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Post by Aileen on May 31, 2021 11:41:43 GMT -5
First stop before our slave uprising is the armory. We speak the password, “white feather”, the door opens, and we are stopped by the bone naga within. It’s a big, giant snake but made of bones. We give it the second password, “Black mask”.
“They will tell us what they want!” It hisses.
“We need weapons and armor,” Bastian says.
The naga is distracted by Ciara going over to the strange turtle shell shield on the wall.
“It will not touch the shield. Ukurlamu has spoken.”
While it’s preoccupied with Ciara I start gathering scimitars, which is what we came here for. The bone naga turns it’s attention to me now, as I tuck the fourth sword across my chest.
“What is it doing with those?”
“We’re making a weapon fort for Fenthaza!” I say, first thing that comes to my mind.
“What is a weapon fort?”
“It’s when you stack a bunch of weapons and make a shelter. So if you need to defend yourself you just pull them off. It’s an ancient Vampirian battle technique.”
Bastian stifles a laugh, clearly impressed with my expert bulls**ttery.
“It speaks plausibly.” Says Ukurlamu.
“Oh,” I add, realizing this snake guy believes me. “Sekolok told me that the best thing that could top off our weapon fort is his shield, and we should borrow it.”
“Does it think I am stupid?” It hisses at me.
Ciara goes to grab the shield, and it turns on her, hissing angrily. The naga says a word I don’t understand, and suddenly the scattered bones on the floor form into two big Minotaur skeletons.
“Woah! Can we borrow them? We accept your gift- Lyssa has spoken!”
Ukurlamu casts a spell, and the skeletons attack Hawthorn and Bastian. Guess we won’t be using them in the fight against Ras Nsi. I grab a couple more scimitars and run along the wall and out of the room. I dash right back in the direction of Fenthaza’s chamber, yelling.
“Fenthaza!” I shout, nearly dropping a scimitar but catching it as I get back onto the floor like a normal person.
“This is getting too hot for me!” Hawthorn hoots, flying out behind me.
“I’m just doing what I was told to do!”
Fenthaza comes out of her chamber, and smiles when she sees me bearing weapons.
“Good, you know where to bring them.”
“Fenthaza! They’re messing with the bone naga! The paladin touched the turtle shield and it pissed him off and now there’s Minotaur skeletons. But I did exactly as you told! By the way, you look exceptionally lovely today, Fenthaza!”
“Yes, yes. Thank you for your compliance, fanged one. Now bring those to the prisoners. Ukurlamu will deal with the insolent one.”
I make it to the door of the slave chambers just as Bastian and Ciara come running up behind, looking a little worse for wear.
“Why can’t we just follow directions?!” I snap.
“It was worth it, look at this shield!” Ciara shows it off.
“That’s great, but did you guys get the stuff we came for?”
“Of course, I got armor,” says Bastian.
“No, I didn’t see anything I wanted.” Hawthorn says.
“It wasn’t for you, Hawthorn!” I growl. The others sigh.
We open the door and go in, seeing a sacrificial altar covered in blood and a large chamber blocked off by a portcullis. There’s a lever that most likely opens it.
“Well, since you don’t have anything in your hands, why don’t you go open the portcullis,” Bastian orders Hawthorn.
She opens it and we all go in, finding a chamber full of holes in the ground. It reeks of body odor and other horrible things. Down below come moans, clearly slaves suffering in the pits. The first pit I climb down into and start unlocking the people within. One is a young Chultan boy with a garland of flowers, fiercely praying to Tymora. He is started by my appearance, but I think more worried about getting rescued than eaten by a vampire.
“Hi everyone, I’m Lyssa and we are here to rescue you!” I announce.
I grab the kid and hold him close as I climb up the wall, all the while he’s still praying to Tymora. The poor little guy is so young, which only makes me even angrier at the Yuan Ti. They have no respect for the living, and take and abuse anyone of any age. I set him down, ruffling his hair, and go to help the other two, both human women.
The rest of the slaves we get up and out easily, and then we take stock of who we have to help us fight. There’s a yuan ti named Sev who claims Bastian is his lucky charm, and won’t leave his side. There’s Oloma Afdamar, former captain of the crashed air ship we met the former party at. A tabaxi named Pottery Shard, a fire newt who’s name sounds like Gorvax, Lomar Droll a wizard, a malnourished Chultan man, a woman pirate named Zilla who was thrown overboard her ship, and a goblin named Mung.
“Well… if you can fight, gear up,” says Bastian. “You, little man- you’re going to watch these two, they’re too sick to fight.”
Bastian puts the kid in charge of the goblin and the malnourished man. I help Zilla get her new armor on.
“Thank you for rescuing us,” the mage says. “I was poisoned by my guide and taken. I’ve been searching for Artus Cimber, but no luck.”
“Artus Cimber? We know him!” Bastian says.
“Do you?”
“Yeah! Do you know Dragonbait, too? He’s great.”
“Do you… happen to know where they are?”
“Bastian!” I hiss, running over and slamming my hand into his chest, pressing him against a wall. “What are you doing?! Artus said there’s people after him! This guy clearly is too!”
“Relax, Lyssa, Artus isn’t here.”
“That doesn’t mean you betray him!”
“I wasn’t thinking, I thought he might be a friend.”
I roll my eyes, sighing with a dramatic groan, and go off to equip the others.
“Lyssa, it’s Hawthorn,” I hear a voice in my head. “I just read Lomar’s mind. He wants to find Artus and report back to the Harpers!”
“Herpes?!” I say out loud, mishearing the owl.
“Harpers!” She says in my mind again.
“Herpes? Something you want to tell us, Lyssa?” Ciara says.
“No I was just thinking maybe Ras Nsi has herpes, and that’s why he, uh… I don’t know.”
I go over to the glowing disc in the room with the strange blue triangle symbol. It’s the same symbol we saw on those undead in the village- what does it mean?! I step on the disc, which is big enough for four to stand on, and start messing with it, but nothing happens.
“Hey, Hawthorn, can you figure out what this thing is?” I ask.
Hawthorn comes over and takes my place, messing around with it for a moment. Suddenly, she disappears!
“Ah! Where did she go?!”
“Oh, that there is a teleport,” says Lomar, coming up to stand next to me. “There’s five of them. The yuan ti use them to get around, you can go wherever you want if you know where you’re going. Did your friend know where she was going?”
“No.”
“Well, there’s no telling where she’ll end up.
“Ah. Great.” I groan.
Hawthorn appears a moment later, screaming, and we join in.
“Ahh! I was in the room with the guy and his champion, and all his friends and a big ass throne that looks like naga heads and he said “seize her!” And he’s a mummy thing aaaand his champion is ripped as heck!”
“Please describe him?” I ask.
“He’s about as ripped as Bastian!”
I nearly swoon. Now that Hawthorn knows how to use the teleport, we decide it’s the best way in. Of course now Ras Nsi knows we are coming, and a second later we hear an alarm sounding. Bastian, Lomar and Sev get on the teleport, the first wave to go in the throne room. Not the best assortment of people, but Lomar is going to learn to use it and come back and get more of us.
“Lyssa, I’m going to haste you!” Hawthorn says. She casts a spell on me, and suddenly I feel a rush of energy go through my body.
“Great, now I’m stuck here AND strung out!!!”
“Lyssa, give the tooth necklace to Bastian so I can see what’s going on!” Ciara tells me.
“Okay!”
I quickly go to Bastian and put it around his neck.
“Should I give you one of mine?” Bastian asks me.
“No! It’s Ciara’s tooth, she can see through it, remember?”
“Oh. I have fangs now!” He smiles. “We can drink each others blood!”
“You drink blood now, too?”
“No. What I really want is a really big hamburger.”
“You can bite me later,” I mumble.
“What?”
“I said… you can bite a gator.”
“Huh. Yeah, I’m sure I could.”
I give him a hug, and to my delight he hugs me back, resting his chin on my head for a moment. I feel his warm breath in my hair.
“Please be careful. I’ll see you soon.”
“I will, Lyssa.”
I back away, and they are gone. Ciara and I hang out at the ready, staring at the platform and getting nervous when the wizard doesn’t come right back.
“If he’s not here in another minute or two we should run and find the way on foot,” I suggest.
