Roll 29
"Well none of the paths sound pleasant, but I guess the Bone Path can be more easily traversed."
"As for the potions, what would a potion such as that require?"
Lily: Opposite of fire is water... opposite of fire-past-tense is wet-past-tense... We need something spongy, not necessarily wet. It just needs to be able to hold water. Maybe from a swamp?See below for a description of the Bony Way's entrances.
...
Your whole body is burned (1)
...
You have 3 black empty tomes (black tomes must be written in red ink, and gain +2 positive dice if inscribed with an illusionary spell)
Silent Wind of Night: Dispells all nearby items and detatched effects, regardless of origin. Shapeshifts, summons, and polymorphs are unaffected.
Phantom Lake Essence: Dark tendrils emerge from the book, ensnaring enemies that fail to dodge.
Unending Phantasmagoria: Dissolves a dead body to create a reanimated ghost in place of this tome. The ghost can use Shadow Blink and drops a black spell tome upon death.
You have a stack of spell tome pages and a black cover
You have a bloodied ceremonial dagger (Attack power: 3) (attaches to target and Drains it, suppressing it) (remembering a memory teleports this weapon to your hand)
You have a Beech Javelin (Attack power: 3 (thrown), 1 (stab))
You have 10 Javelin memories (lucid)
You have about thirty Hours
You have a royal goblet, a golden watch, and some jewelry
You remember the Lady of Winter
You remember a giant eye
You remember many pixies
You remember a band of Arinthian soldiers and some bandits
You remember a bandit sinking into the ground
Traits and Skills:
Forest Ranger
>Gain +2 positive dice when navigating and moving through the wilderness, as well as performing stealthy actions
Javelineer
>Your targets get +2 negative dice when you target them with a javelin
Noble's Education
>Gain +1 positive dice when learning from writing or conversing about literature
Shapeshifter
>You have unlimited strong memories of forest animals
Cynical
>Others will press any advantage...
Xenophobe
>Foreigners always disappoint
Willhelm votes for the bony way. Also, ask Lily if she knows a way to heal him and Zikal.
Vile Spawn of Darkness: Oh, so you are not afraid of the paths I am guiding you across? In that case, let us get going soon...The Bony Way is a roughly chevron-shaped region of forest originating from when a great flood came through and destroyed a village. A skilled Adept tried to resurrect the townspeople, but instead of bringing back the original people he simply animated their bodies, which were nothing but skeletons at this point. He also animated the livestock, whose bones were incompatible with human skeletons. The resulting creatures were aberrant skeletons that resembled no living being.
You can enter from either of the chevron's points, and your destination is the head, which is a swamp free of thorns and very close to the Lake of Dreams.
The northern entrance to the Bony Way is guarded by a single large pile of bones. There is a chance it could all animate into a single powerful monster.
The southern entrance to the Bony Way is littered with small piles. These could animate into small creatures that are weak individually, but numerous.
...
Your whole body is burned (1)
Your left arm is bruised (1)
...
You have a schematic of an iron arrow trap
You have a steel axe (Attack power: 1) (Deals piercing damage if the attack connects but fails to pierce)
You have an iron mace (Attack power: 2) (If the target has less than 2 damage, deals piercing damage)
You have a charged large greatbow (Attack power: 3 (charged), 1 (uncharged)) (charging takes one turn of preparation)
You have an uncharged Quickbow (Attack power: 1. Can fire twice per turn. Charging it allows you to fire two arrows per attack, four in one turn)
You have 13 arrows in your quiver (Attack power: 1)
There is one recoverable arrow near the Old Fortress Mound
You have an important scroll in a copper cylinder
You have about one hundred Hours
Traits and Skills:
Man of Steel
>Gain +1 positive dice when using melee weapons
>Your opponents get +1 negative dice when attacking you
Fists like Hammers
>Gain an additional +1 positive dice while unarmed
Bow Mastery
>Your targets get +2 negative dice when you target them with a bow
Illiterate
>What's a book?
