Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 186081 times)

RAM · « **Reply #1110 on:** November 03, 2017, 09:04:47 pm »

They have numbers and are all resilient looking, we should probably make for closed quarters. A smokescreen followed by a dash between houses ought to achieve that with minimal opportunities for hooking. They only seem to have the one ranged weapon, so we can likely climb onto one of the sturdier buildings and use the crossbow, after Doombolting Mr. Hooknchain of course... Our allies can probably handle however many of the bulky types as can fit between the closer-together houses while we are making a commotion.

Trying our hand at diplomacy after smiting the presumed leader a little might not go that badly. We can offer them the rare opportunity to cook a giant murderbear. either it eats them or they eat it, either way we are poised to recruit the winner...

Then again, they seem to be some sort of meat-cult, and we don;t do so well with cults other than our own, and well those door-hinge and mould people wouldn't have been terrible if they had properly connected to the ways of door-hinge and mould rather than whatever human supremacist stuff they fell into...

Quote from: DolosusDoleus on November 03, 2017, 08:39:18 pm

Oh god, it's an army of Pudges.

And here I was thinking of The Butcher. One of these days I will probably regret my lack of interest in D.A..

DolosusDoleus · « **Reply #1111 on:** November 03, 2017, 09:29:11 pm »

Quote from: RAM on November 03, 2017, 09:04:47 pm

Quote from: DolosusDoleus on November 03, 2017, 08:39:18 pm
Oh god, it's an army of Pudges.
And here I was thinking of The Butcher. One of these days I will probably regret my lack of interest in D.A..

I mean, in the original DOTA Pudge's character model was the Butcher's plus a chain hook, so you weren't that far off I guess.

omada · « **Reply #1112 on:** November 04, 2017, 08:03:00 am »

Quote from: RAM on November 03, 2017, 09:04:47 pm

Then again, they seem to be some sort of meat-cult, and we don;t do so well with cults other than our own,

Oh, the fish cult of the elderitch god were nice

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1113 on:** November 04, 2017, 06:21:06 pm »

You breathe out a large amount of smoke, and rush forward towards the hook-wielding giant. The smoke hardly helps, considering you're out of it almost instantly, but it did serve to distract them a little. Your companions quickly followed you, partially to get out of the thick smoke. The distance between you and the hook-wielder is quickly closed, and you make him flinch with a doombolt before he can throw his hook! When you get close, you use your extra range to slam down the tip of your scythe against his shoulder! The point basically glances off, the blade too light and unwieldy to enter properly. You do perform a pull to cut the back of his shoulder, though. The wood bends dangerously, and the butcher hardly even takes notice. His hook is used to slash sideways, and you only barely avoid getting gutted by the damn thing. Fortunately, the massive weight of the hook makes his miss a costly one, especially now that Yunikki caught up with you. She takes his arm off with two wild downward chops, and the butcher begins to bellow in pain. He's not done, however, and his massive hand envelops Yunikki's head.
Fortunately, her helmet prevent anything too bad from happening, and her sword finds yet more flesh to cut. You do your best to help as well, and you manage to force the point of the scythe into the enemy's back. Whether that killed him, or was just the tipping point for him to decide staying down is the better option, isn't quite clear. With him down, you try to grab the hook as a temporary weapon, anything other than a farming tool! The weight is terrible, and you'll need two hands to even wield it with any degree of finesse. You still manage to carry it with you, slipping the scythe on your back through the use of a strap (you can think the leatherworker for that, very practical).

