Perform (Act II):
CLW for Caldazar: and
CLW for Pollux:
Caldazar feels the still warm blood seeping out from where the lash opened his skin through his armor. He retrieves the wand of healing from his belt and applies it's magic first to himself, and then to their tragically wounded lead.
To Tal he gives a smirk "Worry not Tal, we all know our parts in this... besides, I'm sure there's been times you've wanted to strike me so just enjoy the opportunity to do so without reproach" his tone clearly showing the jest in his statement.
Perform (Act II):
Merax eyes Tal and grins. "You fell into your role well enough, Tal. Your enthusiasm will make Pollux all the stronger for it."
Turning to Pollux as Caldazar tends to him, "You are stronger than I gave you credit for, my vagabond lord. I'll buy you an ale or three when this farce is done."
Yes there have been times that I was tired of all of your antics but never to such athat I would do this type of physical harm. I will try to make it up to you these last acts. Thanks for your kind words Meraxilar, but it is all for naught if we don't survive this as a group.
Caldazar raises a slight eyebrow at the mention of antics, but does not take open umbrage. One would have thought the liberation of this city more than mere antics... but no matter.
Perform (Act I):
Perform (Act II):
Looking at Tal and in hushed tone so that none of the acolytes might overhear, "I would presume that the lash was better commanded than you may admit, evidenced by the fact a warrior such as yourself missed the mark for often than one could think possible. Do not burden yourself too heavily for yours will be the easiest of the trials we will endure."
Then in a normal tone Petronicus continues, "We must ready ourselves for the third act, the ecstasy of pleasure awaits us, although I doubt that what Robahl has prepared is far from ecstasy."[b]
Walking next to Pollux Petronicus makes show as if he is helping the man get ready for the third act. In a hushed tone, [b]"Your will is the strongest I have seen but we must prepare for our next performance. Shall I touch you with the eagles splendor or save it for a latter time?"
"Oh gods is he alright?!?"
Pollux stumbles to towards the wings as his wounds close under the ministrations of the faux half orcs magic stick. Casto darts out and climbs atop his shoulder leaving a trail of bloody tracks as the rat uses some of the closing wounds as footholds.
"I am fine. Tal killed me a bit while I was in the cage, but I've been killed before so it was fine."
After the curtain falls, Tal rushes over to pollux, I'm sorry Pollux. I did not know that those lashes would cause such harm. After the first, I tried to ease the suffering but it was to no avail. Please forgive me. Here let me see if your still wounded.
"Yes I could tell the hooks only reluctantly ripped at my flesh."
Pollux smiles, from the blood it is apparent at some point he bit his tongue rather severely. "No need to worry. It is important to get carried away, otherwise you have to walk."
Turning to Pollux as Caldazar tends to him, "You are stronger than I gave you credit for, my vagabond lord. I'll buy you an ale or three when this farce is done."
Pollux looks Xarem in the eye. "When this farce is done there will be no ale. But I would welcome a glass now. It was rather warm out there till I died.
Walking next to Pollux Petronicus makes show as if he is helping the man get ready for the third act. In a hushed tone, "Your will is the strongest I have seen but we must prepare for our next performance. Shall I touch you with the eagles splendor or save it for a latter time?"
"You too?" Pollux shakes his head as if to clear it. "No, save your magic. The need will come on it's own legs."
Castor scampers into the wings after helping to clean the delicious delicious blood from the stage.
After the curtain falls, Tal rushes over to pollux, I'm sorry Pollux. I did not know that those lashes would cause such harm. After the first, I tried to ease the suffering but it was to no avail. Please forgive me. Here let me see if your still wounded."Yes I could tell the hooks only reluctantly ripped at my flesh."
Pollux you do me a grave disservice. I tried to have the hooks only strike your flesh the last two times, not rend your flesh. If you wish I will let you strike me In return for the blows I places upon you.
Pollux you do me a grave disservice. I tried to have the hooks only strike your flesh the last two times, not rend your flesh. If you wish I will let you strike me In return for the blows I places upon you.
"I'm sorry. You don't understand. I meant what I said. You could have made it much worse, like the others did. The infliction of pain is an expressive act. One skilled in its receipt gains a taste for the nuance, the flavor, the wrist-work. The whip wanted to bite deeper, the mob wanted to bite deeper, but you held back. Someday I might understand why. Now there is no time. The yowling noise is nearly finished and the mob wants more flesh to rip. Shall we oblige them or should I start the fires now?"
"There is no call for flame yet..." his tone suggesting that the matter was still open for debate later in the evening perhaps. "Come... pleasure awaits us on stage"
"You too?" Pollux shakes his head as if to clear it. "No, save your magic. The need will come on it's own legs."
