|
Post by Gregor on Jun 4, 2009 9:22:39 GMT
Gregor hefts his spear and points the business end towards the man.
"Have no fear sir, I am more than capable of defending myself. But you are right we need to get moving. Lead on!"
Gregor mused on what the soldier had said. So the girl was a god... he thought best to keep it to himself that this "god" folllowed him around for a bit. Still, if she was the cause of this, then finding her again should be quite simple. Then once he found the Finger, he could use it to end this curse.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 6, 2009 3:43:33 GMT
The man nods his agreement. "We can talk about armaments later," he says. "Let's move on. Name's Jasper, by the by. The path's this way. We'll talk as we move."
You follow Jasper through corridors and hallways. He seems to know where he's going; he keeps up a quick jog and you soon lose any idea of the path you've taken. He talks as you move through the castle.
"If you're offering your skills to the cause, then you should probably know the cause. We've been fighting the Citadel since the start, of course, but we've never had an opportunity to cause any damage. That's because they're using the city to tear itself apart while they hide inside their tower. No-one can get in Citadel, and no-one can leave Oasis. Now, we still don't know how to get in Citadel, but... hey hold on."
You're outside of a long roofed open-air balcony. The air plays across your face in a steady breeze, smelling of the approaching dawn. Jasper is looking down the balcony with skepticism plastered on his face.
"Something doesn't smell right, here," he says. "I have a feeling there's traps here, but damned if I know how we'll get around them. I can't see anything in this dark, and I don't want to have to take the long way through the castle. We've been lucky as it is."
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 6, 2009 9:47:35 GMT
Gregor thought for a moment, he rememberd something about the Citadel, something... Mason had said....
"If it helps, Jasper, I may know of a way we can get into the Citadel un-noticed....."
Gregor paused and thought again. Had Mason said it, or had he read it somewhere? There was a name, and something they had to bring with them. For the life of him, he couldnt remember. He felt in his pocket, his hand clasping around the compass. There was a name... a name like "Ross". He said the last bit out loud.
Looking over to Jasper he wasnt sure if the other had heard him. If he did, he hoped the other would save questions until they were relativley safe.
"So, where to now?" he asked. "What kind of traps are we expecting here?"
Just so I know, what kinda light sources do we have here?][/color]
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 6, 2009 18:41:19 GMT
Just the moon, which is mixed a bit with approaching dawn. It's that bizarre light you get in the early morning around 5:00am.
"Ross?"Jasper's eyes went wide, but he didn't say anything more on the subject. Instead he went back to looking at the hallway. "I just have a strange sense about this hallway, something doesn't seem right.
Wondering now yourself, you take a closer look at the hall. It's long and straight. On the wall to your left there are numerous stone statues, most of them of winged demons with human faces. To your right there is no wall, just a repeating set of stone arches and a railing that looks out upon a great fall down into the city streets of Oasis, unlit, for the moon hangs now on the other side of the castle. Above, a roof lies covered inside and out with ivy, which hangs in green vines towards the paved floor. The floor is painted in a mosiac of some unidentifiable pattern made up of blue, red, and green stones. Dust motes hang in the moonlight coming through the window.
Something is bizarre about this room from my above description. If you can figure it out, it will gain you a clue as to how to proceed. Alternatively, you could roll Mental, and successes against DC 14 give you clues
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 8, 2009 7:43:08 GMT
Very clever sir. Im expecting some sort of "step on the right colour tiles in the right order or get zapped/flamed by the statues" affair. With that in mind though, I will roll Mental and hope for some luck.
1d20=2, 1d20=13, 1d20=9, 1d20=20, 1d20=11, 1d20=12
re-roll the 2, 9, 11 for 3 stress
re-roll (1d20=7, 1d20=10, 1d20=9)
I guess one success then...
[/color]
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 9, 2009 7:16:40 GMT
With so much stress spent, I'm willing to give this one to you.
