Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 184977 times)

omada · « **Reply #3060 on:** July 08, 2019, 05:24:18 pm »

let's just keep our new children far from the humans?

or at least let sucy have a blood sample to test

Devastator · « **Reply #3061 on:** July 08, 2019, 05:30:31 pm »

There is an upside, though, having our corruption reset means we can consume several things without running out of sanity for a while. I think we should take advantage of this.

Plus we'll get our arm back when we next molt.

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #3062 on:** July 08, 2019, 05:36:03 pm »

Quote from: Devastator on July 08, 2019, 05:30:31 pm

Still, I'm annoyed at having to take a mostly negative level because it might have had some chance of being fatal if we didn't.

It would have been relatively easy to avoid the eventual death. Especially because the source of the demonic issue will destroy the world in just five years. It'll just crack open the earth like an egg and release itself on the universe before dumping the energy it gathers into the original universe Mantorok came from.
So there's a time limit, but hell, you've got time.

Devastator · « **Reply #3063 on:** July 08, 2019, 05:39:03 pm »

Yeah.. but we didn't have any way of knowing that. Or, what seemed more likely, that it wouldn't kill us but increasingly cripple us in some way as it went along.

There was also the possibility of accidently getting our arm severed again. If that happened, it would almost certainly been a kill.

KitRougard · « **Reply #3064 on:** July 08, 2019, 05:54:07 pm »

I'm not going to say "I told you so" about the situation we find ourselves in...
I'M GOING TO SHRIEK IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS INTO THE DEPTHS OF YOUR SOUL.

Devastator · « **Reply #3065 on:** July 08, 2019, 05:56:02 pm »

Yeah. I thought more or less this would happen. Although we're a bit better off being fully sane again, instead of being barely sane.

Olith McHuman · « **Reply #3066 on:** July 09, 2019, 09:11:55 pm »

This was a long read. You're an excellent writer Mr. Spleens.

I'm thinking we should forget about the dragon and get to the orc tower as soon as practical (assuming it's still standing). I suspect Francine should be able to do something about this plague with a proper lab, and we really need more information about what's going on in the world.

On that note, does this city have anything in the way of stables? Can we make zombie horses to get around faster? They're probably already dead anyways. I'm only seeing resurrect humanoid in our spell list, but maybe Sidney could figure it out after that arm is dealt with.

Devastator · « **Reply #3067 on:** July 09, 2019, 09:36:39 pm »

I think forgetting about the dragon would guarantee that every intelligent creature who isn't with us will die.

Lets have cult guy explain what he knows of Mantorok's plans, and we just study some basic magic while healing up. Then we eat something and head for the dragon at last.

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #3068 on:** July 10, 2019, 05:25:42 pm »

You're taking this rather well.
Honestly, I'm just feeling sort of mellow about the whole deal. Yeah, I'm down an arm, but I feel okay, otherwise. Like... You ever had a day where things are bad until you get a good stretch in, and all at once you just feel good? Like, you get whatever was being annoying to stop doing so? I kinda feel like that was the stretch I needed to get over what feels like a month.
Really now? Right. Anyway, your blood is clean. As in, cleaner than I've seen it before. It's a solid, healthy red, nothing dark, and no signs of corruption. None I can pick up with these lenses, anyway. Despite that, you're still really weak. I suggest some bed rest. I'm fine for a while, anyhow, need to continue testing for a while. Here's a suggestion, though: sleep with the people in the hallway. Francine is likely going to try something, if we've learned anything. Though you seem to have convinced her to stop trying things.
You know, I still don't trust it, I'll chill with the rest of the folks, no problem. Worst case scenario, they have to wake me up rather than stopping her.
Please go back to being a nervous wreck, you're making me nervous.
Now there's a strange occasion. You seem as neutral as ever, though.
I do have emotions, you know. I just tend to hide them unless I find them needed.
Kinda edgy, broseph.
Go back to reading your tome of darkness or whatever it is you've got.
Fair enough.

