Author Topic: STRATA- Chapter 1  (Read 131805 times)

Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #600 on: July 10, 2016, 09:55:03 PM »
Squiggles is having a small problem.  The rats begin swarming around, under, and over her to reposition and its keeping her rather busy.  They start flinging down small objects, enough to give a -2 penalty to the Scissorman's AC.  Maybe this will give Axejack the opening he needs.

Axejack go!
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Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #601 on: July 11, 2016, 04:27:17 AM »
Apparently Axejack wasn't doing too well, and his wild swinging seemed to be doing just as well against Mr. Scissors...

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #602 on: July 13, 2016, 11:06:41 PM »
Get your hands...self...whatever...OFF OF MEEEEE! Magana shreiked as she bared her teeth before attempting to chomping down on the hand.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #603 on: July 14, 2016, 06:42:25 PM »
Matsu channels some of his power into keeping Axejack alive under the furious assault of the scissorman, and also tries to force his way into the "mind" of the remaining hand-thing, so he can drain it of life.
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #604 on: July 24, 2016, 12:55:45 PM »
Magana had difficulty as the hand held a firm grip over her face, its tail tightening around her throat.  There was something wiggling from within this thing's palm, something that filled Magana with dread if she wasn't about to escape soon.  And Axejack was having trouble hitting his target after losing a lot of blood.  His mind must be fading away.  The doctor is to the rescue, keep at it brave dwarf!  And, at long last some other good news for the psionic man of medicine: at long last he had established connection with the dark mind of the hand creature.  He was in!

It was things like this which was why the rat king had wisely decided to keep the hell out of melee.  He would have been dead 5 times over.  Still, the least he could do was to help his current battle allies.  The dwarf was no use to him if he died now, and so he muttered something impossible, weaving reality to knit Axejack's natural healing into overdrive.  "Live, Dweomermer, Ysno-hbijn-ujsi...si....wp!?!  Crap!"  Pronouncing the dwarf's true nickname was more difficult than expected, and he botched.  Instead of delicious healing flowing through his form, he benefits only from fast healing 1... for 1 round.  Worthless!

The hand grappling Magana goes for the pin, but rather than forth her down it's trying to force something through her mouth.  Horrifying!  But not as horrifying as what is happening with Axejack.  The brave dwarf is simply no match for the merciless beating that the scissorman was bringing upon him.  It looks like he may have finally given under the onslaught.  The rats above have changed tactics (or run out of ammo) because now they are throwing whatever they can find at the scissorman and aiming for the eyes.  It doesn't work.

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MAP

Try and stabilize Axejack!  DC 14 Constitution check to stabilize.

Squiggles can jump in any time, otherwise... back to Magana!
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #605 on: July 24, 2016, 10:52:10 PM »
The "doctor" screams "I'll take care of the dwarf, kill the scissorman!"
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #606 on: August 18, 2016, 07:16:17 PM »
It just wouldn't stop.  They were dying, they were all dying... Magana flailed, struggling to remove the ever tightening grip of this disembodies arm off her, and she managed to pull it off just enough so that when the hand began to seep out a foul smelling paste, it didn't get into her body.  But at this rate, she'd surely die.  Suddenly a miracle occurred, and the arm twitching violently, losing its grip, and falling limp which allowed Magana to rip it off and discard the offending beast to the side.

The headache was well worth it for Matsu.  The hand's death throes would breath new life into the fallen and dying dwarf.  Axejack would find himself at the scissorman's feet, prone but alive.  Behind him, the echoing muttering of a talking rat reached his ears, filling him and Magana with furious vigor and energy.  Now's the time to strike, it has no idea you're still alive, too busy dealing with the air exploding around it and time seeming to slow to a crawl as it attempted to regain its focus.

Magana and Axejack get immediate action attacks!  When this is resolved, initiative with continue with the scissorman's turn.

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MAP
« Last Edit: August 18, 2016, 08:02:34 PM by SolEiji »
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Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #607 on: August 18, 2016, 07:56:58 PM »
Blacking out for but a moment and coming to with Scissors standing over him, Axejack grabs one of his axes in both hands as a rush of energy pushes him into action.

