Session Start: Sat Jul 18 17:06:17 2009 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging #castlevania to 'logs\090718.Sandwich.Net.txt' [The intrepid party finds itself in the middle of a rock outcropping amidst a series of rock formations holding the ruins of an old desert settlement, pondering their next move.] * Adam calls for his faithful sandworm steed, Salvatore! * Olivia rubs her hands together and stretches. "Were we going to look into that skeleton? Or have we had enough of this place?" Dunno. I think, uh, maybe we should run like crazy? Or set a trap... ? [After several minutes, the party can spot Salvatore's wake through the sand a few hundred feet to the south.] * Olivia half-smiles. "Well, if you're that concerned. He did say he was bound." * Olivia then glances to Salvatore. Unfortunately, I'm a bit short on the whole "speak with dead" options. * Olivia nods and replies, "I could handle it." She glances to Nyyx. "Otherwise... we've found out a few interesting bits of information, but unless we try to find the figure in red's people, short on leads." Well, uh, why don't we try to find them? * Olivia replies, "Probably for the best we do that tomorrow. In case we... do not do it right." Aren't we getting a bit short on time? * Olivia presses her lips together. "Slightly." * Charlotte frowns I don't mind going down there to revisit that skeleton, if we have the means to chat it up. * Olivia nods slightly and replies, "We do." Are you up for going down there again now? Maybe we oughta wait for the giant goat headed tentacle monster to simmer down a bit? * Olivia stretches again. "I'm good for anything you are." How far do you think its leash goes? * Adam shrugs. It clearly can't come out here, else I'm pretty sure it would have. Any idea, Olivia? So what, we play tag with it and this is home base? * Nyyx shrugs and smiles. "Well, I don't intend on having it ever tag us, if we can help it." * Olivia nods and says, "It doesn't seem like it can roam, no." * Nyyx nods. "Worth the risk then? I'm game." * Nyyx glances around at everyone else. What do we get if we win? We're still looking for Gregor's origins. Who knows what that skeleton can tell us. * Olivia half-smiles. "Well, Adam probably can't save us this time, but I think we'll be fine so far away." * Nyyx nods. "We can make a point to avoid the spot we met up with the thing, at any rate." Hey, I can do -anything!- * Adam pouts * Nyyx smiles at Adam. Well, then, are we set? * Nyyx straightens up and checks that she has everything. * Olivia nods and says, "We pick us up a complete set of bones, and then we're off." * Nyyx nods and heads for the original entrance they used earlier. [The party climbs out of the rocks and heads south to get their bearings. After several minutes, they can tease out the rock formation where they entered and after about another hour are back to the ruined room leading down into the rock.] [The party begins to work its way back down into the partially collapses hallways and side chambers before the rockfall.] Um... wait a minute. This might sound crazy but... didn't I have to teleport us past a rockfall to get to those bones? * Olivia shakes her head. "No, that was after." Oh. [The party continues to advance and reaches a series of rooms along the corridor. The party finds the one they want on the left hand side.] I hope this ends well * Olivia tilts her head, then says, "Right. Everyone gather the bones. Fast. Very fast." * Olivia starts. * Adam throws off a quick cantrip and begins gathering bones like a machine. [Charlotte can see a spot of deeper darkness in the corridor down near the rockfall.] * Olivia gathers the bones like a Olivia instead. * Nyyx gathers bones as quickly as she can manage. * Charlotte frowns. "There." [Within seconds, Adam, Olivia and Nyyx have the bones packed up in a satchel and have secured their prize.] * Olivia nods and says, "Alright, and now out, before the oncoming destruction gets to us." * Nyyx heads out. [The party races down the corridor back toward the light. As they run, they can feel the presence of the thing from the cavern pressing on their backs.] Voice: "I've missed you darlings!" [The sound of scittering on stone closes on the party as they pass through the corridors. Sometimes from the floor, sometimes from the wall and sometime from the ceiling.] * Nyyx shouts over her shoulder, "That's nice, but sorry, I don't think it's going to work out between us." [The scittering is clearly closing in on the party and there is still several hundred feet before the exit.] * Charlotte glances around * Adam is way out in front, being surprisingly fast. * Nyyx is carrying Skip on her back like a child and blurring toward the exit much more quickly than she usually moves. * Charlotte is running! @_@ Olivia... no matter what happens, keep running. * Nyyx sweeps up Olivia by the waist and carries her as well, making sure she doesn't fall behind. ...not that you have a choice. * Adam laughs. * Nyyx is now known as Cheeseball * Olivia lets out a quiet yelp as she's grabbed, then glances to Nyyx and says, with a grin, "Well, I would, but this is working out for me." [The party races and is about two hundred feet from the stairwell leading into the light when the creature reaches the space just behind them.] * Adam stops, spins around, raises his hand, with a card in it, and screams "WHEEL OF FORTUNE!" * Adam disappears, along with the goat headed tentacle demon, behind a wall that was not there an instant ago. What happened? ( No matter what happens, keep running! ) * Nyyx curses, but she keeps running. "What the hell did you do?" * Olivia replies, "Not sure. His deck is a powerful one..." and then she trails off. * Charlotte runs. "We'll get him back. We've got to." * Nyyx grits her teeth. I would've stayed back to fight the thing with him if he didn't wall himself off. * Olivia shakes her head and says, "He's got some power yet. A puzzle I hadn't quite figured out." She then looks up at Nyyx. "Maybe that's why he did it, mmm?" [The party reaches the surface and collects out on the rocks.] [Within the cave and several seconds ago, Adam is now face-to-face with the beast.] [The creature raises its split head to Adams and screams in his face.] So, uh... maybe we can talk this over? Voice: "You let them escape. Noble... Talk this over? What? You want