Session Start: Sat Jan 31 17:29:31 2009 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging for #castlevania started [The party finds itself in a rapidly developing scene as the siege continues. The breach in the outer wall of the Well continues to allow flooding waters and mechanical spiders into the prison. About one hundred feet below the breach, an ice seal blocks passage further down. Below the seal, Biff is hurrying to the third high security cell.] [Far above the breach, Nyyx and Olivia have just dodged the explosion of the sentry station, which is now plummeting down the height of the Well. Those below have been alerted and have retreated to the walls to avoid the guardpost turned projectile.] * Nyyx switches stance to better sense things she can't see through the cloud of debris. * Charlotte_A tries to focus and get a better awareness of things. * Olivia doesn't! She still floats, though, because floating is awesome. She messes her wands, hrming thoughtfully, though with a faint smile. "So many things to blow up today. I hope the tomcat's doing well down there." I do too. [As Nyyx shifts her perceptions, the world comes into greater focus. The cloud of dust before her resolves into individual pieces of stone and metal. Beyond them, Nyyx can hear the greater part of the sentry tower begin to fall. Nyyx cannot sense any living occupants.] * Olivia chuckles to herself as she watches the dust cloud for disasterous things. "I tell you, open-ended missions are the least enjoyable. Love the company, but really." I don't sense anything moving around in the dust besides us. That's good. * Olivia nods slightly and says, "Just the end of that station's life? No hole in the wall?" * Charlotte_A didn't say that [Biff bounds down the stairs as quickly as he can and finds himself before another cell door. Beyond, he can see a dessicated figure nailed with painstaking care to an ironwood post so that not a limb or digit can move. The creature's head slumps limply, touching its sunken chest.] Strange that it'd fall without help, though. * Nyyx floats on to investigate, cautiously. Oh man, that looks painful. * Biff pops inside the cell to check for the kill switch. [The tower drops like the inert stone it now is, trailing dust and smoke as it speeds down the tower. In just a few moments, it will reach the seal of ice place by Theodore.] [Far below, Biff has entered the cell. To his right, he can see another set of runes and a clay pot on a pedestal. The figure raises its head to look at the cat and whispers with a gritty, grinding voice: "Are you my executioner, then, little one? Althoug I have no fear of death, perhaps we could come to an understanding?"] Does it involve giving me riches beyond avarice and possibly ultimate power? * Biff looks for the killswitch. [The killswitch is the set of runes next to clay pot if the previous cells are any indication.] Prisoner: "The only real riches are power. And I have had much of that in my time. Indeed, the ultimate power. Power over death, has been mine for centuries. For what it has been worth." you're quite a bit smarter than the last guy who tried to bribe me. But I get the feeling you could probably kill me with a flick of your little finger... and you probably would. * Biff hits the killswitch. [As Biff hits the switch, a wall of force erupts around the pedestal and the sound of iron locks being released sounds through the tower.] [While the figure watches, an iron weight slams through the ceiling and crushes the clay pot and cracks the pedestal beneath it. The figure shivers once as its head is severed from its body by another wall of force. The head drops to the floor and rolls to Biff's feet.] ... Hope you don't require extra killing. If you do... seeya around. * Biff runs for the next cell. [Theodore stretches out an arm and bathes the tower above with ice, obscurring the rapidly descending tower.] [The sentry post crashes into the freshly conjured ice with a deafening thud. The ice breaks and both ice and stone continue to fall.] * Olivia angles downward and flies, saying, "Better go deal with the problems below! Sounds like it's gonna be fun." [Ice litters the stairwell where Theodore, Charlotte and Skip were posted and the sentry post continues downward, crashing into the second ice seal with another loud crash.] [Water jets upward as the sentry post hits the seal. A series of loud cracks can be heard below. The growing weight of spiders, water, stone and ice will be too much for the seal before long.] AUGH! Nyyx: "Olivia, there's no breach in the roof up here! We need to get back down the tower!" [Nyyx and Olivia float down the tower in the sentry post's wake as fast as they can.] * Olivia is doing it face first. Because she's extreme. * Charlotte_A starts to back away from the wall before more starts collapsing. [Charlotte runs along the stairs circling upward and away from the worst of the falling