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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #608 on: August 18, 2016, 09:16:52 PM »
Axejack is awake.  The scissorman looks away from his crumbled body to his next target, Magana.  She had been disposed of with his hands previously, but now she was free to escape.  Not without sacrificing her hands to the scissorman first though.  With a roar, the undead beast raised its scissors over its head and charged directly over the now moving form of Axejack.

With a firm grip, Axejack swung his axe upward, crackling loud against the scissorman's leg bones which seemed to finally give way, scything the blade up into the monsters midsection.  He must have hit a critical weak point, as the former durability of its scorched undead flesh began to come apart at the seems unraveling into a splash of clotted blood and ribboned meat.  At long last, this time it was the scissorman whose life was cut short.



PREY SLAUGHTERED!

LEVEL UP!


Excellent work.  Two of your members may be in a daze, but you're alive.  That spider seems to have vanished within the rat swarm and is nowhere to be seen.  Drosselmeyer slumped downward and let out an gasp of shock and relief.  He could not believe it himself.

The devil had been slain.  Praise be!
« Last Edit: August 19, 2016, 01:18:28 AM by SolEiji »
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #609 on: August 22, 2016, 11:48:28 PM »
Matsu says "Well... we survived. What do you know? Now we just have to figure out how to get the hell out of this place..."
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Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #610 on: August 23, 2016, 01:09:43 AM »
The dwarf cleaves into the fallen corpse of the scissor man once more just to be satisfied.

"Aye, almost feels like I've forgotten what outside this house looks like. Hmm, to be fair though, in or out is all the same in this land..."

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #611 on: August 23, 2016, 01:40:28 AM »
The rats above are a confusing cacophony of high pitched cheers and shouts of exaltation.  Drosselmeyer seems to be the only quite one among them as they start swarming down the walls and over the floors, keeping a fairly wide space between them and the fallen scissorman lest it spring to life once more.  There's no making any sense in the noise among them.  Drosselmeyer seems... alert.

On a completely unrelated side note, Magana (and Drossel, but whatever), make a dark insight check (your score is currently +0).  There are things for you to know.

For the others, the heroes can choose to loot the scissorman.  He didn't have much.  The oxidium battle shears it was carrying.  A grisly collection of hands on a belt.  A dreadful looking unidentified wooden mask it wore on the top half of its face, whose wood seems rotten.  A bag full of ashes, which seem to still have embers within.  A burned book, which seems unreadable in its state but used to be rather nice before it burned.  And a key.  I wonder what door this goes to.

Any checks you desire to make, make them now.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2016, 04:05:48 AM by SolEiji »
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Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #612 on: August 26, 2016, 12:58:31 AM »
No one else doing so, Axejack took to bagging up the loot; fancy scissors, hand trophies, the mask, the bag of ashes, and the burned book. The key was pocketed, making note that it'd be useful to find what it went to. Maybe the rats had an idea. The dwarf hefted all the acquired loot over his shoulder with a strained grunt and turned to Drossel.

"Aye, don't suppose ya'll got a safe place to rest for a bit. I be pretty sure I died for a hot second there, it'd be nice to sit down for a breather after that one."
He did a mix of a sort of chuckle and a grunt before following up on that request. "And I don't suppose anyone here knows where this scissor man makes his lair? For curiosity's sake, aye. Be safe to be thorough and all."

Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #613 on: September 15, 2016, 12:12:31 AM »
Drossel seemed distracted, and as Axejack addressed him it took him a second to actually focus on him, shaking his head to clear his mind.  "I am sorry, what were you saying?" he said as the chirps of celebration from the rats above died down.  "Safety.  Yes, there is a safe spot.  And I need a moment to commune with god.  You are probably very tired and we don't know how it is out there yet.  I can guide you to the master bedroom.  Or, to the place I have seen the scissorman the most.  You have already found the place of his birth, the burning corpse heap which you found yourself in.  Let's see... Chim, come here!  Please guide our heroes to the bedrooms.  I must address my brethren."

He glanced around the room.  The spider has absconded at some point.  No matter, it probably walked the dark spaces between the walls at this point.  And then there was the two dazed humanoids here.  "And those two.  What will you do of them?  Do they suffer?  Do they recover from this?"

