Deus Machina - The Last Grimoire (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

@Denton: That is a very good question, isn't it? ^^ I was hoping someone would notice.

Yes! Magic is real and she has a magical book! She's going to be (even more)rich and (even more)famous! Assuming this isn't some sort of hallucination anyway and if she can figure out how to calm her book dow-

Valory's plans for world media domination abruptly cutoff as the second shudder rumbles through the building.

"That, did anyone else feel that"the blonde starlet replies, though her voice has gone oddly flat. As she finishes talking the darkness is suddenly chased away by a soft glow from the young woman, the light hitting the walls in a splash of colors, skin, hair, clothes, every bit of color that's on her shades the glow like a stained glass window.

"Earthquake! Let's go people, this is not a good place to be right now. Try to avoid getting too close to the bookshelves when we get upstairs." she advises moving at not-quite a run before she opens the door, now nearly as afraid as her book. She (mostly) grew up in Cali after all and quakes were never fun.

Ok, not sure if we're locked in or a bunch of monsters are waiting on the other side to eat out souls or whatever~ But current plan is to get the heck out of the building.

As soon as the door was opened, a flood of blazing light filled the chamber. The source wasn't hard to spot, either - the hallway seemed to have collapsed on the path back towards the entrance, and a growing fire was eating wood and paper in front of the rubble. The other side of the hallway, heading deeper into the building, didn't seem to have lit up just yet... but if the growth of the fire behind them was any indication, it was only a matter of time.

A third major shudder ran through the building, and moments later, a massive crash could be heard from up above, audible despite the thick stone walls of the passages the students currently occupied.

Level of Fires: Medium
Level of Smoke: Low

"Yeah, I felt..." Denton loudly starts to answer, then transitions into another surprised "whoa" as Val lights up like a Christmas tree.

"Not sure that's a good idea!" he bellows as she urges the group to evacuate and heads for the door. "Didn't even start a ritual and this happened, maybe because one of the star points wasn't occupied. Who knows what's next if more of us leave the circ..."

The blazing light and crackling from the fire when she pulls the door open causes him to reassess. "Okay, maybe you're right!" Not taking the time to put the book in his backpack, he hugs it under his left arm and heads to the door.

"Did you see where the prof went?" he shouts at Valory while looking both up and down the hallway. "Did she get caught in that?" he says concernedly, pointing at the flaming collapse.

"Not much we can do if she did get caught in that. Let's go, maybe there's a back exit out of here. If gets to dark to see let me go up front, I ... I think I can see better in the dark now. " Aiden heads out of the room, away from the fire.

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As the world seems to come crashing down around them, Walter stays seated in his point of the pentagram focusing on his hands which are currently glowing a deep pulsing red, the color of burning embers. HE discovers that with little more than a thought, he can return his hands to normal and back. Well that's new. Smiling at this discovery, he turns his attention to the rest of the group and their efforts to escape.

Walter chooses not to speak at all, for now, instead letting others take the lead. He finally stands and follows the group as they begin moving through the doorway and deeper into the building. I'll take a back seat on this one. It'll be a good opportunity to observe how they handle a bit of chaos.

Valory eyes the ruined exit, not exactly thrilled with the prospect of going deeper and 'maybe' finding a way out, but getting crushed and-or burned to death wasn't any better. Still glowing she shrugs and follows after Aiden.

Right, forgot to mention using my light special ability last post, sorry! Now for it to fail at a dramatically appropriate moment.

Actually you did -- "the darkness is suddenly chased away by a soft glow from the young woman" -- so no worries!

"Okay, gonna call him 'Make Way'," declares Denton a bit less loudly as Aiden pushes past those in the doorway. As Valory follows he falls in behind her, glancing behind briefly to make sure Walter is with them... and taking one last look towards the fire to see if he can spot the professor.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

@Denton: You are unable to see any sign of the Professor.

The building is only so large, and it doesn't take long for the party to get away from the fires burning near the entrance and find a temporary refuge... Deep within the library is one of the older archive rooms, though the shelves have been toppled over and old books have been tossed haphazardly around the floor. As the party enters the chamber, a creature drops down from the ceiling just in front of them, resembling normal animals only in the loosest sense. Most of its body seems serpentine, but the head is more insectoid than reptilian... and it lets out an angry sound as the light coming from Valory's body hits it, recoiling sharply and running towards the opposite wall.

Initiative for Monster: 14. Characters who beat this Initiative can act before the enemy moves again.