The other butchers must be getting close, however, you can hear the hefty footsteps come closer. They're not fast, but you still get the idea you don't want to be on the receiving end of those slabs of iron you have to call cleavers. You all rush into the alley the hook-dude came out of. You hear a distinct noise of flesh getting chopped, and when you look back you see the butchers are eating their fallen ally. You can still see him twitch, but he doesn't fight back.
This is messed up.
Still, it gives you more than enough time to get somewhere safer. You eventually decide on one of the larger-looking houses. Eveline's idea, as she remembered the place. Apparently it belonged to the richest family in town. They were rich enough to get out when the trouble started, so the house has been empty for longer than most. The roof is rather low, if you were a few inches taller you'd have to duck. The doorpost is especially tricky, and you hear Yunikki's helmet dink off the rotted wood.
Just who or WHAT are those guys?
Overzealous butchers would be my guess. Fairly basic enemy type, let's be fair.
Still, to just devour your ally like that...
Well, that's a problem for later. Anybody up for diplomacy?
The next SECOND after you said that, one of the butchers WALKS through the flimsy wall. He holds his cleaver with both hands, horizontally. As he waddles forward, you realize that he's going to perform a guillotine movement!
How impractical.

You and Yunikki quickly got to work on flanking him, and he was far too clumsy to properly react. You use the hook for the first time, and embed it DEEP inside him. Now, your father's hook was fairly small, if weighty. This thing is about as big as your torso. So, you lose your grip on it almost instantly. It's a little embarrassing, but to be fair it still worked. The single butcher is taken down after some additional strikes, as it couldn't recover the cumbersome weapon fast enough. He just doesn't have the armor for such a slow fighting style. Hardened arteries and cholesterol problems aren't nearly as good armor as people seem to think it is.
The vampire is REALLY not getting good troops. He really is seeing it as a game, most likely. You hope that doesn't mean he's going to start taking things seriously later-on, and that this is just a warm-up.
Well, it doesn't matter. You've still got about four more butchers spread around town. They don't seem to be working together, but you don't want to be caught off-guard. Slow as they may be, they probably don't need more than one hit with those cleavers to kill you. The cleavers are more heavy than sharp, but for butchery, weight counts for more anyhow. Fortunately, you ARE pretty strong. You may not be as defined or built as Yunikki, but your species just makes you stronger than the average human being. Things just aren't fair, sometimes. Of course, that doesn't mean you can wield this thing with any kind of grace. You'll need to two-hand the cleavers, and rest them on your shoulder as you go. The cleavers are also TERRIBLY balanced, with a handle that is too short for the weight of the blade, which is closer to a slab of pig iron than it is a blade.
It gives you a sudden appreciation for the companion of the black swordswoman. To wield an executioner's blade like he did...
You wonder how he was before his accident.

Well, there are a few more butchers spread around town. It's odd that one of them found you while the rest didn't. Let's hope they're not setting up a trap...

Hunt.
Search through the alleyways and houses, hoping to get the drop on them.

Fortify
Make your presence known, and just try to defend this house. You've got a fair amount of open space, and they need to duck their heads a little. There's some rotting furniture around, as well.

Release the Beast!
Are you sure about this?

Other.

Basic Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Items and equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skills and spells

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

RAM · « **Reply #1114 on:** November 05, 2017, 04:07:51 am »

Between soulsniffing and our familiar we should be able to find them. Even if they do reek of ambush predator and are likely to burst through walls cleaver-first with some sort of dramatic sense for when such things would be mist terrifying...

So Hunt.

Also, let's not forget to loot. There is a lot of meat on those things, and the bear is already a maneater. Nor is it isn't cannibalism for the spiders, or a drider, technically, although we are trying to avoid that sort of thing, or kobolts for that matter, though they don't seem the type, even if they are, presumably, carnivores... Well, it probably isn't cannibalism for driders, it gets sort of difficult to be sure once you get down to the various flavours of magical hybrid. You have your "bits stuck together" of which driders technically belong, although clearly they have that wonderful physiological blending, what with their eyes on their biped-like section and such, clearly much better than just some random human stuck to an animal like a centaur or something. Then you have your full blends, like, well, some people might describe kobolts that way, possessing certain canine qualities while clearly being a bipedal species, and ratlings are similar, one would feel uncomfortable eating rat in front of one even though they clearly aren't rats. Then you get your transitionals, like werewolves, and divergents, like vampires... We will probably never get a clear certainty as to precicesly where the line between cannibalism and other lies, although these butcher people have definitely earned a place on that scale...

