By the way, it’s only fair to say that four of you are actually slowly going mad. You can check your sanity levels by mousing over your names. I originally wasn’t going to tell you about the stats, but fair’s fair. I may toss the sanity thing out eventually if it doesn’t work well. Again, experimentation!
Also, a hint. Get into the habit of closely examining stuff. And listen to Cyrus. He’s a bit like a more useful and less annoying Navi.
- Turn 30: The Basement -
You’ve found your way into the center of town, trapped by signs that will slowly make you go mad. Fortify your minds lest you lose all sanity and attack your teammates…Continue towards the place. Try to calm down. No punchies.
You take deep breaths, pushing the thoughts about those glowing signs out of your mind. It’s tough, but you manage to distract your mind suffici-Seriously, what the hell
is that sound? You have to wake up. It’s like this constant droning buzz, as though a horde of bees are sitting two feet behind you. Weird.
You reach the house with Felice, Cyrus, Baldur and Lyu in close step behind you. “The basement, right?” you ask the seaman. Really, it’s time to wake up. He nods, opens his mouth and buzzes at you. What? You roll your eyes. Your mind will have to do better than that to drive you crazy.
You head around the side of the house to the trapdoor that leads into the basement. One blow of your rockhand shatters the crude chain holding it shut and you kick the door open before heading down the stairs...
Guide everyone to follow Ekoka. With my staff. Like a shepherd and whatnot!
"Ah, so it must have been the wisest course of action all along to pay no attention whatsoever to the signs on the walls and whatnot,” you announce, quite pleased with how it all turned out. “Thanks, Cyrus! What would we do without you?"
“Don’t be stupid!” Cyrus roars. The air shimmers around him as though he is giving off a tremendous amount of heat. He stops, claps his hands together and shuts his eyes, evidently focusing. The shimmering slowly fades. “Sorry about that,” he apologises embarrassedly. “But really, what kind of trap would they be if they only worked when you paid attention?” The pyromancer shakes his head roughly and turns back towards the sigils. “I could probably destroy them, but it would waste a lot of power. Let’s find the source of the energy instead.”
You nod and smile disarmingly, hoping to distract Cyrus from his rage. Evidently the signs affect different people in different manners. You wonder what it will feel like for you. You shrug and turn back to the other two, directing them with your staff to follow Ekoka, who is determinedly walking in the direction that Felice indicated.
Ekoka looks… odd. He doesn’t seem quite right. Surely he wasn’t that tall. Maybe you’re remembering incorrectly.
Yeah, that must be it. Nobody grows six inches in a day.
You follow Ekoka down into the basement...
Thuun grabs his blade, setting up in the closest thing he can to a defensive stance while sitting legless in a burnt up carriage.
The thumping and thudding on the roof is growing tiresome. You try and manoeuvre yourself into something approaching a swordsman’s stance, but with only half of your legs it’s a little cumbersome. You silently curse your instructors for not covering legless swordsmanship, blatantly ignoring the absurdity of that notion.
There’s noise all around you, now. Whispers rustle through the cabin, half-heard phrases that make no sense and probably make even less sense if you caught the whole line. Voiceless screeches resound through the twilight, accompanied by hair-raisingly loud shrieks of tortured metal. What on earth is going on outside?
The mist is now so thick that you can barely see your hands. The light from your legs is scattered for hundreds of feet in every direction, quite neatly masking your presence - but it’s the only good thing to come of it all. The cold air is seeping deep into your bones and will take some serious work to dislodge the icy grip on your innards. You shiver, taking extra care to not let your teeth rattle.
You can see little through the carriage door, but every now and then foggy shadows slip through the air. It’s all rather unnerving; the shadows change size regularly, the misty air altering everything about them. Even their number is clouded. All of a sudden, one shadow looms particularly large near the doorway! Whatever it is can’t see you in the darkness of the carriage, but if whatever-it-is climbs inside with you, it’ll be a very short, very ugly fight.
Follow Ekoka. Keep my bow ready at all times, if we go indoors, get my dirk out instead. Ask Cyrus if he's feeling alright.
“You feeling alright, mate?” you ask Cyrus as you follow Ekoka towards the basement that’s apparently designated old-people-storage. He nods and gives you a wan smile, but the skin around his nostrils is white. He’s clearly under a significant level of strain trying to keep his mind together.
Ekoka kicks the basement open and you draw your razor-sharp dirk in anticipation...
Baldur sticks with the party, his sword at the ready.
You follow Ekoka, herded along by Lyu’s insistent staff. You draw your broken greatsword, holding the shattered weapon negligently in one hand, ready to sweep it up into a guard. The mist is thin on the ground within the village; you glance back over your shoulder only to find thick clouds pressed up against the village wall, threatening to boil over but held back by… something. Possibly the black fire. Creepy.
The basement is perhaps twenty by thirty feet. The walls are bare save for several torches giving off thin tendrils of dirty black smoke; several barrels line the far wall, obviously for food preservation in winter times.
An old woman is sitting in a chair, her wrinkled hands folded demurely in her lap. “Well, it’s about time!” she tells you tartly.
“Mother, be quiet!” orders the young man standing behind her. “We have no clue who these people are. I mean, look at them!”
“They’re perfectly healthy,” the old woman responds. “Except him, he’s got something wrong with his hand. And that one’s a greyskin. Well, no matter. They’re here now, so quit your bellyaching.”
The young man sighs and shrugs in apology to the five of you. “I’m sorry about all that. We’ve been stuck in this damn cellar for a week now. Her yelling was getting on my nerves.”
Lyu Brak (Harry Baldman)Profession: Priest
Status: Showing off his loot
Inventory:Staff (Bronze-Capped)
Religious Necklace
Warm Priestly Robes and Pants
Warm Priestly Shoes
185 gold
10 Jimsonweed Fruit
Many bits of Thuun’s legs
Jagged shard of bone
Curious dagger
Pile of black sapphire fragments
Wounds/Status: You’re all good!
Abilities: [Boundlessly Cheerful] [The Good Priest] [Not that faithful] Righteous Litany]Baldur Bergfalk (USEC_OFFICER)Profession: Mercenary
Status: Doing nothing much.
Inventory:Broken greatsword
Worn leather jerkin (and normal clothes)
Worn leather boots
Bear fur cloak300 gold
Wounds/Status: You're all good!
Abilities: [Skilled Bargainer] [Guileless] [I'm Not Right Handed] Lao Thuun (BFEL)Profession: Warrior Mage
Status: Giving his hiding spot away admirably.
Inventory: Blunted bronze sword
Leather armour and boots
Acolyte's SuncloakReligious Necklace
210 gold
Wounds/Status: [Healed stumpy legs]Abilities:[Enduring] [Dragon Aspect: 1] [Slow Cast] [Atoner] [Spellsword][Regenerative Magic]Spells:[Life Spell: Wisp] Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 0] [Fi: 1] [Wa: 0] [Li: 2] [Fo: -1] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0] Felice Nasib (Pancaek)Profession: Seaman
Status: Swearing like a sailor.
Inventory: Repaired Shortbow
Seventeen Arrows
Razor-sharp DirkNautical Longcoat and Boots
313 gold
KidzukuWounds/Status: You're perfectly healthy!
Abilities: [Fearless] [Kidzuku: Arrowtime] [Not a Landlubber] [Trick Shot] [Kidzuku: Comprehension]Ekoka (GreatWyrmGold)Profession: Wanderer
Status: Growling and making fists of stone.
Inventory: Cracked shillelagh
Wanderer's Cloak
Sturdy Clothes and Boots
Length of Rope
Flint and Tinder
380 gold
Wounds/Status: You’re all good!
Abilities: [Survivalist] [Dual Focus] [Slow Cast] [Maladjusted to heat] [Guiding Spirit] Spells:[Wind Spell: Alacrity]Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 1] [Fi: 0] [Wa: 0] [Li: 0] [Fo: 0] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0]