Author Topic: STRATA- Chapter 1  (Read 131791 times)

Offline Psysama

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #540 on: May 27, 2015, 02:43:19 AM »
Not to be rude, but is there any recently dead bodies around?  They don't even have to be fresh, I'm STARVING, Magana groaned while looking around the room.  Deciding there was nothing better to do, she decided to sit down in front of Drosselmeyer.  I'm bored, does anyone have any cards?  We could play war or rummy...rummy...RUMDOES ANYONE HAVE ANY RUM?  WE COULD PLAY DRINKING GAMES!  Magana, so exited by the thought of rum, had obviously forgotten about the rat in front of her and the spider on her head.
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #541 on: May 28, 2015, 08:18:01 PM »
Drossel tilted his head to the side.  This woman was clearly ill in the head.  It seems he might be the most sane one here, given how others were lost in nightmare worlds. 

It was then it dawned on him that the hooded one was also in a stupor similar to the marked bird.  Did the hooded one also have a mark?  Perhaps they were all marked.  How foolish of him not to think of it earlier.

"There's rations elsewhere, but sentient flesh is ours.  My people need it, so I cannot abide competition.  Satisfy yourself with base meats instead.  I will have my scouts fetch some.  You seem the sort not to matter of its condition."  He leaned closer, speaking softer and yet somehow harsher.  "And while I care not, somehow I think speaking of cannibalism may upset our allies.  Tread carefully woman, for you are still one of the primates kind."

Well then, are they prepared?  Drossel will make several commands to his followers in whatever rat tongue of squeaks they use.  Without speak with animals, translation will be impossible.  Whatever it was caused many of his kind to scatter, probably to prepare.  One, which Squiggles will identify as Lunk, went another path.

What's the plan?  Drossel was suggesting that they could try to meet the scissorman on one of his many incursions onto their holy territory, the "Pit".  Otherwise you can try to actively hunt him down.  Or lay bait.  What shall it be?
Mudada.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #542 on: May 28, 2015, 09:35:12 PM »
After a (mostly unseen) sidelong glance at the toothy lady, Matsu says "I guess we try the pit. I'm curious to see exactly what it is, anyway. Or do you speak of the old burned up ruins of the laboratory where the Baron did his experiments?"
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Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #543 on: May 29, 2015, 12:16:06 AM »
"Mmm, laying an ambush for him then would be better than suddenly happening upon him again like our first encounter. Aye, this Pit sounds like a good place."

Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #544 on: June 06, 2015, 04:58:06 PM »
"Then it is decided.  Come."

Last minute chance to pick up items or explore the room.  Once you are done Drossel will leave, solo this time as the other rats are going up ahead.  At any point in the travel you can stop, otherwise you will eventually reach your destination.  You leave the laboratory and return down the hall you came.

Quote from: Main Foyer
You return back to the main foyer which remains unchanged.  The entrance to the house is still blocked off by that quintessence slime stuff, but even though you know how to deal with it now, it wouldn't do you much good.  From what you can tell, the outside is nothing but a swirling miasma of fog and chaos out there.  And you can't help but feel there is something outside there looking in.

Drossel will lead you to the left side on the bottom floor, a door you didn't enter previously.

Quote from: Dining Hall
You enter a large regal dining hall, and recall you have seen this room... from above.  Indeed, lining the upper walls was a catwalk the party briefly came across shortly before choosing to enter the room with the elevator.  Upon the long and fine mahogany tables lay dozens of plates, with the crumbs of a now old and rotting meal.  On the farthest end is a shield plaque, and to the right is an open door.

The place looks like it was occupied once, and that there were people here who all left suddenly mid-meal in an orderly fashion.

There is a curious orange sign scribbled next to one of the plates.  You've seen something like that before, at the entrance of the mansion before you went in.  You know, the one warning you not to go inside.  This one reads:
"Don't trust the food.  Love, Faith."

Drossel heads for the door and enters a hallway.  The left is the hall curls around the corner.  Before you, a door.  And to your right are two things.  One is another door set into the side of the hall.  And the other is a pile of wood chips that was once a door, apparently ripped off its hinges, and a literal pile of mannequin bodies in various states of destruction.  It looks like a combination of bludgeoning and hacking from something.

It's another orange sign.  This time on the wall next to the pile of bodies.
"When music is played, these things get up.  Well, maybe not now.  Don't play the music.  Love, Faith."

It should be noted that Drosselmeyer seems quite nonplussed about these notes.  He's seen them before.  If Sqigs ever discussed the nature of the notes, Drossel has a few ideas but ultimately summed them up as useless.  The food, for what they could recover, was fine to the rats.  And those mannequins never moved, music or no.  He opened the door towards the right (the intact one) revealing a library.  "A brief detour, I must pick something up before we arrive.  Be alert, the devil still roams these halls."

Quote from: Library
You enter a library which has become messy.  Many books have been removed and not replaced, littering the ground with pages open to various bits, and a few stolen away by the rats themselves.  There is a comfortable looking couch with table, writing implements, and a fireplace which is not lit.  On a wall, a golden decorative longsword hangs on a frame.  In the corner, a record player sits.  It appears to still be in working order.  Drossel will take a moment searching for two specific books here.  One is a book on religion and philosophy.  The other appears to be an atlas.

"Alright, let's go."

Back out in the hallway with the mannequin pile blocking the eastward path, Drossel heads west to the end of the hall which turns the corner, and ends up in another door.  It occurs to you he is not taking any of his "shortcuts", though it may be he can't right now, or that it's safer not to.

Quote from: Stairwell
You enter a room with chests and lockers, and a curiously out of place statue of a regal looking man.  Knowledge Nobility.

There's not much to do here other than investigate the chests, currently closed.  A set of stairs leads upwards, and when he opens the next door there is a hall and an opening to your right.  It's then you realize where you were.

Quote from: This Place Again?
God damnit guys, you just ended up right in the hallway where you got tangled up in webbing and fought the scissorman.



Looks like you were really close to where you needed to be.  Directly ahead was a short hall, and stairs which went down again.  Way down.  It might be the lack of lighting in this area, but these stairs seem to go down forever.  By the time you're finished walking you're gonna have calf muscles the size of Buicks.  At least this has been a quiet trip so fa-

CRACK!

For lightweights like the rat and spider, the stairs were fine, but apparently it was not structurally sound enough to support the combined forces of dorf and doctor, and their two hapless followers.  Drossel isn't out of the clear either, since while he won't need to make a save vs stairs, he will need to dodge you if you fall on him.  Reflex saves vs stairs to the face!
« Last Edit: June 06, 2015, 04:59:45 PM by SolEiji »
Mudada.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #545 on: June 10, 2015, 04:00:20 PM »
As they pass the closed chests and lockers, Matsu remarks "Not interested in pilfering those, Axejack?"

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« Last Edit: June 11, 2015, 01:40:46 PM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #546 on: June 11, 2015, 12:20:34 AM »
"It's generally better to deal with the loot when not running amok some nasty critter's lair whilst it still lives, aye. More time to make sure of not missing anything."

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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #547 on: June 17, 2015, 05:05:17 PM »
The choice seems to be making a beeline for the pit.  Pass the orange signs, pass the unusual sights, and pass the chests of certain death loot they go, all the way to the stairs.

CRACK

It was close, but somehow the group managed to press against the walls quick enough to arrest their sudden movement downward.  Even Berid and Ptembridge stopped in time, though to be fair they were traveling in the back in their zombie-like state.  No one will die tonight it seems.  You can take your time getting down the new hazardous terrain without any rolls, and continue the path lower.

There is a small room mid-way, with large iron cages and a few bones scattered about.  Another orange sign is here, but this one is defaced and scribbled out in dirt.  "T*** **ck, *** **ace.  ***e Fa***."

Further down.  You finally spot a door at the end of the stairs, and several more defaced orange signs along the walls.  The door has been inscribed with the same symbol that Drosselmeyer keeps around his neck.  After a moment of peering around to make sure nothing unexpected has occurred, Drossel tapped the wall in a few places, accompanied by soft clicks.  Traps.  Dozens of traps apparently, which he got around to disabling one by one.  There was on the roof.  One under Axejack's foot, fortunately un-activated.  Several by the wall.  One along the edge of the door.  Poison over here of course.  Is that a bear trap? 

"Alright.  We can enter."

He pushed the door open, and the Pit was revealed.

A high ceiling arced over this room, on which dozens of large iron cages hung suspended over a rather vast area.  This place wasn't build like the rest of the mansion, but was instead carved from the very rock itself.  Along the walls lie a multitude of magical, alchemical, and scientific equipment, and on the far wall was a table which a bloody pile of rags were piled in a vaguely humanoid shape.  Near the entrance was another corpse, long picked clean and nothing more than a humanoid skeleton with far, far too many arms to be human at all.  More crude markings were made around this particular corpse.

And of course, the most important part of the room, the thing which dominated the center and gave it the name.  There was a hole in the ground, seemingly punched through, which descended deep deep below with no end in sight.  It was unmistakably a hole to the underdark, not unlike when you fought "Blueberry".  The walls of the pit were lined with faintly glowing purple magicite.  It was the dangerous, radioactive kind.  You're safe for now, but extended exposure may result in health risks.  Just before the pit, a crude throne made of trash and metal was constructed, and upon its seat a strange helmet which looks like it would cover the eyes.  On its large cylinder-like forehead was a single glowing red crystal.  The helmet is dented, it may have been damaged at some point.  A multitude of wires and tubes emit from its back, hooking into the crude metal throne. 

"Our Holy Artifact."  Drossel approached the throne respectfully and bowed.  You heard the faint shuffle of rats moving within the walls and above, apparently on the supports that the iron cages hung from.

"We have arrived.  I have instructed others to provoke the devil so that he may pursue us here.  Soon, we'll achieve victory.  You will see."
Mudada.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #548 on: June 21, 2015, 04:11:59 PM »
Matsu looks at the helmet curiously saying "Hmm... that's surely interesting. What was its purpose?"
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #549 on: June 21, 2015, 04:55:18 PM »


This strange crown of boxy shape and metallic construction may be inert and mysterious, but you gleen a few hints of its purpose from its design.  Given how this was to fit on a human head, it would cover the eyes and blind the user, but the presence of that large red crystal indicated an eye, indicated vision.  Divination?  It must be some kind of divination magic item.  It also has jacks in the back which connect to wires in the throne, indicating it flows something... information... from somewhere.  But what would it let you see?    You could put it on your head and find out, but...

"Be wary!" warned the rat, "The Artifact is most potent, and its eye judges all.  If ye not be worthy, the Artifact will bring you doom, and I could not help thee.  Prithee then, do not touch it lest you feel yourself worthy.  I still need you for the fight to come."

What you do is up to you.  It's definitely a magic something.  Perfectly fit for a medium sized human rather than a rat, so its clearly not theirs.  Not, originally.

That human skeleton with a thousand hands.

Hmm.
Mudada.

Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #550 on: June 21, 2015, 08:59:25 PM »
"Aye, well, let's set up an ambush then? You said you had your followers out fishing for the demon. From which direction shall we be expecting that? Can't imagine we've too much time to figure out how to do this then."

Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #551 on: June 21, 2015, 09:06:49 PM »
"There is only one entry into this room for those of the scissorman's size, the door we entered.  We will fight him on holy ground; he has proven unable to approach the throne, so it will be a zone of brief respite.  Ever-so, he will likely come with his army and they will do damage to the area if let run amuck, we cannot allow it.  If we deal enough damage, he will retreat.  This time though, we will pursue and take him down.  Spearmen are assigned in the rafters.

As for myself..."
  Drosselmeyer approached the throne and climbed among it, next to the helmet.  "I was chosen worthy by my god, and survived wearing the Holy Artifact.  It gave me sight beyond sight, and perhaps blessed me with the endurance my peers lack.  While their minds degrade, my stop short, and decays no further.  This is why I have starved myself of the sentient flesh, so the others may retain themselves.  One day I would hope I too can retake my full intellect.  Until then..." he said, picking up the helmet.  "Holy Thoon, spirit below who watches us all, I would don your mantle once more and receive your visions.  I want to track the scissorman and bring him low."

He intends to wear the apparently hazardous magical item.  Will you object?
Mudada.

Offline ketaro

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #552 on: June 21, 2015, 09:09:41 PM »
The dwarf shrugs and hefts both his axes to the ready. "Should be good, aye. And all those traps outside the door could be entertaining as well for our soon to guest."

Offline Psysama

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #553 on: June 22, 2015, 01:35:56 AM »
Oh what the Nine Hells, Magana said as she walked forward and grabbed the device.
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #554 on: June 22, 2015, 01:38:13 AM »
"W-what are you doing?!  You will likely die!"

Do you put on the helmet, oh reckless one?
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Offline Psysama

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #555 on: June 22, 2015, 02:07:35 AM »
Magana wasn't sure what she was doing but she made DAMN WELL sure that she put on a helmet before touching the device.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2015, 02:44:14 AM by Psysama »
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #556 on: June 22, 2015, 02:51:18 AM »
Make a Will save (and subsequent Fort save), and hold on....
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Offline SolEiji

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #557 on: June 26, 2015, 06:42:40 AM »
Fort and Will failed.



There was a loud click and an electric hum as the shark toothed woman donned the Holy Artifact.  For a moment, everything seemed fine.  Inside the helmet, her vision returned slightly higher than where her eyes actually were.  Strange symbols danced across the illusory displays before her, and small reticles focused on and off the faces of your allies.  And then, one symbol kept blinking.  And blinking.  And bli-

Magana's smile was gone.  Then the screaming.  And the black tar running down her cheek, the seizures, the pain!

"Get it off her!  She's not worthy, she'll die like this!"
Mudada.

Offline Psysama

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #558 on: June 26, 2015, 09:28:08 PM »
The only sounds that are heard from Magana are screams of terror.  To her, this was like a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.
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Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: STRATA- Chapter 1
« Reply #559 on: June 27, 2015, 01:05:07 AM »
Matsu says "Oh for crying out loud... literally." and not so gently yanks the odd helmet off the toothy girls head.
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