“Agreed.”
Luckily, Lomar returns! And with him is Sev, yelling about his lucky charm being gone, and a yuan ti. I move in and slash the yuan ti through the heart so viciously that he falls over dead.
“Maybe you should have gotten off the platform, Sev!” I snap. “Now we can only get two of us!”
“Master! My master!”
“We’ll bring you back to Master, Sev,” Ciara says, getting on the pad with me after the captain drags the yuan ti body away.
The mage activates the teleport, and suddenly we are in the throne room. It’s loud and messy in here, a fight already going on. I dash off the pad and toward the big Yuan Ti Malison who must be the champion.
“Hey, Sekelok,” I grin. “I’ve heard a lot about you! You’re built!”
He laughs, and I stab him before dashing back away.
“They’re back!” A yuan ti says.
“Of course they’re back, you idiot!” Hisses the mummy yuan ti from the throne. Ras Nsi himself! “What do I pay you for? I have a bad feeling about that bird- take it out!”
Poor Hawthorn is getting pelted with arrows, her mirror images popping and leaving only her. She retorts with a fireball, before flying out the doorway behind her. Ras Nsi responds with a fireball of his own, filling the room and momentarily blinding me. I get a bit burnt, and tell myself to pay better attention next time. I easily could have dodged that! Luckily the ghouls explode, leaving only yuan ti to fight.
The champion moves in on Bastian, and I have to admit it’s exciting seeing two big, handsome yuan ti fighting.
“I want to get between them!” I say out loud, my mouth filter not working thanks to the haste. “Oops! I’m kidding- I only want you, Bastian!”
“I’m so confused!!!” Is his only response.
I run along the wall, heading for the throne, and get right up behind Ras Nsi. Somehow he’s different than what I expected. He looks… sick. Wasting away. He must have the death curse! The great, powerful and feared Ras Nsi, reduced to a sickly, dying husk of what he once was. I almost feel bad. I try to hit him from behind, but he casually casts a magical shield. Damn wizards! He then turns around, standing from the throne, and slashes at me with his fire sword. He misses with all three swings. Ciara moves in and attacks him, only to also get shielded.
I start slashing at Ras Nsi with rapier and dagger, hitting him now each time. It feels good, getting out my rage on him… he’s a foul creature, and he must die! He casts a spell, and disappears.
“Where did he go?!” I shout. “Come back, you coward!”
The room is filled once again with a fireball. This time, I dodge. Unfortunately, when the smoke clears, I see Sev, the captain, and Lomar are among the dead. I suddenly feel extremely drained and tired, the haste having worn off.
“Where is Ras Nsi?!” I yell. “Does anyone have eyes on him?!”
“He went down the corridor!” Bastian yells back.
Wasting no time, I run back along the wall and into the corridor. Poor Bastian goes down, Sekolok leering above him.
“Bastian, no!!!!”
Luckily Ciara runs over and heals him. Bastian stands up and slays Sekolok.
“I killed your champion, Ras Nsi!” He bellows, raising his sword above his head.
I get around the corner, and see Ras Nsi, the coward. I slice into him, and he hisses at me before casting another fireball straight at me.
“Die, things!”
Unhurt, I smile sweetly at him as the fire newt fights next to me, trying his best although his best isn’t much. I plunge my rapier into Ras Nsi’s heart, and he grabs my wrist.
“My child…” he hisses. “You have no idea what you’ve done!”
“Yes I do,” I sneer. “I killed you, oh great Ras Nsi.”
He turns to dust, the hand on my wrist dissipating away. I pull my rapier out, satisfied that we have won.
🗡Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on May 31, 2021 14:22:54 GMT -5
The fight was massive, magical energy, swords, and arrows flew this way and that, causing chaos and terror in our new allies. Regrettably, so few of them survived that last desperate attack by the terrible Ras Nsi. If there was only a chance to bring them back, but without their souls, eaten or crushed by the soulmonger as they are, the situation seems rightfully hopeless. The only thing we can do now is prepare for the journey ahead, perhaps even bury the bodies if we have the time. After this mission, should we succeed in severing the power of the soulmonger, then I will go on a new mission, to bring back those who were lost during this accursed time, save their souls and give them a chance to choose between this life and the next.
To be honest, I have little experience with death, it was something of a mystery in the Fae Wilds, a place where life and death are so intermixed that it can be impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends. To have lives that can be ended so abruptly, in ways I do not think I can figure out, it frightens me. Still, his horribleness has left the world, which can only mean a common good for many. I don't feel comfortable leaving this place in the hands of the other Yuan-ti, but that will be a quest for another time I suppose. With the journey well in hand, we must find the remaining cubes, and take them to the deepest pits of whatever hellish dungeon awaits us.
With no small chance of death, a large chance of failure, and whatever mysteries and foes we seek to face in this temple to horrifying gods, there is a great chance that we will not live to see the light of day again. All that I can hope for is the chance to keep their smile up while we travel and be by their side in the struggles ahead.
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jun 7, 2021 12:46:16 GMT -5
That lady was a complete monster... as beautiful and deadly as a viper or asp. This place is a poison, one which destroys the soul rather than the body. At least now, hopefully, the nightmare is over. We will have to find the other survivors and make sure that they are capable of fleeing this place, or send them on to the old tabaxi's hideout so that they may rest for a few days to regain their strength and start to put together their lives. I have to wonder if Ras Nsi was truly in charge of the Soulmonger, but it seems more likely he was a pawn as well, perhaps attemtping to bring about his darks gods through the power that such a device will create. Right now, we have to recuperate and regain our focus. These last few hours have been a series of battles and fights that have strung together back to back, ending with a multitude of blood and death staining the floors. We lost brave souls who were willing to help us when they thrmeselves had gone through horrors we do not understand.
We have the cubes. We have new and powerful items. I do not believe I have scratched the surface of the power of this shield, but that is not the only prize we have pulled from the cold-blooded reptiles that inhabit these halls. It is time to stop being so reactive, moving around blindly like children in the dark fighting threats that come upon us. Time to be the threats, to attack the heart of evil here is Chult.
Come Faerie Queens or Demon Lords, it is now the beginning of the end.
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Post by Aileen on Jun 7, 2021 13:53:40 GMT -5
Bastian grabs the no longer flaming longsword from the pile of bandages and clothes that once was Ras Nsi. I grab the fancy bracers, and head over to the throne to take a seat and watch the others search as I put them on. Surprisingly they adjust small enough to fit me, and I try to ignore the fact they were on the nasty, rotting Yuan Ti. As I’m sitting there I happen to glance to my right and see a hidden door. Without telling anyone I hop down from the throne and head over to it. It opens for me, and my eyes immediately go to the clothing posed on stands in the middle of the room. I crawl in along the wall, and go check them out. It’s a fancy cloak and a really nice doublet. I strip off my broken armor, realizing I probably don’t need it with these new bracers, and take my shirt off.
“Lyssa, you okay in there?” I hear Bastian ask from outside.
“Yeah!” I call back, trying to figure out this fancy shirt.
“Good, we’re coming in!”
“Wait, I’m not decent!”
Bastian busts the door I had half closed open, and stands staring in shock at me, topless with only my arms in the sleeves.
“I told you not to!”
“Lyssa, you’re never decent!” He stammers. I’m sure he’d be turning red if there was any light in here to see it by.
I turn around, and finally get the shirt on as the others enter the room. Of course it’s too big and masculine, so I immediately take it off.
“Lyssa!” Bastian groans, walking over to the far side of the room.
“What?! I’m trying to figure out what to wear!”
I settle with the fancy cloak and my own filthy shirt. Maybe I’ll find something else in this place that looks better. We search the room and Hawthorne discovers the shields on the wall are magic, and can be commanded to protect one person by using a command word. I find the rest of the cubes and put them with the ones I already have. As we are searching we are startled by the appearance of a female drow, a prisoner that we must have overlooked in arming up the slaves. She introduces herself as Grainne, a bard.
We rest in this room, and I sit with Bastian examining my new bracers as he checks out the sword. After an hour and all of us still feeling awful despite the bard’s healing tunes, we take another hour. I mentioned going to tell Fenthaza we succeeded at her takeover, but nobody else wanted to go. That was our first mistake.
