mundane hidden door to take instead of the false (trapped) double door, and the arch is further on.

Roll for spot.

>>771281
Way I see it, you've got pretty limited options. You can't camp out and use major / minor heals until you're better, since you can only cast so many times per week, and you only have a days worth of food. (Plus a random encounter might show). That leaves:

1) Try to get off the board in some manner, hope the dice are in your favor, then Rhea can at least try to help you not die of your injuries.
2) Wait some hours until full FP, cast full heal, hope the dice are in your favor. If you survive, movement won't be a problem anymore.
3) Stall and hope someone who can help comes along? (Sorta meta gamey, and not reliable).
>>
No. 771336 ID: b9aa79

rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11

>>771287
>didn't actually roll

Whoops
>>
No. 771343 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 3, 4 = 10

>"Hmm. I am unsure if that means the directions were an honest attempt to see us out, or to send us to our deaths. I suppose there's a certain poetry in it. Further rudeness would likely have been fatal, but discourse and deference saw us through."
"She did not seem to have reason to kill us. But I wonder how skeleton keeps growing hair?"

Vos does not think this is the place, as he doesn't see an archway. Unless these big doors are under an archway. It seems we just encountered the riddles, though it's not guaranteed that the instructions were given in order of relevance. Vos will examine the doors to try and determine if they look particularly fake, provided Hore carries him in for a closer look.
>>
No. 771346 ID: a107fd

>>771312
>Do we see anything resembling an archway?

Nope. No alternate routes, either.
>>
No. 771347 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7

>>771346
Moving forward then! Vos will go ahead and push the door open. Roll is in case anything horrible happens when he does so.
>>
No. 771348 ID: b9aa79

I'm assuming Vos, being 20 feet long and double the weight of a normal sized elvanoid solider, which would weigh considerably more than a smaller gnoll-human hybrid, I'm gonna assume Hore has failed to carry Vos.

After seeing Vos, and possibly Hore, go towards the door that they were told had a trap floor, and begin messing with it, the evidence of their last attempt to open a door that wasn't even trapped clearly evident on the lower half of our Eel-nagas body, she will quickly evacuate the room, with a rather angry exclamation about their reckless behavior leaving her lips before she absconds
>>
No. 771349 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 6, 5 = 14

>trying to open those false double doors will drop the walkways into the guardian of bile
>>771347
>Moving forward then! Vos will go ahead and push the door open.
Ummmmmm.

Okay, we don't know for sure these are the false double door, but I feel like we need a more thorough examination before we risk setting off the trap.

Portal in front on Vos, blocking him path.

"Hold!"
>>
No. 771351 ID: af6e04

>Vos, being 20 feet long and double the weight of a normal sized elvanoid solider
Yes, but all of that extra weight is in the huge tail, which can be allowed to trail along on the ground behind Hore like the wedding gown of a bride being carried over the threshold. It's not implausible!

>>771349
Vos will of course stop if his companions tell him to.
"What? See no archway, no walkways, no guardian of bile. Just empty hallway with no other exit?"
>>
No. 771355 ID: b9aa79

>>771351
Just because we don't see any other pathways doesn't mean we should rush through doorways without checking for traps or other dangers. That being said, Maru is not going near the floor around the double doors.
>>
No. 771358 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>"What? See no archway, no walkways, no guardian of bile. Just empty hallway with no other exit?"
"No obvious alternative exist."

"We've been informed there a false set of double doors that will drop the hallway into the so-called 'Guardian of Bile'. We do not know for certain that these double doors are the trapped, false set, but given the risk, I think a more careful examination is in order. We are have reason to rush and risk a battle."

Assuming anyone coming in would have to answer the questions asked by the unseen voices at the turnings, if there is a hidden door, it lies in the last 90' section of hall between the double doors and the corner, presumably concealed by the murals. We could look for it.

(Also, we might not be able to safely retreat without answering the riddles. She said they could be safely ignored when leaving, but presumably not when entering).

We might also be able to try tapping the double doors, to see if it sounds like there's a hollow on the other side. False doors would be up against a wall, real doors would have an open hallway on the other side and sound louder.

If the hinges are on this side of the door (so it appears it opens when pulled towards us) Davina will draw a dagger and rap on the door with the pommel to test the sound. If the hinges are not apparent (so it looks like they doors are opened by pushing away from us) she won't risk it, as we don't know how much force would be required to count as an attempted opening and trigger the trap (assuming this door is trapped).
>>
No. 771359 ID: 383927

>>771358
Maru attempts to grasp Dav by arm, not stopping her, just hoping she can grasp her and pull her back up without literally slipping through her fingers should the floor open up
>>
No. 771393 ID: a107fd

>>771358
The doors sound appropriately hollow. Examination of the narrow gaps between, above, and below them (with surgical/lockpicking tools, possibly tweaked on the fly by Djan) reveals that they're four inches thick with an open space beyond. No apparent locks or trigger mechanisms, just a pair of iron pull-rings. Hinges are concealed inside the wall.

>>771347
The doors swing toward you, revealing another 20' staircase up to a T-shaped room. Central portion of the room is 30' by 50' with an 18' high ceiling. Two 15' high, 20' wide, 10' deep alcoves face each other at one end. The stairs connect to the back of one, while the other has an apparently solid back wall, and a small green glass bottle sitting on a 10' high pedestal. Off to your right, at the far end of the room's main section, there's an archway carved with swirling lines suggestive of wind, and beyond it, a 10' square hallway continuing 30' to a single door.
>>
No. 771396 ID: d99775

rolled 3, 5, 6 = 14

Hore is absentminded again, she's not sure which way Queen Aaphia said to go, so she's busy looking around for a clue. She's also worried that they'll be trapped in this creepy mansion. Hore wonders if Eric could have asked one of Queen Aaphia's servants to guide them (trade soldiers for servants and stuff), or at least given them a room for the night.

Hore slowly realizes that Queen Aaphia isn't as in control of this mansion as Hore thought. Hore suggests they find a safe room and rest up their powers again.

Roll to determine if Hore can find some clue to where the party needs to go next.
>>
No. 771401 ID: 3abd97

>>771393
With a relieved sigh, "It would appear you were right, Vos, this door is indeed safe. Thank you for entertaining our caution."

>She passes Vos the pipe without complaint, and has a pull herself once the eel man is finished, offering it to anyone else who wants some
Davina is tempted, after the nervous minutes testing the door wait how did my fighter become the party's thief but decides not to ask, since she doesn't know if the drug would react badly with her unusual metabolism. (Or work at all).

>a small green glass bottle sitting on a 10' high pedestal
That's... probably a trap. Although maybe someone with mage sight might see something interesting there.

>Off to your right, at the far end of the room's main section, there's an archway carved with swirling lines suggestive of wind, and beyond it, a 10' square hallway continuing 30' to a single door.
>Maru tries to form a small huddle, and in a hushed tone ask if they think here is where they're supposed to mention the negg guy
"I believe we've located the archway. Care to do the honors, Maru?"
>>
No. 771407 ID: b9aa79

rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8

>>771401
Maru does a comically embellished bow, to the point that what's left of her horns tap the floor, and does her best to immitate the "queens" accent
"Why thank you m'lady Davina of the honorable and venerated house of Keepingeveryonealiveton, I shall forthright a with haste invoke the magic fucking words."

She then puts on a somewhat more serious face, and warns her to have weapons drawn in case this those south.

"garrald negg"
>>
No. 771410 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

Vos makes his weird chittering throaty laugh and playfully crab pinches Maru. "Hmm! Vos is smarter than he looks?"

He slithers up behind Davina and Maru as the skald delivers the magic words, at the ready.

>Hore suggests they find a safe room and rest up their powers again.
"But we are so close to surface. Just a little further."
>>
No. 771417 ID: a107fd

>>771401
>probably a trap
>>771407
>rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8
>correct password
Yep, it was a trap. Disarmed now.

At the far end of the hallway beyond the arch, the door opens away from you, into another dead end/vertical shaft sort of space. Much smaller this time, only 10' in diameter and 50' high.
>>
No. 771418 ID: af6e04

>>771417
Can we see anything of the room above? Vos reminds Davina of her promise before she gets the chance to go and throw herself through another midair portal.
>>
No. 771420 ID: a107fd

>>771418
From the bottom of the shaft? You can see that the ceiling is more of the same black marble, and about 18' above the floor.
>>
No. 771428 ID: 3d2d5f

>50 ft shaft

>Vos reminds Davina of her promise before she gets the chance to go and throw herself through another midair portal.

>A coil of that same supple dark blue-green rope floats out from behind the throne, landing gently in Eric's hand. It's twenty yards long, 3/16" in diameter, and weighs about a pound. She says that it will never rot, can safely support 230 pounds - inferior to cave fisher filament in that regard, but still two and a half times as strong as ordinary plant fibers - and, on command, flex itself slightly to cooperate with knot-tying, or become as stiff and rigid as steel wire.

Okay. Alternative to multi-porting. We tie some climbing knots in the rope, lay it out, command it to go rigid, and we have a climbing rod we can stand upright. Use Maria's ability to fix the base and prevent it tipping over, and someone can climb right up.

If they find a safe room or floor, they stand there with a light and Davina opens a portal right to that refrence point, allowing everyone else to follow without death defying acrobatics, or recreating gym class rope climbing day for everyone.

Who's our best climber? (Probably Ji, he could walk up a climbing rope / rod if we put it at an angle).
>>
No. 771430 ID: e62f7f

rolled 2, 5, 3 = 10

>>771428
>Yisheng Ji can walk up the rope if it's placed at an angle
Well, luckily, the rope is 20 yards long, which equals 60 feet. And the diagonal of a 10x50 ft rectangle is 50.99 feet. Once the rope is fastened, and an acceptable light has been handed over, Yisheng Ji will stride on up and have a look inside the shaft, hoping very fervently that he is not walking into a crushing trap, and wondering what exactly about this situation only requires "ordinary precautions". Roll for perception, looking for alternative passages out from the shaft, as well as anything moving that may be a threat, such as the ceiling descending, for example.
>>
No. 771442 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 4, 1 = 8

Hore decides to calculate the strain resistance of the makeshift grappling hook made of hankies and zombie hair, and approximate the stability of the attached ends, make sure Ji and the others know what they're trusting their grip to.
>>
No. 771452 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 5, 6 = 15

Not much for Vos to do other than his perpetual job of being the party's pretty face. He'll perform the busywork of tying the climbing knots while Hore performs her vector analysis and Ji puzzles out his pythagorean equations.
>>
No. 771485 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6

>>771268
Prayer completed, Rhea gives a self satisfied nod.

"Okay, if you can't move, then you rest until you can. Maybe I'll find something that can help!"

She's not about to venture onto the trap that left Geoffrey looking half dead after all, especially not after Mom told her not to.

Heading for the exit of the chess room, roll for spot / awareness on the way. I'll put one flame wisp on point a few yards in font of me so if there's a sweeper or anything in the way, it'll run into it before I do.

Sorry, Riot, but I'm bored of waiting for you to do something and the whole point of having a second character is doing something her.
>>
No. 771504 ID: a107fd

>>771430
The 18' ceiling somehow seems oppressively low in a room 50' wide and 70' long. The top of the shaft is in a small alcove at one end, you're looking down the room's long axis toward an open passage on the far end. There are about two dozen stone sarcophagi lined up along the walls, so effective floor space is 30' x 70'. Each lid is carved to resemble a soldier or adventurer... not in peaceful repose, as might be expected, but eyes open, frozen midway through various terrible agonies. One is being consumed from within by burrowing worms, another has skin peeling away like cheap paint, a third deliquescing like hot wax. Yisheng Ji soon spots one that bears an uncanny resemblance to himself, thighs broken, splinters of bone protruding from one forearm as if some immense force was applied between the elbow at one end and the heel of the hand at the other. Part of the stone figure's cheek is slightly flattened, as if pressed against the unseen crushing force. Roll for phobia.

>>771485
Stone door pivots open on a vertical axis, down a winding hallway, to an eerily quiet chasm. The path continues as a 10' wide ledge along the left wall for 50', then there's a natural bridge leading across the chasm, or continue following the ledge toward four non-fire-based lights that are dancing in intriguing patterns. Seems complex enough to be a language, like bees, even before factoring in subtle shifts of coloration.
>>
No. 771512 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 1, 6 = 10

>an eerily quiet chasm
Huh. Guess the worms finished their business.

>continue following the ledge toward four non-fire-based lights that are dancing in intriguing patterns. Seems complex enough to be a language, like bees, even before factoring in subtle shifts of coloration.
Yeah, there's no way Rhea can go resist checking out / trying to talk to the colored lights. Going thataways.
>>
No. 771519 ID: a107fd

>>771512
Path continues 60-70' beyond the bridge, then turns sharply to the right (still following the wall) and tapers away to nothing after about 20'. It looks like the chasm wall continues straight for another 20' before turning back to the left.

The balls of light bob playfully ahead of Rhea, ducking around the blind corner and then doubling back, seemingly confused, when she fails to follow. One of them 'taps' on what appears to be empty space just off the edge, flattening out on the underside and stopping abruptly at the level of the floor. Then, after a bit of rapid polychromatic flickering, the four of them move in formation, two feet and two knees, miming out the process of walking off the edge and across open air as if it were solid ground.
>>
No. 771522 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9

Either helpful spirits, or old school will-o'-the-wisps trying to trick me into walking off a cliff. (Either way, smart enough to play charades).

Easily tested though.

Reah smacks one of her flame-puffs into where the invisible path should be, to verify it's there. If it is, she'll follow. (After all, the light blobs could have faked smooshing out, but my own flame won't).

I'll keep testing for the existence of a path ahead of me by smacking it with fire as I go, just in case the path comes to an end or there's a turn.

Rhea won't touch the lights with her flame unless they initiate the contact. She's not sure a light can burned or harmed that way, but it's rude to assume.
>>
No. 771526 ID: a107fd

>>771522
Flame hits the level in question, skitters off a few inches to the side, then presses further down very slowly, like sinking into molasses. No hard border but there's definitely something weird going on.
>>
No. 771529 ID: 595d54

Djan frowns and chucks one of his sling bullets some distance off of the edge, to see what happens to something denser than fire. He doesn't like the idea of unreliable footing over a large drop.
>>
No. 771532 ID: a107fd

>>771529
Djan isn't there with Rhea in the chasm. He's with Davina nolastnamegiven, Daniel and Maria Agate, Decaro Vos, Eric Grimwald, Hore Wutashi, and a dozen meat puppets (if you count the three with their hands tied together as one), in a completely different part of the dungeon.

Currently they're waiting for Yisheng Ji to report back from scouting out the top end of a vertical passage (which is the only apparent way forward), so that either a climbable rope can be secured, or Davina can simply open a portal up there.

>>771452
Vos is tying knots intended to make the rope easier to climb, but progress is slow, and bumps on the shell of that crab-like claw keep getting snared, forcing him to backtrack.
>>
No. 771537 ID: 3abd97

rolled 5, 5, 1 = 11

>>771526
"What have you found me, little lights?" Rhea muses to herself in flame-tongue.

Sinks like molasses, huh?

...sprinkle a little cinnamon or some crumbs on it. If it's a sweeper (or some kind of slime) hugging the wall, it will dissolve organics.

If it passes the sweeper test, Rhea follow the lights, continuing to test the path in front of her with fire, as previously described.
>>
No. 771542 ID: a107fd

rolled 1, 1 = 2

>>771537
Breadcrumbs hang in mid-air, undissolved. Thus satisfied, Rhea steps off the edge... and plummets, taking the falling damage I just rolled. Too late, she realizes only three of the lights were still glowing. One of them must have turned invisible, swooped underneath, and caught the crumbs.

The appalling symphony of crunches she hears on impact aren't from her own leg-bones (or at least, most of them aren't), but rather some flimsy bamboo scaffolding which was holding up a tarp painted to look like part of the cave wall. Rhea has acquired some kindling, a camouflage blanket (25 square yards, 40 lb, so expect to move slower and/or drag it along the floor), and discovered a secret passageway.
>>
No. 771543 ID: 9f3729

rolled 3, 6, 1 = 10

>>771485
Geoffrey snaps out of his daze, only to realize his companion has left.
He sighs, deciding to test his legs one more time before giving up for some rest.
"C'mon, just gotta get across to the other end. Hoo, hoo!"
>>
No. 771544 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>crit minimum on fall damage
Hahaha, nice.

Rhea pulls herself out of the tarp cursing the lying trickster lights profusely in flamespeak as she does, her wisps dancing around her, bright and angry.

Check extent of my own injuries (seems like I might have gotten off with a scratch), and give me a description of this secret passage I've found myself in. How far down is it / what do I see from the window I just made, is it just a covered cave in the wall, or is there appear to be a tunnel leading somewhere.
>>
No. 771551 ID: a107fd

>>771543
Geoffrey successfully sidles down the gap between tiles and stumbles after Rhea, following her distant glow, catching up just in time to see her step lightly off a ledge and plummet into an abyss of blood-colored fog. A moment later there's a lethal sounding crunch, echoing off the stone walls, and then he's alone in total darkness.

No, not quite total. That sickly green-black circle he mistook for an unusually persistent retinal afterimage disappears when he blinks, grows slowly brighter and closer when he focuses on it. Fuzzy outline comes into focus as an image of a grinning skull.

>>771544
>assess injuries
A few bruises. She's taken punches from children that hurt worse. A normal person falling fifty or sixty feet onto stone would have been crippled, maybe killed; getting off so lightly is some kind of miracle. Of course, for the child and chosen champion of a goddess, miracles are daily fare. (The reason it was only 2d6 is partly because GURPS falling damage scales by HP, which so neatly represents a combination of mass and rigidity. Goblin, fire elemental, caster, diplomat... are any of those known for being huge, sturdy mountains of HP?)

>look around
Crimson fog down here is thick and bitterly cold, distorting sounds and blocking visibility beyond 15-20'. More intense light just reflects back as misty glare, revealing nothing.

The secret passage is roughly 10' high and wide, with hewn stone walls, continuing in the same direction she was facing when she fell.

Outside the passage, there's a gently sloped area with lots of pebbles and scree, about twenty feet wide. To the left, it continues uphill for thirty feet before hitting a dead end. To the right, toward the area under the bridge, it seems to be getting wider, and the slope leads down to deeper parts of the chasm.
>>
No. 771556 ID: 085240

rolled 4, 5, 2 = 11

>>771504
>depictions of various manners of horrible agonizing death
Yisheng Ji immediately sits down on the floor of the alcove to meditate and circulate his qi, working to calm his mind and cleanse his disturbing emotions. They are merely gruesome effigies, he affirms to himself. An attack on the senses, designed to compel horror. Not an omen of the future. Brow tightened, he will not permit it to affect him.
>>
No. 771579 ID: a107fd

>>771556
Ji remains calm enough to confirm the lack of immediate threats, and provide a light source for Davina to navigate by.

If that hadn't worked, the rope can only safely support one person at a time, and can't support Vos's expanded form at all, but he could have used his tail to climb the shaft by bracing against opposite walls.

Any further exploration of this crypt room, stopping to rest, or continuing straight onward?
>>
No. 771582 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 5 = 13

>>771579
Vos votes to not open the scary caskets and press forward instead.

Also, do we need to resolve our marching order again? Vos may be a healer, but he's also probably the tankiest one here except maybe Djan (Vos is pretty much equipped with the organic equivalent of tank treads) and also focused on disabling. Might be a good idea to have him take point since there's no fog (presumably) to block Davina's vision now.

Roll for awareness.
>>
No. 771663 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

>some flimsy bamboo scaffolding which was holding up a tarp painted to look like part of the cave wall.
Huh. Bamboo seems like an unlikely building material underground. Can I tell what the tarp is made of? (Does this construction look goblin-made?).

A camouflaged entrance suggests a sapient person or persons trying to conceal something. I'd be tempted to cut up the tarp into a more portable / useable hunk, but if there's anyone still in here, they might be a little upset if we made it so they can't cover the hole back up. The scaffolding should be interchangeable, but the cammo is a little less so.

For now I'll leave the tarp here. I'll take some bamboo kindling though, and grab a piece for a walking stick, if there's one of the right size.

Follow the concealed passage into the wall after that.
>>
No. 771665 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 3, 5 = 10

Hore really wants to steal a casket... Suddenly, a spider appears on one of the caskets! Hore has never seen this species of spider, it's creepy and ugly and why is it licking its legs like that?!

Hore shakily follows the others, more alert and prone to panic. Roll to spot traps, high failure means she barks in shock of something horrifying.
>>
No. 771672 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 3, 5 = 14

>Any further exploration of this crypt room, stopping to rest, or continuing straight onward?
Does anyone feel or look like they need a rest? Eric in particular was looking rough before- how's he holding up?

(Not the worst place to take a break if he needs one, we could strand the zombies at the bottom of the shaft and test to see if he loses control of them).

Although if these sarcophagi contain the sated "bone-suckers", we might be wise not to hang around to tempt fate and wait for them to get hungry.

Rolling for spot / awareness.
>>
No. 771680 ID: 74621b

>>771672
If we are planning to take a break in the horrible sarcophagus chamber, Yisheng Ji notes the most tactically sound decision would be to shove all of the sarcophagi down into the shaft we just climbed, since they could contain undead threats that might slip out and attack while we're sleeping. It's purely rational logic, and certainly not a suggestion he's making just because they disturb him.
>>
No. 771681 ID: a107fd

>>771663
Passage continues 80', then there's a left turn, 20', right turn, 30', right turn, 20', left turn, 100', then opens into a huge chamber maybe 80' in diameter. There are five other exits: a pit in the center, stairs up surrounded by carvings of giants being bled and tortured at 8 o'clock (relative to the pit and the way you came in), and more hewn-stone tunnels at 12' o'clock, 2 o'clock, and 4 o'clock. Fog pools about three feet deep, rolling in from the tunnels and draining down the pit.

>>771582
Yeah, figure out marching order.
>>771672
Ji, at least, could use another 6-8 hours of meditation to recharge his chi healing and maybe recover from that karmic wound he took on the chessboard. This doesn't seem like a very relaxing environment for him, though.
>>
No. 771682 ID: b9aa79

>>771410
>throaty laugh and playfully crab pinches Maru. "Hmm! Vos is smarter than he looks?"
Maru laughs. Loudly. She pats Vos on the back, taking care to avoid any of his now brass-free wounds.
"Right ya are mate, sorry to 'ave doubt'd ya. Tell ya what, we get into town, I'll buy ya a drink to make up for it. I ask dat ya 'umor me dough, at least until we make it outta 'ere, and let everyone check for traps before charging ahead in the future. I'm sure ya still feelin Orcus's blessing from when ya nearly re-joined the great knockers in da sky, yea? For ya sake and da sake of my 'eart, just give us a 'eads up before ya go runnin off. The Skald Who's 'eart Gave Out ain't much of a story, now innit?

>>771672
>Not the worst place to take a break if he needs one

"Look, not to winge, but we're nears outta water 'ere, and if we decide to rest in 'ere, especially wif all da times I suggested a break, when whatever Orcus shoved into Ji's 'ead after he threw 'imself across dat deaf trap is clearly 'avin a fit in dis room specifically, I'ma be cross Davina. I fink we can all agree, we press on til we 'it da surface. We need fresh water, and we need da lot of you to stop fainting. Bof of dose are up, not in dis room."

Essentially, she tells Vos she'll get him a drink for doubting him, but for the sake of everyone's health, please let them know what you wanna do before charging ahead. She votes firmly no for resting her, on account of being out of water, and worry of Ji grappling with fear.
>>
No. 771686 ID: 383927

>>771681
>Yeah, figure out marching order.

Vos mate, ya built like an armored wagon, but dat's not a good fing in tight tunnels. Ya wounded still, any if anyfing gets in dose burns and abrasions ya gonna be wishing ya were fighting dose snake fings we 'eard in da chasm before. I've seen first 'and what infection does to a man. You may be blessed, but I wouldn't test ya luck. If anyone but da zombies take point, we're puttin ourselves needlessly at risk. If Eric is tired, I suggest our eel man friend take the middle, where 'ore and Eric can ride on ya tail, provided ya willing. Dav takes the back, and Ji stands next to 'er since he's still afraid of me. I'm near the front wif DJ 'ere, and goody 4 shoes can stand near Vos since I'm guessin da free of dem still wanna cuddle." Sound good?

Tripod zombies
zombies
Maru
Djan
Maria
Daniel
Vos
Eric
Hore
Ji
Davina
Zombies
>>
No. 771695 ID: af6e04

>The Skald Who's 'eart Gave Out ain't much of a story, now innit?
"Okay, will be more careful. But only for your sake!"

>on account of being out of water
Vos points out that he did bring extra water, but he would indeed like to get out of this dungeon as soon as possible.

>>771686
Eelman is happy with these arrangements.
>>
No. 771722 ID: a107fd

At the far end of the crypt, up another 20' flight of stairs, there's another black stone door. This time, the iron pull-ring is below a keyhole. Meat puppet triptych tries pushing, pulling, twisting the ring back and forth in various ways, then gives up and reports to Lord Grimwald that the door appears to be locked.
>>
No. 771737 ID: 9069f2

>>771722
>pushing, pulling, twisting the [door knocker] back and forth in various ways
Yisheng Ji suggests to Sir Grimwald he could perhaps request his servant to attempt to knock on the door with it?

If that approach fails to elicit a response, are there any scoundrels amongst us who may have experience with such devices? Or perhaps one amongst us with the magical capacity to will the device to an unlocked state?
>>
No. 771738 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 2, 4, 3 = 9

>>771681
Huh. So much for the hypothesis it might be concealing the entrance to a simple supply cache or hideout.

>which way go
The surface is up, so Rhea will take the stairs.

"The cake fell, but we're rising again!"

>3 foot deep fog
Rhea will use her bamboo walking stick to probe the ground in front of her as she moves, in case there are hidden potholes, rocks to trip on, etc.

Let's also give the pit in the center a wide berth when crossing to the stairs.
>>
No. 771740 ID: 3d2d5f

>>771722
>Meat puppets try opening the doors
"The trapped double doors that drop the entire hall is next on the list of hazards we were warned of. It might be wise to instruct the puppets to wait for further instructions when next they find a door rather than attempting to open it".

>locked door
If the lock is metal, Djan should be able to make short work of it.

Or if it's the big, old-fashioned kind of keyhole, Davina might be able to peer through and open a portal to the other side. (Although maybe not, there might not be adequate light on the other side).
>>
No. 771762 ID: 9f3729

>>771551
Geoffrey blearily eyes the aberration, and sumarrily decides to avoid it wholesale by backing away from it out through the nearest door.
>>
No. 771904 ID: a107fd

>>771762
Feeling his way slowly along the wall, Geoffrey returns to the chessboard room's orange glow, pursued by four malevolent balls of light.

>>771740
The lock's mechanism is iron, but it's got an anticorrosion/antifungal blessing that interferes with Djan's power. He'll need to roll for it.

>>771738
After a long, tedious hike through the winding tunnel, which turns out to have less of an overall upward trend to it than she was hoping for, Rhea emerges from the wall of a muddy sinkhole, 60' deep and more than 500' wide, with cavern ceiling high overhead. A distant troll's voice shouts "Halt! Who goes there?" in the goblin language, with the familiar accent of her home city of Greznek.
>>
No. 771911 ID: 9f3729

rolled 5, 5, 4 = 14

>>771904
Geoffrey's expression drains into a blank wide-eyed stare as the sudden burst anxiety drawing all energy away from his face and into his fight or flight response. His eyes dart about the room, settling on the trap-laden chessboard behind him. He grunts, plan set in his head!

He stays facing the 4... things, backing slowly towards the trapped board. "C'mon you flyin' gits, C'mon!"
He waits for them to charge, then jukes to the side in the hopes they overshoot and trigger something lethal!
>>
No. 771918 ID: a107fd

>>771911
They don't charge, but rather spread out in a half-circle, three yards away (just beyond spear range) and wait for him to either do something, or collapse from exhaustion.
>>
No. 771935 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 5, 5, 1 = 11

>A distant troll's voice shouts "Halt! Who goes there?" in the goblin language, with the familiar accent of her home city of Greznek.
Huh. Now how would they have picked that up? Could be he or she lived there at some point, or they traded with us, which might leave them positively disposed towards me. Or... they might have been kept as a slave or something (does my tribe do that?), which could have left a less positive impression.

>who goes there
In gobo: "Rhea of the flames, of the city of Greznek, chef and pilgrim to the surface world."

No hiding my accent if I answer, might as well be honest and hope for the best.

Can I request troll lore 101? They're something that can vary a heck of a lot between settings. Be nice to know what Rhea thinks she's dealing with. (For instance, if these trolls only eat raw meat, or stone, offering my services as a chef in exchange for safe passage or information would not be very effective).
>>
No. 771939 ID: 301a61

>>771935
>Troll-kin are unusual in that many of them (hags, huldra, lamias, medusas, etc.) aren't generally known to reproduce at all by conventional means. True trolls have a two-stage life cycle: a sapient bipedal hermaphrodite with hands suited for tool use, and a tangled serpent which grows additional heads when wounded. Sloughed or severed heads develop arms, legs, viscera, and self-awareness in no particular order.
>>
No. 771950 ID: 9f3729

>>771918
Geoffrey curses under his breath, mourning the loss of his long-distance murder stick. He enters a guarded stance, hand hovering over his dagger.

"C'mon, what! You got me cornered, not even goin' to -hggk!- attack?"
Geoffrey clutches his side, frustrated.
If nothing else, he's still a trained mercenary. He waits for the strange creatures to make the first move.
>>
No. 771951 ID: 094652

Hore wonders if this corridor of creepy horrors is just another rift in time-space meant to excuse the synchronization of two different squads of adventurers so they reach the boss battle at the exact same time.

Then Hore asks Eric if he ever figured out which church he now grants protection to.

Hore REALLY wants to fix her plasma pistol...
>>
No. 771957 ID: af6e04

Vos suggests we could possibly use one of the sarcophagi as a battering ram. They are probably very heavy, and we do have nine sturdy adventurers and several zombies to help us lift.
>>
No. 771966 ID: 595d54

rolled 1, 4, 3 = 8

>>771740
"Know anything about what kind of trap it is? If it's metal I can try and extend a wire up to it."

>>771737
"I can give it a try, but it's got some preservation magic on it, messes with my metalcraft."


"Also, everyone, what are we actually going to do with the sun brick? Anyone know a decent fence or something?"

This while Djan does what he can to fiddle with the door's lock and get it open.
>>
No. 771975 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 5, 1 = 9

>>771966
"You mean the self-contained heat source that can generate a considerable amount of light and heat without any need for maintenance or external exposure?"

Hore's mind is singing. One sun brick, and a lot of mirrors. Every house in town lightened up through the windows. A makeshift solution, for sure, but one that will get the populace's attention to her vision and not just her dick. Many intellectual heroes have failed in their true ambitions; you can fell a dragon or scare away an army, but the moment you preach heresy or claim visions of the future, the masses will turn away from you and continue to pray to those simple idols that represent the version of you that they built in their heads. Once they realize that a world that never sleeps is possible, they'll be begging Hore to build a cheaper version.

"Hore has a few ideas..."

Hore decides to help with the battering ram. AFTER she chases away all the spiders.
>>
No. 772036 ID: a107fd

>>771951
>Hore REALLY wants to fix her plasma pistol
That copper wire from the meat puppet triptych could accelerate the process by an order of magnitude, if it were extracted, insulated, coiled around her arm, and had a steady current run through it. Main problem is figuring out where to get a steady source of electrical current.

>>771966
After almost half an hour of frustrating fiddling and false starts, Djan manages to get the lock open.

On the far side there's a natural cavern, with limestone walls, floor, and ceiling almost completely covered in velvet-soft black moss. Immediately beyond the door it's almost thirty feet wide, but fifty feet beyond it narrows to a 10' wide choke point, then opens again, turns to the right, and continues 20-30' wide for about 120' before the moss starts to get patchy, revealing bare stone in a larger cavern. There's some zigzagging along that longer section, but clear line of sight down a central 10' wide path.

The vanguard meat puppets run off ahead, wailing eagerly with a noise like twisted birdsong. Rearguard hears this and gets excited, singing along and bouncing off the walls, but Eric manages to talk them down before they start climbing over the rest of the party in their haste to reach whatever's up there.

>>771935
These trolls would be willing to let any goblin pass unharmed; to someone who obviously doesn't worship Orcus, and might improve the quality of their food supply (mostly rat meat and mushrooms, some of which turn out to be poisonous) they are quite hospitable.

They average 14 feet tall (when standing upright; they have very bad posture) and 750 pounds, with warty gray-green skin, big noses, and long gangly limbs, arms long enough to touch the ground without bending over. Sixteen trolls are present in their hideout, a cluster of smaller caves off the side of that same sinkhole. They're all slightly lopsided or otherwise oddly proportioned, as if each body was a single enormous scar from some long-ago botched surgery. Two dozen more are out patrolling at any given time, as far as the hot springs to the southeast, the gug embassy to the northeast, the impenetrable silver gates to the northwest, and the edge of Ghost-Horn Kazleth's territory to the southwest. They're the second of three lines of defense preventing Kazleth from reaching the city of Greznek. The first is four wings of goyles camped out right by the border, while the third is the legendary Tenebrous Bandersnatch. All three are paid in salted fish from Greznek's mines and fish-farms, though there have been shortages ever since that firebreathing hydra blocked the main road and supply carts had to start going through the old mines.

Only route they know of to the surface from here, other than going back down through the city and up a completely different way through Kamlyss's outpost and Jang's worg garrison, is up The Well (everybody knows you shouldn't go down The Well), but you'd have to find the route through either Kazleth's territory, or the basilisk caverns, or both. They can spare a four-troll squad to escort you to the goyle camps for the former, or help you through the mile-long upstream swim to the latter, but not beyond.
>>
No. 772037 ID: 9f3729

rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9

>>771950
Geoffrey takes a deep breath, then breaks out running for the door again. With any luck, he'll be able to bottleneck them there and make it to the other end of the hall!
>>
No. 772042 ID: 383927

rolled 3, 3, 4 = 10

>>772036
The moss piques Maru's interest, and she tries to learn what she can about it, asking if the others notice any unusual or magical properties, or even if anyone simply recognizes it as the cousin of some kind of other cave moss they studied in grad school or something like that. Rolling to observe the moss, and check the surroundings for any sign of water or other strange growths on the ceiling and around the floor/walls of the cavern.
>>
No. 772073 ID: a107fd

>>772037
The balls of light effortlessly keep pace with Geoffrey's limping sprint, and dart through the door before he can shove it closed. Good thing, too, since there's still no ambient light in the hallway.

>>772042
The moss is harmless, and many scavengers (e.g. giant rats) find it delicious. Normally you'd only see the stuff in such quantities when it's symbiotically supporting something more dangerous, to keep those scavengers at bay.
>>
No. 772082 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>>772042
Vos mentions that the moss looks tasty and that it might be smart to conserve rations by filling up now if anybody is hungry.

Otherwise, keep moving through the cavern staying on guard for whatever might be lurking down here.
>>
No. 772107 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 3, 3 = 9

>>772036
>take a path you'd never take without falling off a cliff
>run right into hometown defense force troll division
There's really only one appropriate response to this, and the narration has already provided. Ahem:

>Of course, for the child and chosen champion of a goddess, miracles are daily fare.
=D

>the gug embassy to the northeast
Is gug a species or a faction or group of some kind?

>Ghost-Horn Kazleth's territory to the southwest
Some person who commands or controls a faction of undead (or just ghosts)? Presumably hostile, or at least dangerous?

>or help you through the mile-long upstream swim to the latter
>super drowning skills
...probably won't be going that way.

>what do
I'd like to do some schmoozing and information gathering. See how things have been here up on the front, have any of the things they're supposed to be keeping at bay been particularly aggressive or restless or quiescent, exchange any news or happenings from the city they might be interested in, that sort of thing.

I'll report the damaged camouflage scaffolding, in case it's theirs, too (and apologize, if so). If the concealed entrance was part of their defenses, they should be aware it needs to be repaired.

>improve the quality of their food supply (mostly rat meat and mushrooms, some of which turn out to be poisonous)
>paid in salted fish
I assume poisonous to me, but not to them? One of the many challenges of cooking in setting with many species, you can't always taste the food you're preparing for your customer if their biology or metabolism is too different from your own! (Although I might be able to cheat and "taste" a poisonous mushroom with fire).

Not a whole lot of variety in ingredients, and 16 750lb trolls is quite the crowd to feed at once, but Rhea will see what she can do! (If there's a big pot I might be able to make some kind of soup or stew. If the shrooms are big enough, might be able to cut them open and make rat meat "pies", using mushroom caps as the crust. Or there's always roast rat with stir fried mushrooms).
>>
No. 772224 ID: b9aa79

rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14

Maru collects an amount of moss that's easy to carry about her person, and continues forward after the meat puppets, hopeful that they would set off any would be traps with their prancing. She's nervous though; anything that makes undead sing and dance like that usually isn't good news for the living. She asks Vos and the Mages to keep a lookout for any suspicious magicy aura stuff that could give them an early warning for incoming danger. Rolling for perception and not getting caught off guard
>>
No. 772246 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7

>puppets excited and rushing to meet whatever's ahead
>moss shows something keeping scavengers away
For some reason, Davina suspects whatever threat lies ahead isn't going to bleed either.

Rolling for spot / alertness as well.

Either we need to try and hold the remaining puppets back as we pass through the narrow bit (assuming Eric can keep a tight leash) or we need to put them on point so they don't end up trampling us as we get closer to whatever the source of their siren song is.
>>
No. 772263 ID: 094652

Hore grabs the moss and stuffs it in her already poisoned water canteen. Hopefully the moss will be able to consume the red powder poison and the contaminated water will keep it alive long enough for a more thorough analysis topside. Hore also takes as much moss as she can carry to share with the rest of the party later. Hopefully this stuff is non-toxic...

Hore looks around, realizing they aren't surrounded by sarcophagi. She hopes they aren't moving further away from a surface exit, but a treasure room would be worth about two hours of her time.
>>
No. 772272 ID: a107fd

>>772107
>Is gug a species or a faction or group of some kind?

As a species, they're the origin of Quenyl. About as big as trolls, but hairy, with four three-fingered claws. There's something weird about their heads, too, that these trolls are hesitant to discuss. They're incredibly flexible, and masters of fighting in tight quarters. A lone gug warrior armed with a burning log could reliably beat down a well-drilled team of four trolls on open ground, but in tunnels even a goblin might find claustrophobic, where trolls would be all but immobilized by the contortions necessary to squeeze through, gugs move at full speed and fight as well as ever. Embassy staff is no more than five, and yet the forty trolls stationed here aren't sure they'd be able to take 'em in a remotely fair fight.

As a faction, the gugs are relative newcomers to the underworld political scene, currently engaged in some sort of holy war that involves interdicting river trade between the surface city of Passholdt and the domain of the Ghoul King, Robert II. They've established mutual recognition of territory with the Church of Orcus and with Greznek's secular government, exchanged a lot of valuable gifts, and are in trade negotiations with at least two or three different white-elven matriarchs, but are unwilling to discuss mercenary work, alliances of mutual defense, or any other commitment to do violence at the direction of a non-gug authority. Supposedly it's a religious issue, but they're very circumspect about the details, and have not yet permitted any foreign visitors into the core of their territory.

>Some person who commands or controls a faction of undead (or just ghosts)? Presumably hostile, or at least dangerous?
Walks through walls like a ghost, but he's not undead. If he was, they'd lean on the Orcusites to deal with him. Between waist and neck, he's built like one of the gray dwarves, but huge and buff always instead of just a few minutes at a time. Below the waist is like the hindquarters of a horse. His head is like an ox, complete with big sharp horns, but he's got vicious teeth like a worg. He wears a crown and a purple cape, and wields an axe - supposedly a named weapon of the sixth tier, forged just before the Titanomachy (with arts long since lost) for the sole purpose of ending legends. A weapon of such dire destiny can kill Tane and behemoths that were never meant to be able to die.

If King Kazleth moves to attack Greznek, the second line's main duty is to disarm him, lest the Tenebrous Bandersnatch hesitate... or worse yet, be slain with a single blow, then struck down again, as if by the very hand of Fate, shortly after all available salves and potions are expended on resurrection. Dread lawgiver Thuren Issek fell thus, for all that his quest to retrieve the forge-stones was prophesied to succeed. A vorpal blade severs heads from necks, bodies from souls, and entire chapters from history books that have yet to be written.

>If the concealed entrance was part of their defenses,
Nope. They don't mess around in the Bloodmist Labyrinth.

>poisonous to me, but not to them?
Poisonous to everybody, but convulsions, hallucinations, kidney failure, and vomiting up bloody chunks of digestive tract only really adds up to a "take the rest of the day off" kinda problem for trolls. Regeneration, y'know.

>If there's a big pot
A few empty fish barrels, which Rhea might be able to work out magical fireproofing for, and a hollowed-out slab of stone they've been using as a bathtub. The barrels have some sort of fizzy resin soaked into the wood. Hard to say how that will react to heat, but if it was seriously dangerous they wouldn't be using it to ship food. The bathtub (apart from being thoroughly infused with the smell and taste of post-patrol troll feet) might crack if subjected to too much thermal stress.

Good news is, the outpost has a virtually unlimited supply of burnable garbage for fuel, and buried underneath one of the main piles, a Jug of Alchemy, which can produce almost any nonmagical liquid on command. More unusual or highly refined substances are provided in smaller quantities: sixteen gallons of water suitable for extinguishing a fire or maybe washing clothes, eight gallons of potable water, four gallons of snout-cracker ale, two gallons of vinegar, one gallon of fortified plum wine, a quart of anhydrous ammonia, half a pint of weapons-grade acid, a few spoonfuls of various rare scented oils or exotic toxins, many other options in between. Up to seven uses in rapid succession, recovers one charge per four hours or so. The trolls know that the four-pound jug is very valuable, and are unwilling to part with it, but lack the technical vocabulary to make effective (or even adequately safe) use of it's full potential.

>>772246
>>772224
Beyond the edge of the moss, the cavern gets larger, 40-60' wide. The far end is 120' away.

There are three huge fungal creatures, like thick, squat, leafless trees, being hugged and crooned at by the meat puppets which ran ahead. These are bonesuckers, which all meat puppets (as they explain, once Lord Grimwald asks) regard with filial piety. If you do not wish for your skeleton to be liquified and extracted by living shintai of the Seventh Sacrament, you should move along before their hunger returns.

Immediately to your right, doubling back parallel to the path you just came from, there's another black mossy tunnel. Davina spots a wrinkly pinkish-gray lump down that way which (with help from Vos's aura sight and Maru's bardic lore) is soon identified as Brain Mold. Looks like a brain, eats your last day or so of memories from up to twenty yards away. Possible to get 'em back by eating the thing.

The left wall has numerous holes. Skittish rats peek out from most of them. Some are big enough for a grown man to belly-crawl in, though the rats probably wouldn't appreciate an intrusion.

A somewhat artificial-looking section near the far end of the bonesuckers' cave, limestone cut smooth and level, leads to another 20' flight of black marble stairs. up and to the right. At the top of the stairs is a 10' square landing and a single door, unlocked.
>>
No. 772286 ID: 383927

rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12

>>772272
>artificial-looking section
>stairs. up
>single door, unlocked.

Maru votes we go forward past the bloodsuckers with haste, walking along the side of the passage far away from the brain eater. Checking the door for traps, and listening to see if Maru can hear/smell/feel/other senses anything through the door.
>>
No. 772290 ID: 63c1c2

rolled 5, 6, 2 = 13

Hore wonders if the brain mold could make her smarter. She votes they use their collective skills to grab some of the brain mold at a distance.

And set the bonesuckers on fire.

But Hore stares at the unlocked door. It just screams exit. Just a bit further, and this nightmare will end...

Hore looks for any noise-based traps.
>>
No. 772293 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9

>If you do not wish for your skeleton to be liquified and extracted by living shintai of the Seventh Sacrament, you should move along before their hunger returns.
"Returning on this path to shower your liege lady with gifts is shaping up to be no small task, Sir Grimwald."

>>772286
Agreed. The door is safer to approach, and somewhat more likely to lead towards the exit.

Portaling past the Bone Eaters to the door-side of the chamber. Even if they're quiescent now, better to not tempt fate and get too close. It might be possible to provoke them.

>>772290
Davina recommends Hore stay well away from the Brain Mold. (Not out of particular concern for her safety, but because Hore's been considerably less insufferable to have around since she started listening to Vos, and it would be a shame for her to forget all of that).
>>
No. 772295 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10

>convulsions, hallucinations, kidney failure, and vomiting up bloody chunks of digestive tract only really adds up to a "take the rest of the day off" kinda problem for trolls
Vomiting back up more then you put down hardly seems conducive to a good meal. I don't think I'll be cooking with those ones.

>The barrels have some sort of fizzy resin soaked into the wood. Hard to say how that will react to heat, but if it was seriously dangerous they wouldn't be using it to ship food.
It's likely not dangerous / poisonous chemically, true. But wooden barrels aren't designed to be placed on top of a roaring flame, either. If I fireproof but don't heat-proof the barrels (necessary for cooking food inside) then the resin will still be subject to expansion. On the lower end of bad outcomes, that might force some resin out of the wood and affect the flavor of the meal. On the upper end of bad outcomes, the resin might expand enough to cause the wood to crack (or explode), ruining the meal and possibly injuring the chef.

If there's a broken or damaged barrel in the pile of debris I might be able to test what happens to the resin before I risk popping a barrel filled with ingredients. (Even if there's not, I could test an empty barrel).

>Jug of Alchemy
>The trolls know that the four-pound jug is very valuable, and are unwilling to part with it
Pity, a jug of ingredient summoning would be very useful for a chef. If they are unwilling to part with it, are they willing to let me use it to help prepare them a meal? (I mean, they're willing to allow me access to their food and fuel supplies already). Being able to conjure a supply of a few additional ingredients gives Rhea a lot more options in what she prepares. Sauces, vinegar, alcohol for a drink or for cooking, cooking oils, various things fortified or infused with spices, maybe even the materials to make dough if I used ground mushrooms as flour?
>>
No. 772297 ID: 84aebf

>>772272
Vos can't help but feel his heart tug from watching the strangely endearing exchange. Still, best to keep moving.

>>772290
Vos tells Hore that it would be a tragedy if she forgot the intimate moment the two shared, as well as her newfound faith in Tittivila. He implored her to stay away from the mold! She might have the opportunity to set the bone suckers on fire during the return trip though.

>>772293
Portal seems like the safest way to go. Vos will follow of course.
>>
No. 772301 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8

>>772297
Hore admits that her "faith" is little more than curious horror at the concept of an ever-growing sentient cancer colony. And that she hasn't gained enough experience to justify remembering those DRBs and her near-death experience. Though the sex was fuzzy good, but Hore stipulates that she's enough of a slut to accept his next offer even with minor retrograde amnesia.

Plus, there might be something behind the brain mold! That would be a good explanation as to why it's growing in the corner of a boss room.

Hore proposes that Davina open a portal between the mold and the beasts, thereby using the mold's psionic radiation to dumb them down until they forget their orders to kill all intruders. Barring that, they could tie their weapons together and dig away at the mold until whatever treasure is behind it is revealed.

Or they could set it on fire. There might be a living specimen sheltered by the mold, though. Hore decides the brain mold is effective as a defender and they can come back on the return trip with a pyromancer to kill everything in this room.

Hore prepares herself, testing out her feet. Roll to determine if her preparation works, increasing her chances of sneaking past the beasts when they're ready to move to the door. Failure means making a particularly loud sound.
>>
No. 772307 ID: 3abd97

>Hore proposes that Davina open a portal between the mold and the beasts, thereby using the mold's psionic radiation to dumb them down until they forget their orders to kill all intruders.
Davina points out such a plan would require putting herself in range of the Brain Mold (which she adamantly refuses to do), that we have no idea what orders the Bone Eaters were given (if any), that any standing orders are likely to be more than a day old, and that she has never tested if a psionic influence can propagate through one of her portals.

Davina refuses to cooperate with this plan.
>>
No. 772317 ID: 84aebf

>Hore admits that her "faith" is little more than curious horror at the concept of an ever-growing sentient cancer colony.

Heart broken by another potential convert. Vos is visibly crestfallen.
>>
No. 772342 ID: b9aa79

>>772317
While listening at the door Maru whispers to Vos not to take it too hard- Hore might not have represented your faith very well back in civilization proper after all, giver her tendency towards neigh universally despised acts of murder-rape. It might be for the best if she doesn't represent your religion
>>
No. 772369 ID: a107fd

>>772293
>Portaling past the Bone Eaters to the door-side of the chamber.
Sun brick provides dim illumination out to the far wall, so bonesuckers are bypassed without complications.

>>772286
No traps, no voices or sounds of movement. Faint music, mostly harp and flute plus a hard-to-identify bass line, on a 12-bar loop. Slightly archaic style. Soothing, with an undercurrent of enticement, evoking the ambiance of a classy brothel or opium den.

>>772290
> set the bonesuckers on fire
They're not incapacitated, just sleeping off a big meal. Any overt attack would result in immediate hostile response from the bonesuckers themselves, and possibly disrupt Lord Grimwald's control over the meat puppets.

>>772301
>orders to kill all intruders
Does a crane need orders to eat the frog which passes beneath it's beak? They are (in the meat puppet's estimation) gentle and compassionate creatures which would prefer not to kill, or even cause any injury at all. It's just that, without ribs, a typical animal's diaphragm can no longer move air in and out of the lungs, to say nothing of the sad condition of a brain without a skull. They do what they can to keep the shriveled husks alive, yet in minimal pain, as long as possible. Such tender ministration is where new meat puppets come from.

>>772295
>are they willing to let me use it to help prepare them a meal?
Yes, particularly if you explain what you're doing, so they have some chance to try repeating the process themselves later on.

>I don't think I'll be cooking with those ones.
The implication that Rhea can reliably tell which are which is met with pleasant surprise.

Randomly selected cave fungi are poisonous about one time in ten, delicious about one time in four (one time in five if you discard tasty ones that turn out to have incapacitating but non-injurious side effects), and the remaining 70% are like chewing on spiced sawdust. Trolls can do better than random chance, but not by as much as might be hoped. Partly this is because they're not motivated to focus on systematic study, but the fact that some wrong guesses cause brain damage probably isn't helping.
>>
No. 772375 ID: 9f3729

rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8

Geoffrey struggles to keep himself running, trotting his way down the hallway as fast as his legs can carry him.
He prepares his dagger, ready in case he needs to parry an attack.
>>
No. 772384 ID: a107fd

>>772375
Along the ledge to where Rhea jumped, or across the bridge to the far side of the chasm?
>>
No. 772387 ID: f1fe20

>>772369
> The bonesuckers lovingly care for the rotting, wiggling zombies they create, and the zombies are reduced to flailing around in misshapen sacks of fat and hugged by giant moss doggies.
... Hore has never heard of anything so macabre since she left the tribe. And she's a murder-rapist.

Though, this bit of information perks Hore's ears. Hore suggests they rub the scent of their current flesh puppet minions to throw the beasts off. But first, Eric should come up with a method to tame the giant moss dogs, as their protection could easily turn this room into a good safe house.

Hore wonders if the sarcophagi would make a good distraction. Throw bones to the dogs? Nah, someone would have tried that a long time ago, the marrow is stale and the bonesuckers might have been trained to kill any who disturb the cemetery.
>>
No. 772401 ID: b9aa79

>>772369
>evoking the ambiance of a classy brothel or opium den.
Maru relays this information, and asks Davina if she'd like to be the one to do the talking
>>
No. 772414 ID: 3abd97

>>772369
>flesh puppets are former bone eater victims
That's interesting, considering that the puppets have bones. Or at least, the one that was destroyed by the chess board did. Their regeneration covers something they should have lacked at their moment of death or transition.

>>772401
A smirk tugs at the corner of Davina's lips, in response to the implication that classy brothels and opium dens make Maru think of her.

(Even if, you know, she's probably reacting to how things went with the orcusites before).

"Very well. Although given our track record so far, I given even odds there will be no one to talk to, and instead a skeletal player piano or music coming from thin air."
>>
No. 772422 ID: b9aa79

>>772414
>A smirk tugs at the corner of Davina's lips, in response to the implication that classy brothels and opium dens make Maru think of her.

Maru winks and makes a crude gesture involving two fingers and a tongue.
She then gestures to the door, and puts on a snobby accent

After you, Princess
>>
No. 772423 ID: a107fd

>>772422
The door opens toward you, revealing satin drapes with no convenient opening. They'd have to be cut apart, torn down, or lifted up from the floor.

Beyond that, there's a 30' square room with one other door, directly opposite, and likely as not several more concealed behind similar drapes along all the walls. Portable folding screens are set up to create a maze of little private spaces. The floor is layered thickly with carpeting. Pillows of various sizes are scattered in comfortable mounds, and a hookah rests in the center of the room. Light and warmth are provided by braziers of coals and elaborate brass lanterns hanging from hooks on the ceiling, yet the air smells fresh, almost sweet, redolent with sandalwood and balsam.

Anyone breathing air in there, roll to resist the urge to lay down, relax, and have frantic unprotected sex with anyone else willing.

>>772414
>music coming from thin air.
Yep.

>considering that the puppets have bones. Or at least, the one that was destroyed by the chess board did
Thinking back, there wasn't nearly an entire body's worth of bone in that one. Lower jaw, but no upper, and no pelvis. Maybe structural cartilage was mistaken for bone in the oddly colored light, and leftover bits of things it had previously eaten for whatever reason.
>>
No. 772424 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 5, 2 = 12

Hore, in quick realization that she is the most slutty member of the group and therefore the most likely to be hazed into @#$%ing a disease-infested eldritch worm monster, promptly takes out a knife and stabs her vagina.

She takes serious damage, but hopefully the pain will prevent her bad luck and slutty nature from taking over and ending her life here.
>>
No. 772425 ID: 094652

>>772424
Note that she doesn't circumcise her dick or anything, but stabs to the side. Hore realizes this will cause serious nerve damage, but she's sure that Ji or a professional healer can fix her up. She had to think fast or this place could have killed her with seemingly pleasant but actually twisted eldritch sex, just before she finally made it out of this nightmare.
>>
No. 772426 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 5, 2 = 11

>The implication that Rhea can reliably tell which are which is met with pleasant surprise.
Hey, not all of us can are big strong trolls and able to just tough it out! (Considering she recognized them as poisonous already, and a reasonable culinary education would include such information as "these local mushrooms are deadly to cook with" I'm gonna assume Rhea's a lot more able to separate them out).

>Yes, particularly if you explain what you're doing, so they have some chance to try repeating the process themselves later on.
Rhea's certainly amicable to that. No reason not to improve her host's possible quality of life, or the hometown defense force's ability to protect itself.

So, rolling for putting together a troll sized meal with the supplies and ingredients on hand.
>>
No. 772427 ID: 74621b

rolled 3, 1, 3 = 7

>>772424
>Hore walks into the room and immediately mutilates her own genitals
Yisheng Ji is appropriately horrified by the disturbing nature of this trap, and quickly flies backward out of the room, hoping he didn't inhale too much.
>>
No. 772429 ID: 84aebf

rolled 5, 2, 1 = 8

>>772427
Indeed, Vos recoils in horror and immediately tries to bodily remove Hore and anybody else within arm's reach from this room, slamming the door shut when everybody's clear. He suggests the group try to find an alternate route.
>>
No. 772430 ID: 74621b

rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7

>>772427
If he manages to resist being afflicted, he will attempt to conjure a sphere of clean air to surround his head, to allow him to reenter the room breathing normally. (If the spell fizzles, he'll stay outside the room, thank you very much.)
>>
No. 772431 ID: 3abd97

>>772423
Oh gosh when did this turn in CoC.

>>772424
...is the sight of Hore mutilating her nether regions enough to put the rest of us sufficiently out of the mood to resist the drug or enchantment?

Actually, if it is an airborne drug, it might not affect Eric due to his poison resistance, or Dav due to chiral chemistry.
>>
No. 772436 ID: 595d54

Likewise, Djan will opt out of entering the room once he sees Hore mutilating herself.

"What the fuck, is there some crazy in that mold you picked up?"
>>
No. 772449 ID: 9f3729

>>772384
(Bridge!)
>>
No. 772456 ID: b9aa79

rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13

Hore, being towards the back of the formation, likely would have entered after Davina, who was taking point, and Maru, who was following after a lack of obvious danger. Don't know where the others fall in this scenario, but it seems unlikely to me that Maru wouldn't have at least taken a breath of the air near the doorway. Rolling to resist effects. Any bonus for being in the room with someone she definitely doesn't want to have sex with?
>>
No. 772590 ID: a107fd

>>772426
Doesn't quite feel like her best work, but the trolls are definitely satisfied, and announce that it's easily the finest meal they've had in weeks. If there's a civil war in Greznek, this pretty much settles any lingering doubts about which side they'd be on.

Any other business with the trolls? Where's Rhea heading next?

>>772449
Across the bridge, through an archway, Geoffrey sees two ways forward: a 10' wide hall which is initially straight ahead, then curves up and to the left, or alternatively a high but narrow (4' wide) passage off to the right, completely filled with opaque crimson fog.

>>772436
Based on this marching order,
>>771686
Maru and Djan would be the first exposed, while Hore would be further back.

>>772425
Hore successfully punctures an artery. Thanks to that lower ambition of "murder," imminent death from blood loss is less of a turn-off (to her, at least) than might be expected.

>>772430
Yisheng Ji snatches a breath of trustworthy air from Daniel's purifying aura. It'll last long enough for him to rescue two other people by dragging them back out onto the 10' square landing, or alternatively, to run through the scented room and out the other visible door, but without any time to check for traps. Once that door was open, though, Davina would be able to make a shortcut around the miasma.

Ordinary first aid skill won't be enough to stop arterial bleeding. Normally it would require surgery; with the femoral artery specifically, and the patient repeatedly trying to make a pelvic-thrust motion instead of laying still and cooperating, surgical AND magical expertise will be required. Some strong assistants to hold Hore down would also help. Until the bleeding is dealt with, Hore will be taking another 1 HP of injury every 30 seconds, unless negated by a Con check with a -3 penalty rolled again for each time interval. Succeeding at three in a row, or any critical success, means her nanobots have managed to stabilize the situation without external assistance.

>>772456
>rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13
Nope, Maru Red is definitely affected.
>Any bonus for being in the room with someone she definitely doesn't want to have sex with?
It doesn't shut off your higher reasoning or alter orientation, just subverts priorities. If nobody of interest is willing, the compulsion can be satisfied by hiding behind one of those privacy screens and masturbating.