Walking next to Pollux Petronicus makes show as if he is helping the man get ready for the third act. In a hushed tone, "Your will is the strongest I have seen but we must prepare for our next performance. Shall I touch you with the eagles splendor or save it for a latter time?"
"As you wish. Although I shudder to think of what may be attached to those legs."
As you finally start to relax and see Pollux bouncing and gibbering once more the bearded devil returns from whatever haunt he goes to when no one is looking carrying a bucket and tongs. A brief glance inside the buckets reveals a number of writhing, pulsating, things within. They resemble large yellowish and toothy maggots. He tosses aside a finished cigarrete behind a cardboard torture device letting a stream of smoke loose in the air.
With everyone making it to their places the curtain rises and the third act begins.
Haanderthan gestures towards the bucket a stern and terrible countenance coming over his sharp face.
"It is said a liar’s pain is easy to bear, but pleasure steals truth from even the most well-tended fortress. So let it be with ye, Larazod. Here before you now are the Flukes of Asmodeus. Their bite more pleasurable than the caresses of a thousand succubi (which you no doubt have enjoyed, you treacherous Abyssal-loving fool). Taste of their deep burrowing bliss. Their rapturous journey through your body shall explore the deepest, darkest pleasures any mortal has ever known. Their soul-shuddering wanderings end in your skull, where they plant their young who consume you in an orgiastic frenzy—leaving you an empty husk of a thing—a spent lover, drooling in blissful oblivion forever. Unless, of course, you can resist these god-bending pleasures. This time, the trial is not yours alone to bear. Let us see if your trusted companions’ faith remains as unshakeable as yours. Who shall be the first to die in spasms of ecstasy?"
Calseinica quickly gets back into character channeling her worry and agitation into lust. "Oh, how I long to face this judgment!"
Arriving on stage, 'Drovalid' regards the bearded devil with disdain. It is rather ovvious that Tal would rather fight him right nowinstead of continuing on with this charade. Being a man of honor though Tal steps forward when the flukes are presented. Under his breath he utters let's get this over with then.
Bowing before Larazod much in the manner of the last act before handeran, Drovalid proclaims, Master Larazod, most unholy saint of our dark Asmodeus, please allow me to prove my devotion to your cause. Ending the bow and standing straight again, To think my biting lash flayed your chaste red skin, and cracked such a noble hide as yours. I shall be first to face this trial, if you so wish it.
.
Pollux laughs at the writhing things in the bucket. "Ooo Rot grubs! They are really tasty with garlic and rose petals. Pity the last cook who knew how to prevent the eggs from hatching in the patrons was torn apart by shadowbeasts last week. I miss their little crunchy tongues already."
Still gigling at the grubs Lazarod manages to slide his lines around Pollux's smirk.
"Your courage is beyond question. Show this lickspittle Magistrate the meaning of devotion, my friend."
Lazarod pays close attention to the progress of the fluke through Drovalid while Pollux gives Tal pointers.
Whispering "Don't cut there or you will miss the main artery...Yes under the tendon, see it there?" .
Drovalid picks up one of the tiny creatures holding it up to the light for the audience to see. A few deep breathes see Drovalid preparing himself mentally as he prepares to administer the fluke. Lowering his hand he places the fluke upon his left wrist. Seconds later the grub burrows under the skin. There is a pronounced bulge in the flesh as the grub continues its trek up drovalid's arm. All this time he is shuddering before driven to one knee by the 'pleasure'. Listening to Pollux's whispered instructions, Tal grabs the knife and digs into the skin trying to avoid any major arteries or nerves. Misjudging the fluke's speed the first time Drovalid misses removing the fluke. The second attempt is a clean excision of the grub.
Perform check
Round 1:
fort save
Heal check
Damage
round 2:
fort save 2 con damage taken
Heal check
damage
Asmodeus bear witness to my devotion. raising the slain fluke high still on the blade, This half-breed speaks only truth!
Lazarod lifts the fluke from the bucket. Pollux holds it up to the crowd as he examines it. A stray thought involving Thesing and "catch!" crosses his mind, and quite clearly his face.
Quickly bearing his arm and facing Thesing Lazarod makes a small cut with the knife and ushers the grub beneath his skin.
Carefully and slowly Lazarod removes the fluke. Pollux watches in facination as the grub slides free from his mutilated arm.
Time passes.
Pollux comes to himself with a start that causes him to drop both knife and the impaled, possibly living grub. Moving to retrieve it Pollux accidently kicks them both towards the audiance. Lazarods blood leaving a long stripe on the stage.
"Oh, to be that fluke! To burrow into such sweet flesh!" CAlseinica pipes in as she turns a sickly shade of green.
