Turn Eleven: Why does tomorrow have to be finals dayRemy:POLITELY Move to a flanking position on the zombie girl, ready with the gunchucks and MEGA BRAND if it's clear enough not to hit anyone else.
(5) Although his intent is clearly a bit less polite, Remy does manage to not give anyone that idea while moving into a tactically optimal position. In fact, it looks like he is far more interested in that delightful candelabrum over there. Never mind the gunchucks.
Helskaya:Head to the altar to examine the heretic items with my shamanistic northern knowledge! If the zombiegoth attacks, then back away behind Elenor whilst throwing both axes into the zombie goth's head!
(4) Helskaya, on the other hand, takes the right stairs to the altar and inspects the baubles.
They are baubles. They might be potentially valuable. They don't seem to be afflicted by a curse, at least not a potent one, and similarily, they have not been used for powerful purposes so far - if any, most of these are probably useless, with a few minor enchanted items in there somewhere. But... made of precious metal. Would it be sacrilegous to take these? Hel decides, hell no, so he pockets a few of them. Then, he gets down to the other stair and takes aim. Quietly.
Taren:Proceed nonchalantly over to Elenor and cast all known magic on the woman, as she does look hurt.
Say that she will be fine.
(3) Trying to not startle the goth, you pave your way to Elenor, but fail a little at that, being a little rough overall.
Now, for the real objective. The woman. First, you go for the diagnosis. That one isn't obvious, the lady knight is apparently not hurt. She definitely has a pulse, but pale... hm, she's down quite a bit of blood, but her condition is stable and she is not in mortal danger. However, she's definitely knocked out, potentially by concussion. There appear to be no curses on her, which is a relief, as a good curse tends to be very, very nasty (you've seen more than you'd like).
The best cure would be time, a bed and lots of water, not all of which is in good supply right now. There's also some metaphorical white magic bandaids here. It would be possible to return her to consciousness, but that would take a great deal of energy for questionable reward - neither of you would be in fighting condition for quite some time after, nevermind walking-in-heavy-armor condition. When you're out of this dungeon, perhaps.
Elenor:He then proceeds to assume a defensive position between the zombie girl and the woman, restricting himself to retaliating when attacked and protecting the wounded figure while attempting to make contact with the undead.
"May I ask what are your intentions here, lady?"
(2) Elenor tries to not be threatening. He fails. His question was probably voiced a little too sharp, prompting the girl to verbally retaliate. "What are you doing here, anyway, asking me what I do, here? This is practically my home, not yours, so why that question, hypocrite?!"
"It's always the same. Always the same.", she continues. "Nevermind that I didn't choose to become undead, nevermind that I'm human except for a few small details - no, as soon as any - any damn human or elf or dwarf or what have you sees me they scream
Undead, undead! Abomination! Prepare to die, scum!. Like that red-headed bitch there." A quick rattle of the chains confirms that she talks about the fallen paladin. "As soon as she sees me - and I'm really just saying hello, trying to be polite, and what do I get?" Her expression distorts in mockery. "Your mere existance disgusts me, is a pox upon the earth! In the name of that big white thingy in the sky" - at this point, she is miming the entire thing, hugely overexaggerated - "I, the Just Blade of Holiness and Cleanliness and Fordliness, Her Highnessest Paladiness Selfrighteous Stick-Up-My-Ass shall punish you! Get ready!" The following torrent of personal insults and general unfiltered rage shall not be transcribed, but to put a synopsis, apparently the goth zombie does not like paladins all that much.
Ratherio:Ratherio smiled, a little bit creepily, and walked right up to the girl.
"May I say that you look lovely for an undead? Most ones that I meet are losing legs, arms, noses, teeth, and all that. But you- You are a perfect specimen."
He inched a little closer to the girl, and dropped his tone a little down.
"We could become great things, you and I. The weak-willed will flee, the strong-willed will fall... It would be brilliant."
Also, remember spell,
Costrus!
(2) "Heeey, you. Looking lovely there, for an undead."
In a way, it actually works. She actually stops what she is doing, namely mocking sexual practises supposedly employed by paladins.
