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"Astre...is that you?" the spirit leansin closer, peering closely at the elf revenant. Upon recognizing you properly, the dead wizard wheezes and cackles in laughter. "Even uglier than I remember. It's behind the yellow Dimension Door! Farewell..." and the ghost fades away.
However, your plan wouldnt've helped anyway - part of the door's spell is that nothing gets through to the other side when it's closed, not even sound. In total, you discover that the door's central knob has 6 different positions it can be twisted to. In clockwise order: Black
Amarant, there are multiple different settings, you just stopped turning the knob after the first change. If you were to continue turning the knob, you would get different results. Ganzorig, you notice that the sky overhead is becoming more gray and overcast. The clouds appear to be drawn to the top of the ruined tower, as Astre's magic ritual is performed. --------------------------------------------
Contact Spirits
When you pull a spirit out of the spirit realm to answer a question, it is an unpleasant experience for the deceased. For Beb'kin the wizard, this was no exception. A spluttering and protesting shape coalesces in the air before you, Astre. A breeze from the Other Side flows through into your world, changing the atmospheric pressure of the world outside the tower, and causing the weather changes that Ganzorig notices. When the wizard speaks, its ethereal voice nonetheless conveys a harsh and malicious attitude. "W-wha-wh-WHAT IS IT?" the spirit hollers, its jaw sinking to the ground as it screams at you. "ASK, AND LET ME GO!"
No need for a roll to do that, Amarant. You twist the center knob to the right, and the horizontally painted stripe's color changes from black to red. There is a flash of light that illuminates the crack between the door and the doorframe, before it settles back to looking normal.
Ed and Myles were already standing by to grab the bodies and heft them home, and with a little bit of hollering they're able to get Diggory to come back and grab one out of the river too. Once they've shouldered the bodies fireman style, they begin trudging back out of the hollow. Diggory in particular looks angered. "What the hell kind of sorcery lets a man shrug off bullets like that?" he demands, asking no one in specific as he grunts under the burden of Tekumsah's enormous body.
Ganzorig, you wander around the perimeter of the tower's grounds and find the remains of what must have been the wizard's garden. The fence is on the ground in pieces and rotting away, but it seems to have formerly enclosed a small area for growing things. You recognize some of the plants as being useful for treating wounds... You look down at yourself. Is that true anymore? You still have gaping holes in your body, so obviously you are beyond "healing" in the natural sense... Heptu discovers some wild onions, and begins eating them. Already his ribs are showing through his skin less than when you found him. Thra'raxes, the only thing of note on this floor of the tower is the door and the stairs. The door is closed again.
Perfecto! I'll introduce myself in the Discussion thread.
"There's witchcraft here! I'm fallin back!" Diggory shouts, abandoning his position and fleeing. Edward's mortified by the fact that Ronnie and Tekumsah were slain; seeing such a big and intimidating figure blown apart like that rattled him to his core. He's immediately in Diggory's footsteps. Myles steps forward, and throws down his gun. "Let me gather the bodies of the slain, and we'll leave!" he shouts at the weird prospector. He's eyeing the bodies in the stream, trying to make sure they don't float too far away.
Great. I'll play a ranger, then! I was thinking of importing the custom Kenku race from Pathfinder and making it fit within your Dungeon World campaign, is that kosher? My idea was to be a bird-man ranger with a special bird of some kind as an animal companion. I could jump in to the story by helping your wizard, who is currently being attacked by a monstrous spider. If the race is approved, I'll come up with a racial move for Kenku rangers, run it by you, and write up my full backstory.
At Ronnie's shout, Diggory lets out a wild war whoop of his own and lets have at the stranger with both barrels of his boomstick.
Following suit, Myles unloads with his pistol immediately after. He has to nudge Edward out of his initial shock to do so, but eventually they're both firing at the man who is apparently too badass for cover. We'll see how many pistol rounds will change his mind...