Right as we are getting ready to head out, healed up and ready to roll, there’s a knock at the door. On the teleport in the corner of the room appears Fenthaza herself, guarded by two big Yuan Ti. She doesn’t look happy, although it’s hard to gauge how Yuan Ti are feeling as they have chronic resting snake face.
“It seems you’ve been busy- it’s been two hours! Helping yourself to Ras Nsi’s things. And plotting to take over the temple, as well!”
“We would never do that- we were napping!” I try sucking up to our captor. “I am loyal to you, oh beautiful Fenthaza!
“I don’t see much sleeping going on!”
“That’s because we just finished. We were horribly injured and needed rest, and were just about to come and see y-“
Suddenly Ciara runs by me as the bard starts playing a song, and I see her draw her sword. Guess we’re fighting- not how I foresaw this going! I rush forward and climb onto the wall, heading for Fenthaza. Her goons step forward and I take one of their places, stabbing Fenthaza just after Ciara skewers her into the ground. The second we pull our rapiers out, Fenthaza glares at all of us as she reaches into her breast pocket.
“You wound me,” she says, patting her chest. “But also, you wound me here.”
“You wound me, too, Fenthaza-“ I whine. “I was nothing but compliant! I looked up to you as a mother figure! And you couldn’t trust us!”
“Now and then children need to be punished!” She hisses.
She grabs something from her pocket and tosses it. Suddenly a blast of wind erupts and an air elemental begins spinning viciously through the room. Fenthaza waves as she disappears, taking the teleport elsewhere. I jump right onto the disk, hoping by standing on it that she can’t come back while we deal with her backup. I watch as Hawthorne casts a spell, the door and our only exit out of this room sealing with stone. It’s just us, a couple yuan ti, and a windstorm. Fun.
The wind blows through us as I’m getting clawed and bitten by the snake arm guys. I stab one in the hand, and he drops dead. The other bites me hard, and I feel the awful poison in my veins. Bastian comes to my rescue, stomping over in giant form and killing him. I slash out at the whirlwind, and it dissipates, leaving the room quite save for the sounds of metal uselessly hitting rock on the other side of the wall.
“Don’t move from that spot, Lyssa!” Ciara demands.
“Wasn’t going to!” I reply, dancing in place and humming a victory tune for keeping Fenthaza out.
Hawthorn tries activating the teleport several times to no avail. It seems Fenthaza shut it down, a very smart move I did not anticipate.
“Well, the only way out is if I dismiss the wall.” Says Hawthorne.
“Okay, so do it!” I snap, starting to feel claustrophobic.
“I can’t. I need to prepare it.”
“What?! You trapped us in here and can’t get us out?! We’re going to die! We will starve!”
“Calm down, Lys,” Bastian puts his big hands on my shoulders. “We can rest here and as soon as she gets the spell we can face whatever reinforcements they send in.”
“Calm down?! We’re stuck in a tomb!”
“It’s a bedroom,” he grins. “Don’t you vampires sleep in crypts?”
“No, I have a bedroom back home! My mom sleeps in a coffin. Vampires are like plants, they need dirt and no sunlight!”
“But plants need sunlight.”
“I’m not a gardener, Bastian!”
I go up to the ceiling to calm myself, breathing hard and panicking despite the fact I don’t need air. I stay up for a couple hours, hanging like a bat, until Hawthorne tosses me up a ration and I realize my crumbs are raining all over everyone. I climb back down and sit with Bastian until we’re all tired enough to sleep. I curl up in my new cloak and drift off.
I dream again, the same dream of Omu I’ve been having. It’s back as it was, like the vision I saw at the waterfall, again. Beautiful Omu, with its glittering roofs and natural, tropical beauty. And yet again the darkness looms overhead, consuming the city as wraiths fly about. The skeletal man stands watching me maliciously. This time he’s closer, closer than before. How long until he catches me?
I wake up gasping, a cold sweat overtaking me. Bastian stirs, grabbing my arm and looking up at me sleepily. I smile and get up, not wanting to fall back asleep lest I have the dream again. We made it through the night without an attack, but there’s still the matter of getting out.
Hawthorne casts her spell and the wall opens, revealing another wall! I scream in dismay, and am nearly in tears as we have to wait another hour. Again she casts it, and luckily we see the other room on the other side- full of yuan ti! Fenthaza, her priests, tons of brood guards, Malisons, and Noth the other leader yuan ti. Noth tries to get Bastian to come out and fight with them, but luckily he resists. Fenthaza tries getting us with a horrible darkness spell that we can hear whispers and slurping sounds in, but Grainne dispels it before it can do anything. Hawthorne misty steps into the other room, and I get in the doorway.
“Bastian, I have an idea! I’m gonna need a light!”
“It’s not dark!”
“No, fire!”
I reach into my bag and pull out a block of the special incense we found.
“It works on yuan ti! The waking nightmare incense!”
“Huh… worth a try! What do you need me to do?”
“Get me in there and keep them busy!”
We get past some of the brood guards and into the room, Bastian walking beside me as I climb on the wall. We get in position, Noth shooting at me, and I’m ready to light my incense on Bastian’s flametongue sword when suddenly he is turned into a friggin mammoth.
“This wasn’t the plan!” I scream.
I see the Drow shaking her head at me in the other room.
“I need fire, dammit, not a manatee!”
“Do you mean mammoth?” Ciara asks.
“Yes, whatever! Someone get me fire!”
Fenthaza orders the yuan ti attack Bastian manatee, and I use the distraction to fish out some flint and steel. I put my rapier away with annoyance and ready myself to light the incense. Luckily, right after another air elemental appears and attacks Bastian, Bastian turns back to his giant self.
“Lyssa, you can light the thing now!” He shouts.
I quickly light the incense on his blade and run down the wall. I stand in the middle of the room after getting shot at, holding the incense block as smoke clouds the chamber. One by one they start freezing up, trapped in waking nightmares. Its actually working! I bite Noth as he stands there, and the yuan ti are a bit surprised that I can bite back.
“Is his blood as good as mine?” Bastian asks.
“Not even close!”
Ciara kills Fenthaza, claiming she’s queen now. Bastian takes a nasty cut to the face, which I’m sure will scar just like the other one. He only looks sexier. I set the incense down as I start fighting with my rapier, working on brood guards as Bastian takes out Noth.
We quickly finish off the stoned yuan tis and the air elemental, and soon there is nothing left. Suddenly I’m grabbed by Bastian, one of his hands going to my waist and the other my cheek. I’m more than a bit surprised, and thrilled, when his lips cover mine and he kisses me. Careful not to touch his still bleeding cheek, I grab his face and kiss him back. Hmm he really does have fangs… not as sharp as mine, though. Unfortunately, the room is still full of incense smoke, and although I don’t need to breathe, Bastian does. The second he breaks away, looking dreamily into my eyes, he starts to panic.
“Was I that bad?!” I gasp, breathing in a mouthful of smoke. I begin to cough, and realize he must have taken in some as well. “Oh, s***! He’s stoned!”
Bastian will be out of it for an hour, but that’s okay. I’m beside myself with happiness- he finally kissed me! He actually likes me! I don’t care about the snake people, the cubes, the Death Curse, or even the creepy dreams of the skeleton man coming for me- I’m in love!
🗡Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jun 14, 2021 11:54:30 GMT -5
The tomb is somehow, a bit showy, more ostentatious than I imagined. When creating a hell pit from which no one will escape alive, you would expect it to be largely undecorated, or otherwise the decor would be more grim and macabre. It actually, aside from the deadly traps, seems like an average temple to lost gods. I should know, before my change, I liked to play little tricks while I was around them. Even once got enough Kuo-Toa to worship the forgotten diety that they actually brought it back! That was a fun year.
Anyways, the pitfall was a nice touch, especially if we didn't have a quick-thinking owl of a wizard there to stop our deadly drop. The entrance, the two doors, I wonder if this is not the creation of Ras Nsi, but of some beings, perhaps the original Omuans that came before him. Well, with him out of the way, all we have to handle are the traps and monsters that the Yuan-ti were able to aquire, as well as whatever surprises await us. At the very least, no darkness will hold us back, seeing as we are all quite capable of vision no matter the level of light.
