Roll 34
I'd... rather not risk the mushrooms.
Reject the mushrooms and try to use my own powers to form a memory.
((Since you spent time doing nothing last turn, I'll let you cast right now))
[5+1][6+1] You imagine to yourself a big hairly, slimy creature with thick fur and two short, stubby wings. These wings allow it to hover a short distance above the ground. You're not sure how. But your memories don't particularly have to make sense.
You cease staring upward and bring your eyes to bear ahead of you. Right in front of you is the creature you imagined, staring at you with many white eyes across its body. The eyes track you and all of your friends, giving you a familiar chill down your spine.
There is no indication that the critter is strong enough to lift your entire party.
...
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
"Friend! Monsters! Sand! Blind!"
keep off the sand, look around for anything useful
Zikal spawns some sort of hideous creature in front of your group, covered with many eyes and hovering a short distance above the ground using a pair of short, stubby wings. It has room for maybe three people on top of it.
The Vile Spawn of Darkness rejects the offer.
"This peasant form is a memory. I am in no way bound to it."The peasant body disentigrates into a black puddle on the ground, which then starts sliding across the ground and into the brush. It moves like liquid, passing harmlessly through the thorny terrain.
"I will follow."Looking on the ground, you find [1][1] a large leaf that looks like it could have sand under it. To avoid accidentally stepping on it, you move it out of the way, only to find it rather sticky. Underneath it is a mouth with many teeth in a spiral pattern, down a hole many meters deep. Small black beads line the rim of the mouth, and they undulate when exposed to the light.
The bonetacles seem to be stirring once more.
...
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 11 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, as well as lifting and wrestling actions
>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
After picking up the crystal to give a look at the thing that had the murderer startled, Leonhard's face grew hard as the bartender appeared. He immediately turns his attention to Angstrom after that. "...Okay. What in the heavens is going on here? Spit it out and do it now, your lying face's terrible. Do it and I won't bash your crotch into your bowels. That's a good deal, I'd take it."
Angstrom: This is going to take some time to explain.Bartender: You better! This skin rash ain't gonna wear off for a month.
Angstrom: I tried to get myself thrown in jail...Marco interrupts, although he stops himself after one phrase.
Marco: You never actually killed the man?Angstrom: So I could escape using an illusionary spell... I have the spell all planned out too. You see, I have been studying Aganis from some old books lately, that which was used by the Astrologers to enforce their predictions based on the stars.Marco: The ancient arts, of course. Our Office has strayed from such contrivances. We supply only data now, and let the princes keep their quarrels amongst themselves. It has greatly increased the lifespan of our members.Angstrom: Well I bet you over my dead body that Honest Science ain't been helping my lifespan one bit. I was just gonna stick a fake body in the cell while making myself gray as the walls, make em think I've caught a disease and died quietly. While they haul the fake outside I'd just slip away and change myself to look like someone new. A false identity. Y'know?Marco: A respectable plan, but what of the bartender?Angstrom: A tome of illusion. Woulda made him look dead, no need to eat or breath. I even stuck a Beetle's Steps morph on the end of that, so he'd get strength hundreds of times his bodyweight and steps silent as an ant's, so he could sneak away from his funeral--Marco suddenly turns violent, pulling a knife from beneath his cloak.
Marco: Beetle's Steps? You worked with the Banda?Angstrom: B'Banda? Yeah I took a trip there when I was young. Spoke to a guru and some lady--Marco: I cannot allow you to leave. You must come to the office. The Banda methods are blithely pseudoscientific. I will risk no insider contacts between us.The city guard seems to have backed out of this whole ordeal until now, not wanting to get involved. But you notice him tightening the grip on his spear, though he is too timid or confused to speak.
The bartender does not interject. Judging from his expression while Angstrom explained he seemed to agree with Agstrom's side of the story.
...
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
((Sorry.))
It... oh! Um... thank you for reminding me. I would have forgotten otherwise.
Archae looks at his slimes and wonders. Would it be possible to make them sort of sticky so that they clung to the wall, and then use them to climb up?
[4]/[3][3][6] Needing no slime or mind tricks, you simply find a good handhold and clamber up the rough surface with only your hands, without needing to reshuffle your body beforehand. Not the hardest climb you've made by far.
At the top, you reach a relatively smooth ledge where you can stand up and look over the forest. Here you grow your wings and spread your cloak over them, tying it on with some loose rope you remember from visiting a dock along the Great River. Then, you leap off and glide across the sky.
...
You recognize the lake as a depression in the forest up ahead, so by the time you observe the dark, crystal-clear water you already know you are there. (from this height you actually notice faint lights deep inside the center of the lake, probably very far down and scattered by the water. These are never mentioned in myths and tales)
The lake has beaches covered in black sands and tangled with vines and roots that reach out from below ground. This poses a landing hazard, as you are going quite fast and hooking your foot on one while you land could result in a trip of epic proportions. (no penalties, but if you fail you might be in for some hurt)
You spot the old castle and its lone turret, the only one of which has remained standing over the edges. There is a huge hole in the keep's ceiling which is never mentioned in the myths, but if you land on the castle you could probably grapple inside. There is not much room on top of the castle, though (you'll get a negative die if you attempt a landing there).
...
Your wing spell is ready. It will give you the power to glide, although gaining altitude will be difficult. (no roll needed)
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
>Your Aganis spells are reduced in complexity by 1. Spell complexity determines the number of turns it takes to prepare a spell. You can cast early, but each turn you skip incurs a negative die. Complexity rules:
+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
"Okay. So do you have a plan for how to get her a message or...?"
Efa: Hmm, I have no plans as of now to enter her presence. However...She smiles.
Efa: Do you think you have the skills to infiltrate her throne room when there is no-one nearby? I noticed you cast no shadow, that must mean the ashlight does not physically burn you. Physics decree it to be so. Her chamber is at the top of the keep, secured from below but presumably not guarded from above, at least in this weather.
I would use the special Tome I found if I were sure of its efficacy, but I am not sure of its limitations. My acquiring it was a fluke. I would like to know what the book spirit approves of, but doing it in the middle of a well-guarded castle is not prudent.She pulls another dagger through her mitten, out of her hand.
Efa: I can give you one of my nightmares, but I advise you not to use it unless absolutely necessary. The effects are unpredictable.((Explanation on the dagger: The dagger is preloaded with a Nereithas spell. Preloaded spells can only be cast once since they destroy the memory when used. However, they can be physically triggered, in this case, simply by stabbing someone.))
...
Efa's cap is destroyed (no longer absorbs damage) and her head is bruised (1)
Efa has a long rifle and 8 bullets (4 attack power)
The former-sentinel is knocked out with (2) damage to his head
Knife Bandit B would have died by now
Traits and Skills:
Secret Powers
>DoOOoobillidabidydappidydap dipigillidydapda!
Current Stat Modifiers:
+2/(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 5th hour after noon. Ash is blazing even brighter 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 42)
Author
Topic: Pastblasters - Adventures in Wizardry (Turn 55) (Read 90661 times)