[ We find Our Heroes outside the exit to a mysterious cave that is probably the headquarters of an insidious (and very industrious, apparently) necromancer. Kenji's going on ahead, it seems. Might wanna follow him! ] [ Session Start! ] * Tia keeps up easily with Kenji, though her expression is one of mixed confusion and determination. * Istvan ties his horse to a tree or something, and follows Kenji into the cave on foot, war pick gripped loosely in his hands. * Seylin follows behind, glancing around every so often to make sure nothing out of the ordinary is happening. * Patrick runs along and very quickly gets up to Kenji, keeping a very good pace and a constant lookout for odd stuff. * Alcinoe leaves her horse behind, walking after the rest of the group. She approaches Istvan, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him further back. * WillS follows Istvan's lead and ties his horse up too. He then rushes into the cave to catch up to Alcinoe. * Ariake has left her horse tied next to Istvan's, and is following near the back of the group. * Istvan is tugged further back, and head tilts at Alci questioningly. * HKenji walks straight up to the cave and walks in without hesitation, even as wounded as he is. Um, Kenji, are you sure you don't want Will to look at that? * HKenji turns slightly and looks back at Will. * Tia looks at Will too, waving him over. * WillS didn't hear Tia's question, but notices Kenji's glance. "Need anything Kenji?" ...no. * HKenji turns back and keeps walking. * Istvan continues to head-tilt at Alci, waiting for an explanation, but otherwise just walks along and lets himself be guided towards teh back of the group. * Alcinoe speaks to Istvan quietly. "Look. Ah don't know what went on, exactly, and Ah don't know what yer tryin' ta accomplish, but there's a lot goin' on in his head." She makes a vague gesture towards Kenji. "So if ya could *stop* with the insults, 'specially 'bout his honor, that'd be a big help." * WillS walks up closer to Kenji, noticing his wounds for the first time. "Wait up!. Let me at least patch you up before you run any farther." * Patrick takes pace next to Seylin and, of course, whispers to her. * HKenji stops in his tracks. * Seylin whispers back. ...very well. If you think my wounds are worthy of attention. * Ariake just shakes her head disgustedly, although no one's likely to see her. * Istvan blinks at Alci, and responds quietly. "Ain't trying to accomplish anything. I'm annoyed at him, and letting him know it. But if ya want me to stop, I'll stop. No biggie." * Patrick whispers back to Seylin, chuckling. Yeah. This ain't the time ta do that. Ah think yer words hurt 'im more than ya realize. * WillS sighs as he pulls out a wand. "When did I ever think of you as not worthy of attention." * Tia looks on, a slight crease in her brow, as Will treats Kenji's wounds. * WillS points the wand at Kenji and activates it. A warm glow covers Kenji's wounds, mending them in the process. * Seylin grins and whispers back. * Istvan shrugs, and responds to Alci, again quietly. "Still got a year to call him an ass after we finish this. It can wait." * Alcinoe nods once and doesn't say more. * Patrick gives a thumbs-up to Seylin and grins. * HKenji shows no reaction as the nasty bruises that were beginning to form vanish entirely. * HKenji nods slightly to Will. "My thanks." * HKenji walks even further into the Den of Evil. * WillS grins. "Any time." * Seylin continues walking and watching for trouble. [ So far the Den of Evil is unimpressive. However, you're coming up on a large, heavy-looking steel door. Might be more interesting evil on the other side of that. ] * Tia folds her wings tightly against her back and marches on. * Istvan nods back to Alci, and heads back to the front of the group. * Patrick keeps on keeps on moving! * Ariake follows! She's moved a little forward in the group. * Tia stops in front of the door. "In there?" * WillS falls back next to Alci as the group gets close to the door. [ The door seems unafraid of Tia. Must have a very high Morale rating. ] ... Sey? I think big, imposing, likely trapped doors are your department. Will do. * Seylin walks up to the door and looks it over for traps. * Patrick glances behind the group, looking for any zombies that may have not been killed but