to make another deal?" Well, what you did earlier was kind of a dick move, you gotta admit. Voice: "I am without interest in discussing my ethics. There are things that may yet appease me. Or I can collect my fee and be done." Uh, appease you? Voice: "Barter. Pay that which is owed, in flesh or service." well, I'm a little short on flesh right now. Voice: "Service, then. Put that little pack of yours away, go down into the basement chamber and release the wards that hold me here." That doesn't sound like a very good idea. I mean, sure, I probably -could-, but you'd probably kill me right after, and then you'd be free to go hunt down all my friends just for the pleasure of killing them. Voice: "What if I excuses their debts and foreswore hunting you all? At least hunting you all as a result of any interactions we have had here today. Obviously, if I am ordered to hunt you later, I must obey." That, uh... That doesn't sound so bad. Voice: "I value my freedom greatly. It's either that, or I take an arm and a leg." That sounds much worse. Voice: "It's decent from my side." * Adam stiffens, then his eyes go blank for a moment, then seem to come back online, and he relaxes and says loudly, "Criminal! Your incarceration will not end this day!" Voice: "Who am I dealing with?" To you, I am Justice. Voice: "Really? Hello Justice. I'm Peraclypse." I would say that it is a pleasure to meet you, but it most certainly is not. Voice: "So, what do you want? My deal is with the boy." The boy belongs to Me. Leave us. Voice: "You can keep the boy if you want. I merely require due payment. A small thing. He could be free within the hour." Voice: "Or your pet can spend the rest of his days with a hop." He is already free. You have no say in the matter. [The beast extends a sectioned "foot" toward Adam.] * Adam doesn't even blink, and in an instant, the wall is gone and he jerks upward with incredible force and is thrown towards the light at the end of the tunnel. [Adam slams into the stairwell leading into the light. The Beast screams and charges.] * Adam turns around and scrambles for the exit. EVERYBODY RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! * Adam screams wildly as he runs out the exit and heads for the freakin' hills. * Charlotte blinks. She runs faster. @_@ * Nyyx grabs both Skip and Olivia and runs. * Olivia had pretty much gotten out, but when seeing the bleeding and running Adam, starts to move only to yelp again and get grabbed. She looks up at Nyyx and then chuckles to herself. * Adam doesn't stop running until he's jumped up onto Salvatore's back! * Nyyx climbs aboard the creature behind Adam. * Adam poses dramatically. "See? I told you I'd save you!" [The party mounts up and rides off into the afternoon haze.] * Adam grins like the idiot he clearly is. Hah HAH! * Olivia gets out of Nyyx's grasp and looks over at Adam and says, "That... you did." She glances to his bleeding and then touches him on the shoulder lightly, to unbleed him a bit. * Nyyx sets down Skip, as well. You had us worried. All in a day's work for a Real Hero! * Adam points Salvatore back towards town. * Nyyx frowns, but she clearly looks more relieved than anything else. How'd you get out? Uh, I ran like crazy. We would've stood with you if you hadn't put up that wall. You could've gotten yourself killed! Well, yeah. I sorta figured I'd die. * Olivia nods slightly and looks off into the distance. "At least you've got a realistic attitude." But, uh, you guys got away no matter what, so it was totally worth it. * Nyyx sighs. "Well, what's important as that you're still alive." Yeah... * Adam laughs it off and makes camp for the night. * Olivia adds, running her hand back through her hair, "Us being alive, also quite important, all things considered." Yes, that too. * Nyyx smiles and moves to help set up camp. * Charlotte does her part! [The sun sets as the party sets up camp and settles in for the evening. Salvatore is released to hunt and the party focuses on individual priorities for a bit.] * Nyyx sits on her bedroll and reviews her notes from earlier in the day, filling in where she had to resort to shorthand. * Charlotte gets relaxed, but alert enough to keep watch when necessary * Nyyx finishes up, stretches out to loosen up her muscles, and lays back on the mat thoughtfully. * Olivia , in the meantime, has set up a little away from everyone else with the bones, which she has set back into the skeleton of the dead guy. She holds her Boccob symbol in her hands as she tries to connect to the impressions of the dead bones. * Olivia then starts, lowly, "Hello. If you'd just say a few words, we could get this moving..." [With a shudder, the skeleton re-positions itself and the bones slide into contact. The corpse's jaw moves slightly, slowly opening and closing the creature's mouth. With a sigh, it mutters a string of unintelligible syllables.] * Olivia tilts her head, squinting a moment... and then starts to reply in the same syllables. "That's... better." * Olivia then asks, "So... the easy one first. What caused your death?" Corpse: "I was attacked by the Peraclypse... gutted... bleeding." * Olivia ahs slowly, then nods. "Yeah, we met him. Very unfriendly. So... please tell me where we could find a place other people lived in your time?" Corpse: "In dessert. Twenty miles south by southeast of my home. Underground river." * Olivia nods and says, "Good. Did your people know anything of the creator god?" Corpse: "Creator God... Dead...Follow One Card...Red Bird..." * Olivia smiles a touch, then, "At least that's of worth." She pulls out a tablet, looks at it a moment, then gestures at a portion of it as she says, "Translate this for me?" [The corpse rattles off a short section of the text and repeats it twice and is then silent.] [The remaining questions are repeats of the last applied to different sections of the tablet. Once the spell's power is expended, the corpse slumps and is still.] * Olivia nods and smiles to herself, murmuring, "Rest up." She carefully takes the bones and puts them back into storage for later possible usage. * Adam is already unconscious. z.z * Olivia heads towards Nyyx once she's cleaned things up. Nyyx needs to know what just happened, after all! * Charlotte rests as necessary. BUt she stays alert when she has to. [End of Session!] Session Close: Sat Jul 18 23:50:34 2009