>>772431
>Actually, if it is an airborne drug, it might not affect Eric due to his poison resistance,

Eric's resistance mainly applies to ingested poison, less so to inhaled. There's no direct compulsion to remain in the room, though, so he might reasonably run off to flirt more overtly with Aaphia.

>or Dav due to chiral chemistry.

Some drugs function normally, and in the cruel and arbitrary Gygaxian tradition, I checked on a random table to determine that, yes, this is apparently one of them.

>>772429
Decaro Vos successfully embraces Maru and the Agate siblings with his massive tail, but has not observed anything horrifying by the time the pleasant miasma sinks in to his system. If anything, this oasis of joy seems like it could be reconsecrated as a shrine to Tittivila.

Anyone who succumbs to the effect can roll again to snap out of it every 30 minutes, or every five minutes if removed from the room or enveloped in Daniel's aura. Every ten minutes of compulsive sexual activity costs one point of sleep-deprivation fatigue, in addition to any fatigue from actual physical exertion, or from hypothermia. Additional rolls to snap out of it do not apply while unconscious, or while too exhausted to continue.
>>
No. 772606 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 3, 1 = 7

Well shit. Tough DC if my 8 failed.

Roll to snap out I guess. If Hore bleeds to death during sex then Vos will be plagued by some particularly nauseating nightmares.
>>
No. 772609 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

>>772590
WHAT?!

Also, I specifically stated in the quest discussion thread that Hore cancels this action if she has not actually inhaled the lust vapors.
>>
No. 772610 ID: 595d54

rolled 5, 3, 2 = 10

>>772590
Does Djan smell anything unusual as he walks into the room?
>>
No. 772613 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12

>>772609
DAMNIT, rolling second constitution save!
>>
No. 772623 ID: 9f3729

rolled 6, 5, 4 = 15

>>772590
Geoffrey thinks as he approaches the fork in the path.
Red mist, clearly shite. But question is, do it just funnel me away t' a less-noticeable trap in that suspiciously-safe-looking hall or 's it not tha' thunk out? Wait, nay, it might throw these goons off m' tail either way!
Geoffrey takes a deep breath and plunges on into the crimson fog, feet pounding the stone in a way that might put an observer in mind of two uncooked ham hocks trying to viciously murder the floor.
>>
No. 772626 ID: a107fd

>>772610
Sandalwood, balsam, fresh air, and whatever exotic drug was last used in that hookah are very unusual smells for the dungeon environment.

>>772606
>tough DC
First level soldiers don't get the best Will saves, and being a knight of Tittivila specialized in wrestling doesn't provide any circumstantial bonuses. He's got the exact opposite of a sacred vow of chastity. That said, yes, it's very difficult to resist.

>>772623
After about a hundred feet, Geoffrey stumbles face-first into a wall. Fortunately he wasn't moving very fast. The passageway continues thirty feet to the left, then he finds himself in a larger room. Too dark to see much. Smells like pig's blood and swamp water. He trips over an overturned table, and discovers that the smell is because there's a mix of pig's blood and swamp water all over the floor, along with some scattered bone fragments, and nasty little barbed... giant fish scales? Petrified leaves? No, wait, that one is definitely a salad fork. Bad environment to walk around barefoot, but it seems reasonably peaceful. Like the middle of the night after some embassy banquet, when there's just a skeleton crew on graveyard shift because all the glory hogs are off hunting escaped assassins.

>>772609
>rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17
That's a critical failure, so 3 points of bleeding.

>I specifically stated in the quest discussion thread
Which is the wrong place to declare what in-character actions you're immediately taking.
>that Hore cancels this action if she has not actually inhaled the lust vapors.
No, you specifically stated:
>>/questdis/107736
>she will ONLY do this action if she and the party followed Davina and Maru, as she would not be so desperate to stab herself if she had time to figure out a solution to the lust vapors, and would definitely refrain from causing herself to bark in pain if she was still in the same room as the marrow-sucking giant moss dogs.
I assumed that by "marrow-sucking giant moss dogs" you meant the bonesuckers, which at this point are down a flight of stairs and around a corner from Hore's current position, not "in the same room." (They're fungal rather than mossy, not remotely dog-shaped, and consume the bone itself while leaving the marrow and other soft tissue in place, so 'giant' is the only unqualified accurate part of that description.) As for the other condition, Hore's last rolled action prior to the self-inflicted injury was warming herself up for an attempt to sneak past the bonesuckers, so it seemed logical for her to follow through on that by falling into line with the rest of the party when they used Davina's shortcut.

>>772613
Also failed. So far that's 2 hp down from the initial stab, and 4 from the first sixty seconds of bleeding.
>>
No. 772629 ID: 383927

rolled 1, 5, 5 = 11

Given that she feels a rather immediate urge, and that leaving the room will both deprive her of privacy and put her closer to bonsuckers, Maru is gonna opt for hiding behind a privacy curtain while she masturbates, and loudly calling out to ask if either Davina or Maria "fancy a shag"

Rolling for getting getting herself off/sex
>>
No. 772631 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 5 = 14

Would Vos at least have the presence of mind to try to heal Hore with a flesh blessing before she dies?
>>
No. 772644 ID: 094652

rolled 1, 3, 6 = 10

How did I perfectly prepare a suicide?!

Hore would REALLY like some healing, why is Maria just standing there?! SOMEONE CAUTERIZE THE FUCKING WOUND!!!
>>
No. 772701 ID: a107fd

>>772629
It's a lot of fun, but any hint of satisfaction just rolls right back around into wanting more.

>>772631
Yes, now that Hore is explicitly asking.
>>772644
Vos slithers over to provide miraculous healing via mutagenic handjob. Would a translucent, sea slug style semi-prehensile phallus (alongside her existing doggy-style one) be a suitable mutation, or do you have something else in mind?

>why is Maria just standing there?
Maria is wrapped up in Vos's tail, and having a lot of trouble with 'impure thoughts' right now.
>>
No. 772739 ID: 84aebf

rolled 6, 5, 1 = 12

>>772701
Vos thinks this idea sounds lovely. Might ask Hore for her opinion first though. Roll is for if she accepts / passes out before she has the chance to provide an answer.
>>
No. 772741 ID: 094652

>>772701
Sure fine whatever Hore will agree to anything that will save her from a single misplaced self-inflicted injury to the crotch.
>>
No. 772742 ID: 094652

... After a few seconds, Hore asks for a vagina. She's not picky, and insists that Vos do whatever maximizes her chances of survival. Just saying.
>>
No. 772756 ID: 74621b

rolled 5, 6, 6 = 17

>>772590
>It'll last long enough for him to rescue two other people by dragging them back out onto the 10' square landing
With swift presence of mind, Yisheng Ji will go soaring in, and attempt to drag Eric and Davina back out of the room, given they're the only other ones not currently entangled in something, prioritizing Eric, as his minions do not need to breathe, and thus could be used to rescue the others.
>>
No. 772790 ID: af6e04

>Sure fine whatever
>... After a few seconds, Hore asks for a vagina.
>1 HP of injury every 30 seconds
>She's not picky
>Blood everywhere
>2 hp down from the initial stab, and 4 from the first sixty seconds of bleeding.
>Just saying.

Vos pauses at this interruption. Unsure of how to proceed while in his erotic stupor, he asks Hore to clearly state the vague shape she would like her genitals to be in when they are healed.
>>
No. 772794 ID: 9f3729

rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11

>>772626
Geoffrey pushes himself back up, hoping earnestly he didn't catch anything from getting grody floor-blood into his open wounds. He feels along the wall for any doors or openings, clutching at himself as another muscle spasm takes over.
Hopefully he lost those awful skull things, at least.
>>
No. 772795 ID: 094652

"HORE. IS. A. DOG!!! Please - *WHINE* - just get started. Just... Gnoll-shaped whatever-saves-my-wretched-life."
>>
No. 772799 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 2, 6 = 12

>>772795
Vos goes ahead with the flesh blessing with intent to restore things to the way they were before Hore stabbed herself.
>>
No. 772801 ID: a107fd

>>772756
Yisheng Ji successfully rescues Eric Grimwald, but misjudges the dynamics of that precious bubble of clear air while he's running back and forth along Decaro Vos's unnaturally extended spine. By the time he grabs Davina, they've both been exposed to the sweet miasma. This time, when the two of them become intangible, 'everything except each other' includes almost all clothing and equipment, although Davina retains her sword. They'll be floating together, naked in the aether, until Davina calms down or Ji lets go of her. The miasma is a purely physical effect, so they're outside of it while intangible.

Good news is, the compulsion doesn't prevent multitasking: while consumed by lust and thus intangible/ethereal, she can still cut portals. When he mentions not being able to see the stars overhead this time, it occurs to her that, from the bottom of a sufficiently deep shaft, she'd be able to reach toward the stars and open a portal directly to surface level... or rather, an estimate of where the surface is. Portals she opens while intangible work normally for tangible folks, but she's never created a portal to the interior of a solid object, and isn't sure what would happen.

Yisheng Ji had another flask of greekfire tucked away. It bounces off a falling steel breastplate, then lands in a pile of pillows, discreetly-weaponized jewelry, and surgical tools, yet somehow doesn't shatter and ignite.
>>
No. 772803 ID: a107fd

>>772799
Bleeding stops, and Hore is cosmetically unchanged, apart from a pale puckered scar smaller than a thumbprint. She has a feeling of gut-churning nausea, but that quickly fades into a distant sense of affection. The half-gnoll knows that Tittivila loves her, despite her cyborg parts, and the underlying insincerity of her previous prayers. However, Tittivila most definitely does NOT love this specific room. Before Hore can count on more safe assistance from that divine source, she needs to save Decaro Vos from this lust-miasma, and persuade him to establish a shrine to his patron somewhere, but not here. Any assistance she provides with the construction process would be regarded favorably.
>>
No. 772806 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 5, 3 = 11

> pale puckered scar
Big deal, she's got enough scars to terrify Vash the Stampede

> Renewed religious fervor
Are you trying to say something.

> What do
Hore imagines all the good she can do for the cosmic virus goddess as she spreads her legs and seeds the various monsters of the universe. Suddenly, that train of thought connects to her shameful memories of all the various innocents she has accidentally or indirectly killed, and the various rapes she committed on the destitute and the dead! Crushing guilt of her lack of restraint and hedonistic self-destruction partly distracts her from her religious favor! Hore concludes that she should not use religion as a shield against her sins.

But yeah, getting Vos and the party through this area as quickly as possible should be her first priority. She gives the rest of her knives to Vos, then asks the others for a blanket or container, as she hacks away the curtains at a distance with her axe. That cloth could be worth a small fortune, as long as it isn't cursed or riddled with disease. Maybe she can poke her spear through a few pillows and carry it all like some giant toy plush hammer?
>>
No. 772825 ID: a107fd

>>772806
>trying to say something
Tittivila is an NPC like any other, with a unique perspective on the world, leveraging favors and threats (within limits of capability and knowledge) in pursuit of an ideology, or for personal safety and indulgence, or, as is common with small gods running successful cults, some twisted hybrid of both. Quoting Bob Dylan:
God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son." Abe said, "Man, you must be puttin' me on." God said "No." Abe said "What." God said "You can do what you want, Abe, but... the next time you see me comin', you'd better run." Abe said "Where you want this killin' done?" God said "Oh, down highway sixty-one."

> That cloth could be worth a small fortune, as long as it isn't cursed or riddled with disease
After drapes are cut loose and removed from the room, some illusion slips away. This cloth is now obviously riddled with mildew, severely decayed, and could plausibly also be cursed. Altogether, that pushes it's value-density out of the 'treasure' bracket, down past 'dubiously useful salvage,' and even 'dirt,' settling into 'hazardous waste.'
>poke her spear through a few pillows
Same issue, with the addition of rat turds.
>>
No. 772834 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 4 = 9

>>772803
>>772806

Vos is elated at the blessing Hore has received! There was no doubt in his mind that Tittivila would come through. His jaw drops when Hore hands him a bunch of knives and starts zealously hacking apart the nice decor though. Unpredictable as ever, though Vos finds this trait more and more endearing as time goes on.

Vos beckons Hore back, trying to look as seductive as an eel-man can. Roll for seduction. Also, is there anything interesting about her aura?
>>
No. 772841 ID: b9aa79

Maru is going to try to, whilst still in the process of stimulating herself, as I believe failing that will save means she's unable to resist the urge, open the door at the far side of the room that they have yet to go through. She'll try to talk clearly and project enough that the others can get the message over the sounds of the rapidly growing orgy, that message being something along the lines of "Ya all layin in rat shit and mold! Follow me, and do what ya gotta do outside."

As I understand it, even though everyone is under the effects of compulsion right now, we have a degree on control over extra actions that don't prevent that, right? So, with the exception of Ji and Davina who lack the traction necessary to walk, no one here should have any real barriers preventing them from getting across the room and going outside right?
>>
No. 772849 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

>>772801
Davina is currently overwhelmed by a rushed flurry of thoughts and a pleasant warm sensation. Maybe she's do something about that if she had a hand unoccupied holding her sword or her companion's hand, or a mind occupied less by its own mad rush. On her mind:

Most her clothes are piled on the ground. That's a really neat trick for getting undressed. Be nice if she remembers how to do that on purpose later.

It's a real Pity Ji isn't a woman. Or a suitable husband prospect (Avian heritage aside, ambitions for personal immortality runs rather contrary to her own family's designs, to say nothing of the mess it makes of succession). He does the most fascinating things with her power.

Speaking of. She's currently in her ethereal state, a step out of phase with reality, and for the first time able to appreciate it. She's never been here in anything like a positive emotional state, usually forced her by distress or anger, and frustrated by the inability to act. The last time she spent any extensive time here was when her mother died, and it was days before hunger was stronger than grief (and longer still before the servants recovered from her "haunting" of the grounds). Never in a position to see the beauty of it, the pleasant sensations implied in the spaces between spaces (or beyond spaces) to see the stars unobstructed (and perhaps hints of things beyond). Being here, naked (in more than one sense) in her element feels something like a religious experience. She feels closer to her... other half than she ever has before, and for once isn't repulsed by this (although, vaguely, she wonders if this should worry her).

Davina stares in awed wonder.

(Without flavor, spot check (slash personal revelation). What can I see in this transparent world, both up, and around, in the light of the stars, whatever light sources lie in the room(s) I perceive, and/or the ether's own illumination?)

>she's never created a portal to the interior of a solid object, and isn't sure what would happen
Logical possible outcomes: (1) since intangible objects don't fall though the floor, it would be like walking into a wall. No passage allowed, just a viewport.

(2) object resistance only occurs at boundreies, and navigation inside would be possible.

(3) telefrag

(4) invalid destination, portal destination defaults to some place in between or outside of normal space as the party knows it. (Hello extraplaner horror linked to me, how are you)?

>So, with the exception of Ji and Davina who lack the traction necessary to walk
Some of us aren't floaty birds gods, have had years of experience operating out of phase, have it comes naturally to us, don't have our footwork disrupted when we flicker mid fight, and are apparently still able to use an ability that depends on pushing off of solid surfaces.
>>
No. 772852 ID: b9aa79

>>772849
If you feel confident walking out then I'd recommend doing so. The effect doesn't dissipate immediately after leaving, so you can still gape in awe and wonder after getting a new angle on things, and hopefully be able to come down from it without having to make saving throws. Also, Maru is yelling at everyone to leave, and is doing so herself. So there's that too.
>>
No. 772870 ID: a107fd

>>772849
>What can I see
Material objects within a 20 yard radius are as visible as they normally would be, if slightly out of focus, most notably including the traditional opacity of stone walls. The illusion includes just enough sense of sound and touch for navigation, though there's no mistaking either for the real thing, and lacks smell entirely. Immaterial scents are as different from physical ones as flying is different from swimming. No sky is visible so long as the ceiling is less than sixty feet away.

It's possible to see immaterial things at any distance, even through the illusory reflection of nearer physical stuff. Neither completely obstructs the other, unless the ethereal stuff is closer. Comparable to the effect when you hold up two similar-but-not-quite-identical pictures and force your eyes to focus on them separately, except that winking doesn't help.

There's no other immaterial stuff readily visible, though, apart from the two of you and whatever you're carrying. In most places the aether is either entirely empty, or clogged with something like a cross between fog, cobwebs, and underbrush.

Fortunately, on the far side of that door across the room, there's another 50' vertical shaft, 10' diameter, leading up to another crypt with a 15' high ceiling, which is just enough total vertical distance that you can see the stars if you stand at the bottom and crouch slightly.

>since intangible objects don't fall though the floor
Unattended immaterial objects don't fall, period. They just hang in place until something moves them. Pushing through solid walls while fully intangible is straightforward, since that illusory sense of touch doesn't provide any actual resistance, but having your head completely inside means you can't see or hear much, and anything notably thicker than your own height/armspan is disorienting enough to be functionally impossible to cross through. Yisheng Ji's phobia would probably be triggered by the 'buried alive' sensation of moving through even a relatively thin wall.
>>
No. 772874 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6

>>772852
Not sure sound carries across. I mean, it's not like real-air can vibrate my ear drums right now, and I'm breathing ether-stuff, presumably.

>what do
Okay. So if Maru opened the far side door and Hore tore down the near side curtain, that gives me line of sight across. I'll open a portal connecting the hall to the bottom of the shaft. Let's get past this room.

I'll gesture / sign for someone material to pick up our fallen gear. Hopefully someone else knows basic elf hand signing, or gets the pointing.

I'll wait for everyone to catch up and watch the stars. Any reasonable guess how far up the ground is?

All heedless of modesty, I suppose.
>>
No. 772892 ID: a107fd

>>772874
>I'll gesture / sign for someone material to pick up our fallen gear. Hopefully someone else knows basic elf hand signing, or gets the pointing.
>rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6
Simple message, good roll, Gesture skill fits the character background. Definitely got the point across.

>Any reasonable guess how far up the ground is?
It was 'real close' five flights of stairs and two elevator shafts ago, so... not really. Has to be more than twenty yards from the bottom of the current shaft, of course, but the terrain above has a lot of hills and there are some major gaps in your maps, so ultimately it comes down to blind guessing.

GURPS range penalties for vision, projectile attacks, and similar problems scale by approximately the sixth root of ten. So, after twenty yards, your break-points for penalties are at thirty, fifty, seventy, one hundred, hundred and fifty, two hundred, three hundred, and five hundred yards. Beyond... well, you're almost certainly not still that far underground, or if you are, 'porting out in one shot isn't going to work.
>>
No. 772895 ID: a107fd

>>772794
>He feels along the wall for any doors or openings
>rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11
A few chairs and a mostly empty barrel, but no apparent exits other than the way he came in.

>Hopefully he lost those awful skull things, at least.
No sign of them.
>>
No. 772931 ID: 383927

Alright so if I'm understanding this correctly, Maru has opened the door and stumbled out while failing to resist the effects of the fungus compelling sexual activity. Davina, in her intangible state was able to somewhat see through distant structures, and cut a portal to the base of another elevator shaft across the room from Mary and out of sight of the party. The agate twins are currently outside the room perhaps? As shit started going down and sister agate wasn't feeling well it wouldn't be unreasonable that they didn't enter. Hore and Vos are still in the room, but because Ji was at the least holding Davinas hand, he's probably through the portal as well. Eric and Djan are under the effects of the room I believe? Although I'm not too certain as their player characters haven't been giving a lot of input these past couple days. Is Maru, at this point, out of the breath zone for the sex mold, and not currently facing other obvious dangers in her new local?
>>
No. 772940 ID: 9f3729

rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9

Geoffrey takes a deep break and, after checking inside, decides to take a seat on the barrel after turning it over on its end.
He takes stock of himself, composing a mental tally of his various scrapes and wounds.
>>
No. 772954 ID: 3abd97
File 148470215394.png - (13.62KB , 600x165 , Nowhere close to scale.png )
772954

>>772931
Unless I messed something up, the elevator I portalled under should be the same room Maru found by opening the door. Here's a quick sketch of the layout and where I left the portals.

The only shortcut I can see through walls right now is to the stars, looking up though the ceiling of the shaft. And with no idea how high up ground level is, that means a blind teleport either into solid rock or mid air, the consequences of both being potentially nasty enough I'm not gonna risk it.

So Maru, and Dav and Ji should be in the room on the right (assuming he stuck with me). Eric got rescued by Ji, so presumably he's in the bone eater room? Hore cut through the curtains and some pillows, so she's in the drugged room. I'm not sure if Vos is inside the drug room or in front of it. Maria was tangled up in his tail, not sure where she is now. Djan and Daniel haven't been mentioned specifically, I think. So that either leaves them hanging back in the bone eater room or in the drugged room. Flesh puppets are who knows where, assuming they could be persuaded to move on from the bone eaters. The drug probably doesn't work on them anyways, although we've been reminded repeatedly about not assuming things about the not-quite-zombies, so who knows.

We should be able to regroup in the far room with the afflicted passing through the door and the unaffiliated taking the portalled shortcut.
>>
No. 772966 ID: 0f6a80

>>772954
Yeah sorry if my phrasing was unclear, I was under the impression it was the same room, I just thought you saw the far end of it through a wall and teleported over; I wasn't sure exactly how far that was withought a description of the room, but given that Maru is currently indisposed, it doesnt seem out of the question that she isn't ballparking the dimensions of the room, although she is worried about any dangers on the other side of the door and doing her best to keep an eye out for anything potentially detrimental to her health, however capable she may be while trying to satisfy herself
>>
No. 773051 ID: a107fd

>>772954
>The only shortcut I can see through walls right now is to the stars, looking up though the ceiling of the shaft. And with no idea how high up ground level is, that means a blind teleport either into solid rock or mid air, the consequences of both being potentially nasty enough I'm not gonna risk it.
Opening a portal into mid air is only a problem if you step through it, which is normally obligatory but might be avoided by e.g. having Maria tie your shoelaces together.

>Hore cut through the curtains and some pillows, so she's in the drugged room.
Standing just outside it, actually, reaching in through the door with weapons while taking great pains to avoid breathing the contaminated air.

>>772940
Geoffrey leans back and rests his head against the oddly warm stone wall above and behind the barrel. Facing toward the only entrance, far as he can tell, so if anything with a light source comes in, he'll notice. Just about every part of his body is either sore or numb.

He abruptly wakes up four hours later, stomach growling, hair inexplicably soaking wet. A feeling from his cursed brand suggests the proximity of multiple vampires. They haven't rounded the corner yet, let alone come within the 15' radius where their presence would disrupt his magic, so he might have time to cast a spell or take some other preparatory action. It will not be possible to use those sorcerous powers while cowering inside a barrel, due to restricted range of motion.
>>
No. 773065 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 5, 2, 3 = 10

>Any other business with the trolls? Where's Rhea heading next?
Well we've talked and shared a meal. Might be prudent to rest before leaving if necessary (might be a big undertaking for a small gobo preparing food for 16 to 30 creatures rather larger than herself). After that, it's probably time to resume the search for the surface.

>you'd have to find the route through either Kazleth's territory, or the basilisk caverns, or both. They can spare a four-troll squad to escort you to the goyle camps for the former, or help you through the mile-long upstream swim to the latter, but not beyond.
With Rhea's super drowning powers, a swim does not sound appealing. Let's accept the offer to be guided to the goyle camp.
>>
No. 773080 ID: e4e0b0

Maria scowls examining the room everyone was just in. "That room... I don't like it." She says, rescued from the aura by her brother's aura and her ropes.

Daniel nods. "I only wish I had acted faster... I, uh... really dropped the ball." He says. "But maybe I can fix that..."

He takes a deep breath and spreads his arms, stepping into the room. "May Agatia purify this wickedness..." he mutters, just before flaring his aura up to its most potent.
>>
No. 773083 ID: 0f6a80

>>773080
Probably gonna need to roll for that
>>
No. 773088 ID: e4e0b0

rolled 2, 2, 2 = 6

>>773080
Rollin' rollin' rollin'...
>>
No. 773097 ID: 9f3729

rolled 5, 2, 1 = 8

>>773051
Geoffrey screams internally, and externally sets to work. The warm wall intrigues him, and he gives it an experimental poke before turning the barrel upright and attempting to hide behind it.

While he moves he frantically tries to remember if vampires are weak to Cold Iron or not, what exactly makes iron cold again, and if his dagger counts under that.
Gods but I hate these supernatural types, with all their byzantine special rules an' bizarre habits an' bloodlust. Why can't they just be civilized like the rest of us, ey?
>>
No. 773122 ID: 3abd97

>>772874
>>773080
I, uh, really hope someone listened to my request to pick up my and Ji's gear before Maria goes and floods the room with holy fire.
>>
No. 773154 ID: 67456a

>>773122
Reminder that this is Daniel. He's all about curing impurities, not burning shit.
>>
No. 773155 ID: 3abd97

>>773154
Oh, I misread which of them is firing up. Yeah, he's a lot less likely to cause collateral damage.
>>
No. 773159 ID: f1fe20

Hopefully, Hore's weapons will also be cured. From her experience as a mercenary, augments are both expensive to maintain and dangerous for the user's squad both in and out of combat. Normally, adding poisons or modifying the edges of blades comes after the first assault or recon of a medium-sized campaign, when the risk of death by enemy forces is expected to be greater than the risks posed by biological warfare or gearing up the rookies with nonstandard equipment. Long campaigns require a steady flow of supplies and technological progress, and short missions are a good opportunity to practice using the basics.

Hore puts her weapons down within David's area of effect consecration. Then she moves away and starts to pray... except she's distracted. Vos didn't actually add an extra dick or pussy. Hore was looking forward to that. Not that she should just add risky mutations whenever, but it would have been fun. Hore considers the progress needed to lower the risks of mutations to negligible, and if they alter the genetics of the entire body or just the part that changes. Hore wonders how many people she has passed by were actually transgender. Then Hore wonders how many transgendered she has raped. She never asked. Hore is absentminded again.
>>
No. 773274 ID: a107fd

>>773088
The air is now clean, along with any equipment you brought with you, and the illusion has been suppressed. Daniel's power isn't strong enough to burn out the lust-mold at it's roots, underneath carpets and cracks in the stone walls, but it'll be hours or days, at least, before it grows back and germinates a new batch of spores. The illusion will most likely resume in a matter of minutes after he leaves.

Braziers are real, but rusty and unlit. The room is actually barely above freezing. Warmth was apparently part of the illusion. Several corpses are scattered around, tucked away behind pillows and screens, in varying degrees of mummification.

>>773159
>Vos didn't actually add an extra dick or pussy.
Closer inspection reveals that 'puckered scar' may be some sort of cloaca, and momentary nausea would be consistent with internal organs being rearranged to make room for something new.
>>
No. 773277 ID: a107fd

>>773097
>The warm wall intrigues him, and he gives it an experimental poke
Seems to be residual heat, as if a few hours ago there was a campfire where the barrel is now. No ashes or smell of smoke, though.

>While he moves he frantically tries to remember if vampires are weak to Cold Iron or not,
Cold iron, more properly known as meteoric iron (though it doesn't all have to come from meteors these days), is for busting up Fair Folk, some of the weaker types of demons, and punching through flashy sorcerous wards. Surprisingly cheap, at least in small portions and without any magical enhancements. His knife does indeed qualify.

Against vampires, shapeshifters, and contract devils you want silver weapons. True moonsilver is the best, alchemically steeled silver is adequate (doesn't hold an edge quite as well as standard steeled iron). Silver plating or filigree on a blade, or silver coins used as sling stones, are better than nothing.

For vampires specifically, Geoffrey recalls a page from some operations manual listing useful items and environmental effects, but not the specific tactical applications thereof.

*Bamboo poles cut at an angle, or other field-expedient nonmetallic pikes
*Cornmeal, dry rice, or other starchy material with discrete countable grains
*Garlic
*Direct sunlight
*Smoked-glass goggles
*Fire
*Unguarded outer perimeter clearly marked "no entry"
>>
No. 773280 ID: a107fd

>>773065
There are a total of forty trolls, in ten squads of four. At any given time, four squads are in the lair, while six are out on patrol. A full series of shifts passes more or less uneventfully, during which Rhea gets a chance to learn everyone's name, catch up on sleep, and arrange a continuous rotation of new ingredients and spices being added as fast as fully-cooked material is being removed and eaten. Eventually, they seem to have the process figured out, and it's time to move on.

The passage to Kazleth's territory is three-quarters of a mile to the west, across two rivers. Fortunately, crossing is as simple as having a troll wade through a shallow spot while holding Rhea overhead.

Just before the second crossing, a troll-sized creature drops down from the ceiling, hundreds of feet above. It's broad barrel chest and oddly-jointed limbs are covered in a thick layer of filthy, matted hair, original color impossible to discern, and it's head is entirely concealed by the hood of a brown cloak. After landing on it's feet, light as a feather, it assumes a fencer's stance, left arm tucked behind the small of the back. Right arm whips out to grab the rear troll (PFC Varlik) by the right wrist and side of the neck, then wrenches hir left shoulder out of the socket... ALL the way out. Before anyone can respond effectively, the ambusher has struck the other three trolls at least once each on the head, chest, or upper back with Varlik's severed arm, but then it hesitates before striking Rhea.

The ambusher has four three-fingered hands, and four forearms, but only two elbows and two upper arms. Each elbow is a Y-shape. A gug, in the act of beginning to swing it's empty left pair of hands out from behind it's back.
>>
No. 773283 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 4, 4, 3 = 11

>>773274
Someone still able to interact with the corporeal world might want to search the bodies of our less fortunate predecessors. They might have died with gear that would be useful to us.

Rolling to see if I recover from intangibility yet.

Anything of note in the chamber below the shaft and beyond the drugged room?
>>
No. 773290 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

Hm. Gug embassy was to the north east, and we headed west. Wonder why we're running into one here?

>wrenches hir left shoulder out of the socket... ALL the way out
Well I'm sure that will grow back. Eventually.

>analysis
Clearly pulling it's punches, as it took down the trolls literally with one arm behind its back, and is apparently opting to not use excessive bludgeoning force on Rhea.

>what do
Let's hope it's open to parlay. Rhea does some quick hand jive, shape manipulated flames substituting for her deficit in hands.

"Hold! Please. No further violence. What do you want?"
>>
No. 773296 ID: a107fd

>>773290
First sign the gug makes involves one finger from the upper hand tapping the lower hand, which then flips palm-up and shakes slightly. Could be translated as "saying hello (to a social inferior)" or "counting coup." Before continuing, the gug gingerly pokes Rhea's face with the ragged bloody stump, then tosses the arm back to Varlik, who sits down on the riverbank and starts the reattachment process.

"You are from Greznek, but not traveling with an official escort, and you smell like burning. If something bad happened and almost all mortals died, what do you say should be done?"
>>
No. 773301 ID: 3d2d5f

>You are from Greznek, but not traveling with an official escort
"I am traveling to the surface for personal reasons, not as a formal representative of my people."

>you smell like burning
"I appologize if I have given offense. Fire is both in my nature, and a tool in my role as a chef."

>If something bad happened and almost all mortals died, what do you say should be done?
Hmm. Really hard to tell if that's some kind of hypothetical, an implied accusation of responsibility for others killed, or a threat asking what retaliation we would expect if it killed us all.

Well let's see where idealistic honesty gets Rhea.

"Rites and respect for the dead. Succor and comfort for the living."
>>
No. 773304 ID: e662ef

... Hore should get that changed in the future.

Hore asks Daniel if that worked. Maria eyes her carefully, but Daniel speaks up; the lust-mold infestation is still there, and they need to move now or it will regrow in a few minutes.

Upon hearing the word 'mold', Hore decides that the best course of action is to burn the room of mold, then leave some of their mold rations behind in hopes that the mold from the cavern will overtake the lust-mold.
>>
No. 773321 ID: 9f3729

rolled 6, 6, 4 = 16

>>773277
Ah yes, Don Miller's Guide to the Dubiously Alive, NOW he remembers. One of the handiest birthday gifts he'd ever gotten.
He sets up behind the barrel, doing what he can to disguise himself behind it with floor-blood camouflage.
Before he goes inert, he gives the room one last scan, hoping for something granular and starchy.
>>
No. 773323 ID: 67456a

Daniel nods. "Agatia's love has cleared this place. Not for long, but for a time. The room should be safe for the rest of our stay here."

Maria hugs Daniel. "See? You're super useful! Dad's just an idiot."

Daniel smiles softly.
>>
No. 773346 ID: af6e04

Vos is ready to leave, suddenly deciding this room is actually a terrible place for a shrine to Tittivila. He gathers up Davina and Ji's things and slithers out as fast as his tail will carry him.

Vos thanks Daniel profusely for dispelling the vile illusion and moves to find a place to coil up and recover from the ordeal.
>>
No. 773353 ID: a107fd

>>773301
>"I am traveling to the surface for personal reasons, not as a formal representative of my people."
"Visit lake laogai. Consider who built the wall of poison near there, and why."

>"I appologize if I have given offense.
"You did not attack in a way that matters. I would have noticed."

>Fire is both in my nature, and a tool in my role as a chef."
The gug readily accepts this idea that some secret caste of goblins can naturally project bolts of fire from their hands, and safely catch or redirect fire based attacks launched by others, but finds any connection between fire and food preparation counter-intuitive.

>"Rites and respect for the dead. Succor and comfort for the living."
"Funerals and a breeding program? This is similar enough that we may yet have much to discuss. For now, take this: the stone bat folk have a new old snake tool, as yet unknown to corpsefuckers. It consists of a sphere, a flexible plane, and a cube, separable but useless when apart. You may be able to persuade the tool to regurgitate various secrets."

Conversation with Rhea only occupied one of the gug's arms. The other has been engaged in an animated discussion with the troll patrol.

>>773321
>scan
No light. Mr. Vargas has been navigating this dead-end room mostly by touch and smell.

>trying to hide from vampires
>already badly wounded
>cover self with additional blood
Clearly the best plan.

Quiet footsteps approach, then suddenly stop. Some hoarse voice says "That's weird. Hey! Anyone home in there?"
>rolled 6, 6, 4 = 16
Without thinking, Geoffrey responds "No, this is an empty barrel."

"Won't mind if we come in, then?"
>>
No. 773390 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13

>Several corpses are scattered around, tucked away behind pillows and screens, in varying degrees of mummification.

I just realized that dry corpses are part of Vos' phobia. So he will leave with utmost expedience and also roll against panic?
>>
No. 773400 ID: 094652

Hore takes one last look behind her, then does a headcount. If anyone was left behind she quickly grabs them so they don't get separated by rotting mildew and aphrodisiac. Hore also feels more confident that any assassins hunting them down would be slowed down considerably by the combination of disease, lust, and illusion magic all tied into a single deathtrap, which would affect most types of enemies in some manner. This increases her confidence by a small amount. Finally, Hore throws a single ration of moss into the room in hopes that it will one day do territorial battle with the lust-moss and ultimately triumph over the invasive rot that has led so many to frolic to their doom across silken hills of rat piss and neurotoxic spores.

Hore realizes that Vos is panicking somewhat. Now that it is safe to @#$% again, she offers Vos a chance to mount her for a change. Then she also slaps him because he made a cloaca. Seriously, the slug-dick would have been cooler than THIS disgusting excuse of a second vagina.

If Vos refuses, Hore will give her tail a few extra lick-and-spits and use it to play with her new hole. Aware of Maria's short temper, she uses her tail to hide her fapping while it slowly penetrates her cloaca. After testing out the new plumbing, Hore will tend to her armor for comfort and ask if the party needs something done.
>>
No. 773401 ID: 9f3729

>>773353
It takes a moment for Geoffrey to realize his mistake, and another few to think up a plan. Geoffrey gasps in mock offense.
"Of course you can't come in, I don't have my lid on! You could just- just see right into me, you pervert!"
>>
No. 773409 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 1 = 8

>secret caste of goblins
Hmm. That might even be technically accurate, if there are other fire-spirit descended gobos out there. (And/or fire-blessed priests). Although given the way abilities seem to function in this setting, I would be surprised if the results were entirely consistent.

>Visit lake laogai. Consider who built the wall of poison near there, and why
Has Rhea heard of this lake before, know where that is, or know anything about the history the Gug is referring to? (Roll for local resident lore check, I suppose).

If not, I suppose I can ask the trolls if they know anything about it later.

>any connection between fire and food preparation counter-intuitive
Okay there's no way the baker on a quest to learn more about baking can't ask a follow up question there. "How do your people prefer to prepare food?"

>"Funerals and a breeding program? This is similar enough that we may yet have much to discuss. For now, take this: the stone bat folk have a new old snake tool, as yet unknown to corpsefuckers. It consists of a sphere, a flexible plane, and a cube, separable but useless when apart. You may be able to persuade the tool to regurgitate various secrets."
So it was asking about personal philosophy. Hmm. Very logical minded and pragmatic in approach. I wonder if the focus on some kind of disaster is because they experienced one, if they expect one, or if they're planning on causing one.

Rhea will thank the gug for this information.
>>
No. 773534 ID: a107fd

>>773283
Recovered enough to speak audibly and safely separate your gear from the incendiaries, at least. The corpses' belongings seem to have already been picked clean of anything valuable.

With the illusion suppressed, a perfectly serviceable iron ladder is visible leading up the shaft to another 50' wide, 70' long crypt. The sarcophagi along either side are topped with figures of warriors and explorers in peaceful repose. At the far end there's another 20' flight of stairs. No door at the top, just an open archway to a 30' wide, 50' long room occupied by a 15' diameter semi-animate ball of tar and rotten meat.

>>773390
Room's fairly cold, and more damp than dry, so the phobia is less relevant than the fact that you were unwittingly cuddled up on top of a dead body with an exploded-open abdomen. Works like a fright check either way. Want to go with immediate vomiting, or some lasting quirk-level mental scar? A mostly irrelevant delusion, for example, or obsession with some reasonable goal (such as building a shrine somewhere suitable), or strong (but less than phobic) dislike of soft, luxurious beds.

>>773401
"I'll just wait right here until you're ready, then."

>>773409
>Has Rhea heard of this lake before, know where that is, or know anything about the history the Gug is referring to?

Lake Laogai is nearby, but on the surface, in green-elven territory. Rhea doesn't recall anything of obvious significance about the lake itself, or anything at all about any "wall of poison." The vineyard-village of Ravenholm, on the shore of the lake, was abandoned or shut down or something not very long ago, because of some... aftershocks of a civil war? Or... mind control, maybe? News from the surface tends to be badly distorted when it reaches Greznek.

>"How do your people prefer to prepare food?"
Quenyl has an extensive technical vocabulary for fermentation, marinades, pickling, and related subjects. There's also something that translates literally as 'basement mountaintop.'
>>
No. 773535 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 2, 4 = 10

>>773534
>obsession with some reasonable goal (such as building a shrine somewhere suitable)
Well if I get to choose, this option sounds perfectly fine and in-line with what Vos would probably do even if he hadn't been traumatized. Luxurious beds are an excellent place to worship, and Vos won't be spoiled on them just because of one bad experience.

>offers Vos a chance to mount her
Vos starts to say something but gets interrupted...

>Then she also slaps him
He hooks his arm under Hore's leg and goes for the takedown!!
>>
No. 773549 ID: 094652

Hore yells to Vos that she's still reeling from blood loss and should avoid taking damage whenever possible until she recovers!

Vos responds with a recommendation to avoid strenuous activity. Which includes sex.

... Hore whines, but agrees. Though she's not going to forgo fapping.
>>
No. 773557 ID: 84aebf

>>773549
(just in case it needs clarifying, Vos sets Hore down gently. He doesn't try to powerbomb her or anything)
>>
No. 773580 ID: 9f3729

rolled 1, 3, 4 = 8

Geoffrey is not a notably intelligent man. So when an idea strikes him, it tends to be quite a notable occurrence.
In this case, the fact the vampires can't come without permission was what got him thinking.

Hm. I guess this counts as m' home now. Can't rely on tha' though, they'd find a way in 'ere eventually or get some lackey to get me. Vampires always have lackeys, the lazy blighters. They also think I'm a barrel. If I make a barrel house for me to "live" in, I could probably carry it out with me in it.
He stands up, tilting the barrel up and over his head in the hopes they think the barrel's just sprouted legs and a torso while he works.

He starts by ripping apart the furniture in the room for wood, to reshape into his new home. He remembers that fork from earlier, and tries to find others like it to bend into rings for door hinges. Really he just starts combing through the wreckage in the room, scrambling whatever he can into his frankensteinian mobile home.

It don't hafta be sturdy, just light enough to carry and strong enough not tae fall apart on me... and long as I got one room an' a doorway I -think- that'd count as a house by they're rules!
>>
No. 773602 ID: a107fd

>>773580
So you're going to hide under the barrel like Solid Snake under a cardboard box, and try to push past six or more vampires? Through a 4' wide hallway, which is barely more than the width of the barrel in question? Instead of, say, trying to finish healing existing grievous internal injuries.

I'm asking because, as a trained Royal Guardsman and expert coward, Geoffrey would know that fighting a solo melee against multiple vampires, with his current gear and skills, amounts to suicide.
>>
No. 773615 ID: 383927

I believe the intention is not to try to sneak past vampires under a barrel, but to fashion the barrel something that could be mistaken for a mobile house out of whatever he can find grasping around in the dark, to ensure that the vampires can't "get in" and get him, and he can keep moving, so as to avoid the summoning of any lackeys that could enter without permission.
>>
No. 773764 ID: af6e04

>With the illusion suppressed, a perfectly serviceable iron ladder is visible leading up the shaft to another 50' wide, 70' long crypt. The sarcophagi along either side are topped with figures of warriors and explorers in peaceful repose. At the far end there's another 20' flight of stairs. No door at the top, just an open archway to a 30' wide, 50' long room occupied by a 15' diameter semi-animate ball of tar and rotten meat.

Somehow missed this.

Think we probably shouldn't poke the meat slime. Is it moving? Is there a door on the other side?
>>
No. 773767 ID: a107fd

>>773764
The tarball rolls toward any sign of life or movement at one yard per second (a leisurely walking pace) but cannot squeeze itself into the 10' wide staircase. It might be concealing a door or something on the far wall, by virtue of it's sheer bulk and opacity. Aura sight indicates that it's some sort of undead protoplasm or hive organism.
>>
No. 773768 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 5, 2 = 8

>>773767
Does it leave any sort of trail? Seems like it should be easy enough to just go around it. Vos will, after asking Davina to accompany him, step into the room and try to move to an angle that allows line of sight to the far wall. This is assuming the tarball is a decent distance away and not right in our faces.
>>
No. 773772 ID: a107fd

>>773768
Vos slithers up the stairs and off to the side, keeping a good six feet between himself and the rot-o-sphere, when suddenly it expands like a pufferfish. The force of the impact knocks him back eight feet, to bounce off a wall into one of the corners near the stairs. Then, in the process of contracting, the ball releases some sort of nauseating noxious gas.
>rolled 1, 5, 2 = 8
Of course, one of the first things any eelman learns about fighting on land is how to fall correctly, so he manages to roll with the impact and avoid serious injury. Good thing it hasn't got enough of a mind to do tactics! If that spherical abomination had waited until Vos was directly between it and one of the side walls, he'd have been crushed. Probably not immediately fatal, especially with his current flexible serpentine body plan, but after that first hit it'd be like taking a nap under a trip-hammer. Fifteen foot diameter, plus nine or ten foot "reach," means it can flatten people against the left and right walls simultaneously.

Still didn't get a good look at the far side.
>>
No. 773780 ID: b9aa79

Whoops, I forgot that when the agate brother purified the room the compulsion was lifted from Maru as well. And here I was waiting for a half hour to pass in game.

Just to clarify, is that ladder in the lotus trap room, now revealed after the enchantment has been temporarily suppressed? Or is it for the shaft Davina portaled to?
>>
No. 773784 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14

>>773772
Only the followers of Orcus could come up with an obstacle so absurd and terrifying. Vos was about six feet away from the meat balloon. It expanded radially by nine feet and tossed him eight feet into the wall. This means the blob is, unexpanded, fourteen feet away from the near wall and Vos only has five safe feet to work with. The blob will advance to crushing distance within two seconds. Assuming Vos can even gather his wits in this amount of time, he'll expediently slither back into the hallway entrance, driving back anybody else who has tried to step into the room.

>Vos will ... step into the room
>Vos slithers up the stairs and off to the side
Vos is still getting used to the idea of not having legs.

>>773780
It's in the shaft Davina portaled to. We have all already advanced up it, through a room full of sarcophagi, to the current room in which Vos just got meat balloon attacked.
>>
No. 773790 ID: 3abd97

>We have all already advanced up it
I thought we were waiting for Hore and Vos' three stooges routine to wrap up, but it would seem to have done so already.

>15' diameter semi-animate ball of tar and rotten meat.
>Aura sight indicates that it's some sort of undead protoplasm or hive organism.
Davina mutters something peppered with profanities about the preponderance of foes that neither bleed nor possess discrete, stabbable weak points.

>Options
This might be Maria's chance to shine. It's probably undead, it's made of combustible tar (and gaseous products of rot), and it's almost literally a target the broad side of a barn. She'd be hard pressed to miss, blasting it with burning holy light.

Of course, if it's undead, Eric might be able to simply seize control of it. Although if it's too large to leave the room, he can't keep it.

Probably combustible means Ji could chuck a container of greek fire at it, although that's burning a consumable when the other options don't require that.

All three of these have the advantage that they can be attempted from outside the room, through the door, where the ball can't reach us (unless it rolls right up to the boundary and attempts to gas whoever on the other side, but between Daniel's aura and time to back up when we see it coming, that should be avoidable).
>>
No. 773794 ID: 3abd97

>>773790
Belated, but if we do try to blow up the ball of tar and possibly combustible gasses, we probably want to back the hell up first.
>>
No. 773797 ID: 1d0e08

Maria seems fucking thrilled with the strange tar... ball... thing. Her fingers literally light up with warm, white flames. "Can I burn this?" She asks. "I can see literally no reason not to burn this. When everyone's at a safe distance, of course."
>>
No. 773828 ID: a107fd

>>773784
Vos barely manages to get himself turned around and out of the corner before a second 'puff' launches him down the stairs, to be caught by the rest of the party.

>>773794
Who's standing where when Maria cuts loose with the holy firehose?
>>
No. 773873 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 5 = 13

>>773828
Woo, close one! After appreciatively nuzzling whoever halted his fall and shaking off the residual panic of almost being caught between a wall and a squishy place, and upon hearing Maria utter the word 'burn', Vos will proceed down the stairs entirely and around the corner. So that's where he's standing, assuming he makes it before Maria lets loose.
>>
No. 773876 ID: 402cf9

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

Hore has decided that she shouldn't just wait for more damage to pummel her.

Though it will cost her a weapon, Hore suggests that Maria consecrate the her spear with holy fire, or set an enchantment which she can remotely activate.

Hore uses her cybernetics to analyze the gas, hopefully it's flammable. Roll for perception check.
>>
No. 773881 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 3, 5 = 9

>Who's standing where when Maria cuts loose with the holy firehose?
Okay sooo... we're in second the 50' by 70' crypt room (30' by 70' if we consider just the corridor between the sarcophagi). Maria is presumably standing either on the stairs to the tar-ball room, or at the foot of those stairs. Stairs are 10' wide.

If we assume there's gonna be an explosion, safest hiding places are either in the corners directly to the side of the stairs, tucked into one of the corners (assuming any explosion would be channeled forward and down by the staircase), or putting distance between you by getting across the room and crouching behind one of the sarcophagi. Although in the later case, if the explosion is strong enough to knock the sarcophagi around you're in trouble.

Safest place of all would be down the ladder, but we don't have time for that.

Davina will duck into one of the corners to the side of the stairs.
>>
No. 773905 ID: a107fd

The undead wad of tar doesn't explode, or even properly burn, under Maria's assault. It crumbles and melts, thrashes and flows, scatters like dry leaves or startled pigeons. She's working calmly and efficiently, rather than blasting all-out, and sweeping each wave of rancid detritus back up the stairs before refocusing on the core. After two or three minutes of continuous fire, the sphere finally loses cohesion. Largest remaining fragments roll and dribble away through the far wall (which is apparently another illusion). Smaller bits are still scattered all over the room, amid the lingering stench of decay and death.

Maria is now giddy and out of breath. That was easily the biggest and toughest thing she's ever obliterated, maybe the biggest single thing (in terms of physical size, at least) that anyone in the family has dealt with in living memory, unless there was some sort of demonic whale she's forgotten about.
>>
No. 773923 ID: 402cf9

Hore is sad about her broken plasma pistol. She hasn't racked up any kills since that giant boar.

Hore decides to scavenge here. Something was keeping that security system in check, because it clearly has prerogative to flee when threatened. Maybe there's a copper component?

Hore also suggests that they corral the remaining flesh and burn it so that it doesn't regrow into a new ball of death. Hore would normally follow the fleeing fragments before they could regroup, but she's sure by now that the toxic gas it produces isn't exactly flammable, so best to play it safe. The ball will likely reform in a few hours, so maybe they should leave a message: "Warning: Zombie Ball of Death. 1) Slam. 2) Toxic Gas. Use Fire".
>>
No. 773973 ID: 6d1a6a

Maria dusts her hands off, grinning like a maniac. "And that is how you do it. Target purged." She makes a strange gesture that's probably religious in nature, pressing a fist over her heart and sweeping it up to her neck.

Daniel, meanwhile, frowns and examines the debris, his aura burning away the scent of decay before it can hit his senses. "Father will be pleased to hear of this." He says, prodding a bit of charred flesh with his foot. "Maybe this'll get added to the grimoires..."

He focuses on how Vos nuzzled him when the purifier caught the eel. He still felt a bit warm and... well, impure, for a certain definition of the word.
>>
No. 773974 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 2, 3 = 11

>illusionary wall
So this trap is rather nastier if you're descending into the crawl as intended instead of using it as an exit. We at least saw what we were approaching. Someone coming the other way would be surprised by it.

>>773905
>>773973
"Impressive."

>>773923
>The ball will likely reform
That's likely why parts of it fled, yes.

>maybe they should leave a message
Your concern for those who might follow us is unexpected, but I'm not sure we have the means. Quill and ink doesn't work well on stone, stone carving would be a costly time investment (and we lack tools). Djan would make etching a metal plate relatively simple, but we don't have material to spare.

That and there's a chance someone or something maintains these halls, and the message might simply be removed.

>what do
Let's take a look-see past the illusion, I suppose. What's there? Rolling for perception, alertness, etc.
>>
No. 773978 ID: 3abd97

>>773534
Not sure where to take the conversation after this, unless there's another subject the gug would like to raise.

I suppose there's room for belated introductions as we never exchanged names.

Assuming the conversation winds down, what's next? Is the gug willing to let us continue across the river, staying here, following us, etc.?

If / when we part ways Rhea would like to ask the trolls if that's what always happens when they cross paths.
>>
No. 773986 ID: 383927

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>>773923
>maybe they should leave a message

Maru finds herself in the unusual circumstance of agreeing with something Hore said, at least partially. She congratulates Marina on a job theatrically done. When she retells this story she'll shorten the time between pointing and explosions considerably, but it'll make a good addition to the saga none the less. While Davina checks past the illusion, Maru will search the room for anything of note
>>
No. 773992 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 2, 2 = 8

After a few minutes tucked away in his corner waiting for the earth shattering kaboom, Vos peeks up the staircase and slithers back up.

He screeches praise to Maria and asks Maru to leave his clumsy flop out of her story. Then he'll accompany Davina as she checks out the illusionary wall.
>>
No. 774000 ID: a107fd

>>773978
>names
The idea of exchanging permanent identifiers after such a brief acquaintanceship is met with concern, incredulity, and the Quenyl equivalent of nervous laughter, comparable to some abrupt unsolicited marriage proposal, or a petulant suicide threat. Gugs identify each other mainly by "peripheral scent," in a system as elaborate and nuanced as military uniforms or courtiers' gowns, and they find societies that habitually bathe to be disorienting and surreal, a never-ending masquerade ball.

>willing to let us continue across the river
Yeah, just staying in touch.

>If / when we part ways Rhea would like to ask the trolls if that's what always happens when they cross paths.
Fairly typical. It's a good thing the gugs are so disciplined and diplomatic.

>>773974
>Let's take a look-see past the illusion, I suppose. What's there?
First thing Davina notices is that apparently the illusory wall blocks air circulation to some extent, because the acrid, rancid stench hits almost like a physical blow.

Next item of interest, after she's blinked the tears from her eyes and stopped retching, is that the area beyond has no floor, just a wall-to-wall pool of noxious sludge like the "water" from Portal punctuated by a haphazard network of 10" wide walkways made from slick glazed ceramic, each one barely half an inch above the liquid's surface. The walkways are split into 18" long segments colored black, yellowish-brown, dull green, and rusty red, seemingly at random. Routes between the doors are annoyingly circuitous unless someone's willing to risk a jump... or, like Davina, simply teleport.

Overall, pool room is 20' wide and 90' long. There are two doors at the closer end, only about 10' from the left edge of the illusory wall, and two more at the far end, 50' from the right edge.
>>
No. 774001 ID: 2ca355

Maria dusts off her shoulder at everyone's praise. "Please, this is nothing. I'm still young, I'll be Purging bigger, more unholy things in no time." Even with that show of humility, she seems pleased.
>>
No. 774002 ID: 3abd97

>trying to open those false double doors will drop the walkways into the guardian of bile
Well I think we've found the room Aaphia warned us about. We have to be careful in this room, or we'll dump someone in a trap.

(When it comes time to test a door, we should probably portal a meat puppet into position, retreat, and then see what happens when it tries to open the door. After we've made some effort the check which is which, of course).

>There are two doors at the closer end, only about 10' from the left edge of the illusory wall, and two more at the far end, 50' from the right edge.
Are (either or both) of these sets of doors double doors, or is one a set of two individual doors in the same wall?

>The walkways are split into 18" long segments colored black, yellowish-brown, dull green, and rusty red, seemingly at random.
I don't suppose the segments in front of the doors happen to be the same color?

Are the doors notably different in any way? Our information suggests at least one of them is a trap.

I'd ask Vos examine this room with aura sight as well. Might give as a hint as to nature of the bile, or possibly which door is safe.
>>
No. 774004 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

>The idea of exchanging permanent identifiers after such a brief acquaintanceship is met with concern, incredulity, and the Quenyl equivalent of nervous laughter, comparable to some abrupt unsolicited marriage proposal, or a petulant suicide threat. Gugs identify each other mainly by "peripheral scent," in a system as elaborate and nuanced as military uniforms or courtiers' gowns, and they find societies that habitually bathe to be disorienting and surreal, a never-ending masquerade ball.
Rhea will apologize for this cultural slip-up as best she is able. As her people have less astute noses I assume, identifying customs are different.

(I suppose Rhea's own situation gives her a slight advantage as a point of contact with the gug. She smells of fire, and she bathes with that rather than water, so she's going to have a reasonably fixed scent rather than a variable kaleidoscope).

>Fairly typical. It's a good thing the gugs are so disciplined and diplomatic.
Well, no harm done. Rhea certainly understands wanting to show off or practice your mastery of a skill.

>what do
Continuing to travel with the trolls towards the goyles. Rolling for perception etc while on the move.
>>
No. 774008 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 2, 6 = 13

>>774002
Vos points out that we can't walk across walkways that have been dropped down into the guardian of bile, so trial and error might not be the best solution. Vos will of course scan both doors with aura sight.
>>
No. 774016 ID: 3abd97

>>774008
>so trial and error might not be the best solution
Agreed. But when it eventually comes times to pick a door, Davina would prefer to risk having to find a way to reset the walkways or to cross to a door without a walkway in front of it than she would risk being dumped in toxic sludge.
>>
No. 774156 ID: a107fd

>>774002
Both sets appear to be double doors, although door and wall alike are black marble so it's hard to be sure. Mostly you're identifying them by the pull-rings.
>I don't suppose the segments in front of the doors happen to be the same color?
There's an L-shaped pathway hugging the left wall which goes green-black-brown-green-red-brown-black-green-green-brown-black-brown-black-red-brown-red-brown-brown-red-blac
k, although you'd only need to go about two-thirds of the way along it to reach the closer doors, while whatever sequence of colors leads up to the further doors is too hard to confidently pick out from such a distance, and low angle, through the noxious haze.

>>774008
>scan both doors with aura sight
Ordinary stone all around. If there's a trap, it's either purely mechanical, or any magical parts are buried way back inside the walls. Lots of things have died a painful death in that pool of goo, though it's only about three or four feet deep.

>>774004
>her people have less astute noses
Might just be a matter of practice to pick out relevant details. With all the pungent stuff soaked into that matted fur, it wouldn't take a master bloodhound to notice a gug's approach at thirty yards or more, assuming favorable winds.

>Continuing to travel with the trolls towards the goyles
The fifty or so goyles look more or less like handsome, square-jawed goblins, with draconic features (claws and teeth, membranous wings, swept-back horns) and skin pigmentation that effectively disguises them as stone statues when holding still, apart from solid black eyes. Unfortunately, as they swoop down from their barracks-caves (each one at the top of a sheer cliff at least 40' high) the "cute monster-boy harem" effect is spoiled by their piercing, seagull-like voices.
>rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8
After smoothing over some typical inter-service rivalry and watching the trolls head back, Rhea successfully, almost accidentally, blackmails the goyles with that information from the gug. In exchange for not telling the priests of Orcus that they've been holding back some of the loot stripped from intruders, they'll cut her in on the action. First of all, three pendants taken from adventuring priests of foreign gods: a sword-like silver cross, hilt upward, on an ivory disc; a silver semicircle embossed with a twelve-headed serpent; and an ankh carved from some dark tropical hardwood.

Then, the main prize, a functional set of relics. Biggest part is a 23-pound crystal ball, seemingly made of countless layers like a transparent onion, on a cylindrical black base. Second is a gilded music box, palm-sized but surprisingly dense, weighing five pounds. Open up the lid, it plays a plaintive mewling song as curved surgical-steel blades dance in elegant interlocking spirals. Finally, a section of stiff canvas with an impossibly dense weave, about two feet square and weighing one pound. Lay it on the ground under a light source, it spends the first few minutes changing color to mimic it's surroundings, then gradually embellishes on them: cartoonish beetles crawl in and remove stone, a pebble at a time, until there's a deep tunnel of forced perspective inlaid with cryptic runes. Lay it on a sleeping goyle's belly, same effect, but it starts off looking like a vivisection. Gave the goyles a real scare when one of them first tried using it as a blanket.