The enemy is staggered by the light from Valory!

Level of Fires: None
Level of Smoke: Low

"What th..."

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Heh... the player got the hint but still, I'm kind of at a loss here. With this being a university library and not a dungeon -- and Denton just being an average kid not expecting to run into a monster -- if I play him true his action would probably be to backpedal, not attack. Plus we haven't even surveyed our grimoire-granted powers yet...

"Whoa, this is..."

Denton glances around the room, looking to spot a push broom, a piece of pipe, a wooden strut in one of the bookshelves, anything that would be about the size of, or could be broken to the size of, a walking stick.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

GM, does the hallway continue along, or is this room at the end of it with no other options for us, or...? (As in, do we need to be in this room, or can we just close the door and continue on our way?)

Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Aiden appears thrown by the sudden appearance of the creature and hesitates for a moment.

This is the end of the hallway; leaving the room will take you back the way you came. You must go through this room to advance... though retreating back towards the flames is certainly possible if that's what you really want to do.

Inititiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

Walter is looking around at the mess of books Those poor books! strewn about the floor with a look of horror and misses the creature dropping from the ceiling. Its shriek grabs his attention, but it looks like nothing he's ever encountered before and so he can't be sure whether it is enemy or ally and pauses in the confusion.

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Contrary to every horror movie she's ever starred in, Valory does not immediately scream at the top of her lungs at the sight of... whatever that is. No, instead her mouth shuts with an audible click and she goes very quiet and very still, mind racing as her book mentally nudges her with it's one offensive attack.

A magical dart. Great.

Oh hey, it ran away! "We should try to get through before it realizes that..." that we're terrified of that thing.

The creature screeched again as it scrambled up the wall, heading for the darkest part of the room and away from Valory's light. It slammed its mandibles into the wall a few times, making more noises before suddenly turning to look at the group.

Meanwhile, a bit of light and heat could be noticed behind the group as smoke started to really make its way into the room...

Level of Fires: Low
Level of Smoke: Medium

GM, I never saw any input on whether Denton spotted something/anything he could use as a beatdown stick -- reference this post for details and a 20 Perception roll.

Precious seconds ticking away as he frantically looks about for something he can use as a weapon, Denton catches a glimpse of the smoke now pouring into the room and the flickering light from the hall.

"Fire's moving fast, guys!" he exclaims. "We gotta goooo!"

The grimoire's fear scrabbling at his mind isn't helping, either...

Aiden begins moving towards the opposite end of the room in hopes that an exit is there. As he does he pauses for a moment, opens the book and does as the book seems to be indicting for him too.

When the bolt of magic hits the creature, Aiden says "Holy... I'm not sure what I just did but you guys should see if you can do it too. "

Magic Missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

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@Denton: There is enough rubble that you could presumably pick up a post from a destroyed bookcase and use it as an improvised weapon.

Well, I was hoping for something close enough to "walking stick" size/shape that he could wield it as a hanbo and not take the improvised weapon penalty. No, huh?

Denton grabs at a partially destroyed table and, after destroying it a little more, liberates one of its legs. Brandishing it experimentally to judge its weight, his eyes widen a bit in response to Aiden's action.

"Dude, what did you just do!"

Man, we've completely hosed initiative order, haha!

Walter stares at the creature for another couple of seconds as it seems to attack the wall, before other possibilities spring tot he front of his mind. "If that thing is doing what I think it's doing, it's probably best that we kill it quickly." As he speaks, his hands begin to glow again, blacking over looking almost charred with undertones of various shades of red and orange. Walter smiles as he forms a "gun" with his hand, his index finger pointing at the beast. The now swirling colors seep into the point of his finger and glow a brilliant white until Walter whispers Pew! and a lance of fire shoots from his fingertip and the beast lurking in the shadows.

I'm not sure what, if any, bonuses would be applied yet to attack or damage rolls, so none are included.
Attack vs Touch AC: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 1

What the hell, what the HELL! Denton's mind races as he watches first Aiden, then Walter, attack the abomination.

"Why, what do you think it's doing? And how are you doing that?!"

For just a moment, a fleeting sensation almost like a tickle at the base of his brain. A very frightened tickle that quickly recedes, as if intent was there but withdrawn.

He glares at the creature. Jedi mind tricks, snake thing?

