Crimson Flag Comic Forums
Other Realms => Role Play Theater => Topic started by: Shifting Sands on May 03, 2015, 05:23:07 PM
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Holy crap, no post on here for months, huh? Disturbing.
BOY, DON'T YOU JUST WISH THERE WAS SOME ROLE PLAY THING TO DO ON CRIMSON FLAG? (probably not)
WELL I'VE GOT THE SOLUTION!
There was a browser game that I played a while back that consisted of DnD-style stat rolling gameplay and written TFs based on your choices and your rolls. In more concrete terms, roll d20s and see what comes of it. The goal can be victory, failing and getting to be a horrifying chimera, becoming a very specific organism and staying as that, or whatever else you can imagine.
So... I intend to bring that here! I'm a budding writer (this is where people should vouch for me, cough cough, please) and I want to keep up my practicing. I need things to write, and this is something that keeps my brain running and rolling, making up all these actions, scenarios, and descriptions. It also helps if I want to run DnD things.
(Speaking of, if I like the impression you give here, I might try and pull you into some campaign that still needs one more person)
In essence, I'm looking for people to say who/what they are if they are roped into a sort of "transformation theater," as I put it in the title, and I need justification/reasons/whatever for why I should include you. SELL YOURSELF! This is an application, and I reserve the right to turn away or accept anyone I choose. If you want to include an example of writing, do that. If you think I like you and will bring you in because of that, go ahead. The "application" is WHATEVER YOU WANT! But the more your "application" appeals to me, the more likely I am to pick you out of the chaff.
Sorry for calling you chaff.
So if you're interested, post up! The specifics of the scenario, stats, and all that will be discussed after I've got genuinely interested and intelligent people. I need those first!
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Hello! I would like to apply for this fun! Because I have always had fun with transformations, and when needed, writing them!
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*He wakes with a start, the teen jolting upright with a gasp. The dream he had woken from was bizarre, something about an adventure about to begin... but where? The memory was already fading. Once his senses began to return to him, he got to notice his surroundings. He was in some kind of dense forest, lying on a thick carpet of grass, surrounded by the chirps and calls of various wildlife. The air wall dry, and mildly warm, the perfect weather to be outside... though maybe not for sleeping in the woods with nothing but the clothes on your back. On that subject, the teen thought, what the heck was he wearing? It felt strange, flowing down him like some kind of dress. Looking down, he saw it WAS a dress, of segmented white parts. Underneath, he was surprised to see slender, snow-white legs, completely unlike the mild tan he normally had. In fact, he realized with a shock, that the entire HE part of his anatomy had vanished! Leaping to his- her, feet, the teen saw her body had become lean and femine, and ghostly white, the odd segmented dress seemingly atrached to her! A red horn protruded from her chest, and she had green, helmet-like hair. Seeing a small pool nearby, she darted to it, staring into the reflective surface. The face that stared back was not her own, but it wasn't unfamiliar either. The teen kneeled there, frozen, before taking in the realization.
"I'm a... Gardevoir?"
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*Bows with a flourish* Thank you~
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Dear Sir or Madam,
I should be a part of this because I am more important than everyone else. My noble upbringing has refined my senses and iron wit into sharp blades of irrefutable knowledge and skill. My experience in transformation magics is entirely self-taught, leading to hands-on personal discoveries from perspectives untouched by lesser forms of learning. Also, I can shoot fire out of my hands.
Fondly awaiting your favorable response,
His Majesty Fuhrer-President Lord Virmir
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Dear sir I wish to protest the previous application as it impuges greatly upon my own reputation. My importance is miles, light years beyond the importance of any others. Why just last week I accidentally nuked a small country in Asia that no one has heard of and now no one ever will. My incidents of folly blanket whole planetscapes with chaotic levels of radiation that lead to the most entertaining tailsplosions. I come well versed in the skills of being the consummate clueless victim as well as the bringer of physics-breaking anarchy. Also I'm a prettier girl than our esteemed Fluff Lord.
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RADIATION IS LAME AND YOU HAVE NO STYLE
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I don't need radiation to wield chainsaws. I'm sure I can work on my styling if I can practice on some bone sculpting =D
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Hmmm, I think I'd be willing to give this a go, certainly. Transformational stuffs tend to be pretty cool. I hereby apply, be it for chittering chitin or clanking metal, shining scales or fluffy fur.
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Hey there, it's certainly been a while! I don't stop by CF all that often these days because there isn't enough RP stuff to keep me interested, but I do have my spies and this sounds right up my alley ^.^
As this is a theatre (the classier way to say it of course), consider this as an audition. I'm versed in story writing (see Metamor Keep: A Cursed Kit), as well as RP in various forms including freeform, classic DnD, whitewolf, and more. As a TF fan, I'm familiar with a wide breadth of devices ranging from straight up magic spells to cursed items and even costume/makeup. I often look at multiple angles and can be quite devious. On a completely unrelated note *cough*, my friend baked a bunch of chocolate chip cookies so I brought them along and figured I'd... share them with the competition. They're in the breakroom if anyone is interested. >.>
Back to the selling point though, I always keep my commitments when I make them and give projects like this my full attention. I'll make sure to let you know if I can or can't make a day well in advance. I realize you don't know me as well as you do many of the other applicants, but I figure everything is also worth a shot. So keep me in mind if you mysteriously have trouble finding the other applicants when you've made your pick! And also try not to step on any of the kittens. Not that I have any idea where those came from...
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So after careful deliberation and a much unexpected interest in the whole thing, I've picked out the participants. I expected, like, a couple maybe, but with some more I'm thinking about expanding the event into more of a whole campaign-type thing rather than just the one-on-one browser game that it originated from. That's purely because I don't think I can run four different browser games at once. Let me know what you four think.
Those four happen to be
1. Virmir (you get top of the list so squelch your ego)
2. Toast (I guess this makes up for the five thousand TFs you've given me?)
3. Stormkit (never even talked to you when you actually hung around the chat years ago so here's the opportunity I guess)
4. Draykin (I don't have anything funny to say)
Assuming you're all still interested, even if you all have to come together and become a singular party (don't worry, I won't just cast party-wide effects), then we'll line out the rules a bit. The stats will boil down to these:
STRength - how hard you hit physically
AGIlity - how easily you can dodge or take physical attacks
MAGic - how hard you hit magically
RESistance - your resistance of those magic attacks
CHArisma - the ability to sweet-talk or wile your way out of danger
INTelligence - general smarts and how you'll fight against silver tongues
Some of those stat thingies should seem pretty familiar if you looked at Vir's art, so you have a general idea of how transformations can affect your stats. Becoming an ogre, for example, would give you massive strength, resistance, and agility, whereas your magic, charisma, and intelligence would suffer.
That's the idea of the game, after all - you want transformations, not only because they're fun, but because you'll be able to change up your stats, and you'll want to aim to make them improve over time, if only in a couple of categories. Becoming a party makes this idea more interesting - you can have the typical roleplay setup with a charismatic leader, a brute, a damage sponge, and a wizard... OR you can all hit things really hard with tiny tiny brains. It's your choice!
All of the stats will be used in combat. All of them will be used out of combat, too, so there will be some scenery chewing as well as brawling. I don't want one side to become favored over the other - any approach you take should have its usefulness apparent in a roleplay sense as well as in a fighting sense.
Assuming you're all still hooked, I need to know a general layout of the character you bring to the table. I don't care if it's "you" or some OC or whatever, I just need to know the gut feelings you get as to how their stats would be lined up. I'll do the actual number crunching (unless you really insist on assigning points or something, but don't). It'll also be the form that's built off of, so if you start as a tiny Jimminy Cricket or something, you probably won't become much bigger without a significant alteration!
If there are any questions, now's the time to ask them!
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Virmir--cartoon gray fox fire mage
Equipment:
Giant cartoon hammer--perfect for smashing
Stylish cape--useful for stashing items and also looking stylish
General attributes:
Strength--not very strong! Hammer may help, though.
Agility--somewhat lithe, being a fox, but rather frail
Magic--an expert on blowing things up!
Resistance--not an expert, but knowledgeable enough to deflect some spells (except of course ICE IS BAD)
Charisma--probably pretty charismatic. Good at yelling
Intelligence--entirely full of himself, which automatically makes him pretty smart
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Before I get too far ahead of myself I should really make note of the nuances of "combat" specifically that drove my test subject insane in the prototype of the game.
Most things will be rolled in terms of a d20. If you aren't a nerd, get your certificate in order.
"Crits," or natural 20s on your rolls, will usually do double damage or have some additional effect. You're free to give your input on a crit if you think it should do something in particular. (Out of combat stuff obviously won't do the double damage)
I should mention that crits by the enemy will lead to an immediate change as well as more damage! Need more ways to change, after all, even if you play perfectly.
In terms of health, most things will rely on the rule of Nintendo-Three. You know, where things take three hits to kill. Except you take three hits. To kill.
You won't really die, though. In the event of being "killed" you're going to just be defeated and knocked down for a bit. You won't be kicked out for the entire gig - however, your form will be DRASTICALLY altered. It takes a lot of quantum chaos (or some other excuse) to keep you alive rather than dying and falling into the aether!
I don't know if there's more to add to this. Maybe the test subject can tell me if I missed something that irked him.
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Stormkit said that setting would play an influential part on his character design, so I figure that would be a good thing to set up first. So we'll run that bit first.
I have some ideas set up, so I'll just list them real quick:
1. Underwater fantasy. Like Atlantis, but edgy... sort of. It's an idea I've been trying to execute in a sort of DnD campaign for months but it's been hell to get running. This could finally be my chance for it. I've got plenty of ideas set up for it, so this is probably the most fleshed out idea I have. Races and monsters of my own design, conflict that I've got planned in advance... it's my "best" idea.
In terms of how people come together, all surface races in this setting (except for dwarves and oreads or earthy things) are driven to the water by massive overpopulation of monsters, mainly wyverns and dragons. Farms and villages and castles and countries are roasted to ash, and the ruined land won't support anything for a while. The water is the biggest and "most obvious" choice for crazy magicians and scientists.
2. Egyptian-themed fantasy. I'm a total nerd for Egyptian history and mythology and have some events in my mind in case some sort of story or gig like this were to occur. I like to think I'm pretty smart about it, but I'm not a genius or anthropologist or anything, and I haven't even seen Stargate. Some of this will be concrete, and some will be ramshackle, as-I-go. Sort of a look into how I bridge my ideas together, if you want to see it.
Characters here will come together by method of divine intervention because some deities need a hand in their problems and need mortal lives for possible sacrifice. Just think general fantasy characters with more of an African or Asian flair.
3. I don't know! If you've got an idea, pose it to me! If you all like it, I'll work with it! This might take more time, but it could be an awesome idea that becomes some novel I write in the far future.
This was sort of what I did with Vir. I ran a "labyrinth" that was full of encounters and monsters and it was fairly linear. I made things up on the fly. It wasn't the most constructed stuff, but I think I had enough of a coherent idea to pull it through! Of course, it was with one person, so keep that in mind.
I guess I should give a small, out-of-context example real quick too!
"More laughter comes from the aboleth, who begins to let the proboscis back out again. It climbs down from the height it was at, moving in, but has to put up a spout of shadowy, oily water to blot out your fireball.
ARC 1d20+10 = 26
Its magic is powerful enough to keep the fire off of it, setting the spout of water alight and providing an excellent backdrop as it pounces on you with its proboscis, hooking it straight to your head. It doesn't drain, but instead pumps, like the stinger from behind, numbing your mind further.
CHA 1d20+5 = 18 "
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I like the Atlantis setup but don't yet have an inspiration for it yet. I'm thinking perhaps though a literal animal as in four footed and not that intelligent. No magic talent, but great strength and/or agility. Which kind though is as yet undecided.
The egyptian setup seems like a good place to try using a djinn though. Spirit of air and fire that is good at magic, but not so strong. Probably decent agility though subpar magic resistance as creatures of magic are more easily affected by magic! Charisma and intelligence are likely average.
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If this is a matter of a vote, I vote for the Atlantis one
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I say go for your underwater setting, as I think it's pretty cool and deserves to be finally used.
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You can never go wrong with Atlantis. I will probably mess up your attempts at edginess, though, he he he.
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Since it seems pretty clear that the underwater setting is winning out, that's the one that we'll go with. I'll just briefly mention the special race that I've made for it, in case it draws one of you in.
The vorzh are a race of humanoids that were likely the ancestors of the modern merfolk before they came closer to the surface of the oceans. They are tribal, shamanistic, and crave fights and blood for the spirits and elements that they worship. Their appearance is based off of a variety of animals that we know of around the abyssal layer in the oceans. You could theoretically justify any species that's known, but the ones that tend to make the most sense as anthropomorphic being are sharks, eels, angler fish, and vampire squid (which is definitely the hardest to apply, but a friend of mine planted the idea in my head and I've got a good image of them now).
I already kinda expounded on what the aquatic setting is, but I'll give it another once over. The surface has been scorched and ruined by loads of different monsters, and those that couldn't take shelter in massive tunnel systems that belonged to Earthern ancestors (dwarves, some elementals, so on) had to find another refuge. The ocean was the only other place, because the sky belonged to the wyverns and dragons that were responsible for the destruction in the first place. Magic and technology had to be used in varying amounts to bring as many surface dwellers down as possible. Surface dwellers had to make a large effort to adapt and create just the smallest of underwater villages, looking more like ruins than actual constructions. The vorzh and merfolk already present under the water were more than willing to divy up some space for the new races, and even helped them get their feet on the ground, so to speak. There's a lot of ocean out there, after all. Having more indebted peoples can help out massively in the future.
