Vandomir queries the Ravens, "is there any value in preemptively striking and taking out some of those creatures arrayed throughout the building? Better to fight them one at a time, than to have them all released on the room at once I say."
Action 1:
If Noravia hadn't been wearing her mask, the others would have seen all the color drain from her face. Choosing her words carefully she said, "The erinyes is probably the one that Elsbeth and the others told us about. She can fly, see all things are they truly are, and can entangle foes with a rope made from her hair. The bearded devils are known as elite warriors of hell. They can teleport, an attack from their beard can cause a disease called Devil Chills, and their weapon causes wounds which are very difficult to heal meaning the victim bleeds.
At this point, Noravia couldn't hide the terror in her eyes and she clutched Caleb's arm for comfort. Her voice gets quieter as she continued, "The bone devil is known as their interrogator, their inquisitor. I've heard stories that would give you nightmares. They can fly, they have reach, and a sting from them injects you with poison that saps your strength."
Action 1
"That's not good," Tillia said, "Still, we expected something like this. It's too bad no one can cast a spell to send these things back to hell where they came from." She thought on ways to even the odds a bit when trouble started because she knew it was going to start sometime. "Can we somehow cover the orchestra pit? Maybe put..."she trailed off as she realized what she could do, "I could try to cast a wall of ice over that pit when the fighting starts, it might not stop whatever is down there but it could slow it down some. As for that erinyes, does anyone know if Rizolla came tonight? From what I heard she managed to drive it off once, and she has spells that are far better at a distance than most of mine are." She sighed, "Beyond that I will try to control the flow of the battle as best I can and make some of our enemies turn on each other. I just wish I could maintain an illusion to hide behind while I did."
Action 2
Action 3
I wasn't sure if any of the other saboteur characters showed up or not, hence why I asked the question in Action 1 about Rizolla. If she came it would have been with Hetamon, if he didn't show up then she wouldn't have either unless requested to.
She sighed, "Beyond that I will try to control the flow of the battle as best I can and make some of our enemies turn on each other. I just wish I could maintain an illusion to hide behind while I did."
"If we can, let's try to control the battle by having it somewhere away from the audience," Eirik murmured, almost relieved he had something beside the risk of imminent exposure to worry about. "Meaning, let's get down below like we planned before starting anything." Unless the Paracount himself was thinking of using the devils for more than guards in case of an emergency... after all, while the man might suspect some enemies lurked behind masks he had to surely know most of those invited were people who had pledged their support to him. Willfully subjecting them to any harm could only work against him.
Action 2:
Noravia didn't want to admit to herself that things were starting to get rather disheartening, so she focused on their original intention. "Our window is starting to close for when we can explore the Opera House. At least now we know where the devils are so we won't be surprised and we can fight them if needed. But I think we need to explore the lower level while we have the time and won't necessarily be missed."
The inquisitor considered Vandomir's query. "I'm not sure how deadly those birds could be but it may be worthwhile to disable their cages so that they can't be released. Is that possible for someone to do while we go to the lower levels? Maybe that's something Aasami and Elsbeth can work on."
Noravia linked her arm through Caleb's, "It may be time for us to have our alone time." Then she holds out her other arm for either Eirik and/or Vandomir. With a mischievous glint in her eyes she asked, "Who else is coming?"
Action 3:
Once the three are in their private starting point, Caleb starts to dictate terms as they get changed into their 'Raven' personas "Alright. I can cast in silence, but not if my concentration gets too disturbed. We need a silence spell just before we go. Anything you want to cast, cast before then. Once the silence starts, I'll make the three of us invisible. I'll stand in the middle and hold your shoulders. Don't break away. Last thing we want is to be trapped in a room with a bunch of devils, swinging weapons, when we can't see or hear each other. After a few moments the invisibility will wear off. Noravia first, then you, then me."
"Anyone wants to abort, smack my hand - hard, ask for it, or slap your face - can't see anyone doing that by accident. I'll grab hold of you and get us out. Once someone calls an abort, we're out."
"Anyone there - except obvious prisoners - when we arrive, we kill. Go in weapons drawn. I'll lead us. If there are multiple targets, take the one on your side."
She sighed, "Beyond that I will try to control the flow of the battle as best I can and make some of our enemies turn on each other. I just wish I could maintain an illusion to hide behind while I did.""If we can, let's try to control the battle by having it somewhere away from the audience," Eirik murmured, almost relieved he had something beside the risk of imminent exposure to worry about. "Meaning, let's get down below like we planned before starting anything." Unless the Paracount himself was thinking of using the devils for more than guards in case of an emergency... after all, while the man might suspect some enemies lurked behind masks he had to surely know most of those invited were people who had pledged their support to him. Willfully subjecting them to any harm could only work against him.
