Nasar shrugs, ”Not really. I’d like to get new armour but I don’t have enough for what I’d want. Besides even if i did it would require time to make, time we dont have a lot of. So I’ll pass and keep them company” Nasar also runs a finger along the table and laughs a bit at the dust. ”Doesnt look like anyone has picked up your slack since we left huh Gen?”
Genesis shakes her head in defeat, To be fair I don't believe someone was cleaning this place as much as I was before I came.
Marissa leaves and comes back along with Deract and the team leaves the premise to go save their friend.
They take a few hours to walk and finally enter the area they know last time to be the witches hut. They immediately spy hound dogs roped up to the sides of the house. Deract looks at Nasar, Well that would alert them for sure.
”They’re probably just some regular dogs there to alert them that we arrived.” Nasar looks to Gen with a rather unimpressed look at the alarm system. ”You wouldnt happen to have some sort of spell to deal with something so weak? Maybe something to put them to sleep so we may pass unabated?”
Genesis looks through her spellbook briskly as she shrugs, Uhh lets try this. She casts Knock on the O-hook holding the 3 chains up to the house, she then picks up a rock and hands it to Marissa, Launch it.
To which Marissa nods and flings it all the way on the other side of the house. The dogs immediately take notice of the rock hitting the grassy floor and run to that side of the house. The sudden jerk of them hitting their limit pops the weakened chain lock and they run barking into the forest.
Deract nods and looks a bit astonished at the ingenuity of that small task, I woulda just killed em...
Lily shakes her head, The point is to not be seen or heard Deract.
Deract slowly nods, Riiiight.
”Well with that alarm system dealt with I guess we can move on. Gen are you able to detect any magic up ahead? With that witch I would be somewhat surprised if they didnt have any sort of magic that could also alert them that we’ve arrive.” Nasar awaits an answer before leading the team forward to the hut.
Genesis waves her hand as her eyes turn purple to detect magic. She slowly scans the area for a few seconds, Uhhh, something on the door. But I don't really have a way of figuring out whats on it i just see an aura of... She focuses on the door. faint Abjuration!
Lily muddles over it, Could be a Hold Portal... or an Alarm. No way to see really. We don't have a dispel magic do we?
Genesis shakes her head in dismay, No but I really should get that shouldn't I?
Deract nods, Yep... Let's try the front door! They walk over and Genesis shakes her head noting no magic on that door.
Nasar talks a bit quieter as he doesn’t know what lays beyond the door. ”Just be cautious, they may have left this door magic free as to try and focus us into going a certain path.” Nasar attempts to open the door cautiously in case the door is connected to any sort of wire or trap.
As soon as Nasar inspects the door he sees a stick of some sort behind the door frame, if the group opens the door the tension will be alleviated causing something to fly at them. A very primitively made trap that can be disarmed from the outside.
”Well I’ll be damned, they really did set up somethin on this door. Ok everyone hang on a sec I need to try and disarm this thing right quick.” Nasar takes out some tools and gets to work jamming the trap so they can freely enter the room without causing anyone to get nailed by a javelin or a bowing ball.
Nasar feels super freaking confident working on this trap after not being able to defuse one in so long.
Nasar jiggles the knob in a way that causes his end to pop off and he proceeds to poke the inner lock causing it to fall inward. The trap loosens and the ammo falls out as the door slides open slowly and safely. A string is attached to the knob that leads to 2 arrows on the floor that were meant for the party. Lily picks them up and breaks the arrowheads off, Poison, gotta save these for later inspection.
The front room is still a mess from when Deract ransacked it, not much has been changed here but the stairs downstairs are in the kitchen beyond the foyer.
”Since everything here looks the same...I’m doubting anything was added to this room to screw with us. Gen just keep up with looking out for magic, if you can fo that I can focus more on the physical obstacles.” Nasar treads carefully around the room, cautious of areas that seem too conveniently open to travel as they approach the kitchen.
Deract whispers as they make there way safely to the kitchen stairs downward. Gotta keep our eyes peeled. If the first thing we found were trapped doors who knows what else they laid out.
The team begins walking down the steps as they all keep their eyes peeled.