I don't think there's much to say beyond that for the whole setting, but if there are any more questions, I'll certainly do my best with them. I'll wait until everyone has their character started until I assign stats and all that.
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So, are there like bubble cities and stuff, or do we all need diving gear?
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Originally summoned into the body of an otter in an underwater lair, Mikskandialthasnkchtl was bound to serve as a servant and magical focus to the magician who lived there. Eventually however, the magician died of 'mysterious circumstances' and this binding released Mikskan-etc to return to the plane from which it was from. However this left behind the otter it had been summoned into which was now forever alterred by its stint as a host. 'Mike' the otter now has a greater self awareness than he used to, though is not really all that intelligent on a whole. Being an otter, he isn't terribly strong, but he *is* agile, especially in the water. In fact one of the side effects of his being a host is that he can now breathe water as effectively as air. If he could talk he'd be able to talk underwater too. Not being able to talk of course makes his only method of charisma being otterly adorable, which he is. Magic wise, he is unpredictable. He has strong defense against certain kinds of magic (usually assault types) but being an ex channel, is actually more vulnerable to others (like ones that use him as a focus). Talent wise he is similar, being occasionally able to create magical effects or to interact with spells, but that is unpredictable.
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"Bubbles" or diving gear things that make you breathe underwater will be provided, unless you can already breathe underwater! And yes, the character is fine, Kit. I'll wait until everyone has their characters up before assigning the stats.
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PEOPLE POST CHARACTERS SO THIS CAN START
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Deprived of home, familiar surroundings, and beef, Yilin the enchanter is a foul tempered little man who more than anything thinks that everything that goes wrong is somebody else's fault. Usually the fault of someone within easy shouting distance. Dark haired and gray eyed, the human possesses many, many insecurities about himself, especially his short height which is just over 5 ft. Prone to insulting those around him at a moment's notice, he used to incur the wrath of those larger and more physically fit than him in one-sided curbstomps. Now though, with age and experience he usually attempts to compensate with his nearly twenty years of training in magical enchantments. His favorite ones tend to be ice related, making him one of the few ice magic wielders around who is incredibly impatient and hot tempered. He does not form friendships easily, if at all, usually viewing those around him as incompetent gibbering morons who will screw things up more than they already are if left to their own devices.
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Silent are the predators that stalk the depths, striking suddenly from above or below. From the skies, the flying terror beasts will scoop up their prey from the waters, while below, unknown horrors lurk, who extend their reach when they feel the urge to feed. That is the believe of the Krait Vorzh, that the world is ruled by predation. Too swim too high is surely death, and to swim too low might be worse. Attor is no different from his kind. The young Vorzh is of average size, which is to say his serpentine tail is nearly 4/5 of his total body length. Sea Krait Vorzh greatly resemble the merfolk, keeping true to their aquatic brethren in lacking legs and having that lone fin at the end of their tail. Long and agile, the Sea Krait Vorzh cannot hunt as other Vorzh do. They rely on ambush and hunting packs to sustain themselves, and in most cases if avoided can simply be outrun. However, ambush works well when one venomous bite is enough to cease all attempts of escape. Sea Krait Vorzh also tend to be more ready to seek out aid from other races, as sometimes even their own numbers are not enough to keep them alive.
Attor is a young, male Sea Krait Vorzh. He sports a blue-and-black ringed coloration, with a pale underbelly. He is small in stature, being only some ten feet in length, and is more likely to try to avoid a fight unless absolutely necessary. There's nothing really too particular that sets him aside from other Vorzh of his kind, save for that his left fang is oddly like a precision needle compared to the other. Attor seeks companions so that he may survive, his last hunting party having been killed by aggressive Vorzh of larger species, and surely, alone, he will die.
Strength: A bit below average. Krait Vorzh do not rely on brute strength to overwhelm their prey, and this is very much reflected in their physiology.
Agility: Surprisingly, being able to twist and contort your body in a variety of ways tends to make you a tad difficult to hit. Scales also help to soften the blow when you are.
Magic: While magic is a part of Sea Krait Vorzh culture, mostly only those of the shaman-istic variety tend to practice enough to be any good at it.
Resistance: Living without magic as a part of your everyday life, it's understandable that you have very little resistance to the arcane.
Charisma: Being of the more sociable Vorzh means that you're better at talking to others than your average Vorzh! Unfortunately, that's compared to the average Vorzh.
Intelligence: It takes some brain to set an ambush. Some. Being part reptile, plus Vorzh, means that although you may be smart for a Vorzh.... Which means you're of average intelligence.
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So I won't spend tons of time to explain and justify all the stats that I pick out here. If you guys want to argue them, you're free to do so, but these are how they stand right now!
Virmir
STR -2
AGI -2
MAG +3
RES +1
CHA 0
INT +1
Mike (yeah no I ain't spelling that whole name)
STR -3
AGI +2
MAG 0
RES +4 (AoE), -4 (Targeted)
CHA +1
INT -1
Yilin
STR -2
AGI -2
MAG +3
RES +2
CHA -2
INT +2
Attor
STR -1
AGI +3
MAG -2
RES -1
CHA +1
INT +1
I'd like some confirmation on everybody's part before I go ahead, but by the weekend I'll probably be starting this up in earnest. To begin with, I'll set up the beginning scene, and then everyone will have a chance to chip in with something so I know everyone's all ready and participating. From there, things will probably proceed in a manner where I give input and then you all give yours. Might vary at some other points, but we'll see what you all think.
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I should probably be better than some crummy ice mage, but apart from that, seems reasonable!
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Don't worry. *I* don't even bother spelling that whole name out more than the once either. Demon names are supposed to be impossible to pronounce after all!
Not that it matters though because Mike the otter is separate from Miksastuff the demon. This includes having a different name as a result. Incidentally, I think his intelligence should probably be at -2 and if you're worried about keeping an overall score balance you can pop the targeted resistance up to -3 or something. Those stats are all something that's going to change soon enough anyway.
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Wow we are all physically pathetic weaklings XD
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I expected to be the worst stat-wise. I was so wrong.
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My character was literally an otter. You thought you could beat that? ;p
In any case, Medik deliberately made us all add up to +1. You just can't tell because Mike apparently has an invisible +2 thing going on.
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Okay, finally setting things into motion here. Hoping you'll all respond by the day's end, but I might not be able to keep pushing this along for the moment because I need to take care of a networking class.
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You find yourselves coming to after assorted fights and brawls, awakening in cells that are just spaced enough with stone that you can't reach out to one another. You can definitely, however, speak across the hall to each other. The two of you who need appropriate air to breathe have not been deprived of your bubbly helmets, thankfully. Apart from those intact items, all of you are visibly roughed up and left without many of your items.
Some sort of guard comes swimming past, and you remember as they appear to be the same as what first attacked you - skum. Various humanoid creatures, pulled together under a single force by the corrupt aboleth through the use of some creepy gunk. It's pretty easy to tell if they've been affected, considering their body gives off an oily substance and their eyes have turned red. Still, underneath all of those changes, their bodies are still largely the same.
Four guards come to each of your cells and they silently open the steely, enchanted doors that hold you separate. They immediately bind your hands with brine-hemp, the black, seaweed replacement for rope and twine. Still without a word they begin to move you along dark, crowded halls.
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Ugh. Hate it when this happens.
"Hey, you! Oily swimming guard! This isn't the lost city of Atlantis, is it? Oww!! Watch it with that trident! Look, I'm sorry I accidentally discovered your underwater xenophobic civilization while deep sea diving for public domain treasure. These sorts of things just happen!"
I could probably cook this guy by boiling the water around him. There seems to be a lot of other swimming creatures in these halls though, not including the other prisoners, so this probably wouldn't be the best place to make my escape. Ugh! I hate water! This is the last time I'm ever getting wet again!
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Mike's memories were hazy. This is not unusual of course, the otter had long been a creature of the 'now'. Once there was a time where this was different, where he could remember making the speech sounds and being clever, but also cruel and full of malice. Mike didn't really like those times much, and so he rarely dwelled on those memories, as distant and fuzzy as they were. Instead he spent his time seeking out interesting things and eating them. Sometimes this turned out to be a bad idea and hurt his teeth or made him feel unwell so he didn't eat those things in the future if he remembered. He did other things too of course, eating only passes the time so much. He would play with things, explore places, and tease people.
That's what he had been doing last he could recall. He had seen a rather stiff looking person and decided they needed some more fun. So something of theirs and held it just out of reach, darting in and under their attempts to take it back. The game had ended suddenly when something hit him from behind and after that he didn't really remember anything at all until the cell. The cell was interesting at first, but got boring very quickly. The place was simple, there was nothing to interact with, and no small things to eat. The people nearby were more interesting but Mike couldn't really get to them and mostly didn't understand their words. He has since been bagged and dragged out in the hall with those others and is currently listening to the fox bluster. He seems to be talking to a guard but the words he says are ones Mike isn't familiar with mostly. He perks his ears up at 'Atlantis' though. Atlantis? They are in Atlantis? Mike has been there before (he thinks) and remembers it being much fun! Why if he can get out of this bag there is probably all sorts of things to do here!
**Mike starts wiggling around trying to escape his bonds.**
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The first thing that struck Yilin was how much he wanted to club that bartender's skull.
Or was it the other client? Or maybe, no, hadn't he last been in his (temporary, inadequate, utterly unsanitary) apartment the last he remembered?
And come to think of it, no, it wasn't his desire to crack open's someone's head. It was how much his OWN hurt at the moment. Like someone had driven spikes into it.
Utterly intolerable. Someone was going to have their eyelids frozen shut with nitrogenizing spells by the time this was over. Indeed, someone would pay, someone would pay dearly. Now if Yilin could just figure out who that was supposed to be...
He moved to rub his head, body still feeling tight. Blast it, he HATED being underwater all the time. He much preferred the full body bubbles; feeling all that water squeeze him from all sides was never something he had gotten used to. Blasted water, blasted dragons and beasts who had destroyed the surface, blasted fish people for being so slimy and irritating, blasted FOOD that consisted half the time of nothing more than slime...
Grumbling loudly, he follows the other creatures as they are led forward along with him. Slowly he begins to grumble louder. "Who's bright idea was it to throw us down here anyway? I didn't even do anything? Why am I stuck with these dregs? Do you know who I am??" he said louder, trying to sound intimidating to the guards-even if they were possessed or whatever, he was just pissed off enough not to care.
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These others are strange, Attor thought. Strange in so many ways. They do not look alike, but they speak the same. Except for that other wiggly one, the quiet one. Like a normal animal, it seems. Not the other two, though. Smart. Do not appear strong. What makes them special? Attor is not strong either, but he does not need to be. One good strike is all it ever takes. Except for when that strike fails and gets your hunt-pack killed. He remembers for a moment.
Attor is sad.
But then he thinks of other thoughts. He remembers being made alone, but does not remember how he came here. Was it to escape? Flee a failed hunt? Was that it? Was he brought here by these.... guards? No, guards guard things. That is what he had learned in various talks with the non-krait. Guards like the sentries that stalk the corals, yes, yes. But these guards... They no stalk corals. Yes, they keep them there. Like hunters and prey. But how to escape? To return to other krait-kin? Bite might allow him to escape... But it would be hard with the restraints. He also doesn't know where he is, and would likely get lost easily. Escape, no good now. Survive, yes. Bigger bodies may be of use. Yes, yes. The krait flicks his tongue out at the air-breathers. That is why they have the bubbles. They must be of the breathers of air, not water.
Attor thrashes his tail around some, but mostly just to move. He is not sure he has ever heard of Atlantis before. A name is good to know, though.
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(It's not ACTUALLY LITERALLY Atlantis, dammit! I'm just trying to relate it to your feeble foxy mind, and then you go and spread that to these other innocents!)
Mike's attempt at escaping his bonds proves to be pretty much worthless - despite being a smaller animal, the skum don't seem to have any issues tightening the brine-hemp to the tiny wrists of the otter. Likewise, Yilin's yelling (did you name him like that on purpose) does absolutely nothing to convince the humanoids to let him go. They don't respond in the slightest, not even bothering to silence the squat mage. Maybe it's because they fear harming those bubbles and suffocating the human through that - or maybe they've completely lost the capability to care about speech that comes from sources that aren't deemed "important" to them by aboleth leaders.
Despite the halls NOT BELONGING TO ATLANTIS, you find yourselves being pulled out to an area that is just a bit brighter than the confined corridors that you were contained in before. You pass under an arch and a gate that drops from it, and the space suddenly becomes much more open. The area is... circular, it seems. It's domed off, too, with a series of blades and sharp instruments from the battlements of stone that rest atop the walls of the circle. There's no way you could escape through that way, barring you all lost ninety percent of your body mass or you became water itself. You'd be hacked to pieces by your own stupidity first.
Above those blades and in the battlements of the spot are numerous undersea races, including some more skum. However, rather than looking super-dull and indoctrinated, these people are alight with excitement and... something else. They almost appear ravenous. They begin to swim around the top of the dome, agitated, and yell down through the blades. What kind of a place is this? Some sort of trial? A stoning held underwater?
It's not long until a gate that is directly across from the one you entered from opens, and out from it comes a group of chained vorzh, though these are not similar to Attor in form. These have long, spindly legs that reach up to the sternum of a normal human, and they lack a real neck. Their heads are swollen and bulging with fins on the top, their eyes glassy. A sort of webbing ties all their legs together like a dress. It's graceful and beautiful, in an underwater creature sort of way. Their genders are almost impossible to determine. These must be related to squid, somehow.
(I'll say now that you're free to roll INT to see if you can discern more about any sort of creature or spot if you're curious. I'll add in bonuses or information if you succeed on these rolls, but I'll only allow ONE from the whole party. Choose your lucky character or your smartest.)