There's a spirit of fire inside the music box. She's perilously weak, barely a single guttering ember, yet clever and eloquent like a hearth that's been burning continuously for decades at the center of classy traveler's inn or alchemist's workshop. She mumbles apologies, in the manner of an elegantly besotted princess who just vomited on your shoes. She'd like to be reunited with the 'densitometric scrying array' by way of the 'interface altar-cloth,' and to be fed an intact eye from an organic sapient being. If you haven't got one already extracted and in cold storage, simply open up her lid and press the mechanism inside against the appropriate part of a prisoner's face, don't worry, she's still got enough strength to figure out simple surgery by herself. Or, if eyes simply aren't available, she'd be willing to settle for having that crank on the side of the box gently twisted around about a hundred and forty-four thousand times.
>>
No. 774162 ID: 094652

>>773797
>>774001
Hore attempts to converse with Maria about her disturbingly sexual passion of the Agate. Note that she intentionally keeps Ji close to her, in case Maria loses her temper.

"Maria, has anyone told you how sexual you are when you use holy spells? I mean, from how you've acted on the expedition, I thought that you wanted me to... well, I'm sorry about how I disturbed you. Still, you and your brother should know better. You're respectable warriors of the cloth. And everyone knows that the most uptight, tense type of parent is the cloth type. I... figured your parents would have given you a light scolding for acting perverted when you showed off your brand new spells for the first time to make them proud. Even my mother would scold me a little when I acted too violent while milking a cow to get her a cup of milk. She didn't want me to grow up with a raider's heart.

... I guess mom failed, huh?"

Droop ears slightly and walk away.
>>
No. 774174 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 6, 6 = 18

>cute monster-boy harem (so long as you ignore the voices)
Oh my goodness, I'm dying here. Rhea's luck is hilarious. (And hey, she's arguably a monster girl herself, so good company).

>In exchange for not telling the priests of Orcus that they've been holding back
Is that a typo? Did you mean priests of whatever-fire-Mom's-actually-called, or have the Goyles cut deals with multiple factions?

>a sword-like silver cross, hilt upward, on an ivory disc; a silver semicircle embossed with a twelve-headed serpent; and an ankh carved from some dark tropical hardwood
Well, Rhea does have some experience as a priestess. Roll for a religious lore check. Do I recognize what faiths these icons come from, or what applications they might have?

(Sword / cross is too generic for me to have a guess, 12 heads is too many for Orochi or Tiamat, but could invoke revelations or the Lernaean hydra, an ankh is generally a symbol of life and the Egyptian gods, with Isis or Osiris probably being the most likely contenders?)

>If you haven't got one already extracted and in cold storage
Cold is unlikely, but the inclusion of eyeballs in underworld cuisine was raised earlier. Even if Rhea has any eyes in her food stocks, though, they're unlikely to come from a sapient being, I think.

>she'd like to be fed an intact eye from an organic sapient being
I don't suppose the trolls are still nearby and one might be persuaded to part with an eye? Theirs at least grow back.

Does this ritual extract a cost from the eyeball donor besides the organ?
>>
No. 774179 ID: a107fd

>>774174
>Is that a typo? Did you mean priests of whatever-fire-Mom's-actually-called, or have the Goyles cut deals with multiple factions?
Not a typo. The Church of Orcus and Greznek's secular government are nominally equal allies, but there's plenty of tension. Orcus's priests and acolytes spend a fair amount of their time strutting around like they own the place and shaking folks down for 'donations,' offering either immediate blessings, not all of which have any provable effects, or in hope of future tactical support. No sane goblin wants to end up in the position of trying to reconcile with the majority of local healers with one hand while holding their own abdominal wall together with a pot lid in the other.

>religious lore check
>rolled 6, 6, 6 = 18
Eons ago, Ankh Man and his +1 Sword of Shininess fought the Bug-Biter Besst of Some Place That Starts With a 'B.'

>Does this ritual extract a cost from the eyeball donor besides the organ?
Nope. Troll eyes would work fine, but you'd need to run to catch up with 'em before they cross the river (especially considering how much time was spent re-enacting the Legend of Ankh Man), and the goyles wouldn't be too happy about you immediately announcing the otherwise inexplicable acquisition of something you'd promised to keep secret less than an hour ago.
>>
No. 774211 ID: 432d25

>>774162
Maria seems conflicted... but not particularly sympathetic.

"Agatia's light is one of passion and inner fire. It is normal for its users to become enthusiastic. As long as it is properly tempered through restraint, there is no issue."

She narrows her eyes. "I only regret that Agatia would most likely call for your demise. I could teach you so many things about True Purity."

She leaves it at that.
>>
No. 774233 ID: af6e04

Looks like we'll have to perform similar tests to what we did on the last set of double doors we came across. Vos says that he does not mind going and examining the doors himself, but he is not at all confident in his ability to navigate such narrow, winding walkways on his slithering tail.
>>
No. 774236 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 6, 1 = 13

>>774211
"... Define purity, Maria. There are those who believe true purity is the absence of corruption... and the many organisms that generate it. Mortals need a low level of infestation to live; there are tamed diseases in stomachs that allow for the digestion of food, and yeast is made of bacterial colonies that rot wheat and grapes into fine wine and sacrament. If all diseases were purged from our world forever, every city would rejoice in happiness... and then scream in agony as they starved to death."

Hore nonchalantly searches the ruins for whatever she needs to fix her pistol.

"I'm not a necessary evil... but the world still needs a little."
>>
No. 774241 ID: 3abd97

>>774233
More than that, I think. It's possible this is a shell game (or battle of wits) and both sets of doors are trapped. In which case the true exit would be concealed by another illusion. So we need to carefully examine the doors and search for an alternate egress (that might be as simple as using the magic rope stiffened to a rod to poke walls to see if they're real).

Honestly, we should probably illusion check first since we don't know what sets off the trapped door. Hauling on the pull ring, almost certainly. Going up and tapping on it? Depends on how sensitive it is.
>>
No. 774243 ID: a107fd

>>774236
>searches the ruins
Sarcophagi are empty, tarball bits don't seem to contain any treasure. Main things you need are 1) a coil of copper wire (which Djan could make out of copper coins), 2) some sort of insulating sheathe for the wire, and 3) a steady source of electricity.
>>
No. 774245 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 5, 3 = 9

>>774241
"BOTH doors trapped?" Vos makes a clicking wheezing sound and pauses, his eel brain taking a moment to process such deviousness. "Had not thought of that."

Vos will go ahead and do as Davina suggested, untying all of the knots that he spent so much time on for the extra length and thoroughly poking every section of wall that he can reach. He says that somebody more agile will have to set off across the walkways and get the rest of the room.
>>
No. 774250 ID: 3abd97

Okay, important clarification: is the eye needed for the fire spirit (and the relic set she's part of) to function properly when assembled, or for the spirit's immediate survival? I mean, if she's in danger of snuffing out soon that ups the priority on making sure she'd fed.

>that crank on the side of the box gently twisted around about a hundred and forty-four thousand time
If we assume 1 crank a second that's... 40 hours of cranking straight, not counting breaks and your arm cramping up.

Nice of the designers to include a back up power source, but it is a little inconvenient.
>>
No. 774336 ID: a107fd

>>774250
A full charge powers the cloth for 900 hours, or the scrying array's most intensive applications for 5 minutes. Bottoming out the power supply is survivable, but unpleasant. Useful comparison could be made to a mortal's feelings about being sealed in a coffin.

Turning the crank gently and steadily enough to be comfortable turns out to be no more than one revolution per five or six seconds. Until being reassembled (which is as simple as setting box and ball at opposite corners of the cloth), the spirit can't see anything outside the box. She is baffled that you don't have ready access to a lathe and other machine tools, with which to construct some mechanism for operating the crank automatically.

>>774245
All the walls seem to be solid, other than the one you're leaning through.
>>
No. 774385 ID: af6e04

>>774336
Vos reels in and coils up the rope. Setting it down, he asks Maru if she has anymore pipeweed to share.
>>
No. 774386 ID: b9aa79

>>774385
Maru is glad to share- she's given the room the best look over she can, and with Davina being able to portal, Ji being able to balance, and there being a ready supply of meat puppets to take risks for them, she figures they've got this room pretty well covered. She figures while the noble lady goes about getting that set up it's not a bad time to take a quick smoke and record some of their events in the dungeon thus far. She asks if anyone else wants to pass the pipe around, or if just she and Vos are gonna indulge at the moment
>>
No. 774403 ID: a22ee8

>>774236
Maria's frown deepens. "You'll be glad to know Agatia is nowhere near that level of firmness. A simple adherence to moral behavior is all that is needed. One must simply act in a way that is pure, no matter their true feelings."

Maria stands by and waits for the others to figure this stupid puzzle bullshit out. "Which, I suppose, you've begun attempting."
>>
No. 774410 ID: 77fc23

>>774403
While offering Maria and her brother a pull on the pipe, she explains what she thinks is the plan:

Davina portals to both sets of double doors, which we want to check for traps. A meat puppet travels through and tests each door while we wait outside where we hope it's safe. We re-enter, and since we can see the doors even if the floor as dropped into the toxic liquid below, we can portal over and proceed to walk through the correct doorway, albeit down a couple meat puppets. It's important both try to go through their doorway at the same time though, otherwise if we pick the wrong door there's gonna be nothing to stand on to try the other door

As we are entering backwards, she explains that she believes the trap is that you enter through one door and attempt to make your way across the slipper walkway over to the other, not knowing it's a false set of doors. Upon trying to open it you fall in a pit of toxic waste, completely unaware of the false wall disguising the path further into the dungeon. The undead flesh ball would likely push unwary travelers backwards into the deadly liquid below even if they discovered the illusion instead of being dropped by the trapped doors.
"De people 'oo built dis place were fekkin dicks."
>>
No. 774415 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9

>Troll eyes would work fine, but you'd need to run to catch up with 'em before they cross the river, and the goyles wouldn't be too happy about you immediately announcing the otherwise inexplicable acquisition of something you'd promised to keep secret less than an hour ago.
Considering running pell-mell through the caves likely isn't safe, that Rhea isn't a good liar, that she wouldn't want to offend her hosts or run off on them, and that the fire spirit isn't in immediate danger by delaying, I think I'll pass on chasing the trolls down.

>no more than one revolution per five or six seconds
That's 8 to 10 days of straight cranking, assuming one doesn't sleep, or works in shifts. That would probably seriously be imposing on goodwill if I tried to stay with the goyles that long. (And I'd be more likely to find an eye or a better solution if I kept on anyways).

>She is baffled that you don't have ready access to a lathe and other machine tools, with which to construct some mechanism for operating the crank automatically.
I'm uncertain as to your previous circumstances, but you've been rediscovered on the edge of civilization, away from convenient workshops. (I mean, modern enchanting tech could probably make an automatic cranker, or a tireless summon / golem / undead could be used, but we don't have any here). As a plus though, your current location does increase the odds we'll come across someone who needs an eye removed!

>Until being reassembled (which is as simple as setting box and ball at opposite corners of the cloth), the spirit can't see anything outside the box
So long as it won't use up the spirit's remaining energy, and the goyles don't object to having the secret things set up in the privacy of their own hideout, Rhea has no issue allowing the artifact fire spirit the ability to see her surroundings.

>they'll cut her in on the action
An important point I overlooked earlier: was the stuff listed earlier what was being offered to Rhea as hush money (meaning there's more the goyles are holding back for themselves) or is that their entire haul and Rhea's supposed to choose part of it?

>what do
Same basic routine as Rhea offered the trolls. Chat, get to know the goyles a little, trade information about what's going on out here on the frontier with what might be going on back home. Find out if the things they're supposed to be keeping an eye on are acting up, if they've dealt with anything recently that left a spare eyeball, how the path to the well and the surface looks, if they'd be receptive to her cooking for them, etc.
>>
No. 774477 ID: 9f3729

rolled 6, 4, 4 = 14

Realizing quite suddenly just how shit an idea he had, Geoffrey stops what he's doing with regards to his original homestead plan and instead takes advantage of his hiding place and free time to heal himself as much as he's able!
>>
No. 774490 ID: a107fd

>>774410
So which of the four doors are you testing first?

>>774415
>previous circumstances
The music box spirit is dismayed to be at the mercy of barbarians who lack automated, backpack-sized universal fabricators.

>An important point I overlooked earlier: was the stuff listed earlier what was being offered to Rhea as hush money (meaning there's more the goyles are holding back for themselves) or is that their entire haul and Rhea's supposed to choose part of it?
Hush money. She could press for more - they've almost certainly got some coins and gems, maybe a few weapons or bits of armor. Not being fools, the goyles started out by offering the part of their cache that seemed likely to be useful to Rhea but not to themselves.

>So long as it won't use up the spirit's remaining energy, and the goyles don't object to having the secret things set up in the privacy of their own hideout, Rhea has no issue allowing the artifact fire spirit the ability to see her surroundings.
Most of the stone is damp, slick, and uneven, but they manage to find a reasonably flat and dry spot in an out-of-the-way corner. Power requirements are minimal if the cloth is exposed to bright light, and kept cool and dry while in use; easy enough conditions to satisfy with minor magic.

With just the cloth and the box, and advice from the spirit, the 'tunnel' image folds away to reveal something like a library shelf. Vast treatises on alchemistry, astronomy, botany, engineering, mathematics... or at least, so it seems from the diagrams. It's all in some language Rhea has never heard of, a script dense with interlocking curlicues. There are maps of strange places, some of which are elaborately interactive, with armies and beasts and ships moving around when prodded with a fingertip and squabbling like ants where they come into contact. There's also a simple and seemingly pointless game of shuffling cards around into same-color stacks.

Adding the crystal ball unlocks a new function: a green wireframe sphere, with tiny figures at the center. Zooming in reveals that one of the figures is Rhea herself, in realtime, from the orb's perspective. She can see up her own nose, at disconcertingly high resolution, with a toggleable false-color overlay representing heat.

Based on the scale of the visible parts of the cave, that outer green wireframe is a 500-yard radius. Arbitrary sections of it can be selected and subjected to some more intensive sort of scan. The current dregs of power will last about 50 hours with just basic library and camera functions, maybe longer with a bright enough light; densitometric scan of a single cubic yard, anywhere in range, would be complete in one second and reduce that battery life by three hours.
>>
No. 774497 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 4, 5 = 13

>So which of the four doors are you testing first?
First step before opening them would probably be opening portals to each set so we can perform a more detailed visual inspection, first.

How slick are the walkways? I assume that's meant to impose a risk of slipping into the much if you rush, or if you take a jump from one to another. Presumably if you're meant to walk across them, Davina moving at the same pace out of a portal isn't any riskier?

Davina will open portals close to each door.

I'll tie one end of the enchanted rope to myself, and hand the other to Vos to hold and carefully met out. If Dav manages to slip and tumble, Vos can haul her back (hopefully before she lands in the muck). (Grappler plus extra body mass makes a good choice for an anchor).

(I assume even with gear, Davina would put less than 230 pounds of force on the rope?).
>>
No. 774509 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

>>774497
Sounds like a plan. After telling Davina to please be careful, Vos hands the pipe back to Maru, takes the rope and gets ready to pull if things look bad. Roll is for reflexes or rope pulling or whatever is needed.
>>
No. 774512 ID: 3abd97

>barbarians who lack automated, backpack-sized universal fabricators
The trolls had one! Though it was specialized for fluids.

>She could press for more
Nah. Just making sure I'm not being presumptuous.

>virtual library
Well that could be really useful in the future if Rhea finds some way to understand the language, especially if there's a cookbook in there. (Maybe if the music box spirit understands it she could play translator when she's feeling better).

>The current dregs of power will last about 50 hours with just basic library and camera functions
Longer still with neither and in battery conservation mode, I assume?

>densitometric scan of a single cubic yard, anywhere in range, would be complete in one second and reduce that battery life by three hours.
Well that's not really worth burning through the reserves that are left right now. A map of the area would be useful, but we'd need to cover more than 16 yards^3. Unless there are options to save power with lower resolution scans? (A crude map of the tunnels would be very useful. Or a crude thermal and/or life signs scan- identify threats and/or potential eyeball donors at range).
>>
No. 774579 ID: a107fd

>>774497


>perform a more detailed visual inspection
Pull-rings on the closer pair of doors are about 6" apart, and the seam is centered between them. Pull-rings on the further pair of doors are about 18" apart, and the seam is much closer to the left side. Path leading up to the further pair of doors is forked, so there's no safe place to stand directly between them, in contrast with the nearer set where a path hugs that entire wall.

>How slick are the walkways?
Think freshly-waxed concrete, not ice-skating rink. Safe enough if you're standing still or walking very slowly, but those fumes probably don't do anything good with prolonged exposure.

>I assume even with gear, Davina would put less than 230 pounds of force on the rope?
Yeah. Given that recent close call with fire, though, it might make sense for her to leave the fancy hat/grooming kit and those specialty rations behind, rather than risk dunking them in the event of a mishap.

>>774512
>Longer still with neither and in battery conservation mode, I assume?
Decades probably. Hard for her to keep track of time in sensory deprivation, especially while half-starved.

>options to save power with lower resolution scans?
Sure. Can't see through stone walls that way, though. Thermal is easy, and visual can zoom in like the best modern enchanted spyglasses. Both of those barely use any more power than the cloth alone. Full 360-degree scan takes twenty seconds, maybe another 30 seconds to lay out the cloth and boot up, so she can handle the mapping for you if you're willing to stop for a full minute at every new room or blind corner.
>>
No. 774766 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 2, 5 = 12

Hore is absentminded again.

She decides to use what still works in her cyber to scan the area before the others cross. Just so she is doing something.

Then she's going to find a nice, safe corner for a little
>>
No. 774787 ID: d36af7

>>774766
Hore's cybernetic senses emphatically confirm that the walls are made of stone, and the pool of goo smells terrible.

>>/questdis/108039
>>774403
>>774385
There aren't any wandering monsters here, so you all sit around for a few hours, agonizing over how obvious a trap this is. All fatigue is recovered, except for sleep deprivation, and everybody consumes one third of a days' rations of food and water.

Now, can somebody please pick a door and yank on it, or try something more proactive than searching for additional clues without touching anything? If you don't want to risk the bile, Davina could backtrack to the bottom of the shaft, somehow arrange to be upset to the point that she's seeing stars, and then open an alternate route.
>>
No. 774802 ID: b9aa79

>>774787
After Davina sets up the portals and gets the zombies across, Maru leaves them with the instructions to to try to open their doors simultaneously as soon as they're out of sight. We travel back to the adjacent room, wait for half a minute or until we hear something, and then head back in to peek through the illusionary wall and check which door actually leads back out of the dungeon, so we can portal across the out of goo towards it
>>
No. 774813 ID: 3d2d5f

>somebody do something
Haha, sorry, irl was distracting yesterday, and static puzzles do sort of encourage a slow approach.

>>774802
I'd amend this to say we have the zombies wait for a signal. Till we're out of sight risks accidentally not yanking the doors simultaneously, since puppet line of sight won't sync perfectly.

To try opening all 4 doors at once, we need 3 zombies the way they're arranged, I think.
>>
No. 774819 ID: 48ca8d

>>774813
Maru agrees- one can open the doors that are flush with a walkway, and we need 2 for the set of doors that are on a split path. As for signaling, I guess we can just shout when it's time?
>>
No. 774835 ID: d36af7

>>774813
>>774819
Meat puppets follow Eric's orders, not Maru's. That being said, assuming Lord Grimwald is alright with this plan and relays the instructions...

Three meat puppets are deployed. They receive the signal and pull on the rings. There's some brief mechanical grinding and clunking from below. All the platforms sink into the goo. Two of the meat puppets wade back and report that they failed to open their respective doors; the third is unaccounted-for. On inspection, the doors do indeed all appear to still be closed.

By cleverly setting off both traps at exactly the same moment, you've successfully eliminated the possibility of figuring out which one goes where. Eric can't even confidently say which of the three meat puppets is missing, since their features have been somewhat altered by exposure to the goo, which is apparently corrosive.
>>
No. 774838 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7

> Cleverly destroyed data
Great.

Hore tries to salvage this experiment by analyzing the zombies and the rooms. Hopefully, she can pick up on key differences in the zombies' interiors from her previous general scan, and traces of the zombie that fell to the trap.
>>
No. 774847 ID: 3d2d5f

Hmm. Didn't plan on the door shutting itself.

Okay, so two zombies were at the far door, one at the near. Is the level of corrosion on one of the two who came back worse than the other?

Matching corrosion means they came from the far door, and missing zombie was at the close door. Drastically different corrosion means one came from the near door, and one from the far door, so the missing one was at the far door.

...also, we don't know that the missing zombie was destroyed. It might have just gone through the door. Yelling for it to open the door again might work.
>>
No. 774848 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 4, 5 = 12

Well, looks like we might have crafted ourselves a dead end. Maybe Davina was right and both doors are trapped, and the way forward is just on the far walls beyond reach of the rope.

Ji is the only one here who can even possibly move across the room now, and doing so would still be extremely dangerous. Only thing I can think of now is to throw more meat puppets at the problem, having them meticulously touch every wall beyond what Vos was able to test with the rope.

Failing that, we might just have to go a different way. Vos would like to get some sleep first before we set off on another path though.

He'll snort and spit into the goo before returning for more pipeweed. Roll is for mucus density.
>>
No. 774863 ID: 3abd97

>>774847
Or it occurs to me we could just ask each zombie how far they had to wade back to the door instead of trying to analyze corrosion levels.

>Only thing I can think of now is to throw more meat puppets at the problem
That might work, if slowly. Other possible solutions would be to make Davina immobile (apply Maria's power, and/or have Vos coil around her) so she can safely open new portals over the sunken walkway without falling in. Open em close enough and someone (undead) can just reach through and tug on the rings to try opening the door. (Or we could stiffen the rope with a curl like a cane or candy cane at the end to loop through the handle and reach through that way). Or there's clearly some mechanism that resets the walkways, but we probably don't have time to wait out the clock, or for whoever maintains this place to stop by.
>>
No. 774867 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 3, 5 = 14

>>774863
Thank Tittivila for your brainstorming abilities. Vos is willing to try all of these. So to sum up...

>what do?
1. Encourage Eric to call out to the missing zombie to try to get it to return to us.
2. Ask zombies which door they went to and examine for relative corrosion levels. Try to get as much info out of them as we can.
3. Vos will coil himself around Davina as she opens a portal right in front of each double door. Zombies reach through and try to open. We'll start with the near one. Roll is for Vos' grapple check.
4. If nothing interesting happens, ask Eric to send a couple zombies wading through the goo to search the far walls for clues.
>>
No. 774877 ID: d36af7

>>774838
>traces of the zombie that fell to the trap
>rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7
It's still out there somewhere, howling and beating it's boneless fists against the far side of a stone wall. Whichever door that was, probably a good thing you didn't test it personally.

>>774847
>Is the level of corrosion on one of the two who came back worse than the other?
Meat puppets have significant self-repair capabilities, and were recovering from the corrosion damage (in their messy, stringy way) almost as fast as it was being inflicted. If you'd split a tray of jell-o evenly in half, into two separate blenders, stirred one for two minutes and the other for two and a half minutes, would you then be able to confidently tell which was which?

>>774848
>get some sleep
Another eight hours, spent mostly unconscious, with a corresponding increment of food and water, would recover the few remaining points of fatigue, recharge Yisheng Ji's spell slots, and allow level-ups for... probably everybody. (Not Rhea or Geoffrey, of course, since they're elsewhere.) You've been through some pretty scary stuff.

>more pipeweed
>rolled 3, 4, 5 = 12
As he's settling down, Vos asks the meat puppets if they remembered to try pushing doors open, after pulling failed.

They did not.

Apart from being generally dull-witted, they were under the impression you living types had some sort of delicate plan, with very specific instructions: stand here, hold this, wait for the signal, yank, observe open/closed state of assigned door, return to base for debriefing. As a general policy, should they instead be randomly poking at apparent traps, in lieu of, or even arguably against, explicit orders?
>>
No. 774878 ID: 094652

> Should they show initiative
They should question their orders. Asking questions can lead to new ideas. If we send them into the meat grinder and they don't ask us why we didn't send them around the hard-to-see alcove containing the off switch, well...
>>
No. 774879 ID: 3abd97

>>774579
>Can't see through stone walls that way, though. Thermal is easy, and visual can zoom in like the best modern enchanted spyglasses. Both of those barely use any more power than the cloth alone. Full 360-degree scan takes twenty seconds, maybe another 30 seconds to lay out the cloth and boot up, so she can handle the mapping for you if you're willing to stop for a full minute at every new room or blind corner.
Well automatic and precise mapping as one goes would be pretty handy, and Rhea is presumably less than 50 hours of walking from an exit. Too bad any kind of unidirectional stone-piercing active scan is likely too costly to be useful right now, unless I discover a very small area in need of a detailed scan.

On the upside, with this plan Rhea should either have found someone with an eyeball to be removed, or reached somewhere cranking arrangements can be made before the power runs out. Pity she's not with the main group, a meat puppet eye might work, or they could be used as an automatic cranker. Or Vos could grow someone a spare eye.

Does the music box spirit have a name or title?

>what do
Let's talk some with the Goyles. How fare things on the front? Any trouble from Kazleth's direction or otherwise? How do Rhea's prospects look heading for the Well and the surface? Rhea will share any news from back home or her own travels they're interested in.
>>
No. 774890 ID: 3abd97

>As a general policy, should they instead be randomly poking at apparent traps, in lieu of, or even arguably against, explicit orders?
No, they should not. If they see an apparent trap they'd be inclined to poke, say something, or point to it to draw it to a living person's attention.

>can't differentiate corrosion because self repair kept up with it
I'll settle for asking each one how far they had to travel to return to us. ...or ask each if they pulled on one ring or two.

>did they push
Honestly the doors had pull rings. That might have been deliberate misleading on the part of the architect, but it's no surprise no one thought to push initially.

>It's still out there somewhere, howling and beating it's boneless fists against the far side of a stone wall.
Can we narrow down which direction the sound is coming from?

And I suppose that confirms two traps. A simple drop into muck doesn't trap you like that.

>get some sleep
Where? The no-longer-walkways room is out, the rolling ball room is kinda gross (unless the air is clearing, or Daniel's lingering presence is purifying the air), the crypt or the bottom of the shaft are clean safe enough, technically, the drugged room and the Bone Eater rooms are right out.

A bigger priority would be what we do with the meat puppets, since Eric's control might slip in his sleep. (If we stayed here, we could send them back down the ladder, tell them to wait, and have Maria place a ward to stop them getting up, maybe?).

One bonus is the walkways might reset if we waited long enough, I suppose. Although since the meat puppets can wade through the stuff without permanent harm, we don't actually need to wait for that.
>>
No. 774914 ID: 74621b

rolled 2, 3, 1 = 6

>>774848
>Ji is the only one here who can even possibly move across the room [filled with corrosive slime and toxic fumes] now
Well, it was stated Yisheng Ji is still going to have his boots and feet (and gloves and knees as well, if he slips) melted off by the goo on contact, but I guess I don't really have any right to complain, so okay.

Yisheng Ji sets his jaw and braces for the pain, wishing he had some of Daniel's aura (or any capacity for protective divine magic whatsoever) to protect him from the fumes. Then, he'll circle around the room, trying to make as little contact with the slime as possible, and attempting to open each door in turn, in clockwise order. He'll also knock on the apparently-solid walls as he goes, since we know there could be an illusory wall anywhere, and you have to be a literal god to detect any of them through any method other than touch.
>>
No. 774925 ID: 1d0e08

>Ji risking getting melted alive
>Daniel doing nothing about it
>nope.png

Daniel ignites his aura to its full potential, then carefully lowers his pinky finger towards the slime, seeing how his light-engulfed skin reacts.

"I shall light the way, giving myself to cast light into the future..." Daniel mutters. "I shall give Mercy where Agatia has none, as the son of her son of her son, I am her chosen, and she loves me..."

He hopes this blatant act of martyrism, risking his flesh for one more valuable in a fight to go unharmed, might please Agatia in some way.

If he feels any burning, he will immediately withdraw his finger before further damage is done.
>>
No. 774948 ID: b9aa79

>>774925
Gotta roll for anything non-trivial amigo
>>
No. 774982 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12

>>774914
Woah woah, just because I said you were the only one who COULD cross the room doesn't mean I said you SHOULD.

>and doing so would still be extremely dangerous
Roll is to grab Ji before he goes suicidal crazy.
>>
No. 775015 ID: 094652

Hore suggests that Daniel keep his fingers AWAY from the giant pool of toxic fumes and focus on doing that purification ritual instead. If being pure means willfully choosing to be a suicidal dumbass, she'd rather sin now, apologize later.

Maria retorts that Hore was the dumbass who lethally stabbed herself in the crotch half an hour ago.

Hore responds with "And I apologize for not knowing that stabbing the crotch can be even more lethal than it is painful. I hope that Daniel understands that the fumes alone can result in nausea, brain damage, and even skin corrosion".

Hore asks Vos if there's a 'Miracle' ritual that he can perform to request Tittivila's aid in mutating the moss rations into an organism that can consume the chemical fumes and possibly produce something useful. Hore's new to this, but she can help.
>>
No. 775018 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13

Also, Hore tries to grab Ji before he gets close to the pit.
>>
No. 775069 ID: d36af7
File 148553831793.png - (124.12KB , 340x340 , goyle.png )
775069

>>774879
>Does the music box spirit have a name or title?
No title, not being a recognized part of any formal spirit court. Family/clan name is a mess of subtle rumbling sibilants and swallowed vowels that Rhea can't easily repeat, something like "Soph-cyb-rith-sys-corp," and her personal name is "Maintenance Mode Default User," with "Mode" as the appropriate affectionate diminutive. She can't see anything directly with the music box's lid closed, but she can hear just fine, and 'pull strings' in the other relics when they're connected, so if you're having trouble with the interface's native language, or need to do something quickly, or hands-free, just say "translation, Mode?" or "thermal scan, Mode," or "go back to sleep, Mode," or whatever.

Or, if you find one of these, then she'd really be able to have some fun with "Attack, Mode!" She calls up an engineering textbook and flutters through the pages to a diagram of some sort of... giant clockwork mosquito, with spiraling silver ribbons instead of wings? The illustration has extensive annotations in Flametongue, including approximate translations of parts of the original cryptic interlocking-curlicue script, but mostly incoherent gushing about the rated capabilities. Sparkly pink hearts, stylized smiling faces, cartoonishly dismembered reptiles saying "blarg I are ded" with Xs in their eyes, etc. Based on the more notes and animation, it's actually a rapid-fire projectile weapon, and those "ribbons" are some distant cousin of the bolt hopper on a cranked siege crossbow.

>Let's talk some with the Goyles. How fare things on the front?
Mostly quiet, which is just the way they like it. Six wings of eight goyles each, rotating between the six caves. Twenty hour shifts with an hour of free-flight time in between, or after any major excitement. South is the drill yard and tannery, since it gets the best air circulation, northern four are meditation/R&R, east is the kitchen and various workshops. They've got an entire scaled and de-boned basilisk marinating right now, and somebody's carving a flute out of one of the thighbones.
>Any trouble from Kazleth's direction
King Kazleth's not likely to try anything major any time soon, if the distant echoes of his drum practice are anything to go by. There's a party of about a dozen goblins stranded somewhere in Kazleth's territory, including an Orcusite named Oswald, who's got 4th circle magic that he apparently can't think of anything better to do with than throw out long-distance telepathic distress calls, no matter how many times the goyles try to explain that they aren't fully trained, or more importantly paid, for search-and-rescue work.

>or otherwise?
Striges, a.k.a. Misericorde Bats, have been on the rise. Individually they're just pests, like carnivorous hummingbirds, and can be shooed away or bribed with kitchen scraps. Starvation, though, turns them into a swarm vicious enough to take on their own weight in worgs, and clever enough to slip those needle-y little noses through joints or vision slits in armor. Be nice to know where the new ones are coming from, or why something stopped eating as many of them as it used to, maybe recalibrate some ecosystem, but more immediately, the goyles would like to invest in warding nets (or other broad passive defenses) against such vermin.

>How do Rhea's prospects look heading for the Well and the surface?
Well, assuming that Oswald's incessant imagery about being trapped between disorienting mazes, empty sweepers, and feral basilisks, with companions being picked off one after another by titanic yet implausibly stealthy ox-men, is an accurate assessment of the situation up there... prospects could be considered poor.
>>
No. 775072 ID: d36af7

>>774982
>grab Yisheng Ji
>rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12

>>775018
>grab Yisheng Ji
>rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13

>>774914
>rolled 2, 3, 1 = 6
First, Ji deliberately hyperventilates, until he can feel that his body is as oversaturated with Air essence as can safely be arranged. Then, he casually dodges between Vos and Hore like some famous sportball champion, and glides weightlessly across the surface of the slime, to test the doors more intelligently.

The first pair, off to the left, move freely in or out across a range of about an inch, but no further, at least not without superhuman strength or the prolonged and vigorous application of chisel, hammer, and pry-bar.

The second door, on the left side at the far end, swings away with a simple push. Beyond it is a 10' wide hallway, including a solid-looking, albeit somewhat rough and pitted, stone floor.

Space behind the third door is still unaccounted for. Yisheng Ji is also still holding his breath. Will he check the third door as well, as long as he's here? Scout out the hallway? Or hurry back through the illusory wall, to where his worried friends (and air that's less likely to contain caustic vapors) are waiting?
>>
No. 775076 ID: af6e04

>>775072
Peeking through the illusory wall, Vos is left nonplussed when Ji goes prancing effortlessly across the caustic goo. Vos verbally makes note that they should probably stop doubting the healer when he gets a crazy idea in his head.
>>
No. 775088 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 3, 2, 6 = 11

Before Ji moves on, Davina will open a portal to the hallway he's exposed by opening the door, so it's possible for those who aren't nimble rooster acrobats to cross.
>>
No. 775104 ID: 74621b

rolled 5, 4, 4 = 13

>>775072
>Yisheng Ji once again manages to evade his allies
It's actually kind of funny how often this comes up. I feel like at some point Yisheng Ji should start passively developing dodge bonuses vs his allies, purely from muscle memory and force of habit. If it wasn't clear by now, Yisheng Ji is not a touchy-feely sort of person, and very much dislikes being grabbed, pushed around, or otherwise manhandled without his express permission. He will always attempt to avoid that sort of thing, whenever possible, even if he wasn't actively trying to accomplish something at the time.

>10' wide hallway, including a solid-looking, albeit somewhat rough and pitted, stone floor
If the stone floor is pitted, we're not out of the corrosive frying pan just yet. Trusting Davina will bring the others along behind, Yisheng Ji will scout down the hallway, being careful to step around any part of the floor that's pitted, and keeping a close eye on the walls and ceiling for additional openings from which threats may suddenly arrive, as well as signs of unusual cleanness or other indicators of illusory surfaces. He doesn't have the (heh) wingspan to physically check both sides of the corridor, but he'll follow the right-side wall with his hand as best he can, to catch any illusions on that wall. Also, he'll resume breathing once he's a reasonably safe distance from the death pit that's generating the noxious fumes, before his body suffers any more than it already has.
>>
No. 775128 ID: d36af7

>>775104
Rough and pitted texture seems to be limited to the first ten or fifteen feet of floor, and a few adjacent portions of wall. The distribution would be consistent with goo splashed over the threshold occasionally, or dragged around by people who fell in and then climbed back out.

The hallway continues sixty feet, and then there's a 20' wide passage to the left, and an illusory wall of similar width to the right, in addition to the 10' hall continuing straight ahead. Rather than seeming at all clean, the new illusion depicts a wall entirely covered by lovingly detailed stone carvings, highlighted with paint in vivid yet medically-accurate colors, of people being skinned alive.

Thanks to a combination of existing chi powers and the boon of eternal youth, Yisheng Ji was able to safely hold his breath from when he first passed through the illusory wall facing the stairs, all through the walk to the intersection, and all the way back, for a total of precisely 132 seconds. Almost all of that time was in a state of moderate exertion. Based on previous experience and medical knowledge, holding perfectly still (whether meditation, paralysis, rest, or sleep) allows a given supply of air to last two and a half times as long as moderate exertion, while heroic effort (combat, heavy lifting, most magic, or simple directionless panic) uses up the air in the blood four times as fast as moderate exertion, or ten times as fast as relaxation.

The soles of his boots could probably stand to be cleaned and sanitized, but do not appear to be significantly corroded.
>>
No. 775140 ID: 74621b

>>775128
>safely hold his breath ... all the way back
Walking back to the noxious pit before taking a breath seems a bit counterintuitive. Yisheng Ji will just sit down immediately inside the illusory wall (since the fumes have been shown to be unable to penetrate illusions for some reason) to breathe and circulate his qi, recovering from the extended period of time he deprived himself of oxygen while he waits for the party to catch up. He's still not as good at holding his breath as the Mission Impossible guy.
>>
No. 775142 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7

>>775128
>>775140

Well, since Davina opened a portal then Vos will follow. Rolling to find Ji behind the illusory wall, if that's necessary.
>>
No. 775160 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 6, 5 = 15

Ji earns himself another helping of Davina-is-impressed points. A superb display of dexterity, ability, and mobility.

>what do
"That was the last threat Queen Aaphia considered worthy of note. We should be near an exit, but we're working blind now. Remain cautious."

Davina will make sure the portal stays open long enough for everyone to get through, and then I assume we're all regrouping at the intersection Ji scouted?

Besides the illusion, orientation, and width, anything noticeably different between the three paths presented to us? Spot check.

If none of us have peeked beyond the illusion yet, I say we ask Eric to have a puppet check first, just in case there's a skinning trap or something waiting right on the other side.
>>
No. 775177 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16

And Hore will cyberscan through the portal for threats.
>>
No. 775194 ID: 77f1b6

When Maru noticed Ji about to step headlong into another obvious and deadly hazard, she barely had time to swear loudly before he nimbly evaded the others and set out. Luckily she was out of reach and unable to try to stop him, because he soon found the path forward. Maru however, still leery of the voices Ji described before, and his erratic behavior, worries this new room may be some sort of trap as well. After all, everything else in this fekkin place seems to be. She says she'd rather hang back and ask Eric to send some zombies forward to scout out/trigger potential dangers before risking their own flesh and blood. Ever hear the one about the maiden who got locked in a tower and slowly starved to death, soon becoming nothing more than a withered husk fed upon by a few lucky rats?

No?

Didn't think so.

Maru won't actively try to stop anyone, but she honestly convinced there isn't a safe square of space in this place. She'd appreciate it if someone would get her in the event that they all move forward anyways. Better to die as a group than alone
>>
No. 775223 ID: d36af7

>>775160
The 10' wide path straight ahead seems cleaner and tidier, compared to scratch marks and occasional bits of yellowish-gray gravel or other minor debris on the left path. Straight path seems level, with either a turn, or a t-junction, or a dead end 70' away. The left path rises 25' over a run of 50' horizontally, and then there's a row of black marble pillars with what might be the top of a pine tree visible between them.

>>775140
>sit down immediately inside the illusory wall
Space behind the wall is 20' square, with an 18' high ceiling (just like the passage sloping upward, in contrast with the 10' wide passages which are only 15' high), but it's hard to find a place to sit because the floor is almost entirely occupied by a massive mound of jumbled bones, locked together with the fleshy yet root-like whipcord tentacles of some terrible creature, which is now beginning to awaken.
>>
No. 775271 ID: 3abd97

>She'd appreciate it if someone would get her in the event that they all move forward anyways. Better to die as a group than alone
"Were you waiting on a formal, written invitation? I'm afraid I didn't pack for calligraphy.

"Come now, at least the passage ahead holds less foul air than above the sunken walkways, or left behind by the sphere."

(Attempt to bait Maru out of moping).
>>
No. 775275 ID: 74621b

rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8

>>775223
First thought is to sever the cords that bind the bones together before it awakens, which is a plan contingent on two things:
1. they are severable with Yisheng Ji's knife with relative ease
2. the speed at which the beast is awakening is slow enough that it might be feasible

If both conditions appear to be true after a quick test cut, Yisheng Ji will opt for that, and if one or more condition is false, Yisheng Ji will instead opt to make an expeditious retreat down the other, yet-unexplored hallway, in a bid to keep from being trapped between a rock and a hard place. He will also call a warning to the party as they come down the hallway from the pit. And as he makes a break for it, he will of course, still keep one hand on the right wall to check for more illusory alcoves he might be able to duck into.
>>
No. 775279 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15

Before she can respond to Davina, Maru hears Ji shouting a warning about some sort of fleshy sinewy bone creature. With a look that contains a mixture of "I told you so" and worry for her conpanions, she'll jump forward through the portal and rush towards where she heard Ji shouting. Rolling to precieve the monster and avoid any sudden surprise attacks
>>
No. 775282 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6

So we're clear on the situation. Vos was probably right on Davina's heels when she opened the portal. The two stop on the other side of the goo room to beckon Maru and the rest of the group to follow. Now that Ji's called out a warning, there are three of us on this side of the portal. We all quickly advance to Ji's position and see the illusory wall.

Whether Ji runs or not, Vos will try his best to hold this creature at bay with his spear while the rest of the group passes.
>>
No. 775288 ID: 0d9279

rolled 5, 1, 4 = 10

Hore followed Vos, and is currently wielding her axe, looking for any enemies that might attack them while they're distracted. Hore will also chop at the roots if the others tell her to focus on the giant root thing, but she's sure they can handle it.

Hore checks for any creeping roots that might be sneaking up behind the party...
>>
No. 775317 ID: 3abd97

>>775069
Pffff. Well, I sure was on the ball describing magical fire as like dealing with smart weapon AIs. Rest assured, if I come across any artifact drones, Mode can have them.

>stranded in Kazleth's territory
Did they do something to upset him, or is he just generally hostile to those who intrude on his territory?

>Striges
Well, there's a possible side quest. At least Rhea can immolate herself to keep from being eaten, if it comes down to that.

>basilisks
Non-sapient, I'm assuming? Since those are something that can vary a lot between settings, I'll have Rhea ask for more information. (Does their gaze turn you to stone, or venom, or touch, or just looking at them? Do mirrors help? How do the goyles deal with them, when they have to?).

>disorienting mazes, empty sweepers
Mode's mapping tool would seem to be a counter to the first, and possibly the second. If nothing else, making sure Rhea keeps a flame-drone on point so she doesn't run head first into a sweeper should work, so long as Rhea doesn't get cornered or surrounded.

>titanic yet implausibly stealthy ox-men
...yeah Rhea doesn't have an easy counter to that. Unless it culinary diplomacy works.

>the goyles would like to invest in warding nets (or other broad passive defenses) against such vermin
Does Rhea know how to place wards against vermin? Seems like a fairly basic priestly kind of thing.
>>
No. 775318 ID: d36af7

>>775275
Yisheng Ji is not particularly confident in his ability to cripple an elephant-sized bone golem, or whatever that thing is, in a matter of seconds, with just a knife.
>expeditious retreat down the other, yet-unexplored hallway
Meaning the 10' wide straight and level hallway to the apparent dead end, or the 20' wide upward-sloping hallway with the pillars?
>>
No. 775341 ID: 74621b

rolled 4, 3, 2 = 9

>>775223
>either a turn, or a t-junction, or a dead end 70' away
Given this dungeon's predilection for illusory walls and secret passages, as well as anything obvious being dangerous, Yisheng Ji considers the non-pillared route to be a safer bet, and goes that way. He'll also lob his remaining Greekfire at the beast to hopefully at least confuse and disorient it. As an added bonus, this means Yisheng Ji will no longer be carrying Greekfire, so it's win-win, even if it does nothing.
>>
No. 775345 ID: ebf8a3

Truth be told, Maria's slightly out of her element with this thing. Unless that tentacle's secretly entrail, it doesn't seem undead, and demons don't tend towards this sort of... organic taste.

She briefly wonders if the Cenobites have been replacing hooks with bones as the accessory of choice, but then sets aside the silliness and fires a beam of energy at the dead center of the beast, trusting that its sins or animating force or SOMETHING will cause equal spreading.

Daniel takes up a poisiton at the back of the group, flaring his aura brightly to ward away any diseases or curses this creature may start inflicting.
>>
No. 775390 ID: 67456a

rolled 5, 5, 5 = 15

>>775345
Rolling for Maria
>>
No. 775391 ID: 67456a

rolled 5, 5, 4 = 14

>>775345
Rolling for Daniel
>>
No. 775442 ID: d36af7

>>775390
Maria manages to miss the barn with her first shot, leaving a holy scorch mark on the ceiling.

>>775341
The beast now has a significant patch of burning glop on it's back, which might give Maria some mistaken ideas about her ability to bank shots off of walls.

Just as Yisheng Ji approaches the midpoint of the dead-end hallway, the entire 70' length pivots downward, from horizontal to near-vertical, becoming a pit instead of a hallway. Can't have been triggered by a pressure plate; he wasn't applying more than a feather's weight to the floor. Descending ceiling gives him enough of a whack on the head to disrupt concentration, and the far end slides away to reveal an additional 10' of depth. Will Ji attempt to (in descending order of difficulty) land on the tiny perimeter ledge formed by that seam 10' above the new floor, or perch atop one of the rusty spikes, or slip down between them? Should be possible to climb and wall-jump his way back out, given a few moments to focus, but he might have a concussion.

>>775317
>Did they do something to upset him, or is he just generally hostile to those who intrude on his territory?
Each telepathic packet is only the equivalent of about 25 words, plus equal-sized reply. Oswald can only send a handful per day, and doesn't send all of those to the goyles. Among the Sendings they've received thus far, the ratio of desperate pleading to useful intel has been... unfavorable. Besides, everyone knows Kazleth is completely batshit. Sometimes he'll murder intruders on sight, other times he'll exchange gifts, or debate esoteric philosophy. or show off with an elaborate song-and-dance routine, or challenge them to a riddle contest. Sometimes he laughs at obvious threats or insults, other times he goes berserk seemingly over nothing. Greznek wouldn't be investing so much on defense-in-depth along this approach if they had any real idea what he wanted, or how to safely deal with him.

>basilisks
>Non-sapient, I'm assuming?
Yep.
>Since those are something that can vary a lot between settings, I'll have Rhea ask for more information.
They're fairly common farm animals, essentially the reptilian equivalent of pigs. Primarily grazers, supplementing their diet with insects, but infamous for eating just about anything they can fit in their mouths. Domesticated basilisks are docile enough to be safely managed by a child equipped with a blindfold and a long, thin stick. Petrification works by eye contact, and usually also affects the victim's worn or carried equipment; when a held item isn't affected, safe bet it's magical. Looking through a mirror improves the odds but isn't a guarantee. Goyles claim to be somewhat resistant to the gaze attack thanks to a natural affinity with stone, and also due to the same meditative discipline which allows them to partially separate their minds from their bodies (thus routinely standing watch for 20 hours at a time, detecting seismic and ethereal disturbances, and subsisting on two meals a week) but their main countermeasure is to stay more than ten yards away, which works for anyone.

Any piece of stone with more than about 60-80% of it's surface area coated in fresh basilisk blood is transmuted into flesh as the blood dries, which brings petrified folks back with no lingering side effects (other than any damage done to the statue in the interim, and the usual psychological effects of suddenly finding oneself covered from head to toe with gummy, crusty blood immediately after a discontinuity in consciousness, though mercifully the process of cleaning hair and clothes afterward is more 'peeling off' than 'washing out'), or turns a stalagmite into a gigantic hotdog. "Gravel steak" has variable qualities depending on the original type of rock, and many other poorly-understood factors, but for the most part it's considered inferior to "real" meat, for both taste and nutrition, though a few varieties are cultivated and coveted like the best cheeses. Most lower-class goblins aren't in a position to be picky about where their protein is coming from, though, so simple math of food-calories-produced-per-acre-per-year makes basilisk ranching very much worth the risks, when paired with a specialized quarry hammering out massive single-use stone altars.

>Does Rhea know how to place wards against vermin?
Yes, and she could do it with the tools and materials available, but not quickly. Basically a matter of weaving a particular sort of net, along with little amulets of carved bone, then hanging it across the entrance to be warded. Adds up to about two man-hours of work per square foot of coverage, if you're starting from scratch. Biggest cave mouth, the southern 'exercise yard,' is more than thirty feet high and a hundred feet wide.

Obvious options short of putting the pilgrimage on hold (for months or years) to do it yourself would be to either head back to the market in Greznek and buy pre-made nets, or else initiate one of the goyles into mom's priesthood, then teach them how to manufacture and bless the warded nets on-site. The goyles already weave nets to wield in combat (main strategy for dealing with larger enemies is to grab 'em, hoist as far off the floor as possible, then drop 'em), and also carve bone for decoration and tools, so they've got the relevant craft skills.
>>
No. 775448 ID: 6971de

rolled 6, 2, 1 = 9

>>775442
>(in descending order of difficulty) land on the tiny perimeter ledge formed by that seam 10' above the new floor, or perch atop one of the rusty spikes, or slip down between them
Well, considering his innate ability includes passive slow-falling and supernatural balance, all three options should have an identical level of difficulty, which is Very Easy, but since Yisheng Ji was suddenly concussed, I suppose it's not impossible for some of his innate powers to be taken away. He'll try to land on the ledge, so he's not trapped beneath the sliding wall when it inevitably slides back out.
>>
No. 775462 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 1, 1 = 5

>head back to the market in Greznek and buy pre-made nets
Considering the logistics of moving said nets from Greznek back out to the frontier (Rhea would need some kind of bag of holding, a teleport, or support staff to haul the stuff) that would probably be best accomplished through whatever supply lines already connect the goyles to the city. (Rhea might be able to diplomatically grease the wheels of bureaucracy if they haven't had much luck requisitioning supplies)?

>initiate one of the goyles into mom's priesthood, then teach them how to manufacture and bless the warded nets on-site
Assuming you only need to be an initiate to bless the nets, not manufacture (and assuming most the man-hours are for manufacturing, not blessing) that seems the most sensible option. With the work split 8-ways, it would only be about a month of man-hours each to ward that entrance (longer with sleep and other duties). And they could pass the crafting details on to the other wings. It would still likely be a while before they warded everywhere, and blessing applications would be limited to wing with the priest-goyle rotating between locations, but presumably they would focus effort on the bases with the worst vermin problems, or those that were the easiest to ward, first.

I'll got with plan "teach a man to fish" (with fire). Obvious first step is raising the idea and seeing if anyone is interested in / willing to be inducted as a priest, since if no one is there's not much point in teaching them how to made the warding nets.

Assuming craft lessons and a preistifying ritual will take a few hours in one place, I'll ask Mode to conserve power (as opposed to say, keeping the library functions active).
>>
No. 775465 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8

So, presuming the creature has now moved out from behind the illusionary wall, what do we see? Is it like a bone golem, bound together with tentacles / tendrils / roots instead of wire, like a model skeleton? It is a writhing mass of tentacles, wielding pieces of bone as clubs and shields? How big is it, is it moving quickly or slowly (though it hasn't made an attack yet, so we may not have seen it's top speed)?

>>775448
I think the ascending difficulty comes from surface area and immediate consequences. The ledge is the widest, and easiest. A spike is a point, and hard to balance on, and failing means you immediately impale a foot, but might stay upright and avoid perforating yourself elsewhere. Landing in between the spikes means twofold accuracy- first avoiding the points, then landing just right on the sloped sides of the spikes, where failure would make you fall over, exposing you to multiple spike points.
>>
No. 775516 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 1, 1 = 8

I assume Vos still has the rope since he was the last one to use it. Not wasting any time, he'll rush over to the edge of this hallway-turned-pit and drop the rope down for Ji to hopefully grab onto before he lands.
>>
No. 775522 ID: d36af7

>>775465
>a writhing mass of tentacles, wielding pieces of bone as clubs and shields
Yep, this.
>how big
Similar to that zombie-tarball, at least in terms of width. Hard to evaluate height since it hasn't fully emerged through the illusory wall yet. Possibly in the "flailing around for snooze button" phase of waking up, so roll for a dodge if you want to move past it. Inability to see around corners means that portal shortcuts are of limited utility here, and might serve to increase the bone crawler's effective reach during subsequent melee.

>ascending difficulty
I said DEscending. A hair-thin seam in the wall is the hardest to catch, clapping a blade between his feet is easier but still tricky, and attempting to land between spikes (on the actual floor) is the relatively safe 'default' option, but means more work for climbing back out, and no high-ground benefit in combat against whatever may be lurking at the bottom of the pit.

>>775448
Yisheng Ji successfully alights on a ledge. The sun brick's dazzling glow, heralding arrival of the rest of the party through one of Davina's portals, is visible seventy feet above him. The wailing of an infant echoes up from below.

>>775462
>rolled 3, 1, 1 = 5
Critical success, or close to it. Apparently the goyles have been bored and anxious, and felt that concerns about swarms of striges weren't being taken seriously by bureaucrats back home, so some personal attention and inspiration for a big group project is just what they needed. Lesson plan comes together like clockwork, and morale is high. If Rhea can make friends with the Tenebrous Bandersnatch, she'll be three-for-three on subverting this cavern's defenders toward her mom's faith and away from the Church of Orcus.

The Tenebrous Bandersnatch's lair is two miles away, beyond three rivers, one of which is at the bottom of a significant chasm. There's no bridge over the chasm; the beast easily leaps across when it wishes to enter or leave. It is said to be more than thirty feet high at the shoulder, standing on six legs. Long thrashing tail bristles with quills of solidified shadow which can be casually launched like a volley of harpoons. Before settling down near Greznek, it lived a nomadic life, hunting grizzly bears much the way housecats hunt mice.
>>
No. 775523 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 6, 1 = 13

>>775522
Ah, so Ji took his tumble before we even arrived at this hallway. Got it.

No point in trying to dodge it now, unless it looks safe enough for the whole party to dance around it. Seems like killing it might be our best option. Apply spear to whatever looks like a weak point.
>>
No. 775525 ID: d36af7

>>775516
>rolled 6, 1, 1 = 8
Vos narrowly dodges a flailing tentacle, benefiting from his lack of distinct footfall sounds which might otherwise catch the bone crawler's attention. The ledge is 70' down, and the rope is only 60' long, but those spiked pedipalp things which used to be his legs are surprisingly well suited to bracing on the edge, so he can simply dangle the front third of his body down into the pit to make up the difference, with his tail staying behind on the floor for leverage.

Yisheng Ji now has a rope available, it's lower end right at eye level. This should simplify the climbing process quite a bit.
>>
No. 775574 ID: 74621b

rolled 4, 4, 2 = 10

>>775525
>rope
Right. Time to go. Yisheng Ji will climb out of the pit with Vos's help. He'll also keep a close eye on the ceiling for when it inevitably comes swinging back down the other way, so he doesn't get beaned in the head again.
>>
No. 775635 ID: d36af7

rolled 6, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6, 4, 1, 4, 6, 6, 1, 4, 4, 5, 3, 1, 1, 3, 1, 4, 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 1, 5 = 102

>>775574
With both of them pulling the rope in hand-over-hand at top speed, it'll take over 30 seconds before Yisheng Ji is out of the pit. The greekfire will be burned out by then (rolling for cumulative total damage from that), and some other melee may have taken place. What's everyone else doing?
>>
No. 775636 ID: a34124

rolled 3, 1, 4 = 8

Hore begins chopping at a few tentacles with her axe, then retreats with Ji in tow!
>>
No. 775672 ID: dc887b

rolled 5, 1, 5 = 11

Maru is standing between the members rescuing Ji and the Goliath with a bone fetish, not directly engaging it, but trying to act as an obstacle to ensure the others have enough time to get him out
>>
No. 775686 ID: d36af7

>>775636
Hore hacks at the bone crawler, chipping away more of it's semi-ablative armor but not causing much real injury. A spoken observation that this treatment probably just makes it mad is punctuated by an ominous crack of thunder.

>>775672
A flailing tentacle covered in bony blades forces Maru to retreat back up the 20' wide ramp as the beast lurches forward. From the high ground, out of the sun brick's main area of effect, she observes the flash of lightning preceding that thunder, and hears rain. There's a storm going on up there, which means the next floor is either ground level, and nighttime or very thoroughly overcast, or some kind of cave big enough to have it's own weather.
>>
No. 775698 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8

Hmm. Tentacles means an enemy that can finally be meaningfully hurt by a blade, probably, but lots of reach with ablative armor make sticking it anywhere near the center of mass difficult. Assuming there is anything like a core with vulnerable organs.

Lack of any visible eyes (so far) and narration referring to it reacting to footfalls (or lack thereof) suggests it tracks prey by sound. It's possible Maru's axe could interfere with that, by overwhelming it with noise. (Also possible it would just give it a sound to home in on).

If there is a vulnerable central mass, ranged attacks with Eric's crossbow, slinging, and holy fire might be a way to get past it's reach.

We're currently split on 3 sides around this thing, I think. Maru forced into the unexplored path, Vos and Ji towards the trapped hall, everyone else on the path leaving back the way we came. Easy enough to reunite the group with portals (so long they're opened well away from the beast). Although if we opt to escape that means retreating towards the thunderstorm, or back across the bile room.

Davina will take advantage of Hore engaging the creature directly and test it from her flank to possibly exploit an opening. Probing attacks- how fast is this thing, can she slip past bone defenses to damage or sever tentacles holding them, what's it's reach, is there a central mass to target?
>>
No. 775866 ID: 383927

rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8

Maru Red is going to try to back up the tunnel and lead the beast out towards the storm, away from the party, goading it sling bullets and loud crude insults about its appearance. Coincidentally, magic that controls the weather is not unheard of right? It wouldn't be unreasonable to worried about stepping, not out of the cave, not into a cavern large enough for its own weather, but a magically localized storm?

Rolling to check for traps and goad the creature
>>
No. 775947 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 4, 4 = 10

>>775525
Best mutation ever!

Not much to say. Vos utters thanks to Tittivila and pulls himself back onto the ledge, rope in tow, and focuses on his task of bringing Ji back to solid ground.
>>
No. 775962 ID: d36af7

>>775698
>how fast is this thing,
Actual attacks are as fast as competent swordfighting, but it's moving cautiously and with a lot of momentum, like somebody wearing a heavy backpack and a blindfold.
>can she slip past bone defenses to damage or sever tentacles holding them,
The plates and rods of bone are hard as iron, but irregularly placed, with vulnerable 'joints' between them. Davina's ancestral blade jabs at a carefully chosen spot on the underbelly and tastes blue-green blood.
>what's it's reach,
Four or five yards at full extension, like a pike or a bullwhip, with any of a dozen bone-blade limbs. Seems to keep them at least partly coiled in closer for defense, though.
>is there a central mass to target?
Seems to be lenticular, fifteen feet wide (nearly filling the twenty-foot-wide hallway) held parallel to the ground. Hard to judge thickness with so much jumbled bone piled on top.

