Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 190058 times)

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1365 on:** January 03, 2018, 06:13:30 pm »

Ok, so. Putting the insects side by side shows you've got a decent pile. About three cockroaches are the big winner here, being fairly large and nearly unkillable (for a bug). The rest are a little smaller, and you see two silverfish are among the lizard's victims. You don't see those things a whole lot, honestly. Then there are five pillbugs, most likely useless, and finally a single ant.
How did he find a solitary ant?
You still pat the little bony companion on the head for a job well done, regardless. This is an excellent catch for... whatever it is you were planning to use them for. You start the first step by putting an ant inside the lock and having a look at the lock mechanism. Sadly, while you get an excellent look at it all, you don't know the first thing about locks! Of course, there isn't that much to figure out right now. Just... have all the little levers at the same height? Or...
Well, maybe you can imitate a key with the beetles. You're not about to trust easily available keys like that. That's just begging for the old spicy keys trick, which is actually just applying explosive runes to something.
After the fifth time somebody lost fingers, the prank was outlawed on tower grounds.

You resurrect all the bugs available to you, considering that the training you did makes it cost nothing at all. You invest about 18 mana, and you can get it back just by having them croak. You also notice your spidery spy is gone. You can't snap back to the guy, which implies it's been killed. Oh well.
You'll figure out something for the bugs later. Maybe Yunikki knows something about locks, or that thief will visit again. But as of right now, you just can't do anything with the lock. You're just not the right kind of woman for this job.
However, you hear new footsteps echoing through the dungeon. The taps of high heels, but inconsistent. When you see the source, you see why: The alchemist stands before you, limping a little. She looks... miffed.
You... Disgusting creature. I came here to tell you your efforts are for naught! The man you killed will be replaced by something MUCH greater! Congratulations, my dearest enemy! You've got a sister! She has a forced grin, but the joy present in her eyes is nothing short of maniacal.
...Did you limp here just to gloat about making a clone of me? Because, uh, "been there, done that".
I want you to know the price of attacking me like that. You show a dog what he has done wrong, no?
Uh-huh. Funny you'd say that. Say, do you know where you're standing right now?
Before a soon to be beaten enemy.
At that moment, Yunikki's arm reaches through the bars, and grabs the alchemist by the collar. With a lurch backwards, her head is slammed against the bars, after which Yunikki, while screaming her head off in rage, grabs her hair and continues to bash her head against the bars.
You watch. Your expression hardly changes from cold indifference. You're not sadistic enough to smile at it, but you are glad for the quickly introduced karmic justice. To your dismay, however, the alchemist has a very hard head and a clear one at that! She throws flash-powder in Yunikki's face, which discombobulates her enough for the alchemist to pull herself free and roll away. She's coughing and bleeding, but sadly alive.

She looks at you with disdain, before pulling herself upright and limping out of here. Before she leaves completely, you blow her a kiss and a complimentary deathbolt. She falls on one knee, and eventually runs away in something resembling a panic.
Well, that happened. Still, she must be FAR tougher than she appears to do these kind of things. Attacked by Alexia, bashed over the head by Yunikki and still able to do things that stumps other people. Of course, the real problem here is that she apparently made ANOTHER you. After the first one, you kind of hoped to never have to deal with that kind of arc again, especially considering you're in the middle of the vampire one.
Maybe there's something a little different? Maybe it's just some Frankenstein's monster.
You should be far more concerned about this, but you honestly can't find it within yourself to care overmuch. Maybe because you're getting comfortable, maybe because you reached terminal boredom in trying to figure out how a lock works.
Yunikki is unresponsive, despite her earlier display of utter savagery. She's crawled up in a corner, staring at nothing.
You begin to suspect she's not necessarily tired right now.

The thrall only passes by every few hours or so, apparently, and there's a good chance that he won't walk close enough to be grabbed. However, you do have a selection of bugs at your disposal, and one plucky little lizard.

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Do not use a tome of eldritch knowledge as a source for REGAINING sanity. It's like trying to make fire using water.

RAM · « **Reply #1366 on:** January 03, 2018, 08:00:48 pm »

I was thinking vaccines from infections. It ought to be a wonderful source of information on the ways and means of losing one's self, which in turn suggests what specifically needs to be defended against. It also likely has a few examples of people half-broke and somewhat recovered before losing the book, surely not everything mentioned was the author's final horror, thus some recovery is probably recorded to some extent...