Tillia nodded in agreement before she said, "Yes, that would be preferable, but do you really think that we'll be given a choice? If he were to threaten the guests and we didn't stop him it could be very bad, both for them, and for us once word got out from the survivors of anything he might try, and you know there will be survivors, he'll see to it." She sighed, her shoulders drooping, "I'm not saying don't try to take the fighting elsewhere, I'm just saying we should have a plan in case we can't take it somewhere else."
"True. I just can't fathom why he would strong-arm the guests... most of the people here are supposed to be on his side already, are they not?"
Gillian nodded and said, "Some, but not all. There are many commoners and some of our allies as well. He could kill most of them and then let the survivors spread the word we didn't care enough to stop the slaughter."
OK, I'm back home but playing catch up at work and traveling again for work for a couple of days later this week.
I probably won't have things back on our regular schedule until the weekend but I'll try to move things along.
I intend to recap later today.
Game on!
Ok, no turn recap but some questions/clarifications.
The gate of the cage with the cockatrices was already jammed by Vandomir/Elsbeth in Turn 358.
Noravia can have Elsbeth's silence scroll.
The 'party' is meant for one set of PCs and a couple of allies so no saboteurs are present except Elsbeth.
Caleb: please clarify your intentions. Are you going to explore G4? Nothing is said to be present there. If not G4, then where will you explore? Should I just roll for it somewhere in the basement?
I'm assuming everyone will be exploring but let me know otherwise and remember that PBPs are not really set up for splitting up the group but we can try it if that's what you want.
Game on!
Yeah - we need a relatively empty room to start off in, I think. Somewhere to get our bearings and see what we can see and hear.
Sort of hoping Noravia and #3 might have some buffs to use first.
No other sabotuers are fine Fabian, that's why I had Tillia ask the question she did. As for the exploring, Tillia is very much staying at the party, the better to draw, and keep, the attentions of the people Brassy likely has watching us if he realized we're here.
Hmm - technically Caleb can only take 2 other people, unless someone knows a way of getting one more CL. :/
Turn 360 - Exploring the Basement
Read the OOC.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?
Game on!
Caleb: I didn't use your last post since it was confusing to me. Feel free to bring it up again.
Uh - I realised a way anyway.
Dimension Door can take 1 person/3CL.
He is CL 8.
so can take 2 people.
Then I realised Tenebrous would give the extra +1, so could take 3 extra.
Vandomir gestured towards the door . He moved forward and listened.
+4 vs humans, +2 vs Evil outsiders, +3 to locate traps, +2 in Kintargo
Vandomir relayed what he heard quickly, and readied to open the door.
Caleb giggled disturbingly as he led the group into one of the restrooms. He glared at the only 'customer' to hurry the young lady out, then leaned against the door and chained them shut with one of his surplus chains, and strip off his costume.
He closed his eyes "Alright Ves..." he muttered, apparently not to himself. A moment later he looked up, stricken. "Too many..." he started to speak, then trailed off. "Wait." A moment later he hung his mask over the continual light globe. The light level immediately dropped. Shadows seemed to dance as the light escaped through the eyeholes of the mask, and a negative image of Zon-Kuthon's face filled the room. "I'll hold Vandomir and Noravia. Vandomir, hold onto Eirik. Let's do this."
One by one the companions vanished into shadow. Finally, as blood trickled from his lip, Caleb grunted and the world also vanished.
Absolute darkness greeted the companions. Faintly the sound of screams came from all around. Cold, yet hot. The darkness lasted perhaps three heartbeats, then the world reappeared - they were downstairs.
Finger on his lips, Caleb pointed out the door to the corridoor, then mimed slow travel up the corridoor and the stairs at the end.
exploring:
I had assumed that you just went from D8 (where there are people) and used the stairs S3 without any need to use spells. In any case, vanish only lasts 1 round/level so not enough for exploration but useful for disappearing for a short while.
I'm also assuming 2.5 minutes per room explored.
I'll wait for Eirik and/or Noravia before moving things along.
Questions?
Game on!
Noravia stayed close to the others as they explored. She wasn't sure if she was relieved that they hadn't found anything of note, or disappointed.
When Vandomir listened at the door to the next room chosen, she made sure she had useful scrolls within reach.
With the imposing mask of divine Abadar’s chosen servant still on his face, Eirik followed Vandomir’s gesture and snuck to the doorway the noble had indicated, ready to spring into action if an enemy lurked within. For who knew if the devils they had been told to expect bothered to stay in one place all the time. Thus, it certainly paid to take some measures to prepare for the unexpected.
