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Post by Aileen on Jul 19, 2021 12:48:47 GMT -5
Ciara snaps me out of whatever trance the boar’s head had me in, and the second I back away from its gaping maw she hacks it to pieces. Inside it we find treasures, and realize it’s definitely consumed hapless adventurers before.
We join back up with the others, who so bravely ran away. I give Grainne an eyepatch we found in hopes that I don’t have to see any more of her ugly face. I mean, she’s far from ugly, but Kubazon absolutely hates the god possessing her so I find myself disliking her. Exploring further we find a tomb room but only Ciara can get in. Her exploration is short lived when she’s attacked by insects, swarms of them. Half dead, she escapes.
We go next to a room with a cool golden skull and Hawthorne flies in and immediately tries to take it. Unfortunately for her the skull comes to life and starts telling her jokes. She does not appreciate his humor, but I find him absolutely hilarious. While in there I find a secret door, which I immediately crawl into with my passenger Kubazon coaxing me on.
I come to a room with a hulking figure standing with his hand on a lever. It’s another of those heavily armored undead guys. A window looks out into a hallway below, and I wonder what pulling the lever will do. The others join me as I skitter in, but I soon give up on this room and head down a spiral stair, crawling on the wall. I come to a vaulted chamber with a sunken floor, alcoves with statues of warriors with hornet heads, and a throne of bone and flesh. On it sits a scepter. There are three figures draped in cobwebs who are painting, and upon approaching them I realize two things. First, their eyes and mouths are sewn shut. Second, they have painted perfect renditions of us depicting scenes that happened to us.
“Guys, it’s me!” I screech, pointing at a painting of me looking up at the boat’s head. “I look so pretty!!! They even got the tiara right!”
These guys must just paint with their minds, because they’re blind and clearly couldn’t be where we were. I stand in front of one, and he reaches around me, completely unbothered, and continues to paint. And then Ciara smacks one, destroying it. Suddenly an undead t-Rex leaps out of nowhere, attacking us. Grainne turns Ciara into a normal t-Rex just as the undead one spits up a zombie.
I climb up onto the zombie Rex after taking a tail to the gut, and it tries to shake me off to no avail. Ciara fights it in t-Rex form as I stab it from on top. It continues to spit out zombies.
“This is an unnecessary risk!” Bastian yells. “That easily could have been avoided!”
Ciara finishes the zombie Rex off, and I leap off and land on my feet as it falls. Two more zombies burst from its corpse. I kill one, take a punch from the other, and Bastian destroys that one. Ciara eats the throne in celebration. Just opens up her maw and swallows it whole, bones, flesh, scepter and all.
“Ciara, no! Spit it out!” Hawthorne hoots.
Suddenly Ciara Rex starts rampaging, and comes after me! She bites into my arm, but just as her huge sharp teeth begin to close on my flesh, she is turned back into normal Ciara. Her bute hurts considerably less than a trex bite, but it still hurts.
“You don’t bite the vampire, Ciara!!!”
I push her down to the ground, but she leaps up and stabs me over and over. I’m out in seconds, overpowered by the paladin.
I wake up to Hawthorne trying to give me CPR, and Grainne yelling that she’s an idiot.
“It worked!” Says Hawthorne.
“Hawthorne, she doesn’t breathe! I healed her!”
I jump to my feet and skitter up the wall, grabbing my bow off my back. I start shooting the crazed Ciara as Bastian fights her sword to sword. Bastian and I manage to take her down.
“Hey, Lyssa, I found your sword!” Hawthorne hoots. “How much?”
I raise my eyebrow, arrow nocked and pointing in her direction. She sheepishly sets it down.
“I’ll just leave it right here…”
Hawthorne casts her tiny hut, and we all get in and rest. However, I have some payback to do. I grab Ciara, dragging her by the ankles, and I crawl up the wall and onto the ceiling until I’m upside down with the paladin suspended from her ankles. I wait and wait, and an hour goes by until she wakes up. I’m feeling sore and tired despite my new strength, but it’s worth it when she wakes up flailing and attacking me until she realizes it’s me holding her up.
“Ow! It’s just me!”
“Well played, Lyssa. That’s a pretty good prank. Can we get down now, though?”
We go back to the hut to rest, and then move on. Grainne finds a secret door and we go in to find another room with a small golden cockroach on a sarcophagus, frescoes of plants, birds, insects and humans in gold skirts. On the lid of the sarcophagus it says “Nepaka”. Above it is a smiling golden sun suspended on a chain. I climb up to the ceiling and leap onto the chain, swinging on the sun ball.
The sun begins to scowl, and the metal heats up and burns me. The whole room grows hot, the sun angry and clearly having something to do with this. I get to the ground just before passing out. Ciara heals me awake, but I know I won’t be able to get out of here.
“It would be unsafe for you to leave me here!” I call out to Bastian, who runs in to get me. He gets me to my feet just in time for me to go down again.
I wake up in the other room with Bastian pouring a healing potion down my throat. He scowls as he holds me in his arms.
“That was dangerous and stupid. I warned you!”
“It was worth it,” I laugh. “You’re too cautious, Bastian.”
“No, you’re too reckless! Damn careless, life risking vampire-“
“Oh, shut it!”
I grab him, kissing him as he tries to keep ranting. He’s finally quiet when I pull away.
“Tell Obu’laka to relax. Worrying is bad for you!”
