((Did you and your friend have fun? Rawr.))
((Why yes, yes, we did. Including me failing repeatedly at R:TW, that part was fun too.))
The update schedule will still be a little shaky in the coming few weeks due to finals, and I'm off to a family meetup this weekend. Consider yourselves warned!
Turn Ten: Keep in GatesTaren:Appraise the altar then try to examine it for any supernatural connection and search for any key-like objects for the door seen earlier.
(4) There is definitely something magical in the air. Although, it is not obvious, even less so because there's something strange about this entire dungeon. Definitely more something inherent in the room itself. That could mean several things - one, proximity to a nexus of magic energy. Two, particularily thin walls between the dimensions. Three, a skilled Alchemic Mage and/or subtle enchanter was at work here. Or, four, just the general fact that sacred and/or unholy places tend to be magical as well, as some sort of magic beings generally are worshipped in there. But there's something special about this room beyond the baseline one should expect for a place like this.
The altar... you can't decide whether it's responsible for that effect, you're no magic expert. In fact, looking around, nobody is quite an expert on magic, their grasp on it being intuitive at best. You might in fact be the only one who has had comprehensive formal magic training, back in the day. And, if you are perfectly honest about it, most of it didn't stick. But, about that altar - taking a look at it, there are some gilded trinkets and other coins on it, as well as other possibly heretic stuff you don't dare to touch. No keys anywhere, though.
Helskaya:Carefully search the altar room for signs of use.
(3) The candles are lit. This means someone has been here recently. But on the other hand, there's cobwebs everywhere and overall there are clearly no ratman cleaners. No spatterings of blood, either - ritual sacrifices, at least the proper ones, probably can be ruled out. If there wasn't that woman lying on the floor...
Elenor:The knight moved calmly towards the figure near the altar and examined it.
(5) Elenor moves further towards the altar. When he is close enough to get a clear view on the lying figure, his eyes narrow. His first impression hasn't failed him at all.
The woman lying here is wearing the characteristic garb of a Holy Orders paladin, the royal elite forces. More specifically, a lieutenant in the... yep, judging by the shield, definitely the Blinding Light order. The Blinding Light was one of those Orders that didn't take the ascent of the new queen all that well, and their tensions with royality actually date back to the late Terence II.'s time, if Elenor's information is correct - but it's definitely common knowledge that the Order of the Blinding Light does not approve of the queen's proficiency in black magic in specific and her everything in general. So, seeing one of their lieutenants here without, apparently, royal orders because Elenor'd have known if they were issued... looks like
politics.
She does appear to be still alive, and her condition is stable. That makes matters both easier and more complicated.
Looking closer at the actual woman, Elenor confirms it's definitely a woman - or, at least, some armorer hadn't been able to resist and the end result was a full body armor with a, well,
breastplate - although in not the best of conditions currently, dents not being just in the right places. That sort of double standard is still somewhat common, and if there was some empty space or padding between armor and woman here Elenor wouldn't be surprised either. All part of the image, at least there were no combat stilettos to be seen, which indicated that the woman in question probably was the real deal. Zooming up to the face, another reason for taking her seriously comes to view - it's the face of a battle-hardened warrior, dead serious and scarred - rather beautiful, if one likes that sort of woman. But...
politics. And this is not the time for that and such, because whoever knocked her out is still around. Most likely.
Apollo:He picks up the ratman, and starts looking for the rest of the group.
(4) Urgh, god damnit, that ratman seriously needs to lose some weight. But a bargaining chip is a bargaining chip, and thus, you carry - or, rather, drag - that damn guy through the hallways.
Ratherio:Ratherio goes down the hallway, picking up the equipment as he goes.
(1) There be no equipment around here son. None at all. Only by clinging to Apollo he manages to not get lost again.
Remy:(2) flerpr derp, can't wait to be a useless sht all day and folow all those taresn
But you should have watched out for the stairs - as Taren ascends the altar stairs, Remy stumbles and faceplants. Only his pride is hurt. And the subsequent swearing is rather loud.
--
But, suddenly, the sound of metal scraping over rock... everyone stops what they are doing. Even the just-arrived Ratherio/Apollo party. Apollo drops the ratman.
It's getting louder... louder... and then suddenly a hidden mechanism springs, and a figure enters from a previously unseen secret entrance to the left. It exits that area, and the door closes again, once more indistinguishable from the surrounding rock.
The light of the candles reveals the figure's form. It's a girl, or at least probably used to be - hard to tell at this point. On closer inspection, she looks like a seriously pudgy goth with way too overdone smokey eyes, although that might be excused by the fact that a girl with a key jammed through her head whose primary clothing article is bloody bandages probably really is undead. She has another key sticking out of her chest, has a third one as sort of a belt buckle and is chained to a fourth key, which is bigger than herself and the source of that scraping sound - it's simply too big to feasibly carry. In fact, that key is smeared all over with markers and, possibly, also blood. Someone even doodled a face on it.