>>775866
No traps, and it's eager enough to follow. At the top of the ramp, you're standing under a 30' by 40' stone slab supported by Doric columns, no more than eight feet apart. Outside, there's a small field of mud in which no grass or weeds grow, red-black as if permanently stained by battlefield gore. Beyond that, low scrubby pine trees, then increasingly healthy forest obscured by rain and darkness.

Full weather control across a radius of multiple miles is a 7th circle effect, but there are lots of magic items, and ritual/geomancy shortcuts if you're willing to take time setting things up, and lesser spells. Mastering the Storm Forge is one of those core subjects that magic-users have been thoroughly researching for a very long time. Probably as long as magic-users have existed. At the very least, supernatural weather control as an instrument of warfare features prominently in the legends of the god-kings of Mnar, which was before the Old Empire, before the crude early elves had even split into Green and White factions. Mnar fell when the hundred-handed titans demanded worshippers of their own.

>>775947
>Best mutation ever! Not much to say. Vos utters thanks to Tittivila
"Praise be to the one who, in her wisdom and mercy, adapts our bodies for the trials we have not yet encountered."
>>
No. 775969 ID: b9aa79

rolled 1, 2, 6 = 9

>>775962
>Doric columns, no more than eight feet apart
>fifteen feet wide
Maru would like retreat towards a corner of this overhead stone slab, whilst putting as many columns between her and the bone creature as possible. She'll continue to try and goad it out as she goes, attempting to get it away from the rest of the party to give them time to rescue Ji and devise a way to get everyone out safely.

Also, as far as I'm away Doric columns are usually shorter than ionic or Corinthian- roughly how high is the ceiling above Maru?
>>
No. 775998 ID: 67456a

rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8

Maria frowns. She would have preferred to actually directly hit this thing. She aims again, and fires off a beam of flames, muttering a rapid stream of prayers to Agatia under her breath.

Daniel stays behind his sister, hoping for the best and keeping his aura up.
>>
No. 776045 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11

As her attacks are breaking armor but not bleeding flesh, Hore begins an aggravated assault on key areas that her cybernetics indicate, making huge polygon-shaped segregations of the beast's armor and then chopping at the center piece until it breaks like candy, then prompting the other party members to hit the newly formed soft spot with flecks of armor shrapnel. She does this while attempting to stay away from the active tentacles or anything dangerous, and will retreat when the beast has enough weak spots for the party to unload.
>>
No. 776100 ID: 3abd97

>outside, there's a small field of mud in which no grass or weeds grow, red-black as if permanently stained by battlefield gore. Beyond that, low scrubby pine trees, then increasingly healthy forest obscured by rain and darkness.
Looks like Maru's found the exit, baring epic weathermancy, or the stuff visible in between the pillars being an illusion.

>it's eager enough to follow
Okay, that's good. If the bone crawler has moved up the path from the intersection, Ji and Vos are no longer cut off from the group. It's now Maru heroically ahead, and everyone else behind the creature.

>what do
"It's a giant crustacean. It bleeds, and there are gaps in it's armor, but it would be a long and slow process taking it to pieces."

Davina will let up her attack, letting the beast draw ahead, towards Maru and the exit, following at a distance.

If there really is a nice open field up there, that's a great opportunity to portal most the group away from the thing, or to lure it through a portal and strand it well away from the most of us. Should be possible to ditch pursuit, and probably with less effort than killing it would take.
>>
No. 776118 ID: b9aa79

>>776100
> a great opportunity to portal most the group away from the thing
now you're thinking with portals That's what Maru was hoping for. The storm might limit visibility though, so that's cross our fingers and hope it's not any faster than a basirond
>>
No. 776147 ID: d36af7

>attack
Lot of scorch marks and chipping away, but no deep penetrating hits. The creature flips up on it's side and rolls between two columns, dumping off some loose bones, then scurries out across the muddy field and into the forest, still burning.

Possibly it wasn't responding to Maru's taunts at all, just attempting to flee after being set on fire.

>>776100
>lure it through a portal
Davina's portals are usually about five feet in diameter. Six feet high by four feet wide, something like that. Fitting the 15' wide bone crawler through one of them would be like trying to hide a truck tire inside a breadbox. Besides, it's a moot point for the time being.

>>775969
Ceiling is 20' high, with a triangular cross-section at the narrow end. Your basic 'greek temple' layout. It's at the top of a low hill, which partly explains how the tunnels aren't flooding. Only other notable feature is a slab with some engravings in a liturgical language the Agate siblings are familiar with, formatted like a prayer:
“Where for the glory of the Horned One does the true essence lie? Not in the skin, that tattered rag that clothes us; strip it away. Not in the flesh, mere meat to rot to nothing; let the worms feast upon it. Not in the brain, for thought is fleeting, ever changing; crack the skull and suck it forth. Not in breath, that most fragile of sighs so easily stolen; drown it in tears and pain. Not in the belly, that furnace of power, for it so easily turns; dissolve it in acids of its own creation. Not in the seed of man and woman, the agent but not the source of the spark; it shall waste away in the shadow of false hope. Not in the bones, the final dancing relic of the dead; crush them to dust and let the wind take them. Where then does the true spark hide?”
The last line seems to have been chiseled away.

So, will you stay here and wait out the storm? Pursue the bone crawler in an effort to finish it off? Depart in a different direction so the rain will erase your tracks?
>>
No. 776158 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 1, 6 = 11

>>776147
Thats a bit of a dilemma. If we wait here for the storm to end we could end up facing whatever flesh hungry creatures stumble upon us, and who knows how long it'll take for the rain to let up- it could be ten minutes or it could be three days. We have limited rations, and don't know how far the nearest town is, or even what direction to go.

On the other hand, if we head into the storm and it lets up in two hours, we'll be cold, wet, muddy, and tired, still with no idea of where to go. The forest might be a better place to search for something eddible to supplement our currently short lived rations, but the only one of us who might have an advantage when it comes to finding and identifying food would be hore.

Maru copies down the poem to save for later, and waits to here the group's thoughts. If we can tell how long it'll take the storm to pass that would be helpful.

In that same vein, rolling to see if Maru can discern anything about the weather, as well as looking for signs that might help locate civilization such as rivers or smoke or footpaths etc.
>>
No. 776165 ID: 379bdb

>>776147
Once free, Yisheng Ji will request some chalk, or other writing tool if anyone has some, and draw out some very clear skull symbols and arrows all around the passage towards the instant-death pit, so that anyone else who comes through will hopefully be spared.

He also votes to pursue the beast and try to finish it off, as he would like to acquire the remains for alchemical purposes. Though he would admittedly be of little use in combat with the thing, any medicines derived from it would be to the group's benefit.
>>
No. 776181 ID: af6e04

>"Praise be to the one who, in her wisdom and mercy, adapts our bodies for the trials we have not yet encountered."
Amen.

Vos has never been so excited to see a thunderstorm. He lets out a shrill cry of excitement and immediately slithers out from under the stone shelter to bask in the downpour.

After a few minutes of slithering around in circles in the mud and catching raindrops in his big gaping mouth, he tells the group that, despite the lovely weather, he feels like he could probably collapse at any moment and would like to stay and rest.
>>
No. 776185 ID: 3abd97

>dumping off some loose bones
Hey, free ammo for Eric.

>>portal luring logistics
Ah well. If it had hung around, it would have been appropriate to flee from it with portals then, since it wouldn't have been able to pursue further than it could reach without going the long way.

>prayer
That's the same prayer Mesifin Styx, Eswic, Goris and Altsoba were reciting, until Marijke offered a theological rebuttal to the line about the stomach and vomitted spiders over everything.

In this case, the verses seem to refer to the threats we just escaped. The skin-stripper is the bone crawler, the flesh rotting refers to the bile, there's reference to the bone suckers, the brain mold, the wind trap, the drugged room, and Aaphia.

Not sure I see a clue that would lead to anyone figuring out the password was "garrald negg", or how to answer the riddles asked spoken by hidden voices, but maybe there are clues there. Eric will need to determine how to safely answer those, if he wishes to return to visit his Queen. (Unless there's a servant's entrance she can open for him?).

>He also votes to pursue the beast and try to finish it off, as he would like to acquire the remains for alchemical purposes
How bad is visibility outside with the sun stone? How heavily is it raining? How cold is it? How dense is the forest?

Sort of serious things to consider before chasing a monster off into the rain and dark.

>rain
That should be fresh water. If we're not running off immediately, we might want to set a container to collect some.

>what else
We might want to ask Djan to make a crude compass. Do we know, broadly speaking, what's in the area? We didn't use this entrance, but we all entered this dungeon somewhere geographically nearby.

>what do
Depending on conditions, might be willing to help finish off the creature. Overall, though, I think we're better off camping here until at least daylight before pressing on. Waiting out the storm or not depends on if it's raining in the morning. (Party could use proper sleep and level ups before more threats).

...although if we're sleeping we need to decide what to do with the flesh puppets in case Eric loses control in his sleep.
>>
No. 776197 ID: b9aa79

>>776185
Vos and Dav both think we should rest up, and while Maru doesn't like the thought of sleeping in the rain she will put forth the idea that they're likely to come across much nastier things sleeping outside the entrance to these ruins rather than the forest. A full nights sleep won't work if you're woken up three times and have to fight desperately for your life.

>>776165
Maru is still worried that Ji is under the influence of malicious voices, but thus far his ideas haven't endangered the rest of the party, just himself. She does however have an objection;
"Oy doc, I appreciate a business opportunity when I 'ear one, but I'm not fond of 'untin down some tentacle beast in de dark and rain, 'specially when it's already runnin from us. I dunno, dere's just somefin about chasin someone 'oo already gave up dat rubs me de wrong way, any dangers involved aside. Live 'n let, and all dat nonsense yanno?"

She does however, want to make him an offer:
"Look dough, I think we can work somefin out 'ere. I been finkin I might wanna learn to do some magics, and I'm finkin since ya know how to do magic, maybe if ya can teach me somefin useful I can try to hook ya up with some supplies back in town. Ya sleep on dat, and come talk to me if ya fink dere might be somefin of value we can work out between us.
>>
No. 776198 ID: 3abd97

>>776197
Anything coming out of the ruins has to cross that pit of ooze, and get past the bone eaters. I think we're reasonably safe from that direction for now, unless the bone eaters make a fresh crop of flesh puppets, which takes time, and requires people. And at least we have shelter from the rain overhead.

>nasty things
Maria's abilities include warding, don't they? You'd think protecting a campsite would be something a traveling warrior-nun would have had to do before.
>>
No. 776224 ID: b9aa79

>>776198
That's assuming anything dangerous to us travels by foot- however, that does offer a degree of protection and if Maria can ward us then we should be set.

Something we should probably straighten out now though- where is Eric headed, and what's going to happen to the meat puppets. He's sworn fealty to his queen, but she pretty much told us to bugger off until someone had something entertaining to bring her, so I'm assuming he and Djan who have been NPCified for the time being are gonna stick with the group?

All together that gives us a seven members and like 8 meat puppets I think if the 3 bonds ones count as 1.
Vos and djan are fighters, specialized in healing and metal bending
Dav and Eric are rich, specialized in fighting and controlling undead
Marina Daniel Ji and Hore are all hedge mages, with holy fire, lifting curses, healing and fighting
Maru is a townie specialized in fighting.

All together we are pretty well rounded, and currently we just need an opportunity to re-equip and get more rations. Thus far though, we seem pretty prepared to tackle pretty much tackle most challenges if we're sensible. I'm honestly surprised no ones died yet- I was counting on Maru being able to take a weapon off someone's corpse. Hopefully we'll make it into town and I can buy one instead
>>
No. 776229 ID: 3abd97

>If Rhea can make friends with the Tenebrous Bandersnatch, she'll be three-for-three on subverting this cavern's defenders toward her mom's faith and away from the Church of Orcus.
Hmmm. Well it's not as if Rhea set out to do that, but it's a nice bonus. Seems kind of rude to visit someone purely for politics, though. It would be a different matter if the Bandersnatch was lonely for company or something. Have the goyles interacted with it at all? How's it doing?

>The Tenebrous Bandersnatch's lair is two miles away, beyond three rivers, one of which is at the bottom of a significant chasm.
Do those first two rivers have crossings? Rhea's not so great with water. And I don't suppose there's anything else of interest in that direction? Other exits?

>what do
So my options seem to be (a) head into Kazleth territory, make nice with the minotaur and/or rescue the foreign goblins there (b) visit the badersnatch (c) double way back and try and pick up a trade route.

Are the goyles willing to provide a head start on a or b, sending Rhea in the right direction, or guiding her part of the way?
>>
No. 776235 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16

>>776224
Doesn't Maru have a magic guitar axe?

Vos immediately goes about setting up a cozy campsite. He sets his jug out in the rain to collect water, then ventures to the forest edge to collect some kindling and tries to dry it with the sun brick (or he uses the wood he gathered from the boar room, if he has any left). He also examines the red mud.

Once that's all underway, he slips out of his armor and wraps up nice and warm in his blanket, offering to share with anybody else who feels chilly.

Couple ideas for the meat puppets. If anybody brought a shovel? we can try to bury them in the mud. That's a lot of work though. Alternatively Eric could just send them back to hang out with the bone suckers. They'll probably forget about us pretty quick with how good their memory seems to be. Course, then Eric will have to go back down to retrieve them.
>>
No. 776240 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13

>>776147
Hore quotes an old curse she found on one of her adventures:

"The fuel of war is not weapons. It is not blood, sweat, or tears. It is not bodies, and it is not the future. It is not even hate, and it is never love. The fuel of war is souls. Souls that are fed to the beast.

We are that beast." I found this on the internet

Funnily enough, they were stocked to the brim with food aplenty. Hore ate well yet somehow felt like she had come closer to understanding the quote. So her guess is that this 'spark' thing is found in the gut. 'The heart' is just too cliché. But since the riddle specifically says that the stomach is not an option, her second and third guesses would be 'in the shadow of your empty husk' or 'in the hands of the Horned One, as is your fate'.

But ultimately, Hore figures it's just another koan.

Hore looks around, partly for food, partly for spoils that came off the tentacled horror. They might be useful considering their ablative properties, though she suggests that David and Maria purify the samples.
>>
No. 776290 ID: d36af7

>>776158
Maru's best guess is that the storm will let up in a few hours, some time around dawn. After that, the day will probably be heavily overcast but otherwise calm.

Waves are occasionally audible to the east, so you're probably in the hills between the Old Coast Road and the actual coast. Bone crawler headed off to the southwest. Flickering light and other signs of revelry are just barely visible on the west-north-west horizon.

>>776235
>ventures to the forest edge to collect some kindling
>rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16
Decaro Vos finds the mud and rain quite pleasant and relaxing, after all that crawling around in tunnels. He gathers up a heavy armload of pine branches and heads back up the hill to meet back up with... oop, wrong hill. No temple here.

His muddy slithering tracks just lead around in circles.

>>776229
>Have the goyles interacted with it at all? How's it doing?
The Tenebrous Bandersnatch is a timeless fairytale terror made flesh, regarded by the wise with awe and dread. None of the goyles have interacted with it outside the strict necessity of target designation during training exercises.

>Are the goyles willing to provide a head start on [heading to Kazleth's territory]
Yep! See that staircase on the west edge of this map?
>>775069
That's the path to Kazleth's territory. Can't miss it. That little bit with the S and the dotted lines is an anomaly below the surface of the river, right near the edge of scanner range.
>other options
The gugs have some sort of blockade action going on near Passholdt, so you could ask them for transportation through their territory to there, and then ride a raft or something downstream to the big city.

Or, without crossing any rivers, you could go to the moonsilver gates and try something clever to open them.
>>
No. 776296 ID: 3d2d5f

>>776290
Yeah, Rhea would be friendly if she happened to run into a fairytale monster made flesh, but even she's not naive enough to bother one just because she can.

How does one go about contacting the gug on purpose? The embassy is... somewhere, and the one met by the river might still be nearby.

Is the moonsilver door a physical exit that's puzzle locked, or is it some kind of travel artifact / teleportation platform? How far off is that?
>>
No. 776303 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 5, 2 = 11

>>776290
Hahaha oh my big fucking slithery goofball

Not to worry, Vos should have no problem spotting the temple from the hilltop once the weather clears up a bit. He still has his blanket and Eric's rope. Vos can quickly lash a few big fallen branches / small fallen trees together and lean them up for some rudimentary shelter from the rain. Then he'll coil up under his blanket - so far the most useful piece of equipment he's brought on this trip. A very warm and decorative patchwork of skins that his people gave him before his departure. Vos thinks of home and tries to get some sleep.
>>
No. 776321 ID: 67456a

Maria steps away from the campsite for a moment, then comes back with a coil of rope. Her chest seems a bit larger, too.

"Does anyone have more rope? I'll ward the campsite as much as I can. The more rope, the more space we'll have."

Meanwhile, Daniel feels worried for his eely friend! He's gonna ask if anyone knows a way to locate him, because getting separated in the wilderness is probably a very bad idea. He flares up his aura a little, too, to keep himself warm and dry.
>>
No. 776339 ID: d36af7

>>776296
Physical door, probably with some sort of puzzle lock. None of the goyles have seen or heard of it ever having been opened. Easy to find, just follow the cave wall north until it meets the nearer of those two rivers, which apparently drains through the door.

Gug embassy is more than a mile away to the northeast. Easy to fly, not so easy to walk. Goyles would be willing to give Rhea a ride there, and assure her that they pretty much only ever drop people when they intend to do so, even when the passenger is actively resisting.

>>776321
>Does anyone have more rope?
Decaro Vos had the coil of Aaphia's braided hair with him when he left to gather firewood.

Most of the expedition's mountaineering equipment (and the master copy of the charter, along with a lot of other paperwork) was on those three pack-mules which were lost down a swift underground river when the improvised pontoon bridge broke. Captain Meadows had been injured in a giant scorpion attack hours earlier, poison from which finally caught up with him, so the lieutenants got to arguing over whether custody of the chain of command was supposed to proceed by seniority, or by majority of voting shares, or what, and whether the idiot who'd proposed sending those mules across all at once should be excluded from consideration. Then some sort of manticore showed up, strafing with iron spikes that hit like heavy crossbow bolts, and everybody pretty much scattered.
>>
No. 776354 ID: b9aa79

>>776321
>Vos runs off again
Buddy system! We have enough people to spare, we can afford to split the party to avoid trapping our cleric in the forest with the tentacle beast.

That being said, Maru wouldn't have volunteered to go out in the rain. She admits she's worried but >getting separated in the wilderness is probably a very bad idea when the rescue party all get lost and ambushed by a tentacle beast it doesn't help anyone much. Maybe Danile Hore and Djan or a similar group can split off to search if they want.

There's a few possibilities here that Maru can think of:
-Vos is on the way back, just struggling to find fire wood
-Vos is lost in the forest, under some sort of fey enchantment, whisked away or some other similar scenario that we wont be able to find
-Vos is wounded and needs our help
-Vos is dead, and we're wasting our time and energy.

Feel free to add, but it's worth considering that there's both scenarios in which vos needs us, and scenarios where searching is a waste of resources. Consider that no matter what we do searching is risky, the decision should be based on more than just feelings. She makes a pointed look at Daniel when she brings that up. She won't stop anyone from going, but she suggests you bring at least enough people to carry someone back and fight capable, and bring someone who could provide medical assistance if needed.
>>
No. 776358 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

Hore is quite elated on the surface. She has been panicking and worrying ever since the D.R.B.s, but now that they're on solid earth it's home field. Hore decides to talk about her people to Ji and anyone who is willing to listen.

Her tribe, and other Gnoll tribes ancestrally connected to hers have been semi-nomadic for centuries; tribes travel for decades, hunting down slaves AND knowledge in addition to supplies, and when their numbers dwindle to about 60% of the original 'pack', they assault a random fortress or village, steal building supplies, and settle in a nearby mountain or valley (Hore was born in a valley), then enter breeding mode where they @#$% the living hell out of everything that moves. The ones that are strong enough to make it to their third birthday (which, according to the beliefs of Hore's tribe, is considered the approximate time a Gnoll's soul 'ignites' into living and is considered more than useless or an arcane ingredient. This belief isn't contested because three years is about the amount of time it takes for Gnolls to become sentient, so until that time baby Gnolls have the social status of pets. The mother will murder anyone who tries to cripple / kill her babies though) are given a surprisingly thorough education in the Shaman class. Unfortunately, only 2% 'graduate' and of those only 25% make it to elder status, the rest become hunters and bandits. They continue to breed and domesticate until they exhaust the land or begin infighting, at which point they seed the land with vegetables and clovers and other soil-enriching high-nutrient plant seeds and outright leave, and if there was infighting involved the tribe splits into multiple tribes based on surviving leaders. This cycle has left Hore's clan a menace upon the civilized world, with tales of entire hordes crashing upon the gates of unprepared children with nothing less than brutal and barbaric efficiency, then twisting the knife further by invoking an insurgency; they intentionally leave most of the valuables they have plundered in the center of town, boast of their exploits to the neighboring taverns and towns, and leave to some ignored hole in the earth. Ironically, this means that the ensuing revolts and bandit raids deal even more direct damage to the fortress or city than the Gnolls.

Hore has a haunting suspicion that her tribe may have been founded under an intelligent sage or organization, one that recognized the balance of nature and how a pack of rapists and murderers could find a place in a world that rejects them; by healing it, one garden at a time. If this is true, then the original purpose of the tribe has degraded to pure hedonistic survival.

Hore tried to leave, to find some place that she could belong to that didn't involve ruining the lives of others, where she could slaughter animals and @#$% with consent and be loved for it. The others disagreed. Normally, the ensuing clan war would result in the elders intervening and giving Hore a small pack of her followers and some supplies, which would usually get dissenters like herself killed on the road quickly. Hore had no followers, none wanted to deal with the weird child birthed by a goddess, and so the entire tribe rose against her, deeming her a heretic and an insult to her mother's name. If Hore didn't have a plasma pistol, she would be just another slave to her former tribe. The arrows would have ended her if the archers didn't panic and run at the sight of poison dragon's breath spewing from Hore's hands, cleanly severing the torsos of a few snipers and burning the remains. As it stands, she cleaved through them fairly well; only a lucky few survived her plasma wrath, just enough to care for the surviving children. Hore lost her two fingers here, as her plasma pistol was never meant to fire that many times in a single day. She yelled at the survivors that if they wanted to stay so badly, they might as well stay in this valley forever. None followed her; a few of the children might have, but they were held back by the frightened adults.

Hore's mood darkens slightly as she tells her story, but it's a weight off her chest and she feels she can trust her fellow squad members even more, which strengthens her mind.

Hore waits for Vos to come back. Hopefully, he can test out this new hole, but honestly she wants to mutate a 'flower' around it first. Hore would fap, except she's worried that her hands are dirty and filled with diseases from that... *shudder* venus-mold room.

Since the rain won't let up, Hore attempts to construct a simple dew collector. Her canteen is useless now, so she asks the others to help her build a rain collector out of their current materials. She also asks the Agate twins to purify the water if possible. Roll to determine if she can build this thing. Shouldn't be hard.
>>
No. 776370 ID: 67456a

>>776354
Daniel scowls. "There's a reason I brought it up to everyone else. I'm not stupid." He shrugs. "I don't think he's been gone long enough to be dead, though. Maybe if I went with the group, I could use my aura as sort of a beacon? I'm kinda hard to miss, after all."
>>
No. 776386 ID: b9aa79

>>776370
>Daniel scowls. "There's a reason I brought it up to everyone else. I'm not stupid.
Maru was expressing exasperation at Vos rushing off without consulting anyone, magnus bursides style, not at Daniel offering to go after. But yeah, she pretty much figured he'd be going with the search party no matter what. Don't be so sure everythings okay though, as previously mentioned there's a pretty large and dangerous creature somewhere in the same general area. She not trying to be a downer, but fate has a cruel sense of humor, and it wouldn't be out of the question for everyone's favorite eel-man to have met a grisly end immediately after reveling in the newly found outdoors. Just be prepared, is all.
>>
No. 776396 ID: 84aebf

rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6

Before nodding out Vos suddenly remembers the most important rule of sleeping outdoors (don't sleep with food). Traditional bear bag is out of the question because his rope was used to make his shelter. He'll try to hide his rations as high up in a tree as reasonable, a good distance away from where he's made his bed.
>>
No. 776408 ID: d36af7

>>776358
>construct a simple dew collector
>rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12
Not her best work, but it's adequate to the task of topping up water supplies.
>wall of backstory
Mostly plausible.
>>
No. 776416 ID: 094652

Hore suggests Davina throw a portal at the top of the tower, then they can tie the sun brick at the top as a beacon for Vos (and any other search parties) to find. The only issue she has is that she does NOT want to lose the sun brick, so if Djan could forge a cage for the sun brick out of some scrap metal and Maria could weld the sun cage to the hands of a stable statue, that would be nice.

What I'm saying is, now we have a checkpoint for new characters to start at. The sun brick can then attract other expedition members and a few rebellious natives.
>>
No. 776418 ID: 3abd97

Considering Vos had her back basically the entire trip, and came to her aid repeatedly, Davina is concerned he hasn't returned yet, and not particularly enamored with leaving him to his own devices.

>>776370
"Go on, then. Illuminate us. If Vos is merely lost, it will draw him to us. If he was waylaid, it may attract his attacker, and better for us to deal with such a threat now than be surprised in our sleep."

The bone-crawler, chrasing through the underbrush, on fire, probably already drew the attention of any would-be predators this way, anyways.

>potential for tracking
Hore might have been able to follow scent, if it wasn't raining. Rain will be washing tracks out too, but you'd think the muddy furrow left by a torso-wide tail wouldn't be hard to follow.

>>776416
Dav has to step through her portals (unless she's restrained, and with Vos and the magic rope missing, we're down two reliable meathods for that). Stepping onto a rain-slick stone roof in the dark? Holding a metal sword aloft on the roof of a building in the middle of a thunderstorm? No thank you.
>>
No. 776421 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 4, 6 = 11

>Physical door, probably with some sort of puzzle lock. None of the goyles have seen or heard of it ever having been opened. Easy to find, just follow the cave wall north until it meets the nearer of those two rivers, which apparently drains through the door.
If the puzzle lock is physical, Rhea might be able to cheese it by using Mode to make a 3D scan of the inner working of the lock. If it's magical, she might be able to communicate with a spirit engaged in operating it. Reasonable odds of this being a problem she has means to address.

Rhea will set off for the gate, using the earlier described tactic of stopping and spending a minute or two for Mode to do a power conservative scan of each new room.

She'll thank the goyles and say goodbye before she goes, and tell them where she'd headed. If she can't figure the door out she'll stop by again before trying a different direction.

Rolling for travel spot / alertness / misc.
>>
No. 776423 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9

>>776418
Okay.

Hore might be a dog, but dogs don't track scent in the rain. Hore is also unnerved, tired, and retains light wounds from the self-inflicted stab that turned into a pussy. Hore decides to sleep for the night.

... Well, after a good fap. She offers sex (though stays the @#$% away from the Agate siblings while doing so), then she asks for some soap or cleaning water so she can wash her hands, then decides to search the temple room for traps or alcoves where ninja assassins could hide. Once she's FINALLY sure that she is on the surface in a nice warm temple with all the assassins on holiday, she can wash her hands and finally fap herself to sleep.
>>
No. 776430 ID: 74621b

rolled 4, 1, 5 = 10

>>776197
>Maru wants magic training in exchange for a vague promise for unspecified items in the future, maybe
Yisheng Ji responds to Maru's offer with an immediate, and quite hostile refusal. "I do not perform parlor tricks for one's amusement. I am a doctor, and that which flows through me is medicine. It is not within the capacity of those who cannot even tell friend from foe. If you don't wish to finish off the injured monstrosity who has tried to destroy us, fine. But you seem to have no such reservations about attacking your unarmed ally. To try to take a moral high ground in front of me, you must think me a mighty fool." He has clearly neither forgotten nor forgiven her for assaulting him earlier.

>>776418
>Vos missing
There are plenty of trees around, aren't there? Yisheng Ji will scale a tall one nearby and take a look around, to see if he can spot anything unusual.
>>
No. 776464 ID: b9aa79

>>776430
>Ji is still mad

Maru raises her eyebrows and responds in a tone that suggests she isn't taking his anger seriously, which seems to be the general irreverent approach she addresses most topics with.
"Mate, ya put dat stick up ya ass yaself, or did one of de voices in ya head help ya? I'll make sure to remember ya don't like people offering to buy ya fings, but careful what ya say doc! Someone might actually fink ya angry or somefin if ya keep on like dat!"

At this point she seems to be enjoying listening to herself speak more than anything else. She finds herself quite amusing, even if no one else does.

Who, if anyone, is going out to search for Vos?
>>
No. 776511 ID: 67456a

Daniel ignites his aura as far as it can go, turning his body into a golden beacon. Hopefully Vos can see them now...

Maria, meanwhile, preps her lazers, just in case.
>>
No. 777127 ID: d36af7

>>776421
There aren't any discrete rooms, or even all that many side caves, on the way to the moonsilver gates. The gates themselves are massive: twenty feet of solid gleaming metal above the water's surface, fine-meshed grates below. Cursory examination of the surrounding geomancy reveals that somebody really built this thing to last, using at least 7th or 8th circle magic, so it's almost certainly not going to yield to any plausibly-attainable amount of brute force. Extensive engravings on the gates probably provide some instructions, or at least clues to a riddle, but... there's a common superstition among goblins that literacy causes, essentially, cumulative and irreversible brain damage ("takes the words out of your head") and stuff like these inscriptions sometimes makes Rhea wonder if there's a grain of truth to the idea. They're written partly in Seatongue, partly in some sort of hieroglyphics Rhea doesn't even recognize, and even the portions in Flametongue seem magically obfuscated, though holding up that silver semicircle pendant she got from the goyles and reading line-by-line right along the lower edge helps a little. Might be possible to translate, with some combination of ritual magic and several hours of tedious academic analysis.

When Mode tries to focus thermal/visual imaging on the engravings, her "pic-to-text algorithm goes bananas" which then results in the entire surface of the gate appearing to be buried behind a flurry of "jpeg artifacts." Clearing out the relevant bits of memory-cache solves the problem, but it comes right back the moment she tries again. Peeking through that narrow portion of grate above the water is more productive: open space on the far side, some sort of large animal is in there, possibly asleep, certainly feverishly hot.
>>
No. 777182 ID: 3abd97

rolled 1, 3, 3 = 7

>Flametongue seem magically obfuscated, though holding up that silver semicircle pendant [...] helps a little.
Hmmm. So the Bug Biter Beast is associated with piercing illusions, or truth, or mental clarity of some kind (it has a lot of heads, after all) or something similar. Useful, that.

>pic-to-text algorithm goes bananas
Rhea's not sure what some distant pie making material has to do with any of this, but okay. She takes this as an affirmation of her decision to head to the surface to learn and do more baking- clearly she's missing something.

>open space on the far side, some sort of large animal is in there, possibly asleep, certainly feverishly hot
Assuming that's not a literal fever, some kind of fire-aligned critter? (A dragon?) How big is large, does the temperature and scale match anything Rhea has heard of, or in Mode's databases?

It occurs to me it's a lot more effective to seal things up in this setting than to try to kill them permanently. Rather than an exit, could this be some kind of prison? (Although in that case you'd think the writing would be clear warnings to leave well enough alone, not obfuscated hints at how to open it. And if you're gonna lock something in a magic prison, you try to make it uninteresting looking, not impressive and attractive to investigators and treasure hunters who might try to pry it open).

>multiple languages
An optimistic view would be any clues or warnings are recorded multiple times for ease of access. A more pessimistic view would be that there's unique information available in each, in order to increase the difficulty in accessing all of it.

>Might be possible to translate, with some combination of ritual magic and several hours of tedious academic analysis.
Well Rhea's got a supernatural affinity for firetongue, she can invoke a fire diety, she's got ritual supplies, and a scrying apparatus, and a pendant that cuts through the interference. Seems plausible.

Sure, Rhea will give that a try. However the details of the ritual shake out, let's avoid picking anything that would rapidly tax Mode's remaining battery.
>>
No. 777323 ID: d36af7

>>777182
>Rather than an exit, could this be some kind of prison?
Could be a prison, yeah. Magic prisons don't usually have air-holes big enough to run a river through.
>(Although in that case you'd think the writing would be clear warnings to leave well enough alone, not obfuscated hints at how to open it. And if you're gonna lock something in a magic prison, you try to make it uninteresting looking, not impressive and attractive to investigators and treasure hunters who might try to pry it open).
That depends on why exactly you want the thing bound away, and for how long. People put stuff in bank vaults with the intention of being able to get it back out again. A good defensive strategy combines active and passive elements. Maybe the gate is just the first line, and those inscriptions would somehow be easily legible to the class of person authorized to make withdrawals, and then the fever-beast is some kind of active guardian. Locks can be picked and passwords can be guessed, but patience alone won't bypass the sentry who bites an intruder's head off after a wrong answer.

Ballpark estimate, the fever-beast is about the size of an elephant. Bigger than a gug, but smaller than the Tenebrous Bandersnatch. Hard to say anything more specific from just heat signature, at an awkward angle, through a narrow slit, while it's all curled up and not moving much.

>rolled 1, 3, 3 = 7
Progress on the translation is moving right along. Seems to be focused on Hecate, a fairly powerful goddess associated with lonely crossroads and forbidden knowledge. Far as Rhea remembers, Hecate is said to have wiped out her own cult with overzealous punishments for increasingly petty doctrinal flaws a while back, before the first gugs showed up.

Since Mode can't usefully contribute by looking directly at the door, she's mostly watching the perimeter. The scanner makes faint sweet clinking noises, and intriguing patterns of distortion ripple in it's depths, as concentric crystalline shells periodically realign to focus in a different direction. Some suspiciously furtive-seeming movement is registered on the ceiling to the east, across the river, but nothing is visible there besides stalactites. Follow up on that somehow, or continue studying?
>>
No. 777363 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 2, 6 = 12

For some reason, Hore feels like her squad is being ignored, and so they ignore the troubles of the world in turn, and now it's like they're slowly being forgotten by anything that is watching them.

Hore has taken a little nap and recovered, but she's restless now. Hore decides to ask Djan for some copper wire, and then spends some time scavenging for lithium or any materials she can use to make a battery, in hopes that the thunderstorm could charge it somehow. Hore isn't confident about this line of thought but she feels she should ask for wire before something happens to Djan. I mean, it's not like they'll come across a hidden village that treats copper coins as if they were pure platinum... right?

Hore also suggests that Djan work on the party's weapons and armor to fix anything that was partially breaking, like her spear. Even if he can't fix wood, he can grow a metal brace around the splintering parts.

Roll to determine if Hore finds something good.
>>
No. 777386 ID: 3abd97

rolled 2, 2, 6 = 10

>Some suspiciously furtive-seeming movement is registered on the ceiling to the east, across the river, but nothing is visible there besides stalactites. Follow up on that somehow, or continue studying?
Turn to face the not-visible thing. Does holding up that silver semicircle pendant reveal whatever's hiding?

"Hello, is someone there?" (Try alternate languages if there's no response).

Might be the gug, checking up on me again. Might be some kind of animal or... who the heck knows what else.
>>
No. 777539 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 5, 3 = 11

>>/questdis/108459
>>/questdis/108463

Helen Nabot
Human Townie
Specialization: Deception / Gall
Ambitions: Ending her curse / Books!!
Mutation: The Cosmic Maw, a giant toothy mouth on her back that represents the curse that eats her past, starting from her birth and moving forward.

Left Hip: Arrows (crossbow)
Right Hip: Lantern
Left Shoulder: Echoes of the Old World - An Account of Observed Abominations and Phenomena
Right Shoulder: Crossbow
Chest/Neck: Unmarked book of ancient curses
Top of Head: Plate Armor
Somewhere Uncomfortable: Opium

Once an intellectual of some wealth and renown, she somehow managed to offend a dragon and was cursed to be stricken from existence. She believes her salvation may lie within the secrets of the old empire.

And what a mess of an expedition. Helen will use her extensive literary knowledge (and absolutely not her divine privilege to draw knowledge from another plane of reality) to deduce that this poem is complete nonsense and that her best bet is to cross along the gaps between squares. Roll is to prevent missteps.
>>
No. 777595 ID: d36af7

>>777539
>Helen will use her extensive literary knowledge (and absolutely not her divine privilege to draw knowledge from another plane of reality)
Perhaps also aided by
>>770645
those scorched notes on the side of the pedestal.
>rolled 3, 5, 3 = 11
Helen crosses the board safely, albeit slowly and with a few near misses. Hallway on the far side lacks ambient illumination. Going to light the lantern right away, or work your way along by touch to maintain stealth and conserve fuel?

>>777386
>Does holding up that silver semicircle pendant reveal whatever's hiding?
Nope.

>"Hello, is someone there?"
No response beyond the echo.
>>
No. 777603 ID: d36af7

>>777363
>>776511
>>776430
>>776396
These actions will be resolved at the start of the next thread. I apologize for the delay.
>>
No. 777605 ID: af6e04

>>777595
>work your way along by touch
That's probably how we fell into this trap in the first place. Helen will go ahead and light up the lantern. Nothing stealthy about bumping into walls and bottomless pits.
>>
No. 777609 ID: 3d2d5f

>No response beyond the echo.
I'll float a flame wisp across the river, in the general vicinity of the anomaly (not trying to hit it, just seeing if that provokes a reaction).

If nothing happens, Rhea will return to her ritual translation, and instruct Mode to alert her if it does something interesting like revealing itself, or coming closer / crossing above the river.
>>
No. 777626 ID: b9aa79

rolled 2, 4, 5 = 11

Name: Isaiah, son to Elohim, and prophet of Hanspur
Class: Hedge Witch
Specialization: Death Domain
High Ambition: Become a "real boy"
Lower Ambition: Spread the message of Hanspur
Phobia: Angry mobs.
Mutation: Isaiah is a necrolithograph with a body of plate mail and a core made of abalone. His body requires no food or water, but cannot heal naturally. In addition, Isaiah is sustained by prayers, which can be stored in clay tablets impressed with cuneiform symbols.
Supernatural Vulnerability: Because his body is made of plate mail, damage from rust and other effects that corrode or degrade metal are a serious threat. Regular weekly maintenance is required to keep away mundane corrosion, but magic can make this task easier.
Innate Power: Isaiah instinctively knows where the closest rivers and roads are, how far away they are, and what direction they lead. In addition, when touching a river, road, or path someone has traveled, he can channel his senses through it and into it, allowing him to learn the history of the route, and everything it "knows". This helps with determining things like the name of the route, towns it passes through, the volume of traffic currently and in the past, is there rain or snow on the path up ahead, how old is it, etc etc.

Inventory:
left hip: a week's worth of nonrechargeable waterproof ration-tablets
right hip: Jug of Oil
left shoulder: Big Hammer
right shoulder: Canvas
chest/neck: Lantern
top of head: Iron Statuette, depicting a rat standing on water
hidden somewhere uncomfortable: Rope, tucked within the armor

Isaiah is rather fond of puzzles, and upon entering the room began excitedly trying to decipher what the riddle could entail, dismissing the warning signs as messages left by others too impatient to truly apply themselves and find the hidden meaning within. However, upon seeing his companion Helen cross the board without attempting to solve it, he began to follow suit, his desire not to be left in this accursed dungeon by himself.

Rolling to cross the chessboard on the lines, walking between column 7 and 8, using his large hammer and proximity to the wall (if you can call 4 feet away proximity) to help him keep his balance
>>
No. 777764 ID: d36af7

>>777609
Mode notices that, based on cache data, two of the stalactites in the region of interest weren't where they currently are a few minutes ago.

>>777626
Isaiah is leaning over square H1, feet on one side, hammer braced against the wall on the other side, when there's an audible electrical discharge which tingles very unpleasantly. One of his ankle joints is stiff, might be fused. Proceed forward to catch up with Helen, or...?
>>
No. 777781 ID: 383927

rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6

>>777764
>Isaiah is leaning over square H1

It seems I have misunderstood how we are labeling the squares. I though the rows were letters and the columns were the numbers, so in my understanding he would have started between A7 and A8, and slowly made his way down the alphabet between B7 and B8, C7 and C8, etc etc. If it is letters in columns and numbers in rows, and he is right at the start of the board, between G1 and H1, he will call out for help from Helen, distressed over his difficulties, and attempt to back away, considering he should be no more than 5-6 steps in and close to where they stared, the side with plaque with the riddle engraved upon it.

If however, I'm still not clear on where in the board position Isaiah is, I'd like a chance to consider a different plan of action. Regardless of where he is though, he calls for help from Helen.
Rolling for whatever might be necessary.
>>
No. 777788 ID: 3abd97

rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12

>>777764
Hmmm. A camouflaged critter? That means it's either a harmless prey animal trying to not get eaten, or an ambush predator. And the latter is more likely in the dungeon.

https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Trapper#Lurker_above

Bob one of the apparently mobile stalactites with the probing flame wisp.


>It seems I have misunderstood how we are labeling the squares
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_%28chess%29

You're standing on the edge between G1 and H1, leaning over H1, I believe.
>>
No. 777793 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11

And don't forget the map I posted in the disthread.

Helen will return across the board when she hears Isaiah's call. Still speculating on what the strange...man? is hiding behind that armor. She's come up with a dozen theories already but none of them seem too plausible.

"Be careful now. Are you injured?" If she reaches Isaiah without getting blown up, she'll go ahead and survey the damage. "Listen. You can lean on me, but you must do most of the work here. I'm quite certain I can't lift you."
>>
No. 777849 ID: d36af7

>>777788
The one being poked shrieks in pain and surprise, then they both unfurl membranous wings like the fins of a cuttlefish and dive toward Rhea, spike-first.

>>777781
>rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6
Isaiah deduces that, while he didn't actually touch the square in question, straddling across both sides must have set off a trap somehow.

>>777793
>If she reaches Isaiah without getting blown up, she'll go ahead and survey the damage.
>rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11
She does. His armor is hot to the touch, he smells like ozone, he's got no pulse and isn't breathing, and his left ankle's a bit stiff.
>>
No. 777851 ID: b9aa79

rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8

Isaiah apologizes for making her come to the other side- he was scared and didn't know what was going on, but he's had a chance to calm down, and thinks he knows what set off the trap. He assures her that thanks to Hanspur, he's fine, just hurt his ankle a bit. He is going to try to cast a spell however, in order to aid their crossing.

Isaiah will place a hand on the strip of border they mean to pass, and invoke the protection of Hanspur to safeguard their passage and guide their feet as they travel to the other side. Effort is gonna be a 4/10
>>
No. 777852 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 6, 6, 2 = 14

Striges? Or, more like bat-bees of some kind.

On the other side of the river, so I have a moment to react at least.

How big are the stingers? I'm assuming a good portion of the "stalactite" was the main body wrapped in wings, with stinger coming out the bottom? (If it's literally a feet long lance of stone with wings I'll need a different tactic than I'm about to explain).

Rhea will flare up her fire, and attempt to wrap herself in flames (part using her ability to control what she's got, part using fire witch affinity to generate more flame), so the creatures are diving into fire if they don't abort or veer off. Hot and bright.

(Being a fireproof fire mage provides fun options to deny things without ranged attacks or reaching weapons openings).

She'll also grab a fry pan from her kit as an improvised shield in case the things are determined / stubborn enough to crash into her even while she's wrapped in fire.
>>
No. 777861 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 5, 3 = 13

>His armor is hot to the touch, he smells like ozone, he's got no pulse and isn't breathing, and his left ankle's a bit stiff.
Helen jumps a little in surprise as the perfectly stationary suit of armor suddenly speaks again and then bends down to touch the floor after she approaches. Placing her palm over her heart, "YES yes, thank Hanspur. Let's get moving along, shall we?"
>>
No. 777992 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 5, 3 = 11

... Oh, are we starting team C? Well then...

Pog clamors into the room, dumb as a brick and shouting wildly "LET'S GO WITH ROCKS THIS TIME" over and over, swinging his weapons around with little abandon, as the ground shakes with his every step, he's too dumb to realize the danger he's putting the party in!

Azure is trailing just behind, exhausted from jogging, unaccustomed to walking on her own two talons and unable to zoom through the jagged walls with her fluffy wings. Instantly recognizing the sheer destruction Pog could do to the collapsible walls and afraid of being squashed to death and forgotten by the earth, Azure instantly uses her compelling voice with the echoing cavern to order Pog to "STOP" in the loudest voice she can muster! Roll for success.

(I hope I get roleplay exp for this)
>>
No. 778030 ID: d36af7

>>777861
>Helen jumps a little in surprise
>rolled 5, 5, 3 = 13
...stumbling a half-step back onto square G2. Her skin abruptly turns itchy and jaundiced, and she feels vaguely nauseous and dizzy.

>>777852
>How big are the stingers?
Thigh-thick, yard-long living lances with stone-mimicking camouflage, like non anthropomorphic goyles.
>rolled 6, 6, 2 = 14
They split off, one veering away to either side. The one on her left cuts it closer, accepting scorches in exchange for scoring a shallow scratch or bruise just above Rhea's left hip. The one on her right pulls away from the flame sooner - or possibly was aiming for the relics all along - but hits the frying pan instead, hard enough to simultaneously knock it out of Rhea's hand and punch a fist-sized hole straight through what she thought was sturdy metal.

Lefty is now skittering and scurrying away into the darkness, while the right side cave shrike is immobile and struggling, wings pinned to it's sides by the remains of the pan.

>>777992
>roleplay exp
I give XP for exactly two things in this game: surviving danger, and costly sensual indulgences. Not for simply speaking in character. I've found that mechanical rewards for vaguely-defined 'roleplaying' tend to degenerate into incentives for behavior I don't actually want to encourage.
>>
No. 778037 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 2, 2 = 9

>>778030
Well, might be a good idea to try to gather ourselves here before we move forward after all. Helen steps off the tile and carefully lowers herself to the floor and sits down. Research roll to see if Helen's read anything about whatever illness she might have just been afflicted with. Also research roll on the trapped tiles for an idea of how they're set off and possible methods of dismantling them.
>>
No. 778105 ID: 3d2d5f

rolled 4, 5, 3 = 12

>Lefty is now skittering and scurrying away into the darkness
Hmm. Maybe they're gliders rather than true fliers? (Too big to generate lift under their own power). Or it's injured from the attack run.

Rhea will toss a ball of flame after the retreating bogey (either finishing it, or encouraging it to keep running) and ask Mode to alert her if it comes back (or more show up).

Then Rhea take a look at the trapped one. If there's anything like a head (or other comparable vital area) she'll finish it off with the meat cleaver in her knife set. If there's no obvious vital areas, or she can't get close to it safely, she'll finish it with fire.

Are cave shrikes edible? Meat get.

Rhea finds it odd a creature that could punch right through metal would be bothered by a touch of flame (but her perspective is a little warped in that regard).

>scratch or bruise
Assess, clean with a flame and treat as necessary.
>>
No. 778108 ID: 094652

Azure breathes a sigh of relief as Pog suddenly sits down, motionless and disturbingly staring at the chessboard as if he were some giant 2X2 game piece. Panting and grabbing her thighs with her hands, she takes a few moments to catch her breath.

Then she looks up, realizing the middle-aged hag in the middle of the room has hives.

Instructing Pog not to move unless she bursts into flame, Azure yells at Isaiah, demanding to know what the hell is going on. She explains to him that she can fly over and pick them up with her talons off of the 8X8 deathtrap IF (A) there are no traps triggered by flying over the game board, especially fire deathtraps, and (B) whatever Helen has isn't skin contagious, because hot damn.

(Because I made a mistake and rolled up Azure and Pog in the same post without knowing that one of them had to be incapacitated for the other to come in, for all intents and purposes Pog is now STUCK to the ground he now stands on and will not move until he runs out of munchies. Which is a lot of munchies, given his excess stores of rations. Other players may now steal free food from him, but woe to them if they steal the very last container of food or water; let's just say he might be a little overexcited when he finally gets to move.)
>>
No. 778111 ID: d36af7

>>778037
Symptoms feel like the sort of damage that could be caused by organ failure, but inflicted directly by a rune-born curse without any actual organ failure being involved. Helen will probably be fine after a day or three of bed rest.

Tiles seem to be loaded with a variant Glyph of Warding. Standard version can be set up with a verbal password bypass, or to be selective based on various physical characteristics, or species, or religion, or any combination. This type has some sort of cross-linked network deeper under the floor, which you'd nee proper analytical thaumaturgy kit to have any chance of properly mapping, but it can probably turn tiles on or off or modify their effects based on which ones have already been triggered.

Helen could theoretically disable the tiles one by one, but is not confident in her chances. Better tools would help: a chisel with mistletoe wrapped around the handle, chalk dyed in at least two or three distinct colors, a bit of incense, jeweler's hammer, beeswax candles, various small platonic solids cast in bronze or lead or tin or carved from quartz, that sort of thing. That stone cube standing on edge on the pedestal at the far side might be left over from somebody else's previous bypass attempt.

If someone could directly analyze the glyphs, using either a huge pile of expensive lab equipment or the native abilities of a dynastic sorcerer with sufficient affinity for language, it would be possible to selectively seek out and deliberately trigger any beneficial effects, or identify and exploit existing bypass conditions.

At the other extreme, eschewing subtlety to tear apart the floor with mining tools would definitely detonate any relevant glyphs (standard anti-tamper), but with the physical substrate destroyed, they wouldn't be able to reset, so then you'd have a permanent clear path across. At least until whoever set the thing up came back to repair it.
>>
No. 778118 ID: b9aa79

>>778108
>she can fly over and pick them up with her talons

Isaiah doubts this, but even if she proves capable of carrying them, he warns that the traps seem to be activated even if you're not standing on it, so proceed with caution. These Orcus follows really are a plague on civilization.
>>
No. 778121 ID: af6e04

Helen explains that flying over the tiles certainly won't work. She might be able to disable the traps but it's probably safer just to carefully step across. She also informs Azure that her condition is highly contagious and probably permanently lethal to harpies.
>>
No. 778123 ID: 63e6fb

>highly contagious and probably permanently lethal to harpies
"noted."

Azure is usually a ditz, but she's not suicidally stupid. The shock of discovering something that can kill a harpy outright makes her a coward, in contrast to her usual haughty personality of perching on top of a giant lug. Nobles.

She huddles in a corner, shaking. After a minute of deep breathing, she tells Isaiah that she won't be able to concentrate well with risk of death by disease. Either she can try to calm down and use her crossbow to trigger and disarm traps, or she can give Pog basic orders from the sidelines to rush in and trigger traps with his healing factor and disease resistance (Pig Orcs are not paragons of clean living. Neither are Dwarven scientists.), but right now she's too unfocused to do both.

Basically, which character would Isaiah and Helen like to recruit for the duration of this room? Note that Azure intends to leave him here until she can find a safe path for him to merrily skip his way across. Shouldn't be hard; he's got a pickaxe, now she just needs to find a sturdy tunnel path that can handle a few extra yards.
>>
No. 778149 ID: 0a5d5f

rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10

Isaiah replies, whilst being to attempt a crossing along the lines once again, minus useing the wall for help, that he doubts shooting the tiles with a crossbow will be helpful, and express a desire for Pog not to do anything destructive whilst he attempts to cross. As long as no one is actively endangering his attempt to cross, he is amiable to whatever the duo would like to do
>>
No. 778152 ID: d36af7

>>778105
>Are cave shrikes edible?
Not raw. Most of the interior is hard shell, rancid-smelling intestines, and a seething mass of parasitic worms. Possible to make a good stew out of 'em, with important minerals and other nutrients from some of the organ meats, but if you haven't got two or three days to soften the gristle over a low steady heat, better bet is to chop it up for fishbait. There's no shortage of pale, eyeless fish in the river.

Translation work proceeds, and Rhea has an idea for how to open the gates. However, to test it, she'll need some sort of "blessed water" as an offering. A healing potion should work, or possibly a blessing applied directly to the river. She could try the latter herself, but it would be hard to distinguish between being on the wrong track for the puzzle, or her powers simply failing when stretched so far outside the comfort zone.
>>
No. 778155 ID: 84aebf

rolled 5, 4, 1 = 10

Hey kome, check the discussion please >>/questdis/108564

Helen rolls her eyes at the cowering harpy and sets off across the board with Isaiah. Might actually be a good idea to try to disable at least one of the tiles so I can do it more reliably in the future if need arises.
>>
No. 778173 ID: 3abd97

>>778152
Does the translation so far give any detail or hints as to what's sealed behind the gate, or why?
>>
No. 778205 ID: d36af7

>>778173
Proper noun "Akbeth," with respectful prefixes reminiscent of Rhea's own close relationship to the divine, occurs repeatedly as object of verb "cursed" and subject of verb "betrayed."

>>778155
Helen and Isaiah make their way safely to the far side of the chessboard, with the small stone cube (still balanced precariously on a corner) and door leading off toward the chasm bridge.
>>
No. 778213 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 2, 2 = 8

>>778155
Yeah I read that, but I wasn't entirely sure if that was the exact rule. I got confused, I apologize.

>>778205
Azure is busy telling Pog that she'll come back if she can and that he'd better stay safe and share his food and water with anyone who comes in this room and "HEY WERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

Azure quickly scans the room, sees the writing on the plaque, then quickly uses her wings, arms, and talons to float-step across the edges that Helen crossed, carefully but quickly traversing the chess board. Pog will stay behind and do nothing for now.

Roll to determine if Azure's flighty but agile harpy-walk works to get her across quickly.
>>
No. 778219 ID: b9aa79

>>778213
>"HEY WERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

Isaiah puts a finger to where one might presume his lips are, underneath the helmet that is, and lets out a quiet "shh", a somewhat unsettling noise given his echo-y, pre-pubescent voice. He searches the door frame leading out of the room for traps or alarms that might signal someone, like a bell above the door in a shop, only with more sinister intentions and better hid mechanics he assumes.

Once Azure joins them, he explains that he thought she was going to wait with Pog and try to dismantle the traps, so that way the duo could cross together; she is welcome to join him however, as long as she can keep her voice down. Anyone who builds traps like that, designed to prevent someone's safe passage is truly a cruel and small minded being, and he fears alerting someone like that to their presence, lest they re-double their efforts to prevent the passage of other travelers.

He will not speak for Helen though- she may voice her own thoughts with her own lips, should she choose.
>>
No. 778224 ID: 094652

>>778219
"Oh."

Azure waits a few seconds before talking again.

"... I'm not part of your expedition."

Then she waits a few seconds more, focusing on the softness of her voice.

"My name is Azure. I was chased into this dungeon for... *sigh* reasons. Bad reasons. I apologize for my lack of conduct in this environment. I shouldn't be here.

But they wanted me and my friend to die, and they had arrows. *beat* Lots of arrows. And I promise, if we get through this, I will pay back your protection, in coin, or in medical work if necessary. My family motto is that the ability to collect wealth comes with the ability to accept debt. And I will be in your debt."

Bow and chirp quietly.
>>
No. 778247 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 4, 6 = 14

Isaiah nods silently. He holds a hand out, as if to say "hold a moment" and this time, actually rolls to check for traps, and general perception. Anything worth noting grace his senses?
>>
No. 778251 ID: d36af7

>>778247
Ten foot square stone door pivots around a vertical axis. Inch-wide gap at the top and bottom, with some sort of heavily redundant deadbolt locks, but no accessible mechanism to actuate them. Currently unlocked. No apparent traps.
>>
No. 778260 ID: af6e04

While the two wait for Azure to catch up, Helen examines the oddly perched cube. Wishes she could stay and examine the construction behind this puzzle, but the time investment is probably not worth the possible rewards. Not to mention the risk.

>>778224
Helen steadies herself. "No, you're not part of our expedition, and you also seem to be mistaken. We are not mercenaries. We don't care about your coin. Make yourself useful, and we will put forth a reasonable amount of effort to keep you alive. Now, if the path ahead appears to be safe, I would like to get moving. The longer we delay, the further our resources will dwindle."

Helen proposes that Isaiah take point with the harpy in the middle and herself watching everybody's back.
>>
No. 778263 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 6 = 14

Roll for spot if we do get moving
>>
No. 778322 ID: 383927

Isaiah acquiesces, and moves forward, out into the canyon area. We already have a good description of that, so unless there's notable differences from when team A proceeded through here I'll just work off the old description and assume it mainly the same. Isaiah is going to feel the ground, and move his consciousness into the path that extends towards the bridge and across the chasm- aside from the regular description of the room, are there any signs of meat puppets? If they dance and hover, it might be harder for him to "see" their presence, as they'd spend less time on the ground than usual.

He relays to the party that there was a fight or something like that here, within a day he thinks, lots of movement back and forth, rolling around on the ground, etc. Might be other people from the expedition, although he would be surprised so many survived.

Also, the worms stopped thrashing about if I remember correctly; any other sounds we notice, or sensory ques of some sort?
>>
No. 778324 ID: d36af7

>>778260
Behind the door, a 10' square corridor continues about fifty feet, with just enough side-to-side wiggling that you can't see straight down the length. At the far end, the hallway opens out into a vast, dark chasm. There's a 10' wide ledge continuing along the left wall, a lot of open space to the right, and a natural stone bridge leading over to the far wall of the chasm, but you can't see more than twenty or thirty feet in the dim lantern light and blood-colored fog.
>>
No. 778335 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 5, 6 = 15

Azure and company walk through the passageway, Azure growing bored without Pog around. She looks around the passageway, not caring about what she sees unless it involves shiny things.

As a harpy, Azure can fly across the area, so she isn't worried about falling. She peers over the ledges and looks around for anything that takes her fancy. As a harpy, a rainbow-colored polished rock may be of even more interest to her than a jade statue, and she'll usually gloss over ancient texts and dull artifacts.

Roll for perception check.
>>
No. 778354 ID: d36af7

>>778322
Path along the left wall has some odd discontinuities before it leaves the chasm. Could be a second bridge with some sort of major damage, or a magical portal, or other spatial weirdness.

Across the bridge, there's a narrow branch immediately to the right with bloodthirsty bandits camped at the dead end, branch to the left leading back to the chasm, another to the left leading to some sort of water source, dead end on the right, and then a four-way. If you want to scan past the four-way intersection that's definitely going to require a roll.