ice.] * Biff keeps on leapin on * Skip maneuvers away from the falling ice. [Nyyx and Olivia continue descending and reach the level of the breach, rejoining Theodore, Skip and a badly injured Charlotte. Water and spiders continue to flood in from the breach. Also, renewed crashes and deep thuds can be heard from the breach. The fight beyond must still be raging.] [Biff continues to scramble down the tower. The ice seal creaks and finally breaks under the weight of stone, metal and water. Ice, spiders and the sentry post shower down the Well towards the bottom. The flood will be level with Biff in a matter of seconds.] ...aw SHIT. * Biff stops jumping for a moment and slaps himself with his very own freedom of movement spell. * Olivia pulls up from her dive, looking around a moment. She winces as she sees Charlotte and flies over to her, grabbing onto her shoulder with a slight smile. "Gotta keep away from the deadly flying shards, Charlotte, mmm?" * Olivia then frowns as the water starts to rush downward. "... and now Biff's got swimming to do." Whew! Thanks! * Nyyx pulls up at the broken ice. "Ugh." [The flood continues downward. Biff dodges the worst of it and soaks the rest like a champ. The mess of water and stone continues downward, slamming into the bottom of the well and filling the final several dozen feet with a slurry of debris and icy water. The mess is littered with dead and twitching spiders.] * Nyyx floats down through the hole created by the fallen tower. "Biff, are you all right down there?" [Biff is now within a few second's run to the next cell. This appears to be the last one left above the water line.] I'm good! Gotta kill more superbadddies! * Biff jumps inside the cell and looks frantically for the kill switch [Upon entering this cell, Biff is overwhelmed by a sense of cold and dread that seems to crawl over his fur. At the far end of the chamber is a large glass sphere filled with swirling smoke.] * Biff shudders Yeah, I hope you don't even -try- to bargain for your unlife. [The room is coated in dull runes written on every available surface.] [The smoke swirls more violently at this and several faces erupt from the depths, staring at the cat.] ...that's a lot of runes. * Biff tries to figure out which ones are the "Kill this thing, pronto." runes. * Olivia floats down into the hole, creating daggers in her hand and tossing them at spiders. "Really, it sounds like we've almost won this. Shouldn't they stop?" There! * Biff slams a paw down and activates the killydeath. [The sphere fills with light and then is empty once the light fades several seconds later. The tang of ozone fills the air.] * Nyyx is taking casual swings at any moving spiders as they present themselves. "You would think." * Biff runs like crazy. I better get extra pay for this crap! * Biff takes a huge breath and dives into the water. Where are they getting all this water? * Olivia replies, as she tosses another dagger, "The aqueaducts and caverns under the city. IT wasn't a bad tactic, really... water is a classic weapon of war." When you can get it to listen. * Nyyx nods and continues hacking at spiders. "Still, transporting it to the guard tower in these quantities is somewhat impressive. And inconvenient." She yells down the tower, "Biff, call us if you need help!" (( prison tower )) [As Biff dives in, the cold water hits him like a wall. The bottom of the Well is a broken pit of stone and cold water. Ice floats near the surface and stone and dust drifts to the bottom of the pool. Near the center, the rushing water from above adds more water every second. Moreover, spiders, both active and destroyed, splash into the pool and sink constantly. Amidst all of this chaos, visibility is minimal.] * Charlotte_A fights spider,s yay! [A quick circle around the pool proves that there is no final door along the walls. Biff, seeing that the pattern is broken, starts watching spiders. The perhaps ten percent that are still functional are moving steadily toward the broken stone of the sentry tower in the center of the floor at the bottom of the pool.] * Biff heads after them, at speed. [At the bottom of the pool, the spiders are busy picking through the stone and are digging out a grating at the center of the floor. Whatever is beyond the grate is covered in darkness.] [Above, a crash can be heard on the other side of the breach. Afterward, the flow of water and spiders stops.] Is it over? ... * Nyyx looks around. [The upper four-fifths of the tower are peaceful. A shattered wreck littered with corpses, but peaceful.] [Biff swims forward, tearing and shredding through spiders as they frantically try to bypass the grating.] * Nyyx floats up so she can get a better view of the hole in the wall where the water had been streaming in until a moment ago. * Biff grins like a cheshire, then bulges and twists and morphs into an immense octopus. He begins lashing out with tentacles, not