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« on: January 06, 2017, 05:50:43 PM »
(16:19:01) [GM]: A festering evil lurks in the sewers of Livest, and Micah and Miriana have agreed to slay it.
(16:19:07) [GM]: In seeking out Thamior Nowak the constable to learn more about the weeping bride's properties, they met also Margaretha of the Crane Knights, who told them of the basilisk lurking beneath the city. On their first expedition, they were surprised and nearly overwhelmed by a massive nest of poisonous snakes. Though they did manage to eradicate the beasts, they were forced to retreat, recover, and resupply.
(16:19:30) [GM]: The weather has, if anything, gotten worse overnight, and the morning clouds threaten rain, the sun unseen somewhere beyond them. The day begins with a small commotion in the district of Ostend. It seems that in the early morning, the day's first fishers caught and killed a snake in the river.
(16:19:39) [GM]: River snakes are rare enough, but what made this beast the immediate talk of the town was its unusual size, as long as one of the fishers, and its possession of two strange, vestigial legs.
(16:19:49) [GM]: Surely, the basilisk does not sleep, but the past day still sits sore in Miriana and Micah's bones. What will they do?
(16:22:05) MicahWhiterune: Micah knows very well what he does, for the bulging sack of fuel is soon divided into smaller bulging sacks of fuel, for when some serpents need to be reforged into more useful ashes.
(16:23:47) Miriana: Miriana's preparations aren't so volatile, but she does make a point of acquiring a sturdy yew walking stick, the memory of what felt like scores of missed curses still fresh in her head.
(16:30:03) MicahWhiterune: Finally, Micah acquires a torch, the better to light fires with, and to draw attacks onto himself than Miriana.
(16:37:10) [GM]: Later in the day, the clouds have made good on their promise of rain. As if to wash away the filth of mortal souls, water pours on the streets and roofs of Livest. When Micah and Miriana once again arrive at their entrance to the sewers in the late afternoon, they find the flow of water has intensified , and so has the stench. Both the smell of waste and the basilisk's foreign reeks seem stronger under the rain.
(16:38:21) MicahWhiterune: "I look forward to burning all of this shit."
(16:38:47) Miriana: Miriana trudges glumly along, hood pulled up over her head. "Not much will burn in this weather."
(16:39:37) [GM]: Discarded eggs still float downstream, but they seem fewer in number than yesterday. Several among them, however, are of worrying size once identified as single eggs and not clusters thereof.
(16:39:56) MicahWhiterune: "Oh Mya. More of those."
(16:40:58) Miriana: "I was hoping a day or so wouldn't be such a long time to wait...ugh."
(16:41:58) [GM]: Retracing their steps from yesterday proves easy enough, as the canal they followed only branched near where they found the nest of snakes. After exploring the vicinity of their run-in, thankfully bereft of snakes this time, they find a large gathering of shapes in the darkness, near a T-intersection.
(16:42:38) [GM]: The shapes turn out to be objects of art, lining the tunnel in no small number on both sides, going either way perpendicular to the canal they came from. Without exception, they appear beautiful and valuable, art that lifts the spirit, but they lie discarded in the damp sewer. Statues are covered in mold and refuse, paintings rotten, metal objects tarnished. Some appear to have been deliberately defaced.
(16:43:00) [GM]: Among the collection, however, are a select few pristine pieces. They appear new, and beautiful even in this dismal resting place. Writing on the wall catches Micah and Miriana's attention, just before the grotesque gallery. It is a poem carved into the masonry as if by a knife on wood, irregular letters spelling out,
(16:43:00) [GM]: "Odious beauty, odious hope/Hope and beauty are the toll/Be it yours or be it theirs"
(16:43:00) [GM]: Beneath it, in the same hand, is carved, "The Turtlebacks' toll."
(16:45:12) MicahWhiterune: "Who are these Turtlebacks and why didn''t they get eaten by snakes?"
(16:45:58) Miriana: "What's all this? 'Hope and beauty'...? It sounds like someone wants us to bring art in order to pass."
(16:50:47) MicahWhiterune: Micah pokes at the metalwork, "Depends on their standards then."
(16:53:57) [GM]: On a quick look around, the statues appear to be just statues; they pose in ways that are to be expected of fine art, where poses are still recognizable. All of the pieces gathered down here must have once been fine indeed; a small fortune is rotting in oblivion. Those pieces that have been defaced seem to have been treated in the most deliberately cruel manner; beautiful
(16:53:57) [GM]: faces and forms slashed, smiles crudely redrawn into snarls, filigree brutally smashed.
(16:54:36) [GM]: Among all them, those few pristine ones stand out like beacons, two one way and one the other.
(16:55:46) Miriana: "Someone's been down here recently. Leaving new offerings for these people to wreck, it seems..."