Lily stops Nasar as he is the first to descend. She grabs the back of his scarf as he nears the bottom step. The last step Nasar. That’s no step. And upon closer inspection he also sees a fake step made to collapse as soon as someone steps on it. A rug sits in front the step several feet wide. Deract hops over and pulls the rug out a to reveal a small pit writhing with small snakes the size of human arms.
”Aww look at ‘em. So many snakes, they’d look nice in a tank at the house. I’d prefer a bigger constrictor snake though, these ones are probably venomous and don’t make great pets. That is a fun little trap they set up, I wonder how long it took them to set that up.” Nasar hops past and continues down the steps with the team, still vigilant but a bit happier after seeing that surprise in the step.
Genesis keeps her eyes out for any magic remnants around, Nasar and the gang continue onward and after a few twists and turns come across a large boulder blocking the way forward to the armory with the portal. The other fork is open however.
Lily looks over the stone, Definitely put here to funnel us or to block off that portal.
Nasar goes to pat the boulder. ”Oh come on this little thing supposed to block us?” With a smile he turns to Marissa and continues, trying to get Marissa to go all earth brraker on the future gravel. ”Guess they must think you and your shadow are some real weak asses huh?”
Marissa breaths as she walks over to the rock, Ok... let’s see...
She feels up the rock and tries to get her shadow out. She mumbles, Cmon you stupid thing.
Her eyes turn purple as she feels up the rock once more. She winds back and goes to throw a punch at the giant stone.
Marissa slams her hand into the stone as a hole forms from the impact. Marissa looks perplexed as she inspects the stone, Uh... it was supposed to break or fly... I’m confused. As she goes to pull her hand back the stone manifests teeth as they go to grab her.
She gets bit but manages to pull her hand back fast enough to not get scooped up by the teeth as they form back into the stone.
Lily backs up, What the f$&k is that?!
Genesis backs up as well as she Detects Magic, It’s some kind of aberration!
Nasar taps his chin while taking a big step back with Genesis ”Wait I think I’ve heard of things like this, isn’t this one of those mimic things? I thought they were supposed to be chests. Well what the hell do with do with this then?”
Genesis stops for a second before reciting her vague memory of things like these. Grikkitog, those are like stone mimics. They infect an area of stones and can show there eyes or teeth anywhere. That middle section must be the core!
The ground rumbles as a giant stone maw opens below Deract.
One of its teeth shot forward and impale Deract in his arm grabbing hold of Deract. Deract screams in fear and pain, WHATEVER IT IS WE NEED TO KILL IT!!
Eyes start to appear all over the ceiling keeping the party in sight at all angles.
[ooc]Deract is grappled, the creature is not.[/b]
Lily steps back to get a bit more distance before chucking a fire bomb at the abberation. the glass shatters and the flames hit the floor almost being useless.
Genesis casts Dismissal but its shrugged off by the monsters rock hard determination.
Marissa winds back up for another punch to the rock core.
She slams into the rock with no luck on hurting it. The stone eyes all over the ceiling dart around looking at all the party members scatter like ants.
With all the eyes taking away any chance of flanking along with armour that is actually stone. Nasar keeps himself out of the combat as his swords wouldn’t be of much use in the fight. ”Marissa, this thing clearly has some incredibly tough defenses, you might have to use your weird touch attack curse thing to weaken it before getting through with your fists. Lily this seems like a great use for your demolition bombs, should do a good number on its hardened shell body.”
Marissa nods in understanding, Oh yea I can do that!
The aberration burns as it is engulfed in dark flame from Marissa’s touch. It reels back as it winds around to throw a punch at her.
And it slams down on her. The stone however moves and all the eyes retract back into the ground as it detaches from the area around it. The spike impaling Deract goes back into the ground releasing him. The fist lifts up as Marissa sees this new Earth Elemental form with a giant maw of teeth and eyes form in the middle.
Genesis points as she casts Enlarge Person on Marissa, Theres his real form he’s detached from the ground! Now is the time to strike it!
Marissa grows to about half the size of the Huge aberration that now resembles an elemental.
Deract holds his bloody arm as he flings a Chaos Bolt at it which hits the beast but barely scratches it, This stupid juggernaut of a rock!
Lily concocts a quick potion and tosses it to Nasar, Drink that for some Haste!
Nasar gulps down some of Lily’s go juice before taking a chance to attack with his Kukri.
”This is going to be fun, me having haste and you being twice as big, this rock doesn’t realize the position its in.”
Though it can be flanked even that isn’t enough to catch the Grikkitok lacking. Marissa goes to throw another touch of corruption at him.
The aberration lights up in another ungodly flame as it takes more damage from Marissa. Deract jumps back and starts to charge up an eruption.
Lily sets up a spell to try and catch the monster off guard.
She groans as it fails to charm the monster, Fffffff CMON! She seems to be getting increasingly angry at her useless attempts.
The monster swings its giant stone fist at Nasar.
The beast sends a massive fist hurtling at him that collided with Nasar’s blades still sending the shock and force through.
Now with the ability to launch a full attack, Nasar with the aid of the haste unleashes a 5 attack flurry with large-Marissa’s assistance.
.
.
.
.
Nasar opens up a flurry of slashes debilitating the monster but still managing to not pierce its rocklike body.
Marissa pulls out her morningstar and wails the Grikkitok as shards of rock fly everywhere.
Lily pulls out a bomb and readies to mix it with a cure mod potion just in case Nasar or Marissa take too much damage.
Deract fires off a big explosion of chaos bolts that just border hitting Nasar and Marissa. The black bolts fall on the beast like a mortar as it tries to escape the avalanche of negative energy.
The cloud of chaotic mortars subsides as the beast reassembles from a crumbled mess unharmed. Obvious cracks in its stone armor are showing as its taken a bit of a beating but it does not relent sending another fist at Marissa that she manages to block with her weapon.
HP 56
Since the rock monster is still moving Nasar unloads another barrage of blades into the beast.
.
.
.
.
As the monster patches over its broken rock Nasar opens them back up by stabbing his kukri in the cracks and prying back open the soft spots filled with eyes and teeth.
It takes its movement to sink into the ground as Marissa slams her morningstar onto its sinking head. Rocks shatter and scatter as it disappears into the ground. Silence falls on the cave as the fighting stops, all that can be heard is Deract whining about his arm.
He walks over to Lily holding it limply, Please Ms. Demon Doctor.
Lily mixes a quick potion and hands it to Deract that he drinks as his arm hole closes but still looks a bit rough.
Genesis looks around, It must've retreated into the walls for now. We can't be too careful it could emerge and pike us from anywhere.
Deract looks down the now open way to the armory, Well lets not wait around for when it does! Ain't my ship that way?
Nasar nods at both Gen and Deract’s comments. ”We shouldnt waste anytime then and push forward, we need to stop off at the ship anyways to put this battery in.” Nasar then notices the pain in his forearms and wrists from the hit he took from the angry rocks. Nasar looks at his new boo boos with a frown”Ah right, I got hit back there. Excuse me doctor but i need some prescription pain killer please.”
Lily hands Nasar a cure mod potion.
Nasar’s pain subsides as he drinks the brew. Oddly enough that migraine that comes and goes fades too which is a great relief. The team moves forward to the armory where the portal resides.
The party walks in cautiously to avoid any traps, the room seems untouched as well as the portal spots unattended and off. Deract looks at the portal as his glasses glow and commune with the portal, it opens as a rainbow swirl similar to a Nether Portal. We doing this now right? You have the orb?
After getting all patched up with Lily’s potion, Nasar admired the rainbow swirl the is the portal to the ship. In response to Deract’s question, Nasar pats his pack ”Got the battery back here. we can hop over, put it in the ship and come back fore Bean.”
Genesis and Marissa stand guard as the three of them go do their business, as Nasar touches the swirl of colors he is taken away back to the graveyard of a Plane. The stench of rotting flesh and decay permeates his nose once more.
Deract directs Nasar to the broken lower deck where rats plagued with something abhorrent flee. They pass by a small cooking stove and a barrel marked WATER and reach the front of the underside. Deract looks around before slapping his head, Oh damn I'm an idiot, its in the captains quarters. They walk back topside and open a door right next to the portal to find a nicely sized room, a fine bed with stained velvet sheets sit on the right and a table made for plans and maps stands in the center. Towards the back stands a wooden pillar that goes up to Nasar's chest. A slot on top marks the need for the orb from where he took it.