Well... except that pool of darkness down the hall right there... I wonder what that is...
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Post by Aileen on Jun 14, 2021 12:28:28 GMT -5
Our enemies defeated, we get to searching the complex. The first thing I find is a beautiful white gold tiara in the shape of snakes, and I immediately put it on. There’s other goodies, but nothing beats the tiara of course. That is other than the gold bracers with bats on them, but I already have the late Ras Nsi’s bracers so as much as I like them, I can’t wear them. Bastian puts them on.
“Oh, Bastian, my mother is going to love you! I can’t wait to bring you home!“
“Is it safe for me there?” He looks concerned.
“We’re vampires, not monsters! You’ll be fine. That’s if we even live through this soulmonger madness.”
I also get a new fancy quiver and a pretty gold scabbard dagger. This place is amazing! We go into the oracle room, and I notice a stone pool full of a purple and black steaming liquid. Of course I look in it, and suddenly I’m face to face with a massive serpent. It’s gaping maw descends on me, and swallows me whole.
“Lyssa! Stop screaming!”
I snap back to the oracle room, Bastian holding me as I freak out. I calm down, backing far away from the pool.
“Don’t look in that! I saw myself getting swallowed by a giant snake!”
Next we head to the armory, and after listening at the door and hearing nothing, I notify Ciara that it’s safe to enter. She opens the door, and the Minotaur skeletons are still there! I rush in and hit one twice before skittering up the wall. The others soon join, Bastian angry that there’s a crate on the floor blocking him. I had no problem with it, of course.
“It’s a crate! Use your legs!”
“Ahh, I’ll just hit the other one!” He snarls.
Which, is good, because I destroy the Minotaur skeleton a moment later. Bastian slays the other one, and I hop down off the wall into his unsuspecting arms. He sets me down and we search around, but there’s nothing good in here. Next we head to the snake pit. Bastian climbs in, but then falls, setting a swarm attacking him. One gets him in the eye pretty bad, so I climb in on the wall. He angrily slays the swarm and I get to helping him search through the less aggressive snakes. Of course there’s nothing good in the pit. After getting out of the pit we head to the blood baths, a warm room with several pools of blood.
“Hold my tiara!”
I hand the tiara to Bastian, pull off the scarf top I took from Fenthaza, and after kicking my boots off pull my pants down. Bastian pales, staring open mouthed at me as I throw my clothes aside.
“What are you doing?!”
“Going to check the pools. Watch my stuff!”
I wade into one of the pools of blood, noting it’s starting to clot, but not quite thick yet. I use my bare feet to feel around as I swim in it, but find nothing. I take a mouthful of blood, but immediately spit it out, nearly vomiting. I hear someone gag.
“Don’t drink this, it’s nasty!” I warn my party as I get out and go to the next pool.
Bastian turns away, looking pale. I guess he’s nervous about seeing me naked. I check all the pools, but find nothing. So, I go to the sauna in hopes of getting it off me. Hawthorn joins me, helping me figure out how to light the coals, and then we go in. The others wanted nothing to do with it, their loss.
“Lyssa, I don’t think this is going to get that blood off of you,” Hawthorn says after a good twenty minutes of us just sitting in the dry heat. “Looks like it’s starting to dry.”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I was really hoping this would be an actual sauna! I once went to one back home that some old fishermen made, but then they wouldn’t let me back in when they realized I had fangs.”
We exit the broken sauna, and I walk stiffly back to the others. The blood is all crusty and uncomfortable.
“Alright, I’m going to the river!” I announce.
“You can jump in at the throne room,” Ciara says.
“Um, no, there’s a hydra there!”
I head to the cavern we entered from, and run and jump into the river with a splash. The rest of the party enters soon after, carrying all my things. Bastian has the tiara on his head as his hands are full with my bag and my clothes. I scrub myself down and spend far too long getting it out of my hair, but finally I am cleaner than I’ve been in weeks. I exit the water, soaking wet and refreshed. Bastian holds out my cloak, and I wrap myself in it to dry off.
“Bastian, you’re so shy!” I laugh.
“You know, it’s not every day a pretty girl walks around naked around me!”
“You think I’m pretty?!”
“Lyssa, would I have kissed you if I didn’t think that?”
I shrug, and start putting my clothes back on. Now that this place is fully searched, we are ready to head out. We have all the cubes, and now it’s time to enter the Tomb. We head back outside for the first time in what feels like a week, and head to the cat house to find Orvex. Unfortunately, he’s been dead for days, his body picked by predators. I cry my eyes out for my best friend, and vow to avenge him.
“Oh, my sweet Orvex! I’ll defeat this damned soulmonger and free you!”
We leave his body and head to the tomb entrance. I worry that maybe Artus Cimber is dead too, and maybe Melvakri. She was running out of time and we haven’t seen her- perhaps she turned to dust.
We get to the tomb entrance and I show the others the tunnel I was in before with the self-lighting oil. Now that we have all the cubes there’s more excitement when I walk past the statues and all the pools light up. We come to the one at the end, a flail snail, but it doesn’t do anything special. We were really hoping for a secret door. We do however find a medallion, which Ciara immediately asks for. Grabby hands for a paladin I must say.
We head outside and go to check out the obelisk, and the medallion around Ciara’s neck starts pulling her toward the cliff face. We stay at the obelisk as she wanders off, but she returns shortly to check the obelisk again after finding a copse of woods and getting spooked.
Hawthorn reads the inscription aloud.
“Fear the night when the forsaken one seizes death's mantle and the seas dry up and the dead rise and I, Acererak the Eternal, reap the world of the living. Those who dare enter take heed:
The enemies oppose. One stands between them. In darkness, it hides. Don the mask or be seen. Speak no truth to the doomed child. The keys turn on the inside only.”
“Acererak is going to rape the world of the living?!” I hiss.
“Reap, you idiot!” Ciara laughs.
As we stand in front of the moss covered obelisk, something catches my eye. I look up just in time to see one of the gargoyles up above the cliff wall turning its head back to center.
“Guys, one of the gargoyles just looked this way!” I hiss.
“Are you sure you’re not seeing things again?” Bastian asks.
“I don’t know, but I definitely saw that.”
“I’ll cast a spell on them!” Says Grainne.
She goes to do so, and the gargoyles animate. A fireball soars over my head as I run to the gargoyles, and explodes above me. I climb up the wall quickly and attack one of the gargoyles as the other fight from below. Realizing I’ve put myself in a predicament when they start swarming me and slashing at me, I run back down and get behind Bastian. The gargoyles move in, but we make quick work of them.
“Well, let’s see what’s in the tunnel beyond the bushes!” Ciara suggests.
We head in, and find a wall with places that cubes obviously must go. So, with the help of the others I start trying to put cubes in the wall. One goes in fine, then the second one causes us all to get zapped and one pops out. It takes us a couple tries in which we get zapped more and Bastian and Grainne bail to wait outside, but soon I get all the squares in with the enemy tricker gods facing off against eachother. There’s a rumbling as the stone door rolls open.
“Come inside! The door is opening!” I yell out.
The others run in, and we enter the Tomb of the Nine Gods. We come to a hallway with a rock wall, and the door slams shut behind us. As we walk forward, we suddenly stop as the skull face on the door animates and a skeletal hand emerges from the wall. It turns an hour glass, and all hell breaks loose. Grainne rushes the door, and suddenly the floor opens up spilling Bastian, Ciara and I into a spike pit. I crawl out easily, leaving the others to figure out how to get out while I handle the door. The hand comes back out after I pull the lever, but then I get it to open. I ride the door down as it descends, and start scouting ahead.
Well, I stand on the wall taking a break as the non spidery ones struggle with rope, but as I’m hanging out cleaning my nails I notice that this hallway is hella trapped. There’s mossy on the ground covering pressure plates and tiny holes in the wall. I climb down and put my finger in a hole, feeling a dart within. So, I grab some moss and go around plugging each hole with it. It’s when the last one goes in and I purposely step on a pressure point to set off the tiny poof of air and a harmless moss dart that I realize I probably could have just told everyone where not to step. Ah, well.