More yelling comes from the creatures above you, and the gates behind your two groups slam shut into stone. An odd, echoing voice from above begins to enter your mind without ever gracing your ears. "Gladiatorial sanctum," it communicates. "One group standing." Far, far above the ravenous crowd, you can see the outline of something big. VERY big, with chitin and tentacles and all number of things scary.
There are four squid-vorzh to match the four of you, it seems. And according to the voice, "Victors survive. Advance."
You don't seem to have much of a choice, and the fewer enemies you have, the better. Best that you stick with your group and fight together.
(So now combat will happen, unless you can somehow all roll miracle rolls in a series of events and weasel your ways out of it. ((Which is rare)) In this case, everyone just rolls a d20, no modifier, to determine when your action takes place. The higher the number, the sooner in the turns you will act. This doesn't mean you have to wait until everyone takes their turn to post! You can, and that would be nice for chronological order and the purpose of determining what action to take, but I understand that people might have things come up or whatever. I'm just going to roll the order of these vorzh because I've got an essay to finish before the day is done and this is already quite a bit for me.)
-
"They always do this in Atlantis," I say conversationally, leaning over towards one of my fellow prisoners, "It's basically their welcoming committee. You've got to fight to the death first, and then the mermaids will come out and serve us seafood salad and stuff. It's just the Atlantisonian thing to do."
Right, so I got some sort of a fish man, some tail-less creature vaguely resembling a hairless monkey (presumably something lower down on the evolution chain) and a... random otter on my side? TREES. I am never swimming again.
On the flip side, I can probably take all four of these squid things myself--
-
Mike is excited, things are happening! There are loud noises and other people are excited and there is suddenly more room to swim in! However this is slightly complicated by the seaweed still binding Mike. He is not so fond of this and since wiggling didn't work earlier, he will now try biting through it even though it really tastes pretty bad. He decides that he will probably not eat this.
-
Attor had never heard of this Atlantis place, but the grey air-breather must know something. Either that or he is stupid and doesn't have any clue where he is.
Attor notes the rival Vorzh, not kraits. No. Bad Vorzh. Mean Vorzh. Want to kill, yes. Fight? Fight, yes. Hunt-pack, yes!
"Attor is to have hunt-pack again! Attor not alone!"
The little krait-man wriggled with glee at not being alone to die in this world. However, dying is still a possibility. Therefore, escaping these bonds might be a very wise idea. He squirms and tries to free himself.
-
The first vorzh to move seems especially quick to move, easily breaking free of its bonds and striking at the closest and most talkative of the four, figuring him to be the leader. In a few subtle movements, the squid-vorzh has strode across the terrain to strike at Virmir and try and choke him out with its tentacles.
The second is not too much slower than the first, and spends his time freeing the last of the vorzh - this one seems to be particularly lethargic and stuck under its chains.
The third rests behind the first, moving its tentacles about in a casting sort of way without ever removing its chains. Whatever sort of magic these vorzh can manage would probably be devastating and visceral - you might be able to guess at more if you knew of them better.
The last is still stuck in its chains, working with the second to remove its bindings. They can't yet fight, it seems, but it might not be too long.
(Man, you guys are shmucks. I never said you had to break free of your bonds, yet you guys all wanted to. I'm totally going to cheat up the game and be as unfair and mean as possible. Have fun fighting the forces of evil being manned by a devil of a person)
-
(Wait, they want us to fight while tied up or something? Is bond breaking a separate rollable action? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!)
Gah! Hey! Aren't they going to untie us, or anything? Seeing a mass of tentacles flying my way, I attempt to squirm out of the way!
-
(Double posting so that I can see the result of my dodge attempt before attacking.)
GRRRK!! Eyes bulging, and squished by the tentacles, I attempt to heat up the water around me to a boil to cook this creepy squid guy!
-
(Well hey I never did anything about undoing bonds so I shouldn't be penalized for the others' stupidity!)
Yilin squints, before rolling his eyes. A gladitorial arena? Really?
REALLY?
Sighing in disgust, Yilin completely ignores the vorzh attacking the loud mouthed gray fox creature, and instead stares at the two vorzh in the back, with the one trying to untie the other. Uttering curses and intoning the magical words he attempts to hard freeze the water surrounding them
-
(Toast you should be penalized for not posting at all! D: )
Now free of his bindings, (whether that took an action or not), Mike is now free to wander around. Though of course this all seems very dangerous and he doesn't really want to get involved. He will swim upwards to the dome to inspect the 'ceiling' for a bit. Not exactly helpful, but then he's not properly invested in this thing yet anyway.
-
(I'm in the middle of Finals Week!)
-
Attor quickly reassesses the situation. No, he's probably going to die, even with this new hunt-pack. Especially the small one. Wait, which small one? The grey one or the other one? He doesn't even know anymore. Well, he might as well go out fighting.
Attor rushes at the still-bound and casting squid vorzh, hoping to be able to get in a good bite.
-
/me POKES MEDIK FOR UPDATES!!!!!
-
(I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS! You are all able to take your own turns too!)
Mike is able to cut free of his bonds without much trouble at all, though it DOES taste awful. Like pitch and seaweed with lots of rotten water... blech. So too is Attor able to wriggle free - being sea-snake-serpent-eel-like helps with escaping from tight bonds.
The first squid-vorzh is easily able to squeeze some of the life out of Virmir, leaving him breathless for a bit of time. The magical attack that it takes in response does... absolutely nothing. It fizzes out in the water pitifully with some tiny firework sparks.
The already delayed vorzh in the back is freed of his chains by its counterpart, but it does suffer some nearly freezing water. Once it's free of its bonds, it raises up some tentacles in a criss-cross manner, like a shield, and tries to keep the area around it from completely solidifying.
Vorzh 4 RES - 1d20+2 = 19 (success)
The preparing vorzh doesn't seem to accomplish much of anything, failing to properly prepares its spell after its time spent bound. The krait-vorzh that comes charging to bite it snaps it out from its thoughts and suffers due to its absentmindedness... losing its life in one visceral snap of the jaws of Attor.
Shocked by the loss of one of their fellow brethren - or sistren? - the others prepare to fight back in earnest. The first continues to choke out Virmir, while the two in the back send out some odd type of spell, unseen by any of you before. They only spend a couple of seconds preparing before a couple of dart-like objects fly through the water at Mike and Yilin. If they pass through their resistances... the darts will extract quite a bit of blood, like a humongous underwater mosquito.
-
(We took our turns!!! Are we supposed to just keep on rolling without your input? As in control the enemy attacks(which we coincidentally know nothing about!)?)
GRRK! My eyes bulge further as I am squeezed! I've got to try and wiggle out of here!
-
(
Also, are enemy defenses hidden? Edit: Never mind--I rolled a 1, that's why, ha ha)
GRRRRK!! Utterly crushed and feeling like I can only take one more hit before I am dead (assuming the three hit rule applies here), I concentrate a heat spell directly into the tentacles themselves, trying to cook them from the inside!
-
Swearing loudly in 3 languages in the same sentense, Yilin braces himself and curls tight to brace himself for the bizarre "darts."
-
At that particular moment, when concentration was most vital and essential, suddenly Yilin's body decided it would be the height of hilarious to chose that moment to sneeze. The human's body seized up and convulsed as the darts SLAMMED into him, flooding the water behind him with an expanding swirling red mist.
Taking that particular moment to facepalm, Yilin screamed and insulted the dart throwing Vorzh's mother, all her ancestors, all their family lineage, and their goldfish. And then right in the middle of his tirade he slams a crushing wall of ice upon the 2nd one.
-
Poor Mike isn't even paying attention to what's being thrown at him and gets caught flat footed (flat ruddered? I mean that's really more a beaver thing than an otter but it... you know what? Nevermind. Point is he gets no bonus and just rolls passively for how unlucky he was to get hit by that wild shot.)
Pt II:
Alas, one of the darts does hit Mike, and whether or not it does damage, it spins him right round, completely disorienting him. Reacting blindly, Mike darts forward in whatever his new 'forward' is. 1 is directly down, 2-5 are the four directions NESW around the arena... but 6 is directly into the bladed ceiling! D:
Results:
Mike got thwacked fairly hard by a dart and you know what? Those things really hurt. Right now he's staggered, turned around and swimming in the direction of the vorz (though above them) albeit in a manner not unlike a drunk butterfly in terms of how straight he's swimming. He knows he should be trying to fight back but he's not quite able to think just /how/ right this moment what with how the world is still spinning and he's so lightheaded so he just starts magically trailing bubbles. Where there's enough of them it should provide cover and obscure sight at least....
-
Attor savors the taste of squid. Never had squid before, he hasn't, nope. Is tasty, squid. Wait, still a fight. Yes. Shame. Would make good meal. The grey one, he is dying? Well, Attor is not sure if he likes the small furry thing, but he supposes he should help his hunt-pack... Well, he's probably a dead vorzh anyways, right?
Attor hisses and rushes at the strangling squid-vorzh in an attempt to bite, wrestle, and otherwise try to pry it off of the grey fox that probably can't do that much anyways.
-
Considering the relative ease it's had so far with choking out an enemy, the first squid-vorzh of the group continues to cling to the suffocating fox and tries to knock him unconscious first. It has to resist the incoming attacks, too, but it does manage another squeeze before suffering damage from anything else.
The second one, a little more distinguishable now by the resisted rimefrost on its slippery skin, looks to be very pleased about the blood flowing in the water. It's hard to tell, but it seems to be... smiling, curving in a weird way. The blood flows over to it and its allies, and they look invigorated by it all. It prepares some sort of enchantment with it, too, taking up its time for attacking, but still being quite able to push back against the ice wall.
The "fourth" and final vorzh seems to be the most upset of them all, still incredibly angered about the death of the other. It writhes about in the water and darts at Attor, being empowered by the blood of the otter and human, but being somewhat blocked off by the odd bubbles said otter had created before. (They cancel out)
-
Wincing in agonizing pain, Yilin decides that the blood loss he is experiencing is extreme; too extreme to ignore. There's also the fact that the vorzh seemed to be alarmingly excited by the red mist swirling everywhere. Ignoring the fight for the moment, he takes a moment to concentrate and try to freeze his own wound up, freezing the area of his wound
-
Dimly noticing that something else is attacking the squid thing strangling me, I use this opportunity to attempt one last desperate squirm free!
-
Finally wiggling loose, I use the moment's distraction to recuperate in a daze. That blasted squid thing almost killed me! Totally irate, I attempt to swim up and over his head, then press my hand onto his skull to summon a fireball directly inside his head and blow the blasted thing clean off!!!
-
Mike gets his bearings now and tries to figure out which squid thing just shot him. Sniffing out the arcane traces, he's able to figure out the one that shot him was.... the one with frost covering him! He'll swim down and try to zoom around the thing, swarming it with all those bubbles he summoned! That will hopefully impede any casting by mixing the area with other magic, possibly slow down movements, and/or just block the squid thing's vision.
Results:
Alas this area is already suffused in magic and the bubbles completely fizzle out! Mike is a graceful swimmer and able to dart in, out, and under this thing avoiding all tentacles that may attempt to grab, thwack, or otherwise stop him. If the Vorzh is particularly clumsy it may even tie itself in knots! Not that this matters though because while focusing on being the best swimmer ever, Mike completely fails his magic efforts so badly that me might start passively absorbing the energy through his nature as a familiar. Whether this has a direct effect on him or makes him a magic lightning rod or something else entirely is up to debate.
-
Attor barely has the time to notice the incoming squid, and attempts to throw himself out of the way.
-
With a thrash of his tail, Attor deftly separates himself from his primary target. The grey one will have to wait. Or die. Well, dying would be bad, yes, but he has to be the weakest link of Attor's new hunt-pack. Or maybe he'll actually do something. Attor is only giving him a chance to prove himself, is all.
Moving in a swift circle as a part of his dodge, Attor attempts to move behind the failed charger and dives for a blow aimed right at the neck.
-
Though Virmir manages to escape from the clingy tentacles of the first vorzh, it doesn't stop pursuing its target. It does have a pretty rough time ahead of it, considering the fireball that's about to be summoned in its bulbous head. It attempts to quickly shield itself -
Vorzh 1 RES vs. Virmir MAG = 16+2 = 18
Just barely, the squid is able to interrupt the fox's summoning of the fireball with a slap in the face, skewing his concentration and bringing the water to a boil just near them. It wastes no time in reattaching itself around Virmir, aiming to choke him out and finish him with a headbutt.
Yilin is able to freeze up the pouring blood from his wound. He heals up just a bit, allowing another hit or so, and the enhancement that the vorzh had before disperses. ALL of them hiss angrily at being deprived of blood, and it provokes the second to begin its blood channeling anew - but despite its aim at Yilin, the failed and fizzy magic from Mike redirects the attack with even more force.
Attor does manage to dodge the charge from the final vorzh, but his poor attack opens him up to a couple new attacks. More pain incoming for the big fish.
-
Flailing again, I desperately squirm from the much stronger attack this time!
(And I know there is no way I can beat this roll.)
With a GRRRK and a GLUB, my head turns blue--!!!
-
Well it seems Mike has just accidentally taken one for the team. Between his critical failure to do magic, his proneness to magic, and the strength of that spell, Mike basically just got a ton of blood literally sucked out of him. He keeps going for another few seconds on momentum, but falls unconscious due to oxygen deprivation to the brain and starts drifting in his last faced forward direction, prone. Without proper circulation he'll also start growing cold. Could this be the end for our not terribly helpful otter?
-
Becoming thoroughly enraged, Yilin decides there is one appropriate response to these annoying underwater cretins. He promptly attempts to summon a spell to freeze the entire room to freezing or near freezing.