You keep reading up on magic for a while. General magic is kind of a waste of time to study, considering the basics were covered in wizard college. You could even skip the advanced section, and at best learn some thing extra in the expert department. But that's where things are more theoretical than practical, so you elect to skip that and focus on a specific tree for a bit. Healing seemed like it was useful, even hough it is incredibly complicated. You doubt you'll be able to use it any time soon, but heck, it's interesting of nothing else. The hardest part is creating mass from nothing. Apparently, a novice healer is just supposed to pull it from other parts of the body where it is needed less. So you can get an impromptu liposuction while you get a stab wound healed up, which is nice, on paper. Thing is, you need your fat to survive, so it's suggested that you know EXACTLY what can be taken away. More advanced doctors are able to create mass from nothing, but it is a very involved process. Magic-to-mass ratios aren't the greatest, in short. Honestly, it's unlikely you'll be able to do much with your limited mana pool, even with the regeneration buff. At best, you'll be able to fix up a cut or do that mass transfer thing. It's all very dangerous.
You elect to look into fire, which is quite a bit easier to get into. Magic-to-energy ratio is very good, almost a 1:1 ratio. Transforming into something specific is a bit harder, but fire's the shortest leap from energy to something mallable. You won't be able to unleash the highest tiers of it unless you train for literal decades, and you just don't have that sort of time right now. You end up doing that little sparky thing a few times, at least. It's distracting for a solid five minutes, but after that you decide that you need to do something a little more productive. You go to the people to ask things about the city.

Your first question had a disappointing answer. Turns out that, while they do have stables here, they don't have horses. Only dromedary and the occasional camel. Most importantly, the stables are kept outside of the city, due to the smell. So they aren't going to come up very much when it comes to escaping this place. You also ask the old man what he knows of Mantorok's plans, but he doesn't tell you anything you didn't already know. Mind you, not many people know what you know. So, to recap: Mantorok seeks to cause misery and panic to stop people from preventing his rebirth. That, and he's a spitful asshole. The plague he unleashed is almost purely a move made out of spite towards humans. Which is why it doesn't work on non-humans, too specific. Kind of a dumb flaw, but he doesn't really consider this much of an issue. You ask where the people are that are trying to stop the Ancient from birthing, but the old man can't help you there. He only caught what he knows from evil gloating and general osmosis when the Unending talked to themselves. The plague was unleashed through a small collection of sleeper agents that were unleashed at the same time, basically instantly after you left. That's the last time you believe a creature like that on their word. Aren't these things supposed to never lie? That's usually like, some small saving grace in villains, they don't lie. They just use innuendo or "from a certain point of view" loopholes. This was just a straight up lie and it didn't even gloat about it!
Gosh, they don't act like established villains much, do they? Good thing those cultists and demons do, when they aren't the gibbering madmen variety.
Oh well.
Resting up will take a little while longer. Maybe you can start figuring out how to get people out of here? In the meantime, Yunikki and Francine are still looking for the arm, but it hasn't turned up yet. It's not a big hideout (well, it is, but not big enough to hide easily is what I mean), so it shouldn't take long to find it again. You also specified that you don't want it dead, as it could still be useful. After all.
Alexia has to be somewhere, now that she isn't in your head anymore.

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Devastator · « **Reply #3069 on:** July 11, 2019, 05:47:09 pm »

Lets go sleep with our humans. (so to speak, yes.) Getting them out.. well, if we take out Jack, all we'll need is a pretty ordinary escort. Sneak them to the edge of the city, get out that way, make enough zombies to hold the line, and we'll be out. We also should check out the basement crab spirit thing. Can we consume that? Is it ready to make a deal now? Was the bone mage that we found ready for it?

If we can't take out jack, we'll have to sneak them out. No river, no easy transport method. Maybe we can make a hot air baloon? Then we'll just have to take out most of the harpies.

As for studying, well, can we do reverse fire? Fire protection? Turning fire back into mana, maybe? It'd help against a dragon, and be another way to regen mana in a hurry.

Naturegirl1999 · « **Reply #3070 on:** July 11, 2019, 05:48:49 pm »

Quote from: Devastator on July 11, 2019, 05:47:09 pm

Lets go sleep with our humans. (so to speak, yes.) Getting them out.. well, if we take out Jack, all we'll need is a pretty ordinary escort. Sneak them to the edge of the city, get out that way, make enough zombies to hold the line, and we'll be out. We also should check out the basement crab spirit thing. Can we consume that? Is it ready to make a deal now? Was the bone mage that we found ready for it?

