"This is so cool!" Bage shouts with a laugh, even as he prepares to...um...do...something. What can I do? Just punch the thing? I should be able to do...like a kamehameha if I'm really a saiyan. Would it work?
"This is so cool!"
"I know! Right?" shouted Zaidel, also laughing with excitement.
"And actual hydra! This f#<ker is gonna "The big warrior is able to draw his shield and longsword with lightning quickness. "NICE! I have Quick Draw as a feat!!"
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Flashing Joseph a smile, John replies "I'll make you a deal. If the Lady of the Wood has nothing useful to offer us in the way of answers, either herself or somebody else, we'll go to the city nearby. Fair?"
She shoots the man an appreciative smile and nod as Joseph reluctantly agrees to come with the group.
As the Hydra approaches it at first appears to be a terrifying nest of giant vipers, angered at being awakened, and hungry for the kill, but as the moments pass you notice that the snakes weave and slither through the tangled nest of their fellows with perfect coordination and finally you see the great bulk of its huge body, from where the nest of vipers spring.
Alyssa watches as the beast begins to grow larger, larger and more terrifying.
What a strange dream.... I do hope no one gets hurt!
"Watch out!She yells.
Freed from the duty of carrying the chatty Grig, Kei moves to engage it in melee.
Before the creature can retract it's head, Kei leaps, executing a spinning backflip and then sliding down it's neck onto the body.
When he lands at the base of the neck, he will turn almost instinctually and punch it.
The Vulture King, seeing danger, shifts into his true form of the giant vulture before taking off and hovering in the air.
Upon seeing the Vulture King reveal his true from John also undergoes a transformation, but of a very different kind. His body elongates, becoming sinuous and snake like, while his arms and legs grow into huge clawed feet. His head grows a long snout, with a mouth full of massive, sharp teeth. Finally a pair a giant wings, and a long, winding tail burst from his back, and red scales cover his whole body. He lets out a mighty roar as the change is complete.
Lucas follows the group, keeping ten feet or so between himself and the rest of the group, letting them argue amongst themselves as seems to be the norm - These kids never stop arguing. The distraction is going to get one of them hurt one of these days. - speaking in strange languages, and using the distraction that a large, loud group provides as a distraction to remain unseen and keep an eye out for any potential threats.
As the group notices the Hydra, Lucas is already sighting down his rifle for his first shot. When his first breath falls into its natural pause, Lucas pulls the trigger, and racks the bolt four times in quick succession, leaving a single round in the chamber afterwards.
Joseph is slow to react to the hydra, he seems to not even comprehend the creature in front of him.
[dice=Init]1d20
Joseph is slow to react to the hydra, he seems to not even comprehend the creature in front of him.
There are a few special considerations for how combat is run in this game which I was going to post yesterday but then I got real busy lol. So we will resolve this combat as is but in the future this is how it works:
Initiative is done away with completely, instead I as the GM will declare when combat starts and from that point on everyone has 24 real time hours to post their actions, after which the antagonists will get a turn then the cycle goes again until the combat is resolved. Actions occur in the order they are posted.
This system does away with the rigid order of initiative which can be a serious drag in a PbP.
Zaidel, with actions born of raw enthusiasm, ran with an unbelievable speed at the hydra. As the creature lunged for the speedy assailant, the big warrior flip and twirled in mid-air to land behind the monster.
With longsword in hand, Zaidel slashes at the hydra's flank, slashing a long cut across the monster.
One of the Hydras' shiny black heads darts forward, mouth full of curved ivory fangs, to gobble up Kei as he charges.
It snaps shut on thin air as Kei dodges and performs his maneuver.
His hand forming a knife edge Kei severs the head with surgical precision.
The head and most of the neck tumble through the air to thump heavily onto the ground, where it spasms violently for a moment then lies still, dead golden eyes giving the world at large a glassy, unfocused, look of hate.
Lucas opens fire at the Hydra and the forest echos with the roar of his gunfire.
His first shot catches one of the heads in its left eye, popping the orb in an explosion of gory red juice. The back of its wedge shaped cranium detonates outward as the bullet passes through, spraying bits of bone and brain in a wide arc behind the Hydra. The head flops backward and hangs down the Hydra's scaly back like a loose knapsack.
His next shot is fired at center mass, cracking one of the thick, plate sized scales protecting the beasts heart in two. The following two shots hit the same place and dig deep, tearing the giant arterial pump to bits.
With a hissing sound emanating from all its mouths, reminiscent of a balloon slowly losing air, the Hydra slumps, dead, to the ground.
It twitches once then lies still forever.