So there's a druid, barbarian, wizard, and Batman class taken, huh? Is the game's setting more urban or rural? I might go thief, or ranger.
I'd be interested in creating a character if there's still a spot available. I'm currently GMing a Dungeon World game on these boards myself and I would welcome the opportunity to be an engaged player. What classes have been claimed?
No problem, wasn't intending to call you out! :)
Hey Astre, I've noticed you referring to your character as "he" in your posts, is that how I should refer to your character as well? I remember in character creation you said that you preferred neutral pronouns due to your character's personality.
Astre's well-organized mind casts itself backward efficiently, sorting out which memory is required in the space of just a moment. In the wizard's mind, they hear Laithis' voice lecturing them on magic from when they were a student in the elven lands. "When the average person thinks of Dimensional Doors, they usually imagine a portal conjured in midair in the spur of a moment," the elf's voice was derisive when speaking of "the average person." "But there is another, more permanent way to conduct the Dimension Door ritual. It takes more effort, cost, and foresight, but with enough skill and dedication, the spell can be woven into the bricks of a structure like this tower. It's beyond your current skills, but as a demonstration of my mastery, I have done it. This knob here changes the Door's destination, and this one acts as a normal doorknob. You are forbidden from using this Door as my student until later on, but should you ever encounter a different one...remember this, if you value your life." Astre, you remember distinctly that Laithis leaned in close for emphasis, staring you right in the eye. "Never, ever turn the center knob when the door is open."
Would that it were so easy. After climbing a half dozen steps, you determine that the charm on the stairs has not been nullified by the presence of the tooth. Whatever faint magical aura is concealed within the ceramic shell, it does not have to do with unlocking the tower's upper levels.
The ceramic tooth makes little tinkling sounds as it rolls across Ganzorig's exposed fingerbones. Astre, the wizard's other normal teeth shielded it from your magical scan when you first examined the body, but now that Ganzorig has plucked it out, you can discern a very, very faint magical aura coming from it.
Diggory is completely at ease out in the wild at night, he has spent many nights sleeping under the stars. Edward jumps at noises, looking skittish and trying not to voice his fears for fear of seeming craven. Myles has had personal encounters with the Sioux tribe in the past, though they weren't battles. He's scanning the trees as best he can, trying to see any movement of beast or man. Diggory smirks. "Yeah, with the way these trees hug the skies at night I could see people's imaginations getting away with 'em. Still, I doubt any local beastie would give us trouble, we're too many to bother with for most. And if the tribes decide to show up, we've got an answer for them too. C'mon, I see the water up ahead. Let's move!" he takes point as they approach the valley through the upcoming trees. Myles is right behind him, but Edward hangs back near Jed.
All you find on the corpse that is remotely unusual is what looks to be a false tooth, back in the molars, made of what appears to be ceramic.
Astre, your plucking at the strands of magic has attracted otherworldly attention. The effects of this will materialize soon... Regardless, there is nothing useful or valuable to you here in the hallway. The only features of this floor are the door, the hole in the wall, and the stairs leading up. The central door handle is magical, as is the black stripe horizontally painted above it.
"Eh, we don't need any more than what we got," says Diggory in a show of bravado. "I can carry all we'll need on my back for you ladies." Edward looks a lot less certain than Diggory does that they don't need any additional help, but he doesn't speak up; Diggory tends to "take all the air out of the room." Myles' face is still stony and stoic. They set off toward the gulch.
The door looks unassuming and normal now that it's closed and the howling wind has stopped. The black stripe above the center knob looks unchanged. Normal, earthly wind blows through the ruined tower though the giant hole in the wall.
Edward has been spending this leg of the journey enjoying the gambling game, even though he lost. The only card game he played while working alone at the library was solitaire. He plans to honor his debt to Ronnie the Surveyor if Ronnie ever tries to collect - the librarian is a man of his word. Myles was outside the passenger cars during the train's slow traveling, and he saw the lanky gentleman clearly, giving him an acknowledging nod that went unreturned. Once the train pulls into the station, he re-enters the train car and seeks out Diggory and Edward. Diggory was inside too, not playing cards but listening to the rumors flowing into the train cars from the locals. "I could use a chance to stretch my legs after that ride," he says, addressing nobody in particular as he stands up and dusts his britches off. "I'm heading down the trail to Sica Hollow to visit the creek and get a pull of fresh water. Anyone who's interested in tall tales and ghost stories better come along - seems there's something mysterious about that area. Regardless, it's the best place to get water around, so it'll be good to wet your whistle, if nothing else. Who's with me?" Ed and Myles quickly fall in behind the cowpoke. Diggory crosses his arms as his gaze travels over the other passengers, his eyes narrowing as he glances at Judge and his awkward new attire.
The immense force of the open door is too much. Her own fingernails fit neatly into the grooves left in the doorframe by the last victim who was pulled in, as she loses her grasp. For a terrifying moment, Maude, you're on the far side. All around you is featureless blackness. You still see through the open doorway, into the tower beyond, where you came from. Thra'raxes is there, his undead muscles straining as he holds on to the doorframe and reaches out to you. Maude, you look around, and try to make sense of the black void all around you. You feel eyes on the back of your neck. Something is aware of you now. Thra slips, and nearly falls in after Maude. However, Astre is there behind him, and grabs hold of his tattered armor. With a mighty heave, the wizard pulls on the barbarian just as Thra'raxes' hand grabs hold of Maude. The three Revenants tumble out of the door and back into the hallway in the tower, safely. Immediately afterward, Amarant begins to close the door. However, the door doesn't want to close! The presence of Maude and Thra's minds in the Void has awakened the sleeper therein. That malign intelligence focuses on Amarant, and the blackness reaches out toward him as the fighter is struggling to close the door! Ganzorig is ready for it. With a wordless shout, the ranger adds his strength to Amarant's, and the two of them close the door shut again. The rushing wind that was drawing the party toward the open doorway abruptly ceases. Maude and Thra'raxes have migraine headaches of the highest degree. For both revenants that were exposed to the Other Side, it feels like there are miners swinging pickaxes on the insides of your brains.
Diggory will immediately develop an immense mistrust for Judge.
The door swings inward toward the interior of the tower, not outward. There's a few large chunks of the exterior wall of the tower that are lying on the ground in the hallway; you heft one up in your arms and move rapidly toward Maude.
By "main handle" I assume you mean the handle in the normal handle's position, rather than the one in the center. The door opens at your touch. Instead of opening to the outside, as it appears that it should, the doorway holds nothing but blackness. There is immediately an immense suction of air, as if all the air in the world is being pulled through this door and into the inky dark. You see fingernail-marks on the inside of the door frame. It's pulling you in! You sense some enormous, malevolent intelligence on the other side of the door, hungrily drawing the air of the world into its gullet, trying to swallow you whole and pull you through the doorway. Give me a defy danger roll!
Amarant, sorry, I forgot to reply to your post! The wine tastes of ash, and you do not feel affected or intoxicated in the slightest. Of course, it could simply be weak wine. It's hard to say.
Astre, you know that the spell used to create the endless stair charm stipulates that there be a trigger object that disables it from the bottom. Find it and climb the stairs while holding it, and you will ascend normally. The object's anticharm aura extends to the companions of the person holding the object, as well. The catch is, the wizard will obviously be interested in concealing the identity of such an object very carefully.
Diggory's ears are finely tuned to the sound of cloven hooves, him being a cowboy at all. Any chance he'd notice the Judge's sudden deformity?
Diggory watches the strange words being exchanged, a suspicious scowl on his face as he feels himself being affected by them.
Diggory doesn't mind the smell, and stays nearby the young woman, keeping an eye on her for her safety. He eyes the Judge but doesn't say anything when he joins them. Edward is standing on the exterior platform of the train, watching the landscape slide by on the way to Sisseton and keeping his nose trained opposite the smelly passenger car. Myles takes pity on the wounded father and takes out his deck of cards to play five-card stud with him and his son.
Thra, you climb the stairs up, and up, and up...and up and up and up. Onward you climb, heedless of your companions, focusing only on the challenges that may lie ahead. After several minutes of climbing with no discernable difference in the stairwell you're ascending, you look behind you to check your progress, and found that you have made none. Despite climbing at least two dozen stairs, you are actually on the third step of the stairwell leading up from the second floor.
Astre, you reason that anyone who would go to such lengths on a prisoner would be someone more intelligent than your average bandit group. Someone who had an understanding of how magic was performed. You needed a tongue to perform the verbal components to a spell, after all, and ditto the hands to perform the necessary gestures for somatic components. It seems likely to you that this is the corpse of a prisoner, and whomever was imprisoning them didn't want them using any magic to get free. The clothing resembles the old robes that Beb'kin used to wear when you knew him, in life. Meanwhile, the barbarian is climbing the stairs upward. The stone is old beneath your bony tread, Thra. Parts of it crumble away beneath your steps, but you keep your footing easily. You reach the second floor of the tower. The wind from outside can be felt on your face. Part of the tower appears to have been blown away by some kind of explosion; there's a huge hole in the wall on this level. You walk around this level of the tower and see more stairs leading up, and a single door built into the exterior wall where it wasn't blown away. The door appears to lead to nowhere, or specifically, the outer wall of the tower, so it would appear to serve little purpose. It's closed, and fully intact, with a doorknob that looks ordinary enough. There is also a single, horizontal stripe of black in the middle of the door, and what looks like a second, smaller doorknob in the middle directly beneath the stripe.
Diggory claims a horse to ride back, not because he wants to keep anyone else from riding it, but just because he naturally assumes one of the horses is meant for him. Myles walks alone, and Edward tries to stay on the opposite end of the group as Tekumsah, as the huge native man still scares him. By the time they return to the train, they've long since reached the point of exhaustion, and they ignore any requests for intel about the safe, at least until tomorrow. By first light, though, Myles has some questions burning in his mind. Edward approaches Xing when he arrives at the train, his exhausted mind still up and whirring, like it does when he's overtired. "Didn't see you on the train before. Who are you three?" he inquires of her, and Buck, and Bret.
I'm going to say that Hyregoth's characters react similarly and look on Diggory's manly leadership skills with goo-goo eyes!
Maude, the hands were obviously removed before death, as there appears to be thread at the base of the decomposing stumps. The corpse looks to be about as far gone as Amarant is. It's wearing clothing that looks familiar to you. You also notice a small, dried out something hammered into the wall by a nail nearby. More closely examining the anonymous thing reveals that it's a dried-up, dessicated tongue. Amarant, you check over the barrels and take a quick inventory. 4 barrels have drinkable red wine in them, the rest are empty or broken. The barrels are resting on their sides on large wooden "feet." They have "head corks" in large holes on the tops of the barrels, and taps where you would expect them to be. You note that of the 4 with wine in them, one of them is missing its head cork on the top. There ordinarily would never be a reason for that cork to be missing, as it is only used when the barrels are refilled.
"Let's get after them horses," Diggory shouts. Urging Myles to finish his looting, he yanks Edward into motion and falls in behind Gideon. "Lead on, bud. Forget the gang. Let's get what we came for and skedaddle. We already done more fighting than we really should've intended to out here." Edward pipes up. "We should hurry, that thing making that noise is getting closer!" Myles nods somberly. He's pocketed some ammo, a pistol (and handed one to Edward, with a rifle) and the dynamite, and the cards out of idle curiosity, but he doesn't appear to enjoy his new spoils. He's a family man, and this gang-killing posse business is a necessary evil to him. The three men, now suitably armed to the teeth, set off with Gideon to try and grab the horses that they can find.
Amarant, the statue in the bushes isn't a statue at all, but a once-living man. It's unmistakable - the details are too fine for it to be a randomly placed piece of artwork. Besides, there are branches in its fists still. It's hard to get much information out of it by looking it over, but it appears that the man and everything on his person was petrified completely to a granite-like stone. Inside, the barbarian is demonstrating that he was reckless and headstrong in life, and undeath has done nothing to dull those instincts. Flinging open the broken trapdoor, Thra'Raxes descends the ladder he finds beneath it. Assuming Astre and Maude follow, Ganzorig will eventually descend the ladder as well. This is something you notice from where you are, outside, Amarant, so you don't have to figure out where your friends went when you enter the tower. The four revenants that descend into the basement find themselves in what appears to be a wine cellar. Beb'kin the wizard had a legendary taste for wine, and it appears that here is where his stores were kept. There are large barrels lining this 25x35 foot, rectangular, single room cellar on both walls. On the far wall is a corpse, in a seated position, with a chain around its neck fastening it to the wall it is reclined against. The corpse has its legs sprawled out in front of it and its arms in its lap, and it's apparent even from where you are - since you can see in the low light of the cellar - that the corpse has no hands.
From high up in the tower, a small murder of crows is shaken free at the sound of Maude's scream. Complaining loudly as crows are wont to do, they flap off into the forest.
No, a kerchief isn't a use of gear, you had one on you when you were buried. You grab the stone bird without difficulty, and hurl it through the open doorway without any issue. It clatters and breaks on the ground near Thra'raxes' feet.
Diggory experimentally puts his ear to the ground below, seeing if that helps to pick up on the sound better. Edward is grimacing at Roy's latest kill, but Myles nods, understanding the grim necessity. Myles will go around and strip some of the bodies for anything interesting, reasoning that the humming could mean another fight coming up soon, and it's better to get the loot now than have to retreat and miss it later. Edward racks his brains to think of what causes humming sounds in the desert wilds of the West...
Heptu the dire ass finds a patch of crabgrass on the ground and begins calmly tearing out chunks with his big, flat teeth. Ganzorig, when you enter the treeline you note that there are strange stones in the trees overhead. Not a great many of them, just about 2 or 3. Studying them a bit more closely you discover that they are, in fact, petrified birds. Not far away from their stony perches you see scorch marks on the trees. Wizard's work was done here, and the burn marks are not that old. Maude, as you contain your flames, the light from your arms illuminates the first few steps of the entryway of the tower. There's nothing of immediate interest in the vicinity, apart from the fact that the hinges of the door that was torn off were made of pure silver. You recall that silver channels abjuration magics very neatly, making them ideal for securing doors with spells. Not that it did the former owner any good in the end, though...beyond that in the tower is darkness. Amarant is watching the party's backs. If you were still alive, you might've had a start when you peer at a bush at the tower's perimeter to see a face peering back at you. However, since you're dead, you register dull surprise for a brief moment before refocusing. The face is not a living threat, but a statue, of a man wearing light armor and peering through the bushes. The branches are entwined in his stony hands. Thra'Raxes, you burst through the open doorway into Beb'kin the wizard's tower. You find your eyes adjusting to reveal a wide, circular entrance hall, with sloping stairs along the far wall heading up in both directions. There's also a massive carpet that was hurled aside to gather dust in one corner of the room. The carpet appears to have once covered up a trapdoor that leads downward. The trapdoor is broken in half. There's a banner hanging above the stairs on nails driven straight into the stone. The banner is scrawled with old brown colorations that crudely spell out "STUMPY".
After the ass has had it's fill, it snorts and begins to pull the cart across the bridge of its own volition. Heptu has a mind of his own, and is more comfortable expressing it now than he was when you first acquired him. Crossing the bridge is uncomfortable but not dangerous for any of you; it simply requires a few moments of care to not step too hard on the rotten plank on the far end. Ahead of you is the Witch's Hat tower, and unless anyone notes otherwise, I'll assume you all make your way towards it more or less together. It looks mostly unchanged since the last time you remember seeing it, Astre, although it could be a bit shabbier looking. Still, it wouldn't have been much of a downgrade from the condition that the previous owner kept it in anyway; the hedge wizard was not particularly good at keeping up with the groundskeeping. As you approach it, though, it's clear that this state of ruin is beyond simple homeowner's neglect. None of the wizard's banners are up, and stones and loose debris litter the front lawn. The tower looks abandoned, and one of the double doors on its exterior is hanging off its hinges in a haphazard way, as if someone ripped them off to gain entry.
Edward and Myles finally make it out from behind cover, Myles scowling, Edward blushing bright red for having flubbed being stealthy. Can't I do anything right? he thinks to himself, and it's not hard to tell what he's thinking. Diggory is impressed by the impeccable aim of Lilly Ann, and whoops in satisfaction. "Well done boys and girls! Yee-haw! Now let's get Grandpa here off the spit, good sport Tonto..." he moves to help Tekumsah with the struggle of rescuing Gideon.
The wooden bridge groans on its nails, but not enough to make you think you're in danger. This bridge has clearly been here a long time. Maude, you spot the rotten plank that I mentioned to Ganzorig before, making it easy for you to avoid as you trek across. However, the sudden direct light on the back of your neck makes your voice falter weakly at the end of your sentence, which is slightly embarrassing. Clearing your throat, you press on, stepping over the weak spot and reaching the end of the bridge. On the far side where you're standing, you are back in the deep shadows of the trees where it feels more comfortable. Your hunger is getting slightly distracting. Heptu snorts and pulls the cart slightly off to the side of the road. If he isn't stopped by anyone, he'll walk to the river's edge and lower his mouth into it. Astre, you confirm that the seam runs completely around the wax cylinder, but it won't come apart using your fingers. You're jostled somewhat as the wagon goes a few feet off road when the large donkey pulls on it.
You don't appear to be in imminent danger of an ambush currently, Ganzorig. However, disturbance in the dirt near the lip of the bridge on your shore indicates that someone - more likely 3 or 4 someones - crossed here recently. Be on the lookout for a weak spot near the far end of the bridge. It looks as if the primary structure would hold, but there's some evidence of rot that your keen eyes can discern even from this distance. It's easy enough to step over if you have knowledge of it being there. There are tall trees overhead where you are, but don't be fooled by their swaying heights. The center of the bridge is in direct sunlight. The cart isn't anything special to look at, but its construction appears to be sound. You don't think you'd sink if you forded the river instead of taking the bridge.
Myles is primarily concerned with Edward's safety, and feels partially responsible for the man being distracted and falling on his face. The largest rock they can immediately dash to.
Amarant and Thra are the only ones to have sated their hunger on the remains of Benny. As you leave the traveler's rest, the two most physically imposing of you are feeling "normal" - or what passes for it. However, the lingering scent of Benny's blood on the air continues to torment the rest of you as you ride off. Astre occupies himself with studying the strange wax...thing. You don't recall reading anything about wax in particular in your studies of magic, beyond some passing mentions of attempts to make golems out of them in years past. The project was abandoned due to the finished product lacking in offensive power. Beyond that, you can tell that the wax was once in two separate pieces that have been fused together somehow. It's difficult to spot, but you can see a very faint trace line along the side of it that indicates where it was once two pieces. While the wizard sits hunched over the wax thing in the cart, Ganzorig urges Heptu back along the narrow path to the main road through the forest. The roadsign was accurate; before long, you've reached the Thief River. The river appears to be roughly 40 feet across, flowing south across the road. There's a bridge made of wood and stone built across it. The bridge is in a questionable state; it looks ancient, and doesn't look to have been maintained at all since it was built. It's wide enough for the wagon, but not much wider than that. |
