Session Start: Sat Jun 14 18:12:06 2008 Session Ident: #castlevania * Now talking in #castlevania [The intrepid party has settled in for the evening at the base of the cliff holding the settlement of the jungle halfling tribe. The strange figure of the villager still sits quietly by the fire.] Okay, so where are we going next? It's pretty apparent we gotta go somewhere and blow something up. Estivan's showing us the way in the morning, I think. We'll be traveling south of here, it seems like. Right. We go find some ruins, and then blow them up. * Olivia scratches her cheek. "Well, we might not have to blow up _all_ of the ruins." * Nyyx smiles. "We'll see." Well, obviously we don't blow up the lootable portions. At least not before we loot them? You catch on quick, toots. * Nyyx chuckles. * Biff grins a big old cat grin. * Olivia smiles a little too as she looks to Nyyx, then asks, "Hey, Nyyx... I wanted to ask if I could see that riddle journal?" Lucky for us, old Theo's good at the blowing things up part. My journal? Of course. * Nyyx pulls the book out of her cloak and hands it to Olivia. Who are you calling old? You are the one who has one foot in the grave. Or out of the grave. Touche. * Olivia takes the journal from Nyyx with a nod and starts to scan through it. Which is probably a lot like looking through a logs page. Not that she knows what that is. Ssh. She looks actually interested. ( Hehe. ) * Olivia begins to chew her lip as she reads. * Nyyx pokes at the fire and glances over at Olivia once in a while to see how she's taking it. * Nyyx 's shadow is still a little girl...and some other things, probably. * Nyyx is now known as NyyxAFK [Her shadow alternates between the little girl and an older female figure over the course of the evening.] * Biff curls up in Nyyx's lap and tries to sleep. [The jungle gets very dark as the fire dies down. At one point, Estivan disappears up the cliff face, but he returns after about an hour and the rest of the night passes quietly.] [The party follows Estivan into the jungle for the next two days without incident. The party is increasingly hampered by the overgrown greenery and the beginnings of an incline leading to distant mountains.] [In midmorning on the third day, the party runs across a particularly overgrown section of the jungle that they will need to go around. Several shadows detach themselves from the ancient trees.] Fuck. Watch the shadows. [The humanoid shapes, alternatingly faint in the morning light reaching through the canopy and dark in the deep shadows, flit up to the party, ready to strike.] Hey, we don't want no trouble, you shadows don't wanna be lit up, we don't wanna light you up, so you just back the hell away. * Olivia backs away as she pops a dagger into her hand, and then she reaches into her belt and, with a very quick chant, tosses something small and magic component-y at the shadows, causing a large electric burst. * NyyxAFK is now known as Nyyx [The burst briefly lights up the jungle and disrupts the shadowy forms. The smell of ozone clings in the air.] * Theodore casts fireball at the enemies The jungle erupts in flames as Theodore's spell rips through the jungle and the shadow alike. * Biff grins widely and shoots a second fireball from his eyes. A second blast rips through the shadows just after the first and blows out the flames struggling to catch the underbrush. * Nyyx whips out her sword, shreds the remaining two shadows, and resheathes in one clean motion. The party finds itself in front of a blasted and scorched growth of knotted trees. Friendly place you live in, Skip. At least they died to the liberal application of fire. * Olivia lets out a light, 'whew!' and rubs her forehead with the back of her hand, as her dagger disappears into thin air. "Well, they certainly seemed to want to meet us. That was all very sudden." * Nyyx nods. "It's good to know what works." Anybody see any more? * Skip nods at Nyyx, "And I used to think the wild cats were dangerous. Compared to these monsters, they're more like household pets." * Nyyx looks around for any other suspicious shadows. Besides her own, that is. [The jungle is quiet. Well, as quiet as a jungle teaming with life can be.] * Olivia shakes her head and comments, "I don't think any more would have held back. They don't seem to have any patience." * Nyyx nods. "I don't see any, either. Did they leave anything useful behind?" Wonder if we cooked any dinner. * Biff sniffs for any conveniently roasted small animals. * Skip sifts through some of the charred underbrush, "At least all of the fire and destruction will keep the common jungle inhabitants away. For a while, anyway." We've probably alerted anybody within earshot, too. But, y'know, shadows. Whatcha gonna do? Damned if you kill 'em, damned if you don't. * Skip is now known as SkipCHEW * Biff darts off into the underbrush for a moment and returns with a roast lizard. Estivan waives the group onward. Onward, ho! [The group pushes around the region of overgrowth and further into the jungle. After several more days...] [...a jungle snake drops from a nearby branch and bites Biff's courier. Being undead, she doesn't even flinch as lethal poison enters her system. Biff, on the other hand, is now sharing space on the masked creature with a rather large snake.] GAAAAAAH. Somebody getitoffame! [Theodore sends a flight of magic missles into the creature, blasting it utterly.] * Olivia