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"Well, I landed here on a survey and was amazed to find the colonial settlement, but then...monsters out of the woods. I couldn't get back to my ship and was pretty injured. These folks took me in, but then I found out it's a one way trip. Unless you've got some science-types here." Juce looks eagerly around the party, his eyes quickly landing on Vaëlorin after quickly dismissing Joyride and Burlap.
Djack feels constrained, somehow. He'd like to continue to the hallway and down the stairs, but it's as if an unseen force was holding him back. Someone from downstairs says "Friend, you are confused. There is not such thing, here," though Djack is unsure what's being referenced.
That smells... amazing! Love old world cookin'... he looks around for a way to get to it. Straight ahead and back down the stairs, as far as Djack can tell. Everyone else sees Djack walking down the hallway toward the stairs. If anyone is in his way, he tries to walk around, though to Djack, he's not sure why he isn't walking a straight line. But, who cares, yum! Chicken and onions!
"Juce Digly, at your service." Alzura recognizes the name. Juce is famous as a starfighter veteran, and infamous as a scoundrel. "Raptor," Juce corrects.
"Are you two alright? You stumbled for a moment..." She speaks, moving closer. Djack does not hear Yoltzin ask this question. Instead he hears it as if it were being called up from downstairs, where the smell of food is coming from. Rocko hears (and sees) Yoltzin normally.
Rocko feels a wave of confusion wash over him, and feels vaguely nauseous, but closes his eyes hard to steady himself. When he opens them, the vision is gone, and he feels normal. Djack, on the other hand, has kind of a dazed look on his face, and is looking back up the hall toward the stairs in confusion.
Djack senses a particularly strong smell of roast chicken and onions, cooked in the old-world style. It's coming from the grand hall below. Looking back, he does not see his friends, nor can he see Rocko, nor the Elf/Rosentos vision that was there seconds ago.
Burlap does not sense any malice in the man's tone or posture. "Just simple security. They'll be returned when you leave the redoubt." Once disarmed, the group is allowed to enter. The double doors lead to an old style chain-lift elevator. Your host bids you enter, and soon, you are in a world within a world. The ancient cargo module, buried here long ago, has been sectioned off into a large complex; no one LIVES here, or at least few, but much of the other business of the complex appears to be represented, according to the street signs. As you move toward the Council Hall, a man whose garb does not match that of his peers stops working on repairing an old refresher engine, puts down his wrench and comes over to the crew quickly. "Behold, you pilot!" your host notes as he approaches. The man has sandy-brown hair that grows long over his ears, and the confident swagger of a starfighter pilot. "Boy, am I glad to see you guys! Tell me you're a rescue party!"
When Rocko opens the door to the room, his vision is taken to past times. Though the room is currently empty, and the windows covered as all the others, in his mind's eye there is a youthful Elven woman sitting forlornly on a bed.
moonlight filters through tall arched windows, casting silver bars across the polished floor. Across from her, a figure in gilded armor stepped from the shadows: an Espan explorer, his cloak torn and face weathered from countless conquests. His eyes burned with the fierce pride of an age of empire. He moves forward like a predator, while she twists aside with almost supernatural grace. Her long cloak flared as she moved. Ancient portraits looked on silently as elf and explorer circled each other — beauty and ambition locked in a duel that seemed to echo the clash of two worlds. Rocko's vision returns to the present. Need Will Save from Rocko and Djack, since they are closest to the vision.
Having (another) IRL problem, will try to post tomorrow.
Heading into the redoubt, you see at first only an old barn, with all the rural accoutrements one would expect. But at the far end, you see two men who look like police or security guards, and an open set of metal doors leading into the ground. Heading over, the security guard notes your escort and nods. "Liam." [/b]"More guests?"[/b] the guard asks. "Indeed; they come in search of the pilot." "Same deal. Entry is barred when so armed," the man says, nodding to the group's weapons, particularly the firearms and energy weapons.
The right door on the right side, Djack notices (because he was looking for something), bears the marks of clawed fingernails dragged through the paint.