Not to mention that those cleavers and the hook could be used in traps or something... And we are going to need to check for cellars and bunkers and warrens and such?

omada · « **Reply #1115 on:** November 05, 2017, 07:55:47 pm »

Quote from: RAM on November 05, 2017, 04:07:51 am

Between soulsniffing and our familiar we should be able to find them. Even if they do reek of ambush predator and are likely to burst through walls cleaver-first with some sort of dramatic sense for when such things would be mist terrifying...

So Hunt.

+1 one by one if possible, if not, prepare someway to force them to walk in line or to separate. Let us be the hunters of the abominations

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1116 on:** November 06, 2017, 05:20:28 pm »

I still can't believe you can climb with that thing.
It's magic legs, they're not the issue... It's absolute HELL on my core, though.
I guess you've got pretty abdominal muscles...
What?
PRETTY GOOD. Pretty GOOD muscles. Like, y-you're strong. You know.
Alright. There's one over in the next alleyway. What do you think? Potion or this thing? You groan as you raise the cleaver. Just dropping it on top of a butcher is likely to kill them, to be honest. But...
Both. Both? Both. Both is good.
The lumbering fat man has stopped to start sniffing the air. You suspect he could probably smell you even if you DIDN'T smell of spider pheromone (which is an awful smell, but apparently you get used to it pretty fast.), but that hardly matters considering that the cleaver is already flying down towards his head. He is, surprisingly, fast enough to partially dodge the cleaver, but his massive bulk means the cleaver still lodges itself in his belly, causing him to scream. Considering he is then covered in acid (actually a base, but Sydney doesn't know chemistry), it doesn't take long before he stops moving. Unfortunately, the cleaver you left inside the butcher is clearly ruined. You probably can't hold it without getting hurt in some way, not to mention the fact that it may just fall apart in your hands.

You and Eveline continue on, after taking a look at the rest of the party. Eveline's the only one that can join you over the rooftops, which are a little too slippery and uncertain of footing for anybody that can't spread his or her weight over eight legs. With a sniff, you go towards the smell. Just as you come close, however, the building shakes a little as the man walks through the wall.
...Still can't believe they just do that.
Using soulsight, you stalk your target through the roof, your legs tipping and tapping forward as you have an frightful look. Suddenly, however, the building shakes again and you see a flash of the butcher as he charges into the next building like it's made of paper! He's making a beeline for the rest of the party! How did he even discover their location?! You arrive too late to help as he breaks through the wall, and you hear a yelp from Meandra and Yunikki as an explosion of rubble and splinters showers them. You hear the hefty THUNK of the cleaver coming down, but no scream to accompany it. You must have gotten lucky...

Just in time, you reach the scene of the carnage. Yunikki is already hacking away at the massive amount of flesh, but doesn't seem to make much headway. The butcher i using his cleaver as an improvised shield, the size being more than sufficient for that purpose. Sucy is still grabbing away in her bag, and Meandra's whip doesn't even seem to register on the butcher. Still, you need to help before something bad happens.
Evi, hold on!
She holds on, alright. Opportunistic little bugger, isn't she? Still, she screams in fear as you jump off the roof, the cleaver held down. When you hit the butcher, the recoil on your arms HURTS, but the effect can't be denied. You decapitated him outright!
HOLY SHIT! Yunikki yells, completely caught off guard by your insane rescue. But, hey it worked!
Then you feel your elbow, and you begin to realize this was a bad idea. You most certainly pulled something from the shock, and you can't move your arm too well at the moment. Damn it all, this won't do for melee combat. Not to mention, you can't lift the cleavers anymore!
All in all, you made a tactical error. But damn if it didn't look cool.