still need to be made re-dead. * Alcinoe loosens her sword and waits. * Istvan blinks, and takes a few steps BACK from the door as Sey looks. * Seylin looks it over veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery carefully. * Seylin stops after a few minutes, turns around, and gives the group a thumbs-up. [ The door's still locked, tho. But there's no traps! But the door's still locked. ] * Seylin gets to work on the unlocking, then! * Istvan moves back towards the door. All clear. * Tia readies her axe and stands behind Seylin. [ Seylin fiddles with the door some, and then it splits in half down the middle, the halves sliding into the wall. A different door behind it does likewise - before it does so, however, you can see that it is stenciled with the acronym 'B.R.A.N.E.' ] * Tia mouths the letters as she reads them. "B-R-A-N-E...?" * Patrick looks over at it and shrugs, smirking. Like the thing in your head? * Seylin giggles softly. Wrong spelling, Tia. Oh, it is? * Alcinoe shakes her head. * Tia smiles bashfully. "I'm not too good at spelling." [ After the doors are open, you can see a long, long hallway ahead of you. Every hundered feet or so there are large doors to either side. ] * Tia turns back to the doorway and trots on inside. * Ariake heads in, warily. * Patrick chuckles. "Anyone else feel like they're in a cartoon?" Or some sort of bad movie. Or one of Ariake's contraptions. * HKenji walks boldly forward. * Ariake grins. ... yeah, this bodes well. I'm not sure whether to thank you or hit you over the head for that, Kenji. Look at all the doors! * Patrick draws a trio of arrows and knocks them simultaneously, keeping pace with the rest of the group. * Alcinoe walks after, looking around. "Ah never woulda thought- yeah, Tia, there's lotsa doors." And Kenji, we might wanna let Sey walk ahead, to sniff out any traps before we step on 'em... Which one do we try first, huh? Which one? I have a feeling that the one we want will be sraight ahead, and at the end of this hallway. [ The hallway is dimly lit, for some reason or other. The lighting is electric, as were the doors, and everything seems polished and high-tech. ] Can you say Frankenstein? * Istvan mutters. "Last thing I need is to be dumped into a pit of dire hamsters..." * WillS whistles. "This place sure is techy." Who's Frankenstein? * Ariake nods. "I'm impressed." The walls are shiny! * Seylin looks around and hmms softly. * Tia seems to have temporarily forgotten about her earlier troubles, now that her curiosity is piqued. Old book or movie, depending on how much cheese you want. ^_^ I like cheese. Cheese is tasty! * Seylin slowly walks forward, checking for traps. * Tia trots over to Seylin and watches her work. "Whatcha lookin' for, Sey?" * HKenji seems to be mostly ignoring the banter as he walks. * WillS asks Alcinoe, "Aren't necromancers supposed to shun technology?" Shh, Tia. I'm looking to see if he's left any nasty surprises for us. * Ariake is walking at the back of the group again, looking behind them for anything troublesome. * Tia nods and looks somewhat mortified. "Okay," she whispers. "Sorry!" It's okay. * Istvan stays a little behind Sey, eyes darting left and right as if expecting an ambush. Gee, wonder why... * Patrick stays close to Seylin, watching her back (not literally). [ Seylin sees no traps, but there is a corpse shambling your way. It's about fifty feet off, right now. ] * Seylin turns quickly. "Incoming zombie!" * Tia looks up. "Is he a nice zombie?" * Alcinoe nods at Will. "Yeah, they usually do. This is... uh, walkin' dead headin' this way." * Patrick draws his arrows and aims at the zombie, but doesn't fire. I don't think they have much choice. Hi, Mr. Zombie! * Seylin holds her halberd in a ready position. [ The zombie keeps shambling towards you. 35 feet, now. ] * Ariake prepares a spell! * WillS turns his head towards the incoming threat. "Just one?" For now, but where there's one, there's usually more. * HKenji strides forward at top speed. "Leave it to me." * Tia raises her axe tentatively. "He's not going to attack us, is he?" * Istvan steps in front of Sey, but positions himself to give Patrick a clear firing line of sight. [ The zombie keeps shambling towards you. 20 feet, now. ] Do what you're doing Kenji, otherwise I'm loosing the