Zaidel meanwhile launches an epic assault and slashes the dead Hydra open, giving it what for!
From behind the massive bulk of the dead hydra, Zaidel runs up the dead carcass to meet his fellow combatants.
Jumping up and down, the big warrior shouts with abject glee.
"We did it! We did it! WAAHOO! That was BADA$$!!"
Babey chirps speculatively, rubbing her chin with one elven hand.
She says, looking down at her ride. Her eyes bulge in shock as she becomes aware of what John has become.
You aren't quite sure how she was oblivious to the transformation until just now.
Joseph stares at the dead body of the Hydra. A tear of fear that had welled when the creature still moved rolls down his cheek as he says but one thing in a huff of held breath. "Terrifying..." Looking to his side only to see a dragon in the place of John does little to settle him.
Taking a good moment to collect himself for what seems like the millionth time today Joseph turns his attention from the now dead beast to the Orange that caused such a reaction from their Grig companion. "So this thing has opiates and explodes? Like a morphine bomb..." He thinks back to the times he'd been in the hospital for internal bleeding and had been roomed with a person that was on the substance.
This could be a good way for me to defend myself.
John replies to Babey telepathically ::"What now? I'm not powerful. I'm just me.":: He doesn't seem to realize that he's transformed into a dragon.
The Vulture King flaps over to Liriiestil and says, "Friend, you seem to have undergone a...transformation. I do not know exactly what you are, but I can safely say there has never been a lizard as big as you are now."
"It's a dragon," Bage states, staring at the man turned creature as well. "A bloody dragon. Four limbs, two wings, reptile like scales. It has to be a dragon. I may not know about all these other mystical creatures, but I know a dragon when I see one."
Hmm... this was an odd group, that was for certain. Some of them devolving into shouting and screaming in order to get their way, on the verge or flat out panicking already in regards to the unusual situation they found themselves within. Whilst others actually seemed happy with the circumstances they are found in, embrace this new life they there now had, instead of the old life they had before... as far as he could tell, it seemed they all believed themselves to have died, and have now been reborn within these lands and bodies.
Curious for certain, but unless he somehow was reborn, aeons before the others were... on top of amnesia, there was no connection possible between himself and this group. Not that he was discounting that possibility either. These worlds, these planes, they were all too... numerous and bizarre for him to fully discount any possibility. Hence why he decided to shadow them for now. Not introducing himself to them just yet, both because he would be able to glean more information as an observer rather than part of their group... and because he desired to see just what they were capable of doing.
And it seemed that Nameless rather swiftly had the chance to find out what they would be doing, after a bit of arguing and frustration as to where to go that nearly had two of them wandering off on their own. Not only was there the identification of an Opiate Orange, which proved that their transformation had given them knowledge of this world at least, but they soon found themselves fighting against an eleven-headed Hydra. A challenge for sure.
Except, it was no challenge to them at all. The ‘Japanese’ man named Kei managed to artfully dodge an attack from it, and slice a head off with a powerful blow. More intriguing, however, was the ‘gentleman’ calling himself Lucas. His rapid barrage of four shots cut down the beast with lighting speed, defeating it before it could properly strike against the foe. He was definitely one to watch in case he had to fight...
Oh and there was also a powerful mage of some description, or perhaps just a someone who was a dragon that transformed themselves to look fey... hard to tell honestly.
Regardless, they took on the threat with remarkable speed and potency. Perhaps, if he was revealed... he should test them further and see what they were truly capable of.
"It's a dragon," Bage states, staring at the man turned creature as well. "A bloody dragon. Four limbs, two wings, reptile like scales. It has to be a dragon. I may not know about all these other mystical creatures, but I know a dragon when I see one."
Walking down the dead hydra, Zaidel stands next to Bage, giving the half-saiyan's shoulder a nudge.
"Yeah. We haven't collected all the dragonballs yet. You're a bit early."
Bage pauses for a moment in thought. "Wait. Can you actually grant wishes, or is that just Eastern dragons? Western dragons are usually the 'burn the village', 'capture the princess', and 'sit on a horde of gold' stereotypes."
John swings his head around, trying in vain to see what he looks like. In a panicked, telepathic voice he replies to all present ::"I have no idea what happened, or how I got like this. Being able to turn into a dragon is pretty cool, I guess, but I swear it wasn't intentional. I don't even know how to change back!!"::
"Uh oh". Thought Zaidel outloud. "Well..maybe the transformation was triggered by the attack. You're still a little upset to be sure. I don't blame you", said the big warrior, quickly sheathing his weapons and shield. "Maybe you need to be relaxed to turn back. Walk a couple paces that way, sit down, and focus on your breathing. Perhaps that might allow you to center yourself and return to normal."
