Session Start: Sat Sep 27 17:18:23 2008 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging for #castlevania started [The party finds itself in a narrow hallway in the crypts beneath Lifebreak. A strange stone rod is set into the stone floor in front of them and some manner of trap was just triggered in the walls.] That's probably bad. * Nyyx looks at the ground at her feet where she just stepped. I'm pretty sure you're right. Y...eah. Do you think it's safe for me to step off of this? * Biff does a quick check of the walls and ceiliing, to see if any of them are moving. * Olivia frowns and moves forward cautiously to take a better look. "Could just be a warning." An alarm of some sort? Could be. I heard it rushing away from us, whatever it was. ...Though, come to think of it, I heard something even before we approached the room. What do you think it could be? * Olivia replies, "Aside from the sledges? No idea." Walls and floor aren't moving. Let's go. All right. Let's hope I don't do anything else to accidentally sabotage us. * Nyyx bypasses the rod and keeps moving. * Charlotte looks things over carefully before following along * Nyyx glances back at Charlotte. "Anything suspicious?" Wall sounds a little... hollow. * Charlotte points over to a small gap around where Nyyx was standing when she heard the sound. "Hope njothing came out of there." Hm. See anything through the hole? Not quite. [The party continues to the west. Over the next several minutes, the scraping noises fall behind. The tunnels are quiet once again.] * Nyyx walks on, keeping her head on a swivel in case whatever trap they triggered finally releases its effect. [Turning a corner, the party can hear activity in the distance. Bright lights can be seen at the end of the tunnel.] * Nyyx keeps walking. * Charlotte steps along. This oughta be interesting. I'm hoping so. * Nyyx smiles. [The tunnel opens up into a large open area. Support pillars keep the street level from falling in. Haulers are filtering into and out of the chamber from all directions except the near the party. They unload their sledges into a pit cut into the ground and then leave, presumably for another load. Over time, corpses walk up a stairwell leading out of the pit and collect on the far end of the room.] [A series of guards ring the pit at a distance of twenty feet from its edge. The party is currently about sixty feet from the nearest guard.] [Torches hung from the pillars give the room the brightest glow of any chamber so far. The chamber is riddled with rats and other vermin scrambling around.] Eew. Eew. Eew. ...you have no concept of stealth, do you? We've got that Silence on us. If we did not, I would be content to internalize that, and possibly give a frown of strong disapproval. VERY strong disapproval. * Olivia glances over at Charlotte and then shakes her head with a half smile. "So do we try to stop the growing horde from here?" * Nyyx doesn't seem bothered by the rats and is instead eyeing the nearest guard thoughtfully. This doesn't really look quite like the center of it all, but ti's probably on the other side of that pit. Maybe we can to take a look around before doing anything more physical. (er, take out that "to") We're getting near the end of the veil, so we better make it quick. Blowing up this place is probably a good way to end the spell. * Nyyx nods. "Let's take a quick look, then blow the place up. Sound good?" * Nyyx hastens to scout out the area. Sounds good. [Nyyx steps out into the chamber. After about a dozen feet, she steps on a rat. With a shriek, it scitters away.] * Nyyx weaves to avoid any bodies that might wander into their invisibility/silence radius and attempts to make a brisk perimeter around the pit, looking out for any hidden guards or other potential backup. She glances over the edge of the pit thoughtfully. "We could always knock them into the pit." ... * Nyyx moves away quickly. [As Nyyx passes through the room, the rats increasingly swarm the floor underfoot, shrieking when she steps on them.] Looks like this is about as far as we're gonna get, toots. Damn. They're probably going to notice rats disappearing once they hit our radius. * Charlotte frowns. [As she approaches the pit, Nyyx gages its depth at twenty-five feet of worked stone. Dozens of bodies are piled inside.] * Biff takes a look at the guards, gauging if any of them would make good pets. [The guards' heads turn with the shrieks, but they make no action.] Or does it not affect the rats? It only affects people in the veil at the start. If we keep going, the universe'll probably decide you're attacking and break the veil, though. [After several tense seconds, the scouts find themselves back at the tunnel.] This might be the end of where we can stealth. Looks like it. The pit's not deep enough to hurt them much, I think. [After several moments, one of the guards breaks off from the group and begins walking toward the tunnel. Its gait is rather fluid for its stature.] * Nyyx draws her sword and tenses for a charge. "He's making it easy for me, I guess." I'mma kill all the rats. That'd be convenient. Should I wait for you? [The creature wanders up and waves at the party once it reaches about thirty feet away. It continues to approach, coming to within twenty feet of the tunnel entrance.] Did it just wave? ...yes, I think it did. Shall I hold off on the killing? I suppose we can hold off for now. Ambush isn't possible