reacts quickly, as she at first ducks away from the snake, then turns and swifties a dagger into her hand but by the time she's ready to stab it, someone's magic missiled it into oblivion. So she just flips the dagger in her hand and smiles a bit at the panicky cat. * Biff pushes the snake the hell off his ride. Snakes. Why does it hafta be snakes? Damn jungles. [The "ride" stands up straight, with venom leaking out of the wound on its neck.] Hmm. It's a good thing she's not a live one, I guess. You, uh... want any venom, Skip? * Biff laughs nervously. * Nyyx takes out some vials and collects some of it, in case Skip wants some later. Anyone interested in roast snake for dinner? No. * Nyyx nods. "Okay. Let's go." * Olivia smiles slightly. "Better than nothing... althogh now I'm reminded of the town we left from." [The party continues onward.] [One day later, the party reaches the edge of a large lake. The lake stretches several miles into the distance and has a handful of small islands occupied mostly by scattered rocks and bird nests set seemingly at random.] * Nyyx takes a look around as they reach the lake. "I wonder if there's any edible fish in there." Me too. * Olivia smiles a little. "With this jungle... I wonder if there's any fish smaller than a person in there." I'm not so sure it's a fish in there. You, uh, might wanna back away, toots. * Olivia nods and steps after Nyyx, with the intention of maybe pulling her back if necessary. "There's somethin', at least." * Nyyx steps back a few paces. What does it look like to you? * Nyyx looks out toward the water. Dunno, it's underwater. If anybody's got some lightning, we could toss it out there, see what jumps. Olivia? Theo? * Olivia frowns a moment, then nods and replies, "I've still got some." She glances over to Theo and half-smiles. "You want to handle it?" I don't know any lightning spells * Olivia nods and cracks her knuckles before reaching into her belt pouches. "Then allow me." She does the same thing she did a couple days back, with some quick and dirty arcane gestures, words, and the thrown ball of lightning at where she's seeing the motion. * Nyyx has quit IRC (Ping timeout) * Maha is now known as Nyyx * SkipCHEW is now known as Skip [The lake bubbles and steams near the impact site and several large forms turn and drift away under the water. Whatever they were, they have withdrawn.] * Olivia rubs her fingers with her other hand and murmurs, "Must not have the stomach for a fight." Skip, any idea what those were? * Skip considers the shapes of the shadows and their movements, "Probably large alligators. They're very common in the lakes around here." Never heard of 'em. Alligators? I wasn't sure they were real. How dangerous are they? Very. Especially their tails. Too many people focus on the many rows of sharp teeth and forget about the back end. Then, SWOOSH-BAM and that's the end." * Nyyx nods. "I'll keep that in mind. We should probably go around the lake, then? How's the fish around here, by the way?" * Skip shrugs, "Good to eat. Bad to catch." He motions toward the water, "Look what you're competing against." You have a point. We should definitely go around the lake. * Nyyx starts circumventing the lake, keeping an eye out for alligators and such. [The party proceeds to attempt to go around the lake.] [This process adds several days to the trip. Once the party circumvents the lake, they find that it drains out into a valley below via a circuit of waterfalls and rapids.] [The greenery-encrusted cliffs may offer a means to reach the bottom without getting wet. The view from the top of the cliff is breathtaking with mist from the falls rising up to cloud the thick jungle below. Miles distant, stone structures can be seen.] * Nyyx takes in the vista. "Rather pretty, if you don't think about the boneless elves, snakes, and belligerent shadows that inhabit the place." * Olivia smiles a bit as she looks into the distance. "Pretty easy to not think of it from up here." What's that structure over there, Skip? They're the ruins once occupied by an old cult. There are a lot of them in the jungle, and each group was obsessed with a different aspect of the land. If I remember correctly, this group loved snakes. Why is it always snakes? If ever there was a place that needed to be destroyed, it's a snake temple. * Olivia smiles slightly. "Or a dog temple?" Fft. Dogs are nothing. I can beat a dog just by making a cliff smell like bacon. Snakes are smarter by far. * Nyyx laughs. And cats smarter still. * Olivia smiles a bit more, then looks back over the landscape and says, "Well, if you want to blow up snake temples... down we go, then." She wipes her forehead again and sighs a bit. * Nyyx nods and starts the climb. Anyone need help with the climb? * Biff casts a quick spell to pimp his ride. Anybody? I got plenty of magic, here. [The party manages it's varied trips down the cliff face without incident. Once clear of the rocks, only miles of jungle separate them from the ruins.] * Nyyx strikes out for said ruins! [Once the party enters the jungle proper, the atmosphere changes abruptly. The noise of animal life and even the falls is muffled and the canopy blocks out the majority of the sunlight.] * Skip looks around and is suddenly on his guard, "This is not natural. Be ready." He continues forward. * Nyyx nods and keeps walking. It's quiet. Too quiet. [Session End!] Session Close: Sat Jun 14 22:11:44 2008