Amnesia
>You have forgotten many things
"I'm not a lawman." he replies. "I just like the inn and your friend got the owner good. At least he seemed dead enough, I'm not a medic. Your pal also lied to me and tried to escape." he continues, giving the astrologer a bad stare as he pulls Klein from his cloak and perches the feline upon his shoulder. "So, aren't ya going to tell him the same story told to me?"
Angstrom: Uh yeah. The guy I sent my papers to for editing, Cherson, you know him?Marco: He is one of the guest editors at our Office, yes.Angstrom: Well last night this psycho girl with a desert animal came into my home and tried to murder me. I got away because, well, the animal got in my icebox and started eating meat instead of me. But according this here merc that girl is still on the loose.Marco: What is the relation to the bartender's killing?Angstrom: Cherson was over at the bartender's Inn, and I needed to take the papers from him so my attacker wouldn't go for him instead. The bartender didn't give me the keys, so I just tried to use my gun to threaten the man. He tried to take my gun away, so I gave him a good thump. 'pparently he didn't wake up afterward.Marco: I see. If that is your story, then it doesn't sound premeditated, so you will probably only get ten years at the most.Angstrom: You're turning me in?! Gee, I thought you'd vouch for me. Let me guess, you're gonna reward the guy who dragged me over here too.Marco: Indeed. We take our reputation very seriously as one of the most prestigious institutions of the empire.He turns to you.
Marco: We are able to arrange for either a monetary or benefits as a form of reward, Mr.....Benefits could include access to the Office's library, access to the Great University (influence can go a long way), or perhaps some sort of exclusive item that money wouldn't be able to buy. Be careful not to ask for too much, or you'll sour your reputation with the Office.
...
You have a black Cloak of Ash (protects against Ashlight and fire)
You have a Zweihänder slung on your shoulder (Attack power: 4) (can only be used offensively every other turn)
You have a Katzbalger (Attack power: 2)
You have an arquebus (Attack power: 3) (Your opponent gets an extra positive die to dodge)
You are wearing light plate armor (incoming attacks lose 1 attack power if over 1)
You have about one hundred and fifty Hours
Traits and Skills:
Charisma
>Gain +1 positive dice when speaking with others and persuading them
Veteran
>Gain +1 positive dice to defense rolls, and your enemies gain +1 negative dice to their defense rolls
Swordmaster
>Gain +1 positive dice to attack rolls with long, bladed weapons
Sharpshooter
>Your targets get +1 negative dice to their defense rolls
Noisy
>You get +1 negatice die to stealth, and an additional +1 negative die if you are wearing armor
Old Pains
>In cold weather, without thick clothing, you get +1 negative dice to all actions
((Auto'd, unfortunately))
...
You have a black Cloak of Ash (protects against Ashlight and fire)
You have a green poison slime with Paralysis
You remember a red, blue, and a green spell-slime (weak)
You have a red resonance crystal.
You have a spiny walking stick (Attack power: (attacking head) 2, (attacking other parts) 1)
You have a silversteel falchion (Attack power: (on odd swings) 3, (on even swings) 2)
You remember your time in the wilderness well
You have some sandwiches and citrus
You have a Sprite Trap, labelled with the words "Samantha Magdelene, professor at U.T"
You have seventy-five Hours
Traits and Skills:
Mystical Learning
>You can create and cast simple (complexity of 1 or less) Aganis spells on the same turn. Spell complexity:
+1 if range is longer than 1-2 yards
+1 if multi-target
+1 if effect lasts more than a single turn, or if a creature is created
+1 if created creature is more complex than a slime
Animal Handler
>Gain +2 positive dice whenever animals are involved, unless you are hunting them
Wilderness Survival
>Gain +2 positive dice for actions involving gathering natural resources, starting fires, tracking, and other survival skills
Photographic Memory
>Weak memories become strong if you successfully cast them the first time
Cannot Speak
>Silence is golden
One-Eyed
>Your targets gain +2 positive dice if you attack them from a distance
"I have gifted you my strength, the rest is up to you."
