Session Start: Sat Sep 20 17:28:26 2008 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging for #castlevania started [The party finds itself in the audience chamber for the Lord of Lifebreak trying to decide what to do about the Cult of the Damacine Golem sieging the city.] * Nyyx is heading directly for the crypts under the fortress. She looks a bit distracted, though. * Rudyard is now known as Skip * Biff is with Nyyx, ready to own some undeads. * Charlotte stands by Nyyx. * Olivia moves with, murmuring, "You may not keep company with many beds, but there's always interesting things to see." If you want something bedlike, I make a -great- bear rug. You look a little small for that. And not nearly bear-y enough. * Biff whistles a little tune. So where are these cultists? I want a new pet. * Olivia half-smiles. "Sunny has a point, but you can never be too sure with magic kitties." I hear they're downstairs, undermining the city. [One of the Boccobite Clerics takes the initiative and begins to lead the party out of the chamber and down the tower.] * Nyyx thanks the cleric quietly. [Over the next several minutes, the party is lead down winding stairwells and down winding corridors. Very few windows are seen along the route and the primary light source serving the party is the set of green-burning torches and lamps along the walls.] * Nyyx tries to keep track of the turns as they descend. [Finally, the party slips through a secret door and finds itself in the main entry chamber for the tower. This room is a cathedral of black stone and green fires in and of itself.] Cleric: "The entrance to the crypts is close." Good. * Nyyx nods. "Is this entire place a maze? I'd hate to get lost in here." Let me know when their territory's close. [The party is lead further down a series of stairwells and finally finds itself at the bottom of a spiral stairwell. On all sides of the stairwell, alleys of stone stretch into the distance. On either side of each alley, crypts are stacked in stone niches. Green fire from torches grant a somber light to the chamber.] These crypts are very crypty. They are. So many crypts and castles and corridors. It makes me feel trapped and cold. Would you like an extra cloak? * Olivia flips daggers in her hand a few times, each one vanishing and being replaced. "He doesn't seem to mind the old ways. But are we going to fight all the way to their center from the crypts? Or just hold the line?" We're the heroes, toots. We're gonna moider 'em. Cleric: "Alright, this is as far as I go. Continue heading west." * Nyyx nods. "Is the rest of the way fairly straightforward?" Right, then. Nyyxie and I are on point. Everybody keep close and quiet. Cleric: "No. But keep heading west." Good enough. We'll be back. Thank you. * Nyyx takes a deep breath, then heads west. * Biff takes a moment to invis the whole group with one spell. Oooh * Olivia is invisible, but not really, as she follows. She stops flipping the dagger. [The party begins to wander down the western leading hallway. Niches with human bones greet the party on either side.] * Nyyx gradually seems to become less flustered as they walk deeper into the crypt. * Skip edges his way to the southern wall, then, without slowing his forward progress, begins climbing up. Reaching the ceiling, he grabs hold and keeps up with the group from above. * Charlotte steps along carefully... [The party weaves through hallways with little variation for some time...] * Biff whispers, "We're in the general area." * Nyyx takes a closer look around. * Biff whispers carefully, "Okay, everybody stay VERY close. I'm gonna silence us." * Nyyx stops walking and draws her sword. * Charlotte pulls her bow out * Biff carefully puts a zone of silence around himself, allowing the group to communicate, but blocking all sounds going in or out. I assume you heard it, too, then. * Nyyx keeps an eye on the direction of the tracks and the echoes that she heard. Yeah. Biff, can we move forward without being heard, and how long does it last? we got a good half a day on the silence, maybe five minutes on the invis. I can put up another one, though. Well, then! * Nyyx starts walking toward the source of the sounds. * Charlotte moves along sneakily. IN spite of the fac that' she's invisible and silent. [The party continues to advance. After an indeterminant time winding between rows of crypts, the party hears a scraping noise around the next corner.] Are we still good on invisibility? Yeah. Wonderful. * Nyyx rounds the corner without hesitation! [Around the corner, Nyyx spots a hunched creature pulling a large wooden sledge piled high with bodies behind it. The creature is facing Nyyx and the sledge as it pulls. Its features are obscurred by a large dirty brown cloak.] His Eminent Remains doesn't have anyone harvesting these bodies, does he? I.... have no idea. Unlikely. I'm guessing he's on the Cult's side, which means-- We have less than five minutes left. Kill him and I put up a new screen? Exactly. * Nyyx is a flicker of motion as she pulls back her sword, charges forward, and leaps. Her blade carves a whistling arc through the air that chops into the hunched creature directly and cleanly in half. * Nyyx flicks the debris off the bastard sword as the body falls in two. [The beast slumps to the floor noiselessly as fluids spray from its chest cavity and tendrils spasm and go still. The creature was vaguely human with an overbuilt frame and a face of twisted metal.] right, then. Everybody group up. Nyyx, you might wanna stuff this guy into one of the