* Now talking in #castlevania
<GM> ', 70' into the air.  Finally, the party reaches a landing.]
<GM> [The landing is 15' by 15' of worked stone.  The stairs connect
from the south, a destroyed bridge links from the west and a door
with gently glowing runes beckons to the east.]
* Biff looks across the bridge.
<GM> [Across the bridge, a ruined tower looms over the northwest
corner of the castle grounds.]
<Biff> Well, we can go over there if the door doesn't work.
<Biff> WHo wants to give it a nice friendly push?
* Skip steps up and puffs out his chest. "I'll give it a try."
* Skip walks up to the door and shoves with all his might.
<GM> [The door slowly swings inward as the runes burn out.  The door
creaks faintly.]
<GM> [Eventually, the door slams into the side wall of the entryway
with a loud CLANG.  A dark hallway beckons.]
<Biff> Well.  Nothing like a good announcement that we're here.
* Biff hides behind Skip's legs.
<GM> [A faint wind howls across the landing.]
* Skip peers down the dark corridor. "Well, here we go." He walks
into the darkness.
<GM> [Those with the ability to see into darkness can make out a wide
hallway past the entryway.  The corridor is perhaps 25' wide and
stretches to the full range of vision.  The ceiling rises into the
gloom and the windows along the corridor are shuttered.]
<GM> [You sense some movement beyond your vision down the hall, but
can't make out the source.  Perhaps a metal on stone scrape.]
* Biff whispers upward, "Something moving down there. Be prepared."
* Nyyx nods. "I saw it too."
* Skip stops and allows Biff to take the lead.
<Biff> I'll be around.
* Biff ducks off to one side, into the shadows, and vanishes.
<GM> [As Skip passes the first window, the shutters on either side
slam open, letting midday light stream into that part of the
hallway.]
* Nyyx jumps.
* Skip leaps backward in surprise.
<Nyyx> What was that?
<GM> [The scraping intensifies.  Shiny shapes, close to the floor,
are skittering perhaps 70' down the hallway.]
<Skip> I don't know. I think I need to be more careful about possible
traps, though.
<GM> [The shiny shapes form a tight group about 65' away.  Behind
them, larger, humanoid shapes can be seen.]
* Skip whispers to Nyyx, "What do we do?"
<Nyyx> I'm not sure exactly what those things are, but they remind me
of clockwork horrors. Constructs.
* Skip swallows hard. "This doesn't look too good."
* Biff whispers from the shadows, "Theo, you have any boom spells?"
* Nyyx sighs and draws her sword. "Things rarely do in this castle."
* Theodore "should we light a torch?"
<Biff> Not yet.
<Biff> Lemme try to bunch them up for you.
* Biff chants a couple words, and presumably makes some gestures, and
about forty feet in front of the party, a phalanx of soldiers
appears.
<GM> [The skittering creatures, perhaps six of them with the look of
bloated spiders rushes in to attack.  Two lumbering figures in long
capes approach more slowly as well.]
* Theodore fires a fireball into the center of the glowing forms that
Biff summoned.
<GM> [Several soldiers fall in the searing heat and the metallic
creatures twist and burn, but stay on their feet.  In the sudden
burst of light, more forms can be made out behind the spider-things
and the approaching figures.]
* Skip moves in on the metal soldiers and lets a dagger fly, but it
glances off of some thick armor and disappears down the corridor.
<GM> [Skip advances down the hallway and another set of shutters
slams open, illuminating even more of the corridor.  Something large
waits ahead.]
* Nyyx makes her way resolutely toward the spiders, sword readied.
<GM> [The pair of cloaked figures advance carefully along the walls.
The figure on the left throws a dagger at Nyyx, missing wildly.]
<Nyyx> Missed me.
* Biff chants from within the shadows, and a cloud of brightly
shimmering dust erupts around the two cloaked figures, coating them
completely, and turning them into shining beacons of PLEASE KILL ME
BECAUSE I AM BLIND.
<GM> [The spider creatures attack the soldiers relentlessly.]
<GM> [And impotently.]
<Biff> * The not-so-illusionary soldiers laugh uproariously at the
funny little spider things.
* Theodore unsheathes his everburning torch
* Skip let's out a bestial roar, "Grrraaaaaa!" as he charges one of
the cloaked constructs. A swing from his handaxe leaves a deep dent
in its glistening side.
* Nyyx leaps swiftly into the air and lands with a downward
two-handed chop, cleaving deeply into the nearest caped figure but
not quite felling it.
<GM> [The cloaked figures stumble backwards quickly, trying to stay
upright though blind and stunned by the onslaught.]
<GM> [The everburning torch reveals the cloaked figures to be
metal-clad humans looking very badly off.  The large figure in the
back is a huge figure in a suit of spiked armor.  There is even more
behind it.]
* Biff appears again from the shadows, and off in the distance, a
pair of silhouettes slow to a crawl. Then a weapon comes down outta
nowhere and slams into his shoulder, drawing blood. He hisses in
panic and darts across the hall into Nyyx's protective shadow.
<GM> [As the blow lands on Biff's shoulder, a thunderclap sounds down
the length of the hall.]
<Biff> MROOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
<GM> The spiders keep the failure streak alive by missing every
single phantom soldier.
<GM> [END OF SESSION: Order: Theo (21) Skip (23) Nyyx (18) Cloaks
(14) Biff (4) Sniper (3) Spiders (3)]
Session Close: Sat May 26 22:27:39 2007