(16:56:41) MicahWhiterune: "Criminal waste of good craftsmanship." Micah nudges the ones in better condition to consider how portable they might be.
(16:57:58) Miriana: Miriana glances up and down the tunnel, a little nervously. "Someone thought it was wiser than risking the alternative, at least."
(16:59:32) [GM]: One of them is a beautiful marble statue of a man in motion, poised to turn around and face some unseen entity, likely to be too unwieldy to take home. The others are a painting of a happy wedding scene and an intricate armillary sphere of metal and colored glass, as much art as instrument. As he inspects the closest one, the painting, however, Micah suddenly hears a wild, malicious hiss very nearby.
(17:00:20) MicahWhiterune: Micah swivels his mirror shield to face it as he grabs for one of the firebags.
(17:03:19) [GM]: The hiss came from right in front of him, and his reflexive raising of the shield stops a sudden stream of acid from hitting his face, much of it splashing off his shield. Some stray liquid splashes past, hitting the skin of his brow and arms to produce smoke and a sensation like burning coals on his skin.
(17:03:48) [GM]: Was it just his imagination, or did the happy wedding scene on the painting seem to twist into rage and snarls for a split second?
(17:07:03) MicahWhiterune: "What shot THAT? Stung a bit." Micah juggles the bag of incendiary as he exchanges a glance with Miriana.
(17:07:36) Miriana: Miriana looks around warily. "Did you touch anything? Maybe they're rigged up to traps..."
(17:08:13) MicahWhiterune: "Painting went ugly for a moment."
(17:09:46) Miriana: "Probably not a trap, then. I wonder if that happens if we try to pass without leaving any art..."
(17:11:13) MicahWhiterune: "Well, it's either set it on fire or..." He walks over and tips the painting over with his shield facing downwards.
(17:12:56) Miriana: "Well, mm. I don't know where we'd get anything this fancy on short notice."
(17:14:31) [GM]: The painting tips and falls over face first, its wooden frame banging against the stone floor inches from the water canal flowing in the middle of the tunnel. Nothing seems to happen.
(17:14:48) [GM]: As Miriana and Micah ponder the eerie collection, the stench in the background intensifies gradually, and rapid splashes, scratching and rasping come down the left-hand path, the one with the intact painting and statue.
(17:17:37) MicahWhiterune: Micah interposes himself between the noise and Miriana, then approaches, having left the sack of oil on the floor near the painting earlier and drawn his hammer.
(17:17:47) Miriana: Miriana glances down at Micah. "Um. We could run...?"
(17:19:12) [GM]: And then, loud, raspy breathing, far down the same direction. Red points like glowing embers appear in the distance, moving erratically, as Micah approaches, past the painting, when he hears another sudden hiss right in his vicinity!
(17:19:38) MicahWhiterune: Micah pivots his shield towards the noise again, "Next time we come down the walls would be snakes"
(17:21:28) [GM]: Acid again splashes against his shield. This time, the hiss and stream seemed to come from the other wall, and he finds his shield facing the intact statue, looking into the space above his head with an expression of steady determination.
(17:24:24) [GM]: Miriana, having been looking down the tunnel, caught a glimpse of the youth's expression twisted into craven brutality for a fraction of a heartbeat as a stream of acid materialized out of thin air and shot towards Micah's face from the statue.
(17:24:33) [GM]: The distant embers seem to approach in the darkness as the breathing continues, and a soft, unpleasantly warm and wet cloud of overwhelming stench hits Micah and soon after Miriana.
(17:25:37) Miriana: "This seems like the time to r-!" is all she manages to get out before the stench hits and she gags horribly.
(17:27:25) [GM]: As the distant embers approach, they resolve in the duo's vision as strange hybrids of snake, lizard, and glowing coal, elongated beasts the thickness and length of Miriana's arms, crawling on four oddly-placed and malformed freet, patches of their hides glowing red. Still the breathing and scratching continues, and it does not seem to come from them.
(17:29:04) [GM]: Their strange appendages and misplaced forms remind of the story Micah and Miriana heard that morning about the strangely mutated snake caught by fishers.
(17:30:03) MicahWhiterune: Micah faces the creatures, "Miri, if ya can't aim, just set the packet on fire and throw it in their general direction"
(17:30:27) Miriana: "With what?" she chokes, but she reluctantly stands her ground well behind Micah.
(17:32:12) MicahWhiterune: "Just yank the tinderbox, it's sticking out of my pack."
(17:36:00) [GM]: For several eternal heartbeats, Micah and Miriana feel a baleful stare upon them, and imagine they can see the beast's eye down the canal where the sound of breathing comes from. But after those moments, the sound of breathing, scratching, and splashing steps resume and draw farther away.