"Most undead I met were losing legs. Arms. Noses. Teeth. The whole deal." He moves in closer. "But you, sweetheart... you are a perfect specimen. Perfect, I say."
Still no reply on the account of stunned silence. Ratherio takes this as a positive sign and puts his arm around her.
"We could become great things, you and I. Just imagine. The weak-willed will flee, the strong-willed will fall.. It would be brilliant."
"Er, um, what." First response.
"Look in my eyes. Search for your feelings, you know them to be true. Do you want to?"
After finally computing the sensory input and triple-checking the result, her answer is:
"No, no, no, no, no. Actually, hell no. While you are the first-- no, scratch that, second guy who treated me as a human being since I was zombified, this was also the most terrible pickup line I have ever had the misery of hearing. On top of that, you have terrible manners, terrible teeth, stink out of your mouth and are less attractive than a crossdressing ratman, and that's saying something. Not to mention that despite being clinically insane and a necrophiliac, you are also just about the most incompetent necromancer I have ever seen, and that's counting the crossdressing ratman again. Get yourself a life."
Apollo:Apollo says to the Goth "Uhh... Yes, I'd love some.". Then, to Ratherio "Umm, you know anything about this sort of thing?". He then settles his weapon, ready for a tea drinking bout anytime.
(5) "...is the offer for tea still open?"
She is clearly suspicious of you after Ratherio's attempts. "You, too?"
"...no, it's just that I like tea. Was that one an empty offer?"
"Oh, no no no. I've still got some left over, got more than usual this month. So..." she pauses for a bit. "Are you going to come to my place, now? Can't drink tea without table, cups and teakettle."
Apollo is indecisive, while the rest of the party basically does their best silent Admiral Ackbar impressions. (Elenor wins the contest.)
"Oh, of course, of course." Cue four facepalms. Elenor grips Apollo's shoulder hard. The goth sees that. "Oh well, can't be helped. Zombies are untrustworthy after all... alright, come. A healthy lack of trust is nothing to grow angry over, as long as I don't get stabbed. So tired of that."
A few minutes later, the party is her, well... room. Although it could probably be called Distilled Chaos for what it's worth. Apollo sits on one chair uncomfortably and watches the girl boiling the water while Taren is magically supervising her making sure there are no curses, Helskaya is testing the tea herbs for poison, Elenor is conducting double-blind tests with the water, Remy is following Taren and Ratherio is turning the entire room inside out for god knows what, incapable of increasing the general entropy level much. All searches prove inconclusive, and there is a 4-
1 vote cast for the harmlessness of the situation. Apollo is officially allowed to have tea.
He watches the zombie drinking it. Does she have no idea how awkward the situation is? Oh, and she's talking...
"...so glad that someone finally actually tries to talk with me, you have no idea..." "...and it turns out that she wasn't really a goblin at all..." "...paladins... circumcised..." "...my Rapidash is so... gracious... strong..." "Oh, am I boring you?"
"zzzwhaNot at all, not at all!"
"Anyway, I was talking about how great it is to finally find some people who listen. I've been wanting to tell this for ages, but..."
Adventurer senses... tingling.
"...I really just want to get out here. Ratmen are not great company and it is really, really depressing not being able to see the night sky."
"How did you get in here, anyway?"
"Er, um... I was really, really, really drunk at that time, and next thing I knew, no pulse, cold everywhere and those keys. I've learned that they are cursed... one of them might be keeping me alive, that's why I didn't check that thoroughly. But, the big one... he drinks blood. Regularily. If he didn't get it..." She shudders. "And he really doesn't want to let go..."
"So." Conclusion?
"Here's the deal. You get the big one off me, or introduce me to someone who can, and in exchange, I'll open that pesky locked door for you." Everyone is suddenly very focused. "And if we just kill you and take your keys right here and now? Hypothetically, of course", Remy is fast to add.
"Well, then I lose my faith in humanity and you get zapped by all kinds of pesky curses as soon as you touch one of those keys that might not bother the undead much, but if you still have a life to lose, they might be a bit more... inconvenient." Her grin is kind of creepy, Apollo notes...
"So. Do you have anything left to say, now?"
--
((Splitting here because I don't have all the time right now.))
--
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, random precious metal baubles, 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 120448 times)