"Hmm, I believe I can help." While in midair, the Vulture King shifts once more, taking the form of the same as earlier, though with a pair of large vulture's wings protruding from his back. He continues speaking, unphased by his transformation, "Picture the form you wish to be. Now picture the form you are, shifting into that form, feel the change, become the change, and I believe that you will achieve your desired form. That is how I have done it."
John listens to the Vulture King's words, and forms a mental image of the form he arrived in. Five feet eight, slim build, short curly black hair, blue eyes. Dressed in casual business wear, because that was normal for him.
Slowly his form blurs and contracts, reversing the change, till John Smith, the world's most boring man, is standing before you all again. "Well, that was, interesting to say the least. I'm still not sure how I did that, but it was kinda awesome being a dragon! I could feel a fire churning and roiling inside me, waiting to be unleashed!"
As the creature falls, Kei leaps off of it and lands on the ground, then bows to the creature before returning to the group.
upon his return, Kei will ask "What is it we are discussing?"
Argos had followed the group into the woods, figuring that they might be able to lead him to the answers behind his appearance in this realm. To his discomfort, one member had earlier seemed to direct a question towards him; Argos wasn't proud that he withdrew himself and ignored her, but he wasn't yet sure that he could trust any of the others and he doubted that anyone else had noticed him, so he decided that his best course of action was to lay low, working to disguise his presence while he lurked behind.
When the hydra appeared, Argos was overwhelmed by surprise and fear and instinctively leapt away from the beast, overshooting his movement and falling through the tree behind him. Shocked, Argos rights himself and quickly casts a glance about his body, noticing for the first time that the grass beneath himself is passing through his feet; How did I...what's happening? What am I? he asks himself, shaking almost imperceptibly in terror.
[dice=Stealth]1d20 + 38[/hide]
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Alyssa's fear returns the moment she sees the Hydra fall.
My God, who are these people? Who can kill nightmares without thought, who can transform into mighty dragons and gods; who am I to be here? What practical joke is this?
She's deeply upset that the one man seems to withdraw, and she'll mention this fact to Joseph- not that she'll be able to find the man after he leaves.
She'll slowly mention to the group, after the battle "Perhaps we should make haste; if there's other creatures around, I fear we wouldn't want to tackle them all."
Of course, maybe they will, but it's still worth a shot to figure out what happened.
Lucas seems to have gotten lost in his thoughts, confusion and shock clearly etched on his face as he looks back and forth between the dead monster in front of him and the rifle in his hands, but it clears up fairly quickly and Lucas pulls his hat - bumped slightly off-kilter by the recoil of his weapon - back down into place and he starts talking to himself as he reloads his weapon back to its maximum capacity of five rounds, taking the spare from his stripper clip and putting it back into a bandolier pocket. Well, now I know how Joseph was feeling, but after seeing a man turn into a dragon and another turn into something that looks like it should be in one of my grandson's cartoons and travelling with someone who is apparently a literal god, I guess me knowing how to shoot a rifle isn't so far fetched. Although it makes me wonder what else I can do. And here I thought 76 years had given me a decent grasp on the world around me. He turns back to the rest of the group in time to hear Alyssa's comment and responds immediately, "Agreed. Scavengers will be around here soon enough, although the gunfire might have scared them away for now, but it's those attracted to the sound that we will have to worry about.
Joseph stares at the dead body of the Hydra. A tear of fear that had welled when the creature still moved rolls down his cheek as he says but one thing in a huff of held breath. "Terrifying..." Looking to his side only to see a dragon in the place of John does little to settle him.
Taking a good moment to collect himself for what seems like the millionth time today Joseph turns his attention from the now dead beast to the Orange that caused such a reaction from their Grig companion. "So this thing has opiates and explodes? Like a morphine bomb..." He thinks back to the times he'd been in the hospital for internal bleeding and had been roomed with a person that was on the substance.
This could be a good way for me to defend myself.
Now that he's returned to his normal form, John looks around, as if actually seeing what attacked them for the first time. He asks he fae companion.
As he waits for her reply, he scans the area for any more potential threats, including the hollow the beast emerged from.
As Alyssa makes her suggestion, Kei says "She is right of course. We should probably avoid any other such encounters."
Joseph makes the decision that having a way to defend himself should the need arise is too good an opportunity to pass up. Its just a morphine bomb, it's not like it'll kill me. he thinks as he moves to break the stick that the orange hangs from. And it's not like me being out will be any sort of hindrance.
