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Author Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended)  (Read 188330 times)

Devastator

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2730 on: January 28, 2019, 08:51:36 pm »

Yeah, we can silk it up.  We should also be able to try and pull the cage away from the pit with silk.  Crawl to it, attach a strong rope, crawl back, and pull hard.  The top might also show us a way to jam the lowering mechanism.

If we can't climb up, we're good at throwing.  We could do a couple silk lines to small rocks or something, and use that to hook the cage and pull it closer, or hold it up by the near wall.

It's also not inconcievable we could bend the bars to get it open.  We are pretty far into the realm of superhuman strength.

As for carrying the heart, does he have eating utensils in his book?  Keeping it in a bowl with a lid or a sample container or something.  I'd be reluctant to just put the heart in it, though.

Animating the undead body to carry the heart is a possibility, but it might not be the ideal one.  I'd run it by Edwin before doing that, a plain zombie would have a harder time evading the lich than Edwin himself would.
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birdy51

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2731 on: January 29, 2019, 06:40:37 am »

It might be able to put the heart into a pot for him though, with less risk of getting a bad touch.
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Liquefied Spleens

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2732 on: January 30, 2019, 02:49:53 pm »

Let's focus for a moment, here. How the hell are we going to stop that cave!? If Mantorok is helping you out, why the hell is it about to eat MY prize!
Mantorok has been weakened by being sealed in this temple. It will eat any meat it can gather... It's STILL an ancient, don't forget. I... I can't see anything to stop that cage, damn it all! How are we going to save those people!?
Looks like I'll have to make do. AGAIN. You're DAMN lucky Sydney knows what to do, you useless sack!
Oh my god, please apologize.
I most certainly will not!
Then just say that I am sorry. I like the man, alright?
It's degrading for you to say that! Ah, fine! HEY, MEATSACK! S-sydney says sorry... For whatever reason. Now... Do you have rocks, or something heavy? I'm going to do something we haven't done in over a hundred pages of this forum thread.
...I have a few things, I believe. My pistol, for one. And, uh... Wait.
With a quick kick that seems to make Edwin uncomfortable, he knocks over a piece of wall and is able to give you two ancient bricks. Not exactly perfect, but Alexia should have the strength needed to make it work out. Making some thread, she connects the three weights together and connects another piece of silk to the whole thing. You're starting to feel damn hungry from the amount of webbing you've created. When you get back to your world, you're going to eat an entire cow, you figure. Hooves and all. With everything ready, and the people in the cage looking at you expectently, Alexia begins to swing the makeshift bola around, careful not to clip her legs.
You struggled with that in your youth. Earlier youth, you're practically a juvenile in drider-terms.

The hole above Mantorok is far too large to allow for you to reach by climbing on the ceiling, but a bola? Hell, that's a solid way to wrap around the chain. IT's jsut a matter of pulling it in. You hope you got the amount of silk correct, and that it will hold. After an extended spin, Alexia throws the bolas above the cage and...
SNATCH!
You got it!
The weights spin around the chain, being a sight more solid than just throwing it. The stickiness should help a little, but it wouldn't have been enough. Especially considering the physical mutations you usually get from an Alexia moment didn't come in. Looks like Xel'lotath didn't want you turning more powerful. Alexia begins pulling, and for the first time in her life, she REALLY has to strain herself to the max. Without the demon arm and size increase, it would have been impossible to drag the hefty cage filled with people to safety, but as it stands, it might just work.
You hear grunting from behind you, and you already know that Edwin is helping you pull. See? This is why you like the man, helpful to a fault.
You don't know how long it took. You forgot keeping track of time when your muscles started screaming and your legs started shaking. Alexia's not stopping out of pride, you know that much. And the cage is slowly getting closer, the chain is grinding against something, and you honestly don't know what. Maybe there really is a mechanism above. It doesn't matter, though. There was no way to stop it down here.
 Just as the cage is pulled over the edge, entering solid ground, the chain gives way entirely. Alexia grabs the cage to make sure it doesn't tip, but it fortunately doesn't. After that, it's just a matter of getting it open.

The people in the cage aren't speaking any language you understand. You don't even hear a single word that you even recognize as "eastern". Well, it doesn't much matter for now. One quick pull from the demon arm fixes the cage situation, and the prisoners inside are quick to move out. If they're saying thank you, you sure don't recognize it. They're moving over to Edwin, mostly, looking at you in fear. Understandable, you don't look like the savior type, despite being unarguably heroic in nature.
Okay, that might be a bit inaccurate, but insanity doesn't count.
Of course, now it's time to scratch Edwin's back, as he's scratched yours. A quick wave of the hand, and putting your mana in the red, and the dessicated corpse that only recently found rest is brought back again.
Oh my... Let the girl rest, please. She's been through thousands of years, trapped in her own body!
Oh quit your bitching. It's just my energies that keep the corpse moving. Her soul is already gone, to wherever you go around here.
You order the dead husk to pick up the heart and hide it in the remains of her clothing. There's not much to work with, to say the least, but it manages to find a way
I suspect Death is kind in nearly all realities.
And yet, I wouldn't want to meet him.
It's getting easier to figure out when you're speaking to "yourself". I must say, it's still confusing.
Yeah, yeah. Now... How the hell are we going to get back to our world?

Then, from the shadows themselves, a by now familiar shape emerges. his voice reverbs in your skull as he steps forward, flanked by two creatures yu don't even recognize.
Arrogant man... Did you really think that binding would hold back the will of Xel-lotath?
Oh COME ON!
Before you can even react, the hostages you came to rescue are pulled through the air like ragdolls, forced behind the lich and into the chamber. If you hadn't ordered that zombie to pick up the strange artifact...
Mantorok's protection may be present on you, but these people and that... thing. They are not of this world. They are but RAGDOLLS to me. Were it not for Chattur'gha controlling you as a puppet, i would have snapped your neck. But you know what? The best solution... is usually the easiest. Leave. This is not your world, not your fight. You may take the hostages as you desire.
Leaving that lich alone with Edwin...
A small price to pay, don't you think so, Sydney?
What?
Xel'lotath already entered your mind, did you think I would not? You are against Mantorok, countering one of its few remaining sources of strength. In your world, you would need the weakened echoes of the ancients to defeat it. So, go.
A wave of his hand opens up a strange, green portal. You can peer into the far end, and see the basement you started from. The hooks are gone, but the contraption that held them remains.
I... Where's Edwin?
Looking around, you see that Edwin has already started absconding when the lich arrived. Your zombie is doing its best to keep up for now.
Do not think for even a moment I won't stop him. Take your leave. This fight is not yours.

Then, a purple energy explodes out of the mass of meat. It goes through you, and shakes you to your core, screaming in agony as your arms seems to break and twist, entering impossible angles as a blackened blood spills forth. The lich is hit just as hard, giving his first real scream of pain. He leans on his staff, dazed, and starts limping back.
T-the darkness... Shall prevail! he whispers out, before rings appear below him and teleport him out of the room.
The portal remains, but there's another energy wave starting up in Mantorok. It must be trying to stop you from leaving!
INTO THE PORTAL, NOW! Alexia screams, pointing at the glowing hole in reality. Despite the language barrier, shouting and pointing seems to be universal enough for the people to limp through. Just as you hear the wave behind you unleash itself, you leap through the portal.

You don't know when your arm turned gray, but it is twisting itself back into a functional state. You feel dazed as you fall in the space between spaces. Briefly, you see a small city, seemingly made out of paper, but it's gone before you can fully grasp it.
Then you arrive in the basement, the final energies of the other world leaving you. You think you hear a mocking laugh, however.
You're back in control, at least. Although... You can't feel your demon arm.
Sydney? Are you... We're paralysed, I can only feel the arm.
Her voice, sounding ever so similar to yours, but just a bit deeper, a tad hoarser. Coming from your arm itself. You look to it, as your breathing slows. There she is, a small circle of green before a twisted reflection of your face appears. Like meat reshaped into yourself, it looks... horrible.
O-Oh fuck.
...I can see you. I can see US. What is... Oh...

Your arm is now permanently under control of Alexia. Xel'lotath is having the last laugh. Damn that Mantorok! And the ancient left behind a face for her to speak, too!? Gods, if you weren't a freak before...
But... You need to focus. Taking a look around, you see that the entrance to the basement is ajar.
Limping a bit, still groggy from Mantorok's attack, you stumble through. To your surprise, you find your companions here. Sucy, Francine and Yunikki, sleeping soundly on the floor. They didn't post a guard?
Actually, looking at Francine's way of sleeping, she was likely the guard. She fell asleep.
WAKE UP! Alexia yells, and your companions comply by way of jumping up. In case of Yunikki, she arms herself as she looks aorund in a daze. She looks relieved when she sees it's you, though.
Sydney! Thought you were dead!
Yeah, not quite. What are you doing down here?
Mmmh... We were tricked. Almost the second you left, an outbreak of the plague was unleashed. We hid in the basement, considering this passageway is secret in and of itself. It's hell out there... Also, there was food down here. Francine says, half-slurred.
The suits protected us well enough. As long as there's no direct contact, we'll be fine. I guess we should have spread these things around when we found them...
...That BASTARD! IT PROMISED NOT TO DO THIS IF I SUCCEEDED!
Turns out it lied. Who would have expected that thing to welsh on the deal?

A voice comes from behind you. One of the hostages, an older woman.
Pardon me, did you say the plague has struck?
Yup. Quite an interesting show, watching them all mutate. It really does seem random, though the social standing seems to affect it somewhat.
Oh no... My husband! I... Oh no!
The rest of the hostages start panicking, slowly. You also start realizing that they weren't speaking a language you didn't know, back in the other world, but...
Well, YOU were speaking "English". NOW, you are back to speaking "common". Weird little jump.
Anyway. Now what?

Start thinking of a way to get out of the city.
Right, let's keep a cool head and just get out of here. If at all possible, these former prisoners should be taken with you. If need be, maybe they can be the first soldiers in your army. An army needs people to perform upkeep, if nothing else.

Start thinking on how to purge the city and reclaim it for humanity.
Why not start big, eh?

Start scouting first, see what opportunities arise.
You'll make a decision based on what you see. Of course, that brings its own risks. Plague victims tend to be aggressive.

+Rest first.
You are beaten to hell. Maybe it would be best to take a break and heal up for a moment.

Other

LEVEL UP!
With the bad roll of the dice, you ended up with an Alexia-hand. I'll need to reconsider a couple of perks and I don't have the time for that. Next update will allow you to pick your new mutation.


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Xel'lotath was always going to get in a final "screw you", but you guys rolled real bad. This one's kind of a gamechanger, I think.
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omada

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2733 on: January 30, 2019, 06:37:50 pm »

Rest and heal, worst case scenario we will need to use a dead piece of bone to replace the stinger

Call our pets outside to our control, they can scout the area and find our kids

ask about the order of the blighted pea, where are they?

"In your world, you would need the weakened echoes of the ancients to defeat it."

where is our book of eternal fuckery? let's ask it about this


(I know I misspelled order of blighted peak, but I got amused by my typo)

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Devastator

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2734 on: January 30, 2019, 10:54:24 pm »

I think we should find a meal and fill our stomach.  Then we get to purging.

I don't think waiting days would be a good idea, not when we're behind the curve.  We're kinda the tank-type character, and we can attract aggro while the others do recon.  Eat up, and then fight with caution.  Doombolts, stabbing, etc.

(And yeah, it's entirely unsuprising that the plague got released.  It's why I wanted to get things organized for us to attack.)

(Also.. yeah, that was a very good tip from the lich.  If we kill the dragon, we now have a way forward.)
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 11:04:30 pm by Devastator »
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Egan_BW

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2735 on: January 30, 2019, 11:04:38 pm »

Eat. Sleep. Let us purge the unclean when we wake.


Also, out of everything I was not expecting a Portal 2 reference from Agustus. Life's full of surprises, isn't it?
Next digression you should reference Amnesia so that we can double up on spooky jerks with names that start with A.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 11:07:45 pm by Egan_BW »
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Liquefied Spleens

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2736 on: February 01, 2019, 04:38:57 pm »

Update delayed, apologies.
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Liquefied Spleens

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2737 on: February 03, 2019, 05:22:50 am »

Resting was quite welcome after the ordeal in the temple. Mantorok hits pretty hard, and the wounds you got are hard to really place. Most of it came from looking at those zombies while you were bottomed out in insanity. And now...
Should I remain hidden, most of the time?
Preferably.
I'll say only what is necessary, in that case. No need to let the plebs know, right?
Don't try anything stupid, please.
The good news is that some food and rest was all you needed to start healing. The food is fairly simple, most of being grain products and some remains of salted meat. After you took your part, there wasn't really much left. The prisoners you took with you also needed some sustenance. They weren't fed that well, and what food they did get wasn't really...
They didn't quite trust that it had the consistency of pork but the taste of chicken, to put it gently. Some of them took to it a little, but they jumped at the chance to get some normal food in. You were in no position to refuse them. Alexia considered speaking up, but you got her to pipe down before she really got started. You did so by hitting the floor with her face, which was mercifully easy. She didn't take much damage, but it muffled her.
Anyway, after spending about a day just resting and starting a plan of attack, you come to the conclusion that you should probably go outside to see what the streets are like. Preferably from a rooftop, at Yunikki's insistence. Fighting their way here proved to be a tad difficult, but they managed to do so in the confusion. Of course, now the city's under quarantine, for as far as that's possible. The ones that can climb the walls have done so, but now the beaks are likely discussing how to best purge the town. Their tests are the only thing keeping this place from getting the magical nuke dumped upon it. Well, that and the fact that there are pretty much no wizards available to do it. It takes quite a bunch of them.

You pore through your tome of eternal darkness, as well. You wondered where it went during your outing to the other world, but you can't get an answer out of it. Regardless, searching for the "echoes of the ancients" DOES get you a result. The basic gist of it is that the gods from the other world have left imprints on worlds they have no effect over. Some bigger than others. In this world, Mantorok is the dominant ancient, which is unusual in the cosmic scale of things. It also means you need to find all three gods, make sure they're not imprisoned and then somehow get them together to seal Mantorok before it finishes whatever plan it has. You're still not sure of what it's going to do exactly, but you do know that whatever the end results are, it will feed power to Mantorok in the other worlds.  You're not going to be a battery, if you can help it, especially if things are powered through misery. You've already helped out Chattur'gha, though you're not sure in what manner. You've MET ulyaoth once before, but you think he's captured right now, and Xel'lotath is complete mystery. You'll have to figure this out one at a time.

After you feel sufficiently healthy, you finally get a small group ready. Francine stayed behind to keep the other people in check, and as a sort of backup. As a drider, she should be able to hold off at least one of the mutants, if they get in. Sucy figured out how to keep relatively agile in plague suits, though she needs help in the way of climbing. Yunikki has no such issues, as she doesn't even use a suit. As it turns out, her unique condition has left her immune (or at least highly resistant) to the disease. Sucy and Francine are fairly certain, considering it was all they had to do once they went into hiding. Testing and hypothesising about what is and isn't part of the disease.
On a related note, they came a little closer to figuring out how to cure Yunikki of her abomination troubles. Not a lot, but any step helps.
Standing on the roof, you see that things have most certainly gone incredibly wrong. For one, there seems to be a sort of civil war going on between lizard people and bird people. They're smart enough to use tools to do it, as well. No bows, at least.
They've been going at it for quite a while, and they're not too mindless about it. They retreat when the battle seems lost, but it doesn't stop them from fighting.
Why do they do it?
I dunno. Racism is still fun?
War for sport?
Likely.
Let's not get noticed, shall we? Where are my familiars...
You hear a plaintive meow from behind you, and you see world's sassiest animal licking its paws as it raises an eyebrow at you. Your bird is nearby, trying to eat a brick. To your joy, however, you find that your cat is also carrying your kids. Well, one of them. The other two crawl right towards you, and you're quick to give them a hug. With everything back in order, you go back to looking at the streets.
They're pretty much a no-go, unless you want to fight a war on two sides. The alleyways are... well, they're a strange story. The more extreme monsters seem to reside there, sometimes just an exceptionally big lizardman or whatever, sometimes it's a big ball of tentacles of and teeth. If you want out of the city, it's kind of a balancing act in the way of sneaking. As for purging the place, you'll need to bring in the big guns in some regard. Clearing the alleyways is probably the smartest solution, but you've got food and people to worry about, for now.

Get supplies, delete monsters on the way.
You'll need more than some basic grain products. Maybe you can reach the market and gather what hasn't been destroyed yet.

Get the hell out of dodge.
Try to fight your way out of here. Of course, you should take the people you saved with you, even if it's just to have your excursion to another dimension mean something

Start some guerilla warfare.
Carefully eliminating the surrounding area with traps and hit and run tactics is a good way to start if you really plan on performing a successful genocide. Baby steps.

Start some gorilla warfare
Find some monsters and start smacking them around like a crazed ape. This isn't an easy option, to say the least, but at least it's simple.

Other


Basic Stats
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Items and equipment
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Skills and spells
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Level up
Plate-mail carapace: Your carapace grows to cover most of your upper body, apart from the demon arm. It's sleek and aerodynamic, too.
Regeneration: Your wounds heal much faster, at the cost of having some gnarly scar tissue until it fully heals. Emphasis on gnarly.
Natural knuckle-duster: The carapace on your hands grows a bit thicker and spiky, to allow for entirely safe (and harder) punching.

Fertile: You get two egg-layings per day.
Spider up!: The amount of kids per sting is doubled. That also makes the stings even more lethal, FYI.
Ovipositor : Whenever your children bite something, they make it so that a small spiderite will spawn upon death. These spiderites are even smaller and weaker than your base children, and do not carry the ovipositor ability.

Blast from the Between
: You caught something from between dimensions during your short travel. In exchange for 30 mana, you can cast an extremely powerful stream of tentacles.
Undead genome: The name doesn't make much sense, yes, but it opens up mutations in your zombies. That includes the pinwork zombies.
Feedback: The more undead are around you, the more mana you have.

Louden the voices: Alexia is going to be driving the arm regardless (though she's in sync enough for normal actions to be unaffected). With this, however, Alexia gains more control and vision. As in, 360 degrees of vision.
Pain is Power: The more hits your arm takes, the harder and faster it can hit. It also gets Alexia steamed, but that was going to happen regardless.
Taste of blood: Alexia gains the ability to take big whopping bites out of things. This is also good for your health.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2019, 07:38:43 pm by Liquefied Spleens »
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Egan_BW

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2738 on: February 03, 2019, 08:39:56 am »

The armor is nice. Pain is Power is fun. But nothing can beat the sheer "A̴͔̘̼̺̮͖͎̠̯̜̥͞H̢͏̙̺̣̹͎̟Ą̷̧̤̮̺͔̖̦̯̞̻̥̯͇͖̕͜ͅH̸͓̯̺͍̫̬̠̙̭̰̝̪͉̀̀͠A̵̛̯̭̮̱̜͉̞̠͟͝͡H̬͖̭̩̰͍̦͉͇̙̺̦͜͝A͟͡҉̡̫̥̜͓̜̫̜̪̺͔̜̥̰͓H̨̡͓̣̭̘̟̀͜͢A͏̢̫̥͓̗̘͎̘̗̲̯͍͝ͅH̶̨̦̱̻̘͖͈̟̱̪͍̝̤̰̜̬̤̰͢͝ͅÁ̸̖̩͍̞̺̼̞̻̖͕͖̝̬̳́̕H̴҉̧̹̲̜͙̬̭̦̣ͅÁ̸̛͎͔̰͔̭̲̠̯̮H̡̲̬̺̝̣̘͔̫̪͕͍̯̠̲̺͘ͅͅA̧͔̠̠͍̼̩̠͖̞ͅ" factor of Blast from the Between.


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birdy51

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2739 on: February 03, 2019, 09:24:35 am »

I am thinking Plate-Mail. Better to live long, and well.
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Devastator

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2740 on: February 03, 2019, 09:51:55 am »

Plate Mail.  All the options seem good, really.  If we get another level, I'd take a ranged attack or the pinwork zombie mutation thing.

Lets get more supplies, but don't skimp on the killing.  Thinning some numbers is a good secondary goal.  Meeting up with our new head cultist is also something I'd like to do.

Also, siphoning cloud is a good way to top up our health.  This is gonna be a campaign, so try to keep fairly intact.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2019, 09:54:44 am by Devastator »
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Egan_BW

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2741 on: February 03, 2019, 11:08:38 am »

Aye, let's gather some supplies. And kill monsters.
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omada

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2742 on: February 03, 2019, 05:48:23 pm »

I was about to say "spider up" because it probably can heal our sting buut... godamn, feedback and pinwork zombies are wonderfull, both are a must do for a undead army
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Competent reader (any know lenguage)
Novice english wordsmith
Dabbling english speaker (rusty)
He is short, with a small and failed beard
He likes wood, spears, ducks for their nobility, and rabbits for their weak hearts and funny reproduction rate.
he has a hard time to focus, and values, err almost everything, he dreams of mastering a skill.

Devastator

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2743 on: February 04, 2019, 03:35:47 am »

Feedback is really really good overall.  I think we might take that after purging the city.. if it comes up again.  That'll be just the thing for an undead army.

But for the killing right now, I'd rather not die.
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Liquefied Spleens

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Re: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure
« Reply #2744 on: February 04, 2019, 06:10:37 pm »

I say we head for the market. Gather up some more food, and make it a point to kill as much as we can along the way.
Certainly. There's a couple other things there that could be interesting, too. Ahh, I love looting. The best discount.
We should gather up survivors if we find them, as well. Keep them separate from the others until we're certain they aren't infected, though.
Good. We ready?
A final round of affermatives, and you begin stalking through the alleyways to the market. While you're planning on getting a genocide started, you figure that a path less guarded would be better to follow to start with. The first creature you find was just a birdman. It went down as easy as any human, maybe even easier. It's hard to tell with how fast your arm just deleted it. Alexia moving out of sync with how you think is a tad disorienting, but at least it doesn't harm your shoulder. You also cracked the building when you splattered the bird, which isn't quite what you like.
You also feel a strange itch as you keep going, starting at the base of your spine. It's annoying, but you don't pay it any mind apart from some wriggling.
The next monster you find looked a tad more troublesome. It looked more like a mass of eyes, which wouldn't be quite as bad if it wasn't for the massive scythes it had just below the mass of eyes. It also screamed in a way that you... REALLY didn't like. Alexia reacted first by giving an uppercut into the mass of eyes, after which she discoverd that there's nothing solid in there and that it's really, really, really REALLY gross. You ate a scythe attack from that, but your armor holds out against the bone scythes,stopping it from doing more than a pinprick. Unfortunately, you can't use the Ram Dao with your offhand, so you're kind of defenceless apart from some relatively ineffectual punches (it's flinching, sure, but it isn't going to die from it.). Sucy was able to come to your rescue, though.
A particular sprinkle of some crystals had a particularly bad reaction to the creature, causing it to violently spit out your demon arm and start writing as the mass of eyes begins to shrink and crack. Finally, reduced to a brown, visibly crumbling orb of ruined eyes, the creature bashes its head against a wall and shatters completely.
Your arm is covered in strange see-through slime, most of it coming from the eyes.
g r o s s.

The itching isn't letting up, either, and you've started scratching. You can't really reach below the armor, though, so you just keep feeling it. Eventually, Yunikki asks if anything's amiss. Once you explain that you feel immensely itchy, your companions look at eachother and tell you to just get the armor off so you can see what's happening.
Arguing against it seems pointless, and after removing a couple of belts and opening up the armor, it becomes clear that you might have cause for concern.
Oh, that's just unhealthy.
Small bits of carapace are poking through your skin, like little blue zits. Along your spine, however, there is a clear thickening of carapace, which is rapidly spreading. Now that you're freed from your armor, it seems to be speeding up a lot. It takes a bit of concentration not to yell in frustration as the itch reaches a fevered pitch while carapace both grows from existing thickened point, or outright bursts out of you like a needle. It doesn't hurt, by any means, but the itch... GODS, the ITCH. After a few more minutes, it finally begins to calm down, and you are left with your upper body completely covered. You can tell that it's far thicker as well... This is serious protection, actually. The thing is though, you feel a bit heavier than before. That will take a little getting used to.
You're glad that your armor can be adjusted enough to still fit, but it's a tight squeeze. The natural armor prevents any actual discomfort, at least.
You also note that while it stops at the neck, there's still two blue lines along the sides now, up to your chin.
If this was a less dangerous situation, you probably would have cared more, but as it stands you just put it on the backburner. Best to keep moving.

Apart from a small squad of lizardmen (three in total. Yunikki took her fair share), the rest of the way to the market was uneventful. This is unusual, but once you reach it you understand why.
While the streets are a war between birds and lizards, the market is an outright abattoir of battle. All manner of creatures are fighting here, and at the centre...
Your heart stops for a moment as you see what creature is causing such carnage. You recognize her. You've had nightmares of her ruined face for years.
Jack, twisted in the shape of a spider. Out of her ruined, and by now rotted torso are eight bone-like legs, sharp and lethal. Bloodcovered, these things can crush a basic lizardman in just one well-placed stomp. Her head, a human skull that was cracked open to create makeshift mandibles occasionally vomits out some white goo. Guessing from the screams of pain, it's likely acid. She's grown...
Standing tall at six meters, she's an imposing presence.
A lieutenant for Mantorok.
You barely resist the urge to vomit, and Yunikki is quick to back up as well. She remembers all right.

Retreat.
A lieutenant is way too big and bad for you to take on. Best if you took a look elsewhere for supplies. You can do some breaking and entering on your way back.

Start planning on how to kill Jack.
Both for your benefit and hers, she needs to go down. She's fighting a lot of creatures, maybe there will be an opening at some point.

Other
Despite the carnage, there are still multiple things in the market that could be useful.


Basic Stats
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Items and equipment
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Skills and spells
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Logged
Neat stuff I do:
A suggestion game about a drider that does a lot of stuff. I think it's kinda neat.
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