Fish hooks? Really?
...Still, they outnumber me. It would be wise to retreat for now.
Randolf quickly returns to where the healer is.
"Healer woman! These cultists are into human sacrifice and this whole thing was a trap! Don't free their god or we will all die! He will take our blood for himself, or something like that!"
Retreat inside the part of the temple where the healer is and quickly interrupt whatever is going on. Return her doctor bag and explain the situation about the murder fish cultists that want out blood for a sacrifice to the god.
Name: Randolf Osborn
Appearance: Ugly as hell. Smells like rotten fish. Very brutish.
Magic path: Channeler Ascetic
Mana: 0
Strength: D6
Speed: D6
Endurance: D12
Knowledge: D4
Will: D12
Senses: D4
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Sealer Suit D4
White Robes
Shield
Wooden Club D6
Backpack
Lantern
100 feet of rope
29 gold coins
4 silver coins
Doctor's bag
Air bladder
"Okay."
attempt to remove the sword.
Nice stat sheet there, Lenglon. Because I don't have any stats for Leng's character I'm gonna assume Randy tries to remove the sword on her behalf, since he said he doesn't want to stop the action.
Randolf looks at the collection of fish faced freaks with their hook swords and their dead grins. He considers his options for a few moments...These guys don't look like mages, unfortunately, and he's primed for mage hunting not for sword fights. They also outnumber him at least 6 to one. He considers the heft of his club, swirling it in the water. Its slowed by the fluid and any attempt to hit someone with it will most likely be underwhelming. And this terrain is unknown to him, but known explicitly by his attackers. Numerical disadvantage, weapon disadvantage, terrain disadvantage. Not. Good.
He breathes a burst of bubbles through his nostrils and turns away, swimming as fast as he can back into the room with the god. He rejoins the Healer woman and tells her in no uncertain terms that their current situation is...less than advantageous. The healer, in her own terse and hurried way, advises Randolf of the situation. She of course does this by pointing at the sword in the god's chest and telling him to pull. Randolf has no real idea of whats going on, but he does recognize one thing: A sword is a better weapon than a club down here.
[Doing d6 from randy, d4 from unknown healer][6+4 (wow max rolls on two dice) v 10]
Both of them plant their feet on either side of the throne and grab the sword between them. On a count of three they pull with all their might, straining their whole bodies against the blade. Leg muscles twitch, backs shiver, faces contort and redden with the effort. And for several seconds nothing happens. The blade's grip cuts into their palms and still they pull. And the blade begins to slide, grinding slowly, very slowly out of the stone. Once they get a bit of momentum behind it, the blade starts to move quicker and quicker until finally, in a burst of blue-green godsblood, it tears free. Both Randolf and the Healer shoot back through the water, the strength that had been pulling the blade unintentionally redirected to shoving themselves forward off the throne. They're both still holding the blade when they right themselves and look back where it had been. The god is gone, vanished utterly. And then a voice speaks in their minds.
"You grant me freedom. Gone from the world am I, rejoined with that which I lost in that earthen tomb. A boon I shall grant you both, in form of that blade, my jailer. May it contain within it my blood and a measure of my power. So long as that blade is in your grasp Water shall be your ally, as you were ally to me."
As the echo of the voice fades the blade begins to glow. It glows white like burning phosphorous and the water boils heatlessly around the pair. And then it begins to flow inward. Water- silty, gray, swampy water -begins to flow into the the blade like it was a hole in the world. It starts slow but then it goes faster and faster, a whirlpool forming with the pair at its center. The temple crumbles around them, stone collapsing and flowing into the whirling torrent. Faster and faster, more and more, the eye of the waterspout breaches the surface and they stand on lake bottom, a towering column of water churning around them, rising hundreds of feet up from the bottom. They watch as the town, its decaying wooden edifices and traitor population, are swept up and fall into the water. They watch the debris and people churned and pulled down, pulled into the ever devouring blade. They see fish faced cultists with looks of uncomprehending terror vanish into the silvered finish of the sword like smoke dispersing into the air. And then, suddenly, it ends. And the pair are floating on their backs, sword still held between them, on the surface of the lake. But it is not the same lake as before. Not the same fetid thing, but a lake now of waters so clear and blue that they can almost see the distant bottom where the temple once stood. The city that squatted on that pool of corruption is gone, replaced instead by enormous lily pads and flowering lotuses the size of small homes. Koi the size of cows, frogs the size of horses, schools of fish in glittering colors like a churning pool of gems. And on the shore, bewildered hostages and travelers, saved from the town's destruction by some force unknown to them.