Snapping the stick off as smoothly as he could seems to have worked swimmingly. Holding the fruit by a stick a ways away from his body is sure to get tiring, but its a small price to pay for a weapon. "Alright, lets check that things den for eggs or something. If nothing else we'll need money and food for later and the eggs of something like that are sure to be worth something."
Joseph scoots closer to the place that the hydra emerged, staying ready to bolt should there be something dangerous still residing within but otherwise searching the place thoroughly
"Good thinking", said Zaidel. The big warrior runs back across the dead bulk of the creature to help in finding it's nest.
"Eggs! I want a baby hydra! Me, me!" Bage calls, excitedly running over to help in the search.
Argos is pulled away from his questioning by the abrupt death of the hydra and—more strikingly—the actions that killed it. Well...I'm stuck in a monster-ridden forest with a fairy, two shape-shifters, and a rifle maven. And I'm incorporeal. What kind of place is this?
He then notices the sudden interest the rest of the group develops in the hydra's lair. Curious, Argos cautiously pushes through the trees and inches closer to the den, keeping his distance as he attempts to catch a glimpse of any future happenings in that area.
In the Hollow you discover obsidian colored Hydra eggs, each one the size of a softball. The eggs are viable and if cared for will hatch in month.
You find as well the moldy tore up bones of an adventurer. He has a +1 greatsword, a +1 breastplate, 6 potions of cure moderate wounds, and a money pouch that contains gold coins and platinum coins.
Babey replies, hopping over to the Hydra's corpse and landing on one of its heads.
She pokes it and the entire head shifts, sliding toward the ground a bit, this however is because of her weight on the corpse, not because it still lives.
She doesn't realize this however and shrieks, her hair standing on end.
"YYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" She screams, bouncing furiously away.
"It's okay, Babey. It isn't moving anymore."
Kei will speak to the grig while offering his hand to ride on again.
Joseph is going through the deceased adventurer's belongings as baby shrieks from the slumping hydra. "Aw. Gross, I bet the armor smells all like dead pesoooOOOOO-" Draging out the O in the word to a scream Joseph twirls around and raises the Opiate orange, ready to toss. Only to find that it's Babey screaming at a dead hydra.
"AH! Y-YOU ALMOST MADE ME THROW THIS THING AT YOU!" He yells, not angrily just shook.
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Alyssa runs over as Babey and Joseph scream, suddenly feeling very strange. The world seems- different, somehow, as if she'd suddenly gained a sixth sense- and she could smell the power, thick in the air like fog, too much to concentrate on at once.
"What's going on?" she asks shakily, still reeling from an overwhelming sensation, a tingling feeling in her spine.
She sees the scene, Babey rolling with the dead hydra head, Joseph with the Morphine Orange out. "Come on, guys, let's go," she whines, feeling sick.
All of a sudden, her stomach does makes another knot as she sees the hydra eggs.
Oh my God, that's why she attacked. We killed her nest. Oh, no, oh no, no. That poor creature. We killed it for protecting it's babies.
She slowly gathers round the eggs. They'll die if we don't do anything.
She turns to the dead adventurer, drops the money, and starts wrapping up the eggs in the pouch and whatever other articles of clothing may still be useable.
She looks at the group. "Alright, guys, everyone take an egg. We killed the mom; they are our responsibility now." She'll hand them out, keeping one for herself.
After which she'll suddenly realizes that there's gold on the ground, actual gold, and pick that up to, handing it out to whomever wants to carry it.
"Who wants to carry the gold? That might be worth something." she'll ask.
Lucas takes one of the eggs from Alyssa and looks over it, turning it around and upside down in his hands, pondering the possibilities. "It has been a long time since I've raised a kid of my own, or even got a new pet for that matter, but what the hell. New life, new pet, works for me. Is this a reptile, amphibian, or mammal? And probably more important: is it going to eat me when it grows up or does it do the whole imprint on its parent thing? Even a baby bloodthirsty monster is still a bloodthirsty monster and the big one might have attacked us even if it wasn't nesting."
"Everything I know is myths from Earth," Bage states, taking one quickly. "So of course most of them involve battles against full grown ones, not how to raise them. But I shall do so anyway."
The Vulture King smiles slightly and says, "I cannot say I know all to much about the care of eggs. Ironic though, that I'm a bird and all."
"Perhaps we'll find someone who can care for them when we reach the city?" offers Kei as he picks up a pair of the eggs after setting Babey on his shoulder.
"Ladies, gentlemen. I think you are forgetting the option where someone who is very rich, might want to buy these eggs from us", explained Zaidel. "Let someone else worry about hydra husbandry".
John politely declines a hydra egg if offered. "I'm not quite ready to be a father yet, thanks. Especially a single one." He says with a small smile.