A heartbeat after his first statement, the Abrasax adds, We are not alone, General. The Red Cathexis continues to give birth. Also, there is some manner of creature, a giant spider I think, observing us from above. It is the source of these webs. I also might detect an approaching disturbance from the west, but I am unsure. It may be a trick of the water.
Whack/254 -- using Tsao and Choon as an example, model each roll you make with an objective in mind. Perception I can do because it's general, and Survival I can deduce from mentioning the tracks (but who knows, survival could be used to catch a fish!) -- And I wondered for a bit what Planes would be about, then I figured you're musing about where you are. No criticism, but make it easier for me!
As far as making a separate gameplay thread, if you build it, we can go -- I suppose it is silly waiting for somebody to come and move the thread... Now I will process your actions (I hope I made the right calls!)
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
Scuttling up from the pool, you notice a column of air bubbles rising from the bottom of the cistern. The water at the surface is cold, and turpid, but near the bottom is is warm. Your aquatic nature being sensitive to movement in water -- you quickly deduce there is more than meets the eye. A tremendous amount of water is coming into this pool, and yet it is not flooding this chamber, nor scarcely leaving the rim of the pool. There might be something shiny in the cistern, but it's hard to tell with the intermittent red pulse of the cathexis interfering with your eye's attempt to discern between the playing light in the cavern and the monochrome superimposition of your darkvision. Also, the bottom of the pool does not look quite right. The mist at floor level in this chamber prevents you from seeing much more than that.
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
small humanoids commonly make their way into this chamber from the west, dragging garbage, and perhaps conducting some sort of ritual. The oldest tracks are months old, suggesting they are perhaps relatively new additions to this ecosystem.
Know. Planes: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
You are on Golarion. You would normally be completely befuddled by this and be at a complete loss as to much of the common knowledge about this world and it's inhabitants, but when you stowed away on the Cathexis like all it's other occupants, it conveyed to you wisps, glimmers and shadows of the knowledge held by the things that died around it... and judging from the pool, many, many things have died here. You and those Lesser creatures, in your extended slumber, came away with languages, snippets of history, even geography and some information about cultures on the surface -- in the broadest terms. Accessing this info as a living body of knowledge will be tricky, but it will definitely help you know a great many things as familiar as you see them. On the subject of living bodies... you cannot discern any.
When he had first emerged, Itzal cringed. It was so bright here. 'So bright.' Quickly slinking out of the water to hide in an area of darkness, he took the time to observe his surroundings.
Still hunkered down in the shadows, he started cackling to himself, realizing that he was out! He was free!
A heartbeat after his first statement, the Abrasax adds, We are not alone, General. The Red Cathexis continues to give birth. Also, there is some manner of creature, a giant spider I think, observing us from above. It is the source of these webs. I also might detect an approaching disturbance from the west, but I am unsure. It may be a trick of the water.
[dice=Know:religion to divine more about this shrine]1d20+6
To the untrained eye it's a simple shrine devoted to a fire spirit, perhaps an elemental... but you can tell immediately it is a shrine built by goblins. The crude coalwork around the center fire is not smoke, but rather the four goblin hero-gods, the symbiology quite distinct once you look past the addled-scribbliness of it all... and they are being appeased by the burning of scrolls, and weeks after the initial engraving, a crude icon of an orc. The glyphs on the outside of the shrine and in the deepest shadows of the ensconcement relate to the placation and obsequiousness to bhargests -- this is usually done to symbolically receive protection or safe-passage from the undead -- a pool of skulls is a fine place to put a shrine like that.
I ponder for a moment. Goblins. An ideal slave race. High birth rate, impaired survival instinct, not naturally cerebral. They might just do.
General, I require solitude. The Goblins who created that shrine may be the sound I hear approaching from the west. If that is the case, I intend to infiltrate them. If you wish, there is a spider in the ceiling to play with.
I then begin to glow from within. Not enough to actually increase any light levels, but enough to seem as if my Gem is fire in stone form. That should get their attention
Golarion...a lesser world... should be simple to find a host... more information is still needed... I'll use the spirit... talking to a stone... such a strange custom...
Unit 254 speaks out from the edge of the water. Spirit! You still retain your voice. Tell me, what is this place?
When he had first emerged, Itzal cringed. It was so bright here. 'So bright.' Quickly slinking out of the water to hide in an area of darkness, he took the time to observe his surroundings.
[dice=Stealth to get to and hide in a dark area]1d20+12
[dice=Perception: Surroundings]1d20+8Still hunkered down in the shadows, he started cackling to himself, realizing that he was out! He was free!
Stealth: you cannot help but wonder why this place would be called the underdark, with light such as this... Perhaps you must delve deeper! Naturally nowhere might be darker than the void you came from, but this... Is uncomfortable. Moving quickly, you pour like a wave into the caverns darkest crack.. And watch.
Perception
All around, you see the other beings who laid dormant beside you in that chrysalis. Then you have to laugh. A giant spider, clearly under the impression it is hiding, earns your notice. You can tell one of your cohorts is aggravating it with their presence, and it is likely, with nowhere to retreat, to become aggressive quite soon.