The answer to that was 'sometimes'.  Other times, they either go mad, or turn into... things.  And OOC, the answer is no.

One of the rat guards runs up to the party, presumably this 'Chim'.  He's ready to lead you upstairs.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #614 on: September 20, 2016, 12:35:27 PM »
Matsu says "Hmm... well I'm not sure what we'll do with our comatose friends. Now that we have a bit of time, I will try and see if I can repair the damage to their minds, or at least understand it."

The "doctor" is a bit suspicious of the rat-people, especially when it concerns their "god", and so carefully tries to read their body language and unspoken words. He also leaves his psicrystal behind, in hiding, to spy on them.
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #615 on: September 24, 2016, 11:01:33 PM »
Matsu's psicrystal slips away unnoticed as Chim lead the party out of the basement.  The way back up the winding broken staircase seems somehow different than when you went down, but it leads out all the same.

But below, things are occurring out of your sight.

Drosselmeyer sighed deeply, and the previous silence of the rats, which now swarmed downward back to ground level, returned.  This time it was noises of distress and confusion, a few voices managing to speak up louder than the rest.

"What did you do?!"

"They're leaving..."

"You promised us!"

"I don't understand."

"Please, silence." Drosselmeyer demanded.  His face was one of distress himself.  Among the rats, a partily large and burly one almost as big as Drosselmeyer himself stepped out, one eye covered by a tumorous lump and a crude Viking helmet forged out of scrap. 

"Drossel, have you forgotten the plan?  When all is said and done, we were to gnaw the ropes on the cages above trapping the human prey.  Why did you stop us?"

"The situation has changed Gorn.  I admit, I too expected the humans to fail.  It is the devil, it is powerful and terrifying.  As I had told them directly, were they to fail we would eat them.  And though I sought to take advantage of their weakened states, I could not.  Simply put, I have not yet fulfilled my end of the bargain.  I will not betray them while I am still contract-bound.

My ears can still hear the howl of the cosmic wind Gorn.  The barrier.  It is still up!"


"And why should we care?  They were right under the cages then!"

The swarm grew into a confused frenzy.  Drosselmeyer continued unabated.  "I am not certain yet what is wrong.  It is certain that the devil trapped us within here.  It must be.  Yet its death has not unlocked the path as I have predicted.  There must be a missing element we have overlooked.  I intend to commune to our god and discover why.  But understand that we are better served keeping these... very strong... humans alive.  We must eat, it is true, but after we have eaten them what then?  Who do we eat then?  We will starve, go mad, and lose our sense of self like the others.  I will not condemn my family to this fate.  We need to breach the barrier no matter what, where prey exists in greater number and we can spread."

"We're dying Drosselmeyer, damn you.  Three of our kind turned back into normal mindless beasts yesterday, and the numbers are growing.  You know as well as I do we need the nerves of sentient creatures to endure and keep ourselves whole.  We had an opportunity there, and lost it.  We're not like you, decaying slower than the rest of us... the humans will escape and we will be unable to do anything again!"

"They aren't going anywhere.  And I do not want them to harbor feelings of revenge when they discover that the barrier remains steady.  We are not the alpha predators here Gorn, it would do you well to remember that.

We won't have long until they find out.  There is no time to celebrate.  I need everyone to spread and search the outer walls for a weak point.  We must find it out.  And I..."
  Drosselmeyer stepped up to the fallen mono-eyed helmet that had fallen from Magana's hands earlier.  "...must commune.  That blasted woman before has no idea what she was doing.  I must ensure it is unhampered.

The angel is nearby, lurking in the walls.  I do not know what it is doing, but I saw it watching us.  It has retreated back into the endless space.  I hope it speaks to me.  Gorn, please give it a little more time.  Our family has need of your guidance.  Bring them through the manor, and hurry."


"This will be resolved later.  We can take on the humans in their sleep if we must.  Until then, very well.... we will search." Gorn grumbled, pulling back to the swarm.  "This way.  We will earn our meal yet."

Drosselmeyer frowned, placing the helmet upon his head and becoming lost in the dark.