At the top of the narrow staircase, the air changes—heavier somehow, as if the floor itself resents being disturbed. The steps end on a landing floored with worn, dark wood, the kind that groans underfoot no matter how gently one treads. Faded paint, once patterned with delicate vines, now is obscured by mold. The smell here is of dust, old varnish, and something faintly sweet—like rotted fruit. The hallway stretches in both directions, each about thirty to forty feet long, dimly lit by a chandelier in an open area at the top of the steps. Its light flickers fitfully, casting weak light that seems to struggle against the gloom. Shadows pool along the floorboards and seem to crawl when the light sputters. To the left, four doors line the wall—two on each side, their paint blistered and their brass knobs dulled with tarnish. The nearest stands half open, revealing only darkness within, though the faintest draft breathes from it, carrying the scent of mildew. At the far end, a door of a different make—heavier, painted black long ago—waits at a crooked angle, as though the frame itself has shifted to avoid it. To the right, the corridor is shorter. There are only three doors to the right; one almost immediately at the top of the stairs, and two at the far end. The left door at the end on this side is shut tight, but a faint sound—perhaps the slow drip of water, or something pacing behind the wood—can sometimes be heard if one stops to listen.
As Rocko applies the salve he mixed from the plants Kaki brought back, he is startled as the werewolves shift their form, back to human. They are still quite unconscious, and their wounds, while closed, no longer seem to be healing as quickly. Putting the erstwhile wolfmen outside and securing them once again to fit their new forms, the party is free to enter the manor house once again. As you head in, you notice that the day is growing dark, the sky now overcast and sun all but completely hidden in the sky. It feels as if the very weather bends to the Rosentos' will.
While Yoltzin considers the morality of the situation, Rocko begins his search in the pine woods on the island. It doesn't take long, however, before Rocko is interrupted by Kaki returning. In his beak, Kaki has a small note written in broken common, but with very elegant script. It appears the bird reached an Elven outpost. Attached is a small bundle of silver, fuzzy-stemmed plants with violet flowers. Rocko nods. Silverleaf nightshade. Purportedly very effective against skin-changers.
"To be sure, my new friend. But all of desire is located in the redoubt, where are also the elders. The entire of the redoubt is in sync with our citizens." As you move through the village, you see people moving about. Someone is examining the vehicle you hid behind during the battle, as if assessing some scratches to the paint. Everyone you see stops and stares at you as you are lead to the entrance of a building, some sort of barn or shed. "Be not troubled — they are but taken unawares. As you may well conceive, we have few strangers in our midst. And doubtless they ponder whether your coming be linked to the pilot of that Raptor, as you so eloquently name it."
The trees stand like vast statues of themselves — gray and hollow outlines where color should have been, their leaves unmoving, untouched by the wind. The moonlight that should have dappled the ground through the pines comes through instead as faint ribbons of pale gray, like reflections through dusty glass, never quite reaching the earth. Everything that lives — every blade of grass, every creeping vine, every beetle and bird — is visible, but unreal, like figures of frosted glass. If they moved at all, one could not tell with one's eyes. Where the explorers walk, the world responds in fragments. Fallen branches crack underfoot with a sound like splintering ice; the stones beneath their hands feel solid, yet faintly humming, as though aware of the intrusion. When one reaches to brush aside a fern, his fingers pass through the fronds without resistance, stirring a faint shimmer in the air, a distortion that closes again like water after a stone is dropped. Colors are wrong — richer in some places, drained in others. The bark of the pines seemed black as iron, but the moss that grows on the ground glows with an inner light, not green but some color without a name, a hue seen only in dreams. Every sound sound distant, disconnected from its source. The world of growing things is closed to you, untouchable, but the stone and timber and rusted metal of human craft responds to your touch, as if remembering the same reality you come from. In that half-world between presence and absence, the forest seems both eternal and impossibly fragile — a vision that might vanish the moment someone truly looked at it.
All I have is hemp rope. The base DC to free ones self from normal rope is 23 (since the silk rope is thinner, but harder to break per equal thickness, I'll say hemp or silk doesn't matter). I'd allow a higher DC for more rope used, but you're only going to get that up to about 27 before they wake up. They'd try a few times before either succeeding or giving up, which I'd roll as a morale check. So if they can roll the necessary Strength check before giving up, they'd remain secured for some time. Of course, if they can control their shape changing, all bets are off.
"Tin Man is outside. SO hopefully he will be okay." "The creatures do not generally damage machines, if that is what your 'Tin Man' be." "Ah. Very good. Uhm. Take us to your leader!" "Aye, I can take you to the redoubt. We're safe enough now." Your host opens the door, light from the cabin spilling out into the night. The insectoids are nowhere to be seen, yet somehow you can see Tin Man, and indeed can interact with him if you choose.
They are, in fact, starting to heal their wounds already. The one Djack took down will be conscious soon.
"That I know not, Ratkin. Certainly the elders would know of such things."
Amideo beats the second wolfman into unconsciousness. You're uncertain how long he will remain that way.
"Tis hard to judge — greater than the original colony, assuredly. We remain here, within the ancient bounds. The chief redoubt, wherein your pilot lies, was once a hold of the colony’s founding vessel. ’Tis buried yonder, back toward the settlement."