bothering to use his beak, which has a much less impressive reach. * Skip has quit IRC (Quit: Skip) [Biff's rapid assault disables spiders at a fever pitch. At the same time, the creatures have opened a small breach around the outside of the grating.] [As one of the spiders nearest the breach is broken, a black ichor like oil spills out. Seemingly of its own volition, it oozes toward the breach.] [Above, the hallway beyond the breach glows with a deep red light.] * Biff curses and unleashes a storm of feathery death beneath the water. * Olivia glances at the glowing and says, "... something new's coming, it seems." Aw, man * Nyyx nods. "It never ends." [Biff's glowing strike burns the ooze to nothingness and shuts down all of the remaining spiders.] * Biff sighs in relief. * Biff begins carefully sweeping the remains AWAY from the grate [His Emminent Remains appears in the passageway beyond the breach. His scythe in hand, the Bloody Smile coats the passage in a red glow.] H.E.R.: "Natalia, did they get through?" * Nyyx relaxes a bit. "Goggles, the spider, and the other two? We put an end to that." H.E.R.: "Did any of the prisoners get out?" Not that I've seen. Biff is taking care of those downstairs right now. Whew. * Biff pops out of the water, no longer an octopus, and screams, "Somebody come get me out of this damn water!" * Nyyx floats down and grabs hold of Biff to help him out of the water. * Biff looks like a drowned cat. Are you all right? I'm cold, dirty, tired, and soaking wet. * Nyyx helps dry off the poor cat with a corner of her cloak. "Did you get them all?" it's going to take me so damn long to get cleaned up. Pretty sure. They were trying to open some sort of grate down at the bottom. * Nyyx turns to H.E.R. "What's down there beyond the grate?" H.E.R.: "The worst of our prisoners. The Fallen Shadow Sun." How do we destroy it? Uh. We better get down there and kack it, then, just in case I missed one. [From the breach.] H.E.R.: "The switch is inside it's cell. I'll leave a few men behind to finish it. We need to get back to the Keep now." * Nyyx nods. It's all taken care of? * Biff sighs in relief. Let me tell you, toots, you have no idea how weird it is to be an octopus. No bones at all! That sounds really weird H.E.R.: "Not by a long shot, Charlotte. Think about it. The cult has control of half of this CITY. They only sent a few hundred creatures and constructs here." * Charlotte_A frowns :"( I figured that would be the case. If the Well's safe enough, though, I guess we can move on to the next objective. H.E.R.: "We have cleared out the invaders on this side. We're ready to teleport back once you get up here and through the passage. We can't teleport out of the Well." [Several Boccobites walk down the passage and out of the breach and begin to drift down the Well toward the final cell.] * Nyyx nods and heads for the passage. * Charlotte_A follows * Olivia looks to the Boccobites a moment, then begins to head up as well. [The passage extends for about one hundred feet. Beyond is a large chamber whose roof has been shattered, revealing the city above. Stone debris and dead constructs litter the room. One large construct, an amalgam of several ogres and metal statuary, lies broken in the center of the room. Several Boccobites and a few Nerull clergy also lie dead throughout the chamber.] [The surviving Nerull worshipers all have some fiendish quality, whether horns or burning eyes or hooves. Each radiates an aura of evil.] [Among the survivors, Roland strides toward the party.] Roland: "Are we ready to head back?" * Charlotte_A eyes them * Olivia presses her lips together at all the Nerull. Good to see you, Roland. Ah, hi * Olivia blinks at Roland, then half-grins and says, "Fancy meeting you here." * Nyyx smiles a bit. "I'm sure you're worn out from all of this--," she gestures at the dead constructs and debris, "--so I'd hate to impose, but do you happen to have a fix for shadow-induced muscle weakness?" Why, I just so happen to have one, Lady Natalia. I can't imagine why. * Roland gives Olivia a slight nod, then says, "If you'll hold still, please? The spell does take a bit of time to cast, unfortunately." Thank you. I'd appreciate it. * Roland makes with the casting, and ten minutes later, holy awesome banishes the shadow weakness. [While Roland was working, His Emminent Remains and all of the Boccobites save Roland and the Nerull clergy teleported away with a blur and a rush of air.] [The rest of the party spends the precious minutes recovering and checking up on the Boccobites in the Well.] Thank you, Roland. * Charlotte_A goes to get healing X_X * Roland makes with the healing, because he is well stocked for this sort of thing. [Once everyone is ready, Roland gathers the party together to face whatever the cult has planned for them. With a pulse of blue light. The party vanishes.] [END OF SESSION.] Session Close: Sat Jan 31 22:34:41 2009