Just a reminder for everyone: Since we're using Magic Recharge rules, you should roll for your recharge time whenever you're casting a spell through the Grimoire. ^^

Lvl 1 Recharge: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
sorry

oops
Oth Level Recharge: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

"The way it beat on the wall before we attacked it, it looked like it was signalling to others. As for how we're doing these things, quit thinking. Let the book guide your actions."

"Kill it? Kill it?" Valory asks dumbfounded, before heatedly suggesting "Better idea, let's try and get by it and let the collapsing building fall on it and then the police can deal with the remains."

But... what Walter says does make her think over the things actions for a moment (well as much as she can think with all the chaos going on), "Actually it looked more like it was scared." and digs a quarter out of her purse, brow creasing as she mentally pokes her book. A few moments of mumbling later the coin starts to glow and she tosses it at the thing.

[ooc]Alright, cast light on a quarter and toss it towards monster.
Ranged Attack Roll: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14
Recharge on Light: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Others! Denton glances around the room nervously.

"Quit thinking? Not a good time for meditation, Walter!" he snaps at the man. Too much going on, can't center, mind's gonna race, need to harness that not let it get in the way.

What Walter said about being guided... he looks down at the volume tucked under his left arm, the fear from it almost palpable. Fear... wait, that tickle before... was that...?

Book, I don't know what's...

He pauses, then starts again.

Okay, somehow you're sentient or something. And frightened. Me too, alright? I'll try to keep you safe, but I need help. How do we deal with this thing? What the other guys did, how do I do that? Give me something. Anything!

Nothing. Just his mind churning. He thinks about how Aiden gestured. He thinks about Walter and his "hand gun." Different books, different people... different ways to get similar results?

But how can HE get those results? Denton shakes his head to clear it, then looks down at the table leg in his hand, wishing it was more like his nicely balanced hanbo. But what else could he fight with? If he could choose, what...

His eyes widen a bit, then narrow. Throw something. I'd throw something! He shifts the table leg to his left hand and winds up as if throwing a baseball at the monstrosity. As his pitch comes over the top and forward, there's a sense of... something... a ring of energy around his upper arm, distorting the glimpse of room he can see from the corner of his eye. The ring speeds down his arm as he drives forward, collapsing into a tiny sphere as it leaves his fingertips and rockets towards the creature.

SR Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10
Magic Missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 Lousy SR roll for such nice damage. :o(
General Recharge (Highest): 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Denton's aware of Valory doing something, and a spot of light arcing towards the snake thing, but most of his attention is caught up in amazement at what he just did.

He looks down at the book again, in wonder this time. What WE did?

The bolts of magic struck the creature unerringly, zooming in and around the room to crash into its hide. The bolt of fire was likewise accurate, striking deep into its hide. However, for all the damage that magic was doing to it, the most significant effect seemed to be Valory's light, which the creature staggered away from as fast as it could... though it wasn't nearly as fast as the creature might have wanted, and it began digging furiously at one of the walls in its efforts to get away from the light.

While this had been happening, the fires continued to grow closer, and the smoke within the room continued to build. It wouldn't be very long before the air became difficult to breathe...

Level of Fires: Medium
Level of Smoke: Medium-High. The smoke is now thick enough to grant Concealment within the room.

Acrid smoke cuts through Denton's astonishment and brings him back to the here and now.

"I repeat, people: We need to GO!"

Aiden looks around the room for exit and says, [b]"Well, come on then, I think it's this way,"[b] and points in the direction he thinks he sees the door but stands his ground for the moment, waiting for the others to head for the door.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Sighing in exasperation at the other mens' hesitation, Walter skirts by them and moves for the indicated path. "Well? Get your asses moving then!"

Keeping a wary eye on the snake thing, Denton falls in behind Walter.

Edit: Given the thickening smoke I should probably throw this in on general principle...

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

The strange creature makes no attempt to follow the group as they leave the room, seemingly hesitant to pursue into the cooler corridor outside the room. The fires have yet to reach this area, though a trickle of smoke is still leaking into the corridor. The group is safe, at least for the moment.

This corridor is much shorter than the previous ones - it seems to be a connecting path between two of the underground rooms, and there are obvious signs of use over the years. The door to the next room has been left slightly open by whoever passed through last, and it seems that the lights of the room are still on.

Level of Fires: None
Level of Smoke: Low

"Walter, can you hear anyone or anything in there? " Aiden whispers looking back to make sure Val followed them.

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Walter turns back toward the group, leaning in and lowering his voice, "Nothing aside from the obvious. My boots aren't made for sneaking, and it doesn't look like anybody or anything inside that room has noticed us yet. Anybody up for checking it out?"