-
Attor, being swarmed as his hunt-pack is halved in size, tries desperately to dodge and duck and dive and dodge. Bad hunt-pack! Well, guess he really didn't have hope in these allies.
-
With as hard as the krait is to hit, Attor also attempts to at least get one attack in, for the sake of not going down easily.
-
Yilin's crazy move to freeze the entire arena succeeds pretty well, but does have its drawbacks as far as attacking EVERYONE is concerned. (Everyone rolls against Yilin's MAG roll. 1's take double damage.)
The vorzh definitely seem excited by the two kills that they've managed so far. Still, they have to finish off their prey before they can truly feast, and they seem to know that. They begin to turn on the remaining party members, with the first moving in on Yilin to choke him out as it did with Virmir... but it's frozen solid midway through its attack and seizes up. The second moves in with the last one to take down Attor. Now it's become a full-on brawl, except for Yilin and his crazy frost magic.
It's a bit hard to move around unconscious bodies underwater, too. They begin to drift up toward the blades, though it's pretty slow...
-
Finally given something of a breather, if completely freezing his ass off, Yilin pauses to examine his foes, noting their underwater form and physiology... he attempts to make mental notes, as he compares to his vast, unsurpassed memory of taxonomic sciences, in an attempt to discover their weak point.
He also blinks... and remembers belatedly that freezing all the water around him also does a number on HIM.
Having temporarily incapacitated his immediate foe, he quickly comes to realize that as much as he would prefer to not have to suffer with the company of others, they are an effective meat shield, and if they all die... he quickly summons more ice to try and strangle the vorzh who are descending on his one remaining conscious companion.
-
Attor is very unhappy about how things have turned out, and as the water cools, he decides that he doesn't like magic almost as much as dying. With two foes bearing down on him, he tries to keep on the defensive, trying to hold out in case the dumb air-breather can do something useful.
-
The sudden drop in temperature does not fair well with Attor, who slows down drastically with it. Barely able to dodge one attack, he's hit with another as the chill sinks deeply into his very core. Attor is very, very unhappy, but even still he refuses to go down without a fight, with tooth and nail and tail.
-
Since at this point Virmir is essentially dead, the freezing spell makes him extra dead, which consists of his eyes turning into Xs and his body being encased inside a solid block of ice.
-
Mike, like Virmir, is similarly essentially out of it. However he has such good magic resistance that it's possible he is not affected by the ice anyway.
-
Yilin's attempt to find the weakpoint in these squid-people does close to nothing... he doesn't discover much of anything that he already knew before. Maybe if he had a sharp point he could cut those arms off? But he doesn't, so that's a little wasted. Their skin looks soft, sure, but he's unable to puncture it. His attacks are equally worthless. The ice doesn't travel far enough across the arena to even come close to the vorzh beating up Attor, and just crushes in on itself a few feet away.
Attor, meanwhile, is able to strike at one of his attackers, but it's not the greatest bunch of swipes. It could still do something, though... and it does, just barely severing some sort of connecting tendon in the humanoid's "neck." It spazzes and throws itself away from the fight, desperately trying to reconnect it, but can't quite manage in the overwhelming cold.
The remaining vorzh continues to try and tear apart Attor. They must really know how to crowd control. Perhaps it just wants fresh supplies of blood before it moves on to the last of their prey.
(Hm, it seems I forgot to roll against one of Dray's attacks earlier. Oops. Lemme check this here...
Well I rolled high enough that it doesn't matter anyway. So no harm done! Mwahaha.
Also, bleh, I can't delete rolls. What's up with that, Vir? GET TO WORK ON THAT!
Anyway, ignore the Vorzh 4 roll for STR. he ded)
-
Attor loses himself in a sudden fit of bloodlust, fight or flight kicking hard into first gear. Dodge. Weave. Duck. Dive. Dodge. Just keep moving, moving, moving!
-
Yilin fumes, why is there nothing sharp and point-... he stops, slowly grins, and starts working his ice magic again, forming a long, sharp ended icicle to impale the remaining vorzh from behind!
-
The bloodlust may have made the little krait go somewhat insane at the moment, and he swings wildly at his one attacker, oblivious to any attempts by the magic-man to try anything.
-
The final enemy seems to finally be experiencing a bit of fear as the human and krait close in on it. It especially doesn't seem to like the looks of the icicle Yilin has, but it finds it difficult to dodge both attacks at once. It's all it can do to try and duck below the swipe and icicle at the same time, and it's possible that a good enough dodge could lead to Yilin stabbing at Attor instead.
(ALSO it helps if you tell me what damn stats you're using in your rolls so I know what I'M supposed to roll you dumb dragon)
-
The vorzh focuses so much on dodging the icicle attack that it can't manage to avoid the claws and teeth of Attor. It ends up being calamari for the krait, and it seems that the squidy vorzh must be quite tasty.
With all the enemies handled in one way or another, that big, tentacley mass from above "speaks" to you in your minds again. "Traitorous party defeat. Trespasser party victory. Trespasser party will be restored."
That last word seems to linger in your heads for a while. Attor and Yilin feel their strength returning, like they had never been involved in a life-or-death situation in the first place. Any wounds or annoyances suffered in the fight completely disappear from their bodies. There aren't any problems for them, it seems.
But Mike and Virmir are not left alone by the great-tentacles-in-the-sky. Their bodies rise up somewhat in the water, shifting around. Mike is brought from a feral state to a more anthro-ish posture, though he remains an otter... for now. Their wounds are healed and their blood is returned to where it should be. They aren't left alone, though - their bodies begin to secrete an oily, black-purple substance, and the X's that Virmir has for eyes turn red, as do Mike's. Their paws gain new webbing, and they gain frilly fins and gills along their bodies.
"Old forms incapable of combat," the big arena spectator "says." "Proven this. Remedied."
It does seem like the bodies are a little more flexible and durable (+1 STR, +1 AGI for Mike and Virmir), given their better accommodation to the water, and the oil has a natural resistance against most every magic (+2 RES). But the odd bodies do seem more tied to... Eldritch forces, like whatever that thing is above. Their magic seems more powerful because of it (+1 MAG) but as they regain consciousness they can feel more odd whispers and callings from deep, dark entities in the oceans. It's hard to think and concentrate while their thoughts are constantly invaded (-1 CHA, -1 INT).
With just a thought from the tentacle-y mass, the weapons and spikes over the arena are pulled away and the skum fly down to pick off the leftovers. "Trespasser party free." Some of the skum bump into your group, but they don't pick any fights with you.
-
(It was magic! When would my character possibly use strength except when I was being deliberately self ironic? =p)
Hearing the pronouncement, Yilin blinks before belatedly pumping his fists into the air. Er, water. "Yeah, come and take us on again, bastards. I'll ice your bladders frozen!" he crows, even as he feels his cuts and bruises swirl away. Breathing deep as he feels a WHOLE lot better with the absence of the large hole in his gut, the human's attention is snatched above.
Viewing the changes that are happening to the fox and the otter, Yilin can't help but grimace and yet feel oddly approving. First thought is that they'll be better at dealing with the water that way. But obviously... being changed against their will in this fashion, and this creepy voice.
"Hey, who are you anyway? What is this? What right do you have to go around changing people's bodies without consent? .... even if that makes them better at living in the water, but still!"
-
GGRK-- Ohhhh, blast it. I hate it when this happens.
"Hey, is that it? Aren't you going to serve us seafood salad now?" I inch away from the skum moving about as they are looking a bit more creepy than I am feeling right now. "You guys aren't going to start singing, are you?"
Grumbling, I kick at an invisible rock I imagine flowing in the currents with my webby foot. Obviously, now I'm going to have to kill the giant tentacled mass in order to restore my true form. In order to do that, I am going to have to collect more information on it. Which means I am going to have to find a seedy underwater pub full of pirate sahagins and mermaid waitresses. I sigh audibly, bubbles coming from my mouth and gills. "Atlantis just keeps going down and down hill."
I swim away, looking to get out of this crazy underwater death trap coliseum and all these weird aquatic things. Maybe I can find an underwater shower to get this oily stuff off...
---------
STAT CHECKPOINT
STR -1
AGI -1
MAG +4
RES +2
CHA -1
INT 0
-
Attor rips and tears at the last squidy vorzh as his senses come back to him, and he observes as the two fallen ones are revived and altered. Interesting, how they are changed.. Maybe there is a way for Attor to become big and strong so that he doesn't have to rely on a group of creatures that half of them even fail to do anything of real use? He cleans his fangs with his tongue.
But then again, something about them seems... different. Oily. Doesn't look nice, or tasty. Though it might be. Maybe. Attor looks up at the tentacles above, and feels small. Small and insignificant. He has no idea what is up there, and maybe he shouldn't ask.
"Hunt-pack different now. Maybe survive, yes? Maybe not die stupidly?" The krait swishes his tail around. "Changes good, right?"
-
Mike opens his eyes slowly, different parts of his body twitching. "Hazy..." he mutters, and is then confused. Was he always able to talk? Was his body always... this way? He is distracted a moment by the sound of words he cannot quite understand. As if he could just focus right... something bumps into him and the feeling is lost, bringing him back to reality with a mild snarl of surprise, ready for something attacking him. When the thing just leaves him alone he looks at it in confusion.
Last he saw one such as that they stuffed him in a bag. But... it was bigger then. Not so small. As he gazes around he realizes that everything is smaller. Not so much, but... yes. Smaller. He tries to figure out why this is, but a voice whispers that it is not important and he forgets the thought, spotting the others he remembers being captured with. He drifts over to the krait and looks at him with tilted head. "... good? What... good?"
---------------------------
Stat Checkpoint cause that's a good idea:
STR -2
AGI +3
MAG +1
RES +6 (AoE), -2 (Targeted)
CHA +0
INT -2
-
(Well geez, Vir seems like he knows where he wants to go, so unless you guys need some direction, I'm going to leave you to some character interaction until you're all ready to progress. You guys reach some consensus on what to do and I'll be ready)
-
Yilin blinks. "'Hunt-pack?'" he says incredulously to the beast nearby. "Who said anything about a pack here? For that matter, why are even together? Did this disembodied jerk of a voice just decide to drag us all together for no other reason than we 'tresspassed?' Because this all sounds pretty riduculous to me. For that matter, didn't we just WIN that battle? Where's the door? I want out. Right now!"
-
Mike turns his red gaze to Yilin and then looks up at the 'I want out'. He'll slowly look up at the disappearing blades and repeat, "... out," as he swipes his tail for a little momentum and starts drifting upwards.The whispers have quieted down some for now, though surely they will return. In the meanwhile these other three seem to want to go somewhere and for reasons he can't explain he wants to stay with them for a while longer. Something about... his past. About the way he was before. Yes, that's right. He remembers being with them before. So he will stay with them now while he continues to remember.
-
"Thosssse people are not your friendssss..." whispers Karl, the eldritch voice inside my head. "They only wisssh to ssssteal your glory..."
"Oh, you don't have to play the paranoia game to try to drive a wedge between any relationships I may have. I don't even know them. I hate most people, anyway."
"... You must worsssship the tentacled ssssea god?"
"You're new at this, aren't you, Karl?"
"Stop calling me Karl!"
"You forgot to lisp there, Karl."
"You're not even taking me seriously! I am supposed to drive you mad!"
"You're slightly less annoying than my tinnitus, to be honest. ... Karl? Are you... crying? Karl, look, it's okay--"
"It's my first day, all right!?"
"Look, it wasn't that bad--"
"I thought there would be training or something, but they just threw me in head first--"
"That rasping snake voice was pretty authentic, really."
"You-you really think so?"
"Sure. Very ... eldritchy. You should be in voice acting."
"Mother says that's an unrealistic career goal."
"Well, everyone has to start somewhere."
"She wanted me to get into oracle-speaking. Can you believe it? Oracles!"
"It sounds pretty tough in the world of disembodied voices. Look, I'll buy you a drink once we find the underwater pub. ... Karl? Are you there? Karl? Karl? Kaaarl? Karl. Karl. Karl. Karl--"
-
(So when I said character interaction, I meant interaction, not ACTION. So Vir, you're doing NO GOOD! I guess I just grab the reins then)
Seeing as Virmir has already decided on some spot to head to, the rest of the group doesn't really have much of a choice but to follow after the changed-fox. He seems to be taking it well, and the change appears to be pretty beneficial for Mike, considering it gave him the ability to better think and communicate. Maybe the eldritch's intentions were noble, or the plan backfired. Oh well.
The nearest settlement seems to be made up of mainly merfolk, meaning that the vast majority of the population is going to be pompous, rich, and powerful in terms of magic and connections. For as lined as the people there might be, the town does seem to be a little run-down. Maybe it was initially a surface-town that was bought out or otherwise taken from the initial inhabitants. Perhaps thanks to those first dwellers, there is a rather seedy tavern lying near the outskirts of the town. Some merfolk still pass through it.
(SO NOW, do more INTERACTIONS so you people can actually learn each others' names and learn what your goals are or something. I don't know what you want!)
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Yilin immediately grumbles, seeing the fox run off and the others follow after. As much as he would rather be away from the others... he is rather sort of lost and without bearing.
"Hey! Hey you! Loud grumbling gray fox!" he shouts after the canid. "Where are you even running off to? Why are you talking to yourself? Do you even know where you're going!?"
-
Attor shrugs at the dumb air-breather as he follows after the other air-breather turned non-air-breather, the grey one. It isn't too hard to catch up to the fox as he talks to himself either.
"Dumb grey thing, what are you doing? You even know where you going? Attor doesn't think you do."
