You just need to get out of here, for now. But you are VERY much interested in causing a little revolt. What better way to destroy your enemies than to do it from the inside out?
hehehe... But, of course, you need to be sure there's a viable ground for the seeds of revolution. So, you decide to have a little look around for just that. Still, the dwarves are just out. The one you did manage to catch didn't seem to speak common, or had a viable excuse to not talk to you. The goblins were obviously too dangerous to try and subvert, considering they speak to the queen directly. Meaning your only option left was to find a drider that you can influence, or one with existing problems with the way things work. You can't be the first one that was pretty much kidnapped. You decide to ask around for anybody who would like to escort you out of here, which mostly gets you the cold shoulder. Most people say that they have better things to do, or pretend they didn't hear you. Seems like they don't like talking about exits. You keep trying, though, there's more than enough driders. You do a little exploring in the meantime. You quickly find that their base is divided into a few districts. The entrance is the "factory", apparently they make a lot of things there on their own, which might explain those unique runed collars. Where you are right now is the "clean" district, where most of the people come together to... just live, you suppose. The "touched" district is more webcovered, and reserved for the people closer to the queen. Apparently, they make for some mean guards, considering nobody dares even talking about going there. The final district is the queen's chambers, which is pretty much only filled by people the closest to the archqueen. And goblins, of course, but they're everywhere. Apparently, they don't register as "food" when the queen's on a rampage.
Eventually, you come across a strange little disturbance, when you reach the more empty parts of the "clean" district. A drider is getting restrained by a small collection of goblins, while she roars in anger. She's a snappy dresser, to say the least. Makes the presence of little green men over her a little less than proper.
Lemme GO! I didn't DO anything! the drider screams, trying to wrestle her arm free from a goblin, who is currently cuffing her to one of her legs.
People talk, Anna. We do not appreciate betrayal. That paper of yours was already filled with libel. says the goblin currently on her back, holding back her arms a little to make it easier on the other goblins. The size discrepancy is ridiculous, after all.
I ONLY said that some crazy thousand-year-old bitch might not be trustworthy! We don't care about the words, only the intent.What's going on here!?Queen's business! Meaning none of yo-DAMN! he swears as the drider bucks him off with a hefty swing. The sudden lurch swings some other goblins away, and a quick punch to the nose stops the other one from doing anything. In no time at all, the cowardly green men do what cowardly green men do. They run away, deeper into the shadows, leaving the two of you. One bristling from adrenaline and anger, and the other with minor befuddlement.
Thanks for distracting them... You must be the new kid, right? The name's Sydney. What's yours? You keep a bit of distance, crossing your arms as you eye her up. She seems a little more aware than most of her peers, here. You can tell by the eyes, they dart around looking for anything that might be amiss. She's trying to get a feel for you, as well.
Anna. I'm the local journalist, a job not well-liked by the community, as you might have guessed. What's a journalist?What are you... Alright, fine. I write news so other people might know about it, in short. Sometimes I add opinions.You're a town crier, then. I write it on paper and spread it around! Come ON. Do they not have newspapers where you're from?Hardly. I'm a topsider, you're kind of lucky I can read to begin with, no?I thought the savages could at least read. I guess my expectations were too high. She sighs, and looks to the side.
Again...Hm. Need a hand with that cuff? You point to the cuff around her wrist and leg. It seems fairly thin, but it's enough to keep a civilian in check, obviously. You're not about to pull it apart, especially with only a single arm. But you do have kind of a universal opener.
Lie down. I'll shoot the chain....Are you sure you know what you're doing?No, but I kind of want an excuse to fire it.She gives you a withering stare. Not one of hatred, or even disappointment. It's a very controlled stare filled with the special type of feeling you get when you expected something to be bad and you were right on the exact level of badness. It's acceptance mixed with a mild amount of smarm. Mathematicians could give you the smarm/tired acceptance ratio, but I am not a math guy. I am a narrator. They build us out of schlop and concentrated bullshit to make us sound like we know what we're talking about.
Anyways, what I mean is, she doesn't let you shoot the cuff off. She just has you to her home so you can use a hammer, instead.