That only leaves two butchers, if you had to guess. But you're not picking anything up with your sight or your smell. You briefly consider using this lull in the action to cut the butcher up for the sake of bear food, or even personal food. While you do make a fine argument about being a different race, the moral problem lies more in the whole "eating another SENTIENT creature". Not to mention you'd probably get all manner of diseases from eating THIS thing. Still, if the bear gets sick...
You grind and arm off using the scythe, which is a very slow and disgusting process. It requires a lot less finesse than cutting off a face, at least, but you encounter a problem at the bone. Not only is the scythe nearly blunt from cutting through the thick and unyielding flesh, it simply isn't tough enough to get through the bone. You eventually fix that problem by getting Yunikki to stomp on it, although she is NOT at all happy that you're taking a fucking human arm with you. You gross, gross lady.
Well, too bad. Eventually, you finally manage to tear off the arm, more with brute force than cutting towards the end. The scythe is completely and utterly blunt, at this point. If nothing else, it did really well for a common farm tool.

Suddenly, you hear a loud burp echo across the town. Using your soulsight, you see that he is in the middle of the street, being gross, most likely. You turn the corner to take a look, and discover that these butchers were just the warm-up.
There is, in fact, a meat golem. It has four arms. Two of them have the giant cleavers. The upper two have chain-hooks. And it has a mouth on its stomach.
Oh fuck off entirely.

Run
This thing is far beyond when you can handle, believe me.

Fight.
Better have a damn good strategy.

Other?

Basic Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Items and equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skills and spells

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

omada · « **Reply #1117 on:** November 06, 2017, 09:50:08 pm »

Just take a look, their meat golem has an stupid flaw on his musculature? if yes we can make "control dead issue" to just pull the muscle/bone that is tying everything (or things enough to be a game changer) together and use the chance of when it is falling apart or strongly debilitated.

If not, just get the fuck outta here, with luck later we can try to lure the bear to him or vice-versa

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1118 on:** November 07, 2017, 05:28:58 pm »

You know what, guys? We should just get the hell out of here.
You hear the beast roar, and the ground seems to shudder and quake as the abomination comes closer. The rattling of the chains is proving to be rather frightful, so the general consensus is that, yes, this is not worth the trouble. Fortunately, it's a very SLOW creature, at least. Running away shouldn't be too much of an issue. You all add deed to word, and start running. All in all, you can claim a victory. They lost important butchers, you pulled an arm. Things are fine. However, when you look back, you do notice one thing that kind of cools your blood. The creature is devouring the dead butcher in a ravenous manner, tearing at the bulk with his arms and stuffing both mouths, preferring his top mouth over the larger mouth on his belly. Either way, it certainly motivates you to MOVE FASTER. You also consider the chain-hooks that he didn't even bother to throw. Maybe the creature is so enamored with available meat?
Not something you want to test, though.

The run back was uneventful, at least. No patrols or other nasty surprises... It's enough to make you nervous, to be honest. If the "game" wasn't busy, you're almost certain you would have come across a patrol. The vampire is actually trying to make it fair for the both of you, which makes you a little nervous to be honest. I mean, it means you're kind of at his mercy in a way. Let's hope his hubris will prove to be his downfall. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer, after all.
If nothing else, you can slowly wear down the mercs. They mostly can't hold a candle to your experience and physiology. You suspect most of your companions would be in trouble if they were caught alone, however. But you keep them together, so that shouldn't be an issue.

When you arrive back at base, you're actually quite surprised at how good the base has been cleaned up. It looks like a proper camp, with barricades and everything! They're still working on a pulley-system to make a gate, even though you can just kind of slip through a crack in the spiky barricade. It's main function would be to funnel potential combatants, but to be honest you don't stand much chance if there was an all-out fight. It would be better to just make an escape during an attack. Still, you could probably retaliate fairly well with the defenses in place.
You help them out with making the gate for a good portion of the day, and end up hunting for food later. Ultimately, you didn't get anything else done that day, but your camp is looking mighty fine indeed! There will be sunlight for a little while longer, and wile you were planning on scouting anothe outpost of some sort, the kobolt adventurer suddenly told you she saw somebody coming down the road. They looked friendly enough, nothing as savage as the mercs you've been seeing, so maybe you can get a few extra allies! Of course, you're expected to do the talking.
The person looks to be female, probably. She wears a lot of robes, and seems to be eastern, from what little you can see of her face. She has a unique blade on her, a kukri according to Yunikki. All in all, not much of a fighter...
Probably a good idea to stop her from visiting the vampire, however, considering the somewhat low survival rate.

The talks were... interesting. She eventually decided against continuing her journey towards the vampire, considering she isn't much of a combatant. She will continue her journey elsewhere, where there are more trinkets to be found. Speaking of trinkets, she had a decent selection of valuable trinkets on her. Valuable in more ways that just money, even, some of these had minor enchantments on them...
Would be great if you had the money for it. She asks fairly exorbitant prices, at least for you. If it were at a proper estate or town, it wouldn't be so bad. You, however, are a lady living in a forest to perform guerrilla warfare against the local lord. Money is kind of a small issue. You'd have to pool together to get the cheapest trinkets.
Eventually, she just goes on her way, thanking you for the warning. She gives you some money for it, at least. 30 coins, a decent amount for a simple warning, to be fair.
The real loss is your time, ultimately. It's getting dark as you return, and most of your party just wants to sleep after getting the camp together. They'll use the cover of early morning for some ambushes, sure, but right now they just want to sleep.
Who are you to argue?

This time, you're the only one who doesn't sleep much. Looks like the adventurers are having a few bad dreams, but nothing that keeps them awake, at least. You try dozing off a little, and almost succeed until you feel a hand on your shoulder. You open your eyes and take a breath to make a sarcastic comment of sorts, until you feel HIS breath on your ear.
Hello, Drider...

God damn it.

He is really close. If you scream, he might just snap your neck right there!
Perhaps talking might be the better option
Or just listening.

Basic Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Items and equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skills and spells

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

RAM · « **Reply #1119 on:** November 07, 2017, 05:42:00 pm »

Well we can complement him on the butchers. They may not have been elegant or subtle, but were certainly thematic! The burning man would have been interesting but wwe havve experrience. Oldd hand at fightinng people as tthey burrn to ddeatth.

...

Golems tend to be simple. It can probably be lured into a pit trap, and there are probably cellars in the village...

Posting a watch is your friend... Also double-check that we are actually doing all this and it isn't all some sort of dream sequence and the vampire isn't still accosting us back at that first meeting on the road, or even back when we were possessing that bird... Remember our pitiful mental awareness training that Eveline gave us.

omada · « **Reply #1120 on:** November 07, 2017, 06:03:34 pm »

Yes to everything RAM said,

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1121 on:** November 08, 2017, 05:20:18 pm »

Hello, vampire. You say, as stoically as you manage. His mere presence seems to turn your blood to ice, to an almost literal extent. He smirks, his red eyes reflecting the fire you are laying by.
Hm. A fast learner... How have you been enjoying the game?
The butchers were a nice touch. Very thematic. Not sure about the man on fire, though.
The vampire chuckles to himself, surprisingly human, as well. You expected something horribly sinister, but that was just an honest laugh of mirth. It's... disarming.
I wasn't too sure of him as well. Still, he remains a valuable asset, considering he uses the Phoenix Solution.
You blink twice, in confusion. The vampire smirks at your ignorance, and pokes the fire with a sword. It's a fine-looking blade, so you're doubly wary. If he's so lethal with his bare hands, what kind of damage could he do with a weapon!?
The Phoenix Solution is a Nord weapon. As long as the user is reduced to ashes, he returns to where he places his "nest". Not that he is immortal... Your attacks did quite a number on him. Still, he heals impossibly fast. He calls it cauterizing, but that would hardly work as well as it does.
Very... knowledgable. Of you.
Leave the flattery on the wayside, drider. We don't even know eachother's name! My name is Daniel Robespierre, a pleasure to properly meet, my dearest...
You're sweating bullets, but you maintain your composure as he comes closer. A sudden cold grasps your fingers, and you realize he is holding your hand in an elegant manner. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a mass-murdering vampire, you might even have found it charming.