We get in a tiny hut again, and Ciara decides to walk outside and try on the beautiful new ruby necklace she took from the beetle box. We all watch from inside as the necklace explodes, and she falls smoldering to the ground. I run out and stabilize her, and it’s back to resting we go. Poor girl keeps setting off horrible traps and all she wants is a god passenger of her own!
🗡Lyssa
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Post by Chris on Jul 20, 2021 14:42:20 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 Adventure log Chamber of Horrors Ghastly Door Rolling Doom Treasure Chest Granite Ball Acid Pit Unkh's Tomb Grandfather Clock
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Post by kynigoskerata on Jul 26, 2021 8:57:51 GMT -5
Well, hello, you shy little thing. Aren't you just the most adorable little parasite to ever attach itself to my soul... Well, now we both have what we need. After touching the robe, my mind is filled with strange sensations and feelings, pulling on my own emotions to twist them this way and that. Not the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever had the pleasure of having, but definitely not something that I will desire for a long term condition. My body also feels strange, hardy and bullish, not strong per say, but more able to take a lot of punishment before I give up the ghost. This spirit certainly doesn't feel like a god, though I have no clue what a god ghost is supposed to feel like if I am being honest. And what is it that you want? Do you desire to flee, or perhaps there is a need to fight. No... neither, you simply can't make up your mind can you? Jumping between abject bravery and fearful recognition of danger, you are quite literally caught on all sides by the others. Pulled this way and that, you have lost, if you ever had it, the ability to make your own choices.
And now so have I... That will be annoying, I have to think as I am left unable to input any clear desire into the decision making of the group. I will have to trust my companions if I want to have any reasonable chance of solving the monsters and beating these puzzles. Or is it the other way around? Right, its beating these monsters and solving the puzzles. That's it. I'm not sure what road we have to take, but, no. I know our goal! I must keep hold of that. We will achieve it. You can make it hard to choose left or right, you can confuse and confound me as we venture ever on downwards, but I will not lose sight of our purpose! We are here to save the world and I won't let your wishy-washy feelings to change that!
This will be much harder than I had originally thought it would be. This spirit of the Flail Snail is... very nearly overwhelming, much stronger than what I had thought of the indecisive little gastropod. I can certainly tell why these beings were once worshipped, why they were gods. Trust in Hawthorne, Graine, Bastion, and Lyssa to choose the path, I know what my role is. Left, right, ever downwards, keep moving and keep breathing, that is the way we will win. Bastion to keep us safe, Lyssa to keep us moving, Hawthorne to... set off traps trying to be greedy, and Graine to... I don't know also steal things I guess. This is not a journey for the faint-hearted, that is for sure!
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Post by Aileen on Jul 26, 2021 13:56:28 GMT -5
What a fantastic morning we have had. I’ve spent a lot of it unconscious or getting my ass kicked, but it’s been fun. Really.
My new strength has been fantastic for exploration, among other things. I found two secret doors next to the strangely decorated door, and upon busting them both open found several ghasts. We finished them off quickly, and finally went in the big door.
I scout ahead down the corridor, coming to an offshoot passage with a great big treasure chest at the end just before a massive, dark chamber. Of course everyone gets paranoid about it, and Ciara throws a rock at it, but I don’t think they realize I know my job. I scurry along the ceiling, and hanging upside down search the exterior of the chest. Not finding any sign of traps, I open it up. There’s a click of a latch opening, and then the sound of moving stone from behind.
“BOULDER!” Bastian yells out.
I flip myself upright and over the Boulder just in time to not get crushed. It rolls ahead and into the floor- opening a great pit of acid up separating us from the room beyond. I easily get across to the other side, and feel Kubazon get excited.
“Go touch the maze before anyone else can!”
I don’t see why I shouldn’t. I dash through the room, up some stairs, and get to a giant carving of a maze. It shifts subtlety as I look upon it, and inside I can see fog and torches. I don’t see any exits, but I have nothing to lose- I put my hand against the maze.
Suddenly I am no longer standing in the large chamber. I am in a hallway, filled with fog and lit by torches- I’m actually in the maze!
“This is a-maze-ing!” I giggle to myself.
Looking up I see a distorted version of the room I was in before, and I can faintly make out figures moving around.
“Well, might as well cheat the system!”
I climb up the wall, trying to get a view from above. Unfortunately there is a sickening pop and I am spat out of the carving, feeling like I’ve been hurled through a stone wall.
“Ughhh owww!!!” I groan, looking around.
The others are all occupied with Minotaur skeletons- many of them! I’m not feeling 100% and I know getting in this fight would be bad for my health.
“Touch it again!”
I go back into the maze and start exploring. It’s not long before I run across a living, breathing, horribly monstrous Minotaur.
“Oh… s***!” I put my hands up. “Hey, Cowboy, I’m not going to hurt you!”
With a flare of his nostrils and a horrible moo, it charges me. I take a set of horns to the stomach, and feel even worse.
“That’s how we’re gonna play, then?”
I take a fur filled bite, and drink his oddly meaty tasting blood. I don’t feel much better. I don’t stand a chance in a fight, and my only other option is to climb up and get hurt again. So, I run. I don’t get very far, running as fast as my little legs can carry me. I’m slammed from behind, going flying. I’m out before I hit the ground.
—-
“You alive, princess?”
I blink awake, groaning at the aches and pains in my battered body. Guess the Minotaur had a little fun with my unconscious body, goring me over and over. I look at Bastian, covered in blood, likely mine, and he smiles.