I mean, really, who will be better at dealing with insanity, someone who has never encountered insanity, or someone who has never encountered sanity?

Can the cockroaches fly? We could probably scout the area pretty quickly. A silverfish could probably drop on the thrall and track it.

The roaches can probably pull a guide-line to Yunikki's cage and back, at which point we can pull out a web to be lain along the ground, with, again, roaches pulling out the edges, or maybe we can send out two guide-lines and make a square web? Enough to pull the thralls legs out from under them and into our reach...

omada · « **Reply #1367 on:** January 03, 2018, 08:03:40 pm »

Quote from: Liquefied Spleens on January 03, 2018, 06:13:30 pm

Do not use a tome of eldritch knowledge as a source for REGAINING sanity. It's like trying to make fire using water.

five ways to start fire using water :v

When the thrall comes we should probably try to control him, if it not works we could try to make the cockroachs silently gets his keys

Talk to Yukinni, ask what happened when we gave control to the queen, see if she has some control of the beast form or it's transformation "hey, we should someday transform at the same time" ask if she remembers something about lockpicking

Our ant should go spying, it can climb it can grab itself even upside down.

RAM · « **Reply #1368 on:** January 04, 2018, 12:33:55 am »

Quote from: omada on January 03, 2018, 08:03:40 pm

Quote from: Liquefied Spleens on January 03, 2018, 06:13:30 pm
Do not use a tome of eldritch knowledge as a source for REGAINING sanity. It's like trying to make fire using water.
five ways to start fire using water :v

I would say that it 2 ways, 3 tops.

We should try to get some of Yunikki's blood into the pillbugs, then they can serve as poison pills for vampires. If we are really desperate(probably true) We could have such a bug hold onto the side of our mouth and release some poison when Vampy next gives us a dose of vampishness(assuming that such an event happens) to falsify an allergic reaction or overdose of vampirism or some unknown incompatibility or something. Anything that sheds doubt upon Vampy's plan is good... probably... We did already get a dose from the werewolf so we have some idea of how much we can tolerate. And a beetle could cling to our mouth and respond to mental commands, which would be a good deal easier to work with than just holding something in our mouth. Once we got used to the horrible horrible feeling and constant risk of poison, we would probably be able to speak completely naturally and such.

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1369 on:** January 05, 2018, 03:05:17 pm »

With the bugs, setting up a tripwire was no trouble at all. With the ant in place, you can see that you've got more than enough time to set it up, too. The thrall spends a lot of time just sitting in a chair, staring ahead. With a lot of time on your hands, and little else to do but wait for him to come back, you notice that this thrall is exceptionally old. Pieces of flesh have sloughed off in places, and the person it used to be looks damned old. Not to mention, the habit it has of walking back and forth every few hours or so seems really inefficient if there's only the two of you. If he was placed more carefully, he could have prevented the alchemist from getting her head slammed against the bars like that. You wish she wasn't so oddly resistant to bodily harm, though. Another dead servant would be a plus.
You send the ant forward to spy on more of the castle, but progress is slow. Ants are very sturdy little things, but they're kind of lacking in speed, especially in comparison to the spider you were using before. Still, finding your way out of the dungeon wasn't hard. You also see that this whole part of the castle is hardly used. Dust and cobwebs everywhere. You also suspect you're underground, as well. Even though there is nearly no moisture in the dungeon itself, the stairs out of the dungeon go on for quite a while.
It should be about now that the jailer comes by. Give or take 30 minutes.

You spend a little time looking through personal accounts of the former owners of this book. The ones that went insane don't seem to have returned to sanity in any way, although you DO notice one tendency to keep writing even as everything is going wrong beyond the pale. Perhaps a journal would help keeping one's mind in order. Still, it's hardly a cure-all for keeping your sanity, and trauma happens a little faster than people like to think. Insanity kinda strikes suddenly, most of the time. Or caused by some brain disease. Whatever.
The best cure here would be prevention, or if you can't have that, just plain old therapy. Really, there are therapists. You didn't get over the ritual through sheer grit, you went to a therapist! It was mostly just putting ideas in place of things that would usually cause a relapse into thinking about the traumatic event. But hey, it works.
Mostly.