We go ahead and come to a hallway with a scary demon face with a dark, gaping maw. Ciara sticks her rapier in as Bastian and I walk off to the side. I giggle as he pinches my backside on the way by. We watch Ciara, both of us cringing waiting for her to get sucked into oblivion. Luckily her sword survives.
“Lyssa, you should put your arm in there, there’s something that wants to say hi!”
“No! I’m not an idiot! I don’t stick my body parts in strange mouth holes!”
Bastian makes an odd moaning sound. Suddenly a horrible demonic thing springs out of the hole. I knew we shouldn’t have messed with the mouth!!!
🗡 Lyssa
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Post by Aileen on Jun 20, 2021 20:10:33 GMT -5
A shadowy demon flies out of the mouth of the demon mouth on the wall and goes after Bastian, only to be finished off quickly by him and Ciara. Glad I don’t have to get my hands dirty fighting that horrid thing, I check out the grate in the floor. Muddy water flows below, and I assume it’s a sewer until I sniff and it smells just fine. I go next to the end of the hall and check out the crystal window. I try to open it to no avail, so I put my face against the pane and peek in.
There’s two large statues of what looks like bears, a sarcophagus and a bunch of corpses strewn about wearing papier-mâché and feather masks. Very interesting!
“I’m breaking the window, stand back everyone!” I announce.
I jump up and kick the glass, only to bounce off and land on the ground on my back. I look up at Bastian.
“Do you have a big weapon?” I ask.
He simply looks at the still flaming longsword in his hand, and then back to me. He tries hitting the window, nearly whacking the sword right out of his hand with the first strike, but cracking it a little with the second. I try kicking it again, then he hits it.
“I loosened it for you.” I say.
“Yeah. Sure. Ciara, try your shield!”
Ciara doesn’t make any progress, so Bastian enlarges and slams the window with a great fist. It shatters! He goes in, and I follow closely on the wall. The corpses in masks all stand up, and attack. Bastian destroys one quickly and moves further in. I skitter on the wall past him and destroy the next one, and we continue on like that through the room. We get to the far side of the room and Ciara joins us, only to overstretch attacking one of the dead guys. Her armored pants split at the back seam.
“Ciara… I can see your ass!” I laugh.
“Is it nice?”
I shrug, and take out the last domesticated dead. Bastian lifts me off the wall by my waist and sets me down, and I immediately grab a mask like the others are doing. They have to have some kind of importance, so I put it on. Bastian and I search the room while the other three go back out to the hallway and are messing with the grate.
“Oooh, secret door! And another one! How fun!”
“Lyssa, look at these eyes! It’s like they’re all watching me!”
I go next to Bastian and look at the sarcophagus and see the decorative eyes are swiveling toward him.
“That’s because they are. Put your mask on!”
He starts putting the mask on and taking it off, while mocking me childishly. It’s cute until it gets annoying. The eyes don’t seem to notice us when the masks are on but immediately look when Bastian takes his off. While he’s goofing off I take a look at the sarcophagus.
“Definitely not trapped!” I announce.
“Open it!!!” I hear Ciara yell from the corridor. Ever since she got that turtle shield she’s been unable to control the volume of her voice.
“I wonder if it’s a vampire?! Maybe one of my cousins?”
I slide the sarcophagus open with a great push, and sadly don’t find a vampire. However, there is what looks like the bones of a Zorbo inside! Suddenly the ghost of a Zorbo flies out of the bones and toward me, arms wide open- I open my arms for the hug, and then… it’s gone! I put the ring on with a shrug.
’I am Obu’laka…’
What was that?!
“Lyssa, you alright?”
Bastian has his hands on my face, looking concerned.
“I’m fine!”
“Lyssa, there’s a chest down here- come help us get it!” Ciara yells.
“Come on, let’s check it out,” Bastian says, sliding his arm around my shoulders and directing me to the door.
We go back out to the grate, and I look down in at the rushing water below.
“There’s a chest further in- you should climb on the walls to it!”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I gulp. “Look at the water, what if I fell in! My mom always told me not to go in moving water!”
“Your mom is a vampire, of course she would say that,” Ciara says. “You are not, you’ll be fine.”
“What class are the rapids?”
“Uh… Class one.”
“Is that good or bad?!”
“I don’t know Lyssa! Why are you suddenly so nervous? Fine, I’ll go!”
She jumps down into the water.
“No, Ciara- you’ll catch a cold!”
She disappears into the tunnel, followed closely by Hawthorn flying down. I cling to Bastian, anxious for my friends and wanting his protection. Who knows what could be lurking and waiting for us in this place. Minutes go by, and I’m really getting anxious.
“They’ve been eaten by a shark!”
“There’s no sharks in a river, Lys. Why are you so worried?”
“There aren’t? Aren’t sharks those things with the bottle noses and they jump out of the water and swim upstream?”
“You’re thinking of dolphins.”
“And salmon.” Adds Grainne.
Luckily, they return. Bloody and injured- I was right!
“I knew it! You got attacked by a shark!”
“No, just a mimic!” Hawthorne says.
“Relax, Lyssa, you’re acting weird.”
“I was right! You see, you need to be more cautious!”
We decide to check out one of the secret doors, so I take the lead. I put my arm through Bastian’s big strong one, feeling safer having him next to me. I open the door and go in, seeing a fountain further ahead. There’s another secret door on the right hand side. I open that and find a set of stairs, so I go in on the wall and test them for safety.
“Alright, the stairs are safe! Everyone hang onto your buddy and we’ll go down!” I announce.
Turns out they all want to go to the fountain. I begrudgingly leave the secret stair room, closing the door behind me. So, I proceed that way, and see a pile of rust scattered at the base of a statue just before the fountain room.
“Alright, be careful- you could get tetanus!”
“WHAT?!” Ciara again.
“TETANUS!” I shout back.
There’s a sudden stomping sound, and the ground shakes slightly. We turn toward the room we fought the undead in, and can tell there’s something big coming our way. Hawthorn flies over to the secret door, opens it and flies in to hide. Bastian runs to the other room, followed by Ciara and Grainne.
“I thought I said stay together!” I shout after them.
Taking a deep breath, despite the fact I don’t need to, I run out after my battle buddy Bastian. There’s a massive, plate mail clad golem thing. I try to stab it to no avail, and back off helplessly while it beats on my love Bastian. Luckily the others are able to take it out.
I check the other secret door and just find it leads to the river- a way into this room if we hadn’t been able to break the window! Heading back the way to the fountain, I find the secret door to the stairs left wide open. I close it.
“This is a fire hazard!” I snap.
“A hazard to the fire or the people running from it?” Bastian asks.
“To us… to everything? I don’t know, just close the damn doors!”
I lead the way into the statue room, but suddenly feel drawn to it. Physically drawn to it, like I’m being pulled! I resist it, but now my interest is piqued. I pull out my rapier, and find it’s being pulled toward it!
“It’s attracting metal!” I tell the others. “Be careful!”
Bastian comes in the room, and before I can move out of the way he flies into me, slamming me into the statue. My head smacks into it, momentarily dazing me, and when I regain my senses I realize Bastian is laying on top of me completely unarmored. His armor disintegrated, along with his flame tongue.
“Oh no, Bastian! I told you to be careful! I mean, don’t move yet, but…”
He groans, and continues to lay on top of me.
“Everything’s gone!”
“Don’t worry, I’m going to dispel it!” Hawthorn hoots.
“Why didn’t you do that before I went in there?!” Bastian yells.
“I was waiting for Lyssa to give the go ahead!”
“Don’t blame this on me!”
Hawthorn casts a spell, and then tests the room.
“It’s dispelled, you can get up now!”
“I’m pinned under Bastian, I can’t.”
“Not really. You’re just warm, and I rather like this position.” He smirks.
I laugh and wait for him to get off me, which he is in no hurry to do so until Ciara brings him back his longsword. I get up feeling a bit worse for wear, and hobble into the fountain room.
’Do not drink the water! It isn’t safe!’
Ah, a voice in my head! I thought I heard something before in the sarcophagus room, but I wasn’t sure. Is there… someone in here with me?
“Don’t drink that!” I tell Ciara, who is already standing in the fountain. “It’s contaminated!”
“Seems okay to me.”
All of a sudden they’re all talking about drinking it, and want to make Bastian the poison-proof try it.
“So because I said don’t drink it, now you all want to?!”