Gregor felt sweat run down his back. Those screams earlier had been close. Who knew what was following them or wandering these halls? Still, he forced himself to focus and try to figure out the puzzle laid before him. The moonlight caught his eye. Why was it so bright when the moon was on the other side of the castle? And the shadows cast from it... they were at the wrong angle. From that angle it seemed the light was coming through the floor, but how was that possible?
"Jaspar," Gregor said. "Avoid the patches of light. I think there may be some illusion or trick here. And you might want to watch those statues as well, I've never been much for demon worship."
Jaspar laughs. "We call them angels in our religion," he says. "They aren't demons, but saviours and servants of our gods. Personally, I'm happy to see them here. Makes me feel more comfortable, like. Good eye on the light, though."
Jaspar enters the hall and carefully avoids the light, even going so far as to duck around it so that none of his body touches the beam. As you're watching him take his careful steps, something else catches your eye. The mosaic pattern on the floor... it can't just be a random splatter of color. You look closer at the red bricks and your eyes widen. That's no paint... that's blood. And it's by each of the angelic statues. You're about to shout a warning when Jaspar steps near to one of the statues and there's a metallic click. He barely has time to notice he's sprung a trap before a set of spike swings down from the ceiling. Jaspar is fast, though, faster than you'd expect, and only this saves him. He moves aside before the spike can impale his chest, but even so they catch him by the left shoulder and pin him to one of the angel's embraces. He screams loudly in pain and squirms on the trap, trying to free himself.
In the distance, you hear an answering cry.
If you want advice on freeing him, we'll count your stress spending as carrying over into trap-knowledge
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 9, 2009 10:12:09 GMT
Gregor looked around him. There was no way he was going to be stepping on anything until he found the kill switch. Logically, he thought, there had to be a reset button for this kind of thing. But to reach Jasper, he would have to avoid the light, avoid the red tiles and not get anywhere near the statues! [colo=blue]Some advice would be handy here please [/color]
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 9, 2009 23:44:30 GMT
You focus your attention on the mechanics of the trap and see that the spike are attached to the sloping roof directly above the statue. There's also a crawl space up there. Looking to your left, you see the crawl space has an entrance above the first statue. It's tricky, but if you can get up there, you can probably disable the device. The other option is faster, but maybe less sure. You could cut through the spike and free Jaspar.
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 10, 2009 12:48:24 GMT
I know what I want to do, so Im gonna write it all out then roll Skill (which I assume is what will govern it all), then see what happens[/color] Gregor followed the line of the spike up to the ceiling. He could see where the spike entered the roof. Looking across he saw a small opening, and a wry smile came across his lips as he thought of an idea. "Jasper! Wait there!" Again, the smile remained as he chuckled to himself about his fellows inability to move at all. Moving caerfully around the lights and avoiding the blood patches, Gregor started to move up the wall. Making sure he sure had a good handful of either vine or statue, he slowly made his way up to the opening. Getting into the crawlspace, Gregor shimmied along the narrow entryway. He reached the spike that was holding Jasper. Looking down he could just about see the man through a small gap in the roof. But this was not what he was after. Yes, he could disable the one spike, but what of the rest? Gregor fished through his small pack and took out the dagger he had recovered from Trenton. If he could jam the dagger into the main trap mechanism and then fuse it with a spell then the whole trap system would either trigger and not be able to be reset or it would just reset not able to trigger again. Either way, it was this or cutting Jasper free from the spike and then working their way through the rest of the room. The mage didnt have time to worry about someone elses traps. The quicker he could get to the Citadel, the quicker he could retrieve the Finger. Skill (1d20=7, 1d20=17, 1d20=18, 1d20=16)
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 11, 2009 18:01:05 GMT
Spend 1 stress point to use the spell and we'll call it good.
With a loud bang (louder than Gregor would've liked) the entire set of spikes flew down towards the statues. All but one statue had a set for itself, which was curious in itself.