crypts. Nice work. * Olivia pops a dagger into her hand, but Nyyx has it handled. She moves up a bit more slowly and replies, "And the sledge?" * Nyyx nods. "Good idea." She gets to work shoveling the pieces of the creature into the nearest alcove. [Nyyx finds herself with her back to a crypt wall with the creature and the sledge in front of her. ] Hell, throw him in two -different- crypts, just in case. * Nyyx stashes one half in a different hole in the wall. [As Nyyx proceeds to shovel the corpse into the wall, she feels something moving.] * Biff breaks out a small wand and cleans up the mess the thing left. [A spider-like creature the size of a cat breaks from the corpse and begins to flee down the hall from the party.] * Nyyx breaks into a run after the thing. * Skip is now known as SkipFEED [Skip runs along the ceiling after the creature.] * Nyyx is now known as NyyxFeed * Biff utters a word of power at the spider and it freezes in place, straining against its own feet, which are stuck to the floor. * Biff extends the kitty kannon from his backpack, takes careful aim at the little spider that's only as big as he is, and lets fly an orb of electricity that slams into it, disrupting its systems badly. Huh. That was easier than I figured it'd be. As long as they only approach us one at a time, I think we've got this. I can't do that a hell of a lot, you guys're gonna have to help next time. [Nyyx and Skip wander up to the spider and make certain that it is dead. They begin to carry it back.] Nyyx: "Will do." * Olivia takes a good look at the spider, putting her fingers against it for a moment. "Very curious..." she murmurs. Keep it, toots. You can do that dissection thing you Boccobies like. Everybody group up, I'll screen us again. * Charlotte does so [The spider is metallic. Probably made of tin and zinc. The innards are a bizzarre hybrid of clockwork and crystal and some collection of seemingly bare metal plates.] * Olivia snatches it up by the legs and holds it in one hand as Biff magics them up. "The heart of infection? Wouldn't they have mentioned that?" Maybe they didn't know. * Biff throws up a screen as everybody comes close enough, this time centering it on Nyyx's armor, rather than herself. Everybody ready? Yeah. * Olivia smiles a bit to herself. "Pretty much." Fine. Let's move. * Biff points the way home, to Bel-Air [The party continues down the hallway.] [The crypts are abruptly interupted by a chasm in the rock cut by the underground stream below. Worked stone around the chasm secures the architecture above. A bridge several dozen feet to the south allows progress west.] We're gonna have to check that bridge, it's a hell of a place to put traps. Everybody keep an eye out. * Biff searches carefully on the approach and while crossing the bridge. [Behind the party, more scraping can be heard.] * Charlotte steps along carefully. * Charlotte glances behind... [Another sledge and hauler can be seen on the eastern side of the bridge lugging its grim cargo.] * Olivia walks along, doing the same. She glances behind her and then says, lowly, "... well, they would have a hard time of it if there wasn't a bridge, too." I say we leave it alone. Not worth the trouble of letting it see us and try to get away. * Olivia hrms a little, then replies, "If you like. I wonder how long it takes one of these clockwork spiders to begin moving a body, though." They probably have to be wired up, first. * Biff continues onward and inward. [The party continues west through the crypts on the far end of the bridge. Noises emerge with greater and greater frequency on this side of the bridge.] I don't like the sound of that one bit. * Olivia replies, quietly, "They are gathering." * NyyxFeed is now known as Nyyx Not surprising. I hope they're vulnerable to that riot-inciting spell you used against the gargoyles in Stavograd. Heh. That'd be great. I love that spell. * Nyyx nods and smiles. "It'd be entertaining." * Nyyx moves toward the greatest concentration of noise ahead. [The party advances toward the highest concentration of the haulers.] * Nyyx circumvents the haulers once she confirms that they're just haulers. * Charlotte sneaks along, nin nin. [The party takes advantage of its stealth to avoid the haulers and moves closer to the enemy camp.] * Skip continues to move along the ceiling. * Nyyx hurries along, since the clank of her armor doesn't so much matter. * Charlotte hurries, jogging in place to keep her pace when the rest of the party is too slow for her. * Skip signals a stop, "There's a change in the noise. I'm not sure what to make of it." We'll just have to go see for ourselves, then. Might not be haulers. * Nyyx keeps moving. * Charlotte stops. * Charlotte follows along @_@ [After dodging several more groups, the party finds itself facing a squad of robed creatures guarding the far end of the passage they are in.] Oh good. Everybody ready to make some fricasee? Certainly. Sure. * Biff stands up on Nyyx's shoulder and traces a pattern with his tail in their general direction. * Nyyx readies her sword and waits. [Biff appears to hover in the air.] [The squad of four figures all begin to shake violently for several moments and then go still. Each extends metalic claws from under its robes and advances on the cat. A clicking noise can be heard behind them.] ... Well, damn. I guess we'll have to do this the old fashioned way. * Olivia pulls a wand into her hand, quipping at Nyyx, "Old fashioned girls, that's us." * Nyyx prepares to charge as soon as the robed figures come into