arrows. * Ariake gets way to the side. * HKenji closes with the zombie, draws, and cuts in one smooth stroke. * Tia stands her ground and waits. [ Kenji cuts into the zombie, but doesn't do much before it explodes in a fireball! Everyone needs reflex saves. ] * Tia gives a squeak of surprise as the zombie explodes, but she seems unaffected by the flames washing over her. * Istvan winces as the fire washes over him, but emerges from the conflagration unscathed. "... good armor." * Seylin jumps out of the way, the fire missing her entirely. * Patrick dodges most of the fire, but still gets singed slightly. He's grinning. * WillS stands still in his 2" armor and bravely takes the fireball explosion. Ouch. * HKenji blinks a little as the fireball explodes harmlessly around him. That was unexpected. * HKenji makes a mental note that sometimes zombies explode spectacularly. Poor Mr. Zombie. * Ariake winces, a tad singed. "Damn!" I don't think he really noticed, Tia. * Tia looks around. "Everyone okay?" [ To Kenji's left and right are the first two doors. ] * Seylin looks around. "You guys need a little healing?" * Patrick smiles. "I'm fine for now." * HKenji tries to open the door on his left. * WillS hands Ariake a light healing potion. "Here. Drink this and heal up for now." Ah, thanks, Will. * Ariake drinks. * Tia turns as she notices Kenji trying the door and pads over. [ Both doors are marked with the B.R.A.N.E. insignia, and are blast-proof steel - the proof is, they're still intact. ] ... okay, next zombie gets taken down from a distance. There's that word again! Need me to take care of that door, Kenji? [ Kenji opens the door, and a wave of air blows forth, carrying the stench of decaying flesh mingled with a variety of chemicals. ] * Seylin coughs. "Okay, maybe not." * Seylin holds her nose. * Tia coughs and looks slightly green. "Blech!" [ Inside the door is an immense room lined with mammoth cauldrons on pivot-mounts. ] * HKenji blinks once and shows no other reaction. * Patrick waves his hand. "Whooo, man, that stinks." Ghaa! * HKenji steps inside the door and looks around. ... geh. I don't think he's in there. Maybe you'd better head out. * Patrick nods. * Tia follows Kenji inside and looks around. * Seylin 's voice sounds odd, as she's still holding her nose with one hand. * Tia peeks into one of the cauldrons. * Alcinoe looks around with a grimace, rubbing at her singed hair. * Ariake looks around, trying to identify what's in the cauldrons. Rule number one of dungeon exploration. Leave no stone unturned. [ There's a loud, buzzing sound, repeated at regular intervals and accompanied by a flashing red light on one of the cauldrons, which tips forward, pouring out a putrescent load of cauldron-fresh zombies and accompanying goo. ] * WillS grimaces. "You're not asking us to sift through this stuff are you?" * Alcinoe watches the zombies fall out. "You gotta be kiddin' me. Necromantic alchemy?" Sure looks like it. * Patrick chuckles. "It's out there. What, you didn't know about it?" That soup doesn't look very good to eat. Can I just say... eww? Probly 'cause it ain't soup. Tia, break that apparatus, please. ... zombies suck. [ The zombies shamble your way, almost purposefully. ] * Tia blinks at Kenji. "Which part?" * Seylin sighs. "Well, here we go again. Think these ones blow up?" The machinery. And the zombies, too. * Tia nods quickly. "Okay!" * Tia moves quickly toward the machine, trying to push past the zombies. "'Scuse me! Sorry, Mr. Zombie! Excuse me!" * WillS takes a couple of steps backwards, fearing another self exploding zombie. Probably not. I doubt they have their fireball packs on yet. ~_^ [ The zombies try to attack Tia. It's kind of funny, actually. ] [ Look at 'em, flailing their arms against her. Hehe! ] Patrick, you may want to shoot them while they're busy failing to hit Tia. * Istvan mutters something in dwarven, and his pick is engulfed in flames. "I got it." [ Oh, they're hitting her. They're just not hurting her. Tia reaches the machine that spewed out the zombies. ] Yeah, sure. * Istvan wades into the zombies, hacking at them. * Patrick pulls his bow and fires all three knocked arrows at the Zombie Istvan's not smacking. [ I should note that the machine Tia has reached is one of twelve identical units. ] * Tia eyes the