She has a nice home, you admit. Technically, it's an apartment, but there are a lot of worse apartments. It'd be even nicer if one room wasn't entirely dedicated to the use of massive printers. You page through one of her newspapers while she was looking for a hammer (and a surface that wouldn't shatter if you smashed something on it. This place is oddly fragile.) Most of it just atlks about some of the operations the driders undertook, most of them being covert assassinations and things that affect the political landscape for the dwarves. These are some big players alright, but they're overly careful. They play the long game for so long the dwarves they were manipulating die of old age before the plans end up complete, according to one article. Even a single drider death is considered horrible and not worth the price. You don't particularly care for it all.
Finally, the drider finds her hammer. You smash the cuffs apart in a single swing, owing to your fairly impressive upper body strength.
So. In exchange, can you lead me to the exit?Only if you give me an interview. I have GOT to get the skinny on the newest person here. Somehow, all that mature calm has been replaced with an irrepressable grin as she grabs a pen and notepad.
Not an optionYou need to get OUT of here. We're not going to be sharing information to some stranger.Fine, but let's make it quickYou're not into it, but you also want a guide. You'll answer quickly.Become a storyteller.Tell her everything. This is going to be a biography when you're done. Hell, she might bring you out of here to get you to shut up. You have some powerful lungs, after all. Get. Me. Out.You have a gun. Alternative offer...
Go with your instincts. Try to subvert her in a different way...
OtherBasic Stats
Level: 11
HP: 20/35 MAIMED
Poison stings: 0/1
Restraint 3/3
Mana: 60/60
Stress: 25/70
Corruption: 6/10
Thirst: Sated
Children:
Adam 5/5
Alice 6/6
Cactus: 8/8
Items and equipment
Equipment:
Shirt
Loincloth
.44 revolver (loaded).
210 dollars (lvl3)
Holster
Bullet bag
Items:
First Tome of Eternal Darkness
Spare clothing (x12)
.44 bullets (X30)
Fancy clothing
Butterfly knife
The Cure (cures vampirism)
Magic Cookbook
Blood Vials (X5)
Skills and spells
Magic:
Resurrect vermin: Allows you to resurrect very small creatures such as rats(invests 2 of your max mana) (no mana cost)
Resurrect average beast: Allows you to resurrect creatures such as dogs, cats and other similar-sized creatures.(invests 7 mana) (no mana cost)
Resurrect Humanoid: Allows you to resurrect humanoid creatures. (Invests 10 mana) (Costs 14 mana)
Reshape minion plus!: Allows you to majorly change the appearance of your resurrected minions.
Control Undead: Allows you to attempt to control an undead that doesn't belong to you. (mana cost of 2 per second, unmastered)
Minion Vision: Allows you to see what a minion sees. The minion must have eyes.
Disintegrate undead: Delete a corpse you currently control.
Animate Piece: Allows you to animate just a piece of dead tissue. It requires your constant attention, and cannot act independently. (Drains 0 mana)
Graft: Allows you to use dead tissue as a replacement limb. Requires a lot of mana. (1 per second) (average limb takes around 20 seconds to properly graft)
Gather Soul: Allows you to make a soul visible. You could try putting it in a flame of some sort to keep it around. (9 mana)
Soul battery: Allows you to use a soul-infused flame as a small mana-boost. This snuffs it out, however
Undead flashbang: Allows you to blow up a minion for a flash-bang effect. (9 mana)
Stitch: allows you to close a wound and stop bleeding as fast as you can stitch. Costs zero mana, but requires something to stitch with.
Siphoning Cloud: Breathe out a cloud that drains the life from victims and gives it to you. Adds a LOT to intimidation (4 mana)
Smoke Cloud: Breathe out harmless but thick smoke. (1 mana)
Deathbolt: A bolt that hurts the body's connection with it's soul. Causes minor wounds to appear over the body as it attempts to compensate (1 mana)
Doombolt: A more powerful version of the above (4 Mana)
Companions
Tom (cat)
Pesto (pigeon
Skills:
Broodmother: Once per day, you can sting something to create spiderlings, which are large, clever spiders that adore you by default. Your instincts cause you to be VERY protective of them.
Crossbow usage: Novice
Oral Fixation: Can cast spells spells from the mouth.
Draining Limbs: Can drain blood using pedipalps.
Major experience in blocking and swords. CRIPPLED
Climber
Crafty: Bolas CRIPPLED
Cooking skill: Excellent CRIPPLED
Corpse Cutting: Quite Decent. CRIPPLED
Animal handling: inexperienced.
Necromantic knowledge
Soul Sniffer
Author
Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 190255 times)