Finally, the jailer shuffles past your cell again and, predictably, trips. He comes down hard, not even sticking out his hands to break the landing. He lands facefirst on the hard stone floor, kicking up a small dust cloud. You are quick to grab towards his leg and pull him towards your cell. His belt in reach, you tear off the keys! The thrall struggles a little, but before he can do much you shank his calf with your pedipalps. You can hardly suck any blood with your new pedipalps, you notice. You improvise by taking his foot and snapping it too far. Your upper body strength is nothing to be scoffed at, after all, and this thrall is fairly weak to begin with. You try to pull him closer, but after a few seconds, you nearly lose your grip! Thinking fast, you use your new ability to Control Undead You can feel your mind splitting in two as you try, nearly overwhelming you entirely! You tell him to stop resisting for a moment, before breaking the connection. Without any struggle, you can pull him close again, but he soon resumes his flailing. Pulled close, you start ramming his head against the bars using his collar, while stabbing him again and again with your pedipalps. After a brutal minute of pure murder, he finally stops moving, apart from the occasional twitch.
That was easy enough. Bit of a headache from the control attempt, sure, but you'll live. You burned through quite a bit of mana for those few seconds, too...
To your surprise, the keys don't explode when you let your bugs inspect them thoroughly. In fact, they seem like perfectly ordinary keys.
This can't be real.

*Click*

Oh my gods it's real. The door to your cell opens up without issue. Yunikki looks up from her curled op position, and stands before the cell. Her eyes are bloodshot, now that you get a closer look, and her body posture is... off. She's just slouching, and not just because those chains are heavy. It's making you uncomfortable.
You open up her cell as well, after fiddling with the keys. She gives a quiet thank you as the cell opens, and waits for you to move before doing anything else. Her hair is in front of her face, mostly, and you think there's some matted blood in there as well. She looks kind of intimidating, to be honest, not at all helped by those bloodshot eyes being VERY visible in the dark. The color is far more noticeable, after all, the milky white exaggerating her pupils like that.
Best to get moving.
You briefly consider putting a bug dipped in Yunikki's blood in your fucking mouth, but you decide against it. It would be a monumentally bad idea, for one, but more importantly, you do not put live (or undead) bugs in your mouth! Come on now! That's gross...

The exit out of the dungeon goes smoothly, Yunikki running alongside you. She's not moving her arms while she runs, keeping them permanently hanging downward. She's breathing fairly heavily, as well.
As you head forward through the castle, there's little of note. Looks like your suspicion was right, this IS an abandoned part of the castle. It seems... weird that he'd leave you practically unguarded like that, but the vampire isn't exactly too competent in anything that doesn't involve instant results. To think he used to be so intimidating...
You move on, your ghostly companions following you everywhere, until you bump into the first hurdle. A guard, just a thrall, but you're unarmed. The last one went down easy enough, sure, but this guy looks quite a bit bigger than the bag of old bones you killed in the dungeon.
Before you can say anything, though, Yunikki runs forward! She jumps up, and using a loose chain(was she just holding on to it?) she slams down on the guard. His shoulder broken, the thrall uses his left hand to try and attack your companion. She jumps back, before spinning around and smashing the guard twice across the face with yet more chains! She moves... limply, her arms flapping around and her back bent. Almost like an animal!
Stunned by the heavy attack, Yunikki slings one of the smaller chains around the thrall's neck, and pushes against his chest. Eventually, she kicks hard enough to snap his neck, the chains keeps the head in place.

You didn't come closer, or you'd have been hit by the flying chains.
Oh my god, Yunikki!
N-not. Wrong name.
What? Your heart sinks. Please don't...
I am Onryo! Onryo! She shouts it again, like she wants to confirm it to herself. She shakes her head, burying it in her hands as she scratches her face a little.

No you're not!
Try to bring back Yunikki. Come on, not like this!

I can't stop you, can I?
Accept it. She's gone. Doesn't mean you have to like it, but here we are.

Fine.
Yunikki's probably not coming back. "Onryo" will prove useful, and... probably easily suggestible. You'll keep her out of trouble, no problem.

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RAM · « **Reply #1370 on:** January 05, 2018, 05:00:00 pm »

Who's Ryo, and is there room for one more?

omada · « **Reply #1371 on:** January 05, 2018, 05:15:21 pm »

Just ask fast "Okay, don't yell, old name coming back, new life and new name, or double personality like me?.. Oh come on we don't have time to this later we talk"

and really, proceed fast, no time for small talk

RAM · « **Reply #1372 on:** January 05, 2018, 07:21:11 pm »

I think that if we wait, if we go through a whole escape sequence with Onryu and all the running scared and killing rages and what have you, then it will be too late to do anything. Personallyy, I am unclined to just give up on the escape and focus on Yunikki. She has an emotional issue, so the old "don't let them win" or "we just need to get out of here, don't make any decisions now" thing is not likely to work. Even "It is my turn to save you, don't make me fail" is not likely to cut it. We need shock and redirection, which is why I propose making a crude joke about the name. Make it silly, make it fun, make it awkward, and make it clear that we are following her into this...