machine, hefts her axe, and pounds it. * Alcinoe draws her sword, almost idly, and eyes the other machines. * Seylin looks at Alcinoe. "Should we get to it?" Assumin' they don't explode inta fireballs, Ah think so. * Ariake walks over to another machine and looks at the controls. Are there controls? Well, might as well try. * Ariake pulls a multitool out of one of her many pockets and reseats a few components - backwards. CLUNK. * Tia easily crushes the more sensitive parts of the equipment. * Seylin walks over to one of the machines that she *doesn't* have to wade through zombies to reach. She takes a swing at it. Oooh, electricity! That oughtta mess things up nicely. * WillS goes and stands next to Ariake, confident that he's not needed right now. [ There are controls. They're not written in Common, tho. ] Ariake, can ya take care of this? * Patrick thunks three arrows into one of the the Zombos with one pull of the bow. * Ariake walks over to Alcinoe. "Sure! What's up?" * Alcinoe grins. "Ah was askin' about the other machines." * Ariake grins. "Glad to." * Ariake breaks, miswires, and confuses! * Seylin stops after hacking one and leaves it to the professional. ^_~ * Tia continues to hack and bash another machine after she finishes with the first. * Istvan just concentrates on hacking at the zombies. "Lemme know if you need help with the machines, Tia." * Patrick keeps on plunking Zombies with arrows. It's like shooting fish in a barrel! * Ariake stops at one of them, and motions everyone back. Then she fiddles with the controls. "Let's see what happens." * Seylin gets back. * Alcinoe stays back, sure. * WillS steps back a bit aways from Ariake. [ Tia and Seylin bash at machines, yielding good results. Patrick and Istvan handily slay the one dozen zombies. ] * Ariake keeps breaking stuff. :D * Tia does too, though in her slightly less civilized fashion. ;P The only good zombie is a re-dead zombie. [ Ariake makes several of the machines malfunction. Go her! ] * Istvan finishes up with the zombies, and moves a bit towards the door to make sure nothing sneaks up on them. [ And soon enough, the infernal machines are all disabled. ] * Tia comes back beaming. "Did I do a good job?" * Patrick aligns himself up with the door to watch the group's back while they're bringing lotsa machines to the axe. * Seylin grins at Tia and gives her a victory sign. "You sure did!" * Alcinoe nods. * Tia grins and puts out her palm for a high-five. Next room? Definetly. * Seylin hops up and high-fives Tia. * Ariake grins. "Well done, everyone." Nice work, Ariake! Thanks! That was fun. * HKenji works his way back through the group and out the door to try the other door. * Tia grins at Ariake. "Yeah, it was!" * Tia notices that Kenji's left the room and hurries to catch up. * Alcinoe heads out as well. Door number two! * Patrick smiles and walks out, following Kenji. * Ariake follows. What's behind...door number two? * WillS follows behind Alcinoe. Whee! * Seylin heads out. * HKenji opens up door number two. What does he get? [ Behind the door is a hallway, with three more doors. The hallway bears a pannel labeling it as the barracks. ] ... hell. * Istvan tightens his grip on his war pick. * Alcinoe frowns. Hmm. * HKenji starts down the hallway. How many doors are in this place, anyway? [ The doors aren't spaced far apart, so the rooms must not be very big. ] * Tia follows along. "Wow, more doors!" Which one are we opening now, Kenji? * HKenji opens the first door. Ya think this necromancer has some kinda door fetish? * Tia peeks inside. Ya think? * WillS nods in agreement. Definitely. [ Inside is a plain room with a bunk bed and two zombies having an animated discussion on how to poison a knife. They look up as Kenji enters and blink stupidly. ] Hi, Mr. Zombie and Mr. Zombie! * HKenji does not blink. He just draws and cuts without thinking. * Ariake nods hello. "Internal organs inspector. Please hold still." * Patrick waves and smirks. "You're doing it wrong." Oh, nevermind. * Tia looks a little preturbed, but she shrugs and leaves the room. [ Kenji cuts one of the zombies lengthwise so finely that he stands there stuttering before he falls apart. ] [ The other zombie grabs a shortsword from nearby. Everyone give me init! ] [ Kenji, go! ] [ Kenji cuts into the zombie, who curses