Roll 39
"Thank you for aiding us Lily." This castle looks... unsettling. But we've gone all this way, might as well get this out of the way.
Cautiously walk down the hall of the keep.
[1][3] You keep walking... and walking... and walking... but the torches keep coming, and the hallway keeps going. You wonder if you've passed through the whole length of the castle by now.
...
Your whole body is protected by some sort of green glow, visible in the dark (-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
Give Lily an awkward parting smile. Follow Zikal, but keep looking around for danger.
In response, Lily gives a playful sneer.
The passage goes on and on forever. It doesn't
feel like you're going down... so you wonder how you could have walked so far when the castle only has a limited width above the ground.
...
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
Archae cautiously keeps to the shadows, and transforms back into his normal form, filing the his flying form away in the depths of his mind. He meanwhile keeps a lookout for anything the women does, and tries to move into a more secure hiding place.
You return to normal, banishing every trace of the augmented form from your mind. The wings crumble to dust and flake away, disappearing completely.
You don't quite remember the specifics of your body anymore, since transforming did involve converting your mental "blueprint" into a real form. Since that blueprint was just destroyed, it's gone forever. But you do remember what it felt like to fly above the forest and the thorny spires, as well as muscle-memory for wings and the like.
[3][3] As it turns out, there is no place to hide. Not because there aren't places to obscure your body, mind you. The tangled clusters of skily tendrils can easily mask your presence.
It's just that the floor is covered in eyes. First one opens out of the ground underneath your foot. As soon as you make eye contact (literally with your foot), a multitude of them appears around you, all of them staring but none of them interacting otherwise.
The woman doesn't seem to respond. Instead, she sort of dances, passing through the tendrils as if they weren't there. You wonder how this is possible.
She also lets out a laugh. [5][4] It's a familiar voice--the one that spoke to you through the crystal!
...
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
Woman with the crimson robe, right?
Begin searching for said woman.
You separate from the astrologers, who have gone on to talk about horoscopes and heliocentric models and all sorts of things, scientific and not.
[2][1] Instead, you first ascend the large stairs, running into a great mass of scarlet. It turns out to be eight cardinals from across the country, discussing a new school of thoughtform one of them has taken interest in: The ability to bring artwork to life, that is, an extension of the common use of spell tomes.
[2][6] You continue searching on the second floor, discovering a theater where some dramatic play is being held. No woman in scarlet... but perhaps she is a performer here? Scarlet is a color mostly reserved for the clergy, and cardinals are all-male.
You walk over past the side of the theater into a tall hallway. To one side is a large room where the performers change costumes. All the way up ahead is some sort of cafeterial. To the front and left, there is a space with an unconscious man resting on a mat and a doctor presiding over him, crushing a few herbs with a mortar.
...
Your head is sunburned (1)
...
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
I whisper to Efa:
"Interesting plan."
and I watch for Efa's next move.
((I... um, realize that I awkwardly didn't finish the Princess' last sentence. Oh well.))
Efa heads behind one of the dividers in the dressing area, careful to watch for signs of incoming performers. You hear Efa's voice.
Lots of costumes, which means organic material for me. Wake me if someone shows up, alright?Efa then goes to sleep on top of a pile of clothes. She does so with remarkable speed--by the time you realize what happened, Efa is completely unresponsive.
Someone walks by, but he's not approaching the dressing area at least yet.
...
Efa's cap is destroyed (no longer absorbs damage)
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 91074 times)