"Sure, I'll take a look, I'm pretty quiet" Aiden says. If noone stops him, he tries to enter the room quietly.

Stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

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Unlike the previous room, this chamber seems to have been largely undamaged thus far. A few of the shelves in the back have tilted over, but most of the room seems to have survived. There are two other doors in the room; one is lit up by a flickering 'Exit' sign and seems to be leading to some stairs, but it seems that rubble has collapsed that particular passageway. The other door, located on the right wall, is rather larger and has yet to be opened.

Moments after Aiden enters the room, the entire building shakes - and a large crack forms on the ceiling of the hallway that everyone else is in.

Level of Fires: None
Level of Smoke: Low

"Clear in here, come on." Aiden says op preening the door wide and gesturing for the others to enter.

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Denton follows Aiden into the next room, grimacing when he sees the clearly-marked but unusable exit.

"Nice," he mutters sarcastically under his breath while scanning the room.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11 Still looking for a hanbo substitute!

Though not as smooth as a hanbo would normally be, there are a few decorative wooden poles on a slender separation fence near the back of the room that might serve as a decent substitute.

Denton's eyes light up when he spies the divider, and he strides over purposefully. A few energetic upswings with the table leg against the top rail, and it partially pops loose. He grabs one of the poles and wiggles it vigorously until it breaks free from the other end. Tossing the table leg aside, he twirls the rod experimentally to check its balance.

"YES!" he exclaims with a grin as he quickly runs through a partial kata that has the pole spinning around him in complex patterns, sometimes mimicking a quarterstaff, sometimes nunchaku.

He stops suddenly, the stick snapping to stillness held horizontally in front of him at arm's length.

"Yeah..." he says with a satisfied smile. "Yeah, this'll work. Bring on the snake things!"

Feeling ever more slightly in control of the situation, he quickly rejoins the group.

"Very nice, but I'd stick with magic if we encounter more of those creatures. Who knows what their bite could do if they got their teeth on you."

Aiden walks to the destroyed exit, sighs, looks it over to ensure that it can't be cleared. After looking at the ruined exit he heads over to the larger door and looks it over. "I guess we're going this way, any guess why this door is so big?"

The ruined exit seems like a standard part of building codes; the current floor is underground, so its necessary to have access to stairs in the event of, say, fires. It might also serve as a faster access point for students and staff who know their destination and don't want to bother with the main path.

The larger pair of doors is more than wide enough to fit a person - it's also wide enough to fit carts and similar items, which is occasionally relevant for a school that has a lot of books. They're very similar to the doors in the previous room, and made of some sort of dark wood. Windows set into the doors give you a view into the next hallway - there are no fires that way and the path seems clear.

"Yeah, thanks, but I can depend on a big stick. Who knows with this magic stuff. I'm still freaking over having a... frightened book under my arm. One that can jerk reality around."

When aided asks about the size of the door, Denton exclaims, "DUDE! Do you not watch horror movies, like, ever? You do not ask questions like that!"

"But the magic is so much more entertaining! We can't really go back, so onwards we move! Keep a sharp eye out." Walter walks into the hallway, his strides seeming more confident and purposed than one would think considering he hasn't given a reason for it. In reality, it is only due to the path before them being the only visible option. In his mind, hesitation in the face of the unknown with a fire to your back can only lead to trouble.

My apologies for the lack of content. Had a couple of new joins to my unit arrive unexpectedly yesterday, for some reason they didn't think it necessary to tell us their flight got changed... Sigh. Anyway, I'm back now!

"Not really looking to be entertained right now," says Denton as he follows Walter into the hallway. "Survival, now that I can go for."

He looks back over his shoulder. "Anybody have any idea what the heck's going on here?"

Welcome back!

"Who knows but I'm guessing it's not natural. " as Aiden follows the other two.

Glad to have you back. now if we could get Val back that be great too.

Shortly after the group advances into the hallway, the crack in the previous hall yawns wider... and Val is nowhere to be seen. It seems the only way out continues to be forward - and as the group moves into the hall, one of the doors bursts open to reveal a small creature. Its entire hide is an odd red color, and as it lands in the hallway, its six blue eyes turn to consider the members of the group - with two eyes focused on each. The creature is like nothing that ought to exist, but one thing is certain: It doesn't seem very friendly.

Roll Initiative

Lovely.

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13