As pollux kicks the knife while chasing them they come to the edge the impaled grub writhing and undulating on the point hanging just off he stage steaming ever so slightly as it comes too close to one of the powerful stage lamps.
"I sing only of the joy of supplication to our dark lord.
This pleasure is only a gift of Asmodeus’s truth. I
would gladly die at this fluke’s bite, but alas, my duty
here is yet undone, and so I scorn this pleasure with
a bleeding blade. I shall not relent until your lies are
revealed, foul Magistrate."
With the grub gently roasting in the footlight the smell of roast pork drifts over the audiance. The sent causes some stomaches to growl and far too few of those to turn once they realize the source of the sweet smell.
Krona steps forward to take her fluke and takes a place at the front of the stage where the knife lies fallow after being discarded by Larazod. Krona holds the fluke up to the light, as though regarding it in quiet awe before placing it against the wrist of her left arm.
As the grub begins to dig it's way into her flesh she allows the pain to wash over her and shuts it away from her conscious thought. Rolling her eyes back so that the whites are showing she lets out a roar of pleasure / agony as she collapses split legged to her knees. "I am undone! I confess! I confess!"
Perform:
Haanderthesing practically cheers. "At last! The truth!"
Round 1:
Fort save:
Heal check:
Damage:
Round 2:
Fort save:
Heal check:
Damage:
Round 3:
Fort save:
Heal check:
Damage:
Tears of indiscernable emotion on her face Krona pleads at Larazod "Do you see Larazod! How I writhe for you!?! How I ache! I love you blind fool! Ignorant devil child! I want you! Enough!"
Snatching the knife from where it lies on the stage and scraping off the rot grub still on the blade in a single motion Krona raises the blade high in the air. She then plunges the knife forcibly into her opposing forearm with a roar. Blood wells up, then flows freely as Krona digs into her arm searching for the fluke. The grating shudder of metal on bone sends shivers up her spine as her visceral plumbings grow ever more frantic, searching and searching for the elusive fluke within her.
As the pool of blood beneath her grows Krona becomes ever frantic and desperate. Gritting her teeth she calms her thoughts and sets her jaw I shall not fail... not today. With a heartfelt cry of relief, she wrenches free the blade with a flourish - her energetic release sending a gushing sanguine spray over the front two rows. Krona sees the fluke on the knife and half-smiles as she forces herself unsteadily to her feet. Managing to rise and face away from the audience her gaze blurs as she looks over her companions. Blackness descends upon her sight like a heavy curtain, and she manages only a half step before her strength is spent - and she collapses in a heap on the stage, arm splayed to one side and a pool of blood forming beneath it.
Stabilize:
Walking to center stage Petronicus bends down to retrieve the knife from Caldazar's hand. He looks over Caldazar to see if he is dead or just unconscious.
Heal Check:
Petronicus' face goes white as he see's Caldazar lying dead on the stage, his blood soaking into the wooden floor. With a slowness as if his hand were made of lead, Petronicus takes the knife out of Caldazar's hand. He reaches for the bucket and slowly rises before the audience. He tries to remember his lines. he tries to focus on being Dentris, but all he can do is focus on the bucket of rot grubs he is holding. He remembers everything he ever read about them. He remembers the dissections and experiments he performed. All he can do is focus on the grubs.
Suddenly his focus changes. He notices that his foot is wet. Looking down he sees that the pool of Caldazar's blood had slowly grown to where it has reached his foot. His thoughts move from the rot grubs to the blood. Caldazar's blood. One of the people he came to know in his struggle to find his brother. His brother. The reason he is in this infernal play. Suddenly a hatred starts to burn within him. A hatred for Westcrown's politics. A hatred for the foul creatures that own the street in the night. A hatred for the the dottari.
Suddenly realizing everything he is fighting for Petronicus remembers where his is and what he is to do.
Grabbing a rot grub out of the bucket with more fear than determinations he holds it up for the audience to see.
Placing the creature on his left arm he readies himself for the pain that is to come and tries to get through his performance.
"Oh! It has been so long! Sweet, aching ecstasy!"
Perform:
Holding the knife he begins to remove the grub.
Round 1
Fort Save:
Heal Check:
Round 2
Fort Save:
Heal Check:
Round 3
Fort Save:
Heal Check:
Round 4
Fort Save:
Heal Check:
Round 5
Fort Save:
Heal Check:
Round 6
Fort Save:
Heal Check:
Damage:
As he tires to to cut out the rot grub Petronicus can not focus on the task through the sheer pain of the creature burrowing to his heart. He becomes more and more frantic as he tries desperately to catch the creature with the blade of the knife.