And if that fails...

Remind her that we dislike The Gestating God and all it stands for, especially where it concerns us, but it made us its lieutenant of intimidations, and if that is what it takes... Grab her elbows and hold them to her sides with all our strength and thus lift her into the air as we straighten our legs. Necromantically spread our hair and send it forwards to strangle her neck while focusing raw necromantic magic in front of our eyes while looking at her soul(check if it is in a fit state to take a deathbolt.). Breath out a brief gust of draining breath and smoke. Tell her that we have saved her life too many times to lose it now, and she has saved ours too many times to go without her here and that we will not let her fall! Then drop her to the ground (with a stealthy deathbolt if she can take it) and, while slowly advancing over her, demand to know where Yunikki is as we drop down and drive our pedipalps against the ground either side of her, or into her shoulders if our aim is off, her new physiology should be resistant to physical harm. And if she still insists, then have Alexia throw Yunikki over her shoulder and carry her out of here. In a direct line, against the wind.

Our mission is to escape. If we leave our minds behind, then we haven't escaped...

omada · « **Reply #1373 on:** January 05, 2018, 07:31:00 pm »

you won

Liquefied Spleens · « **Reply #1374 on:** January 06, 2018, 06:08:13 pm »

Who's Ryo, and is there room for one more?
The chained woman looks at you for a moment, with a facial expression you can't quite describe. After a few seconds that feel like months, she eventually snarls and looks away. Then she starts scratching her face again, this time cutting deeper with her nails. You hold her arms, to stop her from hurting herself anymore. She actually did manage to grind away at herself, she's bleeding a little.
Yunikki, come on! You can't keep hurting yourself!
Angrily, she babbles something in a language you can't understand. She's back to speaking Oriental languages, now? You don't have time for this...
To hell with it, you'll MAKE time.
You hold her close, partially to make sure she doesn't run away. You look her straight in the eyes, your expression a mask of determination and anger born of worry.
I have come TOO FAR to lose you like this! You are YUNIKKI! You hear me!? You are my friend, God-damn it!
She just growls out a horrid "no". Ragefilled, drawn-out, and somewhat desperate. You can see tears in her eyes as you still hold her close. You blow out smoke, never breaking eye contact as you keep her steady and in front of you.
Yunikki's GONE. She's DEAD! THE MONSTER ATE HER!
The "Monster" is going to be my fucking bitch if that's true!
It is in charge here!
You place the side of your hand on her shoulder.
Do you feel in charge? You ask, hardly above a whisper. Her mouth falls open as you looks up at you, wreathed in black smoke, your eyes piercing through her soul.
S-She can crush bone...
And this gives you power over me!?
Y-you're...
Neccesary. You place your other hand on her cheek as you come closer still. She falls to her knees, shaking. She's completely and utterly cowed by you, leaving you as the only thing in the world that matters. Not the monster, not her feelings of vengeance, not even her chains. Right now, your embrace of pure power leaves her with nothing else.
She dares not look, nor can she look away!

You are Yunikki. You are my ally. And you are NOT this Onryo. You're with ME!
H-hai.
I'll assume that means "Yes"?
She nods, her gaze downcast. If nothing else, she's calm now. Good. You'll drag her back to the land of the sane if you have to pull her there with your own bare hands! She won't be doing anything rash, at least, so you can continue the escape. You find little else in the way of guards for quite a while, until you reach the more used parts of the castle again. Soon, you find patrols of two guards or more. You sneak past where you can, which proves to be easy enough. With the sword the last patrol had, you and Yunikki can take down a small patrol of two silently, if need be. They have fairly predictable routes, and they're still rather dumb. You end up killing two patrols, one you run through your knife while Yunikki Breaks their necks with a chain. The corpses will be discovered soon, but you kind of plan on reaching the exit before things get bad. Eventually, you start recognizing the hallway from the time you went out to the courtyard. Just as you step past the first trap, however, you hear a familiar voice.
Hey! Uh... You're the Sydney they're used to, right?
When you turn around, you see...
Well, it's you. Partially.