Aestinus. Sydney Aestinus.
He moves forward to kiss your hand. You swear your heart stopped for a moment as you saw his fangs, and his gaze never seemed to leave your eyes. You do your best to remain "in the moment" as it were, to make sure you aren't getting controlled. Nothing seems to change. Everything should be normal. At least, you can only hope.
Hoho? Don't tell me you're related to Alibert Aestinus?
A shudder goes down your spine, and if you had a blade on you....
How do you know of him!? You say with unrestrained venom in your voice. Your stoic expression has turned to a scowl and you rip your hand away from his grasp.
Please, remain calm... He has visited me a few months ago. Came looking for a man I was harboring. I found it amusing to see a man so desperate he would turn to ME for safety. I protected that fool, for a time. Soon, my thralls were left dead, patrols went dark. Grisly hanged corpses and messages. That bounty hunter is an artist, I must say. Fear is a powerful tool to the uninitiated... But him and I were initiated, of course. Eventually, I left the fool to run through the forest. I wanted to see how the bounty hunter would act, if he had his prey...
You say nothing, your breathing quickened, and your heart hammering away. Why would your father be out here doing such things!? He should just be running the inn! And to go so far... He must have been angry. Something personal.
Oh gods.

You are closer to him than I first assumed... He adopted you, no?
You remain quiet, your earlier tact blown away. You are making a fist without realizing, and your legs are huddled. What else does this motherfucker know!?
...Did you ever discover what happened to his first family? His constant smile disappears. There is enjoyment in his eyes, but he is far more serious.
How would you know?
I did my research while he was here. I captured him after he caught his prey. I... HAD to know what drives a man to perform such cruelty, especially one so advanced in his years. He spoke of his daughter, the adopted daughter. After a while, he talked about why he adopted you and started an inn. Over dinner, I discovered what drove him. How he works. I got to know that man more than you even know him.
You blink away the first bit of tears. You... DON'T want to think about your father at this time. Not after all this. Not since you've accepted you're damaged goods. And ESPECIALLY if you have to discover he trusted this thing in front of you more than he trusted you. He NEVER told you anything about his former family.
He never deserved us The queen says.
He lost them in a city fire. They were trapped, his darling wife and daughter... Nothing he could do. He wasn't the only victim that day, it was a horrid fire. After that, he just wandered with his old friend. And then he found you. A cute little girl with the same hair as his daughter... He neglected to mention the eyes, or the legs. For what it counts, he truly did love you, I think. I'm not exactly an expert on paternal love, but he went on this crusade to "avenge your pain". He used airquotes. Clearly quoting him literally
In what way, I don't know. I let him leave after that. He proved entertaining.
I should... I...J-just shut up.

It hurts, doesn't it? Feeling like he never loved you.
He moves closer, and finally looks away to stare at the fire. For once, his enjoyment is completely gone. His eyes are cold, and his stare uninterrupted.
Have you seen the old house? An old home. In that basement, I drained my first victim. His enlarged canines glitter in the fire as he talks.
I made myself an orphan, that day. And I was in the right to do so. But that was long ago.
He finally stands up, and takes the scabbard of the sword he had off his shoulder. He puts the sword away, and throws it before you.
Take it. I didn't intend for this to drag on. I just wanted you capable of defending yourself for the rest of the game. And. To make you an offer.
You look up at him, your stare answer enough. He can do his talk, but you're not going to speak another word. Not right now.
If you reach the throne, or just impress me enough, I can elevate you beyond your simple form. This crimson curse is unbecoming for a creature like you. It's a foul, diseased mutation of vampirism. I can share my gift. My blood is a prize to be won, now.
Consider it payment for opening this wound.
And with that, he jumps up, into the trees. The sword he left behind is of fine make, and the scabbard is of a very fine material. Tough leather, with silk surrounding it in a simple pattern. It looks like a crimson snake has coiled itself around the sheathe. The blade is simpler, although the pommel is shaped like a snake-head as well.