>>778335
>rolled 4, 5, 6 = 15
Azure pursues some intriguing lights, gliding off into the open air to the right.
>>
No. 778379 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 2, 6 = 12

>>778354
From previous experience, Azure has enough sense left to perch on a high cliff and look at the pretty lights, eavesdrop, and then call Pog - oh right.

She's been pelted by arrows before. To death. This has only encouraged her to keep getting herself into sticky situations like this.

Azure will eavesdrop on the guys with the torches or whatnot, then steal a shiny if they are distracted, fly back if they are vigilant. And throw a few gold coins if she needs a quick getaway.
>>
No. 778385 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 1, 2 = 9

Well, definitely would like to give the bloodthirsty bandits a wide berth. Possible magic portal doesn't sound too terribly inviting either. Water source sounds nice though. Does Isaiah think we can cross the bridge and move down that path without getting spotted? Helen wonders why bandits would even want to hide out in a dangerous place like this. Seems fishy. Roll to surmise on what their goal might be?
>>
No. 778494 ID: d36af7

>>778379
Pretty green lights continually recede into the distance every time Azure feels like she's about to catch up. Swirling crimson mist obscures who or what may be carrying them. There's a ledge at the end of the chasm with three arched hallways, of which the lights disappear down the central one. The path twists and turns for indeterminate length, but there are no side branches or doors, only a growing roar of wind ahead and undertones of mocking laughter. Finally the passage opens into the side of a conical chamber, 80' wide near the domed top and 100' high. A network of ledges, averaging one foot wide, connect to a dozen other entrances up and down the walls.

A being of elemental air almost entirely fills the room. How fluent is Azure in skytongue?

>>778385
Isaiah examines the relevant stretch of road in more detail. The bandits are around a corner from the main path, so they shouldn't be able to see anyone walking past. Sound can carry for remarkable distances in narrow tunnels, though, so attention to stealth would still be wise.

>Helen wonders why bandits would even want to hide out in a dangerous place like this.
>rolled 6, 1, 2 = 9
Technically, they're not "true" bandits, but rather loyal vassals of the lord of these lands, formally endowed with broad discretion to prey upon intruders and weaker natives alike. There's very little practical difference.
>>
No. 778500 ID: 77f1b6

Isaiah ponders for a moment, not sure what to do. Bandits aren't really all that bad they're usually just people down on their luck. And people down on their luck can be reasoned with, bargained with even. But loyal vassals, well there's probably not much we can even offer them. His armor is likely of some value, and he's of no doubt the supplies we carry, and even perhaps, physical bodies, might tempt them to action. If we can sneak by, well, that's probably for the best, but if they're here with some power invested in them, they probably have a way of tracking wanderers down in this maze.

Isaiah thinks our best bet would be to get the drop on them- that narrow tunnel doesn't give them good odds for fighting though. If they can use the element of surprise against them, somehow kill or incapacitate them to prevent any current or future harm, that would probably be the best. If Helen has any ideas as to how they could do that, it might be useful to have a game plan before confronting these bandits
>>
No. 778503 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16

>>778494
Not very fluent. She knows fluent Common, Elven, fluent Dwarven, and basic Skytongue, based on her upbringing in a business environment with some classes that could be applied to her roots.

Normally, Azure would learn more about Skytongue as she talked to other lords of the air, except her insufferable attitude usually leads to pecking, pushing, or in one case, burned alive and scattered across a recently manured field. She likes civilization more. So she learned common and elven instead.

So her knowledge of this air elemental is minimal, but she can use her compelling voice to coax out a few details. Azure slowly flaps away as she explains to the air elemental that she's only here by accident and would like to find the exit. Hopefully the air elemental won't catch on that she's charming them.
>>
No. 778510 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15

>>778500
Helen points out that there are multiple bandits and the party is only three strong. Two strong, she notes again after looking around and finding Azure flapping off for whatever reason. She also points out that she's still feeling very ill which may effect her aim. If these bandits must be confronted, violence probably is not the answer.

What else do I know? Possibilities for convincing the 'bandits' that we belong here and would make a poor target? Also, crazy idea but would it be possible to disable one of these glyphs of warding, move the tile, and reactivate it?
>>
No. 778532 ID: d36af7

>>778503
>not very fluent
>insufferable attitude
>hypnosis attempt
>various lies
>rolled 5, 5, 6 = 16

Without warning, Azure is snatched from her perch by a blood-colored hurricane. In absolute terms, almost none of the red liquid is hers, but after the first few bounces and buffeting twists, more of her own blood is spurting off and igniting outside her body than she's entirely comfortable with. Whenever she manages to touch the whirling walls or any substantial piece of windblown debris, there's a crunching sensation, but no sound. Either a magical aura of silence suddenly filled the room, or she's somehow gone stone deaf.
>>
No. 778535 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11

>>778532
SO UNLUCKY

But Azure's ashes are scattering. Hopefully she'll "land" somewhere... Yeah, she should probably do something.

Azure quickly apologizes to the wind with an air of sincerity, saying she just doesn't want to die, but in the meantime ties her fishing wire to a crossbow bolt and fires, in hopes that it will hit SOMETHING that pulls! She also uses her wings to fly into the eye of the hurricane, in hopes that she can fly to the ceiling or flap to the floor and crawl her way to safety.
>>
No. 778541 ID: d36af7

>>778510
>Possibilities for convincing the 'bandits' that we belong here and would make a poor target?
>rolled 6, 4, 5 = 15
No good ideas spring to mind, nor even many bad ones. Present them with a juicier victim, maybe?

>Also, crazy idea but would it be possible to disable one of these glyphs of warding, move the tile, and reactivate it?
Sure! Step one, find whoever built the thing. Step two, infiltrate or subvert part of their organization and steal comprehensive blueprints. Step three, go back to Passholdt, hire a reputable geomancer and a master runesmith, and maybe other specialists, on contracts with airtight nondisclosure clauses and a big juicy hazard multiplier. Step four, get everybody together in a private room next to a library, with a prodigious supply of coffee, then take a week or three to plot out the finer points of steps five through eleven.

Helen could attempt such a project with the skills and materials immediately available, but disabling a glyph such that the next single activation event fizzles is already difficult and dangerous. Deeper you dig into a big cross-linked fail-deadly system like that, the more complications there tend to be.
>>
No. 778547 ID: d36af7

>>778535
>ties her fishing wire to a crossbow bolt and fires, in hopes that it will hit SOMETHING that pulls!
>rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11
Azure's improvised harpoon successfully retrieves a segment of some mummified corpse's arm from whatever crevice on the ceiling it was stuck in. Not very helpful, nor reassuring.

>fly into the eye of the hurricane
There's no room in the eye. It's already full of sadistic glee, and looking straight at her.
>>
No. 778623 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 3, 2 = 7

Azure realizes that she's probably not going to get out of this one. She would have learned sooner if she wasn't capable of resurrecting from the fallen ashes that her foes LOVE to scatter around. Hopefully, she'll respawn just in time for Pog to rescue her. Sometimes she wonders why she doesn't just cut off her wings every time she respawns from her ashes, they've always gotten her in trouble with air-based entities...

And so, with death on her heels, she decides to keep fighting for every last breath anyway! A Youngmason always fights the Reaper to see the debts pay through! After all, how else will they buy themselves out of the afterlife~

(P.S. This happened once with her great-great-blah-blah-blah-whatever ancestral relative, but the details are obscure and it's said that instead of going to hell on the second round they were banished to Mega-Hell where gods go when they die or something like that Azure wasn't paying attention)

Azure spends a turn unwrapping the mummy arm in hopes that it has something that can get her away from here! She also keeps saying she's sorry to the powerful whirlwind lord!
>>
No. 778679 ID: 3abd97

rolled 3, 2, 5 = 10

>Proper noun "Akbeth," with respectful prefixes reminiscent of Rhea's own close relationship to the divine, occurs repeatedly as object of verb "cursed" and subject of verb "betrayed."
Hmm. So she was cursed and imprisoned here as punishment for betrayal. Or she was cursed, which caused her betrayal, and was locked up here until she could be cured? Locking someone up high circle magic is no small thing, but big obvious doors and either interpretation of the text would seem consistent with the intention to eventually release whoever's inside. Or at least to gain access to her.

>A healing potion should work, or possibly a blessing applied directly to the river. She could try the latter herself, but it would be hard to distinguish between being on the wrong track for the puzzle, or her powers simply failing when stretched so far outside the comfort zone.
I was thinking fire-mom would be at least partially be borrowing from Hestia's portfolio, as a goddess of hearth and home (of course, as a fire deity, worshiped by an at least partially militant settlement of goblins, she would have to have a less nice aspect as well. As a baker with an innocent outlook on the world, that's not the part of the faith Rhea would have focused on, though). So things like formal hospitality rules would be taken seriously, and blessing food and drink would be in-theme for her priests.

Granted, a fire-mage trying to influence a river is gonna be subject to some penalties.

>what do
Rhea will give the blessing a try! With care not to approach the river too closely. In fact, she'll use mode to check for firm ground, and possible hostile water critters before she does approach (I'm assuming a blessing means touch range, or close to it. And Rhea's gotta be careful with them super drowning powers).
>>
No. 778707 ID: d36af7

>>778679
>give the blessing a try
>rolled 3, 2, 5 = 10
Seemed to be doing well right up to the point where the doors didn't open. Further research, another wandering monster roll, and try again? Or go somewhere else?

>>778623
>unwrapping the mummy arm
It's not actually wrapped in anything, just shriveled and leathery.

>She also keeps saying she's sorry to the powerful whirlwind lord!
>rolled 2, 3, 2 = 7
Azure's pleas for mercy fail to sway the harsh and heartless whirlwind lord. It's increasingly difficult to concentrate on speaking coherently, as it feels like all her bone marrow has been replaced with the bowels of an erupting volcano.

Her broken body detonates, and she regains consciousness 24 hours later, floating in a subterranean lake, awoken by the sensation of blind mouse-sized fish cautiously nibbling at her pristine skin. All her equipment is missing (possibly destroyed), other than the concealed toolkit and those frilly red-and-white-striped asbestos panties she was wearing.

Pog, meanwhile, has gotten his head unstuck from that wooden bucket, and lumbered out into the chessboard room. What does he do first?
>>
No. 778710 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

Pog stares at the stupid tiles.

POG SMASH THE STUPID TILES

Pog begins chopping up the B column with his pickaxe, thoroughly destroying the tile, smashing up the chunks until they are so tiny that he misses a chunk three times in a row! Then he moves onto the next one, and does not stop for anything less than pain!

Pog is dumb.
>>
No. 778712 ID: af6e04

>>778541
>long shot
Figured as much. Helen tells Isaiah that she'd rather take her chances in the tunnels and hope the bandits don't try to track them. Might feel a little safer about confronting the bandits if we had that huge orc fellow with us.
>>
No. 778713 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12

Isaiah thinks there might be some merit to using the chessboard against these bandits- if they can lure someone into the room, could be useful. Thing is, they probably know this place better than us, and they could use the chessboard against them just as easily. He says forget the pig and the bird, and push forward, and get the jump on the bandits. He doubts the two of you can sneak by undetected, so we should make good on any advantage we have. Plus, others went down this way- might be other people from the expedition further ahead.

He goes forward across the bridge. Rolling for stealth
>>
No. 778716 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11

>>778713
Well alrighty. There's clearly something special about this armored entity, and he seems confident enough. Helen won't argue. I'll go ahead and roll stealth as well.
>>
No. 778730 ID: 3abd97

>Seemed to be doing well right up to the point where the doors didn't open. Further research, another wandering monster roll, and try again? Or go somewhere else?
What time is it? (Or maybe more to the point, how long has Rhea been up?). There were rest periods with the Trolls and Goyles, but I've forgotten if either went overnight / included Rhea getting sleep.
>>
No. 778744 ID: d36af7

rolled 2, 1, 2, 3, 3 + 5 = 16

>>778710
Pog takes the damage I just rolled from a volley of force bolts, right after his first swing at tile B1. Two points of damage is enough pain to be noticeable, ten points all at once is enough to make him flinch, and fifteen or more cumulatively is enough for structural problems to start slowing him down.

>>778716
>stealth
>rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11
>>778713
>stealth
>rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12
Soft clicking sounds as joints shift, and the occasional cringe-inducing squeak from that fused ankle joint, but Isaiah's road-reading confirms that the bandits didn't move when he and Helen walked past the 4' wide, 16' high passage, so either they didn't notice or don't care. Going to pick a fight, or press on?
>>
No. 778748 ID: d36af7

>>778730
>What time is it?
According to Mode, 18:37 on Mercsday, Quartember 32nd, and then a five-digit number for the year.
>(Or maybe more to the point, how long has Rhea been up?)
Six or seven hours. She caught up on sleep at the troll outpost.
>>
No. 778754 ID: 84aebf

rolled 5, 2, 1 = 8

>>778744
Looks like we are picking a fight. Helen will stay behind Isaiah, crossbow ready.
>>
No. 778755 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12

>>778748
All right. It's not late enough to double back and crash with the Goyles before trying something else, yet.

Let's take another crack at the translation.
>>
No. 778769 ID: 094652

>>778744
And now, Pog will drop onto the floor and start crying from this new and PAINFUL sensation until his body heals.

Then he'll get back up and keep going.
>>
No. 778810 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

Isaiah, after some deliberation with an online collective of otherworldly individuals who have a small degree of influence on the events of this world, commits down the hallway, hammer drawn, a little concerned by the draw distance in the hallway. Upon realizing he can see out but not in, he motions for Helen to have the crossbow ready and aimed over his shoulder. This might be harder than he thought.

Rolling to get the drop on the bandits. First instinct would be to try to pin the first face he sees o the wall with the heavy side of the hammer
>>
No. 778847 ID: d36af7

rolled 79, 4, 77, 50, 22, 46, 10, 66, 72, 28, 92, 19, 44, 76, 69, 91, 43, 3, 52, 22, 96, 51, 68, 49, 93, 54, 8, 77, 85, 96, 78, 63, 99, 54, 12, 20, 100, 22, 86, 71, 49, 77, 89, 93, 53, 58, 84, 95, 61, 35, 17, 57, 86, 85, 5, 79, 38, 12, 55, 22, 7, 32, 85, 6, 86, 97, 26, 85, 18, 11, 56, 67 = 3973

>>778769
Getting back to full HP after that barrage of force bolts (which almost caved in his chest) will take about three days. That'll use up a fifth of his food supplies and all his drinking water, but is otherwise feasible, so I'm rolling for hourly random encounters. Anything below 40 is probably bad news.

>>778810
>get the drop on the bandits
>rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17
The bandits are bloodthirsty in the very literal sense of being vampires. At least five of them, two of whom somehow managed to disappear from Isaiah's scrying (the word "avian" derives from "via," meaning road or path, and a prefix meaning without) to sneak around behind. The one waiting at the corner casually snatches Isaiah's hammer away, and is about to say something witty and contemptuous...

>>778754
>rolled 5, 2, 1 = 8
...when Helen fires a crossbow bolt through where Isaiah's neck might have been expected to be. This was not entirely intentional on her part. Holding a crossbow steady in one hand, a lantern in the other, is tricky enough without the ally in front of you making ill-considered attempts to dodge in tight quarters. Isaiah is, fortunately, entirely unhurt. The bolt becomes lodged up the hammer-stealing vampire's nose.

One of the bloodthirsty bandits in the flanking group attempts to punch Helen in the spine, then stares down, wide-eyed, at gray ashes flaking away from the stump of his wrist.
>>
No. 778858 ID: d36af7

After two hours of wallowing in misery, Pog spots something oozing along the floor in that hallway behind him. Translucent candy-apple red, filling the hall like wall-to-wall carpet six inches deep. It smells like cough syrup and hatred.
>>
No. 778863 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 6, 3 = 14

>>778847
Wow, it's like you're trying to equalize all of the specialized superpowers we've developed so that by the time we get to the first real trial we have nothing but our wits and our tools.

This is an RPG, not a point-and-click, man!

>What do
In most situations involving gelatinous goo, Pog would walk up to the slime monster and start eating it, while Azure would chide him for putting a diseased monster in his mouth.

This one looks like a tide of blood to Pog. Pog has enough sense to fear anything that could have turned an army into a tide of blood.

Pog runs away, wailing with his arms in the air! But he runs with his feet on the tile edges because "TILE SPLODEY HURT!"
>>
No. 778879 ID: d36af7

rolled 3, 4 = 7

>>778863
>This is an RPG, not a point-and-click, man!
If you are still compelled to lecture me on how I should be handling this game's mechanics, despite my previous request ( >>765972 ), please take your concerns to the discussion thread.

Pog is huge and tough. He can still stand and fight after taking a series of hits that might have killed some flimsy 8 HP scholar outright, and he can bounce back in just a few days from abuse that'd leave a normal soldier in the hospital for a month, maybe longer, maybe even permanently crippled.

>rolled 5, 6, 3 = 14
Pog is not, however, sufficiently agile nor lucky to make it all the way across the board unscathed. Absent a more specific route plan, he slips a toe onto one random tile before making it over to the far side. First die for row, second for column (A=1, etc.)
>>
No. 778887 ID: d36af7

Stumbling onto tile D3, Pog is suddenly surrounded by ominous demonic chanting. He can't understand most of the words, but it seems to be mainly about crushing bones and rending flesh. Very encouraging, overall, like his own personal squad of invisible cheerleaders. Morale thus boosted, he makes it to the far side without further trouble. Continue immediately out the door and down the hall to the chasm, or wait and see if the ooze can pursue?
>>
No. 778895 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9

>crossbow bolt through where Isaiah's neck might have been expected to be
>entirely unhurt
>gray ashes flaking away from the stump of his wrist
Helen has practiced her poker face for many years, and she wears it well. With a voice full of utmost confidence, unmarred by any indication of surprise or fear, she warns the vampires that her and her companion are favored vassals of Hanspur and that any attempt to lay hand on them will result in harrowing divine retribution.
>>
No. 778909 ID: 094652

Pog is too stupid to describe or analyze unknown phenomena and so waiting would be a huge waste. However, he has enough training from his mistress' chiding to know that when faced with something he does not understand, since he is not a smart man who can use magic to turn a strange thing into a weapon for him to use, he should stay the @#$% away from any and all "weird things" unless his mistress explicitly tells him not to. And close doors behind them if possible. So Pog goes through the hallway, closing doors to slow the red slime monster down.

(Hopefully, Pog will find some of Azure's ashes or her crossbow, but for now he has to run and get himself healed.)
>>
No. 778915 ID: d36af7

>>778895
The bandit squad's leader seems to consider this a credible threat, and carefully selects an excuse to back off without losing too much face.
"We've got a patrol route to get back to. Simply state your names, titles, and business here in Duke Aerim's territory, for the official report, and then I'll return these weapons you dropped," he messily extracts the crossbow bolt from his face, "so everyone can go on their way with no more silly misunderstandings."
>>
No. 778931 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 1, 3 = 9

>>778915
The vampires probably just want to be rid of us and on their way at this point, but I still feel like I should give an intelligible answer.

Who's Duke Aerim and why does he lay claim over this area? What kind of local authorities are there around the area where we entered the ruins? What kind of reputation do the Fire Hawks have? Roll is for local knowledge. Basically I just want to be able to feed them some bullshit without telling them I'm their boss' sworn enemy or whatever.
>>
No. 778946 ID: 77f1b6

>>778915
"I am Isaiah, son to Elohim, and Prophet of Hanspur, god of travel. As you can tell, my business reguards ensuring the work of Hanspur is spread, even into these forgotten depths, where other priests less favored may not be so effective. It might be in ones interest to give him praise, lest this incident go unforgotten."
>>
No. 778966 ID: d36af7

>>778931
>Who's Duke Aerim and why does he lay claim over this area?
If the honorifics are anything to go by, he's a high-ranking noble of the Old Empire.
>What kind of local authorities are there around the area where we entered the ruins?
On the surface? None. It's way out on the frontier, and that stretch of coastal hills in particular has long been shunned by all but desperate outlaws and the mad. Anyone looking at it can tell from miles away that something unpleasant lurks there, deep under the ground, and shouldn't be disturbed. Of course, some take that as a challenge.
>What kind of reputation do the Fire Hawks have?
Adequately honorable mercenaries, hardened veterans from the war who always seem to end up (through no obvious fault of their own) on the losing side of any major fight they get involved with. Their leader, Azarthraine of Hallowfall, made a big public not-quite-apology explaining that he used 8th circle magic to build that sanctum for Marr-Yana (who'd recently been officially denounced as a false god) strictly as a work-for-hire project, with no intention of any lasting allegiance.
>Basically I just want to be able to feed them some bullshit without telling them I'm their boss' sworn enemy or whatever.
All the best and most sustainable lies are mostly truth. Simple yet reasonably safe answer would be your real name, no title, and that you're here to study the area's rich history.
>>
No. 778972 ID: 84aebf

"Helen Nabot. The prophet and I are on a pilgrimage to explore the area's rich history, as per the God of Travel's divine mandate." Helen shoulders her crossbow.
>>
No. 778973 ID: 84aebf

rolled 5, 5, 3 = 13

Roll in case it's needed
>>
No. 778986 ID: d36af7

After returning that bolt and Isaiah's hammer, she vampire bandits melt away into mist and are gone. Next time you encounter them, they'll probably recognize you, and have a better plan.

So, Helen Nabot and Isaiah son of Elohim have met up with Geoffrey Vargas and (in two more hours) Pog Roastchester. What are they doing in those two hours, and where are they going next?

Since time isn't strictly synchronous, what's Azure up to? She's treading water in an underground lake, and is either blind (unlikely, since she just got a new body with factory-fresh eyes), or in total darkness. Floating is easy enough, with a light body optimized for flying, but if she did manage to screw up and drown that could be the end of her. Delicious fish are present, and there's a gentle current in the water to provide vague sense of direction. Swim upstream? Sideways, in search of shore? Drift downstream? Attempt to dive, or take off and fly? Ducks manage somehow, so it shouldn't be all that hard.
>>
No. 779005 ID: 77f1b6

rolled 2, 5, 5 = 12

>>778986
>What are they doing in those two hours

Isaiah focuses on trying to fix his fused ankle, and if successful, tying to gather enough good wood to create a sled/stretcher out of the canvas and wood to carry Geoffrey on. While metal work isn't really Isaiah's fortitude, he is more familiar with the subject of death. How close to death is Geoffrey?
>>
No. 779007 ID: 84aebf

rolled 4, 6, 5 = 15

Helen offers Geoffrey some drugs to ease the pain and helps Isaiah with his stretcher. Rest of the time is spent pouring through her curse book to figure out what just happened. She'll spare a bit of time to try to identify the freshly mutilated creature that's laying in the middle of the room too.
>>
No. 779189 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11

>>778986
Azure will swim to shore, find a safe place to rest. From there, she'll fish like an eagle or seagull for a few tasty treats, then take a few sips of water to hydrate herself (unless it's not crystal clear). After her wings dry out, she'll fly upstream in hopes of finding the source of the water, looking for her coin bag but more importantly her crossbow.

Roll for inventory search in the local area, flapping her wings to look for stuff. Her net is the least important and her crossbow is the most important.
>>
No. 779261 ID: d36af7

>>779005
>How close to death is Geoffrey?
Closer than most people ever get, at least without becoming the guest of honor at a closed-casket funeral. Geoffrey looks like a contrived hypothetical question off some triage nurse's final exam: can't find a pulse even on his neck, barely breathing enough to fog a mirror, curse-marks, internal injuries, scattered patches of necrotic skin and muscle tissue... yet he's strong enough to walk without assistance, and conscious enough to be babbling some plan about carving that overturned table into a grid of interlocking holy symbols.

>ankle repair
>rolled 2, 5, 5 = 12
Simple enough. Unfasten the joint, pop the new spot-weld loose, grind off a burr and straighten out a bent bit, reassemble.

>>779189
>Azure will swim to shore, find a safe place to rest.
>rolled 3, 4, 4 = 11
Slow going, and the damp, narrow stone shelf strewn with gravel isn't particularly comfortable, but it seems stable enough.
>From there, she'll fish like an eagle or seagull for a few tasty treats,
Fresh fish acquired. Surgical tools are adequate to the task of removing guts and scales. Eat 'em raw, or injure self enough to cook 'em with bloodfire? The latter option would also provide an opportunity to re-sterilize tools before returning them to storage, and a light source which might simultaneously provide insight into the shape of the larger cavern, and attract attention.
>then take a few sips of water to hydrate herself (unless it's not crystal clear).
Can't tell how clear the water is without a light source.

There's a distant voice, muttering in oddly-accented Humish. "Are you the cute barmaid, here to tell me I've been screaming too much and disturbing the other customers? I'm real," a phlegmy cough, "real sorry. I'll go, if you insist, but I found some coins. Are the coins real? Can't wake up. I'm trying, sir, there's just no signal. Another round for everybody, on me, and then maybe it'll be morning."
>>
No. 779277 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6

>>779261
>Fish
Keep them for now. If she gets hurt, use blood as a spark.
>Weird diseased man
Azure keeps her distance from a higher position. From there, she slowly speaks softly. If the old man replies back to her, and not some other poor girl without respawn powers, she'll use diplomacy to try and convince the old man that she's a friend. If he doesn't respond, she'll try to find out what's going on and climb higher with her wings and talons.

Roll for either diplomacy or stealth, whichever is appropriate.
>>
No. 779292 ID: d36af7

>>779277
>diplomacy
>rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6
He seems friendly enough, apart from the shaky grip on reality and a tendency to stare at her tits. Very receptive to suggestions that this is the common room of an inn, Azure is part of the waitstaff, and any details conflicting with that scenario are hallucinations. Apart from food, companionship, and strong drink (to drown these nightmares which have so long festered and grown that they now besiege his waking mind), his greatest desire is to be revenged upon a certain pirate queen and her grail-knight companion, who betrayed him and left him for dead.

He has not seen any missing crossbow floating by, but carries a well-maintained axe, and a prodigious quantity of gold coins. So many, in fact, that he scoops up a fistful and offers them to Azure as a tip without even counting.

He's either an anthropomorphic anglerfish/hermit crab hybrid, or an ordinary human soldier with an absolutely horrid skin condition and a huge backpack overgrown with fungi. Those few details are only visible because of a faint blue-green light, either attached to his helmet or growing out of his forehead. His name is Nick.
>>
No. 779306 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 2, 3 = 10

>>779292
Azure takes the gold coins as if they were copper pieces. Mostly because she doesn't really know the value of money.

She plays the role of the wistful waitress, pretending to yearn for adventure and romance while serving up her fish on invisible plates and offering her spare hooks as toothpicks. She weaves in a narrative of her terror under the Pirate Queen's raid on the local village a long time ago, of the Grail-Knight's dishonorable conduct, of how he ordered his men to "accommodate" her and the other youthful maidens with their... appendages.

Azure will take her time convincing Nick to go on a quest for the head of the wretched traitor queen, and to take her from this establishment of jagged glitter and boorish audiences. Though she keeps her distance, she uses her dancing skills to keep him entertained and the scent of good fish to keep him sated. Hopefully, she can convince him to begin his quest, lead the way, and escape this dungeon with her in tow.
>>
No. 779351 ID: 52a82f

rolled 1, 6, 4 = 11

Isaiah fears the two hours spent here have been two hours they will miss soon enough- he would like to press on, out of the narrow hallway and towards the cavern that group A found the charred remains of the Firehawk in. not that he would know that
However, he knows there is strength in numbers. Helen, whilst sick, is certainly capable as she just demonstrated. He regrets his earlier panic that caused her to hasten over the squares and befall her current state. He'll insist they move forward, but ultimately if she refuses to move he won't leave without her.

Geoffrey is welcome to join, but the man certainly appears like he's in no condition to press forward, despite his incredible feat of standing and consciously taking any action that requires exertion. Helen will no doubt be interested in whatever strange power fuels a man who should be vampire food in a place like this. As long as he can make himself of use though, Isaiah will do his best to make up for any areas he has challenges in.

Rolling to scout ahead, keeping within earshot of the others and retreating at the next intersection or sign of danger
>>
No. 779444 ID: d36af7

>>778755
No random encounter, no clear sign to what went wrong with the attempted river blessing. Rhea does manage to 'crack the code' on that magically obscured writing, enough to share it with Mode as a minor effect, and thereby save an uncorrupted image of the inscriptions for further analysis. Where to next?

>>779306
Azure has nowhere to store the coins other than tying them into her hair, or tucking them into her panties.

She's got Nick is eating out of her hand, both figuratively and literally. Eyes are adjusting to the light, which seems to get brighter as he becomes more enthusiastic and lucid. Looks like the river's at least 50' wide, and you swam to shore just before going over a waterfall. Not a very big one, only eight feet high. Flying off into the dark either up or down stream seems like a needless risk when the ledge you're on leads to a 10' wide passage leading off perpendicular to the river. After about a hundred feet straight ahead there's a four-way intersection. Left (which would be parallel to the river headed upstream) has distant voices whispering in the goblin language. Right (downstream) sounds more like grinding stone-on-stone. Straight ahead seems to slope upward.

>>779007
>Helen offers Geoffrey some drugs to ease the pain
>rolled 4, 6, 5 = 15
One sniff and he's out cold. Apparently a little bit of poppy extract goes a long way when the patient's already so far gone.
>pouring through her curse book to figure out what just happened.
Vampires have intelligence comparable to what they had in life, and in many cases are free-willed. They lack proper emotions, so magically induced fear or love or whatever is like water off a duck's back, but it's possible to persuade them to retreat by either exploiting various weaknesses, or theoretically by simply presenting a rational argument which appeals to their larger agenda, whatever that may be.
>try to identify the freshly mutilated creature that's laying in the middle of the room too.
The fat pig who looks like he picked a fight with a threshing machine is Geoffrey Vargas, former Royal Guardsman and perennial trouble magnet.

Oh, you meant the skeletonized boar? That looks like the aftereffects of one of those really high-end old-school "eternal torment" curses, plus some surgery. Somebody put a lot of work into reducing a giant boar to a disembodied immortal nervous system with almost nothing left but the ability to feel pain, and then, within the past week or so, some minor god intervened to put a stop to that.

>stretcher
Tablecloth is a good start, but filthy. The only poles you can find of appropriate length are somewhat inaccessible 10' above the floor.

>>779351
>Rolling to scout ahead, keeping within earshot of the others
>rolled 1, 6, 4 = 11
Two paces outside Geoffrey's room is well within earshot, yet sufficient for Isaiah's road-senses to notice Pog's lumbering approach across the chasm bridge, and off in the other direction, some undead monstrosity with three mouths, nine legs, and absolutely no bones emerging from the water source area.
>>
No. 779454 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 3, 4 = 11

>>779444
Azure decides that the safer route is in the direction of the goblins - her dad used to make deals with roaming goblin clans, so she knows how to sweet talk and seduce goblins, with the added bonus of knowing a little goblinese (but speaks it with a heavy dwarven accent, and doesn't really know the grammar or context). If she fails, Nick can just chop them to bits.

But hours ago: Pog is still dumb! Pog looks behind him to witness the blood-red goo slowly creeping after him, never stopping and not even sliding down the sides of the bridge! Utterly confused by the goo's behavior and unable to understand why "JELLY NOT FALLING DOWN", Pog runs even faster in pure squealing fear! Pog will likely alert any and all enemies to the party's presence (sorry), but at the moment the most prevalent and unyielding enemy is five yards behind him! Pog's lumbering risks destroying the bridge, but he's desperate to get to the other side so he can start using his demolition gear to destroy the bridge at the end! Roll to determine if the damn bridge holds!
>>
No. 779465 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 5, 2 = 8

>One sniff and he's out cold
Well, nothing to do now except hope he wakes up again.

>larger agenda
What kind of larger agenda would vampires have, is the question. Helen tries to ponder what she would do if she were a vampire.

>skeletonized boar
Fascinating. Helen feels like she could write a book on every room in this place. Wishes she had the time to examine things closer. That chessboard still calls to her.

>10' above the floor
When Isaiah returns, Helen will ask him to help her move the table in place to stand on. Should be able to at least reach those polls, hopefully. Rolls is to attempt to get them down and cobble together something that Geoffrey could be carried on.
>>
No. 779490 ID: 3d2d5f
779490

>Rhea does manage to 'crack the code' on that magically obscured writing, enough to share it with Mode as a minor effect, and thereby save an uncorrupted image of the inscriptions for further analysis. Where to next?
Well, no reason to study the riddle here, out in the open, if we have a copy saved.

Let's pack up and head back towards the Goyles. Reasonably safe place to study if I opt for that, and that's where I need to be to visit Kazleth kingdom or the Gug embassy. Plus they're friendly and Rhea can probably chip in on the next meal.

>>779454
>eohippoid bird reliably seducing elvenoid gobos
Good luck with that.
>>
No. 779539 ID: d36af7

>>779454
The goblins are set up in a side cave, about 20' by 30'. Azure's attempt to secure their cooperation by flagrant seduction is, at best, only partially successful; she's allowed in past the perimeter guards, but all of them are still fully clothed and most have weapons close at hand. Nick, still outside, "helps" with threats to report their behavior to the inn's management and appropriate law-enforcement authorities if he sees any sign of Azure having been mistreated in the course of her work.

The goblins would like to know who she is, how she's wandering around down here with no kit and no scars, and who she works for.

>Pog attempts to break the bridge
Superhuman strength lets him swing that mattock for 5d6+5 impaling damage, or the hammer for 5d6+8 crushing damage, with an All-Out Attack (Strong). Taking into account the time needed to bring the hammer back into position, he could attack with both weapons every three seconds, or every two seconds but at the cost of dealing 5 less damage per hit. The pick's impaling damage ignores half of the target's DR, but against homogenous targets (such as stone, or slime monsters) only half of the penetrating damage becomes actual injury.

Bridge is 12' wide and 2' thick, let's say the magically shaped stone is equivalent to reinforced concrete... cutting all the way through the bridge will require shattering at least one, and possibly all four (Pog is not a structural engineer) 10-square-foot segments, corresponding to 3' wide hexes on a battle map. Each segment has DR 288 and 115 HP, so shattering it in a single blow is far beyond Pog's capabilities. Fortunately, almost all that DR is semi-ablative. Every full 5 points of impaling damage, and every point of crushing damage, reduces that single tile's DR by 1, to a minimum of 3.

So, he can wreck it, but probably not before Isaiah and/or the slime catch up to him. Isaiah will definitely notice the destruction in progress, and, given the demonic chanting, might reasonably assume Pog is possessed.

>>779465
Table is turned back upright, stretcher is constructed and successfully maneuvered around the corner in the narrow hallway.

>>779490
Rhea arrives safely back at the goyle outpost.
>>
No. 779544 ID: 094652

>>779539
After a few unyielding ("Floor not crumble") strikes and with the slime slowly advancing, even Pog realizes his mining is too slow and the slime is too fast (and he failed his mining classes so he doesn't know where the architectural weak points are) so he drops his weapons (which are still attached to the manacles so he doesn't lose them) and runs again, this time wailing for his mistress to save him. Hopefully Isaiah will realize that this giant sack of fat is running away rather than looking for a fight.

>>779490
Azure might not be goblin-sexy, but she is exotic and erotic. Say you got a young orc with a smooth body, put a bag over her head, and made her start dirty dancing in front of a dwarven audience, tits bouncing and ass jiggling. That's kind of what Azure plans to do, with her wings over her face and topless to boot. Rather than try to turn the goblins into her sex slaves, she's trying to convince them that she's just a traveler and that they can trade instead of fight. The fact that she plans to spend an excess amount of cash for mere trinkets and crumbs grants her bonus points, though it will be detrimental to profits in the long run. Besides, the goblins might have found her crossbow and she'd pay a fortune to retrieve it.

Though she does decide to take a quick peek at the other routes, in case she and/or Nick need a quick escape from an angry goblin horde.
>>
No. 779575 ID: 383927

rolled 3, 1, 4 = 8

>>779465
>When Isaiah returns, Helen will ask him to help her move the table in place to stand on.
>>779444
>undead monstrosity with three mouths, nine legs, and absolutely no bones emerging from the water source area.

Isaiah will rush back and hurriedly explain the situation, the urgency in his voice undercut by fear as he look to Helen for guidance after her recent performance. He wonders if in the event Pog gets to them first, they'll stand a better chance with the two pit against eachother. Hopefully Pog will be able to comprehend the situation and take action swiftly, as it looks like he's being chased.

Rolling to identify the creature
>>
No. 779606 ID: 84aebf

rolled 2, 4, 3 = 9

Helen tells Isaiah to calm down and help her carry the stretcher. Most important thing is not to get caught here in a dead end. We'll quickly carry Geoffrey out into the cavern room, meet up with the orc, and assess the situation from there. I'll roll to identify from description too. If I know what it is, roll is also to recall any avoidance methods I might have read about, how the thing senses prey, how fast it can move, etc.
>>
No. 779615 ID: b5453e

>>779606
Perhaps I read it wrong, but I was under the impression the remixed version of the meatpuppets were between us and the cavern
>>
No. 779682 ID: af6e04

>emerging from the water source area.
>Across the bridge, there's a narrow branch immediately to the right with bloodthirsty bandits camped at the dead end, branch to the left leading back to the chasm, another to the left leading to some sort of water source

I guess it's unclear. I assumed you saw it with your scrying a distance back. Either way, the fork is in the big cavern so we should at least have SOME time before it boxes us in.
>>
No. 779693 ID: d36af7

>>779606
>identify from description
>rolled 2, 4, 3 = 9
Nine legs (actually any odd number of legs from 5 to 11, but nine is fairly common) and no conventional skeletal system would suggest a http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/leng-spider They've only got one mouth, but it could be a situation where some mad necromancer stuck an extra pair of skulls on, like shoulderpads, maybe linked to some capabilities that wouldn't otherwise cohere. Famous case like that with the Thorn Sphinx's lieutenants during the Rhestmere Incursion about two hundred years ago.

Too many limbs and heads, in general... could be some sort of prototype titanspawn, discarded and reanimated? The hundred-handed were noted as great craftsmen before the Heresy, yet none of the races of demodand (shaggy, slimy, gristly, stringy, and tarry) are attributed to them. Perhaps they realized the folly of 'perfecting' artificial life sooner than the rest, and you're about to meet something truly unique, a (formerly) living piece of history!

Or maybe it's just a trio of three-legged monsters fused together. That's no fun, you could explain almost anything that way.

>>779544
>just a traveler
With no weapons, no provisions, no map, negligible armor and yet no scars, no shoes and yet negligible calluses on her feet, in the Bloodmist Labyrinth? That doesn't add up.
>trade instead of fight
Several of the goblin scouts have shortbows. No crossbows, though. They can see clearly in the dark and Azure can't. Patrol leader patiently explains that if they wanted to fight, she'd already be full of holes. They just want information. Fewer lies, work will be done sooner, more time to learn about how small-eared floofy bird-people do sex afterward.
>take a quick peek at the other routes
Leaving this cave the goblins are camped in without first providing satisfactory answers to their questions will require a roll, either Fast-Talk with penalties for not knowing the language and culture well enough, or Aerobatics with penalties for tight quarters and bad light.
>>
No. 779701 ID: af6e04

>Leng Spider
>CR 14
Hoo boy. So we should plan around NOT engaging it.

>a (formerly) living piece of history!
Incredible. Might be dangerous, but Helen HAS to at least get a look at this thing.

Best strategy might actually be to run out, retrieve Pog, and come back. We'll be able to see the creature approach and it won't be able to see us. If it gets too close, should be able to barricade the entrance with the big table. Seems a lot safer than trying to run from it into uncharted territory, or trying to make it down the long hallway into the chess room while also encumbered by Geoffrey. Odd number of legs doesn't seem ideal for locomotion, but the thing can still probably move faster than us. And hell, if it's really a Leng Spider it can probably just stroll right across that chess board, shrugging off every ill effect.
>>
No. 779705 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10

>With no weapons, no provisions, no map, negligible-
"A mugged traveler. I got away with my life, though the bastard undressed me before he got distracted. Had to pay a fortune to hire this mendicant knight."
(Half-truths, but they ring with clarity and sincerity in Azure's own mind. The air elemental who murdered her was clearly having fun tossing her frail body around for sport, despite her pleas for mercy. He undressed her out of his body, then scattered her ashes to the wind once he was done and on to the next thing, unaware or uncaring of her phoenix powers. And though Azure was paid gold for fish, in her hedonistic worldview, fish are indeed a fortune and coin is all but coppers.)
>Speak no lies
"I will whisper no lies, but reveal no secrets. What do you wish to know?"

She will try to coax with her charisma, but does not use her magic or lies in fear that this colony might know how to detect both. In her experience, many of the richest, wisest underground tribes have a purity of speech that gives them an understanding of whether a speaker is "true to themselves", and will develop instant indemnity with anyone who lies to themselves, even if they speak fact. But her father taught her how to deal with them; force your truth as they demand, as an assault on their simple minds; give them emphasis on the portions of your truth that you want them to concentrate on, the parts that you want them to think about when they discuss your sincerity. If you fill their hearts with your clarity and sincerity, they will be practically incapable of thinking how you're weaving them, so long as it is done as yourself.

Roll for diplomacy check. Azure has a high diplomacy, she's sure she's got this. Though, she stays close to Nick. Even if she convinces them that she means no harm, they may still capture her if she's stupid enough to stay away from her bodyguard.
>>
No. 779706 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 6 = 14

>>779701
Sorry.

>what do
Helen tells Isaiah to stay put with Geoffrey. Best not to put two lives on the line. If it sounds like things are going south, shut off the door. Hopefully he can lift the table by himself. He seems like a fit young man.

Then Helen will go ahead and venture out into the cavern to meet up with Pog.
>>
No. 779726 ID: d36af7

>>779705
>claims to have been mugged
>subsequently "paid a fortune"
>still has more than $2000 cash on hand
"Who was it took all your clothes, but none of your money? How were you captured and abused, without leaving a single scratch or bruise? Why is there no dirt under your nails?"

>stays close to Nick
He already wandered off, muttering something about buying a new horse.

>>779706
Pog runs right past Helen, chain and heavy tools scraping along the floor behind him. Limping a bit, so she can probably keep up. He's fleeing down the straight wide hallway, which curves up and leftward to a T-junction. Turn left again, down the path that Isaiah says leads back to the chasm (apparently higher up), or turn right toward the water source and oncoming nine-legged undead whatever-it-is?
>>
No. 779730 ID: 690738

rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13

>>779726
"First off, I'm a healer. Second, I was assaulted by an air *flaps her wings for emphasis* elemental. In the air. Air elementals are weird, right N-"

Azure suddenly realizes Nick just wandered off. It has occurred to her that Nick is similar in many ways to Pog, but is not mentally chained to her will. Well, she'll soon change that...

"Argh! Sorry, which way did he go?! We'll talk later!"

Azure excuses herself to go find Nick before he wanders too far! Roll to determine if the goblins will accept her sudden departure due to sympathy from her diplomacy, and hopefully she'll find Nick before he leaves her undefended!

>>779726
Is that even a question?! Pog panicks, looking in both directions. Then he hears the tormented screams of the nine-legged abomination and instantly goes down the left path
>>
No. 779763 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13

>>779726
"Hey! Damn it." Helen tries to get a look at whatever is behind the big idiot and causing him to panic, then she goes chasing after him.
>>
No. 779792 ID: 8dd39c

rolled 5, 2, 4 = 11

Isaiah nods- Geoffrey will likely need some modecrum of oversight and protection. He tells Helen to recite the first thing she said to him in the chess room upon her safe return to his location.

Rolling to set up the table in front of the door.
>>
No. 780199 ID: d36af7

>>779730
Magical healing could explains no scars, air elemental explains odd theft priorities. Was it - (the goblin patrol leader makes a noise somewhere between a modulated whistle and fingernails scraping a chalkboard, contextually a name) - up by the geodes? Would you be willing to provide some medical care to wounded soldiers in exchange for food, shelter, and replacement clothes?
>fly off after Nick
The goblins don't immediately attack, but neither do they jump out of the way. Fortunately they're short, armed with knives rather than spears, and the area has high ceilings. Azure kicks off a wall, with a downbeat for additional altitude, glides over the guards at the cave entrance...
>rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13
...misjudges some aspect of that sharp turn, clips the hallway's far wall with her wingtip, and lands in an awkward tumble, scraping both knees. Fortunately nothing seems to be broken. When she catches up with Nick, no more than twenty yards away, it's much easier to see everything because her hair's on fire.

>Pog flees left
Shortly he comes back around to the chasm, this time looking across the open space where a bridge used to be. Apparently somebody knocked it down before he got there.

>>779763
At a glance it looks like he decided to tear down the bridge, then freaked out when the holes he was making in the rock started to bleed.

>>779792
Room is now securely barricaded with Isaiah and Geoffrey inside. The table even has a convenient arrow slit in it.
>>
No. 780213 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 1, 3 = 9

>>780199
> Provide medical care
Azure will offer this later, but she has to catch up to Nick NOW-
> Her hair is on fire
... Azure immediately rubs her head on the wall. If that doesn't work, she can use her panties with her head even though it will take time. If worse comes to worse, Azure will try to explode over Nick so they don't get separated.

Roll to determine if Azure can put out the fires in time to grab Nick. If she succeeds, then she'll try to hypnotize him into staying put. If she fails, she'll go back to the goblins, apologize, tell them she'd like her mendicant knight back if they can go looking for him (seeing as how he has her fortune on his hip that would be recommended), and offer a few doses of free healing as thanks.

Pog can climb down as a result of his bodyguard training, but he sucks at it! His fat body and rough lack of dexterity mean that if the Cliffside is too steep or too weak, he'll fall into the water with spikes below! According to Pog's childish logic, if there was a bridge here then clearly they needed a bridge because climbing would be too dangerous. Mustering what little anger he has, Pog turns 180 degrees and begins stomping his way back to the intersection, preparing himself to let out a fierce roar and fight whatever the hell is waiting for him on the river source of the T-intersection!
>>
No. 780312 ID: 84aebf

rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8

Helen makes herself known to the orc. Can we see the incoming creature? Roll for perception.
>>
No. 780355 ID: 3abd97

rolled 6, 1, 4 = 11

>Rhea arrives safely back at the goyle outpost.
Hello again!

Rhea will share what little progress she made on the door with the Goyles (might be useful if another scholarly type from home comes by, or to trade with other visitors who take an interest. They are right next door to it, after all). She's share a meal, pitch in with preparation where she can.

Next stop should be attempting diplomacy with the gugs. Safe passage though their region of control would be a lot more expedient route to the surface than minotaur-land (any further telepathic updates on that front?).
>>
No. 781068 ID: d36af7

>>780213
>Azure immediately rubs her head on the wall. If that doesn't work, she can use her panties
>rolled 5, 1, 3 = 9
Azure hooks both thumbs near her hips, and in a single fluid motion, jumps out of her underwear then whips them upward, securely onto her head before her feet are back to the ground. It's a party trick she mastered years ago, vastly easier for people with wings. Even manages to retain all the coins.

>grab Nick
He pats her gently on the head, then bows down to kiss her scratched-up, smoldering knee with his crusty mandibles.
>try to hypnotize him into staying put
As soon as it's clear that her fires are out, he collapses on the floor, weeping tears of joy. Doesn't seem like he'll be wandering off again, at least not in the next few minutes.

>>780312
First impression Helen gets, as it advances into the shadowy edge of lantern-light, puts her in mind of an illustration of the submerged portion of some swamp plant: tangle of roots joining into a thick bulb, then a long straight stalk with a single broad leaf floating at the top. 'Roots' pulse and writhe steadily forward, while the 'leaf' wobbles and seems to track the lantern's movements. Something metallic glints in a deep cleft on the 'bulb.'

It's moving quite slowly, possibly because it fills the hallway's entire 10' width and seems to be squished against both sides. If you wanted to get past, you'd need to climb over the top.
>>
No. 781086 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6

Once the goblins catch up, she'll promptly apologize and explain that as Nick is the one with all the gold in his pocket, it would be preferable for him to spend it now rather than wander into a deathtrap. She'll also explain that she admonished Nick for just up and leaving when she already paid him to protect her. If he betrays her trust again, the goblins have permission to lock him up for the time being (might actually be safer, as he might hurt the goblin children on his way out), but not permanently. Finally, she's sick of all this tension, does not wish to speak further, and would like them to lead her and Nick to safe quarters so that she can finally get laid.
>>
No. 781087 ID: 094652

Whoops I forgot, Azure will lightly admonish Nick for abandoning her to the mercies of a small army. She'll politely ask him not to do that again.
>>
No. 781131 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10

>>781068
Hmm, this thing appears to have no mouth, no legs, and does not have any stereotypical features of undeath. Helen's pretty sure it doesn't have any bones though, so Isaiah was right about that part at least. Will have to ask him about the general accuracy of his scrying.

Well the creature looks dangerous but it's certainly no gigantic, weapon-wielding spider. I'll go ahead and roll a research check to see if I know what it is. Might even have time to quickly thumb through my book if nothing springs to mind, though I'll go around the corner first in case it can launch poisonous seeds or something.

Helen quickly introduces herself to Pog by name. She can see the orc is eager to smash the plant thing into oblivion, but she tells him to wait only a minute while she identifies it.
>>
No. 781197 ID: d36af7

>>781131
It gets closer, and what initially appeared to be vertical striations on the 'bulb' peels apart into jagged interlocking teeth, somewhere between the mouth of a frog and that of a venus flytrap. There's an unbearable stench of rotten meat, and it begins to roar. Not a barbarian's battle-cry, nor the howl of an angry or injured beast, no. A continuous rolling sound without any sign of stopping to breathe. A roar of waves gnawing away at the rocky shore. Some second maw opens, fat fist-sized tongue licking the left wall, to join it's voice in sickening harmony.
>>
No. 781282 ID: b9aa79

>>781197
Does Isaiah hear this roaring noise at this point?

I'm assuming for his senses we're kinda suspending our disbelief and assuming they work mostly normally?
>>
No. 781372 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 6, 5 = 15

>>781197
On second thought, maybe it's time to run. Back to the one way hallway we'll go.
>>
No. 781384 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 1, 6 = 9

Helen tripped.

Pog stares at her for a few seconds. Then he grabs her by the chest and goes back to the cliff.

"Helen-Lady have fly magic? Pog need fly or climb magic or Pog will not let go."

Roll because Pog really needs some good luck right now.
>>
No. 781457 ID: d36af7

>>781372
There are two apparent routes back to the hallway with the one-way fog: climbing over the monster, and climbing along a sheer cliff-face in the chasm.

>>781282
Isaiah can hear, see, and feel at human-comparable levels of acuity. His senses of smell and taste are very poor, but he can see the approximate contours of solid objects and magical force-constructs (especially broad flat surfaces, and anything metallic, sharp-edged, or fast-moving) even in total darkness. Very useful for combat, adequate for facial recognition or reading carved text, useless for printed text, paintings, heraldry, or identifying illusions.

At the moment, he can hear the distant roar, and is helplessly observing as two abstract pinpricks (one corresponding to the nine-legged monster, the other corresponding to Pog carrying Helen) slowly converge across his sense of roads like that air duct scene in the move Alien.

He could shove the barricade aside, run up behind the monster (possibly too late, at this point) and try to intervene, or he could move away from the barricade, breaking contact with the road-sense, so he doesn't have to watch the actual confrontation and can maybe pretend they escaped somehow.

>>780355
What are you planning to offer the gugs in exchange for transportation?
>>
No. 781477 ID: 383927

>>781457
Helen gave him very clear instructions, and he intends to follow them- the woman has mysteries of her own and he won't presume that he knows better than her, especially not after asking for her advice. He'll keep as careful of a watch on the situation as he can though, and keep eyes on Geoffrey's condition
>>
No. 781533 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 6, 3 = 13

>There are two apparent routes back to the hallway with the one-way fog: climbing over the monster, and climbing along a sheer cliff-face in the chasm.

I thought Helen and Pog had met up back at the intersection.

>Mustering what little anger he has, Pog turns 180 degrees and begins stomping his way back to the intersection, preparing himself to let out a fierce roar and fight whatever the hell is waiting for him on the river source of the T-intersection!
>Helen makes herself known to the orc. Can we see the incoming creature? Roll for perception.

Unless I'm stuck as a result of my poor roll and Pog dragging me off. But in that case, I think a little more clarity is in order! No offense.

Either way, Helen will try to quickly explain in simple terms that she can't fly, and will ask Pog to set her down so she can fire her crossbow. Are there any rocky protrusions nearby on the cave wall that we can safely hang from? Might be able to toss the lantern over the edge to lure the thing after it.
>>
No. 782462 ID: 3abd97

>What are you planning to offer the gugs in exchange for transportation?
You mean besides asking politely to be allowed passage through their territory?

The amulets are potentially trade-able. Although OOC, I'd prefer to satisfy my curiosity as to what they all actually do first. Mode's artifact set loses a lot of value when split up, and is collectively worth more than a one-way passage would be. (And it would be cruel to take Mode away from someone she can actually talk to after all the isolation, especially before making sure she got better).

Mode might contain information that is useful or valuable to the gug in her library. Information's certainly up for trade. They might even be interested in something specific, since they were apparently already aware of the artifact.

In fine adventuring tradition, trading services for passage is also on the table. Do they need help liaising with something that speaks goblin or firetongue or humish? (They do have that trade conflict going on). Information from a flame that's been burning somewhere, keeping vigil on a location? Firebending? Some high resolution scrying? (Though we might need an eye as a material component). Baking? (Less likely, culturally, but Rhea would certainly be willing). Something specific where a priest of Mom's faith would be useful? Something fireproofed? (Though I'm not sure how permanent Rhea can make that). Diplomatic overtures might be on the table too, if they want say, a formal letter of introduction to someone in Greznek's theocratic institutions.

Should start out by thanking them for the advice the gug from before offered, it was helpful. Rhea's personal position is possibly useful to leverage. Aiding one of [Fire Mom's] chosen, even if she's not a formal representative, is a path towards a friendly relationship with Greznek if they're looking for one. In a essence, political capital is on the table, which might make them more generous than they might be otherwise. (Of course it's gauche to come out and say this, but it can certainly be implied).
>>
No. 782917 ID: d36af7
File 148805252588.png - (12.63KB , 180x180 , one pixel equals eight inches.png )
782917

>>779763
>>779730
Helen started pursuing Pog after he'd already reached the T-intersection and decided to go left.
>>781131
She met up with him at the base of the broken bridge, in the chasm. Formal introductions, an explicit instruction to delay attacking, and then she backed up "around the corner" (which I took to mean, contextually, on that ledge to the side of the archway in the chasm wall), to read a book. http://everything2.com/title/The+Lovecraftian+compulsion+to+keep+writing+even+as+one+is+being+devoure
d
During all that time, the nine-legged monster was slowly but steadily advancing. If the word 'chasm' on the attached map were six or seven letters long instead of five, Pog and Helen are now approximately where those letters would go. The monster is roughly ten yards away, at that crook in the passage between them and the T-intersection.

The chasm walls are natural stone, with narrow hand or foot holds here and there, but beyond the noted ledges the walls slope inward, so you'd be dangling over a long fall. Good news is, Pog's extraordinary strength and purpose-built mining equipment should be able to rapidly carve new holes wherever you happen to need them.

>>781086
The goblins are discussing the route they'll take back to their base. Normally from here they'd go through the shadow-hunter serpent warrens, then stop off at a sacred spring with healing properties, but with a real doctor along that might not be necessary, so they're considering the southeast crypts instead. One big ambush point instead of lots of little ones. Any opinion on the strategy?

At Nick's request, one of the goblins lights a lantern. Nick then exclaims "Holy shit, this IS gold! Where did I get so much gold?"
>>
No. 782971 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 5, 5 = 12

>>782917
Ahh okay. I thought Pog had made it to the broken bridge at the chasm, then turned back to the T-intersection to confront the creature, and THAT's where Helen caught up with him. My mistake.

>to read a book.
Hey, I was serious about that low ambition.

>http://everything2.com/title/The+Lovecraftian+compulsion+to+keep+writing+even+as+one+is+being+devour
e
d

>Here may be found the last words of Helen Nabot. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of AAAARRGGGHH

>The monster is roughly ten yards away, at that crook in the passage between them and the T-intersection.
Alright, Helen's ready to stop fucking around and kill this thing. She instructs Pog to cut a ledge in the stone for the two to stand on when the creature gets too close, and she starts pelting the monster with crossbow bolts. Aiming for those big roaring mouths.
>>
No. 783050 ID: 72a406

rolled 1, 4, 4 = 9

>>782917
Azure just stares at the poor fellow, amazed at finding someone who is smarter than Pog yet more absentminded than Hore. Then she looks to the goblins and points at Nick with a "This guy, am I right?" expression on her face. Azure quickly reminds the knight that he is contractually obligated to serve her, though she has no further claim to the gold. But she can still get him a good deal for the stuff, being the daughter of a Youngmason and all that.

Azure explains to the goblin fellows that while she is a genuine field surgeon with years of experience (especially on Pog), depending on the extent and type of the wounded's injuries and diseases they may want to stop by that spring. She can still help those she can't medicate by explaining how to alleviate the pain and slow the progress of certain injuries.

For now, she'd like to see the wounded and determine how much she can do. Then she'll have a roll in the hay with the goblins that seem to have no medical diseases, and finally a good night's sleep in their caravan.

Also, have any of them seen her crossbow? She's really fond of that thing.

POG CUT LEDGE! POG GOOD STONEWORKER! NASTY IN-STRUCT-OR SHOUT AT POG FOR HAMMER STONE FAIL! POG HAMMER STONE INSTRUCTIATOR FACE! POG HAPPY! POG PUNISH STABBED BY MASTER YOUNGMASON! POG HAPPY! MISTRESS AZURE HUG POG! POG HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!

Pog amplifies the last three 'happies' with three especially forceful strikes into the ground with his pickaxe. Pog also uses both hands to ground the pickaxe into the rock. At the rate he's going, he might just build enough ledges to climb up the Cliffside! Roll to determine how well Pog picks!
>>
No. 783076 ID: 9f3729

Nightmares. Horrific visions of violence and bedevilment. Death and decay, all wrought by his hands.
None of these are the things Geoffrey is currently dreaming about. No, Geoffrey is busy dreaming he's being chased around by a giant man-eating cupcake reciting broken opera.
Its broken peppermint teeth dig into him and he bolts awake in a cold sweat.

The smell of frosting lingers in his senses for a moment before he realizes he's not in candyland and is, in fact, back in that horrible dungeon.

He retches, immediately regretting the sudden movement.

