So after the rampant stupidity of getting the coffee machine ready I forgot to actually start it. -__________- Anyway, turn nao.
MAGICThe thought 'I wish Marcus were here...' resonated through Zathyran's mind as it wandered his memories. Suddenly, he smacked himself in the face. "STUPID!" Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out a small, but thick book, with the words 'Grimoire of the Wanderer by Marcus Raust' scrawled onto it's face. He flipped it open and began glancing through it, looking for information on the castle, any of the herbs, and even information about the types of enemies he would find in the castle, making sure to keep an eye out for mentions of materialization.
yeah, im gonna try magicing the ones not being subdued.
In this case, grab the SECOND best imp and threaten persuade it into serving me. Because witches need familiars.
Grab the best imp and threaten it into serving me now.
Appear, at a slight disadvantage.
SCIENCEDouble Holy water on robozombie 1 again, or if it's re-dead, hit roboninjazombie 2.
Its Zombie Smashing Day.
Focus solely on the zombie in front of me...wait for it to charge...open hand palm strike to the front of the head with a sweeping motion of the feet behind it, taking it down.
Continue to assault the holy man.
Catch that ball like a boss, drag Biernat in with unholy, undead, mechanical strength, and LARIATOOOOO
Flying roundhouse kick that nobleman!
Zathyran smacked himself in the face, inflicting all of 0 damage but leaving a rather red handprint anyway, and reached into his robes. Marcus had given him this book before they had parted ways, telling him that anything he hadn't had time to teach him could be found in its pages. But did it hold any information on this mysterious castle? (7, Major Success) It turned out that it did! Marcus had compiled a few legends and myths about the castle. Named Castlevania (as an aside, that's canon according to Order of Ecclesia...), it was the home of an extremely powerful vampire - one might even say the first vampire - known as Dracula, a man who could manipulate the souls of demons and commanded such might that even Death itself served as his right hand. That explained a lot, to the young man. If Death himself had claimed Marcus and Malakai, then Dracula could have easily intercepted them and twisted them to his own ends... and such a fate lay in store for any who opposed him and died in the struggle. He couldn't quite suppress a shiver of fear and anger that his master had met such an end.
He flipped through a few more pages and determined that there were four main towers: Magic, Science, Art, and Time. The castle was extensive and had an underground catacombs, a massive library, an art gallery separate to the corresponding tower, a chapel of all things, several barracks, a few ballrooms... it seemed like the place had never been mapped completely, and Marcus made a note that it was theorized the castle itself was some demon of chaos, bent into shape by Dracula's will and that if he were killed, it would be destroyed too. Leaving the castle for now, he flipped to the herbs. (4, Minor Failure) Marcus had made note of some herbs but had neglected to show pictures or describe them. Apparently he had felt knowing the names would be enough. (6, Minor Success) No one, not even Marcus, knew everything about the castle, but he had made a note about materializing imps that Zathyran found rather quickly. They were small flying beasts, about a foot tall, with dark purple skin, bat wings, and horns. They attacked using blades made of wind and small pitchforks. Apparently they could also jab said pitchforks into people and take control of them for a short time, though they weren't strong enough to completely overcome the will of warriors such as himself and his team. He closed the book for now.
Meanwhile, Claire and f!Pierre were trying their wiles on the imps. (Claire: 6. Pierre: 7+1.) Two of the imps were charmed! One approached Claire and made a slight bowing motion - as well as it could in the air, anyway - and held out a stone. "King's stone for pretty lady," it said. Claire was like :\ because something that spoke with ten different high-pitched demonic voices at once wasn't to be trusted, but she took the king's stone anyway. (Claire gets: King's Stone! This one-use item guarantees damage on a successful hit by adding +4 to all damage rolls the round it is used.) The imp bowed again and vanished. Meanwhile, the other one fluttered over to Pierre and settled down on his shoulder. It put a hand on his hat and seemed to disappear into it... (In Witch form, Pierre now has an Imp familiar! It costs three MP to summon, lasts 1d4+1 rounds, and attacks with +3Acc/+1Dam. On a Massive Success on damage, it has a 10% chance to control the enemy.)
Malleus rolled his eyes. The magician was reading and basically ignoring the threat, and the pirate and whatever the hell Pierre even was anymore were trying to seduce them! There was only one thing to do with demons, and that was send them right back to where they came from! (Random Target: 4, Imp 4. -4 MP; 3+2 vs 6. 6+2 vs 2; Minor Success, 1d6; 2 damage) But he wasn't used to casting spells yet, and the imp he aimed an icicle at managed to mostly dodge aside...
And over in the Tower of Science, the fight continued! Frenz took a step back and raised his hands, getting ready to intercept the zombie running at him. It leaped into the air... (6+2 vs 7+1 [3+2 vs 3+1]; 7+4 Critical Success, 2d6x2+75%; 39 damage and 2x overkill) ...and as it twisted around to swing a leg out at his head, Frenz grabbed it by the face, used his other hand to sweep it around into an awkward positions, and slammed it against the ground with as much force as he could bring to bear! The results were messy and quite frankly a bit disgusting. Frenz wiped his hand off on the zombie's shirt and stood. (-2 MP. 3 vs 1+1; Minor Success, 1d6+1d6; 5 damage. 6 vs 1+1; Massive Success, 2d6x2+1d6x2; 30 damage. 35 damage total and 5x overkill) Greenmoore walked up to the downed zombie and took out another pair of holy vials. Saying a prayer for the man's soul, he emptied one on it, then the other to make sure he had ended its unlife. (Greenmoore gets 1x Heart)
Biernat continued to whirl the ball around for momentum, twisting and moving his body as well to keep it moving in patterns the zombie wouldn't be able to predict. (4+2 vs 4+1; 4+3 Major Success, 2d6; 10 damage) The zombie tried to duck in past his defenses but ate a sphere to the chest for its troubles! (1+2 vs 2; Minor Success, 1d6; 4 damage) Surprisingly, as it flew back it grabbed the chain and pulled Biernat with it, then hit him with a clubbing blow to the chest. Apparently this zombie wasn't going down without a fight...
Zathyran Firsankh: 35/35 HP - 39/39 MP
Malleus Raulat: 40/40 HP - 11/15 MP
Pierre Dé Grasse: 40/40 HP - 10/10 MP
Claire Rosara: 35/35 HP - 18/18 MP
Imp 1: 40/40 HP - 10/10 MP
Imp 2: 40/40 HP - 10/10 MP
Imp 3: 40/40 HP - 10/10 MP
Imp 4: 38/40 HP - 10/10 MP
Imp 5: 40/40 HP - 10/10 MP
Friar Greenmoore: 20/20 HP - 26/30 MP
Biernat Hara: 30/40 HP - 15/15 MP
Frenz Grende: 45/45 HP - 5/5 MP
Mechanical Zombie 2: 20/50 HP
Greenmoore's Hearts: 4/5
Pierre's Current Hat: Witch
Riccto got another 8 this turn, which combined with the ones from his last turn, make three in a row, so now Biernat has 3 skill-ups. ^^^