“Hey… I killed two minotaurs!”
“That’s great, my love,” I sit up with his help. “I think that Minotaur rearranged my internal organs. If I had a spleen, I think it’s gone.”
“You’ll be alright. Just don’t go back in there.”
“Wasn’t planning on it! Thanks Bastian, for saving me!”
“Any time, princess.”
We rest up and then Ciara gets into things she shouldn’t be touching… or should. She puts a robe on and we all hear a female voice offering us aid. Hawthorne greedily goes for the coffin of salt and we all get cool she’ll bracelets. Ciara surprisingly gives me the colorful robes, although she seems conflicted and indecisive in whether she wants to give them up. I’m not a robe wearer, but they do fit my sense of bright colored style.
We move on and head down a hall to find a room with a mysterious ticking noise. There’s an elaborate grandfather clock with an egg shaped gem at the end of a swinging pendulum. All hell breaks loose. Ciara and Grainne are at eachothers throats trying to get to it, and Hawthorne dive bombs them from above trying to take it. Grainne casts darkness, plunging us all into it. That’s not going to stop me from getting into the fun. I go in and stab Grainne with my rapier before springing back out of the fray.
“Ciara, I can’t believe you would stab Grainne!” I say with a gasp.
“She did, didn’t she!” Bastian growls. “What kind of paladin are you?!”
There’s a low growl and heavy thudding footsteps.
“I just got large- nobody pass through this door or I’ll grapple you!” Bastian calls out.
That’s all I need to hear. I run over to him, both of us still in darkness.
“Oh no, I’m going to go through this door! Would be a shame if someone were blocking it!”
“I’m going to have to grapple you!”
“I’m doing it!”
I don’t even fight back as he lifts me effortless off the ground, pinning me to him.
“Bastian, it’s me!” I hiss, locating his face. “Kiss me, you big idiot!”
The darkness drops, revealing Grainne slamming her mace into the clock and failing to break it open. Bastian quickly sets me down, blushing.
“Oh, stand aside!” I sigh, pushing Grainne out of the way.
I quickly pick the clock open, granting access to the gem.
“That gem is worthless!” Hawthorne hoots.
“Just take the damn thing!” I say, moving out of the way.
The drow plucks the gem, gleefully giggling as she holds it in her hand. All of that for a stupid gem.
🗡 Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on Aug 2, 2021 15:36:02 GMT -5
I narrow my eyes at the group. Unnatural monsters and natural ones alike had fallen at my blade, but to be honest, I have never seen such a large group. Looking from one side to another, I notice that I am entirely alone at the moment. That is both good and bad, as it were, since it meant that all these creatures would be after me, but also that none of my friends would be hurt. Finding that key was the lifesaver I needed. Looking to their hands and seeing the sharp weapons, I almost breathe a sigh of relief.
Lyssa and Bastion, Hawthorne and Graine. I have to get back to them. Without his heavy armor, Bastion is a cannon, not glass, but not the wall he once was. Hawthorne couldn't take hits to save gis life. Quite literally, and Lyssa was the same way. And I was the only one who could reliably heal Graine should she fall in battle. These beings were between me and the party, and I had to get through them as quick as possible. This little venture wasn't as damgerous as it could have been, but as the Terracotta soldiers step forward, blades drawn, I have to wonder if I will fall from exhaustion before they are all destroyed.
Perhaps there is something in the crypt that can help, but as the noise of the music box tinks and chimes it's last, I can only turn my back to the sarcophagus, using it to block the movements of the clay warriors, from fully surrounding me. Cracking my neck, I pull at the amulet, slightly covered in dirt from digging out the bones, and whisper words of wisdom and power under my breathe. Then I get into my stance, body closed off as my torso turns to make my body as hard to hit as possible, and grin. Indecision was for after the battle. Here, the goals and enemies were clear, for their was only one choice to make.
"Come at me with everything you have, you bastiches! Let none cry out that Ciara Titan-Eater runs in the face of death!"
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Post by Aileen on Aug 9, 2021 13:40:27 GMT -5
I put the black opal encrusted crown on my head just as I hear a door slam and another one open. A second later there’s a cry for help from Bastian.
“Lyssa! There’s undead things!”
“Bad ones?”
“They’re all bad!”
Sighing, I run towards his voice. Turning the corner I see Bastian facing off with two awful, hooded things that exude an aura of death. I rush in and stab one, but soon realize these bastards hit hard. I retreat only to succumb to the horrid feeling of death crawling all over me. That’s saying something for a vampire.
—-
I wake up groggy and annoyed, laying in a tiny hut with Bastian and Hawthorne arguing about something over me. I feel awful, absolutely wretched. I’ve been knocked out and nearly died several times just today, this place is a death trap!
“Hey, Lyssa, follow my finger,” Hawthorne says, holding a talon in front of my face and moving it side to side. Naturally I snap at it with my fangs, but she pulls it away just in time. “No biting!”
“Get your nasty talon out of my face, then.”
“It’s concussion protocol, Lyssa,” sighs Bastian. “You hit your head a lot today.”
“Vampires don’t get concussions!”
“Can you say that without slurring?” He smirks.
I roll my eyes, sitting up and groaning.
“I need blood. Bad.”
“Take some of mine,” says Bastian, immediately scooting in next to me and pulling down his collar.
“Oh, Bastian, I couldn’t!”
“Just shut up and do it, you know you want it!”