He begins slashing higher and higher up his arm desperately. He begins to scream "GET IT OUT!!! GET IT OUT!!!
As the creature reaches his shoulder he continues to try and stab it with the knife. Frantic, he is doing more harm that good as he stabs himself.
"SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!"
Now Petronicus is covered in his own blood and his clothes are wet with it. In a last desperate attempt he places his hand in front of the grubs path. He cuts open his chest and manages to remove the creature with the knife and hold it up before the audience before falling forward, off the stage. He can see that he is falling but is powerless to stop himself. His last thought is not of his brother, or of his accomplices. He only smiles and thinks I guess I beat Pollux to it
Unbothered by Dentris' fall, Tybain grabs a Rot Grub. "My turn, I suppose." Tybain watches with mild amusement as the grub burrows into his flesh.
A few seconds later, Tybain begins giggling uncontrollably. "Ooooh! Aaaaah! I know not this feeling! It is as if a thousand feathers assault my f lesh— especially my most… tender… parts. What strange
pleasure is this!
He grabs his knife and begins cutting into himself...
Heal check (+10 for skill, +4 for the knife):
Fortitude save (DC 17, +5):
A sound suddenly pipes up from the fallen body of Dentris the blood slick grub crawling along the floor away from him. "Ha! Watch the virginal knight squirm!"
Tybain looks at Larazod with a brief smirk then tears loose his fluke. "I am well, though I may never be the same."
Wand of Cure Light Wounds: ,
"Curse your persistence. All lies eventually reveal their ugly fangs. I shall draw them as venom from a wound." Haanderthan declares with the finality of a closing coffin.
As the curtain falls a pair of pale looking stage hands drag the worm eaten corpse of Petronicus on stage his beard ruined and his robes staining brown with rapidly drying blood.
As you watch in silence a smile begins to form on Thesings face and it grows as the body leaves its trail of blood across the stage. As ti disappears backstage Thesing can no longer control himself and breaks into hysterical laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHa" Breathe. "AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Did you see! Did you see how he pleaded for his life at the end! PRiceless! Absolutely priceless! Probably the best acting we would ever see from him!"
At the sudden and grim reality of the performance finally clicks inside the beautiful calseinica's mind she vomits and falls to her knees sobbing.
Pulled from darkness by the energy delivered by Merax, Caldazar reawakens covered with blood, but the wreckage rent upon his arm replaced by unbroken skin and a deep ache. Wearily nodding a thanks to Merax he half moves to ask... before noticing that Petronicus had fallen. Sighing, Caldazar regains his feet though his countenance remains jaded and mostly devoid of emotion. The palpable glee of Thesing does not even register upon him at this stage.
Turning to those that he has shed blood with before he states flatly "First blood to the House of Thrune" Calseinica's weeping engenders no sympathy from the Thorn of Milani.
Unless he thinks it will cause him to be placed in jail or worse, Tal will attempt to charge over land a haymaker on Thesing smiling face. Who cares about the state the actor will be in to continue the performance. Heck if there are any grubs left Tal would hover his face over the pail while he punches him between acts.
Charge with power attack
Damage with power attack
Meraxilar kneels over the fallen body of Petronicus, examining him with grim fascination. The Rot Grubs are wondrous. They share a similar form to the Rough Beast. It's almost as if Petronicus was unmade by the Unmaker itself. I doubt he appreciates the honor though.
Merax gets up stifling the urge to smile at his own thoughts. "Alas poor Petronicus The Thrice-Diplomatic, his theatrical calling washed away in a tide of little, boring fangs."
Non-chalantly, he glances around to see if anyone other than his companions understood the reference to Rovagug. This time he cannot help but smirk as he walks away and lets the theater crew dispose of the body.
Pollux walks over to Calseinica heedless of the vomit and blood on his shoes. Castor runs up behind her and vaults onto the vagabonds shoulder.
"Do you believe us now? Castor was wondering what you will do next."
Seeing Tal charge off in unrestrained rage and Pollux minister to the starlet, Caldazar stands with Merax as they await the next trial.
Even given a fair chance Tal's blow connects easily and the laughter stops immediately as Thesing is sprawled across stage holding his face.
"AAUgggh! My bace! MY fazh! You bastid! You'll bay fer dis!"
Meanwhile the starlet is getting into hysterics. "Oh gods! Oh gods! He was screaming! I can still hear the screaming! Oh and I can't run! I can't run now or the mayor will kill me! Ohhhhh!"
If possible Tal will take a couple charges of the wand to get some hp. 2 charges used.
If no one stops Tal he will go one more round into the gut. Enjoy being in character after that. More to come if you spout off again. See you act the play. Then he will return to Cal and Meraxilar for the previously mentioned healing.
Power attack
damage