-
Turning to the aquatic creature beside him, Yilin can at least regard him as someone who wasn't affected by that... voice and heebyjeeby magic. "Maybe that spell they were zapped by messed with his head. I don't even think he can think clearly. Doesn't it sound like he's just talking to himself? Or is he just *that* vain?"
-
(HARUMPH.)
Suddenly, I notice that one hairless ape following me--wait a minute--
"You there!" I swim up to him and point in his face. "I'm on to you--don't think you can get past me! If you try any of your crazy cult stuff, I'm gonna cook your insides and serve them as stew!"
While choking to death, I noticed him using some extremely dark magic. I mean, eldritch tentacles are somewhat annoying with the oily cursing and all, but these guys are the real deal. They're trying to increase the size of the polar icecaps and crush the earth in between them. They are able to solidify water into a deadly substance. Nasty, nasty stuff. It's unlikely he's working for the tentacles (since this cult is pretty much the enemy of everyone), but I'll still have to keep an eye on him. It's possible he's an agent sent in retaliation for that one incident involving the sun and the Lens of Colossal Truth.
I nod a HARUMPH at him and then turn to the fish man--presumably his henchman. "And who are you calling dumb? USE BLASTED PRONOUNS!!! TREES."
While swimming away, I pass the random otter who also got eldritch-tentacle-cursed. I feel like I should name him since up to a few moments ago he was just a random otter and probably still doesn't have any intelligence or feelings anyway.
"Call him Mike," suggested Karl.
Mike... That is the stupidest name imaginable. It's perfect for an otter.
"I don't know about you, Mike, but I'm going to find a seedy Atlantisonian pub to figure out how to get un-cursed, because that's the thing you do when you need information about evil oppressive entities that have taken over the local district."
"You... you took my suggestion..." said Karl as I swam away, voice quivering.
"Are you crying again, Karl?"
"It's just that I've been whispering suggestions to you for 30 minutes now and you haven't taken a single one... I'm so happy. *sniff*"
"Karl, stop it. You're embarrassing me."
-
Mike looks to the two not-foxes in the party and agrees, "Strange." He'll be following them for the most part, looking around at the surroundings as he tries to sort through fragmented memories of his time as a familiar in a place not too unlike this. Come to think, there was a voice in his head then too, though that one was clearer. More solid. And also more cruel. He likes these voices better he thinks.
((I work weekends so I've been a little busy these past few days. I'll have a better and more voluminous post once I have more time for it.))
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((I'm not part of this at all, but thought you should all know I'm enjoying reading it as you go. :P ))
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Immediately Yilin takes a strong dislike to the ugly fox's tone. Stupid web pawed... demon possessed vulpine. Deciding to just give him a bit of a lesson he twirls his hands lightly and forms an icicle behind the storming off fox. Twirling the magic around in his fingers, he uses it to jab the fox's behind with sharp spire of frozen water.
-
"O-OWWWWWW!!!!! SON-OF-A-BLASTED-TREES-FORSAKEN-OWW-OW-OWWW!!! You just attacked me!! Did you see that? He just ATTACKED me!"
"Looks like we may have to interact with this character," suggested Karl.
Absolutely not going to take this, I waved my hands and swirl the water around this cold-cult cretin, creating a vortex of superheated water!
-
Mike is currently eyeing a merchant stall selling shiny stones when the loud fox gets louder, pulling his attention back to the others. Whoops, they seem to have gotten quite a bit a ways away! He hurries to keep up, but as he does the fox gets really angry and tries to cast a spell that doesn't do much. Suddenly memories snap into place. Yes! An inept mage who is full of himself! Mike remembers this! He also remembers... a collection of other things like sitting on the mage's shoulder. Maybe... maybe if he sits on this mage's shoulder he will remember more!
-
Yilin's first response is to snerk aloud. "Attacked!? You call that an attack your mange covered hairball? Poor baby got his butt poked by a tiny piece of ice, boohoo-oh crap," he says as he feels the heat magic start to superheat the water around him. Quickly he braces himself!
Flailing around as the surrounding water boils him, Yilin screams bloody murder. Desperate for a solution, he flails and quickly points at Attor nearby. "Stupid fox! HE was the one who egged me on to do it!!" he lies, hoping to convince the mangy animal to focus on another target.
-
"You miserable, conniving, blasted--"
-
" --don't think you can pass your crimes off on your henchman! I'll-- GRRK--!"
At that moment I am sat on by an otter. Normally, being under water, this would not be a significant problem due to buoyancy, however this happens to be a magically enhanced otter of some sort and thus, in addition to being larger, has a bit more force in his under water leaps than expected. The result has me pinned down flat on the sea floor. "MMMPH!!!"
-
Hmm... nope. This doesn't at all feel familiar. The mage is too small and Mike can't fit onto his shoulder properly, no matter how much he tries to settle. He huffs after a moment, looking into the fox's face with mild irritation. "You are small."
-
Attor glares at the dumb mage that isn't fuzzy, striking an aggressive pose and baring his fangs.
"No! You no blame me! I do nothing! You do stupid cold water trick and poke dumb grey thing!"
-
Rolling his eyes at the Attor creature's response, Yilin can only blink as the otter... thing for no discernable reason hops on the fox's shoulders and attempts to perch himself there. Quite pissed off now, and seeing an oppritunity to kick the loud mouthed canid while he's down, Yilin hurries over to the side of the fox... and gives him a good mean kick!
-
"Small?! I'll give you small, you blasted--"
Seeing the accursed cult member charge me, I attempt to throw the otter off and swim out of the way!
-
Just *barely* dodging the not very spectacular looking, but probably lethal doom kick, and finding myself within very close quarters of the evil cultist, I begin slapping at his face repeatedly!
-
The bouncers of the tavern begin to move toward the insane scrambling of a weakling skum and equally pitiful human basically slapping each other around. A couple of slim and athletic type of merfolk (they don't really come in buff, just well-built and incredibly magically powerful) swim by and easily toss out the two of the idiots, quite adamantly stating that they are not welcome in any sort of way.
However, the bouncers turn to look at the more animalistic skum and the vorzh. They don't seem very at-odds with them and let them move about freely. One other krait-type-vorzh from the bar swims deftly around a crowd of drunken surfacers and offers him a drink for dealing with "stupid-rat skum," then expressly mentions that it wasn't talking of Mike.
Though the two inside are still allowed to move as they like, Yilin and Virmir are quickly threatened by more imposing and dangerous figures. A couple of merfolk guards and their seahorses (the ten-foot-tall kind with lances on their sides) come travelling by, and seeing the idiots making a mess of the road out front, decide to take some fight to them. Maybe they figure they'll make less of a scene in jail.
"You handle the midget, I'll handle the... other midget. The hairless one," one of them says. He's in a more colorful breastplate than the other, perhaps some commanding officer.
"Yes, sir, Taj," the other replies.
They don't really seem to be wielding weapons, but the mages can definitely sense some power gathering around them as they dismount, which consists mainly of drifting off the sides of the seahorses.
-
"What's this? Couldn't afford a real horse so you got some mutated legless thing?" Yilin boasts in sort of pathetic challange, bracing himself.
-
Huh... It seems as though we somehow subconsciously found our way inside of a tavern while fighting and then subsequently got kicked out for fighting. Which is rather alarming, considering I probably would not have yelled at this guy so much if I realized I were inside a tavern environment as opposed to immediately outside the fight-to-the-death doom coliseum with the blades and such, especially since I was seeking out the tavern environment in the first place. Probably.
"It's 'cause you've got voices in your head making you crazy," suggested Karl.
"Hey, I know you all love fighting so much you want to stop our fight so we can fight, but I've got business with this fellow here and its rude to interrupt. So you and your sea horse things better back off, or I'll make things go very hard for you."
-
Mike looks to the other guy still in the tavern they totally entered. Then he looks outside at the gathering magical energy. He's about to go outside to go help when a voice whispers in his ear making him now look to the bouncer. "You serve... drinks? Would like drink."
-
The guards don't seem to be bothered by your words in the slightest and just march up, their mounts moving with them. Merfolk seem to have an affinity for spears and tridents and the like, meaning your chances of getting impaled and hung from the guardhouse just shot up an infinite amount for speaking out of turn. The officer Taj seem to like the seahorses they rode in on and aims his weapon to Yilin, a sharp forked spear coming at his chest, while the other soldier aims to defend the honor of himself and his career by aiming at Virmir. The seahorses, however, do not partake in the battle yet. Either they're trained to stay out of fights and watch the area or they just aren't meant to fight in the first place.
The bouncer that threw out the two raggedy patrons looks down at Mike confusedly and gestures him to the bar. "You're free to get your own drinks, as long as you keep to yourself and have money to spare." He hooks a thumb back at the idiots getting struck outside. "Don't be like them. At least, that's my suggestion. They look hoity-toity but they wouldn't have crushed half of the vorzh clans unless they were good."
The krait-vorzh tries to chat it up with Attor, talking about a recent hunt of his that went particularly well. "Mer came down, tried to claim 'poaching.'" His voice lowers and he grins, teeth wide and sharp. "'Poached' him too." He cackles and slams his drink on the bar - underwater drinks are odd, looking like fancy glass waterbottles so as to prevent loss of precious alcohol.
-
"Oh c-" Yilin eyewidens in an aborted curse as he tries in vain to twist away!
Wincing in no small amount of shock, struggling to hold himself together, the human struggles to form coherent thoughts as he concentrates on... trying to stab the stupid fishman's eyes with ice!
-
Harumph! Seeing the pointed weapon coming my way, I attempt to use my newfound fins to dodge swiftly, even though I'm not entirely used to them quite yet.
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"OWWWW!!" Rightly impaled, I grab the shaft of the weapon and send a superheated charge right into the soldiers arms!
(Also, I'm a little confused on how initiative rolling works with multiple enemies and all (especially since two are holding back).)
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(Turns will happen without their involvement until they chip in, and then they will join in on the next turn. Same goes for the rest of you guys in case you, you know, want to help your friends)
The mermen seem thrilled to have harpooned their prey already, but don't appear very content that the two of them are still fighting despite their wounds. They aren't unused to magic, but they are more than surprised with the speed at which they're counterattacked. Taj raises up Yilin on his spear, trying to avoid the gouging of his eyes while the other soldier holds fast to his trident, trying to resist the heat that flows from it.
Neither of the two of them can avoid the damage that the two miscreants are dealing out. Maddened, they sic their mounts on the pair of criminals. Already impaled, the seahorses try to fill them up with even more pointy objects so they can serve as underwater pincushions. Taj raises a hand and flexes his fingers, willing forth electricity to fry Yilin (which doesn't require much sight to do). The soldier, probably not as experienced or powerful as the officer, instead tries to further spike Virmir on his weapon.
-
The strike from the soldier is an intense blow - a fork of the trident goes all the way through Virmir's... odd body, and his lower body completely melds together in a fishy tail rather than a pair of finned legs and feet. Without the proper time to adjust in the middle of combat, his movement suffers pretty badly and the jousting from the seahorses sends him into an unconscious (yet bloodless) state. His body, somehow more unstable due to its first bits of change in the arena, goes from its skummy state to a form that looks to be a projection of the very mounts that were helping in dispatching him, complete with dorsal and side fins and slim, curvy body (but it curves vertically, not horizontally. He's a "horse," not a mare.) All of his oily skin is replaced with thick scales and ridges, and his nostrils flare and snort out bubbles in his current state. The soldier, shocked, and with good reason, pulls back his weapon and shakily adjusts his trident, bringing it to face at Yilin.
-
BEFORE the above happens (due to having explained what the initiative rolls mean), I thrust my hands out right at the moment of impact and blast the assaulting fish man with a flurry of magical bubbles that are boiling hot!
I then say "GRRRRK!!!!" as I black out, rather dramatically.
-
Attor first laughs at the other krait's joke, then at the fox mage. "Oh, dumb grey thing never learn, no it doesn't. Maybe it end up getting so messed up it become useful to huntpack. Ha." Attor shakes his head some at the thought, and then goes on to watch Yilin. While not too keen on letting his pack be mauled usually... These two seem like they sort of deserve it. If an opportunity presents itself, though, instincts...
-
<<Gah! Good gods I go away on vacation for a few days and suddenly all the posts!>>
Mike seems to have in the meanwhile taken the bouncer up on his offer and went over to the bar to get a drink. While at the bar watching, he sees someone exchange coin and is captivated by the shine of it. Before he quite knows what he did, he has picked up one of the coins and is chewing on it absently. If he is particularly lucky, this will be before anyone else knows what he's done too (see agi roll below).
Alas it is very difficult to accidentally do sleight of hand and Mike does not really manage it. He has probably attracted the ire of bar patrons now which will surely lead to him getting thrown out of the bar by that same bouncer from before. Whoops.
-
Well, the bad news Yilin noted that he was now impaled on a spear. The eviceration of his gut and vital organs may have seemed to be a fatal blow that should by all rights have completely knocked him out for the count, but after having *already* been impaled once earlier today, the shock value seemed to lose its power. Though unfortunately the biological shock hasn't quite got the memo and is already making things difficult for the mage.
The good news is, that blasted cocky merman is now bleeding from his eyes quite profusely. Not enough to take out his vision, but dang if he won't have a couple of swollen useless eyeballs tomorrow and for the next several days.
Alas, this seems to have put the officer in question into a might heightened fight or flight mode, beyond the mere "crush the annoying loud mouthed pissant before him," and now seeks to fry him with electricity. At first this doesn't seem to make much sense to Yilin, but before he can comprehend this the ugly seahorse comes at him, pointy ends barred.