I drink my fill but I’m still injured. However, we have more pressing things to worry about. Mainly, where the hells is Ciara? After regaining my feet, I start searching for a way out of here. There’s a door like the one we used to get in here, but holding my hand up to the figure on the slab does nothing. That’s when I realize it’s a severed arm, and holding a skeletal arm up to it does not open it.
“Guys… I think one of us needs to cut off an arm!”
“Are you sure?” Bastian asks, attempting to wave the skeleton arm at it.
“Pretty sure,” I look at my left arm, and realize I could do without it. “I could cut mine off… but I’m pretty sure it would kill me. I’m not feeling so hot.”
“I guess I could do without a shield?” Bastian suggests.
“Absolutely not! I only need one hand to cast spells!” Hawthorne hoots up.
“So it’s settled. Thank you for your sacrifice, Hawthorne!” I start pulling off my belt.
“Wait… are we really doing this?!” Her already eyes are impossibly wider.
“You volunteered, Hawthorne. You said it yourself you only need one arm.”
I wrap my belt around her upper arm, tightening it as far as I can as she hoots in pain. I whip out my rapier and try to cut into her small arm, but it’s useless. All I do is lightly scratch her feathers.
“Really, Lyssa, a rapier?!”
“Fine, you do it!”
Bastian cleaves Hawthorne’s arm off in one fell swoop, and i catch it before it falls on the ground. I begin to drool at the blood dripping from the severed limb, but Hawthorn grabs her arm back from me and slaps me with it. Luckily the arm does the trick and the door opens into a secret passage.
I lead us in and down the hall to a room with a big, ornate mirror. We search the room, wondering if Ciara went somewhere down here, but we find no doors and the mirror refuses to budge from the wall. Then, suddenly, I’m looking at my reflection one second and the next I’m looking out into the room. Panic sets in as I watch my friends also disappear from view, but moments later Ciara appears. She smashes the mirror, and I appear back in the room. My friends are here, but we are not alone.
A huge four armed gargoyle starts beating on us as some others look on. A couple of Chultans, a drow, and nobody seems to speak common. Something invisible is pummeling Ciara from above. What a mess.
“You speak elvish?!”I yell to the Drow.
“Yes, finally someone who speaks a proper language!”She snarls, snapping her fingers and summoning a shadow demon. ”Tell this one armed owl thing to get out of my face and go fight!”
“Hawthorne, get back here!”
I help Bastian fighting the gargoyle, but as soon as it’s killed it’s replaced with a huge troll. Poor Ciara is on the ground bleeding, but none of us can help her for fear of being killed.
“Hey, ladies- there’s a lot of female representation here, but I’m not seeing a lot of girl power. How about you help us fight?!” I snap.
That’s all it takes to get the female warrior in the scorpion armor in the fight. Apparently she was threatening Hawthorne for not having an arm, but now she’s helping.
”What about you, gorgeous? Too good to help us? You have a shadow demon, we could use you both!”
”How dare you speak to me like that!”She growls. ”I like it!”
Drow lady casts darkness, not helping us at all. Oh well, it was worth a try. I escape out of the darkness just as she starts casting spells at Hawthorne, who misty steps away down the adjacent hallway. I step forward, bloodied and exhausted, knowing one good hit will take me down, and I ponder my options. Help Hawthorne, or sell her out and save my own ass.
”Hey, she’s down here!” I call to my new friend.
”Thank you dear.”
She runs over to my side and casts a ray of frost at Hawthorne, taking her down.
”Now, what’s say you fight for me? We can team up…”
”My boyfriend is kind of being attacked…
”Forget him! Come with me, and we can rule the Underdark together! Women are in power among the Drow!”
”I don’t know, I kind of like sunshine… and what is there to do there?”
”Have you seen yourself? You’re the palest elf I’ve ever seen! I don’t think you will miss the sun. We shall see, when we reach Menzibarranzan. I’m sure you will like it.”
I shrug, pondering for a moment. Give up my Bastian and go rule the Underdark with elves that are more like me than most? Why would I ever do that?
”Sorry, girl- he’s too good to give up!”
I stab her with my rapier, and she drops dead, a look of anger on her face. I kick her corpse off my blade and return to the battle. Luckily, Bastian and I are still standing, and we get Hawthorne stabilized once the last of the creatures drops. But Ciara…
“It’s too late… she’s gone,” I say, closing her eyes. “I’m sorry Ciara. Thank you for saving us.”
🌸 Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on Aug 9, 2021 13:53:00 GMT -5
Trapped like a rodent, for only the gods know how long, can drive quite anybody mad. I'm not really sure that I am not mad. How would I be able to tell, what with the neurosis clogging up any introspection that I may try to accomplish. Or perhaps I have gone all the way around the bend and have returned to sanity, via madness. There was a point while I was in the mirror that things seemed to twist to the right. Or perhaps that was just the mirror tilted. I think, the old dead wizard had come by to tilt the prison back, but the memory is quite foggy. Either way, this was no way to live, so while those brave souls fought off the trapped beings in the mirror, I took the time to collect my thoughts. I was quite distraught when they lost one of their member, she seemed a brave sort, but it is perhaps for the best, at least in consideration of myself. With one of their own dead, they might be more willing to take on myself as a companion. Deeper and deeper, to find the hidden treasures and safeguard them against the forces of evil. I care not for their monetary value, only what knowledge and historical significance can be brought through their return to civilization. The Omuan people deserve their history back.