"Oh gods. What. Where."
>>
No. 783130 ID: 383927

>>783076
Upon Geoffrey waking up, Isaiah turns his attention to their new companion, an ethereal "shh" softly emanating from his helm

"Be careful sir, you're quite badly wounded. Lie still, and do your best not to exert yourself, lest you expire. I am Isaiah, son to Elohim, and Prophet of Hanspur. We were part of the same expedition, although we did not speak much, and after everyone got separated it seems a handful of us found our way down to the same area. Helen Nabot, the woman who was always reading, she and I scared off the Vampires harassing you, and then she went off with the large destructive orc fellow to fight off some encroaching horrors while I barricaded your new residence and stayed here with you. Presently, I'm awaiting Helen to return, or, in the unfortunate event she perishes, We'll wait here for an opportunity to retrieve her body and try to find our way out of here. Can I do anything to make you more comfortable? Your condition does appear quiet dire at the moment, and those Vampires will undoubtedly be back at some point, so we must exercise caution.
>>
No. 783767 ID: d36af7

>>782971
Good news is, it's big, it's close, and it's in no position to evade. One bolt sinks into mouth-flesh somewhere near center mass, another punches through the eyestalk-leaf part, flies on to ping off the ceiling somewhere further back.
>>783050
Meanwhile, Pog's digging a path of hand and footholds leading straight up. Fist-sized chunks of rock come loose with almost every swing.

Bad news is it's still coming, and lashing out with a root tentacle. Options include dodging, stomping on it (technically an unarmed parry), or running off and attempting to climb after Pog to get out of it's reach. Crossbows aren't so good in a toe-to-toe fight, so you might also want to consider switching to knife.
>>
No. 783790 ID: 9f3729

>>783130
Geoffrey thinks for a moment, the poorly-maintained machinery of his mind grumbling to life. Then his stomach rumbles, ending the feedback loop quite summarily.
"Ye wouldn't happen to have some meat pies, would ye?"
>>
No. 783810 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 4, 3 = 13

>>783767
Helen will go with the run option. Back to the chasm, she'll try to climb across Pog's footholds. Hopefully this creature can't climb.
>>
No. 783812 ID: b9aa79

>>783790
I am sustained by my faith in Hanspur. Perhaps if you try and pray to him he will guide your feet towards that which you both need and desire.

It appears as though our companions are attempting to escape the jaws of the beasts pursuing them. Be prepared in case their attention turns towards us. If we cannot safely barricade this room, we may have to try and escape on foot. I can carry you if you need, but it will likely be uncomfortable. If you are to die, are there funeral rites you wish me to preform for you? Or are you not a man of faith?
>>
No. 784405 ID: 9f3729

>>783812
"Yea, make sure I don' die inna first place! And failin' that, bury me under sem rocks so the beasties can't eat m' corpse."
Geoffrey groans, moving to stand up.
"Gotta be some'in I ken do 'ere. Plan?"
>>
No. 784536 ID: d36af7

>>782462
>>782462
Rhea negotiates with the gugs and obtains transportation in exchange for a small batch of prayer strips that make whatever they're attached to much less likely to catch fire, as if it were damp to the touch.

Azure follows the goblin patrol back to their base, has sex with some, and performs surgery on others. Many of the latter were injured or sick, but survived anyway.

A week later, Rhea, Azure, and Nick are together in a rowboat. Azure has acquired a new crossbow and some minimal clothing, but there are no oars available. Due to some navigational mishap, they headed down the mill-race rather than toward the docks. Accordingly, they're about to fall off the top of Passholdt's ten-story-tall waterwheel and into the next thread. http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/778485.html
>>
No. 784578 ID: 094652

Azure holds onto Rhea and/or the boat for dear life!

She's somewhat paranoid about the air elemental stalking her, so she won't jump off the boat and fly to safety until they're ten miles away from the dungeon.

Unless Rhea explicitly tells her to save her own hide. And no, she can't carry miss fatass.
>>
No. 784602 ID: d36af7

>>784578
She's in Passholdt, more than a hundred miles away from the dungeon. Please post Azure's actions in thread five and remember to include a roll.
>>
No. 785032 ID: 77f1b6

>>784405
>"Yea, make sure I don' die inna first place! And failin' that, bury me under sem rocks so the beasties can't eat m' corpse."
Geoffrey groans, moving to stand up.
"Gotta be some'in I ken do 'ere. Plan?"

"Ah. A burial. Understood. I will do my best to respect your wishes under the current constraints. If you wish at any point to know more about the Hanspur and the River Freedoms, please inform me so I may educate you in a timely and appropriate manner; should you at any point wish to convert or change your mind about how you wish to be seen to after death, I can preform the proper rites and ensure you are cleansed of your sins before making the next leg of your journey.

As for what you are capable of, that is something I believe you to be more in tune with than I. I plan to watch events unfold to the best of my abilities, and await the return of our companions. Should it appear that they have expired before returning, I believe it would be prudent to wait until these creatures hounding them pass us by, and then find an alternative route which does not present the same risks of running afoul those beasts."
>>
No. 785319 ID: 9f3729

>>785032

Geoffrey sighs, electing not to chastise the person for being pushy about religion right after they presumably saved him from vampires.
He idly adjusts his helmet, flicking off some errant dust.

"I got sem magic from a daemon in the chess room that also made me a walkin' hamburger, healin' stuff. Any use fer that?"

Idly he wonders if there's any way for him to be more aware of his FP. All this magical mismanagement gives him a headache for right sure.

(reminder of my spells, for later use:
*Lend Energy (transfer FP)
*Lend Vitality (temporary healing)
*Minor Healing (up to 3 FP to restore 3 HP)
*Major Healing (up to 4 FP to restore 8 HP)
*Great Healing (exactly 20 FP to restore all HP)
*Light (1 FP per minute for glow equivalent to candle's flame)
*Apportation (basically telekinesis)
*Deflect Missile (1 FP per parry)

>>
No. 785498 ID: d36af7

>>783810
Helen climbs about ten feet above the floor, then a chunk of rock from Pog's ongoing digging hits hard enough to dent her helmet, and she loses her grip. Fortunately, the monster she lands on turns out to be squishy.
>>
No. 785502 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9

>>785498
Trying to keep her wits about her, Helen will maneuver herself and block with her lantern to avoid whatever mouths or other harmful tendrils try to get at her. She'll try to snatch...

>Something metallic glints in a deep cleft on the 'bulb.'

...whatever this is before climbing over the top of the monster into the hallway behind it.
>>
No. 785663 ID: d36af7

>>785502
>block with the lantern
Lantern shatters, oil spills, monster is now on fire.
>climbing over the top of the monster into the hallway behind it
>rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9
Success. Fortunately, the blaze provides enough light to navigate by.
>grab shiny thing
Springy coil of thick copper wire tears free with a sickening squelch. Apparently it was being used as some sort of crude suture. There were, in fact, three identical monsters bundled together. Two are still linked, flailing away at Pog, while the newly separated one (which also caught the majority of the flaming oil) lurches after Helen. Tripedal locomotion looks awkward, but is actually surprisingly agile now that it's not also wedged against both walls at once.
>>
No. 785677 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 1, 6 = 10

>>785663
That was close. Helen is getting too old to start grappling with monsters.

>Or maybe it's just a trio of three-legged monsters fused together. That's no fun, you could explain almost anything that way.

Suspicions confirmed, Helen is disappointed. She was expecting a primordial creature or at LEAST a nighmarish otherworldly spider. Must have been a particularly lazy necromancer clumsily stitching these three undead beasts together - no regard for practicality, only to fulfill his odd fantasy - and then calling it a day and scurrying off to drink a tall glass of virgin's blood or whatever....

>Helen it's right behind you and it is on fire by the gods
Helen runs.
>>
No. 785722 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 6, 3 = 11

POG SMASH! Pog has a loose grasp of tactics, but years of fighting experience have taught him that his pickaxe is for breaking rocks and armor and squishy things without bones, while his mace is for hurting EVERYTHING ELSE. So Pog will start off by rapidly bashing and stabbing anything he can, followed by 2-handed attacks with his mace seeing as how he can hear their bones breaking within their squishy flesh.
>>
No. 786292 ID: d36af7

>>785677
Straight ahead, or turn right almost immediately? Either way, continue straight. or turn left just as the fire begins to dim?

>>785722
Pog's pick is surprisingly ineffective, and keeps getting stuck, but that trusty hammer soon enough smashes the target to giblets. Problem is, it won't stay down. Keeps regenerating. Scrape it off the ledge so it falls down the chasm? Try something else to finish it off? Ignore the problem and chase the one chasing Helen?
>>
No. 786298 ID: 263782

rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12

Pog will attempt to bat the superzombie into the hole, knocking out any other zombies in his way, then grab Helen and scurry back up the ledge.
>>
No. 786325 ID: 7b3d8f

rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12

Back the way she came, toward the one way hallway. If Pog catches up, she will try to convince him to follow her. "Friends this way!"
>>
No. 786435 ID: d36af7

>>786298
>>786325
Pog belly-flops onto the monster, extinguishing the remains of Helen's light source. Helen turns back to see this happen, and shout instructions at Pog, then gets dizzy and makes a navigational mistake so basic, it may have only been possible thanks to the combined effects of a curse gnawing at her personal history, and having been hit on the head less than a minute earlier.

Helen is now, as far as she can tell, in a maze of twisty passages which are all alike. Exits are forward, back, sideways, zorth, and down. It is very dark. Judging by sounds, she is still being pursued. There's also a waterfall somewhere off to the left, or possibly that's just the sound of blood rushing in her ears.

Isaiah, via road-sense, notices Helen spin around dizzily and then take the wrong turn. He can also faintly perceive what might be one of Pog's internal organs dragging on the floor behind the monster.
>>
No. 786461 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11

Pog sees Isiah, and decides to go up to him, holding whatever organs that fell out of his body in his hands and shoving them into his face, saying "fix this". Pog tries not to make a sound as to sneak away from the monster. It has not occurred to Pog that the monster would hear the footsteps of a two-ton lumbering brute, or might be capable of sensing prey in the darkness via night-vision or Pog's wretched stench, but given that the monster is in fact a collection of squirming, squelching zombie parts, it might be distracted by its own noise just long enough for the goo monster to come by and eat it.

Pog quietly explains the situation in his small dumb words and asks Isiah what they should do.
>>
No. 786517 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10

>>786435
Helen curses under her breath, then calms herself. Isaiah should be able to find her as long as she doesn't wander too far. For now, she needs to lose this monster.

Zorth seems like a good direction.

Zorth seems like a good direction.
>>
No. 786518 ID: 9f3729

Geoffrey listens to the sounds of battle echoing down the halls, clutching the blanket over himself.
"Sounds like they, ah, have it handled, ey?"
>>
No. 786549 ID: d36af7

>>786517
>go zorth
Helen climbs to the top of that crude ladder carved into the stone, but Pog isn't there. By the light of the perfectly intact lantern in her hand, she can see a stringy pile of rotten monster-meat down below, dangling off the edge of the ledge, and... the glitter of broken glass? Right, that's from when her lantern broke.

There's no dent in her helmet. http://www.viruscomix.com/estarsix2.html Might want to read the whole thing from the start for context. Take caution, that story is extremely dark.

>>786461
>Pog sees Isiah,
No. Pog can see in the dark, but not through tens of yards of stone, nor around corners. He can't even see all that well through heavy fog, which is also present.

>Pog tries not to make a sound
>explains the situation
>asks Isiah what they should do
>holding whatever organs that fell out of his body
>"fix this"
>rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11
Isaiah receives a deliciously desperate prayer for assistance.
>>
No. 786593 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 1, 5 = 11

>>786549
Oh, so this is zorth. Helen climbs down in a bit of a confused daze. Let's see. She hit her head. Broke the lantern. Lit the monster on fire. She tried to run away and got lost. No, that's ridiculous. It's just a simple route back to the one-way hallway where Isaiah is waiting. And now she's back here, where everything suddenly went horribly wrong.

No time to puzzle this out. Need to find the big orc. Helen will look for evidence of where he's gone and follow whatever noise sounds friendly. She tries to block out the nauseating thought that she might find her own mutilated carcass somewhere in these dark hallways, in the process of being feasted on by that three-legged monster.
>>
No. 786610 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 4, 6 = 13

So Pog is still on top of a monster, then.

"Golly", thinks Pog, "that monster was roasty. Hee. Is it marshmallowy now?" Pog will now smash the monster a few times to make sure it's dead.

If it is dead, Pog will catch up to Helen.

If it's not dead, Pog will now take his organs and run in a random direction. Roll to determine if he gets Isiah (and Geoffrey) or Helen or something else. Note that Pog still knows which ways the blob monster and this zombie amalgamation came from (Pog's stupidity means he can memorize things but has crippling disability at interpretation and innovation), so he's not going to go in the direction of the blob if he can manage - it would take a crit fail to run in the direction of the blob monster.
>>
No. 786821 ID: 24aec8

rolled 1, 3, 5 = 9

Helen, already not the most physically imposing silluoute, now struck ill with a curse and being chased by monsters has up until this point had Isaiah's slightly uncertain confidence. Mostly on the virtue of her being a well read adult who seemed more competent than he felt he was. At this juncture though, clearly there is a need for intervention. The large suit of armor turns smoothly to address Geoffrey again after a long period of somewhat unnatural stillness, voice echoing in a manner that suggests something is not quiet right here:

"Geoffrey. The passage of time in the place is difficult to mark; I fear that should you be left on your own, the Vampires may return and overwhelm you. I am going to help the others, and would like you to follow me closely, so I may better protect you. You of course may decline; I would not force you to travel anywhere you don't see fit to go of your own will. However, if you are able to walk I feel it would increase both our chances of survival to stay close to one another, at least while you recover your strength."

Isaiah will move the table out of the way and try to find Pog
>>
No. 787189 ID: d36af7

Helen and Isaiah successfully converge on Pog, laying on top of the three-legged monster, periodically punching it with one hand, holding his guts in with the other, and biting it's eyestalk, as it attempts to strangle him with a thorny tentacle. It keeps stumbling around in circles, trying to bring it's own vast mouth into play, but unable to comprehend how the audible impacts of his iron-toed boots on the floor can always be directly behind.
>>
No. 787195 ID: c31aac

>>786821
Geoffrey nods, attempting to make his way to his feet. He's still unsure as to how bad his injuries are right now.
>>
No. 787225 ID: d36af7

>>787195
He could try Great Healing to make those injuries all the way better. Even if it goes wrong, Isaiah's available to get him stabilized again.
>>
No. 787346 ID: 7b3d8f

rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13

Pfff. Well Helen's not getting near the thing. She'll ask Isaiah to smash it. The big ugly monster, not the big ugly orc.

If they brought the stretcher, she'll pick it up and shove it into the monster's mouth. From far away.
>>
No. 787407 ID: b9aa79

rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8

Isaiah is hesitant to swing his hammer at the creature while Pog is on top of it, and is nervous given how just recently he thought he was seeing other bodies involved in this conflict. He would also prefer you refrain from using the stretcher as a weapon at this current moment- they have more than enough arms present to deal with this creature and he would prefer not to risk damaging what could be covetous resources. Also, sorry for for asking for your advice and then disregarding it; it was rather rude and he hope you understand it was not due to a lack of confidence in you; when one sees a traveler in need, to assume another will come to help him is to accept what might happen if he receives no help at all. Quickly scanning the "road" they're on for any signs of others on it currently, or places that might still be "warm" from their passing.

After that, hammer at the ready, standing protectively in front of Geoffrey and Helen, ready to fend off the creature should it advance on them.

Mind you, he is refraining from attacking given that the creature seems to have Pog on top of it, and given that big hammers aren't really precise weapons he worries he risks injuring the Orc by attacking. Please let me know if I the character am missing/minsuderstamd something so I can re-evaluate if needed.
>>
No. 787421 ID: 13d7b7

>>787407
"Despite the humor of the situation, our orc friend appears to be losing this fight. So please do something while I try to distract the monster. Maybe try pulling that tentacle off his neck?"

>they have more than enough arms present
Crossbow, hammer and a broken spear tip as far as I can remember.

>sorry for for asking for your advice and then disregarding it
Helen says she's glad Isaiah showed up when he did.

>Please let me know if I missed anything
Don't think so. Way I interpreted it, think of a (big squishy three-legged) dog chasing its tail. But instead of a tail, it's a huge orc guy holding on with his feet dragging on the ground behind.
>>
No. 788970 ID: d36af7

>>787346
>>787407
Helen and Isaiah dance awkwardly around the monster, shouting advice and looking for an opening between flailing tentacles. Pog's skin is gradually taking on the cyan tone characteristic of hypoxia.
>>
No. 788971 ID: c31aac

rolled 4, 2, 4 = 10

Geoffrey decides to pull his head back out of the clouds and cast that great healing pell already! He's sick of waiting around for things to come kill him when he could get a head start on runnin' from 'em and maybe get away!
>>
No. 788986 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 6 = 14

>>788970
Helen, looking impatient, will try to climb up and untangle Pog's neck however she can using her knife and bare hand.
>>
No. 789018 ID: b9aa79

rolled 5, 1, 4 = 10

Isaiah, who I'm assuming confirms no one is approaching them, will attempt to tenderize the creature with his hammer until it releases Pog
>>
No. 791158 ID: d36af7

>>788971
>cast great healing
>rolled 4, 2, 4 = 10
The -3 from psychic distraction would've made that a failure by 1, so it's a good thing he waited 'till he was alone. Well, better than the alternative, anyway. Success here feels sort of like the spiritual equivalent of a really thorough bout of vomiting after a wild party. Various injuries have been explosively expelled from his body, spattered against the walls and evaporated into imperceptible abstract wisps of negative space, ripples without a pond, leaving healthy intact tissue behind. Even his blood supply has been replenished, although it's not quite circulated around to the right places yet.

Geoffrey has some sort of new limb or organ or... something (grafted onto him by that wish-granting entity) the purpose of which is to sense and manipulate ambient magic. He doesn't have much experience, yet, at interpreting those sensations, but currently they're putting him in mind of somebody who just finished running a marathon, or having a heart attack, or an animal that just gnawed it's own leg off to get out of a trap, except the 'trap' was the fact that it's legs were already missing.

In mechanical terms, he just spent twenty FP out of a possible ten, and the excess came out of his hit points, which were then restored by successfully casting the spell. He is fully healed, and thus no longer at risk of sudden death (at least, no more so than anyone else lost in a dungeon), but is so exhausted that he might pass out and/or inflict new injuries on himself with any significant exertion before at least 10 minutes of rest. Thirty minutes to the point where he'll be able to fight effectively, then another hour or so to refill the buffer.

>>789018
>>788986
>>786610
Helen, Isaiah, and Pog hammer and hack at the monster until it's been reduced to shreds. Then Isaiah recites the Psalm of Journey's End, punctuated with even more hammering, repeating until most of the shreds have stopped moving.

Pog scoops up an armload of gore, probably more than 70% of which is his own still-attached organs, then starts cramming the whole mess through that ragged hole in his abdominal muscles. Azure Youngmason, who usually handles the finer points whenever he has a medical problem like this, seems to have gone missing.
>>
No. 791160 ID: c31aac

>>791158
Geoffrey yelps, slips on some of his expelled gore, and falls flat on his back where he opts to give up and sleep for a while.
He's out before the residual jiggling from the fall even finishes.
>>
No. 791200 ID: 7b3d8f

rolled 5, 3, 5 = 13

Helen will apply what little first aid she can with some cloth from her coat, slightly regretting her choice in equipment. Maybe a medical manual would have been more pertinent?
>>
No. 791263 ID: f87000

rolled 6, 1, 4 = 11

Pog will now sit on the floor and hold his guts in until he can get medical attention.

Azure has trained Pog to sit still and shut up while she's busy grabbing the surgical materials, negotiating with annoyed adventurers for ruining their business, flying away from angry adventurers, etc. All the while, Pog just sits there with that stupid look of pain on his face.

Hopefully Pog will stay awake and alive long enough for Geoffrey to wake up with full FP and lay down the mega-heals.
>>
No. 791435 ID: d36af7

>>791263
>>791200
After closely observing the sheer magnitude of the problem, Helen skips the stereotypical step of tearing strips loose for individual bandages and opts to shrug her coat off entirely and tie it around Pog's abdomen like a great big sash.

On the second try, she's more careful to be sure that the hole in the meat doesn't line up with that hole a vampire punched through the cloth.

Half an hour after the fight, Helen's done what she can for Pog, and Geoffrey's recovered enough to be walking without assistance, or maybe even participating in combat without falling flat on his face like a sack of moldy potatoes the very instant adrenaline wears off. (FP 4/10)

Hole up and rest until the next random encounter, or push onward to explore in hopes of acquiring additional resources?
>>
No. 791443 ID: a3a23b

rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10

Not too keen on waiting around for another monster to come around and try to eat them, Helen gets ready to push on. Proposed marching order is Isaiah on point with Helen second, then Geoffrey, then Pog last. But before they go anywhere, she'd like to quickly compare stories with her companions, investigate the broken glass of her destroyed lantern, and seek out the place where she got lost and traveled Zorth, in an attempt to puzzle out what the hell just happened.
>>
No. 791590 ID: b9aa79

rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12

Geoffrey was sleeping, Helen was applying aid, Pog was recieving aid, and Isaiah felt his skills were best put to use in another capacity. Being a younger man, he has less time on the road gathering experiences than his father, but he had some time to see him administer mundane medical help and later in life attempt to do the same himself. However, he is not anymore skilled or experienced than your average traveling salesman mystic or circus actor. If material is needed to cover the wound, they do have an ample length of canvas and rope that could be taken from the stretcher now that Geoffrey can support himself. After that though, he has little assistance to offer, and unless they need him otherwise, he spends his time kneeling upon one knee, one elbow resting on the other knee with his helmet then resting propped up on that fist. He focuses is extra-dimensional perception both into the roads to maintain watch, whilst praying to Hanser, like a guard who reads a book whilst sitting in front of a caged prisoner. After the group rises, Isaiah expresses his belief that they should press on and continue their journey, lest something else find them before they gain any progress. Their supplies are limited, and their priority should be finding the way out. However, if it is important to Helen, he will not begrudge time spent investigating. He only sensed her turning in circles as if lost (if I remember that post correctly, it's hard to find things in this thread given it's length).

Rolling for perception/awareness of threats.
>>
No. 791631 ID: c31aac

Geoffrey's dreams were usually kind of dark. Not normally in a conceptual way, but in a literal way. Empty voids of thought, the depressing result of a complete lack of imagination or adventure to draw from.
On occasion he'd have something mundane to fill those voids; A good memory of a particular sandwich, or perhaps that one pleasant afternoon he'd spent lazing around the mercenary camp and nobody yelled at him for it. That one was his favorite.
Memories were what shaped his dreams, in absence of new thoughts and ideas.

Tonight though, Geoffrey's dreams were CONCEPTUALLY dark. Grisly life-threatening injuries, conspiratorial demons, dangerous strangers, and a comical parade of bad decisions and horrible errors on his part.
He didn't even have a good pie for his trouble, just some whimsical magic tap-dancing nonsense he never wanted cluttering his head and a broken spear to cap it off! To make matters worse, for the first time new possibilities were entering his mind. Terrible visions of deathly specters, man-eating trolls, pies with teeth in them! Blood everywhere!
Geoffrey wasn't holding any truck with this new "imagination" business one bit, if that's what it all meant.

Geoffrey grumbled in his sleep, cursing the plague of Adventure and Intrigue he'd found himself coming down with.
>>
No. 791633 ID: 094652

Pog is currently re-watching the entire theatrical works of The Amazing World of Kayless from memory.

... Not really much to do, is there.
>>
No. 791722 ID: d36af7

>>791443
>investigating
Helen successfully collects a generous handful of glass shards, a damaged (but possibly repairable) lantern, and a second... copy? ... of her favorite rain-resistant traveler's cloak. The portion of hallway where she turned in a direction that only made sense while she was suffering from a serious head injury doesn't seem to have any unusual properties. Somebody did carve the dwarven word for 'a three-cornered shape of constant width' into the wall nearby, though, around knee height.

>exploring
The assessment of available paths which Isaiah made back here >>778354 remains valid. Are you going to try crossing the chasm at the broken bridge, checking out the water source, heading for the four-way intersection, or maybe something trickier?
>>
No. 791767 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 1, 6 = 10

>>791722
>dwarven word for 'a three-cornered shape of constant width'
What a beautiful language.

>something trickier?
Helen must obviously attempt to replicate exactly what she did before her supposed quantum leap to see if she can achieve the same results, make observations, and formulate a theory on the nature of the occurrence.

...

Failing any progress, the collapsed bridge seems like a no-go unless everyone suddenly sprouts wings, and a monster just came from the water source. The four way intersection seems most promising.
>>
No. 791907 ID: 094652

Pog votes that the party take one of the paths that the monsters came from, since all the other paths were bunkus and now the monsters are all gone.

Then Pog remembers they didn't kill the red slime wave. Pog squeals once before Helen slaps him to shut him up.

Pog is kind of thirsty, though. He's lost enough blood to fill Hore (noodle incident). Maybe they could go to the river and start drinking?
>>
No. 792032 ID: 77f1b6

>>791767
>Helen must obviously attempt to replicate exactly what she did before

Isaiah respects that the pursuit of knowledge is as important to Helen as his faith is to him, but he worries that every moment they spend here pulls them closer to danger. If it is essential to Helen he will not stop her, but they are not safe here.

>Maybe they could go to the river and start drinking?
Isaiah believes the 4 way intersection is a better choice at this time, however, Pog may travel to the water without him if the Orc sees fit to do so.

I assume Isaiah and Helen mak e their way to the intersection. Do either of their supernatural companions join them?
>>
No. 792033 ID: 77f1b6

>>791767
>Helen must obviously attempt to replicate exactly what she did before

Isaiah respects that the pursuit of knowledge is as important to Helen as his faith is to him, but he worries that every moment they spend here pulls them closer to danger. If it is essential to Helen he will not stop her, but they are not safe here.

>Maybe they could go to the river and start drinking?
Isaiah believes the 4 way intersection is a better choice at this time, however, Pog may travel to the water without him if the Orc sees fit to do so.

I assume Isaiah and Helen mak e their way to the intersection. Do either of their supernatural companions join them?
>>
No. 792732 ID: d36af7

>>791767
>What a beautiful language.
Well, what are the first things you associate with dwarves, apart from beards and alcohol abuse? Grand halls carved inside of mountains, vast mineral wealth, or perhaps crafting skills? Architecture, engineering, and finance all demand a firm grounding in applied math, most of which can be elegantly expressed as geometry.
>The four way intersection seems most promising.
>>792032
>>792033
>Isaiah and Helen make their way to the intersection
From the T-intersection where you fought the monster it's about 40', and a 45-degree turn to the right, to reach the T-intersection leading left to the water source area, then another 100' either straight or trending slightly to the right before you're at the T-intersection with the segment Isaiah's road-sense has pegged as a dead end. It's straight ahead, about 30' long, and there's an intermittent tapping sound echoing from the far end, like a woodpecker or a hammer and chisel. Sometimes one tap every two or three or five seconds, sometimes a quick barrage less than half a second apart in the middle of a minute or two of silence. Passages are rough-hewn, and meander a bit, so it's hard to judge direction and distance precisely.

Path toward the 4-way intersection is perpendicular off to the left, about 80' long, straight and wide and with a high enough ceiling that, given adequate light and skill, you might be able to fire a crossbow bolt and have it fly 30-40' beyond the 4-way before hitting a wall, down a path which Isaiah's road-sense says leads to a y-junction, with the right branch twisting around at least a hundred yards to a large cul-de-sac, and the left being some manner of highway on-ramp.

Left and right at the 4-way similarly have about 40' of straight hallwsy before curving off to the right and left, respectively. The left leads down in a spiral, past five side branches, then ultimately opening into the vast Cave Of A Thousand Corpses. The right leads to more tidy, angular hallways, with so many options they seem to shift around when he tries to count them.
>>
No. 792908 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 3 = 8

>Grand halls carved inside of mountains, vast mineral wealth, or perhaps crafting skills? Architecture, engineering, and finance all demand a firm grounding in applied math, most of which can be elegantly expressed as geometry.
Yes, my appraisal was genuine.

>A litany of choices
Well, a tapping sound indicates work being done, which indicates some sort of intelligence. Meeting a local should be pretty high on the list of priorities for any sort of help with directions or discovery. Road sense says it's a dead end, can we see anything blocking the path down this route? Unless there's any opposition, Helen would like to cautiously investigate this supposed dead end with the tapping sound.

Helen asks for clarification on what Isaiah means by a highway onramp. Does it lead to some sort of wide, straight path that's frequently traveled? Presents another opportunity for meeting locals. Should probably be considered in case the dead end doesn't lead to anything interesting.

Cave of a Thousand Corpses sounds interesting too. Are there really a thousand corpses, or was the name chosen for the intimidation factor? The question peaks Helen's curiosity.

Helen's not sure what to think of the other options. Cul de sac could be just about anything, but it might be of importance if it's got a long single path leading to it. Path with all the hallways seems like it would be a nightmare to navigate.

And on the subject of locals, what exactly does Helen know about the intelligent creatures who live down here? Aside from vampires.
>>
No. 792920 ID: 094652

Pog laments losing Azure, especially at this point. Pog may not understand mathematics beyond multiplication, but Azure was privately schooled in Dwarven architecture by her father's kiss-ass interns. She would know how safe this place is, physically and spiritually.
>>
No. 793339 ID: d36af7

>>792908
>cautiously investigate this supposed dead end with the tapping sound
>rolled 3, 2, 3 = 8
Sounds like somebody's trying to drill through from the other side, maybe ten or twenty feet away. Pog could help that process along from this side, especially if he got some of Geoffrey's healing first. In fact, Pog can break rock so fast, the real limiting factor is probably everybody else's ability to clear away the rubble. Some shovels would help.

>Helen asks for clarification on what Isaiah means by a highway onramp. Does it lead to some sort of wide, straight path that's frequently traveled?
Yes.
>Are there really a thousand corpses, or
At this distance, it is unclear.
>what exactly does Helen know about the intelligent creatures who live down here?
Main factions relevant to the area seem to be Minoan ox-men (an eohippoid race) under Kazleth, undead under Duke Aerim, and a priestly hierarchy ultimately serving Orcus. It's rumored that these three groups have witch-lights, air elementals, and goblins, respectively, as some sort of allies, clients, or auxiliaries, but goblin/orcusite relations may be tense lately and other details are vague or contradictory. Kazleth is long since out of his mind, sometimes kind and hospitable in strange and extravagant ways, other times driven by rage to swing his god-slaying axe with wild abandon.
>>
No. 793494 ID: b9aa79

Isaiah second's Helen's opinion that they should head towards the sound. Something drilling has the potential to be intelligent, which is worth the risks. They should have weapons ready though, it might be some sort of monstrous creature borrowing through the stone, or a hostile individual who may have the resources to overpower them.
>>
No. 793547 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 4, 3 = 11

>>793339
>stuff about factions
So the short of it is, we can't reliably predict whether any creature we meet down here will attack us on sight or not. Fair enough, we are interlopers after all.

>>793494
We are in agreement on all counts. That barrel we saw in the feast hall might help with clearing rubble. May be wise to make a quick run back to dump the water out and fetch it, provided it's not too big and heavy to move at all. Helen will ask Pog to start excavating (using simpler words than 'excavating') when everything's in order.
>>
No. 793550 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 1, 1 = 5

Pog is somewhat worried. Pog isn't a HORRIBLE EXCUSE OF A MINER. He's worse. Also, there is a hole in his torso big enough for Hore and Azure to jump in and have sex. So he's going to take this digging stuff slow, and steady, and hopefully the caves won't collapse on them all and suffocate them to death...
>>
No. 793576 ID: a3a23b

Actually, if the cosmic maw ate up that vampire's hand then maybe it can eat rubble too. Though a bit undignified, might be worth a try to drop a rock into it and see.
>>
No. 793673 ID: d36af7

>>793576
rolled 4, 4, 3 = 11
The vampire's arm was barely noticeable, like tearing apart cotton candy, but the attempt to dispose of a rock with the Cosmic Maw produces a very painful sensation inside Helen's spine, while leaving only slight cosmetic damage on the target after it's spat back out. Felt like, well... biting into a rock.

The idea that stones would have more and sturdier history than vampires seems obvious in hindsight. Sunlight and running water exhibit much the same disparity in effectiveness.

>>793550
>rolled 3, 1, 1 = 5
Pog Roastchester attacks the rock face with his pick in one hand, grabbing chunks and tossing them aside with the other. He makes it look easy, while Helen, Isaiah, and Geoffrey struggle to keep up with scooping aside leftover gravel. At half speed he's still doing as much as, maybe more than, the three of them together.

How wide and tall are you making this passage?
>>
No. 793712 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 3, 2 = 6

>>793673
Science! Next Helen will try a small piece of both copies of her coat.

>How wide and tall are you making this passage?
Pog's the one digging, but probably just as wide and tall as needed for Pog to fit through and swing a pickaxe. No need to carve out a palace down here.
>>
No. 794255 ID: c31aac

Geoffrey wakes back up with a start, rubbing his head.
"Ach, god. Feckin' demon magic. A'ight."
He pushes himself up, hands shifting to his hips as he looks around.
"So, who're you lot?"
>>
No. 794356 ID: af6e04

>>794255
"Helen. The young suit of armor over there is Isaiah, and the orc is named Pog. I'm glad to see you are feeling better. Now, if you're not opposed to making yourself useful, could you please use your healing magic to stitch up Pog and then help us clear this rubble while he digs us a tunnel?"

While they work, Helen will tell Geoffrey about the expedition and why the three are here. She'll explain how they chased off the vampires and found him injured in that ancient feast hall. Applied some quick first aid and went off to deal with a crude undead construct that was wandering the halls. 'Killed' it, returned and carried him to where they are now, and are currently digging a tunnel to hopefully meet up with some intelligent creatures on the other side.
>>
No. 794587 ID: c31aac

rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9

>>794356
"Suit of-? oh sweet merciful hells, you're a dullahan."
Geoffrey sighs, too exhausted to even react.
"Blah, long as yer not like the vampires I can handle you. 'Ere, goblin, hold still."

Geoffrey starts the ritual, arms and legs flailing in a somewhat cartoonish jig made even more hilarious by his distraught expression and ample jiggling.
The chanting started soon after, more vague gaelic as he cast a mid-level heal to stabilize his new friend.
"ᚷᛟᛞᛋ᛫ᛟᚱ᛫ᛞᛖᛗᛟᚾᛋ᛫ᛟᚱ᛫ᚹᚺᚨᛏᛖᚡᛖᚱ᛫ᚺᚨᚡᛖ᛫ᛃᛟᚢ᛬ᚺᛠᛚ᛫ᚦᛁᛋ᛫ᛟᚱᚲ᛫ᚢᛈ᛫ᚷᛟᛟᛞ"
>>
No. 796171 ID: d36af7

rolled 48, 57, 7, 85, 50 = 247

>>793712
Helen now has only one copy of her coat, though no pieces are missing from it.

>>794587
Success, even with the -3 penalty for having someone else within five yards. The hulking orc's visible wounds are closed, but Mr. Roastchester is now experiencing a sensation like icy worms writhing under his skin and inside his muscles. It's not entirely unpleasant.

Pog is carving a tunnel three feet wide and a bit over six feet high. With Strength 25 and good iron tools, using only one hand, he's breaking up a cubic foot of rock per minute, and thus making the tunnel a bit more than three feet deeper per hour, so long as the rest of the party can keep up with rubble removal. If they had more strength, and shovels, he could be going twice as fast. Digging through hard rock costs 4 fatigue per hour, and the wall's about 12 feet thick at the relevant point, so I'm rolling for five hourly random encounters.
>>
No. 796172 ID: d36af7

Alright, three hours into the digging, Isaiah's on watch and a everyone else is taking a break from hauling rocks to catch their breath. A seething 6' radius mass of crimson mist sneaks up on Isaiah, attempts to extract and consume his blood, fails (obviously), and flows on toward the dig face to determine whether his companions will be similarly disappointing. What do?
>>
No. 796189 ID: 094652

rolled 5, 2, 1 = 8

Pog is kind of busy with the tunnel, so he might not realize the specialized threat to him while he's stuck in the tunnel. But if he does notice he'll likely run away screaming from more red encroaching mass. Too bad Pog doesn't know any spells. Roll to determine if Pog notices the cloud.
>>
No. 796239 ID: 28b883

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

>>796172
Troubling that the creature caught him unawares so easily. Isaiah will dwell on that later however. A quick message of warning will be delivered as he reaches within the creature and attempts to connect with it's essence, trying to make it bleed. All the blood it collects should go somewhere so perhaps Isaiah can take advantage of that. Also, he's trying to magically cause it to start bleeding, not just trying to poke it or anything. Rolling for magic attempt.
>>
No. 796269 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7

>Helen now has only one copy of her coat, though no pieces are missing from it.
Suppose the experiment can wait til she gets her coat back from Pog.

>seething 6' radius mass of crimson mist
If I have line of sight, roll is to identify this creature. Possible vampire in mist form?
>>
No. 796359 ID: c31aac

>>796171
Geoffrey huffs, hands on his knees after the exhausting pageantry of magic.
"There. Hooh. Feelin' better, lad?"
>>
No. 796393 ID: d36af7

>>796239
>If I have line of sight
It's filling the intersection, ten yards away, blocking the only exit. So, yes, you can see it.
>identify this creature. Possible vampire in mist form?
>rolled 2, 1, 4 = 7
Related to vampires, yes, but it doesn't have any capacity to assume a non-misty form. It's a swarm entity stitched together with earth-memories, but composed of aerosolized undead blood rather than the more traditional living worms or beetles. "Wisely did ibn Shacabao say that 'happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night where the wizards are all ashes,' for the soul of the devil-bought hastens not from it's charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws. Great holes are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl." Or, in this case, learnt to fly.

Conventional weapons are doubly unlikely to be effective, since there's so little physical structure for them to disrupt. Typical banes of undead in general and vampires in particular might be worth trying, though not single-target effects. Think of it like a flock of birds, or swarm of insects: comprehensively obliterating one, or even ten, doesn't matter much when thousands more remain. Any sort of area attack or splash weapon might be effective, but sunlight or strong winds would probably be the best bet, if you could find some way to evoke such phenomena.

Alternatively, you could charge straight through it, out the other side, and flee down the open hallway in either direction. At a dead run you'd pass through in less than a second, probably faster than it could react at all, let alone exsanguinate effectively. A chase scene might not be the best option if you're already tired from hauling rocks, but then again, if you can't hurt it, the best options might be pretty bad.

You could construct a warding diagram that would hold it off... if you had at least ten minutes, two ounces of salt, and a reasonably smooth patch of floor.
>>
No. 796408 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 5, 5 = 14

>>796393
Run away it is then. Helen will get Pog's attention in any way required (yelling, throwing heavy rocks) and instruct him to do the same. Best to let the apparently bloodless cleric and the fat sorcerer deal with this sort of thing.

If I'm remembering things correctly, straight ahead should take us back to the T-intersection that leads to the water source. Heading this way, best to stick to familiar ground.
>>
No. 796428 ID: 094652

Pog grabs Geoffrey and runs!
>>
No. 796616 ID: c31aac

>>796428
Geoffrey stares at the mist, letting himself be dragged along even through his dumbfounded stupor.
Then he started bellowing.
"IS EVERY CONFOUNDED THING IN THIS BLIGHTED PIT OF HELL GONNA TRY TAE KILL ME? IS THIS JESS' MY LOT IN LIFE?"
He was red in the face now, running for his life and potentially even dragging along Pog now. Very developed running legs.
He turned to Pog as he ran, plans of escape running through his head.
"Oy, you! What's yer talent? What do ye know? Quickly!"
And then to Helen:
"An' YOU! WHERE WE OFF TO 'ERE? GOT AN ACTUAL PLAN OR WHAT?"
>>
No. 797064 ID: d36af7

>>796408
>rolled 4, 5, 5 = 14
With a lot of huffing and puffing, and stumbling, and a little bit more blood loss than anyone's completely comfortable with, the group makes it back to the previous intersection just ahead of the malevolent mist. Straight ahead to relatively familiar territory, or turn right toward the yet-unmapped water source?

Either way could potentially provide protection. The dead end room with the table and nice chairs apparently counts as enough of a dwelling to keep vampires out unless invited, but that flaw is fairly specific to vampires, possibly related to their ability to impersonate the living. Problems with crossing running water (or freshly sprouted grain, fat chance you're going to find any of that down here, or salt) applies to at least a few other types of undead. And, if you're looking for something that can block animate fog specifically... the chessboard trap has very clearly-defined columns of that omnipresent red fog over some squares, perfectly clear air over others, which implies some sort of special barrier or control mechanism.
>>
No. 797070 ID: 52b3ad

rolled 4, 4, 4 = 12

>>796616
"Of course I have a plan. Follow me."

Three havens that may or may not provide protection, but the important distinction here is that two of them are dead ends and one is presumably not. Uncharted territory might be the safest option this time. Helen turns right, toward the water source.
>>
No. 797081 ID: d36af7

Soon enough the sounds of running water become audible over those of footfalls, breath, and frantic heartbeats. Big open cave, more than Helen's lantern can clearly illuminate. Scattered stalagmites, loose pile of charred corpses in the middle, possible alternate exits to the left and right, river more or less straight ahead. Diving straight in to swim across, sticking to hip-deep shallows and walking downstream, going some other way, or trying something tricky?
>>
No. 797113 ID: b9aa79

rolled 4, 1, 1 = 6

>>796239
Did Isaiah manage to cast bleed, and if so, did it have any mesurable effect?

Assuming He didn't stand around like a suit of armor and kept with the group, Isaiah would have protested as Helen turned towards the water sources, opening them up to a Rock and a Misty Place kind of situation; Isaiah however didn't have time to voice his concerns before they had already committed. Before we rush ahead, Isaiah will do a quick read on the river and try to feel its history and flow, communing with it and checking for any dangerous or exit routes.
>>
No. 797128 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

Pog grabs Isiah "because metal + water = bad rusty fifty lashes"! Pog will now follow Helen.

One of Pog's instructors whipped him when he let some poor-quality mining equipment turn to rust. Nevermind that Pog nearly lost his life when the instructor miscalculated and ordered a dig straight into an underground lake, or how Pog saved a few fellow slave orcs with shoddy iron mining tools. Azure tried to explain oxidization, but Pog lost interest and fell asleep. Pog knows that metal can 'rot' if it stays wet, though.
>>
No. 797155 ID: c31aac

rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12

>>797070
"Ach, YEA, be VAGUE about it! /That's/ helpful! Ye can TALK WHILE YE RUN, ye know! Look, I'm doin' it 'ere!"

Geoffrey huffed, letting Pog run ahead towards his dullahan companion. He chanced a glance back at the mist, sizing it up. Looking for some kind of clue or weakness. Thinking over what he knew about the undead.

He couldn't get away, but maybe he could make IT go away.
>>
No. 797199 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8

>>797081
Idea of swimming does not seem too appealing. Sticking to the shallows, preferably far enough out that it can't reach us. Helen will try her very best to keep her books from getting ruined.

"The mist can't cross running water," between gasping breaths. "Hopefully."
>>
No. 797600 ID: d36af7

>>797199
>Helen will try her very best to keep her books from getting ruined.
>>797128
>Pog grabs Isiah "because metal + water = bad rusty fifty lashes"

Helen hands off the books to Isaiah, who stays safely back on the shore. The hungry mist turns out to be able to float over running water with no apparent problems, but is unable to reach targets submerged in the water. Geoffrey, Helen, and Pog take turns ducking under the surface, "kiting" it back and forth. When two or more living creatures are available as potential targets, it seems to prefer Geoffrey first (on account of his cursed brand), then whoever's closest. They'll eventually get tired and it won't, so this isn't a long-term fix, but it buys some time to think of strategies, or even wait for another random encounter to draw the mist's attention.
>>
No. 797670 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 2, 5 = 8

>>797600
Pfff well at least it's not very smart.

Let's get the simple stuff out of the way first. Helen will try to splash water on it and see if that has any effect.

Exsanguination process doesn't seem instant, so maybe it's plausible to let it begin taking my blood and then immediately immerse myself, taking the mist with me? Then it'll be submerged and presumably disabled.
>>
No. 797686 ID: c31aac

>>797600
(psst, what about my lore check roll?)
>>
No. 797717 ID: 094652

"Marco!" "Polo!" "Marco!" "Polo!"

Azure never explained that Pog wasn't supposed to say both names. She just found it funny.

Pog's got nothing on his mind but staying the @#$% away from Mister Death Cloud. Only thing he can think of is when Master Youngmason once said something about "the iron in our blood glows hot with determination" or something. Pog never understood what the hell the old man was rambling about, but blood DOES seem to taste the same as salt water mixed with rusted iron...
>>
No. 797736 ID: d36af7

>>797686
Lore and scrying don't work so well during a chase scene, and Pog was holding Isaiah back from the water, and I needed time to check through my notes to give that good roll the credit it deserves.
>>797113
Conventional low-circle blood-loss-inducing magic doesn't seem to work, since it's single-target, and predicated on the idea of blood contained by arteries and veins.

The arteries and veins of the earth are much easier for Isaiah to get a metaphysical grip on. This particular river, going downstream, passes two bridges and then a waterfall down onto a geologically improbable stone spike, then through some rapids, past a stone siege-man awaiting instructions, then some even more severe rapids, before finally joining up with another river, flowing under two more bridges, and finally emptying into a cluster of underground lakes where Azure Youngmason's charred and mangled corpse landed not long ago.

Upstream, looks like mostly dark airless caverns as far back as the current could plausibly be fought. This particular bank is a popular ambush site for massive shadow-hunter serpents, thick as a horse's torso but proportionately longer.
>>
No. 797738 ID: 094652

>>797736
Pog votes for a retreat to go downstream. They need gravity on their side to evade the bloody mist. Or as Pog yells between dives, "Down faster *dive* run from *dive* Mister Red Cloud!"
>>
No. 797815 ID: 2815ac

>>797738
>Pog votes for a retreat to go downstream

>>797736
>going downstream ... a waterfall down onto a geologically improbable stone spike, then through some rapids, past a stone siege-man awaiting instructions, then some even more severe rapids

Isaiah is not really worried about blood loss, but doesn't like the prospect of letting a waterfall throw them into all kinds of currents and rapids. He generally favors travel by water, but at the present moment he's not interested in being dashed to pieces on the rocks. Hanspur is gracious, but only a fool can throw themselves to the wolves and then expect their gods to answer when they plead for help.

Unfortunately, he is still young, and hasn't yet learned many of the secrets this world has to offer; he really is unsure how to handle this creature, but he suggests the others who are in more danger make a decision quickly. Perhaps if they all duck, he can attract the creature's attention and draw it away? It seems disinterested in him though- another boon from Hanspur no doubt. If Geoffery can utilize his sorcerers powers, he may be key in preventing serious harm here.
>>
No. 797850 ID: af6e04

So either go over a waterfall or wait around for a shadow serpent to show up and eat us. Our best option might just be to keep running in hopes of losing it.
>>
No. 797966 ID: 67456a

Malkov

Human Hedge Witch
Ambitions: Destroy Undead and Necromancers/Anyone who'll look past the clawed hands.
Specialization: Lightning magic
Phobia: Natural Lightning
Mutation: Clawed hands
Vulnerability: Increased ability to feel pain
Ability: "Adam's Lament", a magical form of fist-fighting that disrupts the magical energy that animates undead and golems.

Bio: Malkov comes from a distant land, one ruled over by necromancers. A former victim of their vile experiments, he escaped with the assistance of a man from a distant village. He learned that the man was a former warrior, and with his family deceased, the man allowed young Malkov to travel with him, teaching him the anti-Undead fighting style of "Adam's Lament". When he came of age, he set out into the world to do battle with any evil he found.

Description: He would be rather handsome, if not for his heavily scarred body and missing eye. A muscular specimen, he moves with a grace that belies his burly frame. Dressed in what some would recognize as a martial artist's outfit, his hands are usually exposed despite the claws, revealing callouses consistent with someone who does a lot of punching.

Inventory:
Left Hip: Jug of Wine
Neck/Chest: Iron Statuette: Depicts "Adam", the mythical "first zombie." Stolen as he escaped. A reminder of hatred.
Left Shoulder: Blanket
Right Hip: Garlic Vinegar
Right Shoulder: Kindling
Head: Wolfsbane
Somewhere Uncomfortable: Coin purse hidden within the shoe
>>
No. 798132 ID: d36af7

The waterfall is something like a quarter mile away, and there are side passages, in addition to the two outright crossing-points ("ford" might be more accurate than "bridge"), before the current gets severe enough to be a hazard.

>>797966
A martial arts style is more appropriate as a class specialization than an innate power, and "physical pain, my one weakness! How did you know?" isn't a sensical vulnerability. How about dropping the vulnerability and phobia, planning to level up as a monk with lightning/undead-bane themed chi powers, and saying that the clawed hands let your punches deal cutting or impaling damage (your choice with each attack)? Claws that size can't be effectively hidden inside ordinary gloves, and convert them to fingerless gloves when you try, but flowing sleeves or 1st circle illusory disguises work adequately.

If all that is acceptable, how does Malkov plan on traversing the chessboard?
>>
No. 798147 ID: c31aac

>>797815
>spells
>Hm, well I've got apportation...

"Ay! You! Got anythin' dangerous I can fly up into this? Like a torch or bomb or sommat? Fire might work on 'im, spread him out more!"

(Gamble I'm making here is that they're susceptible to air currents or heat, boiling blood CAN'T be good for you and I doubt they can handle their parts getting too far away from each other.)
>>
No. 798186 ID: b9aa79

rolled 6, 4, 3 = 13

>>798147
Isaiah has a jug of oil- he really does need some for health purposes, but if Geoffery's confident they could make a cloth fuse and he could magic into the air as an improvised bomb. Roll is to get the materials needed to create and light a Molotov cocktail esqu contraption from what they have available.
>>
No. 798488 ID: d36af7

>>798186
Basic incendiary flask doesn't make much sense in this context. At best, you'd end up with a burning oil slick on the surface of the water, which the bloodsucking mist-swarm could easily evade, if the puddle didn't just burn itself out or drift off downstream. What you need is a way to direct and focus the fire, or at least get it to go off all at once.

In "Echoes of the Old World," Isaiah finds a thorough description of the Sarnathi Thermobaric Atrocity. By some unknown ritual, the entire water content of a rainstorm was transmuted to oil, which then ignited. Rather than a single point (like a candle) or a sheet (like a wooden wall), savants theorize that the entire volume of fuel-air mist burned almost simultaneously. obliterating the once-great port city of Sarnath, dramatically altering the surrounding landscape, causing temporary floods and permanent hearing loss on adjacent islands more than a hundred miles away.

To duplicate that devastation on a smaller scale, using only a dozen pounds of oil rather than hundreds of millions of tons, you'd need something along the lines of a teakettle: heat up the oil so it's close to ignition temperature, boil it (bearing in mind the boiling point of oil is higher than that of water), force the oil vapor through a narrow spout to propel it in a particular direction, then provide a spark somewhere near the center of the cloud while keeping all your delicate organs as far away from the cloud as possible. Geoffrey's telekinetic spell could wield flint and steel to provide the necessary spark-at-a-distance, and conveniently he's also the best at attracting the murder-fog's attention so as to lure it into the target zone.

Bad news is, hiding under the water will not necessarily be adequate protection from such an explosion. Might actually make things worse, depending on various theories which nobody of record has yet been willing to thoroughly test.
>>
No. 798490 ID: 094652

Too bad Pog's too stupid to consider the effects of water pressure on a kettle bomb, causing the lake to explode into a fine mist which could affect the moisture content of the cloud, saturating it to the point of unconsciousness. Yep. Too bad Pog can't suggest that, or suggest PV=nrt to compress the gas into something far more flammable.

No, instead, Pog just continues his little game of Marco Polo Not Mister Death Cloud.
>>
No. 798500 ID: 67456a

Yeah, the changes sound fine! Do the lines in between pieces look at all "separated"? Like, is there any sort of border between spaces? Because if so, Malkov is going to waltz right across those borders.
>>
No. 798501 ID: 67456a

Okay, apparently I've forgotten how to roll dice.
>>
No. 798510 ID: 3d2d5f

>>798500
Per earlier descriptions, there are 6 inch borders between the tiles on the board.

>>798501
"dice 3d6" (all lower case, one space, quotation marks not included) is the appropriate syntax. It looks like you accidentally swapped the space for a plus sign.
>>
No. 798511 ID: 67456a

rolled 4, 4, 2 = 10

Right, Malkov attempts to walk across the borders then.
>>
No. 798526 ID: 0ce872

Glad to see that Isaiah has discovered the amazing power of books, and Helen generally will approve of the solution that involves a big explosion but it looks like we just don't have the materials. Maybe if somebody brought a metal or clay style oil lamp instead of a glass lantern. And we had time to start a fire.
>>
No. 798550 ID: d36af7

>>798526
>start a fire
>>797966
>Right Shoulder: Kindling

>>798511
>rolled 4, 4, 2 = 10
The chessboard is crossed without incident. Through a door and down the hall on the other side, there's a wide-open chasm. Path to the left hugs the wall, vanishing into shadow and fog beyond the light of a tiny electrical arc between Malkov's thumb and forefinger. To the right, or nearly straight ahead depending on how you think about it, there's a natural stone bridge across the chasm. The far half of the bridge appears to be damaged, and covered by a thick translucent blanket of something like that red caramel in which apples are often dipped.
>>
No. 798556 ID: 67456a

>>798550

Wow, okay, that bridge just sounds like bad news no matter how you slice it. Carefully, Malkov extends a finger, and sends a small arc of electricity into the fluid, to see if it reacts in any way. Say, lurching up and attempting to murder him.
>>
No. 798558 ID: 67456a

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

Okay, actually rolling this time
>>
No. 798638 ID: d36af7

After about half an hour of playing amphibious keep-away with the bloodsucking mist-swarm, four translucent elvenoid figures carrying torches approach the opposite bank of the river, eighty feet away. They then flee, as silently as they arrived, when they realize they've attracted the mist's attention. Soon, Geoffrey can feel by sympathetic resonance with his cursed brand that it's far enough away, and not returning.

Helen, Geoffrey, and Pog are now soaking wet and suffering mild hypothermia, in addition to the regular muscle fatigue from all that digging and the chase scene.

>>798556
>rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17
Redirecting chi into that attack disrupted Malkov's concentration on his light source. By the time he gets the light-arc going again, he's knee deep in mobile, aggressively caustic mud, which is, as he suspected,
>lurching up and attempting to murder him.
>>
No. 798660 ID: 67456a

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

>>798638
Haha, wow, fuck no. Malkov immediately sets electricity coursing across his feet, trying to shock the slime into just getting off him. He also attempts to pull his legs free and simply get down the other, foggy corridor.
>>
No. 798671 ID: 805d2b

Isaiah would like to pursue the elvenoid figures, but seeing as they're across the river he'll hold off for now. Noticing his companions seems worse for wear, he suggests they make a fire and rest for a short while so that everyone may regain some strength.
>>
No. 798676 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13

Looks like Helen's plan worked out swimmingly. She'll drag herself back to dry ground and lie face down in traditional victory pose until she's regained enough energy to move.
>>
No. 798683 ID: 094652

"... What just happened?"

Pog is confused by the resolution of this encounter, as 90% of encounters for Azure and Pog involve fleeing, killing all enemies, Azure talking, or Azure @#$%ing. In Pog's mind, a third party walking in and attracting the monster does not make sense, as he believes all enemies are working with each other. Pog doesn't understand the first thing about politics, only how to 'protect nice people' and sometimes kill anyone else. Which is the unfortunate reason why he will dangerously play with his weapons in a crowded street full of people that pretend he doesn't exist.

As they climb from the river, Pog eagerly helps up Helen and Geoffrey with ease. He may be in a state of excessively low internal temperature, but he has been frozen too many times to consider how dangerous pneumonia can be. Plus, shivering is one of the few things that makes Azure hug him and even make a few cuts in her skin to induce a fire!

"POG DOES HUGGIES! Pog miss Mistress Azure, Mistress Azure so warm..."

Pog will now group hug. Pog has just enough watts in his brain to suggest making a fire out of oil, or just do whatever they're doing for fire now.
>>
No. 798691 ID: c31aac

Geoffrey sighs, thoroughly confused and miserable.
"Well. Tha' worked out. So, dullahan. What's yer thing? Why ain't you settin' off my curse and tryna kill me?"
>>
No. 798720 ID: 805d2b

rolled 1, 5, 6 = 12

Isaiahs helmet lifts his head from making a fire, in what could be a quizzical expression- it's hard to tell when he's covered in armor.

"I'm not familiar with that word- who are you referring to? Pog, Helen, Myself, or perhaps those elven looking folk who recently departed?"

Roll to start a fire
>>
No. 798744 ID: c31aac

"Yer a Dullahan, roit? Headless, go around throwin' blood at people and ferryin' people off to th' afterlife? One o' them faye types. Usually yer lot just tries ta kill me! Cursed wossname, right?"
Geoffrey pulls down his shirt, turning to show off the open wound on the back of his neck.
"Itches like a BUGGER I tell ye what. So why ain't you tryna kill me?"
>>
No. 798825 ID: 4e64c4

rolled 3, 3, 2 = 8

>>798744
Isaiahs voice turns an unnatural icy cold tone.

"I do not like what you are insinuating . Vargas. You can clearly see my head, as evidenced by my helmet. You have no right, no basis, no evidence to make such accusations. I'm going to take watch. Let me know when you all are ready to leave."
Isaiah goes back the way the came until he is out of sight and tries to regain his composure. Taking a stationary position watching the entrance, with a combination of road sense and sentry duties so things that don't walk won't sneak up on him again.
>>
No. 798838 ID: d36af7

>>798660
Boots lost, feet badly burned but functional, Malkov flees along the fog-shrouded cliffside ledge. It's about ten feet wide, rough stone wall to the left, open space with no visible bottom to the right. Shortly he reaches a dead end. In the ultraviolet glare of his electrical arc, another set of footprints is dimly visible, leading straight off the edge.

Jump? Climb? Double back?

>>798720
Helen's lantern is already lit, so starting a fire is easy enough. Tricky part is where you're getting fuel. Pick over the charred goblin corpses for burnable bits, or check out the other nearby caves? There are three readily accessible passages, other than the way you came in: two on the right (relative to the direction you came in during the chase), one of which is close to the riverbank and the other of which smells musky like some large lonely carnivore's den, while the last is on the left, way back, half-hidden behind stalagmites. The one closest to the river is a dead end, while those other two are open on the far side.
>>
No. 798846 ID: c31aac

>>798825
"Ach, sorry lad, i'm a bit wary what with the-"
Geoffrey pauses, something internally clonking into place.