If we can't take out jack, we'll have to sneak them out. No river, no easy transport method. Maybe we can make a hot air baloon? Then we'll just have to take out most of the harpies.

As for studying, well, can we do reverse fire? Fire protection? Turning fire back into mana, maybe? It'd help against a dragon, and be another way to regen mana in a hurry.

+1

Devastator · « **Reply #3071 on:** July 11, 2019, 06:06:15 pm »

I wasn't being serious about a hot air baloon. Just not sure where to begin, because we're surrounded by monsters in every direction until the ocean, and this city isn't even a port.

Naturegirl1999 · « **Reply #3072 on:** July 11, 2019, 06:44:37 pm »

Quote from: Devastator on July 11, 2019, 06:06:15 pm

I wasn't being serious about a hot air baloon. Just not sure where to begin, because we're surrounded by monsters in every direction until the ocean, and this city isn't even a port.

While the specifics might not be fleshed out yet, the rest of the plan sounds good, maybe we can also study about the types of monsters inhabiting the region?

Devastator · « **Reply #3073 on:** July 11, 2019, 06:49:15 pm »

Well, everyone that was a human is now a monster in a method that destroys the mind. There are lots of different types with some more common than others. I wouldn't mind hearing a summary, but literally any one person could have become any one-off monster.

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #3074 on:** July 12, 2019, 04:47:17 pm »

On a hunch, you elect to see if the book has anything of note on the effects of the plague beyond "monster". There's clearly different types, with birds and lizards being the most common. To your surprise, the tome does hold some information, though... Well, the ink is still fresh. That's probably not normal if nobody's written in this thing for a while.

Plague Variants

Beaks
The "Beaks", AKA "birds", "deathwings" or Harpies (see addendum 1) are one of the most common variants of plague victims. The layman is most likely to turn into either this or a lizard, with a slight tendency towards birds rather than lizards. However, the gender ratio is rather peculiar. Nearly all Beaks are male, even if the victim before the transformation was female. That does not mean they are a one-gender race. The females (which DO exclusively come from infected women) are generally referred to as harpies, due to their uncanny resemblance to the old myth of birdwomen.

The physical appearance of these birds is relatively uniform. Though size may differ (the mass of the infectee remains unchanged, in this case) most have black feathers, very long wings and short, stubby beaks. Their eyes face sideways, and are almost entirely black. There have been signs that they have rather poor vision, with nothing to compensate. Despite these wings, the males are flightless, instead using the large wings in deadly chopping motions or to obfuscate their opponent when beating them down. Their most dangerous asset, however, remains their feet, which have been reshapen into tough talons. While the legs are mostly bone, they are tougher than any bone of that size should be. The force of their kicks is enough to kill by itself, but the claws add further damage. Fortunately, the chaotic movement of these birds ensure that they only rarely get in a good kick, and they are ill-prepared against any warrior with a weapon or armor. However, Beaks are prone to coming together in hordes, and the presence of a female will quickly turn them into a semi-organized mob. The females have brighter colours, and are considerably lighter than the ground troops. This makes them fragile, but hitting a flying target remains difficult. Some harpies have been known to talk in common, to further organize their troops. This implies a higher than average intelligence, compared to the average infected.

Killing a Beak is easy, due to their hollowed bones and thin bodies. The only requirement is that one does not fight them alone. They tend to fight in hordes. Special care must be taken if a female appears. Not only will they organize the Beaks, their divebombs have an extreme strength behind them, capable of killing a man in full plate.

Addendum 1: Harpies are nearly universally used for the females. Despite that, some people use harpy as a catch-all for both male and female Beaks.

Fangs
The "Scales", AKA "Lizards" "Dragonlings" and "Opse"(short for obsessed, morphed to use the P instead of a b) are the second most common variant of infected. They are tougher to take down than the birds, but are far less unified due to lacking anything to control them (except in the Deadlands, see Addendum 1 and Plaguebringer.(Beginning of this war journal, or wherever you need if, if you are a fellow user of a tome.)). Despite this, they remain a signifiant danger, due to owning tough hides and sharp claws and teeth. Despite these natural weapons, however, the Fangs will often use improvised weaponry, contrary to the birds. Most likely due to having opposable thumbs. The thumb-wielding menace is, as such, likely a bigger problem to take down for the average warrior, and a nightmare for a layman. It is wise to have a wizard backing you up, as lizards are highly susceptible to heat-altering techniques. Not that being set on fire is good for anybody's disposition, but even the sudden rising of heat i likely to knock some of the lizards out entirely, and a sudden influx of cold will make them lethargic. Too much cold for too long will lead to heart failure. Because of this, the north remains nearly untouched by the plague, especially due to the special actions undertaken by the Norse.