You go to sleep shortly after, once your heart calms, and your heart stops aching.
You'll continue this game. And you're going to kill Robespierre.

Basic Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Items and equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skills and spells

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Jeepers peepers what an update this ended up as.

RAM · « **Reply #1122 on:** November 09, 2017, 02:58:15 am »

We really do need to find out how he keeps finding us. Probably something about blood... Though who knows what one can do with a crystal ball or font or what have you if you are a bored nigh-immortal looking for entertainment...

There is probably something that can be gained from interrogating the ghosts, if they truly are related to the vamp's past. Then again, they practically told us to go there and do exactly that just now, and being a good little robot is unlikely to keep "the game" going well, then again, perhaps they thought that they were being clever and we may as well play along and find some other opportunity to be surprising.

*sighs* we probably need to switch up our teams. It is probably about the stage of the game in which something dramatic is supposed to happen., We can likely expect an assassin mixed in with the brawlers we have faced so far, and it would do to be less quantified in that case.

We have, it would seem, done quite a bit recently, it could 'benefit' us to get a 'proper' rest soon.(If this insomnia is holding up our levelling then it ought brace for a right thrashing!)

omada · « **Reply #1123 on:** November 09, 2017, 12:06:22 pm »

Okay, undead parrot to the house when we wake up, and talk to death about vampires and ghosts see what info we can get. (and take a tea to remove stress, because they

Scout and talk with the ghosts, say that want to see what is in the cellar or deliver a message, "We are gonna avenge him, but we need help, we are occupied right now, he would know if we came right now."

Also, we should talk about it, that after the dwarven city we will certainly want to go back to the village and figure out what the fuck is going on before dealing with our other problems.

Also take the time to ask what meandra is going to do after getting there.

How is our scout-spider inside the castle? we should create a routine "morning? check all spiders. afternoon? check all spiders? going to sleep? check all spiders" and create at least one spider or parrot for the village and i dunno, the towers near the castle, to see when they are leaving sending troops. OH, one for the outpost and one for the tower\outpost near both roads, god damn too much eyes, 12 mana, unless the parrot/bird counts as average beast, this way it will cost 20. (one bird to talk to the ghosts one to cover the entire village)

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1124 on:** November 09, 2017, 05:36:49 pm »

The castle seems especially abuzz with activity today, as your spider can see. Even the kobolts, who had been limited to the servants quarters and the kitchens, seem to be running around. Whatever is happening, you're not sure of you'd like it. Your little talk with the vampire has been left unsaid, as the adventurers are likely to get spooked if you were to tell them the main enemy just appeared at camp for a friendly chat. For that matter, your friends may also take it the wrong way, or at least feel severely outclassed. You're fairly certain you don't want that to happen, so you decide to hold off on telling them right now.
You should tell them, of course, but not this very moment.
Looking around with the spiders does confirm what the vampire said about the fire guy. He's wandering around again, albeit with a bandage around his torso. He seems to walk a little funny, too, like he's trying to keep his shoulder in the right place. You certainly nicked him, at least. As for other noticeable people, you see the wild woman again. She seems in an exceptionally happy mood, positively bouncing and clacking her claws together. The vampire himself, however, is nowhere to be found. He's not in his throne, although there is one person sitting there. He wears dark-purple robes, and a massive helmet. It looks more like a piece of interpretive art than a helmet, to be honest. The base form looks like a blank mask, but it has a thick ridge going from the top to the bottom, and along the sides of that ridge are multiple ridges with different paintings of eyes. Said eyes take on different shapes, as well, some are that of ravens, others of human. The strangest part is that there seems to be a "light" at each one that switches on and off.