The bubbling sound of the orb starts once again. Lily looks at Nasar, I'm certain you just put it in right? Deract nods.
Nasar takes out the bubbling battery and goes to gently place it onto the pillar. ”I hope this is all we have to do. Having a ship like this in our hands would be a great boost in how cool we all are. If we get bored we could be interplaner pirates for the hell of it now!”
Nasar places the orb on the pillar that begins to glow with a blue hue. The ship can be felt slowly swaying as it "wakes up". The bubbling sound can be heard loudly emanating from the ship now. Deract plugs his ears in annoyance as he says, I'm pretty sure there was a way to default this thing back to Infernal. Lemme see... And he begins moving the orb around on the pillar as it cycles through various dialects and languages.
Lily swats his hand away before changing it to Common, You realize not our entire party speaks Infernal right?
Deract nods, Ahhh you right you right.
The orb changes to Common as it speaks in a low automated sounding tone. Welcome aboard, you have chosen the Common language default. Is that correct?
Lily looks around and speaks, Uhh... yes?
The male voice begins once more, Thank you, system boot initiated. Please specify captain for this voyage.
Deract looks at Lily, Her she can do it I never really piloted the ship before just grabbed the wheel to look cool.
Lily groans, Your lucky I have seafaring experience.
They all had out the door to see the boat slightly hovering above the ground now lifted out of the gross heap it was confined to.
Nasar excitedly goes around the ship looking at how its hovering above the ground. He as he comes back around to the fiendish pair a look of confusion replaces the fading excitement. ”So...how does this thing work then? Like getting between planes and such? I’m barely experienced with regular boats and regular planer travel.”
Deract plants his hands on his sides with a sense of dominance, Well first we have to make our way to the Planar Sea. Anyone can pilot the ship in simple terms like getting in and out the Planar Sea and making it go straight for the most part. A captain usually helps to dock it and such, SO LETS GO TO THE PLANAR SEA! And Deract raises his hands up as the boat speaks.
Returning to the Planar Sea... And the boat slowly rises up to fade out of the graveyard, below them manifest a whole new area. The gore and meat below has turned to a sea of rainbow colors washing up like water in the ocean. The darkness above has turned to a brighter more soothing warm sunlight.
Lily looks around as they are now in an ocean with no land around them, How are we supposed to get back to Golarion you dick head!?
Deract waves off her concern, It's fine Lil don't freak, time passes so slow in this Plane that we will be back in the Material Plane before those two even know we're gone.
Deract seems look around for a few seconds before he gestures to Nasar, Your turn, think in your head as if your addressing the boat and speak the destination we're supposed to go and the spot you'd like to land. Which in this case is that witches hut. He waits for Nasar to address the boat.
”Uh okay. That sounds easy enough.” Nasar clears his mind just in case the boat decides to travel somewhere he doesnt want all because he accidentally thought of a place. He envisions the hut they just were in before giving the command.
”Return us back to the Witches’ hut”
The boat stabilizes itself on the waves of rainbows, Material Plane destination set, estimated time of arrival... 3 hours.
Lily smacks Deract across the head and turns irate, 3 HOURS!?
She grabs him and attempts to toss him off the ship by the neck. He wraps his tail around the broken handrail on the edge of the ship, Stop! Stop! It's only gonna be like 30 seconds in Golarion time! Lemme go you basket case!
She lets go of him and he drops to the ground before getting up and dusting himself off. You stupid imp we should've done this afterward. Who knows what's out here.
Deract mumbles,Planar pirates... He turns to Nasar, Well lets get you acquainted with the ship itself since we will be here for a little bit. He waits for Nasar to accept or kick back and wait out the 3 hours.
Nasar sighs at the new delay to their mission and just looks at Lily, patting her on the shoulder while trying to calm her nerves. ” It’ll be alright Lily. If it’s only 30 seconds then Gen and Marissa wont even know we were here for so long. We should get familiar with the new vehicle in our arsenal while we have the time. It’s only my second time on this boat, first time while its powered so I could make use of a proper tour anyways. Isn’t that right captain?”
Lily groans as she follows behind them, I guess...
Deract holds his hands out to behold the topside, So... this doesn't have much right now, we could put cannons here or harpoon thingys. He walks over to the back of the ship and points to the door and the marble white portal entry. That is the captains quarters but that'll be reserved for us since our crew... Well our crew is nonexistent right now. And that is our portal that resonates with whatever tuning fork or portal activator we find or take. He takes them down a small flight of steps back down to where the rats were. Down here doesn't have much, a barrel for water and a small stove that works sometimes nowadays. We gotta get materials to combine with this ship to make it bigger.
Lily pipes up from the back, Doesn't this ship like eat other ships?
Deract moves his hands as if weighing the options, Not eat ships per se. It turns the ships parts into a part of it, so it could use any wood we can find to repair to holes in the top of the ship. It seems it used the top wood to keep the bottom from getting holes and water. The ship shapeshifts to suit the needs of itself, like a changing mimic.
Lily nods in understanding, We can just make it eat your ship Nasar, then we will have more than just two schooners.
Deract laughs and looks around the sort of empty bottomside, Can't wait to store stolen loot down here HAHA! Any questions Nasar?!
While being definitely overwhelmed with all the info at once, Nasar manages to retain enough info to form a somewhat important question. ”So how does that whole converting ships work? I guess I’d get a better example when we sacrifice the old ship for this one but if we manage to capture or partially sink another ship, how would we use that ship to improve this one. Would we have to fish out the debris or would we just have to...sail into it and the ship will do the job for us?”
Deract snaps as it was a very good question, Sail right into it my lad, the ship takes what the ship wants. Also works for ramming ships too you should see this thing just rip off boards! Its cool as hell! He ponders the question, Well the boards and such can be reused on the ship. We would need cannon metal of various kinds to make the cannons and such, the boat knows how to make cannons and such it just needs enough product to do it and a bit extra for the process. And sadly it needs it all at once. So yea we just need to pull the boat up to yours and it will commandeer it. A sound of water hitting the underside of the ship can be heard. What the hell?
The three head to the top as they see a gunboat made of dark red wood and metal. A band of Djinni float atop their ship with their scimitars attached to their backsides. What do you travel with Plane hoppers?
Deract yells back across the water as both boats sail along, We ain't got nothing I just got my damn ship back!
The djinni hollers back, Well stop your voyage so we may make sure to tax you properly if you are hiding any goods.
Lily scowls, Lovely, you got bandits on Golarion and the ocean that stretches Planes...
Can this day chill the f@*$ out already?! So much bs all at once thatI’m getting that itch to turn someone’s insides into outsides
Nasar leans in to whisper to Lily, ”You think you could work your “magic” on these pests? I hate regular taxes enough as it is, not that interested in playing along with their bogus planer taxation.”
Lily walks to the back of the ship and begins casting her charm monster spell without the genies seeing it.
Lily walks back over and plants her hands on her hips, Are you sure we gotta stop? You can't go find someone that doesn't have a beat up ship? we're just trying to get to the Material Plane for repairs.
The genie thinks for a second as the others look at him confusingly. Aye... You can proceed, no point stopping you lot if you have no cargo. And he waves his captain to turn away from them. They sail off to the right and after a few minutes disappear over the horizon.
Nasar barely holds back a laugh after they leave ”That sounds about right. Can always count on you charming someones to leave us alone.” With some peace and quiet Nasar sits on the deck of the ship and digs through his bag looking for something to occupy their time while waiting to get back to the hut. ”Man i wish I had some cards. We could be playing a game by now. Or i could be doing some card tricks.” he then gets excited as if he has just unlocked some really old memories ”Oh man I used to be SO GOOD at card tricks! I could shuffle one handed, i was sooooo close to being able to shuffle a deck in each hand, I bet. i could do that now no problem! I used to be able to pull that 3 card game scam. Oh man i fooled so many suckers into forking over some copper and silver because they thought they had me all figured out. Arrogant people are some of the easiest to scam, they think they know everything and can’t be beat. Also I-uh...uhm. Nasar pretty quickly loses that excitement while finishing digging through his bag, taking out the last 3 of his tear gas smoke sticks that have been sitting in his pack for some time now. ”i forgot I had these. These were so useful back then. Especially in that big warehouse kinda place. I still can’t believe I managed to dodge all those guys when they were surrounding me then.”