loudly but is still standing! ] * HKenji draws his second, smaller blade before the first zombie has even split. He turns and in a flash of whirling steel eviscerates the second zombie. [ Istvan, finish 'im off! ] * Istvan steps foward and brings his war pick down into the torso of the zombie. [ Istvan carves a hollow out of the zombie, who pitches over. ] [ Next room! Alcinoe, go! ] * Alcinoe sees that taken care of and, well, heads to the next room over. She opens the door! * Patrick follows, of course. :P * Tia is already outside in the hallway. * Seylin exits room #1 and heads for room #2! * Ariake follows. Heeere, zombiezombiezombie! * WillS is always next to Alcinoe. ^^ [ A zombie comes out of nowhere, blindsiding Alcinoe and jabbing a shortsword towards her midsection! ] [ The sword makes a painful scraping noise as it slides off Alcinoe's inch-and-a-half armor. ] [ Alcinoe, take action! ] * Alcinoe looks at the zombie for half a moment before bringing her longsword around to say hi. [ Alcinoe busts the zombie's shortsword, which bursts apart and leaks darkness. The zombie holding it whimpers. ] [ Will, go! ] * WillS notices that the zombie no longer has a sword and grins. He draws his own sword out and attacks the zombie!! [ The zombie dodges Will's attack! ] [ Ariake, go! ] * Ariake raises a hand, points at the zombie, and casts Acid Arrow! [ Ariake tosses a blob of acid into the zombie's neck, where it sizzles a bit! The zombie doesn't seem to mind overmuch, being more concerned with whimpering about his broken sword. ] [ Patrick, use perforate attack, now! ] * Patrick lowers his bow and fires four arrows in quick succession at zombo the rogue. [ Thunk thunk thunk. The zombie goes down! Another steps into view behind it! ] [ Seylin, go! ] * Seylin heads for door #3! What have we got? [ We've got a door! Behind it is probably a zombie or two! ] * Seylin opens the door and gets ready to destroy zombies! Go team! [ Inside is a zombie! He tries to sneak-attack Seylin, but overextends and falls on his face! Oops. ] * Seylin chops at the clumsy zombie, lightning crackling around her halberd. [ The zombie is chopped. "I think that hurt," it says. ] It should've! [ Tia, go! ] * Tia reaches over the two still at the second door and chops twice. "Sorry, Mr. Zombie, but I don't want you to hurt my friends!" She finishes with a slash of her forepaw. [ Tia chops into the zombie with her big axe! The zombie urks and says, "Now, I *know* that hurt. Or at least, I'm reasonably certain." ] ( Zombie voices provided by the Monty Python Troupe. ) [ The second zombie from room two attacks Alcinoe! ] [ And sure enough, he misses. ] [ Kenji and Istvan are out of targets, to it's Alcinoe's turn! ] * Alcinoe eyes the zombie. "Y'all are pathetic. Even fer zombies." She slashes at the zombie twice: diagonally and horizontally. [ Alcinoe cuts the zombie! Some. It's still fighting, and now it's Will's turn! ] * WillS concentrates for a moment as he converts a spell to holy energy. He channels this energy to his hands and punches the zombie. [ Will creates a positive energy boxing glove of JUSTICE and knocks the zombie re-dead! ] * Alcinoe watches it fall and grins. "Nice job." [ Ariake, go! ] [ Only one zombie left! It's behind Seylin and Tia! You might be able to squeeze a spell through, tho. ] * WillS grins back. "Thanks. The sword wasn't working." * Ariake takes full defense. "Don't want to hit you guys." [ Patrick is also blocked, so it's Seylin's turn! ] I'm wondering where they're getting all these corpses. [ Seylin kills the zombie dead. ] * Seylin swings and hits and swings and hits! Yay! [ All the zombies are dead, now. End init! ] * Seylin poses triumpantly. Well done! ... wasn't much of a barracks. Everyone okay? I'm fine! Yeah, I'm okay. * Tia looks around. Quite simple, really. * Alcinoe checks where the first zombie hit her, then nods. "Yeah. An' Patrick's got a good point. Where are they gettin' all these corpses?" * HKenji turns and goes back out into the main hallway. * Patrick grins. "Quite." * Alcinoe heads after him, not quietly at all. Go plate armor. Hmm. Yeah. That's a good question. * Patrick walks into the main hallway. He takes pace next to Seylin and pats her on the back. "Good job!" * Seylin grins. "Thanks!" * Ariake follows. "Next?" * HKenji