Sneering, Yilin brushes aside the effect of the electric zap. He'd mock the officer for trying that UNDERWATER where it can disperse everywhere and where he's not on the surface to conduct it INTO the water below, but such rhetoric is choked off by the stabby stabs from that ANNOYING excuse for a horse!
With one final shot left, the mage summons all the strength he has!... and summons an ice blast directed between Officer Taj's legs
-
(Man you guys are terrible mooks, you could use a Chris Pratt to turn you idiots into a useful team)
Despite missing any readily available nads to aim at, the ice at a merfolk's tail could hurt all the same, especially since Taj seems to be missing armor there. Maybe their tails are so thick it doesn't matter, but it DOES seem to be at a possibly precarious spot to hit...
The attack connects, but it doesn't do as much as Yilin was probably hoping for. It hurts, but he doesn't go down. And now... four enemies are staring at him while he's still quite pinned to a spear. They don't waste time in going to work on him, the soldier trying to finish him off with another impale. The seahorses try to move in to stab at him, too, but Mike's form is tossed on top of them by the patron he stole from with promises of more pain to come... but upon seeing the stabbed human and beasts circling said homosapien, he swims back into the bar readily and allows himself to lose one coin. The bouncer wisely decides not to intervene any more now that the rowdiness has been moved outside.
Even without the help of his seahorses, Taj again tries to fry Yilin up like a shishkebob with his electricity. "CEASE AND DESIST!" he yells maniacally, though saying such a phrase as a finishing move seems pretty poor form for a guard of the law.
-
Virmir blubs a bit, occasionally.
(Pssst... A plot related reason for four random strangers to stick together might help, especially for characters who by definition avoid people. [;) I think you finally got the point with Virmir and Yilin, but I think everyone else is just waiting around for the crucial plot hook. Parenthesized yelling isn't going to work--you need to do it through the story! Otherwise we are all just wandering around aimlessly doing in-character things.)
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Cornered from all sides, any one of the attacks could have done Yilin in, but it turns out that a properly applied electric zap CAN fry you underwater, despite what the mage thought. Briefly he tries to reply that he can't cease and desist if he's in the process of being fried, but he's too busy blacking out and going completely unconscious to summon such a response as his body crackles with electricity
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(I suppose my hope was that you all would be PEOPLE and decide that you should stick together for the sake of this and so you can better survive ((in character)) but I guess you're all not that wise!!! Plus I didn't want to force you all into a certain line of action because I thought it would be boring and linear. I wanted to allow you guys to choose what to do. I thought keeping you as prisoners together, putting you in a party together, forcing you to fight together would help you to choose things together but I'm wrong >.>)
While Yilin passes out, too, his body twists and practically wrings itself out. His arms, legs, body, and head all condense into a sort of tubey-rope-length, with long fins and, thankfully, new gills. It's possible to grasp with short claws and segmented, frilly fins, but it'll take some practice. His maw reshapes, losing a nose of any sort, and his eyes move to the side of his face. His ears pull back into his head and his mouth opens wide, wide, wider - until it's the widest part of his face and his teeth grow in a circle around the entire interior of the "lip." His spine lengthens enough to have a short tail that ends in a bunch of frills, too, and his organs reshape to have more simplistic functions, sort of like a tube-worm. Pink, fleshy skin wouldn't be fitting for his new form, so it darkens to a sharp brown with occasional white or gray spots. The new eel-vorzh looks to not be having any issue with the electricity anymore, but he is most definitely still unconscious.
Shocked and disturbed, and rightfully so, the soldier and his CO decide that now would be a good time to leave this odd scene behind. They'll just make some report to cover up for the weird crap that just happened, and the tiny skum otter that barely impacted their mounts wouldn't be worth capturing - it's probably just some pet anyway.
When the two idiot mages come to, they can attempt and readjust to their new forms. The thick scales and new fins on Virmir could be helpful once he really learns how to use them, and the wiry and spry form Yilin has would help him slither throughout the water. Maybe he could even coax the ability to electrocute the immediate area around him out of nothingness. (There are a lot of stat things to mention here and I think I should have hit them earlier, so rather than naming off everything I'm just going to give a quick list and if you need justification you can challenge it)
Yilin
-1 STR
+2 AGI
+1 MAG
+1 RES
-2 CHA
0 INT
Virmir
+1 STR
+1 AGI
0 MAG
+1 RES
+2 CHA
-2 INT
It's probably worth mentioning that sea horses don't really know how to speak, so that could cause some problems for Virmir in the future. HOWEVER, he was the only one with a real goal, and it did seem to make sense - seeking out why in the world fatal blows have instead been causing transformations would probably be a good idea. You're still around a tavern, which would be worth investigating (though a seahorse mount might have to wait outside) and there might be some reliable source of genius magickery in the noble houses of the merfolk. Maybe there are some hermit mages out in the ocean, or perhaps a surfacer would know what's going on. It could be due to that first fight and that giant tentacley thing above you that's responsible, but you get the feeling that you wouldn't be able to challenge it or even find it again without some grievous harm.
-
Mike finds himself outside, rather dazed and also confused. At some point he also probably ate that coin. As the tritons move out, Mike sniffs at the partially conscious things left behind. They smell... different. But they are definitely those people he was with earlier! And hey, the inept mage is now easier to sit on! Mike will attempt to sit on the inept mage now while the rest of them figure stuff out. He likes this group and has now decided to actually stick around to see what interesting things they make happen next.
((Honestly Medik, Virmir has a point. Our characters have very little reason to stick together when most of them have been loners a long time before they got captured. You are also kidding yourself if you think Mike is wise enough to make a long term plan like that. XD. That said, this is why I started by very specifically asking you if you had something to give Mike motivation to join the group before I even started playing this character. Because I foresaw that this would happen without such a reason. We're still coming together, but more slowly than you may have counted on. I think we'll be able to get there however since we didn't split up by this point.))
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When I come to, I feel very strange and notice there is something very wrong--there is an otter on my back.
I turn my head to say, "Get off me, you blasted otter!!!" But it comes out sounding more like, "Whinnyknickersnort(seahorsesound)snortblastknickersnort!!!" I blink. Ohhhhhh, blast. Hate it when--wait-- this has never happened before!
Naturally, I pursue the most rational course of action. That is to say, I buck around like a crazy wild underwater animal!!!!!
----
STAT CHECKPOINT
STR 0
AGI 0
MAG +4
RES +3
CHA 1
INT -2
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Attor moves out of the tavern of his own free will, inspecting these new forms for his pack-mates.
"Strange," he hisses out, circling the new seahorse, keeping his distance as he observes, so as to avoid the bucking. "How come you don't die?"
And with a swish of his tail, he moves to the new vorzh in the sea, circling around him. "And you, too? Strange, yes.. Both of you should be dead. Or at least very much injured." Attor is... intrigued. In a deft motion he moves back to the tavern, to inquire about the arena they had come from, and those who use it.
-
Mike is currently having the time of his life. Whether or not he can actually stay on this thing, this is very much the most fun he's had in a while. It is a shame he has no hat to wave around wildly as he does this.
-
While Mike and Virmir have some sort of underwater... rodeo, Attor's attempt at discovering information about this arena is met with much scrutiny and ignorance. Some people simply don't have anything to contribute, but after finding someone who mentions that the arena comes from some sort of "cursed city," no one else seems to be willing to offer up information. Most people lock up. Even the vorzh from before heads out without saying anything else.
But something does seem to come up. A voice, decidedly androgynous, reaches Attor's mind. "You wish to hunt and to have a new pack, yes? Just look outside. This is your new pack. A flexible, changing pack that adjusts to hardships and has many different backgrounds. Magic killers, a real animal. Think of the big game you could bring down with them."
It reaches Yilin, too - "These people around you; they are truly powerful. Stop picking fights with them and try to coax knowledge and strength from them. Else you may end up worse than dead with your... predicament."
It moves to Virmir next... "You want revenge, don't you? Great power to come with it? A truly legendary scene where you scorch the bastard children of the old gods, deep in the sea? And afterwards, great acres of space to yourself for study, practicing, and rest..."
Mike hears it, too, but it doesn't seem to know what he really wants. "Look. On the ground. They left one of their shiny saddles. Wouldn't it be funny to prop it on this new seahorse? You could ride him easier. And it sparkles with precious things."
The final suggestion (or command) is spread out to all of the "party." "You all act very petty and pitiful now, but it wouldn't take much to turn you into scourges of the sea. Likewise, you could all be heroes if you had the right set of morals and sponsors. ...you should come to the castle, deep in the middle of town. I will have the guards permit you inside. Even the seahorse. We will talk."
-
Well, that's somewhat disconcerting. Voices that tempt you with things you want tend to be trouble.
"What about me?"
Why are you even still here, Karl?
"I... I don't have any friends," Karl whimpers, then makes a shuffling sound like he's stumbling away into darkness.
I'm generally not one for walking into obvious traps, but at this point I really have nothing else to go on. Especially if I can find out WHY I'M A BLASTED SEAHORSE!!!
"Whinneyknickersnort!" I announce to the others, and then realize I can't do that either. BLAST IT.
HARUMPHing, I make my way towards the center of the city, towing the blasted otter along because he's got a blasted death grip on me and I can't shake him off.
-
Mike has already been hearing voices for some time. This one is new, but before Mike can get distracted by any kind of shiny saddle, he is distracted by the seahorse taking off. He shall hold on tightly out of some misplaced instinct that falling off would be more harmful than merely slowing to a stop. For now there really isn't much more to say.
-
Attor quickly returns from the tavern, in somewhat higher spirits and with more energy. He swims ahead of the seahorse, figuring it shouldn't be hard to find a castle... And the seahorse probably will get lost along the way, so he better lead it along. Attor also grabs Yilin by the arm and drags him along too, as he suddenly doesn't quite wish to leave anyone behind now.
-
There really isn't a "first" thing that he notices.
It's just a tangled web of sensations. A little prick there, a tingle there. A twitch in the opposite corner. Slowly like a spider's web of prickles spread through his awareness, a squirm animating his body.
Yilin isn't quite even sure what the first thing he remembers. Confused bits and pieces of his whole life splatter before his vision and awareness, making a distorted jumble of just where he is. He remembers the surface, the scarring it endured, then being cast underwater.
Yes, yes, he hates being underwater, dealing with those stupid clumsy air bubble contraptions and various other methods just to be able to breathe. That, and constantly being surrounded by water. He couldn't even remember the last time he wasn't purney in his fingers. Yeah... he can't wait for that to end, to be able to just breathe. Strangely though, he can't feel the familiar sensation of a bubble or tank or anything around his neck...
In fact he can't feel any shred of air around him at all.
Squirming in a confused dance of voices and images, Yilin struggles to put it all together. Why is everything so difficult to make sense of? Why is the simple act of SEEING so difficult!? It's like... like he's trying to gaze through the the eyes of another! They certainly don't feel like they're in the right place! Confused and irritated, he tries to reach up to rub his head-
...that didn't feel right. He swore he just tried to lift his arm... what... why does it feel so wrong? so short and clumsy? His mouth hangs open in a manner that makes him think that it's broken! Quickly he tries to feel at it, only for that same clumsy motion and feeling to flood his mind with wrongness.
Simply stopping to sit or curl up doesn't even work (as much good as that would do underwater), as he legs don't even want to function. Nothing wants to work right, under...
He suddenly blinks, heart thumping as a panic takes hold as he at last realizes; he's surrounded completely by water. Caught in the ocean's embrace, his mind feverishly races. How did he not notice this?? How is he even alive!?
That is a question that must be asked, as despite the sensation of breathing be totally absent, he doesn't feel winded, or wanting for oxygen in the slightest! It's almost.
The loud mouthed fox. One of the last things he saw was him floating during combat, then... during his blackout he saw him. He was shifting again, shifting as he had done the first time! After he had lost combat-
Oh no...
Oh no. Oh crap. Oh no no no no nonono.... He flails his arm up-or is it fin? CLAW?
Some semblance of coherence finally breaks through his skull-does he even still have one of those!?- as he realizes his eyes are wrong, his whole jaw feels.. just WHAT the hell is he even!? Self examination only reveals the answer to be worse and worse, his long, abhorrently inhuman shape and appearance matching with the sensations he's feeling but totally clashing with everything he's known about his body since he was born.
He feels like he should be hyperventilating!.. but he can't even do that! Instead those horrid, flappy, alien gills sway faster and faster, gushing water directly into the sides of his throat. He feels like he's going to choke.
Naturally, he begins screaming.
-
Attor looks at the screaming eel vorzh and finds himself annoyed. He gives him a firm slap across the face without even stopping. "Quit shouting. You make people look at us funny."
-
It might seem to be a good idea to follow Attor's advise, general civility considered. Or even just the idea of "we don't know where we are, don't draw too much attention until we figure out more." But to Yilin, these concerns are somewhat secondary after awakening to find that he's become a worm/eel/SOMETHING DISGUSTING AND INHUMAN! The hard slap does succeed in shutting him up-if only for a moment.
Mere seconds later he's trembling, poking his face with one of hisclaws and stuttering incoherently. "W-what the hells happened?? Why do I look like some kind of monster? What's this ugly voice in my head!?" he panics, wanting desperately to hyperventalate, but finding he can't even do that properly, overall only adding further to his deep sense of discomfort, unease, and abject terror. He was mentally prepared to fight slimy aquatic life, not to BE one!
"Where are we going? Please tell me we're heading somewhere to FIX this!"
-
The "castle" in the center of the town is not very royal or amazing, even considering the surroundings. From the looks of it, it WAS a town hall at some point, a very simple and plain one that was ramshackle, only for the barest purpose of politics and surfacer concerns. Since then the merfolk occupation has tried to "fix up" the place with more exquisite and fanciful decor, but it's just not masking the original building beneath it all. There's even an ornate stone tower affixed to the back peak of the "castle," sticking out like a sore thumb.