Deract looks at the smokesticks and looks over the edge of the boat, Well your moving onto bigger and better things, as someone who learns and is constantly evolving their tactics and tools you’ll probably have plenty of more trophies of the past to keep.
Lily hears Nasar telling his tales, Ah so you’ve just been destined to be the sneakster from the start, dodging characters since your journey begun. Did you ever have dreams of being anything else or was this life kind of hand picked for ya?
Nasar scratches his chin in a moment of silence. ”I wouldnt say i was destined for it. It was just the life I needed to live when I had to make ends meet on my own. I know this’ll sound surprising but being teenager that can barely speak common tends to struggle to find money for food. Didn’t really have any sort of dreams then, well besides thinking about freshly cooked food. That was always a luxury.” Nasar takes out a bit of rations and munches on them to ease his appetite before the upcoming fight. ”Once i was on a team in the guild, I did have this small desire to be some sort of hero but uhm...I dont think that’s going to work out anymore.” As he is about to finish talking Nasar catches himself since he almost ended on a negative sounding note. ”I-It’s not like I’m complaining about that! I really like you all and I’m certain trying out that hero life wouldn’t be nearly as fun or excited. Besides I got to at least be a hero for Genesis once, so I have at least that as an accomplishment.”
Deract waves off Nasar’s concern for being a hero, Ehh heroes come and go but the villains with the most are the ones who go down in infamy!
Lily nods in agreement and in understanding of Nasar’s past, Yea I much more prefer this way of getting stuff done. By our means and ways, not the code of conduct so many goodies follow.
The team messes around the bow of the ship until about two hours pass and the waves start to calm. Deract moves towards the front of the ship, Here we go! And after a second a bright light blinds their view as the forest they trudged through is below them.
Lily looks below deck to see the canopy of trees and the small spot where the trees have been cut to make room for the witches hut, So it’s a... flying ship?
Deract nods in happiness, Yes ma'am! How else would I be able to conquest if I had to pass over lava and negative energy seas unless this bad girl was able to fly and withstand all that! He waltzes over to the back of the ship and starts to release the anchor. One dimensional anchor coming right up! And the anchor can be seen dropping down like an anvil in a kids show. It thuds the ground that can be heard several thousand feet above as he grabs a hold of the pulley that held it. Just focus on this or the anchor and it’ll take you to the other side. See ya at the bottom! And he disappears into thin air. Lily walks over with intrigue and looks at Nasar.
See ya at the bottom sticky fingers! And she disappears as well.
Nasar does as instructed and focuses on the anchor to join Deract and Lily at the ground.
They are a few hundred feet from the clearing the house is located at. They rush over to the house and descend in the safest way possible as they loop back around to the armory. Deract stops the two of them mid stride and devilishly asks, Wanna play a prank on the girls, let’s act like we’re guards. And he uses his hat of disguise to give himself a helmet and armor colored dark red. He looks up to them, Like were Hellknights or something!
Lily chuckles and looks at Nasar.
Nasar, without missing a step, uses his hat and mimics Deract’s new appearance. ”This sounds like fun. We haven’t pulled a prank like this since the plane of fire.” Nasar looks to Lily, trying to recall all of her abilities. ”Either you could disguise yourself somehow or we could always pretend we captured you to add to the realism of the scene.”
Lily likes the sound of the latter option so she hands Deract some rope which he binds her arms together then laces it around her neck then to his wrist. He adopts an evil and powerful voice, No teleporting out of this one haha! And he tugs her forward as they move over to the armory room.
Genesis yelps as she is the first to see them walk in, Uhh Marissa we got company!
Marissa whips out her morningstar, S!&% and they've got Lily! Hey buddy since when do they hire Hellknights to do b%+#! work?!
Deract gives a hearty laugh before throwing his voice out with a deep dark tone, Haha FOOL! You speak knowing I hold your friends life by mere rope! And he pulls Lily closer and down to his height, I'd watch your tongue if you'd like to see her or your other three friends again!