With their assistance, well, perhaps I shouldn't get my hopes up. They are a varied bunch, what with the quite clearly vampiric woman and the Yuan-ti man together, as well as the, is that an owl... They may not desire a new companion, or their morals may be as varied as they are, or even opposite of my own. Something to watch out for, in all consideration. But I think I have learned, that I cannot survive down here alone. What was left of the excavation party has either died or been transformed into a member of the undead horde, and I have no wish to join them in this fashion. If they are unwilling to assist me, then I will have to go my own. Thankfully, neither food nor water will be much of an issue for me, the sprig of mistletoe I brought with me is still adequate for my purposes.
I am Eshrina Yamine, a member of the Seventh Sect of Knowledge, of Archeology. I have travelled the world and seen things that would drive most beings mad. I have fought and bled to return the mysteries of ages past to the people where they can do the most good. Now is my chance to bring back the countless lost and treasured artifacts hidden in this death trap, and to hear once more my name ringing out among the rafters in every scholarly hall and library in the realm.
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Post by kynigoskerata on Aug 16, 2021 14:01:19 GMT -5
My eyes are drifting as we venture ever further, and my thought return to home, to the various books that were written and will be written and have been written since I have been stuck down here in the gods-forsaken place. My mind runs like a stream down a mountain, carrying with it old scents and forgotten feasts that I have only just been reminded of. Of hearty meals and silent snacks, glorious dinners with colleagues, friends, or family. Roasted boars and venison fresh from the kitchen. Grilled vegetables and sweet fruits just off the trees and out of the ground. An the ale. How I miss ale and wine and rum and all other sorts of delicious drinks. My mind is fuzzy just thinking about them and I feel my throat clench as I remember that I will have no freedom to feast and drink until this deed is done. A drop of slimes slides off a stalactite and hits me on the shoulder, the cold burn of the ooze breaking my waking dream and returning me to the awful reality.
That is not to say that I am not particularly worried about the company that I find myself in. Bastion is a powerful shield, and Hawthorne makes for a grand master of knowledge. Lyssa... I cannot say whether I enjoy the presence of the vampiric woman, but the other two trust her, so unless she has them enthralled, which I doubt considering how normal they treat her, I have to assume that her existence as a, half-vampire, a vampart, a dhampir, is at least truthful. In truth, its not her nature that is so disturbing. I cannot speak on such a subject, lest I open myself to a massive level of hypocrisy. What does bother me is her demeanor. In some ways, she acts like our journey down here is nothing, like there is no concern, no danger. OR worse, that she has no idea of the danger at all. Perhaps this is her way to shield herself. Perhaps not.
The grinding of gears looses thought in my head the same way, as the pools of murky liquid below, shimmering with the glowing crabs changes colors and causes a chorus of sounds to go off in my head. My tongue is drier than a desert and all I can think of is wine, fermented fruits, and my fingers clench uncomfortably. I take a moment to focus my thoughts, and crack my neck. Now is not the time to go mad. Not down here, not now. Later, when we have returned victorious I can allow myself the freedom of madness. I need to be sharp, because I will find no possibility for relief down here and I cannot let myself fall into such a trap.
Just a sip, that would be so nice...
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Post by Aileen on Aug 16, 2021 14:51:07 GMT -5
Only one of the freed mirror prisoners sticks around- a hippy tiefling druid who might have a few screws loose, but seems nice enough. She heals us and we set out to keep exploring. We end up going through a door and finding an underground body of water, however as we all get through the door slams behind us, and a huge leering mouth appears on its surface.
“I’m so hungry I could eat you! But I’ll settle for something else… something living!” It booms.
“Do you like seafood?” I ask.
It doesn’t reply. Bastian goes out onto the dock with me after I ask if the dock is a mimic, because legally it has to tell me. It says nothing so we are safe. I dive down in the water, underneath the big cage without hesitation and grab a glowing crab, which the door gobbles up, spits out the shell, and the mouth disappears. We get in the rowboat labeled “Predator” and row out into the water. There’s lots of giant gears, and dwarves hanging from chains seemingly working on them. None of them respond to our presence.
I recognize a shaft upward as being the sprinkler room I was in before, and we climb up and into it, leaving the boat behind. Hawthorn immediately at finds slightly washed out footprints.
“Hmmm… this has an L! For Lyssa!”
“What? No…” oh wait… I do have an L on my left boot. “I mean, yes, that’s definitely what the L stands for. Not left, because I definitely know left from right.”
“Does the sprinkler do anything, Lyssa?” Bastian asks me.
“Don’t know, I couldn’t get it to work. I gave up and then that gargoyle messed me up…”
We move on down the corridors, and come eventually to what looks like a control room. All of us pile in and Bastian and Eshrina start messing with the buttons and levers. Within moments a door slams down, nearly crushing Hawthorn, who gets stuck on the other side, and weird slime starts coming out of taps on the wall. As my feet touch the slime I get a horrible, ice pick headache, just like when I touched a pile of slime in the other room. It keeps coming in, and it’s hurting the three of us.
“Gora, is that you?” A voice booms in my head. All of our heads, judging by my friends reactions.
“Yes!” I say out loud. “How are you?”
“You’re not Gora!”
“Yes I am… I’m sick!” I cough.
“You’re speaking telepathically, you’re not sick!”
“I’m having an aneurysm!”
“Enough. What is your name?”
“Lyssa.”
“Lyssa. Thank you! Now, what are you doing? Gora works in there.”
“Well, we started pushing buttons and got trapped. You wouldn’t happen to know the way out?”
“No, I’ve never been in there. I just speak with Gora.”
I scramble up onto the ceiling and hang out as the other two keep messing with the panels. Poor Bastian is not looking good, and Eshrina resorts to turning into a giant spider so she can get off of the slimy ground. Clearly the slime is something horrible. We lose contact with our new nameless friend, but Bastian is able to get him back and I carry on chatting. Turns out he’s an aboleth, a sea creature of some sort that makes psychic goo. So we have literally been standing in a byproduct of him. Eww. We’re fast friends and want to meet face to face, but we’re pretty stuck in this room.
“So problem, I can swim underwater just fine since I don’t breathe… but how can I talk to you underwater?”
“We’re talking now, are we not?”
“Oh, s***, you’re right!”
“I really hope you’re good looking…”
“She’s a solid 9, I’d say,” says Bastian.
“A 9?! That’s it?!”
“A 10 is pretty unattainable, you should be happy with a nine.” The aboleth replies.
“No, I’m a ten!”
I stop speaking to Bastian, until he gives up on the controls and jumps up on the panel. Luckily after an hour the door opens on its own. I carry Bastian out, hopefully not emasculating him, and we reunite with Hawthorn, carrying on our merry way.
Eventually we end up in a hallway where I find secret doors and more hallways full of goo, but lifting my friends and Hawthorn flying we get through just fine. We come to a hallway with a curtain and a cool statue of a 4… 3 armed gargoyle, and I’m distracted by the blood on the ceiling saying “Awaken, Nepaka!” (The queen, if I’m recalling correctly). I find a secret door by the skeleton with the weird skull that’s waving a warning to us, and ignore him. Eshrina destroys it as I pick a lock of a chest in an artwork on the wall. A little secret crawl way opens up, and I climb up inside it. Hawthorn and Bastian are messing around with the statue, and I hear a lot of coins being jumbled about. Eshrina follows just in time for an awful rumbling sound to come behind us.
I peak out and see the source of the rumbling- a huge stone juggernaut rolling through the hallway towards Hawthorn and Bastian. Luckily they get up in Hawthorn’s rope trick before it can run them over. I rush out and try to stop it, and am pleasantly surprised when I’m able to grab the back of it and stop some of its forward momentum. Only until it starts rolling back purposely at me. I manage to get out of the way and stab it, before realizing I can do no damage to it. So, back in the hole I go, leaving Eshrina to deal with it.
It’s soon evident that we’ll be hanging out in the passage forever, and this thing will be unlikely to get tired of chasing us. So, I make a run for it. Only to run right into a huge flesh golem, armed to the teeth. I can’t hit these bastards, either- I am one f***ed little vampire!
🌸Lyssa
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Post by kynigoskerata on Aug 23, 2021 14:44:17 GMT -5
A giant stone construct doesn't seem like the easiest opponent to fight, but thankfully, the great wheeled juggernaut could only move in two directions, and wasn't all that bright. A few well-placed spells, some bashing by Bastion and Lyssa, and the thing went down fairly easy. What was more frightening was the appearance of the flesh golem with the metal panels welded to its body. Still, even that went down easier than expected with the addition of our new friends. You know what they say, 'teamwork makes the dream work' and at least in this instance that came out to be true. A friendly paladin and sorcerer who also seem to have found themselves down here have been kind enough to help us fight the monsters, and with their help, we may make even more progress today than we would have otherwise.
Overall, the group of brave souls that have freed me and now fight with me seem like a wholesome bunch. It's a little sad that they don't have anything good to drink but you can't have everything in life, so that would be a bust. After the fun in the long hallway of death, of course it was right back to the gears and buttons that had made life in this level such hell. Thankfully there was no need to actually stay in the room and fry our minds with slime, but trying to find out which ways we can run in the vent of danger, or even how to find the way to the next level are difficult. Opening up one door closes another and soon we won't be able to get out of the gear if do it wrong.
That didn't sound right... I, ugh, I feel woozy all the time and it is making it hard to process my thoughts. Honestly, if I didn't know any better I would say that I am suffering from a hangover, but that just doesn't sound right. Perhaps this is an effect of living in a mirror for so long, or perhaps this is just my mind shattering around me as I try to keep myself focused. Either way, I see no recourse to this series of event except to continue fighting. The sooner we can end this Soulmonger, or whatever its called, the sooner we can all return to the surface and make our way back to a more modern civilization.
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Post by kynigoskerata on Aug 30, 2021 11:36:11 GMT -5
This is a dangerous situation... Demons on all sides, health is low, and I don't see a good way out. Bastion holds the door from closing on our salvation, but with every strike, his strength is put to the test. Our new paladin friend stands beside me, giving me the health to stand, but with this many monsters of such strength, I, I don't know exactly how we will get out of it. My little companion, my fiery familiar, he could pop us out of here, but if there is no space for him to sit next to us, then there will be no way for him to move us. So that should be our next goal. Just one spot, that would be enough to get him to move and then teleport ourselves.
It is a dangerous proposition, but it should be possible. At least, if I can remain conscious for the next few seconds to get it to work! If I can't remain conscious though, I do hope to the gods above that one of them has a plan, because I don't know what we are going to be able to do.
If these are my last words let them ring in history, and be found by those more knowledgeable, more powerful, more able than I. This venture needs to be completed, if not by us than by some other.
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Post by Aileen on Aug 30, 2021 13:23:03 GMT -5
“You’re going where?!”
“Some island called Chult? Apparently it’s where this… curse is coming from.”
“You can’t go there, you will burn! Your skin is too pale, my Lyssa. You should stay here, let others deal with this nonsense.”
“Mama, if I don’t go and others fail to stop it… eventually it will get everyone I love. I can’t let that happen.”
“I’m immortal, dear, nothing can hurt me.”
“Do we know for sure what it can do? I’m not taking that risk. I love you too much, mom. Someone is pulling the strings- do you really want to have another cruel master running your life?”
My beautiful mother shakes her head, turning to look over her vast estate. The night is quiet, a fresh blanket of snow covering our many fields. Hundreds of years and escaping a horrible master has led my mother to having everything she could ever want. A castle in the great frozen north, land, livestock and the people to care for them, as well as loyal subjects who accept our vampiric way rather than fear it. This life, or unlife, deserves to endure.
“Never again, my child. Fine… go to your island. Stop this curse. But please, be careful. Living forever means nothing to me without you, my Lyssa.”
—-
After Bastian and I beat the stone juggernaut into submission we quickly take out the other big guy. We’re joined by a half elven sorceror and a human looking paladin who keeps Insisting he is totally normal and yet can fly. I guess he hasn’t caught on that we are all very strange here. Also, Hawthorne keeps introducing herself as both Hawthorne and Nang Nang, which I’m sure pisses off my former bodily inhabitant. I know mine groans in disgust every time I end up fantasizing about Bastian. We move on to the control room, where I make a leap to the control panel and hang upside down off the immovable rod to mess with the controls. For a minute I think I’m stuck in the room but then the others yell at me to stop sulking and get moving. So we head back down to the water and the gears.
If there’s one thing I find annoying about creatures that are not like myself, it’s their inability to climb anything. I easily get up into one of the huge gears, finding a room with wardrobes, only to have to go back and assist the others in crossing the water and pull them all up. So much time wasted discussing putting pitons in the wall for no reason. Oh well.
Once everyone is in the room, I open up the first door hoping there’s some goodies inside. Instead I am met with a hellscape of volcanoes and bubbling lava, as well as some awful insect like creatures. Of course they come out and attack, and it’s war for all of us.
I’m flanked by the bug creatures, but I’m also a very nimble person. I escape and dart in and out of combat, which soon becomes a disaster with darkness in a hallway and creatures running away. What a fun time is had by all. Luckily we finish them all off, and I catch my breath. I don’t even need to breathe, but it was a hard workout.
“Should I open another door?”
“No!” Bastian gasps.
“Yes! Do it!” My new friend Eshrina grins.
“Girl, you get me!”
I go to open the door, but hiss in pain as a sliver of wood slides under my nail and splinters off. I recoil from the door with a whine, furious at all the time spent making my nails look good only for this to happen. I step back, sucking the little bit of blood that seeps out of the tiny wound, and walk away from the door.
“I have something to take care of,” I say, reaching into my pack for my nail file and tweezers. “Eshrina, will you do the honors?”
I head out to the hallway and take a seat just as I hear a door open. Then the sound of a bunch of orcs yelling a war cry , and weapons being drawn.
“LYSSA!!! Damn you!!!!” Bastian yells.
“I love you too, sweetie!” I snap back, getting to work on my manicure. I’m sure they can handle this.
🌸 Lyssa
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Post by Aileen on Sept 6, 2021 10:13:07 GMT -5
“Ah, good- you’re back! Can you take over holding this- oh, wait…” Bastian finds some kind of switch and lo and behold the stone door he was holding up stays locked in place. “I’ll be back, nature calls!”
“What?! Hell of a time to take a s***, Bastian! Are those demons?! I’ve been gone for ten minutes!!!”
“Says the girl who missed out on the orc battle because she broke a nail. Yeah, demons. Have fun!”
Bastian runs off, leaving me in the hallway of this passage they found when I was sulking. Eshrina is inside the room with several demonic figures surrounding her, and it’s not looking good.
“We got to get her out of there, Lyssa!” Hawthorn exclaims behind me.
“Yes, I see that… what the hells did you guys do?!”
Apparently they stuck things into other things and thus became overrun with demons. This is what happens without leadership- people with a death wish do stupid things. We’re here to end the Death Curse, not join the other souls in the Soul Monger! Nevertheless, Eshrina goes down and now the others are trying to rescue her foolish ass.
I run in and stab a guy then run back out, keeping to the walls and ceiling trying my best not to get shot at. Unfortunately the way-to-pretty female demon shoots me and I feel instantly extremely sick. She tries throwing flames at me, but I’m pretty dodgy.
“What the hells, lady?! Why can’t we be friends!”
“Oh, that can be arranged, dear. Would you like to make a deal?”
“What uh… kind of deal are we talking? You want money?”
“No,” she laughs. “Souls. I want souls. Give me your friends’ souls and I’ll let you go.”
“Not really doable,” I lie. “Pretty sure they don’t have souls. I don’t even know if I have one.”
I hiss, showing my fangs, and she raises an eyebrow at me.
“Do we have a deal?”
“How about I give you something that will give you way more souls than we have. You let us go. We work together- and it’s all yours!”
“Are you talking about the Soulmonger?!” She laughs. “We do not go against Acerarak!”
“I mean, you could… we could team up!”
“Fool! Nobody can defeat Acerarak!”
And just like that I’m riddled with fire and poison arrows and I’m out like a light. When I come to on the ground, this place is an absolute sh**show. Eshrina is dead, the paladin dying… some of the demons are gone, but we’re definitely, one hundred and fifty percent out of options. I stand up shakily and face the Erinyes. She smiles.
“Are you ready to make a deal? You’re not getting out of here alive unless you do.”
“Name your terms,” I snarl.
“Give me this one’s soul, and I will let the rest of you leave. No harm done.”
“Fine. She’s going back home to hell, anyway.”
“Oh, no she isn’t. She will go to the Soulmonger.”
“Yeah. But when it’s destroyed…”
“Then she will be tormented for all eternity.”
“I mean… tiefling? Alright, deal.”
“It has to be unanimous.” She says, nodding to those left standing of my group.
“Hey everybody, Eshrina’s going home! Just say yes!”
And so we leave the secret passage, the stone door closing behind us and sealing Eshrina’s body away from us forever. Do I feel bad? Of course I do. But she got us into this… it was the only hope for the rest of our survival. I just wish it didn’t come to this, me selling a soul like it’s nothing.
We go back into the room full of wardrobes, and find one stuck open with a world full of mechanical contraptions. An adorable little monodrome stands in front of it, chittering and gazing longingly inside it. I try talking to him, but apparently only Hawthorne can understand him and nobody can communicate other than by pictures. Hawthorne determines that he wants to return back to his home, through this door.
“I’ll help you home, little guy!” I pick him up, and try pushing him into the door, but it’s like there’s an invisible barrier preventing entry. “Oh. I’m sorry- we will find a way, don’t you worry!”
I let the others deliberate as he rides on my shoulders using my hair like reins, and I trot around like a horse. His little chitters of happiness warm my vampiric heart. I do so love the little, strange creatures, and it makes me happy when they’re not afraid of me. I would be an amazing pet owner, I think! Maybe Bastian and I can adopt this little guy? Maybe we should get a puppy, I would like that!
“Lyssa, the only way we can close this door is by destroying that monodrome,” says Hawthorne. “We killed the rest, that’s the only one left.”
“What?! Are you sure?”
She nods. I slowly pick the monodrome up off my shoulders and set him on the ground. How can I kill something so precious? So innocent? I definitely don’t want him to see it coming.
“Can I have some chalk?” I ask.
Hawthorne hands over a piece of chalk, and taking a deep breath I get to work. I draw the first thing that comes to mind- something beautiful. I draw a flower, but remembering this little guy is mechanical and may have different standards of beauty, I add a more personal touch. Petals in the shape of gears. I stand back, admiring my work, and point it out to the little guy. The monodrome stands in front of the drawing, noises of appreciation and glee issuing from his little mechanical body.
I step behind him, drawing my mace, and with tears streaming down my face raise it into the air. He never saw me coming, too enthralled with the flower. As his tiny mechanical body crumbles and turns to dust, I sob uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry, Lyssa,” Hawthorne says. “But you realize we sold Eshrina’s soul to a devil?”
🌸 Lyssa ⚙️
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Post by kynigoskerata on Sept 6, 2021 14:44:11 GMT -5
Well, you know how things, like, get good just from one moment to the next? Yeah, this has been, like, the opposite of that. Every time we think we have the upper hand in this place we get our butts kicked and it just isn't fun. These people have only just lost a member of their group, one who seemed quite close to some of them. That's not cool. I mean, I know some druids and they are wicked good people. They even have the best collections of grass this side of the Far Realm. That stuff could drive an ogre out of their mind.
These wardrobes are also trippy as the nine hells. Some probably even go to one hell or another. That's just wrong. What if you needed to take a shower and get some new clothes. Nothing to find in these dressers at least. That has to be a pain and a half. Orcs I can see at least, some others have already come through, and my gut instincts, and these shrooms, are telling me that in order to go further we need to fight them all. A test of sorts, or some type of barrier that is adaptive. The little guy was to make sure that these people had to make a choice, one soul or many. Quite the uncool thing to do.
Well, I don't really care to speak much, so I'm just gonna head out. If I die, at least I will be in the earth, among my peeps, which is, like, the best way to go for a dwarf I suppose. I do hope I don't die though. Then it will feel like some sort of cosmic joke on some poor yokel. So much for good vibes down beneath.
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Post by kynigoskerata on Sept 13, 2021 14:33:13 GMT -5
You know, I haven't been this naked around a group of people since leaving the Brotherhood. It's actually quite freeing, I must admit. There is something to be said about how much you leave behind when you stop having worldly possessions. That said, it is also rather damp and chilly down here, so, you know, its not that comfortable. Nor do I have any of my... stuff on me. Nothing to bring me up or center me, nothing to take the edge off. For the firat time in a long time, I am going to have to access my mental capabilities without the added assistance of my mind openers. These next few days, should we not all die horribly, will be incredibly difficult.
I'm not sure that I am entirely sober yet though. You see, the further doqn we venture, the more strange and unorthodox things keep cropping up. I swear, these little dolls have moved on their own, and have spoken to us with the voices of children, but that can't be right! That's just strange, and if they were real, why would they help us. Down this far, nothing is likely to want to see our victory.
The one good thing so far this day has been that I have gotten my hands on this axe, which means that I am not totally defenseless, just mostly. If I can keep fighting, find some armor that will prtect my bits, then we still have a fighting chance to beat back the monsters and stop the soulmonger! All for one and shrooms for all!
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