Rocko and Yoltzin's summon inflict a brutal amount of damage on the werebeast. However, it is still seems willing to fight. Top of round. Amideo, Djack, and Zia.
Are you guys at a loss how to proceed here? Or just busy. I can throw out a hook if you need.
The werewolf in the hall places its second palm on its sword, and swings with its full might at Rocko.
Rocko and Yoltzin may act. And the toad, I guess.
Unfortunately, the toad fails to land it's attack.
Top of Round 3
You're saying... we can't go back? "Except in the way that the rest of us can, I fear so," the man confirms. "At least, we here do not possess the understanding to reverse the process."
which is just high enough for a 19 to miss :D Yup. No damage from that bite, and no werewolf bite to "deal with" later.
Rocko's mighty hit, despite his weapon not being silver, fells the first werewolf. Yoltzin's action
In answer to Alzura: "My meaning was that we could interact, somewhat, with the world outside, during this time. In full daylight, we are separate more fully." In answer to Joyride: "We have no other dwelling; this place is our home. Yet your pilot — or perchance yourself — may desire to return whence you came, and therein lies our misfortune, for we possess not the means to bring it about. Now that I have delivered you from the insect creatures, you are numbered among us."
Before we go into battle, Djack's +1 mithral chain shirt becomes +2. Looks like Djack's AC should be 20 now (+4 for Chain Shirt, +2 Magic, +4 Dex) correct?
Combat Map updated. AOO:
Amideo and the were-beast take swipes at each other in passing, but both fail to land a hit. Being now surrounded and quite wounded, the first werewolf is essentially hoping for a valiant death. It attacks Djack, who has caused it the most damage. Claw:
Bite:
Just then, a second werewolf bursts out of the door near Zia and attacks her with a sword.
Rocko and Yoltzin may act.
Djack ends his tumble with one leg propped on a crate; as soon has he reaches stable footing, he brings the mace around and slams it into the werewolf's jaw. The creature staggers a bit, but seems prepared to continue the fight.
Is this anomaly something you stumbled upon here or intentionally created?" "Oh, it be created, enabled by the machines that were engineered of old." How's life here, anything terrible going on?"Djack seems genuinely curious. "The sole matter one might deem terrible is our present state; in truth, we cannot depart this place. At the falling of the sun we may for a short while commune with it more directly — thus it was I came upon you. Yet once one is within, alas, they are become a part of the whole."
On a hunch, based on Vaëlorin's explanation, Cherry makes a scan against the energy records from the Betty's computers. The data indicates that they are, in fact, in a pocket dimension off The Drift, through which hyperspace travel functions. They must be using some form of engine to shift the biological life forms (or perhaps only certain Diasporum races, since the insectoids are clearly excluded) into that dimension, since the physical objects seem to remain constant in both dimensions.
Looks like Yoltzin should be included in block 3 for actions? Oops! You are correct, Yoltzin in Block 3.
Current Initiative (based on order of actions so far): 1. Djack
Rocko:
Initiative for Round 2:
Zia will join at the top of Round 3. Round 2; Djack and Amideo may act. Map has been updated. Both Amideo can swing in at the creature, but it's at +2 AC due to partial cover.
Howdy folks, going to try my damndest to get back into my games. My brain's been all over the place with the concussion, working on setting myself a daily schedule that includes PbP as a part of that. You're welcome to pop in as best you can, I appreciate the extra effort.
Well, you found one!
Holy crap! I've got a silver mace!!! Woot! I don't even remember where you got that. Did you buy it at some point, "just in case?" Great choice, anyway. Fair warning though, for the Vamps you'll be better off with your rapier, unless someone can cast Magic Weapon on the mace. For werewolves, you only need silver, but for vampires, you need BOTH silver and magic to overcome the DR.
Yoltzin's shot penetrates the creature, but does decisively little damage. Noting Djack's uncharacteristic choice of a silver mace as a weapon, she nods. Silver Again. Damn.
Claw:
Holding on rest of the party, who, having heard the sounds of battle, are now free to intervene.
Been weeks, can't log into Paizo on desktop. Anyone! Last time I had something like that was on Ubuntu, Chrome wouldn't log in but Firefox would. Recommend if it's not a cache issue, try a different browser.
The creature has a very tough hide, and Djack's first hit is ineffective. However, the second strike hits it, causing the were-creature to howl out in pain. The werewolf counter-attacks Djack but he nimbly dodges both.
Bite
Djack may attack in Round 2.
Yoltzin and Rocko hear the unmistakable sound of battle down the hall... |