The looks on their faces says yes. Leaving this room and proceeding another way, we come to a set of stairs going down, which I deem safe after a thorough inspection. I pass by and find a grand chamber with a stone balcony connecting four archways. There are more balconies below. Ciara comes running up to me, and laughs silently in my face.
“What did you do?” I ask.
She tries to speak, but no words come out.
“She drank from the fountain!” Hawthorn hoots.
“Are you serious?! Ciara, you fool! You’re going to be sick! You could have any number of parasites! And clearly you can’t speak!”
Fuming at our paladin’s foolishness, I skitter up onto the wall and over into the grand chamber as the others check out the stairs. Down below on a balcony I notice a strange hunched figure with a mask on that is the exact likeness of the demon face from the entrance. He disappears out of my view, and is gone when I climb down to look. However, I do find a secret door. I wait outside it for the others to come down the stairs and join me, and then I open it. This room has another fountain, and of course the first thing Ciara does is drink from it.
I look into the water and it swirls, an image appearing in the surface. Ciara disrupts it with her hand, but fortunately it comes back. We all watch, seemingly through someone’s eyes. The person we are looking through heads out through a hallway and to a lake with two rowboats tied to a dock. One is monikered Predator and the other Prey. There’s also what looks like a diving cage. The vision turns to a door, and we see phosphorescent crabs in the water. The door opens, and we go into a tower and past some stairs onto a walkway. There’s puddles of slime on the floor, and then a wall opens. Further down turning corridors the person gets to an pentagonal room with riveted iron walls and sickly looking plants. They keep going, eventually coming to a room with a lectern and a strange control panel, rusty pipes on the walls… the vision wavers, the water still- then it splashes all of us as another big guy in plate-mail bursts from its surface! I scream, and my passenger screams through me.
🗡Lyssa 🐻
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jun 21, 2021 13:16:43 GMT -5
Ciara looks out on the stone mausoleum that she has had the misfortune to brave. Her mouth opens but no words come out, and she finds herself in desperate need for speech. It is quite the lucky coincidence for her that this magical misfortune only occured after she has used up all of her magic for the day, but even still, should this prove to be fairly permanent, she doesn't see herself remaining very useful. All told, all of her spells and abilities require a certain amount of verbal flourish in order to be used. So her list of powers shortens considerably. To none. Still, at the very least she has not been blinded, allowing her to continue to fight and protect her friends. And with her capacity to Lay On Hands, she is still capable of keeping herself and her companions in a fight.
So far, she and her fine, fellows have faced down fearful frights of foggy foes, tricksy traps, and shambling undead. All with the first few hours. Who knows how deep they will dive, and how dangerous that journey will become. Should she be permanently silenced, she may have to spell doom rather than cry out in righteous anger and power.
Well, at least she can still smite... once they get a long rest that is.
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Post by Aileen on Jun 27, 2021 18:43:06 GMT -5
The horrible mutated dwarf thing jumps up out of the water, sending me into panic mode. I don’t think anything I have can damage it, and when I try my silver dagger I find I’m completely harmless. I skitter to the wall and out of the room, taking cover behind Bastian. He runs in a moment later to join the others in the fight. It very quickly is evident that they are lighting fires in there.
“Everyone make sure you come out for air, you are at extreme risk of carbon monoxide poisoning! The fumes are toxic!”
“Relax, we’re fine!” Bastian snaps. He’s complaining moments later about feeling half dead- I can only shrug. I’ve been half dead my whole life and you don’t see me complaining.
We check things out in this section of corridors once the dwarf thing is killed. There’s some head size indents in one wall, and I’m just about to look in one when three zombies emerge growling and trying to get to us. They’re all held back with what looks like horse bits and reins.
“That is positively inhumane!” I gasp.
Ciara mutely shrugs and starts stabbing them.
“What kind of paladin are you?” I hiss, walking away to join Bastian and Hawthorn looking at a plaque.
This plaque has another riddle on it:
‘The ring is a path to another tomb. The dead abhor sunlight. Only a jewel can tame the frog. Bow as the dead god intoned. Into darkness descend.’
We gather back together and head for the pool room to check out the secret door I saw on my way out. It leads us through a hallway and to a massive room with quite the scene. Several undead looking dwarf guys with armor in their flesh and creepy masks, vats of bubbling blood and a massive Iron Maiden. As I stand ready to go in, the Iron Maiden shudders and a huge golem thing emerges. I run in, up the wall and onto the ceiling as the others cast from the hall. I start shooting dwarves with arrows, and Bastian engages them.
“Dads Gonna be so mad!” He huffs. “I just went in and got my armor shattered because I was chasing tail!”
“But you don’t have a tail, Bastian!”
“No, Lyssa, I mean chasing after a female for her… never mind!”
Our team of skilled fighters quickly finishes them off. I skitter in front of Bastian, and still hanging from the ceiling grab his face and kiss him. He laughs and moves on to look at the Iron Maiden.
Bastian finds an elven lamp with a little glowy creature inside, which claims it is the “Starfallen” whose spirit was confined to this lamp after being killed by a formorian. He came in with the Company of the Yellow Banner which was here looking for the Eye of Zaltec. Obviously they didn’t survive this place.
I get a mouthful of the hot, bubbling blood and nearly throw up. It tastes awful, and I can’t pinpoint what horrible mixture of things it is made of.
“That’s awful, don’t try it!”
“Wasn’t going to.” Bastian gags.
“I could really go for a blood latte!”
“I don’t want to know about it.”
“My mom makes really good ones! I like the foam on the top, it’s always pink!”
“Lyssa, please- just leave something to my imagination?”
We rest up and then head out and go through another door. In this rather cozy looking study we find a skeletal bird in a cage, a dead humanoid in a chair wearing robes, and a bunch of severed hands. Suddenly as I enter the body turns my way.
“I say! Who are you?” He asks.
“Hi! I’m Lyssa!”
“Ah. Lyssa, yes…” he mutters, writing in a book.
He introduces himself as Withers, and apparently he tracks history in here.
“I like your hands!” I say after some of the others introduce themselves. “What are their names?”
“Lefty.”
“Oh, are they all left hands?”
“…no.”
Everyone’s pestering him with questions, and when it gets to the topic of him maybe being a wizard he suddenly announces he’s going to kill us.
“No, no, no- I’m done talking. Lefty- get them!”
The hands all attack, and we spring into action. All but two of the seven are destroyed extremely fast, much to Withers’s dismay.
“You know, this is not going to plan. Goodbye!”
He touches his amulet and disappears, taking whatever he wrote with him. We finish off the hands and Grainne befriends the bird… at least she thinks so. We search the room and find lots of notes and magic spellbooks, typical boring wizard s***. I find a fist sized translucent stone in the desk, which I hold onto. We take a rest in the other room and I soon learn it is a slaad control gem. It’s then that we put two and two together and realize this is part of the riddle- only the jewel can control the frog!
Moving on after our rest we come to a t-intersection with the bisecting corridors in a weird curve upward from the middle crossing. A dead goat man lays on the left side. I skitter on the wall to go look at him but suddenly find myself on the ground, and no body in front of me. Looking back, my friends are gone too! I panic until I backtrack and find myself back where I started.
“There’s some f***ery going on with this hallway!” I announce.
After trying to figure out a way to get to the body, and Grainne deciding to mage hand things, Bastian and I attempt to hold hands through the empty space. When that doesn’t work, and we can see each-other but not touch, we decide to both walk into the middle.
It’s a glorious ten minutes together, hidden from our companions and alone at last. By the time we emerge, me struggling to adjust my clothes and fix my hair, I’m much happier and the others have managed to collect some cool things from the body.
“What we’re you two up to?” Grainne asks.
“Finally caught that tail!” Bastian announces.
“Okay, maybe I didn’t want to know.”
We head to another room, and entering find a checkerboard floor and a gilded coffin lit by a beam of sun coming from the ceiling. It smells of wine in here, and there are gargoyle faces on the wall. We try to figure out the sunbeam, and even when I climb up and try to cover it with my cloak we can’t seem to dissipate it. We are trying to figure out if this has anything to do with “the dead abhor sunlight”. I skitter back down and check the coffin for traps before Ciara and Bastian open it.