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Being hurled into the new plain, NS 3.0 begins flying forward.
DIRECTIVE:
"Scan for life forms"
the voice of NS 3.0 is strange, almost metallic.
Re: tablets, I'm on a mobile ATM, and I'll be breaking for approx an hour shortly. You may want to coordinate if indeed something is coming, and the spider is restless...
"I do your bidding. For now." Tsao sets the high-minded crystal on its platform, glancing around at the evil forms joining him in the Cistern. Golarion won't know what hit it, he thinks to himself as he stares down at the Yeerk in disgust.
"Hush now, creature," the General says, as he hunkers down in the pool, hoping to remain unnoticed. "All will be revealed in time. For now, victims approach."
When the goblins arrive, seeing no other viable alternatives, Tsao will re-submerge himself, holding his breath to hide under the surface of the water.
Oh this was getting better by the second. That spider. Oh would they bait the spider? Would it attack one of them?
He didn't think his 'companions' had noticed him yet. All the better. Cackling some more to himself, he continued to observe. Seems there were some possible goblins coming, according to Abrasax. Perhaps one of them would work nicely. If the spider killed who ever was coming, then the spider might be worth taking after all. For now, he had a nice dark place to hide, he could be patient. Sometimes.
NS 3.0 makes its way towards the glowing spider.
"Life form detected. DIRECTIVE"
Atop the goblin shrine, the Abrasax waits and ponders the goblin's religion. It wouldn't do to get it wrong if he had to speak.
He sees the insect swarm start an upward flight toward the spider and nods mentally to himself. They should need to recharge soon anyway.
"Victims..." Unit 254 moves closer to the creature's expected entrance point and waits silently.
Will process further after a short bus ride! DIRECTIVE! DIRECTIVE!
NS 3.0, give me an idea of what you will do when you reach the spider, please.
Abrasax, you can divine no more about the religion then you have already determined. It seems they have a paragon based faith, Herod being dieties, and this group at least is concerned with homage to undead. Either to placate them or curry their favor. There also seems to be a general disdain for letters- there are crude graphic representations of everything.
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Before the Gobilns arrive, I replicate each of the four crude graphics on their altar, one on each of my four faces, in addition to maintaining my appearing to be a burning rock.
Tsao's ghostly brow furrows in concentration as he thinks back. What did Brahe say about goblin worshipers... he thinks to himself.
Shaking his head, he gives up. Brahe was one of the lieutenants who backstabbed me anyway...probably didn't know what he was talking about, he thinks. He never did know his ass from his elbow.
His gaze travels silently from one entrance to the cistern to the other, assessing possible threats.
The Nanoswarm, whirling first into the shadow of a broad stalactite as it rises in a cloud upward... it melds seatlessly in the style of a rising spray of mist, taking care not to contact any of the water itself. None the wiser, the spider prepares to turn around to plant it's spinarette on the ceiling behind it, clearly having decided to drop down from above on the none-too-well-hidden General Tsao... The Nanoswarm approaches, and BARELY NOTICES a cleverly hidden web-trap that a spider like this lays to capture fliers... without noticing the threat, the spider begins to take an anchored step off it's ledge when the swarm reveals itself almost upon the creature. Though it seemed the swarm had it's prey dead to rights, but the hijack misses -- the spider, startled at the sudden appearance of an enemy, tugs it's mooring from the ceiling and falls straight for the pool below...
Rolls: Opposed roll to stealth failed, perception DC 20 to spot web trap (passed 22) attempt to hijack (fail 9)
The spider screeches as it falls towards general Tsao -- the voices in the West tunnel, juts becoming audible, suddenly fall silent, as if waiting for something to happen...
Everyone should roll initiative! Spider has 14, let me know what your score is and what you plan to do, and how.
NS 3.0 -- your possession protocols must be glitchy either from your recent activation or the ejection power that launched you out of the Cistern. You will have to wait a short time (1 minute) before they can re-calibrate.
(and you do not need to participate in the combat, just know the combat might participate with you.) :D
The Abrasax does not want to give itself away, and is rather stuck on the podium. If someone wants to move it (especially any of those goblins who might be particularly religious or fond of shiny things) it won't object. (It'll hijack!)
Tsao surges out of the water when the spider reveals itself to be looking at him. "Hiding's not my preference anyway..." he mutters to himself. He settles into a defensive stance, a nostalgic smile on his lips as he readies himself for mortal combat for the first time in centuries.
Normally resistant to mind-altering effects, you completely overwhelm the spiders defenses, striking it directly in the center of the eye-clusters, the cold immediately causing the creature to draw all of it's legs in and ball up, even as much of the hairs on it's face stiffen and then shatter from the snap-freeze. The creatures will is overwhelmed, and there is a pregnant pause as General Tsao inhabits his first victim, and the silence in the West corridor, persists...
(occupation successful)
Watching from his hiding spot, he lies in wait. Biding his time for an opportune target.
Inside the spider's mind, Tsao cackles with sadistic glee as he overwhelms the creature's pitiful mind and takes complete control. In the swirling misty battle-plains of the spider's mind, the spider representing the beast's original consciousness lies dead, cut and slashed by Tsao's favored weapon, the falcata, which he only uses within the minds of his victims. Turning, Tsao looks out from the spider's eyes.
Whoa.
His perspective is blurred and confusing at first from looking out through 8 eyes, but after a few moments he adjusts and begins to see normally. Smiling inwardly, Tsao climbs up on the ceiling of the cistern to see what he can see from above, looking around carefully. Better to know the strength of the enemy before I strike in this strange new body.
+1 or +4 or +8 if there are webs on the ceiling.
+11 instead of 7 if there are webs on the walls of the cistern.
General: Skills will be checked by whichever is greater, host profile or hijacker.
Tsao's new form most unsubtlly marches out of the pool and up the wall, scrambling towards the ceiling and hopefully out of sight, clacking and hissing reflexively. There is another pregnant pause as everyone decides what they will don next, when the silence is finally broken...
"See, Preet?! It was the spiders fishing, is all -- nothing we needs to worry about... now help me drag is bag!" -- "No! Mine heavier!" ...
From here forward it becomes very easy to hear them, you can now see their glowing eyes bobbing as they approach the cavern from the tunnel outside.
The voices grow more distinct, like evil children... there are five of them, the back four dragging large bags of trash, in two-man teams...
"So... Gorfeen say we hear to watch for kobolds, annai see that, yes? An' Gorfeen say we kill the naked orcs, but try and find friendship with the shiney ones. Why we leaving gifts for deadlies?"
"That's simple! If somebody left an elven baby on an altar -- what would you do if you founnit?" "WE WOULD EATS IT!" "Yeah? and so if the deadies crave rotten meat, and the altars has it -- maybe they think we friends, see? At the very least we know if no flesh on the shrine, sumfing eenin it -- maybe deadlies! Gorfeen is Smart!"
"He wot? Gorfeen trying to turn dead orc into elven babies? Gorfeen REALLY smart!" (a couple of goblins chuckle)...
Upon making entry to the room, the garbage teams continue to drag their burden towards the trash heap on the shrine-side of the chamber. The odd goblin, at the head of the group, walks to the edge of the pool and prepares to relieve himself in the cistern...
"Dummpwe trash, and then we lay the offering. I got me own offering to give, I do!"
(Please indicate if you will act, or you intend to hold action, and if so, until what.)
the garbage bearers are distracted with their burdens and don't spot anyone. Despite Yeerk's close proximity to the singular goblin, it fails to detect him. The Goblins have not approached the shrine yet, but likely will gather there, and notice Abrasax -- when they do.
Tsao will delay until his "comrades" strike and take their pick of minions before cleaning up the rest.
"Bunklevore... you watchin' out for that spider or you peeing in drinking water again?" -- "Shhh, Preet... Spider not hungry anymore. Spider catch something in pool now eating it. Bunkle not NEED check for spiders!!"
(Naturally, this conversation is mostly goblin, with some loose common in it. but even if you don't understand the content of the message, they are very emotive and you can gauge their level of alertness.)
It is likely, Itzal -- that with your level of stealth and there being no eyes on the lone goblin, that you could potentially grab him -- but I'll wait for you to either give the go-ahead, or resolve your held action before anyone else attacks the goblin (if they do.)
Likewise, Yeerk is poised to act at a moment's notice, and the Swarm, still hovering high in the chamber, is not stealthing (since it attacked) but it is well obscured, at least until the goblins are less encumbered and start looking around more carefully...
General Tsao, note you have a giant spider profile now... and your stats have adjusted accordingly.
GIANT SPIDER FORM! HP: 11/16
STR 3 -> 11
DEX 18
CON 6 -> 12
INT 16
WIS 10
CHA 16
If you avoid making skill checks for skills Tsao has, but the spider does not, you may preserve this host longer. The biggest discrepancy between stat-blocks is INT, by 16 points. You are master of it's body, but you are flaying it's nervous system like a bull crashes through a China-shop.
Tsao amuses himself by testing out his new multiple-jointed legs quietly, against the ceiling. An interesting first host, he murmurs to himself, not bad, not bad.
General Tsao, note you have a giant spider profile now... and your stats have adjusted accordingly.
GIANT SPIDER FORM! HP: 11/16
STR 3 -> 11
DEX 18
CON 6 -> 12
INT 16
WIS 10
CHA 16If you avoid making skill checks for skills Tsao has, but the spider does not, you may preserve this host longer. The biggest discrepancy between stat-blocks is INT, by 16 points. You are master of it's body, but you are flaying it's nervous system like a bull crashes through a China-shop.
A tense moment passes, and Itzal realizes that if he does not strike now, he will be left to strike when his targets allies have their eyes upon him. Winding from the crack, and along the floor, from shadow to shadow, he rolls over surface to surface, around the lip of the pool...