Guards at the front door of the castle hold you up, insisting that no non-merfolk are allowed inside without express permission. On cue, different guards come by with a message from "Officer Taj." They are told to capture a rogue seahorse, skum otter, and two slinky vorzh with just-so appearances that two of your party members share. All of the guards immediately turn on you, readying their weapons, but another pair of guards burst through the front door of the place, saying that "The Sea Witch" wants these very people to come inside. The soldiers start devolving into arguments as to who to follow, clear parties forming, and the door SLAMS shut behind them to interrupt them all before you can get a word in. Slowly, the door creaks back open. The guards wince, seemingly late, and then bow. The centermost merfolk nudge at you all and try their best to respectfully escort you in.
What an odd change of respect. At least now there aren't any weapons pointed at you.
The interior of the castle is somewhat improved over its exterior, but it's not amazing. The floor and walls sort of look like marble or tile, but it's not quite right. Must be some sort of merfolk innovation to make pretty buildings. They don't seem like they could live without pretty and noble environments.
There's a surprising amount of distance to be covered inside. Some rooms are off to either side, some of them being sealed off by bubbles to function as underwater windows - the sound is kept in or out, but vision is unimpeded. Presumably you could darken or tint the bubbles, too, in case you wanted a bubbly wall. A couple of the rooms are occupied by busy merfolk but neither of the groups turn to look at you. Apparently their work is very engrossing.
At the back of the castle is a shoddy stairwell. The guards leave you at the base of the stairs, quickly making excuses to abandon your group. Either they don't like you or they don't like what's upstairs. Maybe it's both.
Stairs are mostly just an afterthought for trying to comfort surfacers. When you can simply flow or swim upwards, stairs won't help too much. At the top of the spiral case is a markedly different interior, with some sort of water-resistant wood. A merfolk is working at a desk that's facing the entrance to the room. They've got some odd sort of turban on their head with a gem inscribed in the center. They don't look up until everyone has entered, upon which they snap up and smile pleasantly.
"Good day," he/she says. It's hard to tell what gender they're supposed to have. "I've already said things to you without your permission beforehand, so I'll just open the floor to you four. Ask any questions you could want of the Sea Witch."
-
I am the first one to speak up, aiming to ask why in blazes I'm a seahorse, who is responsible, and if this individual can fix it, but all that comes out is "Whinneysnickerblastedneighsnort!" Frustrated, I wave my fins around angrily!
-
Mike will have long since disembarked the crazy seahorse the moment it stopped wildly gallop-swimming at the gates and he felt safe to get off without getting hit by flailing hooves. Once actually inside the palace however, the escort might have had trouble keeping him with the group as between the decorations, places to explore, and voices in his head, Mike is being distracted by *everything*. He's not going to actively wander off and will keep returning to the group, but might be giving several of the escorts gray scales as he tries poke, prod, and investigate all manner of things.
When they get to the sea witch and Virmir starts thrashing around again, he'll edge away nervously, nearly bump into the thing he vaguely recognizes as a party member but with way too many teeth so be backs away again and hides behind Attor. He has no questions yet and will let the other three do the talking. Well... two anyway.
-
Yilin is still too dazed, too confused, all around a bit too shocked to really pay too much attention to what's going on, just sort of following the group as he goes along. Indeed, part of him doubts he could pay full attention even if his life was physically threatened! He felt different in almost every way; how was he to know whether he was even the same person!
Swimming up with the group and taking before the mer...person behind the desk, there is only a bit of silence after the former fox makes an incredible din of noise. Finally, after several moments of awkward silence, Yilin tries to see if his strange mouth can even make words. "uugghg... Ugh, gah, ssssoarrry,..uhm. Can someone pleease explain to me why Iwas.. huuuman twenty minutes ago and now.." he wiggles his body and holds out his strange claws. "Because that's really the most pressing thing on my mind right now"
-
Attor nods at Yilin. "Yes. Would like to know why the dumb ones don't die when they get impaled."
-
Even a nervous wreck as he is, Yilin bristles... or tailwiggles, at the accusation. "Dumb??" he repeats "I've only even gotten killed once! He," the new eel vorzh points at the seahorse Virmir, "got killed twice!"
-
Being the most rational and reasonable of the group, I roll my eyes and fold my fins theatrically, blowing a few bubbles.
-
Mike non-literally shrinks a bit from the arguing. "Can't be dead. Alive. Alive, not dead," he insists.
-
"You looked pretty dead to me back in that arena!" Yilin gurgles with his too-wide mouth, before shuddering at how odd his slimy body feels. "Just... ugh! Why do this?" he turns back to face the mer-person behind the desk. "Do you even know who it was who did this to us?"
-
The sea witch seems pretty perturbed by the group in front of... it? He/she holds up a hand to instruct the to stop and goes in order. "First of all, here," they say, and gives Virmir a slight *jzap* of weird green electricity. With it, he can feel some semblance of vocal cords forming, allowing him to speak again.
"Next." They gesture at their table in a sweeping motion. "I've been studying the old religions and cities of the sea, seeing as there's pretty little to do up here in my tower. The old arena near here - which I'm sure is what you were referencing, vorzh-man, or surfacer as you may have been before - has since been stolen over by skum and their eldritch leaders, the aboleth. I think you might have seen one or two of them, based on what I could see of your recent memories. Anyway, the arena was part of a greater nation before belonging to a race of shapeshifters. Their name has been lost to history; their abilities have not. I'm theorizing here - and this is a working theory - that the intense magic, stress, and collection of unique races and backgrounds provoked latent magic and imbued it into you four. It just so happens that the stress, physical pain, and magic bring out that sort of change due to what first bound it to you."
They take a deep breath and point at Attor. "It's entirely possible that you won't change at all and completely refute my theory, but I would think that you'll be experiencing a similar change when you come close to death."
"Now, it's also possible that these skum and aboleth were what bound the unwilling changes to you as well. Maybe some sort of odd idea of forced evolution wormed into their heads from some elder gods. Regardless," they finish, "you will find more answers back in that arena, if that is what you wish. With this odd sort of enhancement, I don't think you will be perishing from anything but starvation, disease, and old age anymore."
They cast something else, and transparent manacles bind around your wrists and ankles. The magical chains connect to each other. They don't limit your movement or body in any way UNLESS someone moves too far from the group as a whole. The sea witch beams. "To prevent any of you from ditching the rest. I need these answers as much as you all do. You will return with the knowledge you learn. I will write amazing scrolls on the topic and spread tales of your heroism. And, of course, I will work on formulating some sort of dispell for this enhancement, should you want it. Is there anything else before you head back? Gear, food, a harem?"
-
"HARUMPH. Chains are hardly necessary--but I'll accept your offer if you can find a cure. And of course, some sort of further recompensation would be nice--perhaps you have some magical trinkets or extra gold lying around."
I turn to the other three and puff out my chest (lacking the ability to make many other gestures), taking charge of the situation. "These three will need weapons and armor--I don't suppose you would have anything that would fit my frame. We'll also need some spending money in case we need anything around town. Also, we'll need you to keep those blasted soldiers off our backs if we run into them again."
What is a hair-em anyway? Some sort of hair band? We probably don't need that.
I then address the others, "we'll sneak back into the arena--it shouldn't be too hard to get back in since they let us go freely. We'll just need to find the places they don't want us to go. Then we'll find out what in blazes is going on here, get out, get changed back and go our separate ways, sound fair? I'll bet it's the blasted tentacle thing. It's always the blasted tentacle thing..."
-
The explanation that they are subsequently given is almost a bit more than Yilin can process in his current state. Almost. He *is* a genius after all.
Any opportunity to ask any questions is cut short when the annoying former fox opens his mouth. "Can we go back to him being a mute seahorse? He was a lot more tolerable. Why are we even bothering listening to him?" Spining around, Yilin faces the group. "Alright we need cash, and we need it now. I'm not going back in there without some form of armor against those blasted spikes and water jets. We need to find someone willing to give it... or someone not paying attention..."
-
"... Reeeeally? You cut me off and then suggest the *exact* same thing?" I roll my eyes theatrically. "Listen, cold-cult boy, I know you're traumatized from turning into some weird eel thing, but these sorts of things happen. You and I will fight again *after* this mess is all cleared up, but in the meantime, do try to keep quiet and follow along. Trees."
-
Mike looks from horsey to toothy uncertainly at first. "Then... if want to do same thing... we can do both? Get money... and armor. And... oh! Oh! I have money!" he exclaims, taking that coin he nabbed earlier out from whereever he hid it in the ways of secret otter-fu. He'll hold it up in the air proudly.
-
"Good boy, Mike. I'd give you a fish if I had one. Also, hands."
-
Mike perks his ears more. "Need fish? Can catch fish. Will help?"
-
"Yes... Yes, you do that, Mike."
-
Mike immediately swims off looking for the nearest window or way out. How far he gets will really depend on how far the chain lets him get and/or if guards try to stop him.
-
I then lean over towards the witch. "Do we really have to bring him along?"
-
Although really it has only been a few minutes, somehow it feels like this conversation has been going on for nine days.
-
Yilin fidgits, unable to stop from poking at himself and squiirming in his disconcertingly fleshy and squishy form. "I'm not traumatized!!" he screams almost hysterically, before huffing... or the underwater equivilent anyway.
His mood is immediately brightened at Mike's procurement of coin. "That. We need more of that, right there!" He grins-or tries to, as the otter-like creature swims off. "Armor, weapons, food... er... wait," he says, pondering the fact that his diet may have just changed now. Come to think of it, he's been looking at the smaller fish flowing around and his stomach has been churning oddly... the changed wizard tries not to think of these things! "I don't suppose custom armor for our different shapes would be easy to come by, would it?"
-
(SORRY that some certain people still haven't responded after more than a week! I can't help that! And besides, I've been making a freaking computer! GOSH!)
The sea witch clears its throat and gestures for everyone to turn back around. "When I asked if you needed anything, I was offering to provide it for you... fine folk. It's to better help you complete what I ask of you, of course. As far as food goes, we have plenty around in the kitchens and it will be provided before you leave. Some feasting, and the rest as rations.
"Now, for armor, I don't believe I can help to provide custom-fitting equipment. I do have some enchanted items that are just lying around, though." They turn around and move to a further back cabinet, retrieving some more items that float around in the water after they've been set out. One appears to be just a small plastic bracelet, but it's the one the witch grabs first. "This one allows you to blend in with the water, which your mount might like for sneaking in. In magi-science terms, it makes your membranes thinner and the fluids will course through you better. It's adjustable, in case you become some tiny worm or something... though it'll look more like a strung tie then.
"This other one," they say, swinging a stick tipped with a dull blue gem, "can manipulate the thickness of biological forms and ISOLATED liquids, so it won't work on the ocean entirely. You can slow down an enemy by subtly thickening them up, like a weak petrification."
The last item out there spins around on its own, like a malfunctioning compass or a yo-yo stuck in a whirlpool. "I never did quite manage to figure out how this one works. That leads me to believe it's sort of like a mind-fryer. If you look at it too long, your thoughts dull down and you lose plenty of your thought processes." The witch shudders and pushes it away with a finny hand. "Take it, please. Just don't look at it too much."
An awkward moment of silence ensues as the witch glances up to their turban, looking like they're considering giving it up, then shakes their head. You might be able to convince them to part with it.
"The food will be provided downstairs; I've already let them know. The gold will come from the treasury, meaning we'll bring it to you after you're finished eating. Now, uh, go ahead and conquer, or whatever you do. I hope you come back with even more interesting forms and items."
-
(KILL OFF people who do not respond! We don't like them anyway.)
"M-mount? ... HARUMPH." I take the bracelet in my teeth. It might be useful, though, considering I'm not exactly inconspicuous. Bending my neck like a professional pony, I slip it into my cape for later use.
Once everyone is ready to go, I head out with the others to attend the banquet. "There better be mermaids serving seafood salad..." I grumble.
-
Attor nods at the magical items. "Armor no good if grow too big or small to use, yes." He takes the wand, and after thinking for a moment, the mind-fryer, too, before Mike can grab it and lose his entire mind to the thing. "Many thanks for knowledge and possessions. Hopefully to be thankful for good food, too."
When he moves to leave for the food, he turns to the dumb seahorse. "What is salad? Is meaty?"
-
Mike comes back having been unable to escape. He swims up to the others and reports, "Sad to report fish have grown devious. They have made force field to keep me away. Will try later. Can still get things with no fish maybe?"
It is an exceedingly good thing Attor has already tucked the spinny thing out of sight because Mike would have definitely fixated on that.
-
"They might give us fish, Mike. Don't worry about it."
I then turn to the other guy, "You don't know what a salad is? Trees... Usually not. Although sometimes the weird ones do. We're in Atlantis, so it's probably going to be a weird one."
-
Yilin makes a strange expression of some kind; he wanted the mind fryer!
"I suppose he'll take the bracelet," he bubblemutters, taking it slowly but firmly. "Banquet, you say? That's something I could sink my teeth into. I can't actually remember the last time I ate!" he starts trying to walk off, though he just ends up swimming awkwardly about. He refuses to indulge in swimming the proper way, that his form is meant to swim like, as that would just be giving in! Besides, he's too busy thinking about dinner!
-
Even though it has only been a few minutes, somehow it feels like we have been swimming to the banquet for 12 days.
-
(I'M WELL AWARE, I had a birthday and things happen and I'm officially an adult and I'm prepping for college so sorry >.>)
With the new items in hand, the guards seem a little more hesitant to accompany you. Clearly there's some sort of fear for what the sea witch carries. Could be because of its apparent lack of gender or the odd confidence it had with everything it did. Oh well, at least it earns you some more respect with those buffoons.