She stands fairly tall, looking sure of herself, although she seems a little befuddled. Two long legs, decorated in in all manner of small bones and pieces of fur and protected by solid plate. Her chest is covered a bit less, showing off her midriff, but she still wears a plate of the top part of her chest, with yet more furs lining the sides. Her hair is ridiculously long, reaching all the way down her back. Her arms are uncovered, but tattooed with all sorts of markings. Her muscles are thick and clearly defined wherever possible, and her armor seems designed to show that.
Other than that, she looks just about exactly like you.
She is also holding a long, sturdy and reinforced staff. There is a piece of metal at the end, forming a small sort of cleaver. She has a lot of bags on her, as well.
Who wants to know? You ask, carefully. She hasn't attacked you yet...
MY name's Sydney. And I'm guessing so is yours? You look like a drider version of me.
...Are you going to stop me?
I could if I wanted..
She swings her staff over her head, spinning it around at a breakneck speed, and slams the back end of it against the floor. The clack of wood against stone reverbs through the hallway.

How do you respond?

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crazyabe · « **Reply #1375 on:** January 06, 2018, 07:20:17 pm »

Lets argue with this human form variation on us,debate on why they would have reason to stop us from leaving when there seems to be some misunderstanding here, we would rather not have to kill our self since we already had to kill *one* rabid mutant clone who was out to destroy the world and she seems rather... sane compared to the alchemist lady, Vampire lord, and other monsters running this place.

RAM · « **Reply #1376 on:** January 06, 2018, 09:10:30 pm »

Ugh.
First, if she doesn't remember Vvulf, or Mutterstew, or the first cave and our siblings baking in the sun, then we are not different "versions" of one person but different people who just happen to have similarities due to irresponsible alchemy. And we have personally verified that eating other versions of yourself doesn't do anything, so just drop that whole line of thought before it starts.
Second, we are leaving. She can come with us if she wants to and agrees not to kill, damage, or permanently alter any of our friends and allies in any objectionable ways. We already have someone to turn our prospective mates into fowl and we ourselves may have eaten people in our sleep, so if she wants to convert everyone into thralls or do the "secretly a monster" thing or whatever, it isn't clever or unique, it is just tired and we REALLY are not in the mood. We already have a potential army of look-alikes out there so we are both going to have to deal with it.
Third: There are a whole lot of people in the world who want to kill vampires. And our current host seems like the type to get tired of things and treat them badly after a while. She should seriously avoid become a vampire if she can help it.
Fourth: thanks for letting us see our pretty face again, even if she doesn't have enough eyes.
Finally: The Gestating god is a massive amount of bad news. If we really are connected, at all, then there may be a god and its army out there looking to twist her soul into a rope, bend her body into a hideous abomination, and effectively destroy her mind. Even if we aren't connected, if those tattoos are anything like ours then she should get rid of them as soon as possible, the Crusaders, or possibly The Beaks might be able to help with that... Really, if her tattoos start feeling... off... then she should just run. No amount of vampirism will fight off that nightmare if it comes in force. And it getting ahold of us, and therefore possibly her, would be bad for the world in general, so just don't let it happen. Even if she doesn't much like the world, no amount of revenge could be worth what Old Jesty would do to her.

Seriously, she would be better off being associated with ANYONE other than us, she should probably follow us for her own safety until she at least knows about all the horrors that are hunting us. Did we mention the entire city that might want us dead to maintain their monopoly on pretty blue driders? They might regard her face as problem enough...

Whisperling · « **Reply #1377 on:** January 06, 2018, 10:59:26 pm »

Be pleasant and calm. The clone seems pretty sane as of right now, so it might pay to build a good working relationship. Who knows, maybe she's even a prospective ally.

omada · « **Reply #1378 on:** January 07, 2018, 12:40:25 pm »

Loved the idea of converting her

Stating the obvious that they will mistreat her any moment and so on

Puppyguard · « **Reply #1379 on:** January 07, 2018, 05:57:23 pm »

Look at her soul and be careful.
She might be under control of the Vampire.

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Author Topic: Web of Life: A Drider's Adventure (Ended) (Read 190058 times)

Liquefied Spleens

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RAM

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omada

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RAM

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Liquefied Spleens

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omada

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RAM

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Liquefied Spleens

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crazyabe

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RAM

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Whisperling

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