He considered all the empty rooms and frowned in thought. Perhaps it was only the pessimist in him thinking, but he found them having managed to slip away unseen a bit too convenient for comfort, and these rooms too empty. Granted, all the resident servants and many more would be up and about during the masquerade, but still he couldn’t banish the feeling that something was amiss.
”Too quiet,” Eirik murmured. ”Don’t get comfortable.”
Can you send me #361 please?
Guys and gals, we're slowing down here, a bit too much for my taste.
I know exploration (aka dungeon crawling) is not a lot of fun in PBPs but it's part of the story.
Trust me, I wish I could speed it up some more but I do need your input here before proceeding too far along.
And I know that my vacation hasn't helped with keeping momentum but is there any other reason why we can't go back to at least one post per 24 hours?
Let me know if there's anything I can do on my end but I really would like you all to post a little bit more frequently.
Thoughts?
Game on!
And that's fine. I can't expect every player to shine at every encounter but at least posting 'just that' let's me know that you're still engaged in the game but just have nothing to add to move the game forward.
Of course, there's always the chance to post internal thoughts, fears, hopes, etc. about the current situaion but that may get old quickly.
However, if you were to voice those feelings, I'm sure you would get a reaction from Caleb at the very least. :)
Game on!
Noravia backed away from the door until they're out of possible earshot and then whispered, "We can't fight six hellhounds, can we? Maybe we should go and check out the other room before deciding what we want to do."
Correct. You are in G4 and the hounds are roaming in the G1 area.
As the others explored the lower floors Tillia did her best to make herself visible. She danced first with the man she'd invited to dance before shifting to others. She danced with men, she danced with women, she didn't let race or age be a factor either. She flitted from person to person as social as could be, charming first one, then spurning another only to pull that person into a dance later. She filled the time they were gone and enjoyed herself tremendously.
Noravia backed away from the door until they're out of possible earshot and then whispered, "We can't fight six hellhounds, can we? Maybe we should go and check out the other room before deciding what we want to do."
"Even if we could, it'd be best if we could avoid it," Eirik whispered back, very much in agreement with Noravia's suggestion. "I doubt they can open doors so they should bechere if we decide to come back for them."
"I think we could take them, if we were prepared and caught them by surprise." Caleb whispered "But if they start howling they might draw something we can't take." He thought for a second and pointed to the south of the building "Let's go check out those small rooms."
Action 1:
The inquisitor looked around sadly at the marked works of art. "There is a lot of Kintargo culture that is about to be lost to the masses should Thrune get his way and take these works for his own." She failed to hide the disgust in her voice, "These should belong to the citizens of the city to enjoy, not part of some private collection."
Action 2:
Noravia gave Eirik a congratulatory pat on the back, "Being ever vigilant paid off, my friend. Good eyes. Now that door looks promising."
Turning to their resident lock opener, she asked Vandomir, "You think you can figure out how to get that open?"
"There is a lot of Kintargo culture that is about to be lost to the masses should Thrune get his way and take these works for his own." She failed to hide the disgust in her voice, "These should belong to the citizens of the city to enjoy, not part of some private collection."
"True, but we have more pressing matters than worry about plays and music lost to the ages," Eirik murmured, not wishing to risk raising his voice just in case more enemies lurked nearby.
Noravia gave Eirik a congratulatory pat on the back, "Being ever vigilant paid off, my friend. Good eyes. Now that door looks promising."
"Worth investigating," Eirik said, nodding his thanks to the compliment. "Perhaps this will lead to a part of the building not known to general public."
Yes, SE. This secret door leads to an area for which you have NO maps.
I'll assume this is where you will go later today when I recap unless I hear otherwise.
Questions?
Game on!
A couple of more posts before I recap please...
Vandomir: you posted once in the past week, far from the once per day posting that I'd like for the game. Everything OK?
"I'd love to nick them." Caleb agreed "But there might be lives at stake. Now we've seen it, we might be able to do a targeted jump here, grab everything and bolt. We could do that some other day."
Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Well done!" Caleb congratulated Eirik "How did you see that? It was barely a crack!"
Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Well done!" Caleb congratulated Eirik "How did you see that? It was barely a crack!"
"Luck? Skill? Divine guidance?" Eirik said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll go with luck, and thank Abadar for it. Or curse him, depending on what we find beyond."
I intend to move this along later today.
Game on!
Read the OOC.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?
Game on!
, yes
, hit
Action 1:
Noravia gasped as she saw the wanton desecration of a place that would have been a joy to behold had Thrune not found it. Her fists balled in anger at her sides while a tear escaped to roll down her cheek. "There's not enough time to make this right. It would take at least a day," she murmured. She reached out a hand to touch the part of the shrine dedicated to Milani. "Yet one more thing to add to Thrune's long list of atrocities," she said bitterly.
Action 2: