Search Posts
No! This can't be happening!! Have I gone too far? Did I underestimate?? The TUtB intones words of magic in a cracked, desperate, wheezing voice, and vanishes from sight! But it's shrieks and squeals of agony can still be heard.... Invisible, it scuttles over the balcony and into the beachfront suite, causing the curtains to noticeably flutter.... The sounds of it crashing into furniture inside the hotel room are clearly heard above the cheering and laughing of the cannibal slaves.
Reflex save The Thing's eight spindly legs perform a wild dance on the greasy wall under its balcony, but it struggles to maintain its purchase....
Initiative Treacherous fools! I will glut on your blood!
Clever are the Fierce Ones! Yes! Clever, and resourceful. And deadly.... They hate the evil that pollutes their world, yes? They would strike out against other evils, yes? crows the drider.
Behave, my little sweetlings! We mustn't upset our guests.... A low, cruel cackle dribbles from the foul aberration's black lips.
Children? The Thing chuckles. Children do not live long in this New World, astute and noble Fierce One.... They are far too delicate.... And far too....delicious....
The Thing Under the Balcony can be seen clinging like a giant spider to the balcony of a nearby third-floor poolside unit. From the waist up, it has vaguely humanoid features--a torso with bony arms and claw-like hands, and a head like an evil, ugly man, long of visage, with eyes that burn a fiery red, and long pointed ears, its skin midnight black.... From the waist down, it is like an immense, bloated spider, somewhat like The Crawler Between Dimensions....
SILENCE!!! The TUtB hisses an incantation, and suddenly appears for all to see as a bright bolt of lightning rips from its black, bony hands to electrocute the black-haired young woman, leaving her corpse a black and terrible heap sizzling and smoking by the pool! Lightning bolt
" Assuming what you say is true Coward who hides behind Magic, Why tell us Fierce Ones this.. Do you hope us die in the attempt? Do you think this will spare you our wrath? Or Have you done this all before an know the end result? What do you gain from helping to end the creature that has brought you into this world to cause havoc and torture the inhabitants as you have done.. What has 'His Relentless Malignancy' Done to make you risk so much? For if there is no such thing.. I question your motives" My motives are no concern of yours.... Suffice it to say that I have just as much reason to applaud the destruction of certain evils as you do.... Bluff check
Yes.... Of course.... The Fierce One's are in a hurry to kill other evil monsters and right wrongs, yes? hisses The TUtB from his invisible perch. I promised an interesting secret, yes.... His Relentless Malignancy fears certain ancient relics of your world which might have power to harm him.... He sends his servitors on perilous quests to locate and recover these artifacts so that they might be destroyed.... Or at least kept out of the hands of His Ineffable Evilness' enemies.... Yes, this much I know.... He seeks the artifacts of power, for He would destroy them lest they be used against Him....
Oh, glorious day! Did it beg you to spare it? Did it plead for its pathetic existence? Oh, to have seen its stupid face when you appeared on the Ethereal Plane! HA!! That must have been priceless! The TUtB is ecstatic over the success of its plot to eliminate its hated rival, The CBD....
YESSS!!! You are victorious, mighty Fierce Ones! I can see very well there the ugly face of my old chum! You have earned your reward.... And my gratitude.... BRING FORTH THE FIERCE ONES' REWARD!!
Take this case, Fierce Ones! Kill the nasty Crawler Between Dimensions! Bring me it's ugly head, that I might mount it on the wall beside my balcony to keep me company during the long, lonely hours of my watch.... And I shall give to you gold and silver jewelry, poisons hitherto unknown to your world, thousands of bullets as you call them, and potent drugs to cure diseases, knit wounds, and bring bliss to mind, body, and soul!
The Fierce Ones return! hisses the disembodied voice of The Thing Under the Balcony.... It could not fail to notice your approach in The Chuul's Folly from its perch under the third-floor beachfront suite's balcony, and has apparently made itself invisible in advance of greeting you.... You are ready to kill the despicable Crawler Between Dimensions, now, yes? You have come for the oil of etherealness, yes?
The arrogant Crawler believes its little trick of dashing off to the Ethereal Plane makes it invulnerable--that shall be it's undoing, for it does not know a secret of mine.... A vicious peal of prickly, tinkling laughter cuts at your nerves like the teeth of a rusty saw blade.... I have surreptitiously collected the dried husks the Crawler leaves behind after feeding, and have even stooped to the unsavory task of collecting the blighter's droppings, and from these remains and spoor, I have been able to distill a unique and wondrous oil with magical properties that mimic the Crawler's power to shift between this world and the Ethereal Plane, but only for a brief duration....[b] The sound of the raspy voice grows closer and the stench becomes almost overpowering.... [b]I will give each of the fierce ones a vial of this oil sufficient to make themselves able to shift as the Crawler Between Dimensions does for no longer than what you would call ten minutes of time. Use them with wisdom, and bring back the head of that detestable Crawler, and in return, I shall not only reward you with items treasured by your kind--gold, bullets, medicines, and poisons--but I shall also tell you a wondrous secret that you might be very interested in knowing.... A secret that would be....dangerous....to His Abominable Malignancy....
How can it be killed? Or do we have to guess? It' s a tricky beast, the Crawler, not apt to be caught by surprise.... A trick of your own to lure it out, perhaps? It likes to ambush it's prey.... Let hunter become the hunted! Once it has been blooded, it will likely slip off to the Ethereal Plane, only to appear again when it sees some advantage....
Where do we find this creature? It dwells at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, very near by....
What name does this Crawler between dimensions go by and what does it look like? It has no other name, and it looks much like what you would call a spider, except it is much bigger.... And it has an ugly head that looks like the head of a man with a shaggy mane! It is a very sneaky, very tricky old blighter, that Crawler Between Dimensions.... It slips between worlds, and hides like a coward in the Ethereal Plane....
I am bound by ancient protocols.... Which prevent me from moving directly against that most insipid of fools, The Crawler Between Dimensions.... The raspy, disembodied, prickly voice of The Thing Under the Balcony seems to sizzle with hatred as it utters this title.... If the fierce ones kill The Crawler Between Dimensions, in the course of their exploration, and bring me it's ugly head as proof of the deed, they shall have sweet sustenance, and other rewards, if they wish it....
Fierce ones have needs. I also have needs. Perhaps we can strike a deal? A foul stench, of which the sweet reek of rotting meat is the only familiar part, seems to leak out of the very air....
So! Fierce ones have come to the island to play.... Fierce ones with fire and sinew, ones who know the elder secrets.... Ones who play with death, perhaps? The dry, raspy voice grows closer.... The fierce ones hunger? The fierce ones would quench thirst? The fierce ones would value poisons and medicines, weapons, secrets, perhaps? .... closer ....
Of course I'm listening, my sweetling.... The voice is dry and rasping, and somehow .... prickly. It seems to be carried on the sea breeze and to echo oddly in the air above. I am always listening. I hear your every whisper, and your every scream. The voice seems somehow to be getting clearer. Closer.
Perception check vs DC 15 to hear its title spoken from its perch under the balcony of the third-floor beachfront suite and take notice of the skirmish by the stairs.... So.... New meat.... Tough new meat.... Might be too tough.... Then again.... Might not be tough enough.... Hissing syllables of eldritch power, the Thing vanishes from human sight, and scuttles closer to these new creatures that have caught one of its eyes....
Stealth
Perception .... It perceives the pontoon bearing its next meal as it passes out on the sparkling blue waters of the gulf .... .... Sweet nourishment .... Krekeshkrenak has not participated in any online campaigns. |