(17:36:00) [GM]: The two glowing serpents, however, hiss and crawl along the floor of the tunnel on either side of the filth water. Steam rises with a hiss where their legs touch water, and they stop several paces from Micah and belch gobs of fire at the dwarf in unison, briefly lighting the tunnel and giving the duo a glimpse of mismatched feathers and scales in the distance.
(17:38:44) [GM]: <MicahWhiterune> "Or, ya know, them bastards are already on fire..."
(17:41:00) [GM]: One of the globs splashes harmlessly against his shield, but the other flies above and scorches him where the acid already caused damage, multiplying the burning sensation to the point of agony.
(17:42:45) MicahWhiterune: Micah grunts as he takes the hit, but evinces no other reaction to the burns
(17:43:55) Miriana: Miriana, of the belief that if it's already on fire more fire won't make its life that much more miserable, instead draws her wand and points a wavering hand in the direction of a serpent, light gathering at the wandtip before spearing out.
(17:46:46) [GM]: The magic blast strikes the ember-serpent's belly as it rears up, rocking its head backwards with a start. It hisses angrily in Miriana's direction.
(17:55:17) MicahWhiterune: "Mya, I beseech thy forge-hammer. Pound the cinders to ash!"
(17:56:03) MicahWhiterune: Micah advances and swings his hammer at the wounded serpent even as a massive spectral hammer descends.
(17:59:18) [GM]: Another stream of acid grazes Micah as he moves past the statue, but it is insignificant compared to the burns he already has. Mya's hammer, a mirror of Micah's own, appears shining in mid-air and pummels the serpent Miriana shot, though the physical hammer's swing goes wide.
(18:00:02) [GM]: With the dwarf advancing on them, the ember-snakes hiss and turn on Micah, lunging and biting at his arms and face.
(18:02:13) [GM]: One catches only the chains around his forearm, but the other manages to bite through the gauntlet of his hammer-arm, inflicting searing pain that leaves smoke rising from the gauntlet's leather.
(18:04:57) Miriana: Miriana squints through the chaos - steam and smoke alongside the bile rising in her throat - and shoots another blast at the same creature while it is assaulted by Mya's hammer.
(18:09:20) Miriana: She moves backwards quickly, remembering the last time she was attacked by snakes in these tunnels, but she gives the intact art as wide a berth as she can manage.
(18:15:35) [GM]: Sure enough, a thick squirt of acid springs out of thin air in the vicinity of the sphere, which appears for a moment to be tarnished and broken, showing foreign constellations opposing the true ones, aimed straight for Miriana's face. For her distance and caution, only a droplet falls on her skin, stinging like a hot needle. Skin-melting acid, the kind one might torture people with.
(18:15:53) MicahWhiterune: Micah meanwhile, pauses in his swinging to refocus upon his accumulating wounds, "Mya, lend me the light of life, to burn this wounds from my flesh."
(18:19:54) [GM]: The snakes weave warily around the spectral hammer that moves of its own volition, buying Micah time to heal his own wounds with a touch. Soon after, however, they are again on him, and bite with their red-hot fangs.
(18:20:54) MicahWhiterune: Micah wedges shield and hammer into open maws, halting their assault.
(18:24:15) Miriana: Scrubbing the acid off her face with her sleeve, Miriana sends another burst of light somewhat haphazardly over Micah's shoulder.
(18:30:28) MicahWhiterune: Micah, wounds dealt with, keeps on swinging and swinging, mortal and divine hammer alike.
(18:35:41) [GM]: The blow of Mya's hammer rocks the serpent, putting its head right in the path of Micah's own blow. The mortal hammer connects with a spray of blood, and the snake falls limp into the water with a hiss of steam. Even as its twin falls, the other bites again and again at the threatening dwarf.
(18:38:12) Miriana: Encouraged by the sight, Miriana jabs her wand forward at the remaining serpent, another flash lighting the tunnel ever so briefly.
(18:41:00) MicahWhiterune: Micah, enlivened by the previous success, hammers it hard from opposite directions.
(18:42:22) [GM]: A blast of light hits the burning serpent, followed by Mya's and Micah's hammers pummeling it every which way. Hissing, the beast turns to flee.
(18:44:08) Miriana: Miriana spits to clear her mouth out and fires a parting shot in the fleeing monster's direction.
(18:46:16) [GM]: Although her stomach has stopped pushing for revolution against its owner, A trace of sickness and the beast's movement work to make her shot miss anyway.
(18:47:23) MicahWhiterune: Micah rushes forward, pressing the attack.
(18:48:55) MicahWhiterune: It takes some brutal pounding, but the serpent had no chance in the end, of getting away.
(18:50:19) MicahWhiterune: "What was those things?" Micah rubs the sore spots the lingering acid and fire burns itched at.
(18:51:38) Miriana: "Dead, now, but I hate the thought of those things popping out into the river."