now, anyway. Weird Fine. * Nyyx relaxes her stance a bit, and she waits for the figure to approach. [The figure walks to within ten feet of the tunnel and stops. It lifts back the cowl on its robe with a gnarled taloned hand and stands up straight. The head underneath is little more than a skull dotted with tufts of long white hair. Its voice is a rasping cough.] Figure: "I can't see you, but I know that you are there. Why would the living be here?" Uh, Imma have to step back so you can talk, toots. * Biff hops off Nyyx's shoulder and steps back a good eight feet or so. You're undermining Lifebreak. Did you think no one would come to stop you? * Biff slaps his paw into his forehead. Figure: "Of course someone will come to stop us. Why living creatures?" Figure: "No living resident of Lifebreak would be both foolish and skilled enough to get this far." * Olivia smiles a little at Biff's antics and murmurs to him, "Did you expect subtlty?" I sorta hoped? * Olivia looks back to the conversation and replies, "Maybe more than hoping's needed." * Nyyx 's shrug goes unseen. "Does that matter? Chitchat's not my strong point, so unless you have anything useful to say--" Figure: "Sorry, there were just two issues I needed to cover. I just wanted to know why you were down here. I expect you know what we are doing. Having the living down here piqued my interest is all. Perhaps we could avoid a fight?" What are you proposing? * Olivia murmurs, "Curious thing, isn't it..." And... oddly friendly. mm, well, they're fairly resistant to my best shots, which makes me want to avoid a fight, in general. Figure: "That kind of depends on why you are here really. We intend to take this city. Force has clearly become necessary, but I still don't see why that means that we have to fight you. What would a bunch of living creatures have to save in a city of the undead?" What are you after? Figure: "This city, its undead population and its wealth." Figure: "You?" * Biff snickers. "We're saving the world, starting with destroying you guys." Doesn't matter. Figure: "It's the only thing that matters." * Nyyx steps back toward Biff and into the silent zone. "Somebody else want to talk, or should we just fry them?" I'll fire the opening shot. On three. One. Two. * Nyyx tenses to attack. * Biff fires a huge ball of light into the chamber. [The center of the chamber is engulfed in brightlight. Screams fill the chamber as dozens of rats are snuffed out all at once. The flare continues to burn in the center of the chamber. The figure stands where it is. Rats roil and squirm at its feet.] Figure: "Hello, cat. What is your name?" Mouser. Biff Mouser. Familiar for Hire. Figure: "Hmm. I can't hear you. Your silence must still be up." * Biff raises his paw and dismisses the silence field. As I was saying. Mouser. Biff Mouser. Hope you don't mind those rats and all. I'm a mite hungry. Figure: "Good to meet you Biff. I'm guessing the flare behind me was you?" Figure: "As you please." Yeah, isn't it great? Figure: "Very bright. So, why are you here?" Profit. Also, saving the world. Though that's mostly a side-effect. Figure: "What would it take you to stall your attack, Biff?" Make me an offer I can't refuse. Figure: "Wealth and power beyond avarice." anybody can promise that. But I never met the guys who could follow up. * Nyyx meanwhile, flashes into visibility as she takes a flying leap, focusing all the force of her momentum into the edge of her sword as she chops it into the standing figure. Not good enough. Figure: "You'll see, Biff." The Figure stomachs the hit from Nyyx and retaliates in kind, leaving two wide slices in Nyyx's armor. Figure: "My, you have no manners." Figure: "You never even asked what the second thing I wanted was..." * Charlotte darts out and fires three arrows in rapid succession. Two of them strike the figure, burying deep and bursting into acid Hah! [The flare in the center of the chamber continues to simmer.] [Several low, dark shapes emerge from around the corner of the tunnel behind the party and begin to close in. The closest are forty feet away and coming up fast. They run on four limbs and are covered in matted fur except for their overlarge mouths.] * Olivia pulls out a wand, seeming ready, but then her head whips around to look behind them a moment before she quickly says, "Something shambling from behind... and your spell's changin', tomcat." Oh goody. Well, no time to dispel it if we've got visitors from behind. [Nyyx takes another swing at the creature, cutting it down cleanly.] * Olivia gestures outward with her empty hand, saying something quick, gutteral, and magical as the small ball of lightning heads down the corridor to smack into the oncoming shambly things. * Biff follows on Olivia's spell by dropping a suspiciously still fog bank between the pursuers and himself... and incidentally, the rest of the party. [As the fog bank unfolds, a voice rumbles down from that end of the hall.] Voice: "You didn't think I'd be that easy to kill, did you?" * Charlotte glances at the fog and waits for a target to present itself... Bud, you ain't -seen- difficult to kill. We are so used to people not dying when we kill them that we don't even bother cutting throats after battle anymore, it doesn't do any fucking good. The creatures behind the fog advance at a run and the party can hear crashes and howls as the hit the fog bank and slow down. Hahahaha, stupid mutts. * Nyyx whispers, "Nice