Really - it is. She can act better than I can right now.
Efa: Fair enough.Efa brings a switchblade to bear and (1+1)(4+1) leaps up clumsily onto the bookshelf, making her first move toward the rifleman bandit, who did not expect such an impressive feat of agility from someone whose head was literally shot off.
(5)(1) She attacks, missing the bandit. The bandit counterattacks with his weapon (6)(4) hitting her. (2)(1) She grabs the moving barrel and pulls the gunman off the shelf, right on top of the tentacle horror.
The pistolier in the crowd is finished reloading his pistol, and fires it in Efa's direction. (2)(5) The attack would have hit but (5)(4) the tentacle horror swats the bullet out of the air.
The pistol-bandit starts helping the nearest able knife-bandit in dragging the knife-bandit whose leg is bleeding horribly to safety. He leaves behind a trail of blood.
The tentacle horror grabs the rifleman and keeps him from reaching his backup weapon (a wicked-looking dagger attached to his belt).
The cloaked bandit with the books is flipping through his collection looking for something.
The 7th bandit is still missing.
Efa decides to interrogate the caught rifleman (who happens to be the Headband Guy from before)
Efa: So, you and your fellow freaks make a living stealing books from this institution?Headband Guy: Indeed, there's so many of em that nobody can find out they're missing.
Efa: I can't speak for the owners, but somehow that comes across to me as illegal.Headband Guy: They got it coming to em. Hoarding them all here and keeping the rest from reading them. We're doing the world a favor by putting the books into circulation.
Efa: Your society has the printing press.Headband Guy: Exactly!
Efa: My society had it long ago. It tore our higher institutions apart. Mystics of all flavors published pseudoscientific papers nonstop, eventually driving good journals out of business. The printing press sent us into a dark age.Headband Guy: Where exactly are you from?
Efa: A city beneath your feet. We call ourselves human as well, but we don't look much the same.Headband Guy: Did you come up looking to feed your disgusting pet here?
He makes a subtle reach for the knife of his belt, but the tentacle around his arm contracts, causing him pain.
Headband Guy: Okay, just kill me already.
Efa: I have other plans.The capture thief's eyes widen as Efa pulls out the book she acquired from the librarian a while back. She summons the Math Spirit, a being of pure geometry that doesn't seem to be real, rotating in unpredictable ways as you shift your perspective.
Efa: Wouldn't it be a great idea to convince your gang that this is all... hmmm... a bad dream or trance perhaps? That your friend really just went off far away, and that you never really decided to be bandits? A group hallucination, let's just say.Headband Guy: Make it stop, just wake me up already!
He falls asleep. Efa shrugs.
Efa: Men are not dangerous because of who they are, but what they believe. Isn't it fantastic how a society leagues ahead of the surface world can collapse in on itself just because of one good invention? It only takes a thought for people to destroy themselves....
One bandit is now a
Nightmare Sentinel (Can't move, +2 posdie to attack. Can block attacks aimed at nearby friendlies)
Efa's cap is destroyed (no longer absorbs damage)
Efa has a long rifle and 8 bullets (4 attack power)
Knife Bandit B's destroyed leg is dealing damage to his torso (+1 damage/turn)
Traits and Skills:
Secret Powers
>DoOOoobillidabidydappidydap dipigillidydapda!
Current Stat Modifiers:
+1/(max 2) positive dice to attack rolls
+0/(max 0) negative dice to enemy attack rolls
+1/(max 1) positive dice to defense rolls
+0/(max 0) negative dice to enemy defense rolls
It is the 4th hour after noon. Ash is blazing bright in the azure sky, burning all exposed objects and adding +1 to all die in a thoughtform roll.
Expected end of Ashstorm: 7th hour. (Next hour: Turn 32)
Author
Topic: Pastblasters - Adventures in Wizardry (Turn 55) (Read 91071 times)