The blade in their hands has changed as well, Silver turned blue, engraved with the ever flowing designs of an ocean trapped within. They know its name; the name of what it has become. Aqua Vitae; blade of the king to which the waves bow.
((Cave Adventure: Mission Complete
And it only took us 306 days...))
"Aaah, the sun on my face, the wind in my hair, and open skies all around. I am glad to be out again." Darwin exclaims after getting his to his feet and the vertigo subsiding.
"So then friends, where shall we head off now? I propose we go back to Glucinum first, maybe sell some of our spoils and plan our next steps?"
Off back to Glucinum, unless people object. 50 more gold for Rufus from what we got from the Dolmen. 15 mana to Ecalir.
Think about what I know about the two other nearby villages, Funiculus and Matrass. Are they also about the artifact trade?
Name: Darwin Zeppeli
Appearance: An old medicine man.
Magic path: alchemist gut-reader
Strength: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d10
Mana: 31 (- 15 to Pan this turn)
Ongoing effects: None
Magical materials- Vacuum!
- Reanimate
- Sharpen
- Viscera
- Diamond
InventoryWeapons
- dissection knife: d4
- long sword with glowing runes
- 6 weapons (2 knives, 2 swords, 1 warpick, 1 halberd)
Armor
- Medium armor: d6
- Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
Alchemist swag
- Alchemist’s Gear
- 250 gold worth of precious gems
- sack of jewels worth 700 gold
- a crystal skull of some sort of big toothed cat (30 mana)
- an ingot of platinum (40 mana)
Artifacts
- A glass slab with a topographical map of the kingdom carved into it
- a bottle of glowing blue sea water
- a glass orb with a barely visible lotus inside of it
General adventurer crap
- Zomboraptor head
- Lantern
- several hundred feet of rope
- climbing crampons
- a grappling hook
- iron stakes
- net made of rope
- several vials with imp fat
Follow Darwin to the town/city. If I find the time, tattoo "many" on my left leg.
Name: Écalir Speedwagon
Appearance: barbarian, think Arnie from Conan the Barbarian
Magic path: Hunting flesh-scroll
Mana: 20
Strength: d10
Speed: d10
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d4
Will: d6+1
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects:None
Inventory:
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Bandages
Tattoo Kit
Medium armour: d6 (damaged)
Quality weapon (Spear): d8
250g worth of gems
Longsword with glowing runes (?)
Springy metal weapons (?)
Tattoos:
left Arm: wood
Right arm: Insect
Stomach: Strong acid
Chest: White Phosphorous
Left buttcheek: Electricity
Right buttcheek: Lightning
(left leg: many)
(We'll assume Eclair finds the time to tattoo)
You head back into town and part ways with Rufus and
that lady whose demeanor keeps changing. You give Rufus his cut and part ways; he seems very excited to return to the explorer's club. Then you hand 15 mana back to Eclair. Then, flush with sacks and sacks of loot, you find a nice place to sit and think.
Funiculus and Matrass. One sounds like a good place to spend the night. Har har. From what you can remember, they're all at least partially in the artifact fishing business, though Glucinum is the most invested in it. Funiculus does fishing and you're pretty sure Matrass does mining and...if you remember right they have a large distillery that makes booze using some kind of cave plants or something like that. Odd place for it but hey, whatever sells.
"There! They're out."
"You had several pieces of magic inside you that were causing your problems. It was causing your body to wreck itself trying to grow taller. The problem should be much better now, and you should be feeling some relief."