Visually, lizards are rather varied. Many colours are possible in their scales, and their heads are varied kinds of lizards (and even some amphibians). Most are based off what one would expect, a raptor-like creature.
But the most important part about lizards is their very close connection to the Plaguebringer. The dragon in the Deadlands that is thought to be Patient Zero. The lizards are the slaves of the dragon, and a massive congregation of them is often spotted gather food and riches to the dragon. As it stands, nobody has been able to begin any sort of attack plan on the dragon, despite my personal suggestion that the dragon is perpetuating the disease. But I digress: this close connection to the dragon seems connected to an old story of lizard people. This one is a confirmed myth, however, as there were never any dragons. This implies this whole disease is at least partially based on existing myths. The origin remains Eldritch, however, so it is my current theory that the infected transformations are mostly based on a sort of Sentient Gestalt Field. The ideas, myths and other flights of fancy across the world come together into an indirect magic field. My theory is that we created the gods, in that sense. I fear this disease is taking after the Gestalt Field to find it's monsters.
Of course, there are still plain Eldritch monstrosities such as the...

Scholars
AKA as "brain dudes" and "Tallboys". Tend to look like very tall men with a huge head, covering nearly half their torso in what appears to be brain matter and eyes.
These are people that already had a vague idea into the world of the Eldritch, and were touched in a different manner. We have only fought one, so far, but I fear that if the Tower falls, we will have a horde of them around us. These creatures are fortunately not nearly as aggressive as the other monsters, preferring instead to wander in search of knowledge. They seek to dissect bodies, living or dead, to find out what makes them tick, and they gather books whenever they can. However, the strangest part is that they tend to make their territory and stick to it. I believe that they are closely connected to Mantorok, and that it serves more as a sentry for areas of interest, or plain as an obstacle wherever they spawn.
Taking them down can vary. One-on-one they cannot be beaten, as they will use telekinesis in a horrifically powerful sense, one that was more theoretical than practical until now. Slicing their foes apart with nothing but telekinetic energy, as they are held in place. However, they are weak to combined assaults, or surprise attacks. Their heads tend to be disproportionally large, and quite easily blown apart. Despite this, avoiding is usually a better choice. If things go wrong, it nearly guarantees the death of the victim.
Also: DO NOT USE MAGIC. They have a powerful absorption shield around them. Only use physical ways of harming them, if you absolutely must. Magic invigorates these things, causing them to go on the offensive for a short while.

Final note: They do not seem to be friendly with any of the common infected. Will write more when another situation arises.

There are still more creatures in this part of the book, but you just wanted to read on the ones you've encountered so far. You elect to train up on reversing fire for a while, but it turns out that putting a genie back in its bottle is actually very difficult. It's in the advanced section, to say the least. Still, you make a little headway in making it flicker when you want it to. It's all very exciting, really.
Things are more interesting a little later when Yunikki taps you on the shoulder (the good one, your blackened one is a tad sore). She gestures for you to follow. You do so, not bothering to ask why, considering she's still mute. Apparently, she'll be fine in just a little while longer. When you arrive at where she wanted you to be, it's not quite what you expected. A cocoon, hidden up in a corner and hidden by shadows up to now. You can tell from the size that this is your arm, but how did it end up in a cocoon made up of silk? The silk has a strange quality, as well, and you swear that it is moving slightly...

Keep a close eye on it, but see what happens.
You're sure you can skewer it if anything bad happens. You can still work a blade with your left hand. Not to mention, this thing is bound to be interesting.

Burn it.
No sense in risking it. Just burn it now.

Give to your scientists
Is this a good idea? No. Is it !!!fun!!!? Probably!

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Author Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 184977 times)

omada

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Devastator

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Liquefied Spleens

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Devastator

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KitRougard

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Devastator

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Olith McHuman

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Devastator

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Devastator

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Naturegirl1999

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Devastator

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Naturegirl1999

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