“Drown your sorrows.” Bastian reads off the plaque inside the coffin.
A stone slab comes down from the ceiling, blocking off the door before some of us can get to it. Hawthorn and I had no chance of making it out, but Ciara and Bastian stay with us. We seem to be trapped in here now.
The gargoyle mouths open and wine begins to pour out rapidly, quickly flooding the room. Ciara jumps in the coffin, which only has room for one. Seems she’s not the type of paladin who would sacrifice herself for others. I don’t think I like her way of self serving behavior. I’m a thief and even I have standards- I wouldn’t abandon those I love to die.
I go over to one of gargoyle mouths and realize there’s something up beyond it if I could just get inside. I try climbing in, but the wine is pounding me so hard in the face that I just can’t get a grip to climb it. I take a big gulp of wine to steel my nerves, and turn around just in time to see Bastian pour out of the gargoyle head behind me.
“It’s just more wine up there!” He shouts.
“Bastian, try this one! There’s something there!”
He climbs up it effortlessly. I stand below, watching as the red liquid rapidly rises, threatening to drown us all. Of course, I cannot drown- but I don’t know how long I can survive with this much alcohol in my bloodstream. And I’m already feeling tipsy. Looks like we’re going to be getting sloshed!
Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jun 28, 2021 14:26:58 GMT -5
Ciara nods mutely to her friends as they continue on down the various paths and corridors of the hidden temple. Strangely, as her muteness continues throughout the day, she becomes more and more accustomed to the silence, seeing it as a way to learn more and more. All that said though, she is in a great hurry to regain her singing talents, as well as her ability to actually speak out the verbal components of her spells, of which she now realizes how much her friends need her to be there, offering protection in the form of magic and sword. She misses her shield as well. She doesn't blame Bastion for needing it, without the shield he has little in the way of protection, and the booming voice effect does work a bit better for him than it did for her. Ha, maybe that is what she gets for using such a shield, maybe Bastion will go silent when he uses it enough and it wasn't actually the water that she drank. That would show Lyssa... and maybe men will someday harness the powers of lightning and fire to create metal monstrosities.
As the wine pours into the room, Ciara can only watch as her friends struggle to get out, as she thinks of ways to do the same. As far as she can tell, the crypt has no effect on protecting her from the wine, but perhaps that would change when the room fill up more. Either way, she should probably make sure that Hawthorn gets into the tomb if it will protect him. Bastion seems to have found a way out and Lyssa doesn't actually need to breathe, at least, Ciara is pretty sure she doesn't, so the one in most need is Hawthorn himself Actually, looking at the way that Lyssa is shambling, perhaps her kind need access to air or something because she is acting quite drunk but hasn't actually drank any of the wine. That is just weird. Hopefully Graine is doing well on the other side of the door, maybe she is looking for a way to stop this trap, or maybe she has decided to wait and see if we can't get ourselves out of this on our own. Either way, Ciara hopes she is doing fine.
Quickly searching her pack for the rope, Ciara is ready to jump out and throw the rope to her friend, to that he can tie it around himself and start climbing the shoot. It is strange though, that the wine is moving so weirdly, she has never seen a liquid move quite like that, at least not naturally...
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Post by Aileen on Jul 5, 2021 13:04:39 GMT -5
Though the wine be delicious, it be deadly. I notice movement in the wine after Bastian climbs up, and run over and stab into what seems to be a swirling mass of wine. There’s some kind of creature in here, and I soon realize there’s more than one. They’re invisible, making them extra deadly.
“Watch out, there’s invisible creatures! I just stabbed one!”
“What?” Hoots Hawthorne, trying to fluff her feathers which are completely soaked in wine.
Ciara and Hawthorne are attacked and pulled under, repeatedly, while Bastian sends a rope down for us to climb up. Too bad he can’t hear us so he has no idea that nobody can get past these creatures. I stay on the wall, stabbing and retreating, as the wine level rises and rises. Ciara goes down after Hawthorne finally gets in the tube, and her situation is dire. It’s only me fighting these wine weirds now and if I do, Ciara will die. Dammit I can’t let that happen! I burst out of the grasp of the wine weird that has me grappled, and head to the paladin’s aid.
I drop my silvered dagger and go below the wine, pushing Ciara to the surface. I’m no medic but I think I get her stabilized, and she starts breathing. The creatures attack me over and over, but luckily I scare one away. I get Ciara to the rope, tie her on and push her in. Then it’s me and the creatures. I could really use my Bastian, but he’s clearly busy at the top of the tube and dealing with getting the other two up. I’m just concerned at how long it took before they got in there and the fact he didn’t come back to assist us.
Luckily I take one out and make it to the tube just as the wine finishes filling the entire room. Without the constant gush of wine I’m able to climb in, pursued by the creature. I’m blocked by Ciara lying unconscious at the end of the rope, so earn more scratches. At last Bastian drags Hawthorne and Ciara out of the way, and I clamber up. The creature retreats.
“Oh, s***! Ciara dropped her rapier and I dropped my dagger! I’ll be right back!”
I go in, am immediately attacked before I can dive in and find our weapons. It’s not like I need to breath and I’d have no problem getting our gear back if these damn things were not still in here. Regrettably, I head limping and bleeding back to the party, weaponless and concerned we won’t ever get them back.
“That was a bad decision, let’s go!”
We go around the bend and into a room that is most definitely dangerous, my passenger tells me. Pentagram on the floor surrounding a sarcophagus, a salt ring, and lots of frog iconography. Of course I ignore Obu’laka and cross the pentagram to look for traps. Suddenly a creature appears from thin air, clawing at me.
“Ah! A frog!” I know exactly what to do!
I reach into my pouch and pull out the smooth stone, holding it up. The frog thing stops in its tracks.
“Master, I am yours to command!”
“Hi, I’m Lyssa! What’s your name?”
”Sturt!”
“Hi, Stewart! Everyone, this is Stewart!”
”It’s Sturt!”
“That’s what I said!”
‘That circle could really use more salt,’ comes the other voice in my head.’
“Salt? I don’t have salt… Bastian, collect some of your sweat and dry it!”
“What?! Why?!”
“I need salt! This is clearly not enough!”
I leave this dangerous room to check out the next one, which turns out to be the room holding the three bridled zombies. I quickly discover as I skitter across the ceiling drawing them to me that they are chained to the door and it makes it open into the hallway we were in before. We fight them, but soon give up and take a rest- but not before I see Grainne sneaking in. She makes it in safely, and we go in the sarcophagus room to rest.
I dream of the undead guy again, and this time he is even closer. I’m sure there is not much longer before he is upon me. Is he Acererak? Something tells me it is.
After a long night… or day, none of us know anymore… Grainne heads into the room as I go on the wall, her heading to the treasure while I go to the cool shield on the wall by the statues. A plaque reads “bow to no one” so I quickly bow to the faceless statue. Then I pry the big shield off the wall, and immediately regret it. The man painted on the shield tosses a magical spear at me, and it actually hits. Grainne grabs something off the treasure chariot, and all hell breaks loose. Skeletons begin climbing out of the glass braziers and attacking!
Everyone comes in, except Ciara who apparently is distracted by the other sarcophagus. My boy Stewart comes in, and I tell him to do the most powerful thing he can. He takes that as detonating a fireball, and it is glorious.
“WONDROUS!”
I run away from the shield and assist Bastian and Grainne with ground fighting. The skeletons keep coming, and things aren’t looking pretty. I run over to where Grainne is getting wrecked by skeletons, and try bowing to the statue again. No more skeletons appear, thankfully, and we finish off these ones.
My friend Stewart is singing what sounds like love songs in my head, and the way he’s looking at me has me concerned. I quickly grab Bastian, who lifts me into a kiss, and sure enough Stewart’s face falls. This could be a problem- but Stewart is one hell of a caster and a fighter, and an excellent ally for us to have.
“Well done, Lord Slaad!” Bastian claps the big frogman on his back. “You’re a great warrior!”
Stewart glares at Bastian, and turns forlornly back to me. It’s time to see what treasures this room holds.