(18:58:07) Miriana: Experimentally, Miriana hefts her staff and brings it down onto the armillary sphere a few times. Once the delicate orbits are bent and ruined, she experimentally walks by, one arm in front of her face.
(18:59:36) [GM]: The metal bends and glass shatters, spilling shards onto the floor and in the water. The armillary sphere, undoubtedly once beautiful in the light of the sun, lies miserably ruined and broken, but when Miriana walks past it once again, no acid assaults her.
(18:59:50) MicahWhiterune is now known as veekie
(19:01:50) Miriana: Miriana peeks over her sleeve, smiling at having solved the puzzle. "There we are. Looks like your kind of problem solving is what we need here!"
(19:02:07) Miriana: "Though I dearly wish I'd thought of that earlier." She rubs at the small acid burn on her face.
(19:05:33) veekie: "Pity. That was some fine metalwork." Micah rights the painting. "This is just paint, on the other hand."
(19:06:37) Miriana: "Well, let's worry about the basilisk first. ...Was that it before, watching us?"
(19:06:40) [GM]: The painting's face is smeared in dirt from contact with the floor, some of the paint scratched. Perhaps it could be restored?
(19:07:21) Miriana: Idly, Miriana reaches into the armillary sphere and breaks one of the smaller, shinier pieces off to tuck away into a pocket.
(19:08:56) veekie: "It retreated before I saw anything. Must have been two of its bigger snakes there."
(19:09:29) veekie is now known as MicahWhiterune
(19:09:57) Miriana: "Let's hope there's not much more of those." Miriana inspects Micah's face. "Alright to keep going, or do we need to double back?"
(19:11:40) MicahWhiterune: "No more than a scratch, though my stronger miracles are exhausted. It would have found even uglier snakes next time."
(19:19:45) [GM]: And so Micah says, but as he moves again, the statue releaces another stream of acid, that this time hits him full on, without the chance to raise his shield, almost as if the enchantment itself had a sense of humor.
(19:21:03) MicahWhiterune: "Aaghbll"
(19:22:37) MicahWhiterune: Micah, no longer giving a damn about the quality of the stonework, grabs his hammer in a two handed swing straight into it's hip area.
(19:22:42) Miriana: Miriana jumps back in alarm. "Oh!"
(19:24:33) [GM]: Stone cracks under Micah's hammer and shatters under a second blow, leaving the sculpted youth in motion with a sad broken hip to jar his dynamic.
(19:26:48) MicahWhiterune: "Maybe just a bit of time to catch my breath before we go after that again." Micah kicks at some of the rubble.
(19:27:40) Miriana: Miriana nods. "That sounds wise."
(19:28:25) Miriana: "I'm not gonna try to fix the painting until we're in a little better shape, though."
(19:30:55) MicahWhiterune: Micah more or less dumps it on her, "Take it then."
(19:31:46) Miriana: "Not with me! You want me to carry this thing through the sewers?"
(19:32:51) MicahWhiterune: "Could just roll it up."
(19:33:58) Miriana: "I guess," Miriana grouses, turning the painting around and pulling out a dagger. "Stupid sensible suggestions..."
(19:39:09) [GM]: With a damaged painting rolled up and stowed, Micah and Miriana stop to catch their breaths before moving further on. They already glimpsed the basilisk, presumably, in the distant darkness of the canal ahead, but the sewers are a maze that riddles the ground beneath the inner city, and once in the maze the path is no longer so straight and without branches.
(19:40:32) [GM]: After wandering through seemingly identical passages, guided mostly by Micah's sense for the stone construction, they find a crossed intersection unlike the others. If the dwarf's stone-cunning does not mislead him, they must be somewhere beneath the eastern inner city. Ahead, the two see a pair of unmoving humanoid figures standing in the darkness. The basilisk's stench seems strongest down this canal.
(19:40:32) [GM]: The passage to the left, however, has a warm glow, as of fire, breaking through the floor a good distance down, and Miriana spies what appear to be red flowers growing near that light, in a sewer of all places. To the right, meanwhile, they hear scratching claws and raspy murmurs.
(19:46:54) Miriana: Miriana frowns deeply, tapping Micah's shoulder and pointing toward the left passage.
(19:49:57) MicahWhiterune: Micah nods, leading the way.
(19:50:59) [GM]: The flowers are bright orange-red like the morning sun, in five individual petals surrounding the stem, surrounded by vibrant green, round leaves. Why such flowers would be growing in a lightless sewer is anyone's guess. They surround a crack in the ground, where wall meets stone floor, through which the light of chandeliers spills upwards.
(19:52:44) [GM]: The crack seems partly natural, but intentionally widened. Peering through, Miriana and Micah see a large, dimly lit room, lined with, as far as they can tell, bookshelves. Was not the university situated in the east of the inner city?
(19:53:11) [GM]: ----------