---

Meanwhile, the trip back seemed to be significantly longer.  Even your guide seemed confused at times, and appeared nervous.  But at long last, the double doors opened to the lush and comforting expanse of the master bedroom.  It was still adorned with beautiful tapestries, fine mahogany chairs, and other expenses but curiously the mattress and bedsheets seemed to be missing.  Along the wall were several large portraits of a noble man and woman, presumably the Baron and Countess respectively.  The Baron was a weasely looking fellow, ill fitting for the far more beautiful Countess in her ravishing pale faced glory and delicate hands.  In spite of the appearances of a proper lady, she was painted with a rapier at her side.  This was unusual that a lady was trained in swordsmanship, but those with the proper Knowledge Nobility checks might be able to glean more.

Also here, one of the paintings was ajar as if it had been jostled.  The appearance of a hidden safe was behind it.  Unfortunately it seems to be very well locked with a strange combination system and no keyhole in sight.

"Here, yes, here.  The last humans to be here took things.  I think they took the bed, for some reason.  But there are spare cloths in the closet, very soft.  Can be used for bedding.  Stay here for a bit, I watch door and make sure is ok, yes." Chim said, motioning to the glamour ahead of you.  "Chim is very thanks, very thanks, no more devil.  Soon freedom.  Brother Drosselmeyer right to trust you, saved everyone, good choice.

No wander far ok?  Home is changing again, weird event, work of angels."


Matsu, your research indicates that the marks on their bodies have grown significantly and violently.  It has reached a major nerve, and the line has buried into the body, working up into the spine.  It is likely that your allies may be losing it and are effectively are in walking comas.

There is no known cure.

If they wake, they won't be the same.  They will likely be mad.  It is uncertain when they will stir, but at the moment they are in a strange hibernation where they will persist until their bodies wither away of malnutrition.  If you are lucky, they will die from this.  If they aren't, well... there is talk of the cursed living in states which are physically impossible.

What shall you do in here?
« Last Edit: September 25, 2016, 02:24:11 AM by SolEiji »
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #616 on: September 25, 2016, 08:49:47 PM »
Putting away his instruments, and turning away from the catatonic party-mates, Matsu telepathically projects to the dwarf and the toothy-woman. "Well... I have bad news and more bad news. Which do you want first?"

Not bothering to wait for a reply he says "Ah, the bad news? I thought so. Well... as may surprise no one, the rats have intended to eat us all along. It was just a matter of giving us time enough to do their dirty work for them. They expected us to die fighting the scissor demon, and then thought they could mop up and have us for dessert.

I believe our success has given them second thoughts, but many of their number are still slavering for our brains and it is no doubt a matter of time before they betray us.

And now for the bad news... it seems that whatever barrier prevents us from leaving here has somehow survived the death of the scissor demon, or so the rats say. So... we're still trapped, although the rats are out probing for weakened areas as we speak. I left my pet rock downstairs to spy on them. I'll know as soon as Drosselmeyer when, or if..., they find one. I think we should try and hightail it out of here immediately after, not giving them any chance to betray us while leading us there.

And now for even more bad news, a bonus if you will... This mark upon our friends has violently grown into their nervous systems. At best, they'll be in a catatonic state for the rest of their lives. At worst... well, it might just take them over. I've heard tales of such things, and they are not something to repeat in polite company.

And here is my Ugly idea... I suggest that we consider using them as bargaining chips with the rats. If they can be assured of a meal, they might consider letting us leave in peace once we find a way out of this place. Although I do not relish the thought of releasing such a pack of ravening rodents upon the world... well, given how fucked things are already, I don't really see how it will make much difference. Maybe we can seduce them into heading into the darkness, and hope they're consumed there, rather than helping them find their way back to areas where the light still holds out."
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 12:30:48 AM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline Psysama

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #617 on: September 25, 2016, 09:24:39 PM »
Magana was busy wondering what she just saw.So, ignoring what you just said, did anyone else see...something weird?  She proceeded to take her trident and jab it at the ground nervously.
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #618 on: September 25, 2016, 09:36:03 PM »
Quick question for the doctor: do you say this in front of Chim?
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #619 on: October 04, 2016, 10:53:11 PM »
No, use telepathy.
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