Examine the girl and see if there's any relief I can provide with my spells to help her recover faster. If she's already feeling much better, there's no need for further work. In any case, do any necessary follow up treatment, and then converse about payment. Those words are more valuable than gold, but accept the agreed upon fee and some hugs. If it looks like it'll be a hardship, don't worry about the gold.
Be very happy that she was able to be healed.
After that, I think Saeko will rest for a couple days, so close the shop and pay the attendants for a few days while I rest my arms. They can do what they like, so long as they drop the turtle off well away from town, and spread the word about the dangerous turtle. If someone has a better way to keep it imprisoned, they can have the turtle instead. That spirit was probably weakened some from having anger drained from it. Also talk with the man released from the grasp of the anger spirit, about what to do next and where he is now. Give him a few gold if he needs it.
Oh, and drop the d10 Sound to make room for those three words.
Saeko Hirahara
Japanese girl with a long black braid and a white and red dress with long gloves and stockings.
Invoking Empath
Str d4
Speed d8
Endurance d10
Knowledge d4
Will d10+1
Senses d8
Items:
20 Mana
113 coins (gold)
Backpack
100ft Rope
Waterskin
Compass
Hat
Sun Goggles
Light Armor: The outfit, naturally.
Materials: d12 Ape, d12 Grow, d12 Strengthen, d12 Expand.
Location: Crocus
Status: Severely burned and bandaged hands.
The girl says she feels mostly the same but the slight fever she was running before is gone. More than likely the results of this will take some time to really show up as her body rights itself naturally. You tell her as much and advise taking it easy for a while. You take their gold as payment and try another set of hugs. You get 3 mana from the father and 2 from the daughter; clearly they're thankful but the lack of big obvious instant cure is sort of turning their relief from overwhelming to annoyingly reasonable and cautious optimism. Oh well.
You see them off and then head back inside and rest. You rest for a few days, keeping the shop closed except to provide non-magical aid to a few badly injured people. You get 3 gold out of it and by the time a week has passed your arms have healed up enough to be sore, with whorls of scar tissue across the otherwise pale and slender limbs, but usable. The hands are the worst off, with a few blisters still healing. Your bodyguards take the turtle away somewhere and it doesn't come back to bother you. You see its last victim out with a few gold and instructions about where he can go to start over. You get 3 mana out of a hug with him as he leaves.
Whatever was here before is gone now, replaced by something far better!
Name: Zavirius En-Drani Haver, Painter
Appearance: A girl of unknown but apparently foreign decent. She claims to be the last surviving member of a long-dead ancient race, kept preserved in some kind of magical stasis, but this is likely untrue. Though her skin is a strange shade not normally seen on the continent, and her hair is bleached white with a slight green reflective tint. She is not very tall but stout like a dwarf and startlingly strong. The clothing that she wears is very minimal.
Mana: 5
Method: Flesh-Inscribing Channel
Materials: Two unknown materials!
Strength: d10
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d8
Will: d8
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects: The tail end of some very entertaining drugs.
Inventory:
Wooden Arm-Guards (d4 armor)
Hemp sack
Paints and brushes
Kukri (d6 weapon)
Spawn in Alcahest! Bout time somebody saw the big city.
Zavi wasn't very convinced of the whole "wizards" thing until she arrived in the capital. And observed a few big mage gangs fighting each other. At this point she's thinking that's pretty neat, when she hears of a magical artifact that can apparently turn one person into a mage. She immediately blows all her money on it and maybe uh, does some other things to get at it.
Is that an action or a backstory? Regardless, you spawn in Alkahest. Now Alkahest is a big town, but the basic places of interest are
The Noble court
The Palace
The Housing quarter
The Craftsman quarter
The Markets
The Slums
The Temple to the 8 unspoken
and The Mage Breaker Headquarters
Now, where would you actually like to start? And if you say palace be aware you will probably die. Probably really die.
Author
Topic: Cabal: Wizard Open World Game (Read 364869 times)