"...wait, if yer not faye how'd ye get my las' name? I never told any of you lot that?"
Geoffrey plonks down on his ample rear, thinking back.
"Yeah, i don't recall mentionin' that."
>>
No. 798848 ID: 094652

Pog looks like a fish for thirty seconds. With an audible wince he suggests the obvious: tear out his flesh and burn the fat for warmth.

Healing magic is weird.
>>
No. 798856 ID: 4e64c4

rolled 1, 3, 4 = 8

>>798838
Checking the goblin near the river bank first, then the ones back the way we came, then the one behind the stalagmites.

>>798846
"Names were recorded on the charter before we began the expedition- the document was made public, available to everyone in the group. I would suggest you utilize caution when slandering your companions, comparing me to some sort of m- mmonster" he says, stuttering a bit before continuing, "or some such creature. I don't take kindly to that sort of claim. Now why don't you all help me look for fuel, the mists here are cold and you need to recover some strength. If Pog wishes to donate flesh I won't stop him, but you'll have to provide healing obviously. I don't think the situation is so desperate as to turn on eachother yet."

Rolling for search and alertness
>>
No. 798859 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 4, 6 = 16

>Pog will now group hug
Helen is about to protest, but the body heat is a little too welcomed.

>Last name
"You were probably listed in the expedition charter. Now can we please focus on the task of keeping ourselves from freezing?"

>tear out his flesh and burn the fat for warmth.
Helen tells Pog that she'd just as soon make the trek back to that feast hall, cut the table into tinders and burn it. "We're not desperate enough to start dismembering our own, yet." As a matter of fact, do we still have that stretcher we built out of old loose wood or is it ditched?
>>
No. 798868 ID: 67456a

rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13

Malkov sends an arc of lightning out in front of him, to see if there's an invisible path for the lightning to impact.

If it hits anything, he keeps the lightning going as he steps forward. If not, he attempts to climb down.
>>
No. 799049 ID: d36af7

rolled 5, 5, 3 = 13

>>798868
No sign of an invisible path, and not as many handholds on the wall as Malkov might prefer, but he's making progress downward... until the sole of his left foot sloughs off with a horrid slippery ripping sound. Distraction from the pain causes him to lose his grip and fall. Fortunately, what appeared to be a solid rock wall turns out to be a camouflage blanket draped over some flimsy scaffolding (demolished by the impact), so he only takes as much damage as I just rolled. Kindling supply more than doubled, stone-pattern camouflage blanket obtained, walking movement speed halved (at least until he can get that foot properly bandaged). Possible additional complications depending on severity of damage from the fall.
>>
No. 799055 ID: d36af7

rolled 1, 1, 5 = 7

Well, that's an incapacitating injury, and quite possibly a permanently crippled limb. I'll check for hit location, while you can feel free to generate a new character. Maybe a medic, with some sort of rapid-movement ability?
3-4 Skull
5 Face
6-7 Right Leg
8 Right Arm
9-10 Torso
11 Groin
12 Left Arm
13-14 Left Leg
15 Hand
16 Foot
17-18 Neck
>>
No. 799063 ID: c31aac

Geoffrey sighs, watching the man he just healed trundle off in a tizzy.
He turned to talking with Helen as the fire warmed them, on account of his tertiary companion Pog making him nervous.
"So. You, ah, nun lass. What's your motivation in all this? Like, I fell down 'ere on accident but why's one o' you nun types skulkin' about this pit?"
>>
No. 799098 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 4, 6 = 15

>>799063
"Hm? Oh, I'm not a nun. I only said that to scare off the vampires. Speaking of which, we should make it a priority to obtain some method of warding against undead. We've already had two close calls."

Since we're lacking in the salt and freshly sprouted grain department, is there some sort of useful curse Helen can inflict upon the vampires that attacked her and Isaiah? She still has the crossbow bolt that pierced the vampire's face, and her tome of curses.
>>
No. 799112 ID: c31aac

>>799098
"Crosses. Crosses do it usually, runnin' water too. Before I passed out I was plannin' to bust up a table for a suit of 'em. Stakes too, the wood kind not meat."

Geoffrey waits a beat as the absurdity of his own plan strikes him. Then another beat as he processes it, shrinking into himself in embarrassment.

"'m not perfect unner pressure, bite me."
>>
No. 799113 ID: 214648

rolled 5, 5, 5 = 15

Salt?

Pog has MANY different types of food ingredients in his inventory. Maybe he didn't eat the salt yet?
>>
No. 799313 ID: d36af7

>>798859
Left the stretcher behind at the dead-end tunnel where you were digging. Pog would've dropped his tools, too, if they weren't chained on.

>>799098
>is there some sort of useful curse Helen can inflict upon the vampires that attacked her and Isaiah?
>rolled 5, 4, 6 = 15
Not that she can think of at the moment. In fact, between the damage from square G2 back on the chessboard, slight blood loss from dashing through the vampiric mist, vigorous exertion, wallowing in cold water, and still having those wet clothes on, she's having a little bit of trouble just getting her hands to stop shaking enough to page through the book of curses, or her eyes to focus on the letters.

>>799113
The salt in Pog's supply of salted meat is impure enough to be unsuitable for ritual use. Might be a "better than nothing" option, though.

>>798856
Isaiah finds a few scraps of blackened leather and bone which suffice to get a small campfire started, with a bit of help from a splash of lamp oil, and then hundreds of pounds of potential fuel in the first side cave he checks. Looks like some sort of nest. Break it up an armload at a time and start burning it, at risk of angering the nest-builder?
>>
No. 799382 ID: 383927

rolled 5, 1, 1 = 7

>>799313
Break off a single armful, or enough for an hour of fire, whichever is smaller.
>>
No. 799638 ID: af6e04

>>799112
>Left the stretcher behind at the dead-end tunnel where you were digging.
Well, no going back for it at the moment. Maybe if we decide to resume excavation. Wonder if those elvenoids who showed up were the ones doing the digging?

>>799313
"Your plan sounds only marginally worse than jumping into a freezing river."
>>
No. 799714 ID: d36af7

rolled 90, 74, 8 = 172

>>799638
>Wonder if those elvenoids who showed up were the ones doing the digging?
They would have had to have stopped digging shortly after the vampiric mist arrived, then circled around either past the chasm and chess puzzle behind you, or the river and other paths Isaiah scried up ahead, or above or below somehow, traveling very fast even though they didn't appear to be in any sort of a hurry, and then met up with you again by sheer coincidence. Also, they didn't seem to be carrying any digging tools. Altogether, seems fairly unlikely, though not quite impossible.

>>799382
Resting for an hour by a fire should be enough to sort out most of the hypothermia problems, but bright lights in high-traffic areas attract a certain amount of attention. Rolling for random encounters.
>>
No. 799942 ID: d36af7

>>799714
Nothing exciting happens until the fire's burning low and you're all about as recovered as you're going to get without a full night's sleep.

Helen has constructed an extremely crude warding diagram around the campsite, using strips of jerky from Pog's supplies. Just as you're getting ready to leave, one of the salty meat bits out at the diagram's perimeter suddenly swells up and floats off the ground, seemingly borne aloft by a fist-sized cloud of polychromatic smoke. Two others adjacent to it soon follow, almost as if someone was trying to peel away the diagram while holding it intact.
>>
No. 799959 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8

>>799942
"Why, why did it have to be another intangible?" Roll is to try to identify what we're seeing. At this point Helen would probably rather die than spend another half hour in that river.
>>
No. 800158 ID: d36af7

>>799959
>rolled 2, 2, 4 = 8
Helen identifies the intruder as a 10' cube of living translucent fluid with almost exactly the same refractive index as clear air, or what the goblins call an "Empty Sweeper." Practically unstoppable, paralyzes on contact and rapidly dissolves flesh, but nonsapient, and movement speed tops out at a leisurely stroll. In a wide-open cave like this you should be able to simply walk around it, taking care to stay beyond the two-yard reach of it's pseudopods.
>>
No. 800182 ID: c31aac

rolled 3, 5, 1 = 9

>>799942
Geoffrey throws a rock at the general vicinity of the anomaly, grumpy and terrified of this new hellish encounter.
>>
No. 800223 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7

>>800158
Oh thank God it's just another cube.

Helen will till everybody not to panic. We just have to keep our distance. Tricky part in this situation is telling exactly where the sweeper is so we can stay far enough away. Helen will chuck a few more rocks into it from different angles until she gets a good idea of the area it takes up.

We probably don't want to go into the river again, and we definitely don't want to go back to that dead end we were excavating (though it's a shame to abandon the project after so much work). Best option might be the highway at this point.

If I remember correctly, we must go back the way we came, turn left, follow straight through the four way intersection, and turn left at a Y-junction. Helen will ask Isaiah to confirm her assessment with his road sense. We don't want to run into a dead end, whatever we do.
>>
No. 800238 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 3, 3 = 8

For the barest hint of a whiff of thought, Pog wonders if he could use the goop on his weapons. Luckily, Pog's stupidity means he does not pursue this unfruitful and corrosive endeavor, and opts to follow the others. What could possibly go
>>
No. 800252 ID: b9aa79

rolled 5, 1, 4 = 10

Isaiah of course checks her directions, and leads the way; he makes a detour back towards the nest like structure in order to grab a small handful of debris that they can use to track the sweeper's progress, much like a reverse breadcrumb trail. He of course tells the others what he is doing, and insists they travel along ahead of him; he'll keep the rear and track it's progress
>>
No. 800714 ID: d36af7

>>800223
>>800252
The 'Empty Sweeper' actually was showing up on Isaiah's road-sense, but only dimly, as something halfway between a puddle of water and maintenance crew. Should be easy enough to avoid now that he knows what to look for.

You make it to the 'highway' without further mishap, and even manage to salvage half the meat from that 'warding diagram.' The highway is yet another boxy stone corridor, 20' high and wide, headed nowhere in particular. Big pointless loop gives Isaiah a sort of hall-of-mirrors feeling. There's ankle-deep red liquid on the floor, and dozens of 'off-ramps,' including one directly opposite where you came in. Looking for anything in particular?
>>
No. 800750 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 3, 5, 4 = 12

>>800714
Well, unless we're missing the clearly labeled neon lettering that says "Surface Exit This Way", I suppose the next best direct would be up. Anything of the exits seem to climb in elevation noticeably?
Of course, new room, new spot check. Rolling for Vigilance
>>
No. 800794 ID: 094652

rolled 1, 4, 2 = 7

Pog will now dig climbing grooves to go "up".
>>
No. 800803 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 5, 3 = 12

>>800714
Helen will search for signs of intelligent creatures passing through.
>>
No. 800902 ID: c31aac

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>>800714
Geoffrey will do his best not to get in anyone's way or attract more horrible monsters!
>>
No. 801129 ID: 67456a

As Wendy arrives in the chessboard chamber, her immediate first thought is expressed verbally.

Wendy: "Wow, walking across this could not be a worse idea." She says. She kneels beside the chessboard, examining the tiles, her awareness spreading into the mechanisms of the device.

Her palm hovers over a tile, close, but not too close. Not touching. She knows she could outright die if she were to touch it.

She wonders what sort of stupid idiot you'd have to be to just walk across these tiles. You'd just freeze to death or something. Or it'd summon a gnoll to threaten you with sexual violation.

Only someone with more fervor than common sense would do that!
>>
No. 801253 ID: 67456a

rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13

Rolling
>>
No. 801267 ID: d36af7

Which tile specifically is Wendy examining?

>>800794
>>800902
>not to get in anyone's way or attract more horrible monsters
This presents a paradox: the best way to avoid attracting attention would be silencing Pog's thunderous hammer-strikes, the sound of which is echoing all along the broad, smooth-walled corridor.
>>
No. 801504 ID: 094652

Pog says the others should do their smart things and find another path if they can, but he sees an exit, so he's doing what comes naturally and building a path directly to it. And now, in Pog-speak:

"You do smart thing, and find easier exit, BUT, Pog see blocked exit, Pog MAKE exit, Duh."

Pog is still dumb, but he is a quick decision maker. It helped him survive in tense situations where others would have spent precious life-or-death moments doubting themselves. Of course, most of these moments required more brawn than brain, so that isn't the case here. But he's not going to stop chiseling when the monsters already know where they are. (Pog doesn't realize that
"bacon-eating invisible box monster" isn't allied with every single entity in the dungeon)
>>
No. 801742 ID: c31aac

>>801504
"Oy! Weird dog thing! More you do that more come, cit it out ay?"
>>
No. 801749 ID: 67456a

>>801267
I'm gonna say A4, for tile examination.
>>
No. 802101 ID: d36af7

>>800750
>>800803
There's a side path off the main 'highway' which slopes gently upward for twenty yards before ending at a lichen-encrusted door. Eight feet wide, but you have to duck to avoid bumping your head on the five foot high ceiling.

>>801749
>A4
How are you reaching over A1, A2, and A3? Well, assuming you meant 'fourth one from the left,'
it's a variant warding glyph, which is set up to be triggered by contact or passage through a volume of space directly above it, but not by examination (fortunately!) or by opening an attached container. Probably also has the usual anti-tamper trigger, so it'd go off if damaged, unless the damage was done in a very specific precise way. Triggered effects can include color changes, subtle manipulation of air currents or a very unsubtle blast of fire (5d8 damage), both filling that same volume of space, or necromancy which would cause instant death for most, severe injury (3d8+15) even on a successful save. That last can only work by touch, but the others could be set off by either touch or proximity... or there might be no effect. It's networked to exchange information with some sort of immaterial abacus deep under the floor, which can provide feedback to enable or disable different functions, and presumably coordinate between different tiles. Good news is, there's no sign any part of the trap is intelligent, or capable of perceiving anything more complex than the presence or absence, and approximate position, of animate intruders. Whatever rules it operates by should be strictly deterministic, with no secret keys or passwords.
>>
No. 802789 ID: d9d76d

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

>>802101
Isaiah signals to the others he has found a path forward, and requests everyone who wishes to progress follow his lead. Isaiah will lead, followed by Helen, then Geoffrey and finally Pog. Obviously Isaiah, being rather tall and at least somewhat imposing, has to duck; does this inconvenience any of the other party members? And, as a follow up question, does the width of the road look as though it may cause any sort of impediment if they wish to move past eachother? Rolling to see if there's anything Isaiah notices that escaped his road sense
>>
No. 802811 ID: 094652

rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6

Pog may need to crouch to fit through here.

Pog decides to walk backwards. He's going to be slow anyway, might as well cover the rear.

Roll for dexterity, to ensure Pog doesn't slip TOO often...
>>
No. 802835 ID: c31aac

rolled 6, 1, 2 = 9

>>802789
Geoffrey goes along with the idea, seeing no immediately better option!

He also tries to keep an eye out for a hefty throwing rock to snag as he travels, since he lacks a ranged option without his spear.
>>
No. 802880 ID: d36af7

>>802789
Pog is forced to bend over so far he's choosing between crawling on hands and knees, or scraping the back of his iron collar along the ceiling. There's still enough room to squeeze past him, though. Isaiah, Helen, and Geoffrey have just about enough room to walk side-by-side with linked elbows, in an awkward half-crouch.

The lichen-encrusted door opens toward you, pivoting upward on hinges bolted to the ceiling. On the far side of the door is a 15' square room with a stone pedestal in the center. On the pedestal is a blueberry pie, steaming hot as if fresh from the oven. A lone middle-aged orc is slumped against the middle of the far wall, hair grown out like a patch of briars, face slack and expressionless, battleaxe across his lap.

"Whenever the pedestal is unobserved for more than a moment, a new pie appears." he says, "I have been watching it since the day my four brothers died, and in all that time, whatever little god performs the trick has never faltered. I will stay until my eyes are clear enough of grief to watch the pie. unblinking, as it rots away to dust, or until that little god watches me rot away to dust. I care not which. Now, will you go on your way, or face me in battle?"

Crimson fog swirls languidly around the ceiling. There are no other apparent exits from the room.
>>
No. 802901 ID: d22dc0

>>802880
"If you would take up arms against myself or those I travel with, then I would have no qualms about engaging you. We seek to leave this place entirely- your hostility is unwarranted, and may ultimately prove detrimental to both yourself and my group of compatriots. I suggest you stand down and make no further threats. You may call me Isaiah. I am son of Elohim, and prophet to Hanspur. By what name may I call you?" Isaiah stands still a few steps into the room, making no distinct gestures or any real discernible movements while speaking. His total stillness and lack of any outward body language or emotive action while speaking has often been off putting for others in the past.
>>
No. 802904 ID: 6484b3

rolled 1, 4, 5 = 10

>>802880
Helen will survey the odd scene in front of her. Any glyphs or other signs of magic or illusion?

Don't know how talkative the orc looks, but Helen will offer to stay for a while and help watch the pie.
>>
No. 802920 ID: 094652

Pog's feeble mind looks at the pie.

Days of yellow sun and low skies. When the world was gold and the food was greasy. Pog would savor every bite of fried chicken as he sat on the floor, table scraps thrown to him every thirty seconds by Mistress Azure. Master would discuss his latest adventures with Mistress Azure, and as always, she would look away as they turned from tales of action and romance to economics and architecture. Pog figured she couldn't understand the math any better than he could. But oh, would she listen when that scent of blueberries and crust filled the air. When the dish finally came. When all would be fluffy and crusty and filled with heaps of sugar. Blueberry... Strawberry Banana Kiwi Lemon Kumquat pie, and a hundred other fruity flavors that Pog couldn't identify. Pog didn't like pie, too many flavors left a bitter/sour aftertaste, but Mistress Azure would listen to anything for a single slice.

Then one day, the pies stopped coming. Mistress Azure was grouchy for a week. She cried herself to sleep for a month. Pog didn't know what to do. But pies were never served in the Youngmason mansion ever again. Pog once threatened a cook to make his mistress some pie, but he just sobbed that he simply couldn't, and no one could give a proper pie to the mistress ever again. On the road, Mistress Azure would occasionally bake herself a pie, but Pog could tell from the scraps that it was a hollow shell of the flavors that came from a proper creation. At least he could eat this kind, and they tasted great when the fruits were replaced with meats and salt. Pog always wondered where the proper pies came from, if no cook could make them.

Here. Here is where Fruit Pie is born.

Pog wants to chop the pedestal from the ground and take it with him, where pie will be born again and again for his mistress to enjoy, and all will be well in the Youngmason home once more. But the team is worth more than all the pie in the world.

So Pog demands they fight as one, turn this fat excuse of a worker into target practice, and take that pie making pedestal once and for all!

(You uh... you may want to interject. Pog is running on his own agenda, so give him a reason to relent, or explain that these pies are poisoned, and he'll back down. But if you want an excuse to fight the Orc for exp...)
>>
No. 802925 ID: c31aac

"Oy, but why not just eat the pie? Seems a jolly waste of free pie, innit?"
>>
No. 802930 ID: d36af7

>>802901
>I suggest you stand down
"My butt's already on the floor. I can't stand any further down than this without hurting my back."
>>802920
Pog successfully snaps the pedestal off near it's base, but fumbles and drops the hot pie as he turns to leave. When he turns back, he's still holding a 150-pound cylinder of stone, but there's an intact pedestal with a new pie on it.
>>802925
"I do eat, sometimes."
>>802904
No glowing runes or other straightforward signs of magic, but that's to be expected if it's somehow been set up to work only when unobserved.

In response to the offer of companionship, the orc stares at Helen - or possibly through her, at something a thousand yards away - but says nothing.
>>
No. 802964 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 6 = 15

>>802930
>but there's an intact pedestal with a new pie on it.
Hmm, not the first time this sort of thing has happened to us down here.

>In response to the offer of companionship, the orc stares at Helen - or possibly through her, at something a thousand yards away - but says nothing.
Taking this as a yes, Helen sits down near the orc. Roll is to gently grill him for some more intelligible information like how his four brothers died, how long ago it happened, and what it has to do with the pie.
>>
No. 802981 ID: 094652

rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7

>>802964
Pog recognizes that scowl. Strange to see pure hate on a fellow orc slave, and not a slavemaster.

Pog will attempt to calm down the orc, explaining (in simple, brutish sentences) that he'd like an endless supply of fruit pie for his mistress. And that Miss Helen's brain is leaking out of a hole in the back of her head which is why she's apparently even stupider than Pog right now.
>>
No. 803000 ID: d36af7

>>802964
>gently grill him for some more intelligible information
>rolled 3, 6, 6 = 15
She asks some reasonable-sounding questions; he continues staring in the same direction as before. She pokes him gently in the side of the head; he flails a hand as if to push her away, then falls over sideways and lays on the floor.

>>802981
>Pog will attempt to calm down the orc,
He is already approximately calm, to the point of utter passivity.
>explaining (in simple, brutish sentences) that he'd like an endless supply of fruit pie for his mistress.
>rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7
"Fine. Whatever. Take as many as you can carry."
>>
No. 803099 ID: 094652

Yay, free rations!

Pog will stuff his ration packs with pie. Luckily, they're designed to hold all kinds of foodstuffs in neatly partitioned triple-stitched steel-reinforced super-enhanced cured leather pouches, so they'll keep for a while.

Opening the pack is a &!+(# but it's worth all those easily stored ingredients, foodstuffs, and rations. Since Pog has eaten so much, there's enough room for slice upon slice upon slice. Pog asks the others to take more free pie while they still can.

Pog's not eating the pie, though. Azure taught Pog that he should always accept food from strangers, but should wait to get it tested for poison and bitter flavor first. Pog is extremely resistant to poison but sensitive to bitterness anyway.
>>
No. 803102 ID: c31aac

Geoffrey squints, almost laying a hand on Pog's shoulder before remembering they're some kind of horrifying dog thing and deciding against getting his fingers nipped off for his trouble.


"Ach. Somethin's not right 'ere. Why're you so set on keepin' the infinite pie from happenin' there? This poison pie? Some kinda- I dinnae, WORLD ENDING pie? What kinna madcap reason is there tae watchin' a magic pie?"
>>
No. 803103 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13

Well if the orc won't be more forthcoming, then Helen will just go ahead and commence the mad scientist routine. First step is to feed a pie to the cosmic maw. Then if that doesn't do anything cataclysmic, she'll ask Pog to chip off a piece of the pedestal and try to feed that to it too.

Then she'll ask him to start excavating other parts of the room and seeing if they come back when the group looks away. All the while Helen will search for some sort of magical power source.
>>
No. 803140 ID: d36af7

>>803103
>First step is to feed a pie to the cosmic maw. Then if that doesn't do anything cataclysmic,
>rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13
Seems fine at first. Deliciously warm and juicy feeling somewhere in the same space as, but not inside of, her lungs. Then, after approximately as much time as the specific pie in question had been observed to exist, something goes wrong. Helen can't remember the Cosmic Maw ever having vomited something up before, but there's a first time for everything... or maybe it's happened before, and there are some memories she doesn't mind having lost. Half-digested pie filling, crust fragments, some sort of tarry black bile, and... teeth? The first convulsive expulsion only had a handful of them, tiny white flakes like rodent fangs. Second wave, with the last of the recognizable pie bits, had more nearly human-sized teeth. After that came chisel-like incisors over an inch wide, then murderous canines as long and thick as bananas, then cobblestone-sized molars jumbled up with irregular fragments of polished quartz and white marble. Several hundred pounds total, once her curse settles back down.
When the next pie appears, the mournful orc sniffs, twitches, shows some glimmer of surprise. He stands up, leaning on his axe like a cane, and staggers over to the pedestal. "That's not blueberry." He thrusts a hand into the steaming crust, cringes and grunts in pain at burned fingers, but continues digging. "That's not any kind of berry! It looks almost like... celery, but thick and red and sour. What the hell did you do to my pie?" He's got the battleaxe up in a guard position, seems much more lucid, incredulity gradually transitioning into anger.
>>802835
There is now an abundant supply of rocks and rock-like items suitable for throwing, though they're somewhat sticky and gross.
>>
No. 803151 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 2, 4 = 10

>Infinite pie corrupted
... Pog is going to hurt Helen after he MURDERS THE LAZY ORC FOR BEING LAZY

Pog quickly stabs the pie with his pickaxe and hurls it at the orc!
>>
No. 803193 ID: d36af7

>>803151
"Does this witless mountain of meat call itself an orc? You might have been my brother..."

Pog whacks the already eviscerated pie with his pickaxe, then attempts to throw the pickaxe at this other orc, who simply takes a half-step backward. The thrown pick stops short at the end of it's chain, close enough to spatter rhubarb juice onto the target's nose. As it clangs to the ground, he kicks it aside to loop all the way around the pedestal. When it pulls taut, the pick catches on the chain, anchoring Pog's shoulder to the pedestal like a boat to a wharf.

"...might have been, if you weren't born in some rancid elf-swamp of a city, with a collar 'round your neck. Let me set you free, now, so that someday we may meet again."

He steps forward, plants one foot on the tangled chain. As Pog pulls back, the pie-room orc jumps, and is launched toward the foggy ceiling by their combined strength. He comes back down swinging his battleaxe in an overhand chop aimed at the crown of Pog's thick skull.
>>
No. 803217 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6

>>803193
Helen tries to recover, head swimming, from the unpleasant but fascinating experience.

"I'm sure the pie is still edible, you are overreacting! Why are we fighting now!?" Diplomacy roll to try to get the two to calm down as she clumsily picks up her crossbow.
>>
No. 803231 ID: 094652

rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16

Pog quickly dashes towards the pedestal, confident that he can take an axe to the nuts compared to an axe to the head, breaking the pedestal (again) and using it to smash the Orc! All before Helen is done speaking.
>>
No. 803303 ID: d36af7

rolled 6, 3 + 2 = 11

>>803231
>rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16
Pog does not dodge successfully, and takes four times the damage I just rolled. Just before losing consciousness, he notices that creamy stuff is leaking through the roof of his mouth, which tastes somewhat like key limes.

>>803217
>diplomacy
>rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6
"I was attacked; I defended myself. Were you the owner, or wife perhaps? I have no gold to offer for damages, but if you know of a nearby magistrate who could hear the case I'll go willingly."
>>
No. 803351 ID: c31aac

>>803140
Geoffrey dry-heaves, then shakes himself free of the nausea long enough to start getting properly scared again.

"Ach! yer- yer back just vomited up teeth! Tha feck was that?"
>>
No. 803353 ID: c31aac

>>803303
"Ach, and now the dog thing's dyin' too?"
>>
No. 803356 ID: fc3fc0

>>803303
Isaiah, who has been standing motionless, a silent observer, comments.

"There is little need need to seek legal recourse. We all live and die by our actions. He made a decision, and now faces the consequences. I do not know of what significance this pie was to you, but I regret that our actions have brought put us at odds. We seek to exit this place- our expedition took a foul turn, and there is little to be salvaged save from our lives at this point. You offered to join us- my companion is not this Orc's mistress, so it would not be to face trial, but if you would travel with us to the surface, we may find ourselves with better odds as a group traveling together. May I ask your name?"

Isaiah does not feel that Pog has thus far been an asset to their journey; he has endangered them more than once, and while their is strength in numbers, it seems as though his strength comes with a high asking price. He does not know how the others feel though, and does not wish to make decisions on their behalf.
>>
No. 803375 ID: 3abd97

>>803353
Pog's really more of a pig-thing than a dog thing. Hore's the canine one.

Of course, Geoffrey is under no obligation to be anatomically accurate with his racism.

>>
No. 803376 ID: 094652

Revive me!
>>
No. 803382 ID: d36af7

>>803376
Pog has 25 max HP, so there's a possibility of death at -25, -50, -75, and -100, certainty at -125, and he's currently at negative 20. With his head having been split nearly in twain, he's bleeding, profusely, into his brain. Rolls for spontaneous recovery from blood loss are at minus eight for the sheer magnitude of the damage (one per 5 points of initial injury), and must be made every 30 in-game seconds. Clamping off arteries in the right places would require a roll against Surgery skill (basic first-aid training doesn't remotely address this sort of thing), also at -8, in addition to any penalties for inadequate tools. Each attempt takes one minute. Pog is still technically alive, so Geoffrey has several magical options which might work better.
>>
No. 803411 ID: af6e04

>>803303
"No, we only met by happenstance and you were merely defending yourself. Still, I had grown attached to the huge idiot."

She turns to Geoffrey. "I don't suppose you can heal this?"
>>
No. 803494 ID: c31aac

rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10

>>803411
"Uh, I mean. I can try, but I dinnae if I can fix a face what looks like a smashed-in fruit pie."

Geoffrey takes a deep breath, then starts to dance the dance of mid-level healing to try and at least stabilize the pig-faced idiot.

His shuffling intensifies into a full-on dance, eyes rolling back and cryptic nonsense once again starts hurling free of his jowls!


"ᛗᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᚺᛁᛋ᛫ᚺᛠᛞ᛬ᛗᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᚺᛁᛋ᛫ᚺᛠᛞ᛭ᛗᚨᚲᛖ᛫ᚺᛁᛋ᛫ᚠᚨᚲᛖ᛫ᚾᛟᛏ᛫ᛗᚨᚲᛖ᛫ᚺᛁᛗ᛫ᛞᛠᛞ᛭"
>>
No. 803510 ID: d36af7

>>803494
>rolled 3, 5, 2 = 10
Skill 12, at -3 for the psychic distraction of other conscious minds within 15', means that's a failure by 1, Pog continues leaking vital fluids. Geoffrey's got enough FP left to try once more at full power without hurting himself or passing out, but it might be wise to herd everyone else out of the room first.
>>
No. 803656 ID: 67456a

rolled 4, 5, 4 = 13

Wendy sighs, realizing that checking every tile is basically a fruitless endeavour. Instead, she attempts to disable D1. Only temporarily, though, because disabling a god's pointless tile puzzle permanently is a good way to get one's ass smote.
>>
No. 803904 ID: d36af7

>>803656
There's an unexpected click and a brief flash of light. Good news, no serious injury. Less good, square D1 is flickering erratically between black and red without regard for the rest of the board, and is either spontaneously emitting the stench of burning hair, or else Wendy will be needing to regrow her eyebrows again. Maybe both.
>>
No. 804293 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 2, 6 = 9

Well, while Geoffrey is handling that Helen will grab a couple of the more portable-sized teeth and try to get a grip on what happened. "Very interesting! It seems as though magically conjured objects cause a sort of unnatural upheaval. I'll have to keep testing this. I wonder if the teeth were brought over from another plane, or if they were just some sort of feature of the maw itself. What do you think, Isaiah?" Not really sure what to look for, but roll is to see if Helen can observe any standout clues about the nature of the teeth, stone, bile, or pie chunks that the maw horked up.
>>
No. 804309 ID: c31aac

rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7

>>804293
Geoffrey breaks from his maddened dancing to loudly talk across the room at her.

"Oy! Don't think I'm gonna ferget that spooky nonsense while I'm healin' this idjit! Ye best explain that shit right quicklike, I ain't about to get almost eat by some maddenin' tentacle beastie again!"

Satisfied he'd made his point, Geoffrey tries what he just did again, this time with more gusto and different words.

Whatever he's doing it vaguely resembles the embarrassing bastard child of the charleston and the cha-cha. With extra jiggle to it.

"ᛁᛞ᛫ᛩᚢᛁᛏᛖ᛫ᛚᛁᚲᛖ᛫ᛁᛏ᛫ᛗᛃ᛫ᚢᚾᚺᛟᛚᛃ᛫ᛚᚨᛞ᛬ᛁᚠ᛫ᛃᛟᚢ᛫ᚲᛟᚢᛚᛞ᛫ᛗᚨᚲᛖ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᛞᛟᛒᛖᚱ᛭ᛗᚨᚾ᛫ᛚᛖᛋᛋ᛫ᛋᚨᛞ᛭"
>>
No. 805105 ID: d36af7

>>804293
Most of the references to excessive quantities of anomalous teeth in that book about curses lead back to Dahlver-Nar somehow, and his cavern-dwelling heralds, which resemble bears except that they have teeth in place of hair, teeth in place of fur, teeth in place of ears, and teeth in place of eyes. They prefer cool damp environments, and are blind, but have acute hearing and some unexplained ability to move with incredible haste and silence, bypassing conventional wards against teleportation, but only when in proximity to someone caught in the throes of fear or madness.

Apart from that, there's a few references to cruel fae using teeth as currency, and the rocks look like they might come from the desert on the far side of the mountains.

>>804309
Pog's condition has been stabilized, but he remains unconscious, with a visibly broken skull.
>>
No. 805294 ID: d22dc0

>>805105
Isaiah, satisfied that Pog is stable, turns to Geoffrey and suggests he rest, and perhaps indulge in some pie.

"You may want to consider taking a moment to regain your strength. I believe our chances on making it to the surface will be better if we are not fatigued ourselves. Perhaps some sustenance, this pie for example, would be beneficial. It would likely be wise for us to preserve what resources we have. Helen, you too may wish to eat while you can. A brief rest might raise one's moral.

>>804293
I have seen only a fraction of the world my father knew, but that is enough to know it is large enough to so very vast as to be incomprehensible. What you've seen here we could only guess at- but I doubt without more extensive travel throughout our lives we will find answers we can trust. I would think that given the size of many of these...

...teeth that are before us, it's unlikely they came from the mouths of creatures having eaten this pie before us. They steadily increased in size, and I doubt there would be a creature with such teeth that could fit in this room, so I doubt it is bound to this location or time. Rather, I would imagine they hail from some extra dimension, maybe one tied to wherever that pie went when you tried to eat it?"

>>803356
Isaiah returns his "gaze" to the orcish fellow with the intact skull.

"After my companions gather themselves, I am going to suggest we return to the path below and search for an exit. Any information you have regarding the layout of this place, or the way to the surface would be appreciated. As I said before, I would welcome you as a travel companion."
>>
No. 805334 ID: 258faf

>>804309
"I am as baffled as you are. Do you think I expected my back to eject giant teeth?"

>but I doubt without more extensive travel throughout our lives we will find answers we can trust
"Perhaps, but I already have a few hypotheses. First I will need to see if eating a second pie produces consistent results."

"And since we are going to be waiting around to see if Pog wakes up, we might as well make camp here. We have a source of food right in front of us and a source of water within walking distance."
>>
No. 805376 ID: fc3fc0

>>805334
"Helen, I don't know how badly you need sleep, but those creatures we encountered before, servants of that Duke, they likely still pursue us. I would advise caution when deciding to make your bed unless we have a door we can seal, or something fine and granular we could occupy them with like sand or salt or sugar or something of that nature. I'm not certain that would stop them, but I think I remember my father telling me something of the sort was a useful tool against such creatures. I would also ask that you take into consideration the feelings of this fellow we share the room with- the pie seems rather important to him and while I will not stop you from making your own choices, it seems to me making alliances rather than enemies would increase our ability to move forward on our journies."
>>
No. 805550 ID: d36af7

>>803356
>May I ask your name?
"I'm Jank. Pleased to meet you." He wipes blood and brain-gobbets off his axe, tucks it away on a belt loop, then offers a handshake.
>>805376
>something fine and granular
"I've got some cornbread left over from my trail rations. It's stale as hell, and a little bit moldy, but we could crumble it up. Think that might work?"

There's a distant whistling noise, almost like mournful birdsong but slower and drawn-out, from somewhere back down in the 'highway' passage.
>>
No. 805555 ID: c31aac

>>805376
Geoffrey looks back up from pog, still panting from the exertion of wizardy.
"OY THE FACT YER BACK CAN EJECT THINGS AT ALL'S WHAT'S GOT ME ALL RILED! BY GAR, Ish ligrhngh grghn *gulp* snrk, woman!"

Halfway through his sentence Geoffrey had found himself stuffing his face with pastry. He didn't even seem to think about it! The moment it had been suggested he'd started powering through, even as his face grew paler and redder in equal measure from his boundless rage-terror cocktail.
He also apparently didn't think to stop talking while he ate.
>>
No. 805586 ID: 13d7b7

rolled 5, 1, 1 = 7

>>805555
"Perhaps you should sit down and enjoy your pie. And don't forget to breathe."

>>805376
>the pie seems rather important to him
"You're right. I apologize for my presumptuousness, Master Jank. I'll only continue my experiments with your permission."

>cornbread
"This might work. It's too bad we left our jerky ward behind when we ran away from that empty sweeper. I might be able to find something useful in my book of curses as well, given time to study."

>spooky noise
Helen will go and close the door.
>>
No. 806009 ID: d36af7

>>805586
The door is closed, and the hallway beyond it warded as securely as Helen can manage with the materials available.

Approximately an hour later, Geoffrey has eaten as much as he's physically able to for the moment, and fully recovered FP spent on magic. He has also, by gorging himself on a completely unfamiliar type of fruit pie, obtained fifteen unaligned soul-motes. Additional motes can be acquired at a rate of one per 140 hours of focused investigation of magical anomalies in dangerous environments (to a limit of 8 hours per sleep cycle), and probably also various other means. They can be spent to refine his sorcery, as follows:
20 motes: upgrade mana siphon from 1 per 5 minutes to 1 per 2 minutes
12 motes: remove solitude restriction
7 motes: upgrade mana siphon from 1 per 10 minutes to 1 per 5 minutes
7 motes: upgrade a spell from skill 12 to 15, reducing casting and maintenance cost by 1 each (may be purchased once per spell)
4 motes: create a 1-point energy reserve and mana siphon to refil it by 1 point per 10 minutes, independent of rest
3 motes: expand energy reserve by 1 point (may be purchased multiple times)
1 mote: new spell (may be purchased multiple times, specify an existing spell for direction of research)
>>
No. 806017 ID: d36af7

Meanwhile, near the bottom of the chasm, Malkov regains consciousness with two grinning demons looking down at him.

Wendy cheerfully explains that she's managed to construct a replacement leg out of mostly myomers made from bamboo, which he should be able to actuate just like the original meat leg by using his electrical chi powers. That means he's some kind of half-golem hybrid now, and therefore an abomination against everything he believes in! Isn't that just peachy?

Nistamatsin helped with the skin grafting, to make sure he still looks symmetrical, disposed of (more precisely, devoured) all the meaty leftover bits, and provided a blood transfusion.

Where are the three of them headed next? There's a wide horizontal path toward the chasm's far end, a steep but easily climbable slope leading further down, the secret passage Malkov's fall uncovered, and some possibility of climbing the sheer rock walls, constructing a flying machine, or otherwise moving upward.
>>
No. 806036 ID: af6e04

>>806017

Nistamatsin
Demon Hedge Witch
Specialization: Abjuration
Ambitions: Protect and serve humanity / Sow sin and discord
Mutation: Inside of body is an exodimensional storage pocket which can only hold liquids. Injury from blood loss accumulates at the normal rate, but each point of damage corresponds to approximately a cubic yard, for a typical flow rate of 200 gallons per minute, comparable to a 2" diameter firehose under 50 psi. All that blood needs to be replaced eventually, so for minerals Nistamatsin often craves the hearts and livers of unrepentant (or, in a pinch, not-yet-fully-atoned) evildoers, and can guzzle entire barrels of ale, or visibly lower the level of small bodies of water. Consumption on such a scale is not possible while wearing a stolen face.
Phobia: Asymmetry
Vulnerability: If he wishes to inflict bodily harm upon a creature he must clearly declare his intentions and reasoning before doing so.
Power: Nistamatsin's 'true form' is absurd and ghastly, but he can rip off a creature's face and wear it. Victim will still be able to breath, but can't see or speak. Victim will be restored to normal if face is recovered.

Left Hip: Cinnamon Incense
Right Hip: Candles
Left Shoulder: Brass Balm
Right Shoulder: Coin purse. Half the coins are smashed flat and twisted into spiral shapes. Also contains a tiny cast bronze head.
Chest/Neck: Cloth, hooked needles, thread
Top of Head: Iron Spikes
Somewhere Uncomfortable: Headless Bronze Statuette of a demigoddess

Bound demon from the old empire who is forced to do good. Still trying to come to terms with the paradoxical nature of his purpose.
-

Nistamatsin points out that a flying machine sounds fun, but there's nothing too exciting on the upper level aside from that deliciously lethal chessboard. His vote is for the secret passage. He also compliments Malkov's face and asks if he can try it on.
>>
No. 809012 ID: d36af7
File 149787284995.png - (499.38KB , 740x774 , incomplete revelation from Hanspur.png )
809012

Here's what Isaiah can see from just outside the pie room, but inside Helen's wards. The pie room itself branches off from that lower-left #43 and is more or less directly above the nearby secret passage. The river at #49 is a downstream segment of that same one you hid in earlier. Gridlines are 40' apart.
>>
No. 809251 ID: af6e04

>>809012
Now this is a dungeon! Where exactly did we enter the highway from?
>>
No. 809286 ID: d36af7

>>809251
Out of the pie room and continue straight, the on-ramp you took would be the second door (well, archway) on the left. Chasm is part of that big blank space in the lower left corner, chessboard room would be just beyond the lower edge of the given map.
>>
No. 809574 ID: fc3fc0
File 149807249416.jpg - (809.77KB , 740x774 , InkedInkeddungeonmap_LI.jpg )
809574

rolled 6, 3, 4 = 13

After their short rest, Isaiah sorts though the lay of the land, piecing together what he knows of the surrounding area. He does his best to describe the layout, and suggests they leave the pie room and follow the wider road, taking a left, then a right, then a left, a left, right, right, pass the first hall on their left, take that second left, and then continue down the narrow tunnel until the take a right at the intersection leading them upwards.
>>
No. 809581 ID: d36af7

>>809574
About halfway between the cluster of four side passages and that T-junction with the pit trap, you encounter a snake the size of a schoolbus coming the other way. It seems to be hungry.
>>
No. 809599 ID: 1c693a

rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7

>>809581
Sounds good, though Helen will take as many pies as she can reasonably carry before leaving. I assume Master Jank isn't accompanying us?

>bus sized snake
"We should reconsider our route. First left, back the way we came." Helen doesn't wait for an answer before running.
>>
No. 809647 ID: d4a844

>>809581
Isaiah turns around and runs after her wordlessly. Internally though he pouts a little. He kinda wanted to fight a giant snake.
>>
No. 809648 ID: d4a844

>>809581
Isaiah turns around and runs after her wordlessly. Internally though he pouts a little. He kinda wanted to fight a giant snake.
>>
No. 809686 ID: c31aac

>>806009
(Buying a new spell for 1, upgrading my big heal skill for 7, and spending 6.
Saving the remaining 1 to build up to 12 next time.)

Geoffrey stares at a wall as people bustle about him, transfixed. Thoughts fly through his head at unprecedented rate, filling him with a sense of peace and fullness he hasn't experienced in ages.

Transcendence through fruity flavoring.

Then there's a giant snake and people are tugging him to horrible places again and the moment is broken. He grabs his weapon, angrily waving it in a failed attempt at a threat yet keeping his distance as they scurry away.
>>
No. 809692 ID: 9c5569

*Note: Pog is following you. He hasn't said or done anything else yet. Weird.
>>
No. 809726 ID: d36af7

>>809686
>a new spell for 1,
Building off which existing spell?
>upgrading my big heal skill for 7,
Major Heal, which is the more efficient per-week one, or Great Heal which is the expensive full recovery with a hard limit of once per patient per day?
>spending 6.
...on what? You could get more new spells, or spend ii]seven[/i] for either a 2-point energy reserve, or to upgrade the light spell so you can keep it on indefinitely as long as the ambient magic level doesn't drop.

>>809599
>rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7
Helen observes the beast's instinctive reaction to a fleeing prey item (such as herself) and deduces that it must be operating as a stalk-and-chase predator (like many cats), rather than a strict ambusher (like most constrictor snakes or, e.g., the more mobile sorts of spiders) or an endurance hunter (like nonsapient wolves, or primitive elevenoids). Normally she would think anything that size would have to be a filter-feeder, but this is good news: the giant snake should be relatively distractible when it's not act actively chasing, with 'tunnel vision' and poor forethought when it is. Looks like it's too big to turn around in a 10' wide hallway, so just lure it into a tight space, circle around, and chop it up starting from the end with no fangs.

>>809647
While Helen is contemplating all this, the prophet of Hanspur is fleeing more slowly and lost in his own thoughts, until they're abruptly interrupted by crashing face-first into the floor with a giant snake's mouth around one of his shinguards.
>>809648
Isaiah asks to be let go, via the traditional protocol of repeatedly kicking his assailant in the snoot, but his rhythm is off. He's at that cluster of side passages, with both legs caught up to the knee.
>>
No. 809730 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14

Isaiah doesn't say it, but he's a little excited they're going to get to fight the snake! That is, until it starts becoming apparent that they're not very good at fighting a giant snake, after which he begins to worry.

His dad told him a story once about a man of faith who was swallowed by a great sea-beast after turning his back on his god. After repenting his ways, the sea-beast kept the man safe from from drowning. There's more to the story, mostly a moral lesson about being grateful for what others have done for you rather than lamenting that which they have not done, but Isaiah was always thrilled by the magical beasts and godly creatures. He's beginning to suspect though that he would more than likely be crushed within the snake rather than able to fight his way out from a cavernous belly.

Isaiah is going to try to wedge the head of his hammer in the snakes mouth, hopefully giving him just enough of an opening to to pull his legs out. If they can get down any one of those side passages they should be safer, assuming they're too wide for the snake to reasonably fit down.

"Ah. I uh, I appear to be somewhat trapped at the moment. Some assistance in this matter might be appreciated!"
>>
No. 809732 ID: 6484b3

rolled 1, 6, 3 = 10

>assistance
Helen instructs Pog, whom she has mentally relegated to 'slightly endearing meatshield' status by this point, to go and hit the snake in the face real hard until it lets go of Isaiah.

To clarify, is this path Helen turned down sufficiently narrow? First path on the left running south, so the northernmost path in the cluster going east in cardinal directions.

Helen takes the time to try to spot a weak point and line up a good shot.
>>
No. 809743 ID: 3f3105

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

Pog bashes the snake on the head with his hammer.
>>
No. 809819 ID: d36af7

>>809743
Pog staggers forward drunkenly (still feeling some ill effects from that massive axe-related cerebral hemorrhage a few hours ago), swings, and... that should have been at least a grazing hit, but some flickering shadow interfered and he didn't connect with anything but air.

>>809730
>try to wedge the head of his hammer in the snakes mouth,
>rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14
The snake probes at joints in his armor with it's tongue, possibly confused and frustrated by the lack of meaty smell, then rears up and bashes him against the ceiling. He drops the hammer.

>>809732
>sufficiently narrow?
That passage is only about six feet wide and eight feet high. Giant snake probably won't be able to fit at all, unless the skull is more flexible than it looks.
>takes the time to try to spot a weak point and line up a good shot
While it's busy with Isaiah you could aim for the underside of a jaw-joint, possibly crippling it's ability to bite down, or one of those melon-sized eyeballs.
>>
No. 809834 ID: d22dc0

rolled 5, 4, 3 = 12

>>809819
B-Team: Zilch
Snake: 1

Isaiah will then instead try to his hands and feet into a more vertical position, to try to act as a vice himself, hoping the metal plates of his armor might ward the snake off from pressing the soft bits of it's mouth too firmly against them. He knows there are snakes that can crush their prey, but he thought they did it by curling up around them. Hopefully the jaw strength of a giant snake isn't it's strong suit.
>>
No. 809848 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 1 = 9

>underside of a jaw-joint
If it's got a chance of making the snake drop Isaiah, then Helen's all for it. Taking the shot.
>>
No. 809871 ID: d36af7

>>809848
Helen launches a crossbow bolt at the snake's neck/jawline. More of that flickering shadowstuff gets in the way, but the shot seems to sink in more or less on target.
>>809834
Isaiah, who's looking a bit like a stepped-on tin can at this point, takes advantage of the opening created by Helen's shot to lever himself up and grab one of the snake's yard-long fangs. With his other hand he lands a few solid punches on the roof of the beast's mouth.

Then it swallows him and lunges forward to bite Pog.
>>
No. 809879 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 4 = 13

>flickering shadowstuff
Must be some sort of illusion-based natural defense. Either way, it still bleeds.

>>809871
Helen yells at Pog to get back and shoots the snake in the eye.
>>
No. 809890 ID: 902283

rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16

Pog retreats, using his tools to guard.
>>
No. 809898 ID: d36af7

>>809879
Helen's second shot glances off a scaly ridge just above the eye.
>>809890
Pog does not dodge or parry successfully, and as a result catches one of the snake's fangs in the right side of his neck, deep. Something like a tiny hollow ivory dagger blade emerges from the left side of his torso, just under the ribs, piddling a pint or so of what looks like rotten milk down his leg. The liquid soon disappears into that thick red mist all over the floor.

So, good news is, vast majority of the poison missed his bloodstream completely, and this snake's not going to be able to bite anyone else effectively until it gets Pog out of the way.
>>
No. 810080 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 5, 5 = 15

>>809898
>Pog gets impaled
Well he HAS lived through worse. Helen tries to take another shot at the roof of the snake's mouth.
>>
No. 810592 ID: d36af7

>>810080
Helen's crossbow has suffered a malfunction. It will not fire until the trigger mechanism has been disassembled and cleaned. Such repairs could be accomplished relatively quickly, and with minimal tools, but not during combat.
>>
No. 810598 ID: 701418

rolled 3, 3, 5 = 11

Pog grabs the snake and crushes its neck. Or whatever it is he's grabbing.
>>
No. 810641 ID: d10e29

rolled 1, 6, 3 = 10

Isaiah has never been swallowed before, but he really didn't imagine the experience would be so confined. As his outer shell is compacted, he struggles to think of how to get out of this, and begins to worry about what will happen after Helen and Pog extract his crumpled form. Perhaps though with the fighting and all they won't get angry- there's only two of them after all, not a mindless crowd. Two people can be reasoned with at least! Well, that's what he tells himself anyways. Isaiah tries to retrieve the knife carried on his person and carve a new exit out of the snake. If he cannot easily reach his knife, then he'll opt to use the metal bits of his hand instead, attempting to reach through the snake much like one would reach into someone's chest in order to extract their heart.
>>
No. 810786 ID: cb8a0b

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

>>810592
Helen runs away.
>>
No. 810815 ID: d36af7

>>810598
Pog rams his meaty fists up the snake's nostrils and attempts to rip it's skull in half like a pinata. He does not succeed as intended, but does manage to inflict quite a bit of pain, and thoroughly clog the holes it breathes through.

>>810641
Isaiah identifies something like roads or rivers inside the snake's body. When he opens one of the broader avenues with his knife, it turns out to be full of pressurized blood.

A few minutes later the snake is dead. Helen and the orc form the pie room are missing.

>>810786
Helen has been separated from the rest of the group by at least three corners, a straightaway about twenty seconds long, and some rolling-boulder trap. The pie room orc is with her. They're at a wide spot or alcove among more natural-looking tunnels, examining a headless and inanimate elvenoid skeleton. Seems to be male, healthy and well nourished. No improperly-healed injuries, so he either wasn't a career adventurer or had consistent access to excellent medical support. Did a lot of walking but not much heavy lifting, archery, or sprinting. Wearing robes originally tailored for "Azarthraine of Hollowfall," made of very nice material originally but now soaked with some sort of noxious yellowish slime. Based on the pose, he was bent over trying to reach something in a deep crevice, around knee high, when something jumped him. Right arm is still in there, broken just below the elbow. All cervical vertebrae are present, suggesting the head was removed postmortem, and some of the bones from his left foot are scattered or crushed, but otherwise the remains seem to be undisturbed.
>>
No. 810828 ID: cb8a0b

rolled 6, 1, 3 = 10

>>810815
No time to mourn the tragic loss of our companions.

>foremost of the Fire Hawks
Looks like we have stumbled across the corpse of someone fairly important. Assuming the head is needed for resurrection, but we still might be able to claim a very nice retrieval reward either way. Removed head suggests that somebody didn't want him coming back, so we can at least report evidence of foul play. Helen will wrap the bones and robes up in her cloak.

The way we came is right out, so what paths do we have available?
>>
No. 810829 ID: cb8a0b

>>810828
We'll check that crevice he was reaching into as well.
>>
No. 810843 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 5, 6, 6 = 17

Isaiah crawls out of the snake as best he can, and drags himself to a wall he can sit against and assess the damage, collect himself and his things, and nervously address everyone around him as they mob him with questions about how hes not crushed and dead.

Except that theres no one here worrying about him- just Pog fisting a snake. What happened after he got swallowed?

Isaiah refrains from addressing anyone or saying anything, in hopes of drawing as little attention to himself as possible while he tries to make himself presentable again.
>>
No. 810907 ID: d36af7

>>810843
In the course of attempting to burrow back out of the snake, Isaiah becomes disoriented (the fact that Pog is making as much noise as an average angry mob all by himself, thus discouraging the prophet from approaching the easiest route out, certainly doesn't help) and eventually runs out of fuel. He'll regain consciousness as soon as someone prays to Hanspur or any theological ally thereof nearby, or to Isaiah himself directly at any distance.

>>810828
>what paths do we have available?
Tunnel continues relatively straight out to the limit of lantern-light in both directions.
>rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16
Helen is not actually 100% sure which way she came, even though there's only two options to choose from.

>check that crevice
>rolled 6, 1, 3 = 10
Something shiny way back in there, Jewelry? Looks like the corpse-tentatively-identified-as-Azarthraine was trying to retrieve it, but either it was caught on something (and he didn't want to just yank for fear of snapping something that would compromise a valuable enchantment) or the crevice was just so narrow that his hand got caught like in a pickle jar.

Smart way to retrieve that prize at this point, given the obvious risks, would involve either long-handled precision tools of the sort favored by people who disarm traps for a living, or several hours of noisy hammer-and-chisel work to widen the hole.
>>
No. 810910 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6

>>810907
Well, Helen has no tools, and neither does she have several hours to spend. And she's not about to repeat the mistake that got the foremost of the Fire Hawks killed.

Moving on in either direction. It doesn't matter since we don't know which way is forward and which way is back regardless. Helen will decide randomly.
>>
No. 810913 ID: d5cc05

rolled 5, 3, 3 = 11

Pog SLOWLY guts the snake to rescue Isiah. Then he places Isiah at Geoffrey's feet.
>>
No. 811449 ID: d36af7

>>810910
Off to the right, then, There's a 90-degree corner further to the right, a side passage to the left (which seem to split into a y-junction just at the edge of lantern light) and then a promising slope upward, rising about 1 foot for every 2 feet of horizontal, leading to a 10' square door on a central pivot. It opens easily, revealing a cross-shaped room with doors at the end of each arm, and elaborate frescoes on the walls. The opposite door is fifteen yards away.
>rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6
At the room's exact center, mostly obscured by fog, there's something which resembles heat ripples, but sort of... puckered. Helen's tome of obscure and bizarre curses mentions something similar, as part of a case study on a relatively subtle spontaneous geomantic atrocity. A small orchard became superficially healthy and pest-free, but the fruit gave no nourishment, except to a minor noble's only daughter. who could thereafter stomach no other natural food, and gained some deliberate but poorly-controlled ability to spread more overt (but temporary) blights. Short on biographical details, but the girl would be in her twenties or thirties now.
>>
No. 811633 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 3, 1 = 9

>>811449
>elaborate frescoes
Can I identify who or what's been painted?

>geomantic atrocity
This warrants further study. Of course, so does everything down here. Any clues to the source of this geomantic atrocity? Also, you'll have to explain exactly what a geomantic atrocity is to me.
>>
No. 811672 ID: d36af7

>>811633
>Can I identify who or what's been painted?
Priesthood and other loyal followers of Orcus, heroically fleeing for their lives before the relentless onslaught of caricatured champions of goodness and light. Four sections, one in each of the curved alcoves between the 'arms' of the room. First one seems to be passage across a desert, with owl-riding white elves skirmishing overhead against vrock demons. Second, crossing mountains, possibly at what is now Passholdt, with a man in black armor being torn apart by dwarven pickaxes while a red-haired woman weeps, unable to save him. Third is on a river, with trolls and giant frogs sinking the Orcusite boats while green elven archers led by Zelkor of the Green Tassels rain lighting on them from above. Finally, coastal hills and the caverns beneath, with a majestic horned figure in blood-red robes fighting as rear guard.

>explain exactly what a geomantic atrocity is
Sickness in the body of an Old God, like a tumor or infected wound in an organism. Disharmonious flows of subtle energy, invasive species that spread exponentially but then overshoot the carrying capacity and collapse, site-bound curses or hauntings, all sorts of stuff that's hard to classify but obviously unnatural and unpleasant once you scratch the surface. Towns with negligent or shortsighted management which strip the fertility out of surrounding arable land and choke on their own smoke or sewage may be called the same sort of thing, except that the causes and cures are so well understood.

>Any clues to the source of this geomantic atrocity?
A transient event roughly fifteen hundred miles away and five weeks in the future. If you leave, it probably won't still be here when you get back. I got some unusual results on a random encounter/room contents roll, and decides to interpret it as a limited-time, one-way opportunity to hop over to thread 6.
>>
No. 811678 ID: af6e04

>cool paintings
Can I do a history check on the events that these paintings depict?

>A transient event roughly fifteen hundred miles away and five weeks in the future.
Sounds better than being sick and lost in a giant snake cave with dwindling supplies and only a grieving orc as company. Helen's also very curious as to what will happen with her time eating curse if she travels through time. She explains what she knows to Jank and then cautiously approaches the atrocity.
>>
No. 811679 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 3, 1 = 8

>>811678
whoops
>>
No. 813250 ID: d22dc0

rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14

Let's go for lucky number 3

Name: Kent Vogner
Race: White Elf
Class: Townie
Specialization: Artificing
Higher Ambition: To level the playing field between the oppressed and those in charge via the acquisition and redistribution of knowledge from the elite into the hands of those in need
Lower Ambition: An adoration of arachnids
Phobia: Public speaking
Mutation: Kent has abnormally dark skin, bone ridges at major joints, and touching stone or hard ceramics with their bare skin makes the surface ripple and warp like the surface of a still pond, amplitude dependent on how forceful the contact is. Upside is they've got an excellent sense of touch, including bonuses for fiddly mechanical tasks and some degree of tremorsense.
Supernatural Vulnerability: Eyes that are sensitive to sudden/unexpected increases light, causing vertigo and nausea, which are more/less severe depending on how drastic the change was, and the level of exposure.
Innate Power: Super jump plus clinging. Given sufficient time to 'charge up,' firm footing, and unrestricted limbs, they can launch themself into arbitrary ballistic trajectories, and whatever they hit, they'll stick to until they decides to let go (or until peeled away by something strong enough to lift them off the ground).