range. * Skip positions himself upright between ceiling and wall and waits for the figures to approach. * Charlotte rushes to find a better firing position, snapping off two shots, but they both miss * Olivia flips the wand in her hand, still grinning, and then points it at their foes, causing two small, high-pitched massive distortions of air to whistle out and then detonate upon the poor suckers with a shockwave. [Dust and debris shower down from the nearby crypts and the thud of the blast echoes in the narrow halls. The four creatures drop to all fours and charge.] * Nyyx charges and flips forward through the air as the creatures come within distance of her. Her sword flashes green in the torchlight as she lands behind them, and the two creatures leading the charge collapse in pieces. [The two remaining creatures close on Nyyx and reach out with razor claws. The first flails blindly, still off balance from her sudden appearance but the second lands two visceral swipes.] * Biff hops down off Nyyx's shoulder and fires three quick blasts of flame from the kitty kannon, taking one of the two remaining enemies down in flames. * Theodore makes like a cat and scorches the last corpse down to bones. * Nyyx stands where she had materialized under the floating cat, wearing the shirt and pants only currently visible because her armor's still oddly invisible. Everybody get ready for the spiders. * Nyyx nods. "Ready." [After several minutes, nothing happens.] Right * Nyyx chops up one of the bodies just to make sure there's nothing inside. * Olivia looks at Nyyx a bit oddly, before waiting for the spiders to not show up. After Nyyx starts chopping, she lays on a bit of hands, commenting, "Don't usually see you armorless in the midday." Torch them? [The creature's innards are run through with metal filaments but no spider is inside.] I doubt it would do much good. * Nyyx looks down, then laughs. "I guess Biff aimed the spell at my armor." Yup. * Olivia half-smiles, then looks down at the innards. "Maybe the collectors are more... makeshift." * Nyyx 's wounds close up. "Thanks, Olivia." * Nyyx rifles through the bodies for anything useful. [Scraping noises can still be heard in the distance.] * Olivia crouches to check the body Nyyx pulled apart, looking for anything they don't already know. "We probably don't wanna wait too long." Shamblings hordes tend to get where they're going. Eventually. Well, let's get through here, then. Everybody get close. * Nyyx stands and groups up. * Charlotte heads over * Biff throws up another screen. Right, then. Let's get moving. Onward and inward. * Nyyx gets going into the previously guarded passage. [The party continues down the hallway.] [Several minutes pass and the noises in the hallway are growing progressively louder. It sounds like the party is surrounded.] * Nyyx walks briskly. I'd feel a lot better about this if most of my spells actually worked on these things. I -hate- golems. [After several minutes, the party runs across another squad at an intersection.] What a bother. I wonder how many of these there are. Yeah... let's see if we can find another way past. We can't spend all day fighting them. We can't. The zone won't fit between them. Lemme try somethin. * Nyyx nods. * Biff casts a quick spell on himself and disappears. * Biff heads down to the intersection, then around a corner in a direction he definitely doesn't intend to head wth the party. Once safely around the corner and down the hall a bit, he pulls out a small ball of fluff, rolls it down the hall, and it unrolls into a large wolf. The wolf waits until the guards see it, then starts running away, down the hall. [The beasts drop to all fours and chase the wolf, narrowly missing Biff as they pass.] * Biff waits until they're past, then saunters back to the group and hops up on Nyyx's shoulder, stll invisible. "Let's get while they're distracted." * Nyyx nods and hurries down the passage. * Charlotte rushes down there Man, being able to pull a wolf out of your pants is awesome. * Nyyx laughs. "That trick's been useful at least twice now." You ain't kiddin, toots. Worth every penny it cost me, and then some. And people keep falling for it. [The party continues deeper into the labrythine corridors. Eventually, the scrapping noises fade and the party finds itself in a section of the crypts where most of the niches have been harvested.] Hmm. It's all cleared out. You would too, if you were a guard, toots. That wolf coulda been anything from a familiar, to an animal companion, to a freaking druid. [After several more minutes, the party reaches a hallway with a short iron rod set into the stone floor. At the tip of the rod is a small head, like that of a predatory bird.] You want a druid loose in YOUR secret base? Speaking of druids, what is that? No idea. * Nyyx approaches the rod to take a closer look. * Biff hops down and checks it closely. [As Biff and Nyyx approach, a rushing sound can be heard from the walls on their left and right.] that sounds ominous. * Nyyx blinks and looks to either side. * Charlotte glances [Dust ejects from the niches as the rushing runs down the hall away from the party.] * Skip tries to sink deeper into the shadows and looks all around the corridor. That doesn't look good. Very. * Charlotte looks around, getting ready to run or disarm something or shoot something. She's not quite sure which. If this is a trap, it isn't something I've dealt with before; it might take me a while to do a thorough search. [END OF SESSION] Session Close: Sat Sep 20 22:46:20 2008