trick." * Biff flips them the unseen paw. Niice [Several of the guards step out of the flare and run at the party. They are in a loose group of six about fifteen feet from the party.] * Nyyx springs forward as the guards step out, aiming straight for the nearest target. She swings and misses, but using the force of her original blow, she makes a complete 360, decapitating one guard and slicing deeply into the next. * Biff runs up behind Nyyx, slaps a paw on her leg, just above her boot, and surrounds her with lovely grease magic, because being the only person able to move in a solid fog is awesome beyond words. * Charlotte keeps watching for an opportunity * Charlotte darts alongthe wall andpoints at the newcomers, releasing a quick two shots with her bow * Charlotte lands a hit on one of them with enough force to send them crashing to the ground * Rudyard is now known as Skip * Skip springs into action. Quickly closing the distance to his enemies, Skip leaps into the air and brings down his main-hand hatchet on the nearest foe. It cuts deep, and Skip lands safely on the opposite side. Nice one! [The monsters retaliate with Nyyx and Skip taking nasty cuts and Charlotte dodging along the wall.] nyyx, Skip, go play with the puppies in the fog, we'll take these guys. * Nyyx nods, and as she takes a deep breath, some of her wounds heal closed. "Right." She turns and makes for the bank of solid fog. * Biff waves his tail and yowls an awful cat song at the guards, and just like that, layered over the area is a different battlefield, deceiving the guards into thinking that their friends are their enemies. * Olivia moves alongside Nyyx, gripping her hard by the shoulder and channeling positive energy into her. "Looked like undead dire wolve hybrids, Nyyx," she says, lowly, "Watch for metal bites, mmm?" Bright smile. * Nyyx smiles. "Thanks, as always, Olivia." * Charlotte darts back, deftly dodging a wolf's snapping jaws. She fires a couple of arrows and landsone * Skip nods to Biff, "Right!" He disappears in a puff of shadow and emerges from the nether just below the ceiling. Within the fog, Skip grabs the ceiling, gets on all fours, and scuttles down the hallway. "There are eight more down here, and they look hungry!" The eight wolves retreat ten feet from the fog and watch Skip. Voice: "That is a great trick." [Two of the remaining four bipedal monsters turn and assault the other two. Their strikes are ineffective.] [The other two close on Charlotte and miss widely with their attacks.] * Nyyx spins on her heel and speeds back toward the previous four targets. "Not falling for that one!" She jumps and her sword blurs in midair; one body spontaneously explodes in viscera and another falls in pieces as she lands lightly behind them. * Olivia turns as Nyyx jumps the other way and half-smiles. "Changed your mind?" * Nyyx grins back at Olivia. "Eight metal-jawed undead dire wolves aren't my idea of a party." * Biff points the kitty kannon at the arrowed guard and unleashes a bolt of acid, melting out a large hole and putting it on the floor. You and me both, toots. I -hate- dogs. * Olivia steps up and fires a daggerlike shard from the tip of her wand at the last one standing, commenting with a slight grin, "I thought that would be exactly your kind of party, Nyyx." * Charlotte zooms around and fires another set of arrows,one of which lands * Skip considers how to address the voice. "Um, thanks." He then turns around and disappears into the fog. [The remaining attacker takes a swipe at Nyyx, doing nominal damage.] * Nyyx takes two quick swings at the last wolf and misses twice, but she seems reenergized by the exercise. * Biff backs up a step and fires a barrage of force missiles into the last guard. * Olivia frowns a little, before she makes a dagger pop out of her hand from nowhere, glowing strongly. Then she takes a few very quick steps around to the opposite of Nyyx and stabs the dagger up into the thing, hard, before twisting and pulling it free with the sound of metal ripping free from undead flesh. Pleasant? Perhaps! The frown slips away and she chuckles a little. "That worked well." Right. Let's move. Onward and inward. * Biff heads for the pit. * Skip follows along the ceiling. * Nyyx heads for the pit as well. Right! * Charlotte moves on Just so you know, one of the dogs talked to me. Figures. [Once the flare clears and the party reaches the pit, they find it half full of descicated corpses. The mobile undead and most of the guards are nowhere to be found.] * Olivia looks at everyone walking along, then she half-smiles to herself and muses, "I finally kill something big with a knife, and nobody bats an eye." * Olivia also follows. It's fun. I always figured you had it in you. There's probably only one person in control of all these things, bouncing around from mouthpiece to mouthpiece. * Nyyx hurries to cross the chamber. "Probably." It's like trying to kill a mage in a magic jar. So how do you find thisguy? * Olivia smiles at the back of Nyyx's head as she follows. Your guess is as good as mine, toots. * Olivia flips her dagger one last time and it disappears, then she says, "I bet he'll show up if we keep threatening his interests." Undoubtedly. * Skip nods. Let's give this place a quick once over, then follow the trail of bodies. Yeah. We're bound to run low on targets sooner or later. * Nyyx nods and gets to work. [END OF SESSION] Session Close: Sat Sep 27 22:55:35 2008