Inventory:
Left Hip: Fatigue Study: A First Step in Motion Study, a work from before the fall of the Old Empire, written by Evelyn Moller, formerly a leading authority on the workings of mortal minds as well as industrial engineering. The tome details how to eliminate fatigue as a limiting factor of industry via the creation of an automated work force and tools.
Right Hip: The Several Known Languages: a Written Primer on the Nuances of Civilized Communications.
Left Sholder: Dried Fruit
Right Shoulder: Water
Chest/neck: Kents Guide to Artificing, a compendium of learned and found notes/knowledge on engineering and artificing, complied by Kent Vogner, with over half the information being sourced from Kent's former mentor, the Serpentfolk Omeyocantli of Valusia
Head: Plate Mail, modified to include a removable face plate with dark goggles, to help protect against changes in light, and make them more difficult to identify.
Somewhere uncomfortable: Tools for Field Surgery

Kent Vogner Was plagued by a mysterious change in physique from a young age, causing a drastic change in skin color, the growth of bony protrusions, and strange anomalies when interacting with stone and earthenware. Omeyocantli, a relic of the great race of Serpentfolk who were a highly advanced society that befriended the antehuman Haon-Dor, was interested in Kent's condition, and decided to study them. An exchange of knowledge occurred as Kent began to learn the ancient secrets of the serpentfolk, and Omeyocantli found a curiosity to muse upon for a short time. However, Kent's tutelage under the serpentfolk scientist was relatively short lived, as the creature quickly became bored after it learned all of interest regarding Kent's physiology. After separation from their former master, the amateur artificer delved into burglary, relieving those in a position to abuse power of valuable knowledge that might help give the poor and underprivileged the tools to further themselves, and move up in the world.

Kent is currently pursing the trail of an interesting individual, possessing a strangely difficult to research past, and rumored to have an incredible book detailing all manner of curses and obscure occult information.

Assuming they start in the chessboard room, Kent is going to attempt to walk the lines and avoid stepping on the tiles, making their way across to step onto tile G1
>>
No. 813256 ID: c31aac

>>809726
(Erp. Building off apportation, sorry. And the six is expending energy reserves. Upgrade major heal, haven't used the big boy yet but I've gotten enough use out of the second-biggest I should keep that one upgraded.)

Geoffrey snaps out of the post-magus daze when Isaiah clatters at his feet.
He stares at the jumble of dormant metal plates, then blankly up at pog.

"Well what'm I supposed to do wif this? He's a bleedin' suit of armor, can I even 'eal that?"
>>
No. 813338 ID: d36af7

>>813256
Geoffrey has gained an energy reserve equivalent to five FP, but with no siphon, it naturally refills at a rate of only one per 24 hours. He could speed that up by casting Lend Energy on himself, or with alchemy, or by various other means, but retrofitting in the proper basic siphon would now take ten soul-motes.

New spell is called Locksmith, costs 2 FP per minute, allows fine manipulation of an object's internal mechanisms. Apart from the nominal, it might be useful for disarming traps you'd prefer not to touch, or conducting delicate repairs (or relatively crude surgery) with otherwise inadequate tools. The magic just lets you reach in and poke, you still need to actually know what you're doing to accomplish anything useful.

>haven;t used the big boy yet
Incorrect. Once, on yourself. >>791158 What splattered on the walls was not gore, but rather, negative space in the artistic sense. All the absence of healthy tissue was violently expelled from Geoffrey's body. Such a thing cannot normally exist on it's own, any more than you could have a "dusty, neglected-looking, empty room" without ceiling or walls or floor to define borders (and hold dust), so when the magic was done it rapidly sublimated away.

>>813250
>step onto tile G1
As all of row 1 is immediately adjacent to the edge from which Kent arrived, no delicate border traversal is necessary.
>rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14
Nothing happens. At least, nothing Kent can perceive.
>>
No. 813390 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12

>Nothing happens

Hm. Let's try walking the line between D and E, to step onto E5
>>
No. 813412 ID: d36af7

>>813390
>E5
>rolled 2, 4, 6 = 12
Navigation successful, but still no obvious effect. An unfamiliar and unwelcome voice at the back of Kent's mind whispers that this whole 'puzzle' is a sick joke, pointless and boring, so they should go do something else.
>>
No. 813416 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 5, 6, 4 = 15

>>813412
Double hm. Kent will take a seat on E5, and begin to inspect the tile & cross sections, looking for incite into the inner workings of the mechanism. Internally, Kent poses a query:

"I don't normally hear voices in my head, and it's not usually like me to find such incredible mechanisms boring- even if it is an empty trap, devoid of real treasure, the makings of it alone must be quiet fascinating when studied in a safe environment with the appropriate tools and resources at one's disposal. I'm curious about your nature; do you have a convenient way by which I may refer to you? A name, or some such similar convention?"
>>
No. 813448 ID: d36af7

>>813416
>inspect the tile & cross sections
>rolled 5, 6, 4 = 15
No useful insight into the underlying mechanics, but whoever designed and inlaid those gilded illustrations of mortals being assaulted and devoured by demons, on the borders between tiles, must have been really passionate about getting every little detail perfect.

>by which I may refer to you?
"I am Widsom, as in 'you wid some, you loot some.' Not to be confused with wisdom. My binding is to give you one useful hint on any problem besides this current one, then depart."
>>
No. 813451 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 5, 1, 1 = 7

>>813448
"Quite the artistry, I wonder how many were involved in the design, maybe a team of artists and engineers? Or a single driven individual...?
Well, that's quite the offer Widsom. I have a number of projects and ideas I could use a hint on, but you seem an interesting companion; I wonder if we could chat a bit more, get to know each other? Or would you prefer I ask my favor so that you may depart post-haste?"

Kent begins to make their way across the lines of D and E in an effort to cross to the other side of the chess board. They had a hunch, but it seems that the workings of this device will remain a mystery for now. Maybe another time- perhaps their quarry even knew something of it's inner workings, after coming through here.
>>
No. 813561 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 6 = 11

>>813451
Can I hear the elf talking to himself?
>>
No. 813562 ID: af6e04

>>813561
Pronouns! I apologize
>>
No. 813580 ID: d36af7

>>813561
From more than a hundred feet away, around several corners and through a stone door? No, you can't hear them.
>>
No. 813982 ID: d36af7

>>810913
Pog digs Isaiah's inert form out of the snake carcass, and revives him through the power of manly tears, before passing out from massive internal bleeding.
>>813256
>He's a bleedin' suit of armor, can I even 'eal that?
With a new (apparently pie-derived?) sense of areté, Geoffrey deftly rearranges Isaiah's innards into a more nearly functional configuration - learning, in the process, that said innards are not even remotely meat-based. Isaiah can now walk, with visible difficulty, but will need some replacement parts before he's back at 100%. For any MCU fans, I'm particularly thinking of the way Ultron's first humanoid body shuffled around. Reaching out along roads and trade routes, he can sense someone named Wendy who has the right parts... down below? At the bottom of the chasm, maybe? Helen Nabot and Jank the pie room orc, meanwhile, apparently wandered off into a discontinuity.
>>
No. 814013 ID: 094652

>>813982
... Well that just happened.

Heals plz.
>>
No. 814669 ID: d22dc0

rolled 4, 2, 2 = 8

>>813982
Isaiah stumbles upright, wobbly, knobbly, and bent, but conscious. Unaware of just how intimately familiar Geoffrey and Pog have now become with his nature, Isaiah fears for, what is in his mind, the worst- the turn of angry faces, beating down upon him, unable to listen, or speak, or even hear his own thoughts over the sounds of the mob.

Two isn't that bad though. It's frightening, to think of how he might have been exposed, or might be soon, but they haven't given any signs they've learned of his true form- perhaps it's best to rush after parts before that has a chance to transpire.

A damaged arm rests lightly on the wall for support as Isaiah gives a light nod, in appreciate for the help his companions have given him.

"Thank you for pulling me from the belly of the beast. I intend to travel back towards that puzzle room we all seem to have funneled through- there is a companion of ours who may be helpful in moving on from this place. It seems Helen and Jank have moved beyond my vision, so we can only hope they will find their own way forward, for I fear I do not have the means to locate them and preform the rights if they expire now. You two may follow me if you choose, although whatever you decide to do next, I recommend caution- assuming your goal of finding egress is still the same. Your wound seems rather serious Pog, and my remedial skills do not extend much past treating mundane travel injuries. I wish you two luck in whatever endeavors you next pursue."

Isaiah begins to hobble off at the best jog he can manage, towards Wendy.
>>
No. 814697 ID: c31aac

rolled 1, 3, 3 = 7

>>814669
"Oy! Yer just gonna wobble off then, golem boy? Ach sure, THAT'S polite. 'ere, stick about so we're not killed by somethin' after me brand while I heal this git at least!"

(Assuming my mana's full, i'm tossing a big boy out on pog.)
>>
No. 814754 ID: d36af7

>>814669
The greatsword-sized fang pops free of Pog's neck like a watermelon seed squeezed between thumb and forefinger, while horrid undead maggots erupt from various orifices and crawl off to burrow into the snake carcass.

Fifteen minutes after that gruesome display, Pog regains consciousness, feeling as healthy and fit as he can ever remember being.

>>813451
>>814697
Pog, Geoffrey, Isaiah, and Kent meet up at the bridge over the chasm. Damage Pog previously inflicted on the bridge has been partially filled in with maroon-colored mortar.

Wendy, Nistamatsin, and Malkov are more or less directly below. Any significant light or noise produced by either group would be perceptible to the other.
>>
No. 814858 ID: 61c162

rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12

Isaiah is somewhat distressed by the prospect of being surrounded by so many people in his current state, and attempts to seperate from the group, like someone overwhelmed at a party, to become less noticeable, while still being close enough to respond to a call of "hey, does anyone know where Isaiah went?". Roll for stealth check
>>
No. 814861 ID: 61c162

rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14

Kent is overjoyed to be met with new companions, especially ones who knew "Helen Nabot". They take off their boots and attempt to scale the rock face and head down, through a series of short jumps, as someone might do while rappelling, in order to meet the others they were told about.
>>
No. 814892 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 4, 1 = 7

>>814754
Uneasy at the idea of a large group of mortals coming down to meet him without a face, Nistamatsin goes ahead and tries to steal Malkov's without waiting for permission (quickly stating his intentions first).
>>
No. 815229 ID: d36af7

>>814858
Isaiah successfully hides in the hallway with the one-way fog.
>>814861
>>814892
Kent descends the chasm without incident, leaving concentric ripples in the stone. Near the bottom, they meet Wendy, NistamatsinMalkov, and Malkova blank-headed but otherwise extremely realistic mannequin, dressed in monk's robes and frozen in a pose of mute horror. Perhaps masterfully sculpted from wax? It can almost be seen quivering and breathing, though that might just be their imagination.
>>
No. 815265 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 3, 6, 1 = 10

>>815229
Kent signs a quick greeting, and tries to respectfully restrain their curiosity regarding the mannequin, but it's quite obvious they're very interested in how it was created- one wouldn't be able to follow their eyes underneath the mask, but Kent has a particular interest in the hidden joints, wondering about how it articulates without seams. Certainly no one was able to bring a statue of something as delicate as wax down here from the surface, at least not in such unmarred condition, and it's likely not something that was made down here, although that's not out of the question. Unsure how they'll transport such an interesting creating up the cliff face, Kent ties to act as a mobile piton, clinging to the wall to help the others up, and then making short dynos upwards so they can continue using Kent for assistance.
>>
No. 815315 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 2, 3 = 9

>>815265
'Malkov' enthusiastically greets Kent and then grins at the elf for several long seconds as he formulates a response. He signs out that the mannequin is a 'homunculus' used by the Old Empire for immortality rituals but it is damaged so probably shouldn't do any climbing. Also, it might move of its own accord. He says the tunnels down here are more inviting anyway.
>>
No. 815343 ID: d36af7

>>815265
The chasm is about 350' top to bottom and 200' end to end, so available light sources (mostly Geoffrey's and Wendy's magic) are insufficient to reveal it all at once. Kent and Pog can both use their respective powers to create easily climbable routes across natural stone (Kent's way is quieter), so given time to set up, all five known exits can be made easily accessible, most notably now including the far side of that broken bridge which Pog discovered while fleeing from the nine-legged meat puppet. There's also the opposite end of the chasm, which none of you have yet explored.
>>
No. 815400 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 4, 5, 5 = 14

>>815343
Roll to check what Kent knows about homonculi, to see if it matches up with what "Malkov" is saying, and if the strange mannequin seems to match said description. Kent also takes the time to deliver parts to Isaiah, who begins to work on repairs. Kent opts for the quieter assist to make the move down to the level malkov, Wendy, and Nistamatsin are on- not sure if they would be able to help or assist the massive creature known as pog.
>>
No. 815401 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 2, 1, 1 = 4

>>815229
After Kent brings him the parts from Wendy, Isaiah sets up shop in the small room at the end of the hallway, at makes plans with everyone to join up with them later as he starts to repair himself to prevent everyone from catching on to his true nature. Rolling to begin repairs .
>>
No. 815421 ID: d36af7

rolled 51 = 51

>>815400
>what Kent knows about homonculi
>rolled 4, 5, 5 = 14
Nothing specifically. The word itself basically just means 'artificial creature,' and has been applied to any number of cryptids or dubious alchemy projects. Non-elves certainly do have a long and colorful history of harebrained attempts to emulate the ageless nature of their betters, though, so it seems at least vaguely plausible. Wendy can corroborate the story, and knocks sharply on Malkovthe homunculus's thigh to illustrate (by sound) it's woody lignin-based myomers in place of meaty muscle.

MalkovThe guy in the monk's robes can't see or speak, but can hear what everyone is saying about him just fine. All that raw pink skin where his face ought to be is actually hypersensitive to sound, vibration, movement of the air, and so on. Might take a little while to learn how to process the sensory input, as well as controlling the new leg, and he's got the general aftereffects of major surgery to recover from, but action is once again possible.

>>815401
>rolled 2, 1, 1 = 4
Isaiah field-strips, cleans, deburrs, and reassembles both his own arms at the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing_Hands He remembers just afterward that it's technically impossible to do so, but, fortunately, since it's already been done, sorting out the legs should be relatively easy. Takes a few hours.

Rolling for random encounters.
>>
No. 815479 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 5, 2 = 12

>>815421
What kind of warding can Nistamatsin perform as a level one abjuration specialist? He'll draw up some properly demonic looking symbols in blood and then call it good and light up his cinnamon incense.
>>
No. 815540 ID: af6e04

Oh, it might be productive to think of a plan to obtain a new face while we're waiting on Isaiah as well. How much sway would Nistamatsin have over the demon worshiping Orcusites?
>>
No. 815774 ID: d36af7

There's an odd sound, like distant birdsong, from the far end of the chasm.

>>815479
>What kind of warding can Nistamatsin perform as a level one abjuration specialist?
Mostly alarms and deterrents. Hard barriers or deadly traps are higher-circle effects. Still, that's enough to keep vermin and petty spirits at bay, and deny greater threats the advantage of surprise.
>>815540
>How much sway would Nistamatsin have over the demon worshiping Orcusites?
A free demon they might consider as a potential ally, but one so thoroughly bound would likely be thought of more as a tool. Reverence and unconditional obedience are reserved for the big guy at the bottom.
>>
No. 815810 ID: 094652

Pog offers to trade rations for brass balm.
>>
No. 816004 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14

>Pog offers to trade rations for brass balm.
'Malkov' says he has plenty of food, but reaches up and strokes Pog's face with bony, grimy hands and says that there's something else the big orc can give him.

>There's an odd sound, like distant birdsong, from the far end of the chasm.
Sounds like something worth investigating. Nistamatsin will drag Malkov along.
>>
No. 816044 ID: d36af7

>>816004
In the further half of the chasm, that narrow scree slope in front of the secret door expands to a broad, more or less level shelf 50' wide. At the far end there are two massive tunnels, more than 30' in diameter, one leading straight ahead and the other off to the left. To the right, there's a ledge overlooking the deeper pars of the chasm, and a ramp leading up to two much smaller tunnels, less than 10' wide. The ramp is close enough that someone could hang off the ledge and drop down safely without any extraordinary skill, but jumping or climbing back up would be much more impressive. Leaning around underneath the ledge, you can see two more massive tunnels, 50-60' below, going in about the same directions as the ones on your current level.
>>
No. 816491 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8

>>816044
Any clues to where the noise came from or what it might be?
>>
No. 816501 ID: d36af7

>>816491
>where the noise came from
Somewhere up above, maybe? Very difficult to pinpoint which direction sounds are coming from when everything echoes off stone walls.
>what it might be?
Leading theories are a commando team signaling to each other in some code which was intended to be inconspicuous in environments where songbirds are normally found, or possibly an actual bird.
>>
No. 816509 ID: ff3e3b

rolled 2, 3, 4 = 9

>commando team
Not ruling this out.

>actual bird
We may be closer to the surface than we thought? Possible way to test this theory. Since Nistamatsin is Good, animals may flock to him when he sings. Roll is for birdsong impression.
>>
No. 816775 ID: 36105e

rolled 6, 6, 5 = 17

Isaiah doesn't wish to investigate the bird song currently, and will continue to work on repairs.
>>
No. 816777 ID: 36105e

Kent is wary of the bird song- they have more than enough allies currently, and just wanna follow the trail of this "helen" woman back to the surface so they can get a little more in-depth information on that book she was supposedly carrying, and more on the story of how she came to acquire it, and why exactly Kent was having such a hard time learning about her and tracking her down previously. It could be the signal of a potentially helpful party, but it also opens them up to risk, which seems unwise if they can manage on their own. Given what that strange "Isaiah" fellow said about the giant snake, and where Helen disappeared, Kent would like to return to the area and search for clues to Helen's disappearance, maybe explore those side tunnels to look for evidence of which way she went.
>>
No. 816785 ID: d36af7

>>816775
>>816777
Isaiah finishes repairs, sketches out a detailed map (seemingly from memory, though he claims to be directly observing the halls in question) on scrap parchment from the room at the end of the one-way fog. The route leads far past the giant snake carcass, to Helen's last known location.
>rolled 6, 6, 5 = 17
However, just as Isaiah is about to explain what exactly he saw happening there, some vital connection inside his chest slips loose and he abruptly collapses, limp and unconscious.

Kent is now in the position of somebody in act 1 of an espionage/conspiracy thriller, right after an otherwise less-than-credible informant's story is interrupted, and implicitly confirmed, by otherwise inexplicable assassination.
>>
No. 817688 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 1, 6, 6 = 13

>>816785
Kent will first attempt to administer aid but, after coming upon the realization that there's no one present upon which they could apply said aid, will backtrack and inform the group. Geoffrey knows that Vampires are after himself, Isaiah and Helen, and Kent begins to fear that these mysterious disappearances are the work of a disgruntled night-dweller. They will turn to "Malkov" as the individual practices their whistling, and give them a quick run through on what exactly Kent thinks is going on, since he seems to be familiar with elvish signs. Kent suggests they stick together, and move through known locations, carrying protection known to ward against such foes, and backtrack towards where Helen was last seen, to scour the scene of the crime for clues as to where these bodies could be mysteriously disappearing to without a trace.
>>
No. 817777 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 2, 3 = 7

>Vampires disappearing people into thin air
Well not the usual modus operandi, but maybe.

>scour the scene of the crime for clues
'Malkov' agrees. Proposed marching order is himself taking point with Kent right behind providing directions, then Pog, Wendy and (the real Malkov) holding hands to make sure the latter does not get lost, and then Geoffrey in the back.

We don't really have anything to ward against vampires, unless Kent brought salt.
>>
No. 821261 ID: d36af7

Kent helps everyone up to the intact bridge with a few mishaps but no serious injuries, and the group proceeds along most of the route described in Isaiah's map without incident. The last place Helen was seen directly is the site of the battle with the giant snake, which is easy enough to confirm that you're on the right track since there's still a giant snake skeleton present. All the flesh has been removed, though the bones are undisturbed.

Next section of the map indicates a side passage, which is still present but has been closed off by a sliding wall. The wall is not shown on Isaiah's map, but you have various options for meddling with whatever mechanism moves it, or smashing through with brute force.

Next significant challenge after that is a combination concealed pit and rolling-boulder trap, which Isaiah left no notes on how to bypass or disable.

Then there's a twisty little web of natural cave passages, with a shiny bit of treasure in a hole in a wall that Geoffrey's magic may be able to retrieve, and finally, in the exact center of the cross-shaped room with the frescoes (which Helen must have passed through, given where she walked off the edge of what Isaiah could scry), a deck of cards laying on the floor.
>>
No. 821484 ID: d22dc0

rolled 1, 5, 2 = 8

>>821261
Hmm, picked clean of flesh but the bones are left intact. As far as Kent knows, vampires are supposed to deal in body fluids, not flesh, but stranger things have happened. Perhaps the corpse was drained and then left to minions, or picked clean by some other threat. Best to be on guard. They quickly sign to "Malkov" that while Geoffrey tries to get that treasure, Kent will attempt to find a way to safely bypass this boulder. If the aforementioned pits and large deadly stones block progress towards Helen's last assumed location based on the information from the "missing" Isaiah, then ensuring it's neutralized is of some significance. Does it appear as though the boulder would fall into the pit? If that's the case Kent might be able to trigger the trap and jump safely out of the way, thereby getting around the major problems of being crushed to death or suffering injuries from an unexpected fall. Otherwise they'll need to find somewhere less deadly for a giant boulder to roll to.
>>
No. 821526 ID: d36af7

>>821484
>while Geoffrey tries to get that treasure, Kent will attempt to find a way to safely bypass this boulder.
These are sequential problems, successive waypoints on Isaiah's map. You can't reach the trap until you've gotten past the wall (or explored off the known map to find another way around), and can't reach the caves with the treasure until you've disabled or otherwise circumvented the trap. Sorry I didn't make that more clear.
>>
No. 821527 ID: 094652

Pog can dig a tunnel. Should he dig a tunnel?
>>
No. 821533 ID: af6e04

>Pog can dig a tunnel. Should he dig a tunnel?
Pog should dig a tunnel!

It would be neat to see how Kent's rippling power could fuck with a sliding wall trap, but sometimes the simplest option is the best. I imagine the sliding wall isn't too terribly thick.
>>
No. 821888 ID: d36af7

Gimme a roll for combining Kent and Pog's talents to open a hole in the sliding wall, quickly and quietly enough to avoid attracting more monsters.
>>
No. 822047 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 4, 3 = 13

rolling
>>
No. 822187 ID: d36af7

Kent kicks off the wall hard enough to go flying away like an arrow, then Pog sticks his sledgehammer through before the ripples settle down. After a bit of grunting and straining, and one loud crunch, the sledgehammer has effectively become an irregular stone umbrella, and there's a four foot diameter hole in the wall. Bit of a squeeze for Mr. Roastchester's beefy shoulders, but not impassable.

Once you're all through, on the far side there's a 4-way intersection. Isaiah's map says Helen turned right here, down a long straightaway, and right again at the first opportunity. After that it's about ten yards straight ahead to the pit trap, then a left on the far side, between the pit and the boulder-releasing device.

You could go slow and careful, try to find the edges of the pit's lid with tricks like low-angle light (so sharp shadows highlight irregularities in the floor) or pouring out water to see where it drains, and then try to jam the mechanism somehow. You could charge ahead, estimate the distance on the map, and try to jump over where it's supposed to be. You could hope Helen and Jank dealt with the trap already somehow. Probably other options, too.
>>
No. 822216 ID: d36af7

Also there are bits of rock splattered all over everyone. Not molten, just temporarily liquified. http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch09/ch09_70.html
>>
No. 822366 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 4 = 12

>>822187
>pouring out water to see where it drains
'Malkov' will prick his finger with one of his needles to create a spray of blood for a similar effect.

>Also there are bits of rock splattered all over everyone.
Hmm, wonder if it would be possible to make the trap floor ripple and let it drop onto the spikes and then harden around them.
>>
No. 822371 ID: d36af7

rolled 8 = 8

>>822366
Pricked finger works out to under a gallon per minute, comparable to kitchen faucet or garden hose on a medium-low setting. Unfortunately, blood is notoriously thicker than clear water, so it tends to crust up in narrow openings rather than flowing easily through.

The smell of fresh blood is also well known to attract scavengers and opportunistic predators, and even if it didn't (sorta blends in with the ubiquitous red mist, after all), cleaning up the mess enough to try something else will take time. So, I'm rolling for a random encounter.
>>
No. 822441 ID: d22dc0

rolled 2, 2, 1 = 5

As Malkov begins leaking an unusual and disquieting amount of blood, Kent will take off on of their gloves and one of their boots and slowly make ripples along the left wall and nearby floor, looking for any disturbances that might indicate an illusion, another material, or any disjoint in the material, like a thin wall of ice separating two bodies of water which is only apparent when the water is no longer calm.
>>
No. 822658 ID: d36af7

>>822441
Kent has located the pit trap, or at least a 10' square section of floor bounded by cracks across which ripples in the stone don't propagate. The suspected trap door doesn't open even when firmly stomped on, but does sound hollow. Maybe it's already jammed, or some other mechanism unlocks it?

>>822371
>wandering monster
>rolled 8 = 8
A transparent glowing elvenoid figure darts past, heading down the straight passage behind you at a dead run, toward the intersection you just came through, pursued by that swarm of bloodsucking mist >>798638 which peels off from the chase when it gets close enough to smell a puddle of fresh blood and Geoffrey's curse-mark.
>>
No. 822672 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 5, 4 = 11

>>822658
Can one of these things be sated or will it just keep growing bigger the more blood it drinks?
>>
No. 822715 ID: d36af7

>>822672
It seems to be some sort of undead, which would imply that it cannot grow, nor starve, nor be sated, nor reproduce except parasitically upon the living. Impulse to feed would be more like an itch which can be scratched endlessly without ever completely going away, though the process may also catalyze self-repair.
>>
No. 822929 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 5, 2 = 13

>>822715
Well if this glowing elvenoid passed through the path ahead, the traps may already be taken care of. Hopefully we can make our escape while the mist is distracted by the blood puddle. Nistamatsin will make his way across the pit trap, testing it for his mortal companions.
>>
No. 822965 ID: d36af7
File 150281843361.png - (47.76KB , 245x676 , behind you.png )
822965

>>822929
>if this glowing elvenoid passed through the path ahead
It did not. This is one of those things that would be painfully obvious IC, however badly I'm explaining it, so I'll just draw a picture. Your group came from the upper left, through that 4-way intersection in the upper right, and are now messing with the pit trap on the lower left. Glowy coward followed the green arrow, hungry mist followed the red arrow.
>>
No. 823470 ID: d22dc0

rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14

>>822658
Kent will make a note to communicate to Malkov the area in question, and takes a leap to avoid said 10 x 10 space, hoping the others will get the picture and follow as this creature consumes the troubling and frankly impossible stream of blood escaping Malkovs finger
>>
No. 823588 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 4, 5 = 10

>>822965
Okay, I see now. Well since we're being chased, Nistamatsin will try to make a running long jump. Is the blood mist preoccupied with the big puddle of blood or is it going after us?
>>
No. 823598 ID: d36af7

>>823588
>long jump
>rolled 1, 4, 5 = 10
The alleged pit trap is traversed without incident.
> Is the blood mist preoccupied with the big puddle
It's going to preferentially target Geoffrey Vargas whenever he's within range, hard to judge preferences beyond that.
>>823470
>rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14
Kent overshoots, landing twenty or thirty feet further down the corridor than intended. There's an ominous click underfoot, some rusty scraping from up ahead, and then the low rumble of stone rolling across stone, getting steadily louder and closer.

The Man With No Face stands his ground as a rear guard where the hungry fog advances. Right foot back, left knee slightly bent, in a steady fighting stance, he holds up his left hand palm-out. When it ignores that silent order to halt, he brings up his right fist from hip to chest height, pivoting to throw his full weight into a punch through the central mass of the swarm.

There is a dazzling flash, a crack of thunder, a smell of ozone and burnt metal. Wherever the animate crimson fog seeks to touch and feed on him, blue sparks rise, black ash falls, and the swarm is lessened while his skin is unscathed.
>>
No. 823740 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 2, 4 = 7

>>823598
Nistamatsin puts away any temptation to keep the blind monk's face longer than necessary.

>the low rumble of stone rolling across stone, getting steadily louder and closer.
Which direction?
>>
No. 823749 ID: 094652

Pog readies his pickaxe, following Geoffrey and preparing to strike down The Very Inconveniently Gigantic Boulder.

Spending a turn to prepare attack, should I roll for preparation or just roll if I choose to make Pog attack something?
>>
No. 823788 ID: d36af7

>>823740
Grinding rolling-boulder sounds are coming from more or less the same direction you need to be going to follow Isaiah's map. Helen went down a side passage to the left, which everyone in the party who crossed the pit and then continued at full speed manages to reach and duck into.

The demonic chanting noise, meanwhile, seems to be coming from inside Pog's ears, building toward a crescendo along with his anticipation. >>823749
>should I roll
Yes. In fact, any time you feel the urge to ask that question, go ahead and include the roll with your post. For trivial stuff, I'll just ignore the dice. Every strategic decision point or dramatically significant action should be accompanied by a roll. No, you don't need to roll for Pog to scratch his own butt, walk across level ground, or even (thanks to super strength) crack walnuts between bare fingers, because those are fairly easy and the worst plausible outcome is a trivial amount of IC wasted time, so it's not worth the OOC wasted time to run exact math. Right now you're trying something more like this: http://kiwisbybeat.16mb.com/Kiwis/minus37.html so roll for it as soon as you commit to the course of action, even if the first step is easy. Jumping off a cliff may be trivial, but it'd be really annoying for me to have to narrate the brief, uneventful descent and only afterward have someone to roll for safe landing.
>>
No. 823951 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 2 = 10

>>823788
>Giant boulder incoming
In a panic, Geoffrey tries to maneuver through the vampire mist and run away.
>>
No. 823954 ID: af6e04

>reached the side passage
Nistamatsin has done all he can for these poor mortals. But at least he'll get to scavenge some tenderized meat when the boulder passes.
>>
No. 823984 ID: d36af7

>>823951
Geoffrey shoves past Pog, and thus accidentally 'catches' the demonic chanting. Rather than Pog's ears, it's now emanating from Geoffrey's curse-brand. When the vampiric mist doubles back to pursue him, and is in turn pursued by the Man With No Face, that disturbing theme music switches from deep ominous drum-roll buildup to inhuman cackling Yakety Sax.

In the course of fleeing, Geoffrey soon faces a T intersection. Left or right?
>>
No. 824034 ID: 094652

rolled 6, 3, 1 = 10

Pog attempts to strike down the Very Inconveniently Gigantic Boulder!

And follows Geoffrey if he isn't eating floor soon after.
>>
No. 824049 ID: d36af7

>>824034
Pog waits and waits and the boulder never arrives. Eventually he realizes he can't even hear it anymore, though the sound neither faded away nor abruptly cut off.
>>
No. 824203 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 1 = 10

>>823984
>Left or right?
Left, back the way we came.
>>
No. 824265 ID: d36af7

>>824203
Glowy figure seems to have been busy repairing that sliding wall. Wasn't finished, but there's barely enough hole left to crawl through. Maybe enough to accommodate a horizontal dive, but if Geoffrey's well-fed and heavily armored midsection gets stuck...

Soon as Geoffrey shows up with the hungry fog on his tail, the glowy figure takes off running again, straight through the intersection (that is, the passage to Geoffrey's right as he's coming out of the straightaway).

Meanwhile, Wendy, "Malkov," and Kent have reached the penultimate section which Isaiah's map described. Isaiah himself is still inactive, laying in a heap near where Pog was preparing to stand against the boulder. The floor in these more-or-less natural caves is far more irregular than the decrepit flagstones in previous tidy square corridors, but still smooth enough to walk on without either constantly watching your feet or tripping, comparable to a dirt trail through dense forests where gnarled roots heave up the ground. Still, all-out aprinting would be foolhardy, and it must have been smoothed out by magic at some point, since the walls are far more uneven, presenting countless ambush-friendly alcoves, shadows shifting with every movement of Wendy's garish pink 'miracle'-light. There's a furrow all along the ceiling like a miniature upside-down river canyon.

There are actually two cavern paths, each about 60 degrees apart from the boulder-trap hallway and each other, as if some ancient underground river sideswiped the future location of the tunnel and bounced off. Isaiah's map indicates you should take the left one. It continues roughly two hundred feet, with some zigs and zags, past a 10' diameter side chamber with a puddle of mustard-colored slime, a few scattered bones, and something shiny deep in a crevice (which the map identifies only as 'treasure'), then turns sharply to the right for another sixty feet. At that point the crevice in the ceiling turns left again, but Helen's trail continues straight ahead, up a hewn stone ramp to a door. Same central-pivot design you all saw leaving the chessboard room, but Isaiah's path-scrying couldn't reach past it.
>>
No. 824295 ID: d22dc0

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

>>824265
Kent is somewhat curious about treasure- certainly their quest to find Helen and her miraculous book is the main priority currently, but if there's something shiny that can be grabbed easily it wouldn't hurt future information-relocation efforts. Is it the crack with a corpse in it that Helen retrieved a head from? If so, can Kent reach their hand into the crack more easily than someone else given the effect their skin has on stone? Try to get the shiny ring I think it had?
>>
No. 824312 ID: 81b3f6

Apparently Kent is not going to be getting whatever treasure Isaiah marked dwn
>>
No. 824323 ID: d36af7

Kent extracts a skeletal arm from the crevice, sticks their own arm in, and almost immediately encounters fist-in-pickle-jar / Chinese finger-trap problems. Pulling harder just sends ripples back up the crevice which painfully constrict their elbow, bicep, or shoulder.

Maybe the severed limb of the last guy who tried this should have been taken more seriously as a warning.
>>
No. 824327 ID: 094652

After staring at Kent for ten seconds, Pog gets to work on the wall Kent is stuck in. Take 10.
>>
No. 824354 ID: d36af7

>>824327
When Pog gives up on deflecting the boulder and starts to walk forward, intending to catch up with Kent, Wendy, and the one who bleeds too much, he steps on the trap door and it opens. He plummets about ten yards before catching himself by bracing his hands and feet against opposite walls. (Yes, the shaft is ten feet wide. Pog's a big guy, almost ogre-sized.) The shaft continues on down further than he can see through the fog.
>>
No. 824381 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12

>the glowy figure takes off running again
Geoffrey bellows out a long list of creative profanities directed toward this glowy thing as he comes up to the sliding wall.

>horizontal dive
Gonna try it.
>>
No. 824382 ID: af6e04

>fist-in-pickle-jar / Chinese finger-trap problems
'Malkov' lets out a spine-chilling cackle and offers to remove the offending limb.
>>
No. 824390 ID: d36af7

>>824381
>horizontal dive
>rolled 6, 3, 3 = 12
>heroic desperation bonus from magic belt
Geoffrey rides his broken spear like some cross between a cavalry lance and a toboggan. Landing is less than graceful, but it's his boots caught in the hole rather than his belly when the wall starts to slide back into it's slot. If he'd been properly stuck, that would have cut him in half. Left, right, or straight at the next intersection?
>>824382
What, and render the patient lopsided? Gimme a roll for that phobia. Also, if their arm was cut off, it'd still be blocking the hole, meaning the treasure would be inaccessible. If you're willing to take some time and make some noise, the simple solution would be to use those iron spikes as chisels. You'd need a hammer; Isaiah and Pog have hammers. If you're in more of a hurry, feeling creative, and/or willing to take some risks, Kent and Wendy are both magic users AND engineers, with a reasonable selection of parts available, so you could improvise some sort of ritual or gizmo to circumvent the problem.
>>
No. 824416 ID: d22dc0

rolled 1, 6, 6 = 13

>>824390
Well the basic premise of the trap described would be easily circumvented by the insertion of additional limbs from another angle. If it gets tight when they pull out, simply re-orienting and pushing in a different direction should be easy enough. Let's try to drag in the arm in question along in a slow sideways arc, having the tip of the fingers trace a shape roughly comparable to a positive exponential curve, although likely less exacting in it's proportions. If that doesn't work, Kent can try putting their other hand on the stone near the base of the trapped elbow and "hold open" this Chinese finger trap, to cheat the system a little and hopefully make it easier to pull their elbow out.
>>
No. 824438 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 1, 2 = 4

>What, and render the patient lopsided?
Of course both arms would have to be removed.

Feeling a lot more confident now that most of the mortals are boulder paste and Kent is fairly helpless, Nistamatsin will go ahead and peel Malkov's face off. He'll gently smooth it out (they always look so sad when they're detached like this), roll it up with his cloth and stow it for future use.

He informs Kent that he should be able to chew through the arm(s) without too much agonizing effort, but if Kent really wants the treasure then something else can probably be figured out.

>could improvise some sort of ritual or gizmo to circumvent the problem.
I really don't know what we have to work with here so I'm just going to roll.
>>
No. 824490 ID: d36af7

>>824416
>insertion of additional limbs from another angle
Not really applicable; there's only one hole to work with.
>tip of the fingers
>rolled 1, 6, 6 = 13
Kent's deft and sensitive fingers more than cancel out the penalties for working blind, and thus manage to disentangle the valuable item from some rough bits of rock it was looped around. Good thing, too, might have damaged the loot if somebody just snared it with some kind of extendo-hook and yanked.
>>824438
>peel Malkov's face off
>chew
>both arms
>agonizing
>something else can probably be figured out
>rolled 1, 1, 2 = 4
Having thus been critically motivated, Kent kicks off with as much strength as they can muster, crossing twenty feet horizontally in under two-tenths of a second before colliding headfirst with the far wall, scattering a cubic yard or so of fresh-made gravel in the process.

Kent is unharmed (physically, at least) and has successfully retrieved a silver wire bracelet with six tiny symbolic items which do something magical when removed, and will regenerate over time as long as the bracelet itself is intact. Three are immediately recognizable: a steel knife (or possibly sword), a ceramic mug, and a brass birdcage. The remainder are abstract, or at least unfamiliar: a narrow ivory cylinder with fluted ends and a single line scored down it's length, a dun-colored spiral with knurled texture, and a pair of parallel black rods with three crossbars connecting.
>>
No. 824709 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12

>>824490
Nistamatsin approaches Kent with a (very) wide grin and helps them to their feet. He'll go ahead and examine the bracelet. Roll for knowledge?
>>
No. 824710 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13

>>824390
Straight through.
>>
No. 824712 ID: c0416c

Pog would like to remind the two treasure hunters upstairs that he is still ten feet in a pit with his arms and legs holding himself up! Could they at least do some stone-rippling magic so he doesn't have to use his muscles to stay in place?!

Well, Pog says all of this in dumbspeak, but whatever.
>>
No. 824758 ID: d36af7

>>824709
The mug will turn into a mug of frosty cold beer, unless Nistamatsin personally is the one to remove it, in which case it will turn into two dozen wooden barrels of beer. Each of the barrels is just under two feet in diameter at the ends, a few inches wider in the middle, and three feet long, so you could stack 'em up on their sides and block a 10' square corridor floor to ceiling while leaving triangular holes that could almost function as arrow slits.
>>
No. 824759 ID: d36af7

>>824710
About a hundred feet straight ahead along a rough-hewn borehole, then an abrupt right turn, fifteen feet further, and Geoffrey's boots are back on smooth flagstones. Left, or straight?
>>
No. 824765 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 3 = 12

>>824759
At this point, Geoffrey will stop to catch his breath and look back to see if the vampire mist and faceless ninja are still following him.
>>
No. 824777 ID: d36af7

>>824765
No sign of pursuit. A ball of eerie violet light (as bright as a torch) was hovering alongside, but when he calms down and starts to catch his breath it abruptly blinks out.

It is very dark.

If something were approaching, Geoffrey is not confident he'd be able to hear footfalls over the sound of demonic chanting, which has shifted rhythm and timbre from 'chase-scene slapstick' to 'joyless hyena laughter.' He would be able to feel it if anything sapient came within five yards, by the magical disruption, and he senses the will-o-wisp as it departs, but that doesn't provide any hint for direction or even number.

Light spell costs 1 per minute and can be cast at skill 12. If he'd upgraded it, that would be skill 15 and zero energy. Physical fatigue is at 7/10 and recovers 1 per ten minutes while resting, plus one for a solid meal. Magic-only energy reserve is at 5/5 and recovers 1 per 24 hours, or by transfer from physical using the Lend Energy spell. Overdraft from physical results in injury and possible unconsciousness. Overdraft from magic-only reserve is impossible.
>>
No. 824926 ID: fc3fc0

rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8

Kent wants to go back and check the boulder passage- they should have heard something more substantial by now, and appear to be down an ally.
>>
No. 824986 ID: d36af7

>>824926
The pit's open, Pog seems to have fallen in, he's thirty feet down, braced against the walls, and panicking. Isaiah's still laying inert on the other side.
>>
No. 825052 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 2, 1 = 4

>>824986
Is Isaiah's canvas long enough to lower down and let Pog grab onto? Failing that, Nistamatsin could probably jump down onto Pog's back (after retrieving Isaiah's hammer) and then use the spikes from his 'crown of nails' to create handholds for the climb back up.

Making the walls ripple seems like a surefire way to make Pog fall, but it's hard to say.

Or...does anybody have some sort of 'feather fall' spell?
>>
No. 825122 ID: d36af7

>>825052
>Is Isaiah's canvas long enough to lower down and let Pog grab onto?
No.
>rolled 1, 2, 1 = 4
Long as you're looking around for options, though, the charm bracelet can produce a rope or a ladder.

>retrieving Isaiah's hammer
Pog already has a hammer. Even has a lanyard, so you wouldn't risk dropping it.

>Nistamatsin could probably jump down onto Pog's back [...] and then use the spikes from his 'crown of nails' to create handholds for the climb back up.
>rolled 1, 2, 1 = 4
Pog somehow endures having a hundred and fifty pounds of ravenous demon plummet three stories onto his spine, "borrow" the blunt half of Helicopter and even holds steady enough to be an adequate work scaffold for Nistamatsin to hammer nails into the wall (without Pog's superdwarven strength, wielding a massive sledgehammer to useful effect absolutely requires both hands), all without losing his grip or otherwise causing both of them to plummet into the possibly bottomless abyss. Not even when Nistamatsin misjudged a swing, jerking on the lanyard and squeezing Pog's collar against the blood vessels leading to his tiny brain! The Youngmason family builds to last, don't you forget it.

That was a fairly bad plan, but who am I to argue with the dice gods? Anyway, Pog's out of the hole now. What next?
>>
No. 825127 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 1, 6 = 9

>>825122
>That was a fairly bad plan, but who am I to argue with the dice gods?
Hahaha holy shit

Nistamatsin has saved three people today, which has to be a world record in do-goodery. Might as well defend my new title by going after our companions who fled from the boulder as well.
>>
No. 825132 ID: af6e04

rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14

>>824777
Geoffrey will go ahead and cast light then. Can I choose which reserve to draw from? If so, the magic only reserve seems like the best choice right now.
>>
No. 825144 ID: d22dc0

Kent nods, satisfied the Porcine Orc is free. Letting... Malkov? Some demonic entity? Take the lead is fine by them. let's go get Vargas.
>>
No. 825188 ID: 094652

Pog will hold onto Isiah and follow the others.
>>
No. 825211 ID: d36af7

>>825127
The Man With No Face is back by the giant snake skeleton. Sliding wall is open, vampiric fog has been destroyed. No sign of Geoffrey.

>>825132
>rolled 5, 4, 5 = 14
Energy reserve is at 4/5, light fails to appear.
>>
No. 825220 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 6 = 15

Geoffrey reinforces his firm belief that magic is bullshit, but quickly realizes he forgot something very important. "ᚺᛠᛚᛖᚦ᛫ᛗᛁᚾᛖ᛫ᚨᛋᛋ!"

Rolling for another attempt.
>>
No. 825221 ID: af6e04

rolled 2, 1, 5 = 8

>>825211
>Man With No Face
Now that Nistamatsin has ingratiated himself with the mortals through his heroics, he'll go ahead and return the face.

After that's taken care of, he'll go look past the sliding wall. Any signs of which way the fat one went?
>>
No. 825235 ID: c31aac

rolled 1, 2, 4 = 7

The spirit of Geoffrey returns for one last luminescent roll, this time adding in his signature truffle-shuffle to the magical mix.

And, just as suddenly as it came, the ghost of Geoffreys past fades back away.
>>
No. 825310 ID: d36af7

>>825235
>>825221
There's a sudden flash of light, which leaves Geoffrey temporarily blinded (until his pupils contract and he gets the spell stabilized back down to a candle-equivalent) and catches Nitsamatsin's attention through the intervening mist.
>>
No. 825479 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 6, 6 = 15

>>825310
Nistamatsin creeps forth, following the light.
>>
No. 825631 ID: d36af7

>>825479
Geoffrey notices an unidentified hideous demon approaching, from the same direction he was half-expecting pursuit.
>>
No. 825651 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 1, 6 = 11

>>825631
Cue hilarious chase scene. Geoffrey will flee straight ahead.
>>
No. 825691 ID: d36af7

>>825651
After a fifty yard dash and a pivoting stone door, Geoffrey finds himself in a room identical to >>811449 apart from the content of the frescoes, which mostly seem to depict excavation and construction, and the anomaly at the center. On the floor there's a normal-looking deck of cards, proximity to which makes it feel like somebody's trying to dig a hole in his shoulder with a jagged piece of ice.
>>
No. 825744 ID: 094652

rolled 3, 6, 1 = 10

Pog calls out to Geoffrey. Hopefully his curdling squeal will be loud enough to overwhelm Geoffrey's deafening bellowing.

Pog unleashes psychic power if roll is 14 lol not gonna happen
>>
No. 825955 ID: d36af7

If anybody wants to draw from that pack of cards Geoffrey just found, pick a positive integer and roll that many 23-sided dice, all at once.
>>
No. 825962 ID: e1f59e

rolled 9 = 9

> Pick cards from strange deck
Do you reshuffle the cards back in? Because after taking out the first card, the odds of picking that card from the deck given that it is no longer in the deck are 0:1.

Either way, Pog will take out a card out of curiosity.
>>
No. 825978 ID: af6e04

rolled 20, 3, 9, 11, 17, 21, 20, 12, 8, 19, 2, 14, 14 = 170

>>825955
>clearly the deck of many things
Thirteen cards
>>
No. 825980 ID: af6e04

Geoffrey wisely stays away from this evil deck of cards and everybody who draws from it.
>>
No. 825985 ID: d36af7

>>825962
No apparent effect, apart from the deck slipping out of his hands like a wet bar of soap and being snatched up by Nistamatsin.
>>825978
First card has an effect which will activate automatically at a later time.

Second one... okay, this is tricky. Is Nistamatsin's phobia of asymmetry a curable mental illness, or is it an innate part of the nature of that type of demon and/or the binding? In the former case, it's cured. Nistamatsin becomes completely sane, and has a drastic change of personality, equivalent to switching to an opposed alignment. In the latter case, if Nistamatsin is already sane, choose between http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/l/life-of-crime or http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/i/insanity

Third card does something weird to the remaining supply of brass balm.

Fourth card, semi-random magic item. Has to be something utilitarian rather than directly military, but that can include vehicles. What do you want? The more narrowly you specify, the less powerful it's going to be.

Fifth card, a life-size statue of Nistamatsin, naked and in an embarrassing pose, appears. It seems to be solid silver, and silver is roughly ten and a half times as dense as flesh, so you'll all be filthy rich if you can figure out a way to transport any significant portion of the metal. Conceivably it might be worth more as an intact objet d'art, but given that Nistamatsin isn't exactly, ah, conventionally attractive, it might be tricky to find a buyer with the right tastes.

Sixth card is a one-time use ability which can be activated at a later point. I'll tell you what it does if you survive the rest of this.

Seventh card is that first thing again. They stack, but won't both go off at once.

Eighth card provides a magic weapon. Again, semi-random, specifying more conditions squelches overall power.

Ninth card destroys all of Nistamatsin's mundane equipment (apart from the beheaded statuette) and annuls the ancient marriage.

Tenth card offers a choice: change your own nature by becoming immune to one thing and vulnerable to something else, with a sort of symmetry between them (details negotiable), or draw three more cards and ignore the least desirable among the three results?

Eleventh card's effect can't resolve until the details of that second one are sorted out.

For the twelfth and thirteenth, combined, roll 2d6 and I'll tell you what the number means after the rest of this preposterous metaphysical shitstorm is over.
>>
No. 825996 ID: af6e04

rolled 1, 3 = 4

>>825985
>Is Nistamatsin's phobia of asymmetry a curable mental illness, or is it an innate part of the nature of that type of demon and/or the binding?
The phobia is a result of his binding. I'll pick insanity.

>The more narrowly you specify, the less powerful it's going to be.
Question on the magic items, can I provide no specifications for maximum power?

>a life-size statue of Nistamatsin, naked and in an embarrassing pose, appears.
>it might be tricky to find a buyer with the right tastes.
I don't care, this must be displayed.

>and annuls the ancient marriage.
Would that annul my bindings as well?

>For the twelfth and thirteenth, combined, roll 2d6
Rolling

For the rest...give me a little time to think it over.
>>
No. 826019 ID: d36af7

>>825996
As for the eleventh card, a radiant androgynous swan-winged elvenoid with skin like gold-veined marble and eyes like pearls (with no irises or pupils) appears, holding a sword in one hand and a stone tablet in the other, and attempts to propose some sort of convoluted contract, but by this point Nistamatsin is frothing at the mouth and trying to bite whoever gets close.

>rolled 1, 3 = 4
You've got four Wishes. One of them could be spent, in a lucid moment, to cure the Insanity. Might want to hurry, if you're going to do that, since incoherent babbling will eventually produce something that can be parsed as a Wish. You could also spend two Wishes to specify a card you haven't drawn yet, or three to retroactively modify some previous interaction you've had with the deck, such as the decision of how many cards to draw, or which card came up on any single draw.

>Would that annul my bindings as well?
Simple way to find out would be to see if those bites can draw blood. Though, if the victim is fighting back, the bindings wouldn't apply even if they were intact. Any volunteers?

>no specifications for maximum power
Yes, but you might end up with a weapon you have no idea how to use, or a vehicle too big to fit through the doors, or something self-defeating like that.
>>
No. 826056 ID: af6e04

>Drew the Wish card twice
Hahahaha!

>cure the insanity
Yeah, I think I'll do that.

>magic items
Alright, for the utilitarian item I'll go with a vehicle that is good at traversing caverns and capable of carrying that beautiful statue. For the magic weapon I'll go with something I can wield with my current physiology and knowledge and that looks like a mundane, non-military object like a rowboat oar or a big serving fork.

>You could also spend two Wishes to specify a card you haven't drawn yet
Could I just choose the card that gives a ton of XP? Also, do I have to use all my wishes now or can I save them for later?
>>
No. 826063 ID: d36af7

>>826056
>Could I just choose the card that gives a ton of XP?
Only if you picked 'draw three' instead of 'immunity/vulnerability' for that tenth card. Otherwise, you can't draw any more cards (except by spending all three remaining wishes to redefine your initial choice of thirteen to some higher number - you could redefine it to a lower number, but since that would also result in not gaining the three wishes, there'd be a minor time paradox for 27d6 damage, which for various reasons would be more survivable than it sounds). Furthermore, you might not want to, because the only XP-granting card in this deck has some potentially unpleasant side effects.
>Also, do I have to use all my wishes now or can I save them for later?
You can save them for later, but might thereby end up wasting them with incautious statements.
>a vehicle that is good at traversing caverns and capable of carrying that [...] statue
Bulge in the floor pops like a blister to reveal a circular bronze hatch locked with a central wheel.
>something I can wield with my current physiology and knowledge and that looks like a mundane, non-military object
Sturdy 7' pole of some reddish metal, doesn't even register as magical until you unscrew the cap on one end. A fearsome spearhead pops out, unfurls into a broad leaf shape, and bursts into twisting corrosive flame. Cap goes back on easily enough, at which point it could again pass for a mundane iron bar with odd lacquer.

That just leaves the tenth and eleventh cards needing to have immediate consequences resolved.
>>
No. 826070 ID: af6e04

rolled 4, 1, 6 = 11

>the only XP-granting card in this deck has some potentially unpleasant side effects.
That just makes me want it more! Taking three more cards and using two wishes to give myself the XP granting card as one of them. Rolling for the other two.
>>
No. 826071 ID: af6e04

rolled 13, 6 = 19

>>826070
Sorry, force of habit. Also, I'll try to see what this contract's actually about.
>>
No. 826073 ID: d36af7

>>826071
Alright, the effects from those three cards are:
A) Redefine the terrain type of an adjacent hex, including overall climate but not immediate weather (since adjacency can be vertical, this could alter terrain on nearby parts of the surface, or add entirely new paths from the Bloodmist Labyrinth to a paradisical cavern complex of up to 95 square miles, but you'd still need to actually find that exit).
B) One ally chosen at random or OOC volunteering is banished to a hoary netherworld and seamlessly replaced with some manner of insidious hostile doppelganger.
C) An avatar of Death appears, relentlessly seeking to destroy you. Anyone attempting to interfere gets their own reaper to fight.

Pick two to happen, one to avoid.
>>
No. 826206 ID: af6e04

>>826073
Alright, I'm going to be the heartless bastard and choose to avoid option C.
>>
No. 826225 ID: d36af7

Anyone going to volunteer for the banished-and-replaced job? You'll be able to continue playing your existing character in a solo adventure in the relevant hoary netherworld once I get that set up, and also play as the nefarious imposter.

>>826206
Which region are you going to modify? You've got twelve to choose from: three on the surface (hills around the Temple of Final Sacrament, beach, and the mouth of the Stoneheart River), six underground on the same level (some of which include dungeon stuff), and three deeper underground (one of which includes the goblin city of Greznek). In each case the targeted region is a hexagon 12 miles wide, area of approximately 95 square miles, though the exact borders may be a bit blurry.

What will you terraform it into? Absolutely any natural terrain type is possible, regardless of contextual plausibility (chunk of rainforest in the middle of the desert, etc) and various fantastical elements as well. 'Ruins' are possible, but not usable buildings. Random sprinkling of natural resources or buried treasure is possible, but not streets paved with gold. Mutations to adjust an existing ecosystem to the new climate are possible, but not abiogenesis. If statuary is what you want, you could raise up a small mountain, the side of which 'naturally' resembles your face, or whatever other feature you feel the general public needs to be more thoroughly informed of. Unlike with the magic item specs, more detail here is always good.

As for the pact being offered by that archon... healing and support services to help you escape this dungeon, plus that greatsword (fourth-tier named weapon) as a prize, in exchange for your promise to complete a little quest: clear out, cleanse, and generally restore to working order an abandoned hospital less than half a day's travel from Zelkor's Ferry. Fail, or refuse, and you still get the sword, but only the sharp end.
>>
No. 826287 ID: af6e04

rolled 6, 3, 6 = 15

>>826225
Would sapient creatures be mutated to fit the new climate as well? Say, the goblins of Greznek changed into something else? Would spacial anomalies or permanent geomantic atrocities be possible as a chosen terrain feature? This is pretty huge so I'd like to put a little thought into it. I do believe I'll do the terraforming underground though. A statue of some kind will of course be included.

>Fail, or refuse, and you still get the sword, but only the sharp end.
This archon drives a hard bargain. Nistamatsin will agree, but he'll ask for some information regarding assets that will be useful for carrying out the quest. Specifically, how to drive this subterranean vehicle.
>>
No. 826333 ID: d36af7

>>826287
>Would sapient creatures be mutated to fit the new climate as well? Say, the goblins of Greznek changed into something else?
Not usually. Mutations are only allowed when they'd be necessary to adapt, and in most cases tool-users can adequately adapt to different environments just by using different tools.
>Would spacial anomalies or permanent geomantic atrocities be possible as a chosen terrain feature?
Yes, absolutely. That's what I mean by fantastical features. Don't reach outside the area, though, except to provide access to pre-existing places the way a border or cave mouth usually does, and remember that spatial anomalies shouldn't alter the total available surface area too much.
>This is pretty huge so I'd like to put a little thought into it.
I appreciate it. Take your time, that won't be a bottleneck issue until the subterrene is up and running or somebody finds some other way to reach the reshaped area.

>information regarding assets that will be useful for carrying out the quest.
Permanent light sources, ablative blessings, and a whisperweb can be provided with trivial effort. Restoring the dead or dismembered to wholeness is more difficult, but possible. Directly pointing the way to an exit from the Bloodmist Labyrinth is not available at this time, not without additional favors.
>Specifically, how to drive this subterranean vehicle.
That stone tablet the archon carries is a translation key between Low Draconic and the language in which operating instructions are engraved on every available interior surface of the subterrene. http://falsemachine.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/derro.html A week of intensive study (with the archon's help) could get someone to the point where they can at least partly understand the instructions without reference to the tablet, and then it's possible to simply learn by doing.
>>
No. 826456 ID: af6e04

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

>that won't be a bottleneck issue until the subterrene is up and running or somebody finds some other way to reach the reshaped area.
That in mind, it looks like everything else has been resolved.

With a sleepy grin, the stark naked demon thrusts the cards into Kent's hands and then turns around to bite Pog hard and without warning. Once that little test is over, he scoops up all his new toys like a child at the playground and scurries down the subterrene hatch to take stock of his new existence. (he says he'll be back up to help move the statue shortly)

I believe I still have one wish. Brainstorming possible uses...

1. Try to find which one of my companions was replaced with a doppleganger and wish them back
2. Wish back this 'Helen' thing so that Kent has fewer qualms about joining me on this quest to Zelkor's Ferry
3. Another statue?
>>
No. 827304 ID: d36af7

>>826456
>rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7
Something like "I wish for myself, that Helen person who Kent is looking for, my allies, their allies, all the aforesaid people's personal equipment and portable wealth (including this vehicle), and a section of architectural-quality marble shaped like myself (from someplace deep underground where nobody will notice that it's missing), all to be safely and unobtrusively transported to Zelkor's Ferry" would probably work. Want to go for that? It'd wrap up thread 4 pretty decisively, render the doppelganger issue moot, and incidentally rescue Azure from the POW camp by reuniting her with Pog about twenty miles outside Passholdt's borders.
>>
No. 827306 ID: af6e04

>>827304
Sounds perfect. Though I'm not sure exactly how that'll include Rhea.
>>
No. 827308 ID: 3abd97

>>827306
Well, Rhea was at one point Geoffrey's ally, so allies of your allies covers her.
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