keeps heading into this fortress of evil. * Tia turns and heads out too. * Patrick keeps going too! [ Kenji gets back to the hallway. Down the hall another 100 feet are another pair of doors. ] * WillS runs to catch up to Alci. * Seylin goes! * Ariake follows! * Istvan walks along with the others. "More doors. Sey?" * HKenji opens the left door. * Seylin goes for it... and is beaten by Kenji. "Uh, never mind?" ... yeah. We're like a finely oiled machine. *muttermutter* [ Inside the door is room lined with wooden chests. In the center is a mirror, from which steps a brand new Kenji. ] * Patrick looks at Kenji, then the other Kenji. "Well, this is great." Uh oh. That's not good. ... * Alcinoe looks around the side and into the room. "Aww, no." * WillS stares at the "kenji" in surprise. Everybody back away, lest you be caught in this trap also. ... I dunno what that is, but I'm thinking being reflected in that mirror would be a *bad* thing. [ CopiiKenji glares at OriginalKenji. ] * Istvan steps back away from the door. "Kenji, draw it out into the hall so we can all pound on it... Patrick, you wanna shoot that thing?" * Tia blinks. "There's two Kenjis!" * HKenji steps into the room and slams the door behind him. Kenji! * Alcinoe groans. ...he did *not* just do that. * Tia wheels around. "Why'd he close the door?" ... Sure 'e did. * Istvan facepalms. "... now can I insult him?" Go RIGHT ahead, Istvan. ... * Istvan cups his hands. "Hey Kenji! Both of you! Which part of 'lead him out' didn't you understand?!" * Patrick holds his head. "Hope he knows what he's doing." * Istvan mutters darkly, a few words of dwarven creeping in. * Tia runs over to the door and tugs on it. * Ariake sighs, and curses to herself. Tia, don't. Last thing we need is an evil version of you. * Patrick smirks. "He'll be fine. It'll take more than a copy to beat him." * Alcinoe nods. * Tia stops. "Well, okay, but what if Kenji gets killed?" [ Evil version of Tia. *shiver* THAT is why he closed the door, duh. ] Have some faith, Tia. He won't get killed. You say that like he's going to die. * Tia nods and shuffles her paws. "Well, okay. He looked pretty bad after the zombies, though." His ego will protect him. * Ariake nods. I sure hope so. He should come out of it okay. Is that what his ghost friend thing is called? * Seylin laughs. ... something like that, Tia. Oh, okay. I hope she protects him, then. I think Kenji's ego is the one friend that's always with him, Tia. * Alcinoe rolls her eyes. * Tia nods thoughtfully, then sits down nearby and waits. But he's a damn good fighter, so I think he'll be okay. [ Of course, his mirror self is probably a damn good fighter, too. ] * Alcinoe takes a deep breath and lets it out. She watches the door. "If 'e can turn or break that mirror..." Then it'd be safe for us to go in and help out. But we can't risk getting caught in it as well. Hey, Pat. You see where the mirror was in the room? * Patrick smirks. "Middle." Don't go lookin' at it, though. You'll get your own friend to play with. ^_^ Anybody got a quick glance at how big the room was? Wasn't planning to. Was more wondering if you could get a shot at it without being reflected in it if one of us opened the door from the side. How will ya know which Kenji's the right one? * Ariake leans against the wall, pondering. Wasn't planning on him shooting Kenji. Was talking about the mirror. * Patrick shrugs. "One's evil, one's good. Can't you cast something to tell them apart?" Ah can cast somethin' so *Ah* can tell 'em apart. Then hit the shadow Kenji once you figure out which one's which. ~_^ But first we need to destroy the mirror. Like I was saying. Patrick, do you think you could hit the mirror without being reflected in it? * Patrick shrugs. "No offense, but arrows aren't the greatest thing at destroying mirriors. And unlikely, unless you can shape reality." * Patrick grins. "Ariake, on the other hand, might be able to blow it up with a spell." * Ariake nods. "Perhaps..." I wonder... if I went in there unarmored and unarmed except for a chunk of metal or something to break the mirror with, would my reflection have the same equipment, or my normal equipment? * Alcinoe shrugs. * Patrick shrugs. * Patrick smirks. "You gonna find out?" I have absolutely no clue... Not a chance in hell. [ End Session. ]