You don't trust that guy at all. To say the least. You decide to look in on the kobolts as well, considering they're in such a frenzy as well. They are hard at work... cleaning the castle. More importantly, you catch a few traps wherever the mercs are present. The kobolts follow their instructions to the letter, and you note none of them seem to go low enough to harm a kobolt. Unless they were particularly tall, at least. The kobolts are clever enough to step over the tripwires, and some hallways are outright avoided. It's an odd thing to see. People getting the castle in presentable order, while simultaneously making it a deathtrap...
Perhaps some interesting guests are on the way. Maybe you should keep an eye on the road, perhaps it's somebody more important than some antiquarian. Still, if they're only now starting on the traps, you probably have some time remaining.

You have a little morning chat with Meandra, at least. Plans for the future, and somesuch. As it turns out, Meandra is planning getting a special garden project done in one of the cities, using what she learned from her apprenticeship. And, of course, to go back to her family and just take it easy for a while.
What a coincidence. You explain to her that you need to check out your village when you drop her off in the dwarven cities. You just heard that your father's been out and about doing unsavory things (she didn't ask as to HOW you discovered this. Perhaps she assumed the adventurers knew?). If he's not running the inn, something might have happened there. Considering the personal pain you went through for that village, you at least want to check up on the place.
Meandra is fine taking a detour after this vampire business, she says. After all, it's just a quick check-up, no big crusade against some kind of vampire overlord or something silly. You'll need to travel a while inland, sure, but the route doesn't even change a whole lot in pure distance. Not with this detour, at least.
Still, if you want to drop her off first, she's fine with that as well.

You briefly considering bothering death to talk about the undead, but you remember your necromancer training well enough to not bother him. Ghosts are generally souls trapped by extreme emotions or an outside force. They disappear over time if it's a case of emotions, while those bound to this plane tend to stick around as long as the object itself. Most ghosts are aggressive, as happy emotions are unlikely to keep you tethered.
As for vampires, there are so many different varieties it's hard to pinpoint. You have the disease-types, of which you are an unfortunate member. They tend to work in groups, and look as sick as they act; they're borderline mindless at times. A step up is the drug-dependents. They are people that need blood to survive in the wake of an alchemical experiment. Technically closer to cannibals, but blood is the main thing they need for the magical property in it (people suspect mana flows through the blood, but magic is more art than science if you have to combine it with biology). Then you have the ones suffering from a curse, mostly grave-defilers or unlucky archaeologists. Others are ritual-based (highly illegal, requiring multiple blood-sacrifices) and yet more are created by exceptionally cruel necromancers (undead transformations are a forbidden tree, because of the identity death and the extremely slow, torturous way of killing somebody.). A necromancer applying this to himself is still called a lich, even if they are just vampires.
Your vampire is unlikely to be a disease-type, but anything else on the list is possible. Power levels of vampires fluctuate, and age always seems to improve the immortal creatures.

If you want an undead puppet to have a talk with the ghosts, you're going to need something humanoid. You can try communicating with the ghosts yourself, of course, if you're ready for a couple stressbombs. Also of note, the map has been updated to reflect what has been done. Yellow cirkles indicate places you have successfully attacked, red circles are enemy controlled(and a cleaver in the town should be obvious enough...) while purple refers to outside forces.

Map

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Basic Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Items and equipment

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skills and spells

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Bay 12 Games Forum

News:

Author Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 186081 times)

RAM

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

DolosusDoleus

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

omada

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

Liquefied Spleens

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

RAM

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

omada

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

Liquefied Spleens

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

omada

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

Liquefied Spleens

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

RAM

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

omada

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

Liquefied Spleens

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

RAM

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

omada

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure

Liquefied Spleens

Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure