SURPRIIIIISE!
Turn 29: One month or so 'till our first anniversary!
Taren:Get out of this frozen prison!
Try to skin one of the meatier animals for their hide.
Say hi to Komas.
(6) You look around the frozen prison for exits. There are two. You smash a wall in with your sword just because, there are three now. Going out alone strikes you as kind of foolhardy, though.
...nah, who are you kidding. After a quick high-five to Komas which he barely dodges, you scan the area for skins - there actually aren't any, they're all wrapped around Apollo. So you take Apollo, and dribble with him into the newly created hole.
Elenor:Check visually for loot. Skinning the hide of the leader of the graybacks, or any of them for that matter, is acceptable for getting loot.
(1) You see a lute in the frozen waters of a nearby lake. Obviously you try to free it, but break through the ice - turns out that particular puddle was in fact a volcanically heated spring. After a brief struggle to get out of the cooking pot you struggle up its ledge with moderate burns. Putting your armor back on to cool these burns didn't really seem to help.
Apollo:Go ahead and remove some of the skins once warmed up, unless Komas minds of course.
(2) It is rather hard to remove skins while rolling around, rocking over a stony cavern floor. Tiruin presses on, undauntedly.
Helskaya:Left rear leg + Shining Shamanic Healing Finger! = GOGOGO!
(3) You focus all your emotions into your finger to heal your leg, but your confusion and mild anger isn't exactly optimal fuel for a shamanic healing spell. The leg begins to regrow, but only does so slowly and still hurts a whole bunch.
Maka:See if the frozen jellies would still be alive if unthawed.
If so, attempt to make an electro jelly my minion. Dark magic or sweet talking or something.
If not, shoot one with the fun gun, then see if the other'd make a tasty popsicle.
(4) Maka sees a jelly. Maka prods it with her scepter. Then Maka procures a pocket-sized prison, chisels the jelly out of the surrounding ice and places it inside, subsequently lowering it into the newly uncovered hot spring to thaw it. Her experiment succeeds, and as soon as the jelly begins to thaw she puts a little hex on it to immobilize it.
But then, she hits a roadbump. How do you minionize a jelly? Mind control? Does it even have a mind? You can't cyberneticize it easily either... anyway, it's harmless. She figures that if she later comes on an idea it's going to be a breeze to make this jelly Loyal Minion #1.
Remy:Size up the situation. Shoot at anything that needs shooting.
(6) Elenor would later summarize this incident as "Remy might be the mage with the single worst situational awareness I have ever met." Nobody got hurt, but the racket WILL probably attract nasties soon enough.
On the positive side of things, that was a lot of good target practice.
Komas>Shrug at Apollo!
>Watch everyone else with distaste!
>Follow the group once we get out of here!
Also, >In the meantime ponder the edibility of wolf, panda and greyback meats
Oh, and >Gather up any furs Apollo removes. Maybe I can use them for something later, don't want my hard work going to waste.
(3) You can't quite decide whether wolf meat is proper cuisine, but it should taste decently in some sort of soup - that's what soups are for, right? - so you carve out a chunk.
Group's not really doing anything it seems, so you stay for the moment.
--
Tiruin meanwhile has reached a deadend. There only really was one path anyway, but now the cavern has opened up into some sort of ruin. He stops. Apollo vomits on his feet.
The main distinguishing features of this ruin are one control-panel-esque thing with nine switches in a 3x3 pattern, five of which appear to be flipped on. The panel is on a face of a grand stone pedestal, and far above the stone pedestal there is a treasure chest supported by six chains. There is a large letter on the column each chain is anchored to that corresponds with the letters on the switches, except for the middle switch, which has no column equivalent.
The switches are arranged like this:
AbC
dxE
GhI
And the chains are arranged in this pattern:
aBC
DTe
gHI
T is the treasure chest. The chains are of magical nature, and as long as there is at least one chain left the chest will stay afloat.
Capital letters = switch flipped on/there is a chain, lower case = switch flipped off/no chain.
--
There's three exits from frozen prison, not counting the entrance. One leads into Tiruin's cavern, the second appears to lead upwards and the third is frozen over, so it might go to a lake of some sort.
Character sheets.
Helskaya Arkut (lawastooshort)
Status: Through yogic power this leg shall heal
Injuries: Missing a sizeable chunk of his left rear leg. < This is currently regenerating. Should not strain it too hard. Indigestion.
Equipment: Pair of knives (one large, one small),
northern white bear jawbone on necklace, northern white bearskin.
Inventory: Wet stone, firestone, pot, spoon, three leather pouches varying in size, pestle and mortar, dried meat rations for several plus more days, filled waterskin, flour, Lesser Herbal Medicine, Lesser Blade Poison, Rusty Axe, random precious metal baubles, two lumps of crystallized magic, ten magic slices, lesser diluted mana potion x2, potion of okay healing x2, stoneskin potion, 60 cp, magic bong.
Skills: Herbal Medicine; Shamanic Magic; Knowledge (Legends of the North)
Spells:
Shining Shamanic Healing Finger!, Transform: Raging North Bear, Summon Water Elemental
Elenor Warsen (Caellath)
Status: If this goes on he has no pride left whatsoever.
Injuries: Several semi-deep cuts on left shoulder. Scalded.
Equipment:
Masterwork Armor, Longsword, Crossbow,
Dragon Crest Shield, small well-crafted crossbow,
Magic Sapping Amulet.
Inventory: Medical kit, small supplies bag, 0 cp, Potion of Lesser Healing, Painkiller Potion, Gibberish Paper, Map Shred, Rations Listing, some longbolt ammo.
Skills: Result-oriented swordsmanship, Dodger's Agility, Marksmanship, Medical care, Taunting, Dabbling Investigator [1].
Spells: None. He's notoriously unmagical.
Apollo Anderson (Spinal_Taper)
Status: Wrapped up in bloody furs - unable to move, except through rolling. Head peeks out. Feels really damn sick, and he's getting really warm.
Injuries: Rock firmly embedded in face. A bunch of bumps.
Equipment: Reinforced lab coat, cheap leather armor,
Dagger,
Rudimentary Rifle, Officer's Scimitar
Inventory: Bullets[inf], Enchanted Bullets[11], Gunpowder, various pouches and bags, Experimental Painkiller (?) Potion, 119 cp, Bear teets, One Bear Ass, Ammo Mod.
Skills: Alchemy: Chemistry, Alchemy: Potion brewing, Alchemic Magic: Rudimentary Enchantments (quantum amount +2), Metal Working (quantum amount +1).
Spells: Enchantment: Better wearability!, Piercing [?] Bullet Enchantments
Taren Creyn (Tiruin)
Status: Blessed.... with dribbling skills. Hilt Charge: 90% (Ice), 55% (Fire), 100% (Lightning)
Injuries: Slowly he realizes how cold his legs actually were. Still numb, but out of the danger zone.
Equipment:
Broadsword, Crossbow, Longbolt ammunition (quantum amount -4), white cloak, grey tunic, belt, solid holey leather boots,
buckler.
Inventory: Whet stone, one filled waterskin, Cloth, lots of rations, ratman cloth, 118 cp, Element Hilt.
Skills: White Magic: Healing, Anatomy, Swordsmanship, Marksmanship
Spells:
Menscur, Fogili, Nonsens, Mendia,
Leonic Cleanse,
Vi Vanita,
Vento Aureo.
Komas Hopatke (Yoink)
Status: More gruff than usual.
Injuries: Thorn punctures, some stuck in. Cold, but not life-threateningly so.
Equipment:
One large, battered wooden oar named Heinkel, Worn and poorly-made sealskins, An eyepatch, iron boning knife.
Inventory: Fishing pole, bait, compass, immortal tasty lobster, 100 cp, Mystery Herb x6, chunk of raw wolf meat.
Skills:
Rowing,
Cooking,
Fishing,
Navigation.
Spells: Nnnope.
Remy Maelle (Remaelle)
Status: Magic exhaustion setting in.
Injuries: Minus five toes and right middle finger. Still chill.
Equipment: A spirit talisman, knife, leather armour, traveling clothes, a backpack, Vintage pair of Chain Revolvers, buckler, 0 cp.
Inventory: Bedroll, rope, tinderbox, enough food to last a few days,
Debt notice,
officer's helmet, Contract, Gunchucks Guide Book w/ Leaflet, Remote Control Tape.
Skills:
Shamanistic Magic: Elementalism, Agility, Quick Reflexes, Hand-to-Hand Combat,
Gunchucks Usage.
Spells:
MEGA BRAND,
Perfect Freeze,
Flare Arrow Maka R'lyeh-Voile (IronyOwl)
Status: The sharp pains... they're hitting me slowly... golden afterglow, somewhat magnetic.
Injuries: None (that she notices), but covered in icicles.
Equipment:
Magical golden scepter, Very Frilly Dress, Backpack, Belt w/ pouches, Fun Gun, Electro-Jelly-inna-cage (subdued).
Inventory:
Surgeon's Kit, 105 cp, Book: Gene Engineering, Fleshgrafting and You, Snail Shell.
Skills: Creating Servants, Alchemic Magic: Augmenting Living Stuff, Dodging, Black Magic: Curses.
Spells:
Psycho Shackles.