"'sup. Want some tea?"
--
Loot, blah, blah:
Worn shield x1
Wrecked scalemail x1
--
Apart from the way you came in, there is a locked door (now in substantially worse condition), and two other ways. It is to be assumed that the key is somewhere around in those two ways.
At the end of the right hallway, there is a now thoroughly plundered ratman bureau.
At the end of the left hallway, there is an Y intersection. A stench wafts in from the left way, the right one seems unremarkable.
At the end of that left arm of the Y, Apollo and Ratherio find... the bathroom. No wonder it stank to heavens!
Grafitti is everywhere and the entire thing is as disgusting and broke-down as the average public restroom, if a bit more disorderly - random books and comics are all over the place. One of the stalls is occupied, and sometimes grunting noises are emanating from it. As does the stench. Someone is doing business, it seems.
Whereas, at the end of the other arm, there is a T intersection.
There is an indentation containing an angel statue in the wall opposite to where the party came in. The strange thing about the angel are the wings: The right wing is a normal angel wing, as you would expect it, but the left one is different, as if corrupted, coming apart and having some technology-ish things in it - piping, gears, wires... The angel's expression indicates sorrow. Around the indentation, there is yet more strange writing, indecipherable at a glance, as if part of a long-forgotten tongue.
Overall, the whole thing is totally misplaced in this ratman lair, down to the rock it is made of. Obviously, it is suspicious, as the faint tingle of adventurer senses throughout the party confirms.
Down the left arm of this one... well, this room feels as wrong here as the statue did. It clearly looks like a church, or at least a very sacral room. However, there is no wood, even the benches are made of stone - but polished stone, unlike the rough one you saw at other places. But, at the altar, well...
...because circumstances have changed. Now, this room also contains a zombie goth girl of indecipherable motivation.
Character sheets.
Helskaya Arkut (lawastooshort)
Status: Normal.
Injuries: None.
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 x2, 0 cp.
Skills: Herbal Medicine; Shamanic Magic; Knowledge (Legends of the North)
Spells:
Shining Shamanic Healing Finger!, Transform: Raging North Bear
Elenor Warsen (Caellath)
Status:
Only sane man.
Injuries: None.
Equipment:
Masterwork Armor, Longsword, Crossbow,
Dragon Crest Shield, small well-crafted crossbow.
Inventory: Medical kit, small supplies bag, 5 cp, Potion of Lesser Healing, Painkiller Potion, Gibberish Paper, Map Shred, Rations Listing, some longbolt ammo.
Skills: Swordsmanship, Dodging, Marksmanship, Medical care.
Spells: None. He's notoriously unmagical.
Apollo Anderson
(Spinal_Taper)Status: Normal.
Injuries: Bruise, right shoulder.
Equipment: Reinforced lab coat, cheap leather armor,
Dagger,
Rudimentary Rifle, Officer's Scimitar,
Inventory: Bullets, Gunpowder, various pouches and bags, Experimental Painkiller (?) Potion, 4 cp.
Skills: Alchemy: Chemistry, Alchemy: Potion brewing, Alchemic Magic: Rudimentary Enchantments (quantum amount +1), Metal Working (quantum amount +1).
Spells: Enchantment: Better wearability!
Taren Creyn (Tiruin)
Status: Normal.
Injuries: None.
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, 3 cp.
Skills: White Magic: Healing, Anatomy, Swordsmanship, Marksmanship
Spells: Menscur, Fogili, Nonsens, Mendia, Leonic Cleanse.
Ratherio Houston (borno)
Status: The bestest wizard ever just nobody understands
Injuries: Scratches on face. Cut on left leg.
Equipment: Purple robes of death!
TM, Wand of death!
TMStaff of death!
TMDagger of death!
TM Ring of death.
Inventory: 0 cp,
Debt notice, Scrolls of: Leaden, Monovolt, Lesser Silence, Flare Arrow.
Skills: Black Magic: Death Magic, Black Magic: Chaos Magic, Agility
Spells: Kortuch, Leaden.
Remy Maelle (Remaelle)
Status: Good enough to go.
Injuries: None.
Equipment: A spirit talisman, knife, leather armour, traveling clothes, a backpack, Vintage pair of Chain Revolvers, buckler, 14 cp.
Inventory: Bedroll, rope, tinderbox, enough food to last a few days,
Debt notice,
officer's helmet.
Skills: Shamanistic Magic: Elementalism, Agility, Quick Reflexes, Hand-to-Hand Combat.
Spells: MEGA BRAND
Author
Topic: Roll to Explore the Dungeon: Ch.2 T.38: Do you even praise the King? (Read 120436 times)