Jaspar didn't seem to notice, busy as he was freeing himself from the trap. the spikes no longer had any mechanism to hold them in place, but sliding the spike out of his shoulder was still a gruelling process. The blood and Jaspar's cries mixed with the continuing screams from an unknown source getting closer took years off of Gregor's life. He would never forget the four or five minutes it took to work the spike free.
Finally, though, the job was done.
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 12, 2009 7:50:47 GMT
Gregor did his best to wipe the blood and grime from his hands. His robe was ruined, that was for sure! But at least Jasper was free and the spikes were set.
"Jasper, we must go," he said after the other had patched himself up a bit. "Can you use the arm at all?"
Gregor was a little worried that he would have to do all the fighting himself if they ran across trouble, given the others arm. He shrugged the thought off, if they were going to run into trouble then there was nothing either of them could do to prevent it.
"If you're ready, lets gets across this bridge. Make your way around the spikes, stay in the centre and we should be ok".
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 13, 2009 1:36:09 GMT
The two set off across the hallway. For a few more minutes, they traversed more hallways without any trouble, though occasionally the screams would start again and they always sounded closer.
After a time, they came to a stairway.
"It's up here," Jaspar said. "At the top is a bridge spanning this tower with another one. The device should be at the base of that tower. Can you use a sword, mate? I think me you'd best take my blade if you think you can use it. I'm losing a lot of blood here... getting pretty tired."
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 13, 2009 9:53:03 GMT
"I told you, I dont need your sword. What I will need is you, up and working!"
Gregor stopped and thought for a moment. He reached and opened his pack, digging through it.
"I have these, but have yet to identify them. One of them must be heal, do you recognise any?"
Gregor showed Jasper the potions he had recovered from Masons house. Hopefully the other would recognise one and be able to use it. Gregor kicked himself mentally for forgetting about them. His mind was all over the place recently, all he could think about is that damn Finger!!
He showed Jasper the potions. He kept the purple one in the bag, as he knew this would kill the man, and he didnt want that!
Yknow I totally forgot about these. I only got around to doing the purple one. From my PLAYER knowledge, Im guessing the black and green ones are Graveweed and Gallowbrush. Hopefully the red one will be a heal. Can I identify that one now??[/color]
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jun 15, 2009 7:28:31 GMT
What is the purple one, again?
"Is this really the time for this?"
Despite his protests, Jaspar seems happy for the chance to catch his breath and he eyes the potions carefully when you show them to him. The black one he sniffs and grimaces.
"That's a vial of blood, there," he says. "Not human, but I've smelled enough blood in the last few days to never forget the stench. Where'd you get that from?"
The green potion's stopper is stuck fast in the bottle and neither of you can get it off. Jaspar shrugs. "I've never seen something quite like this before," he says. "We might be able to get that top off, but I doubt we'd be able to get it back on. And we might break the bottle in the process."
|
|
|
Post by Gregor on Jun 15, 2009 8:11:24 GMT
Your description of the purple one.
Purple Potion: a single smell of the potion makes you nearly retch. Only one time during your studies have you smelled a similar thing. One time you had the misfortune of visiting the Toran morgue, where you were to look at the insides of a dead human to better understand the workings of the body (a Brotherhood scholarly practice kept secret from most of Sommerlund and learned from the Sages of Lyris). In the morgue, they used something they called "rot gut." This chemical, which you now hold, disolves the eternal organs and preserves a body, keeping it fresh for its trip to the grave. If someone living were to drink it... well, they wouldn't be living for very long. It would be an excruciatingly painful death, as well.
[/color]
Gregor gritted his teeth and growled in annoyance, more at himself than the bottles. He discarded the black bottle by fligging it over the side, hopefully if it broke and the creatures tracked by scent, the blood would throw them off a little.
"Alright well lets forget it, I'll be damned if we die here cause we're set upon here tinkering with some damn bottles!"
Gregor stuffed the bottles back in his pack. Supporting the other as best as he could, they started to make their way forward again.
"If we hustle we can make. You up for that?"
|
|