🗡 Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jul 5, 2021 13:38:09 GMT -5
Lalalalalalallalalalalala Tra-La-Laaaaaaaaa! Oh the ability to enunciate is so very precious, I will never take my voice for granted again. The gift of sound is never sweeter than when you spend several hours quietly screaming within the condines of your own mind. I can berate my team, compliment their skills, roast my enemies, and comment on that cute little picture carved into the wall, all with a movement of my mouth. Getting knocked out by living wine also wasn't the most fun I had in the world, and with how many people those creatures might have killed, I am glad that I didn't drink any of the putrid stuff. I think I will be solely drinking beer and hard liquors for a while if we ever get out of this place. Ugh... I am quite thankful to Lyssa for staying with me, making sure I got out of there when I had collapsed and nearly died. I don't know how much risk she put herself in but I owe her a few drinks and more if we are ever to get out of here.
Though, speaking of Lyssa, her new friend is not something I think we should trust. I know, at least I've been told that with the gem Lyssa holds, she can control the creature, but there is something to be said about destroying it as quickly as possible, regardless of how cool its name is. It was behind that line of salt for a reason, and in a mess of contradictions, Lyssa wanted to add more salt to the protective line, while also taking such a creature out. Was it the main prisoner of the place, or was it a guardian for something worse. I would guess the former, and with the appearance of nothing villainous in the sarcophagus, I think I am right.
Deeper we must go before we will see this quest done, one I had no part in starting, but evermore I feel that we would no longer be able to give up even as we venture on downward, ever downward in search for the cause, the and way to stop it, and the death of every foul creature that makes evil in these catacombs and caves. A venture that is both hopeless as conquering a volcano, as it is important to stop it from erupting. Whatever manner the souls are being used, that much power under one being means no good to the worlds of man, fey, fiend, or any creature that enjoys the finer things in life, like breathing and thinking. As the old kings used to say though, "Rise and Rise again, until Lambs become Lions".
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Post by Aileen on Jul 11, 2021 19:25:35 GMT -5
My best friend has left me! One second I was fighting wraiths while my friends took on more of those awful undead dwarves, and then i got knocked out. When Grainne brought me back to consciousness I was hanging from the ceiling, disoriented but very clearly seeing Sturt’s absence.
“Where’s Sturt?!”
“I don’t know, he just poofed away! Probably for the best, he wanted me to help him overthrow you!” Bastian says.
“What?! We were friends! I was going to free him!”
“He called you the oppressor, Lyssa, you were literally enslaving him.”
We take care of these guys and head back into the room I was trying to steal from thanks to my new possessor, Nang Nang. She’s got stickier fingers than I do and I think is quite happy being in my body. She’s much less anxiety inducing than Obu’laka, who now is in my newly overly cautious Bastian.
It’s clear from the murals on the wall that specific offerings should be made at the altar I stole the coins from, including 5 coins and eating bugs. I get to the altar and toss the coins back down, then pop a dehydrated cockroach in my mouth. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever eaten but also not the worst.
‘Why would you do that?! Take them back!’
‘Are you not the least bit curious, Nang Nang?’
‘No. I want shiny things.’
I sigh and grab the coins back, stuffing them in my purse. I go join Bastian and Ciara who are trying to open a large sarcophagus, and getting us all shot at with beams from the strange eyeballs in the moldy overgrowth all over the walls and surfaces here. I take no damage, but poor sweet Bastian is frozen in place. Luckily the sarcophagus gets opened by Ciara, and I immediately dive in and grab the moldy leather arrow quiver and bracers.
‘Oh, come on! I’m comfortable in here!’
‘Move out Nang Nang- I like this body!’
‘Um, hi, this is the second time today, and it’s my body…’
‘You wanna be strong?’ The new voice asks.
‘… yes!’
Nang Nang leaves me huffily, returning to the magic grung egg. I immediately hand it to the owl, and give my self a second to adjust to being possessed again. The first experience with Obu’laka and Nang Nang cat fighting to take control of me was unpleasant enough, but this new one seems… powerful.
‘I am Kubazon.’
‘Nice to have you inside me. Welcome!’
We move on to another door, Hawthorn now with Nang Nang riding along and Bastian/Obu’laka able to move again. This next door leads to a tapestry of frolicking nobles blocking our path. I move it aside, and bust out laughing when I see the next tapestry of nobles having a wild sexcapade. The tapestries get progressively weirder as we push forward, and when it gets to one of a massacre and the once dead boar now killing people, suddenly Bastian and Hawthorne run away.
Ciara and I pull this tapestry aside, revealing a horrible leering head of a boar, covered in blood and gore. It’s evil horror fills me with a strange feeling of utter fear, but for a second I feel compelled to just walk up and shove my head in its gaping jaws. I shake that feeling away, not wanting to lose my head.
🗡 Lyssa
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Post by Chris on Jul 13, 2021 14:51:45 GMT -5
Adventure log
Vaults of Reflection Lord of the Feast Curse of the Golden Skull Jackal Mask Tomb Control Room Spiral Staircase Throne Room (painters, Tyrannosaur Zombie) Crypt of the Sun Queen Ghastly Door
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jul 18, 2021 14:55:18 GMT -5
The moment I get to speak again is the moment that almost everything goes south. In all the time that I have been a mortal, I don't think I have ever had to deal with the series of near death experiences, explosions, and stabbing wounds. Well... not in such a short time frame to say the least. Perhaps some of it was my own fault for not being more patient, but I am unused to the way that mortals take up so much time. With how short most of their lifespans are, you would think that they would be more excited to live their lives to the fullest. To explore and find the curious was the very reason I took up the Oath of the Ancients. Since becoming as weak as a youngling, I have learned to appreciate how Fae must be seen by humans though. I try to control it but the capriciousness of our faerie nature often takes too strong a hold on me.
Anyway, I must find a good way to apologize to Lyssa. While most of the undead are either pitiable or abhorrent, she is a good soul, trapped though she is in an undying body. She saved my life when she did not need to, when I had been unkind, and for that I owe a debt. Perhaps a shiny new dagger, or some armor... either way, something to think about. If it weren't for that nasty trick with the necklace of fireballs, I would even have considered giving her the charmed jewelry, seeing as it could provide her with a magical equivalent to our own abilities when the time comes for fighting something more resistant to mortal weapons. What a nasty trick that was too. A good one though... something I would have played had I been as I once was. A bit too harmful to play on a human or whatever I am, I can see that now, but before my change? I don't know if I would have realized how deadly such a prank could be. Something tells me though that this was no simple joke to enjoy at our expense. More likely, as we travel down deeper and deeper, trust will be key, in one another as much as in our own skills. Hawthorne is a good birb, I know he would not lie to me on this matter. I also know not all curses can be seen so easily. This place strives to turn us all mad, I have seen its like before, in The Lady's garden maze and castle corridors, walls twisting and turning, inside out and upside down as images are filtered from magic itself to draw upon the worst impulses of fear and loathing, love and lust, all to push poor fools off the path and make them wander forever. Before, that was simply a little game, but looking at it from the other side, I can see the cruelty as clear as day.
As for the little trickster gods that now shadow the souls of my friends, I will say that there is some good and evil in them. They obviously want freedom, but I think the more dangerous prospect is that they might also want revenge. Even the fearful one does not implore us to escape, only assisting us as we dive deeper. if this is the lair of the being that imprisoned them so, then they are not thinking of treasures or some nefarious plot. We are the... vessels of the vengeance, and in seeing the plights they have gone through, their souls trapped beneath the dead city, I don't know if their desires are entirely without merit. The reason I want to commune and bond with one though, is also quite the little bit of selfishness, I must admit. My body is different, my mind feels sluggish and crawling, but I know my own soul is still the same. If these beings truly attach themselves via some magics of the soul, one may be able to take a closer look, may even be able to loosen whatever manacles that The Lady has placed upon me that I cannot call upon my true heritage. Perhaps, if I were to help free them and grant them their vengeance, they could in turn help free my own soul's shackles.
That however, is the matter of later. For right now, I have wounds to tend to. Explosions do not clear up so neatly in so few hours, but at least now I can move my arms without the burns acting up. Oh, and Tyrannosaur bites... and the zombie scratches... and the burst of energy from the golden sun... and the poison gas... It has been a difficult day. Hopefully this isn't going to become a pattern, or else I will have to drown my pain in something a little stronger than living wine.
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