The banquet is carried out in a massive hall in a manner that surfacers would be unused to - big bubbles float around, near the ceiling, with different types of meals and orders inside of them. There are meat trays, salad trays, desserts, and plenty more. A lot of the dishes seem pretty... exotic, but there are still normal foods to enjoy, like simple fish. After getting the food from up above in the bubbles (maybe they're preserved for freshness or something?) the merfolk come back down near the floor and communicate while they enjoy their meal. You should probably do the same, you think. Luckily none of them come by to bother you during the whole encounter.
After you've all finished, the same pair of guards that brought you down come back to you with... three sacks of gold. One of them clears their throat, a weird goat-ish looking one. "The, urm, small otter thing is to remain with us." He glances to his partner awkwardly. "He'll serve as a, uh, servant of sorts for the sea witch."
They grab Mike and quickly dismiss themselves, leaving you to an empty feasting hall with scraps of food and new, heavy sacks of riches.
-
"... Well, that's one down. I mean-- *ahem* Yes, unfortunate we will be traveling with one less companion. Clearly that one would have been an asset to the team. Yes."
That wasn't a bad salad, either.
I then rummage through the coin purse with my stubby seahorse fins, counting the goods. "I suppose we should stop in town to see if we can buy anything useful. Unless you two have any better ideas before heading back to Evil Tentacle Stadium."
-
<<Just for a better explanation, I already talked with Medik about this, but I've got some RL stuff going on and I am really down on my desire to do RP stuff. That's why I asked him to pull me out of the story. Sorry to ditch but I'd have just been holding things up otherwise. Good luck and hope you guys are able to have fun continuing.>>
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(*Pokes the other two remaining players* Come on, guys, let's keep this thing moving. I can understand Medik taking a week since he is running everything, but the rest of us only need to cook up a few lines of dialogue and make a few decisions.
And no worries, Kit! Hopefully in-character Virmir did not frighten you away, he he he)
-
For the most part, Yilin started out rather enthusiastic about the meal. Then came the part where they kept trying to serve him live... squirming things. He had long ago given up the thought of hot, cooked food, ever since he left the surface, but there were standards that he had as far as his underwater food went! That including making sure that it was *dead*. No squirming, wiggling, and preferably not very slimy...
The worst part though was when he tried to eat more "normal" food. Apparently it kept getting caught in his throat causing him to cough it up; having lost most of his teeth and having his digestion system rearranged made it nearly impossible to eat like he could before. He practically couldn't eat anything unless it was fresh and slid down his throat.
Needless to say, the man turned eel didn't actually get around to eating very much. Mostly he just sat in the corner, folding his arms, bubblemumbling to himself. In fact he was rather eager once the whole thing ended. Also a plus that strange, creepy otter critter was no longer accompaniying them, so that made things a little more tolerable. Now if only the seahorse could get eaten...
"Well, what else could we buy that we haven't already been provided with? Unless we could maybe find some alchemical ingredients for Undying Fire..." (OOC: thing Greek Fire).
-
"Hmmm... I suppose we won't find anything better than these magical items. Although undying fire might be useful considering we are up against some sort of crazy tentacled monstrosity. Could be useful-- If you two can spread it, I can light it up."
-
Attor greedily swallows down whole chunks of food. Literally swallows. Snakes don't chew or anything silly like that. He doesn't seem to care much about what he is eating, more that he is just eating. That was Attor's mindset during the feast. Nom nom nom, etc.
He has no idea what this 'undying fire' is, though, and prefers to just stuff his face rather than ask. However, he does add in that; "Could buy things for stabbing and ripping, yes. Or pointy helmet for seahorse. That way can be useful."
-
Fiddling with the bracelet he had picked up (though not at all certain how he's supposed to wield the dang thing), Yilin ponders. "Well, they said they couldn't provide us with custom armor, so likely we're going to have to find some kind of forger"
-
"Let's at least take a look around town first to see what's available."
This might be a good opportunity to test my own magic trinket, in case we need to enter an underwater china shop and there are no sea horses allowed or something like that.
-
Hi, I'm new here. Can you tell me guys what this is about here exactly?
-
This is an extended RP that Medik set up months ago. Some people put their names forward on the first page, and Medik picked them, so we've been engaged in a private RP where he is a sort of GM who guides us along.
-
At other times Yilin might find the sea horse's demeanor so offputting that he'd just refuse to deal with him, but right now moving on so that he can get out of this *disgusting* form is the priority above all other priorities. "Fine fine, let's just get on with it," as he swims downstairs, discomforted by just how naturally swimming in this body is starting to feel. He certainly hopes he isn't getting used to this!
Hurrying down, barely waiting for the others to catch up, Yilin immediately begins scanning the "streets" of the city, darting his altered gaze up and down searching for shops of relevance.
-
Attor is uneasy about this 'shopping' thing. Usually he obtained by trade within his old pack, and he never asked where the others got stuff from. He doesn't really see much need to hurry, either, taking it slow and wandering about.
-
The idea behind not being given armor would probably be your changing shapes. Since you might not always have a skeleton or a tail or two arms, it might not be good to spend money on items that could end up being useless in the future.
That said, there is food to pack up, and numerous trinkets that you could scrounge around for, given time. You each have about enough to afford an expensive and exotic item, but not much beyond that. Maybe a potion instead.
(you can roll int or cha now to see if you can get an idea of the layout of the place or talk around to find a hotspot)
-
Throwing up his claws into the air, Yilin grumblebubbles, an annoying feature of his form that only irritates him more with the passage of time. "I don't suppose anyone in this underwater backwater could possibly understand the secrets behind shifting morphic armor..." he mutters, looking around. He tries swimming upward to the top of the district, to get a better view of what's around.
Somehow, despite being UNDERWATER, they have some equivilent of smokestacks down here, or something anyway that sends up black waste floating up to the surface, very much obscuring Yilin's view of his surroundings!
[edit: that was an INT roll]
-
Bleh, I hate markets because of the crowds. At least I'm anonymous in a crowd though. While the eel guy makes a fuss, I swim up to a vendor to ask around.
"Hey, you! Got any enchanted items for sale? Know anyone around here that does?"
-
Yilin, being dazed and still unused to his form and the new surroundings, completely flounders around and fails to locate anything useful besides the lavatory. Many of the passerby give the freaky eel a wide berth.
Virmir has little more success. He seems to have found a particularly clueless vendor. "Oh, I'm just watching the stand for my brother. I'm just here to help him move in for the week. I haven't bothered learning much of the place. I think there might be some potion stand somewhere near the eel jerky vendor, though. But, uh..." He leans in close. "If someone is selling magic stuff in a wide open spot like this, it's probably bottom of the barrel, don'tcha think?"
He coughs, clears his throat, THEN pulls back and puts on a wide smile to try and lure some people over for flame-vent-cooked pastries.
-
Yilin grumbles trying to swim farther away, "coughing" with his gills as he tries to find something else, maybe in the higher, loftier districts away from all this clutter and filth
-
HARUPH. What kind of an underwater market is this? I would have expected a more readily available magical selection in Atlantis. Trees.
All right, I'll see if I can find this potion stand, but if they've got nothing good it's obviously time to move on.
-
Attor does not see why magic items are so important. They already have some. Instead, he thinks it better to inquire about something of frequent use, AKA, weapons. Slither-swimming his way past various stalls, stands, and stores, he peers around to search for some decently sharp things for which he may use to kill things. Also a horned helmet for the annoying seahorse.
-
(Wow, the mages are utter idiots while the barbaric warrior fish knows his niche. So sad, maybe I should kill off the dumb mages)
Yilin and Virmir both fail to find anything of any use whatsoever. They bump into multiple people on their wild goose chases and generally cause havoc where there should have been none before. The townsmers are pretty sick of the stupid freaks bumbling around in their way. You won't have any time to keep looking anymore, you two.
Attor, on the other hand, knows what to do - in most shapes, the group should be able to handle weapons. He's lucky enough to find a stand that's selling plenty of adventuring weapons and armor, though the latter would probably be useless. As it stands, though, he's separated from his group and could probably only afford a couple of items. There are spears, swords, harpoons, staves, and more. Most are made of stone and metal, cooked closely above a vent - or so the sign above the stand claims. (These vents must be like personal oil wells for the denizens here, you realize, opening a whole new business thanks to the natural environment.) The weapons will likely give a nice bonus to your damage-dealing potential, but you could be unable to use them based on your changing forms. Still, even if you can't use them, you might be able to intimidate some people with them.
(these weapons may roll str or cha, randomly, and may also be unable to be used when you transform, so they'll be iffy. you can buy two since you all split up and Vir and Toast are failures)
-
If he were psychic, Yilin would probably have this unexplainable sense of jealous right now that he was struggling while another party member succeeded on the first try. Though this would be offset by the fact that the irritating sea horse is having just about as much luck as he is right now. Ignorant of all these things, he just decides it's a good idea to try and search for the group and figure out what's going on.
-
Attor, after much consideration and annoying browsing, attempts to purchase a spear and a smaller sword. Nobody else is with him, so that means he gets to pick!
-
Eventually, I run into Yilin on the streets.
"You didn't find anything either, huh?" I can tell by his empty handedness and general irritated expression. "All I got was this red fish."
"Karp, karp..." says the red fish tied to the the leash I'm holding with my fin.
I got him from this shady guy in an alley who kept calling me "boy".
"Karp, karp... magikarp... karp..." says the red fish.
"I think I'll name him Karl."
"Hey."
"Shut up, Karl. Anyway, the streets of Atlantis are lame. Let's find Chief No-Pronouns and move on. I know there's no way he found anything either."
-
Yilin literally bumps into Virmir and knocks him over, which is very hard to do underwater but is somehow accomplished by the two bumbling idiots. In the process the leash Virmir was holding onto comes free from his grip and the fish swims off. While the two of them attempt to untangle their many fins and assorted underwater appendages, Attor comes upon them. Maybe giving the pair of them weapons and items is a poor idea...
But now you've spent all your money and time, and it's time to get going. Allocate your stuff before you head back to the ruins... then you'll go right to something. Fighting, presumably, unless you can somehow talk your way through. Considering your luck so far, probably not.
(And I have college so don't even tell me I was late when Vir took just as much time as me to post)
-
(Heeeey now, kiddo, that last post was just fluff because I had nothing to do. I didn't think any sort of response was required since you pretty much said our turn was over! Also when I was in college I had a very strict once per night forum RP post schedule. [;))
"Nooo, Karl! He only had 14 more levels left too..."
I untangle myself from Yilin and bicker with him in an imaginative, amusing fashion before finally dusting myself off and HARUMPHing. I don't really have anything to get ready except for the magical item in my cape, which I forgot exactly what it was because that was months ago and I'd have to hit back a few times to find it, but will surely look it up before a critical moment arises.
"Right then, let's just go and get this over with."
-
Attor is once again disappointed in the weird seahorse and ice-eel-thing. He does, however, procure a bit of seaweed and ties the sword onto the seahorse's head as a sort of head-mounted stabbing implement.
"There, now seahorse is good for something."
-
After his imaginative, amusing argument and bickering with the stupid seahorse, Yilin busily sets about untangling himself from the confused mess of aquatic body parts. "Oh," he says, noting Attor's return, "The freak gang is all back together. What say we finally get going and try and get rid of all this icky fish... whatever-ness?"
-
Floating there with a sword strapped to my head, I shift my eyes.
"HA HA HA HA HA," says the prerecorded audience laugh track.
-
Hopefully a seahorse's body will allow Virmir to actually use the sword. His wimpy, tiny, normal arms would probably do no good, but with the neck and head of a powerful animal, he should be able to actually wield it. But it doesn't exactly look dangerous from its spot. (+2 STR for Vir)
Assuming that Attor is going to keep the spear for himself, presumably his background will have acquainted him with how to use a spear. His muscles aren't quite as powerful as a bucking seahorse's neck, but the long, thin shaft to the weapon will let him move about and deflect some attacks. (+1 STR, +1 AGI for Attor)
And Yilin gets nothing. Good job finding the bathroom.
There's no grand parade to see you off or anything - you're just nodded to by some of the citizens near the exit of the market. Despite looking more ridiculous, seahorse-Vir does seem more strong and more like a noble steed for a party of adventurers, no matter how inept and blind they might be. Maybe Yilin should ride him back to the arena, through the currents that pushed and helped you out of the dangerous area. He IS a puny little eel-thing.
You might have to keep your eyes out to avoid getting dropped by those creepy oily-alien skum and their masters. The most INTelligent among you should probably be the one on the watch as you swim near the decrepit arena...
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Looking menacing with my head-sword, I lead the group into the murky depths because I am posting first. I hadn't noticed the current coming the other way, but I cut through it with ease. It would explain how we accidentally made it to the town.
I'm noticing it's kind of hard to see in the distance with my eyes positioned on the sides of my head like this. "Hey, one of you two keep watch for evil things. There are bound to be evil things around here. They've probably got tentacles." I figure at my current leisurely pace, it will be just a few moments (three days) before I reach the edge of what I can currently see at this moment and need to INT-look myself.
----
STAT CHECKPOINT
STR +2
AGI 0
MAG +4
RES +3
CHA 1
INT -2
Items: Head-sword, invisibility bracelet
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"No fair, why did the two of you get shiny new gear?" the eel critter grumbles aloud, bubbling in discontent; he really hates it when he does that. Shaking his head, he keeps close to the others, not wanting to be separated AGAIN. Seeing as how he is clearly the most intelligent of the group, he vigilantly keeps watch for anything out of the ordinary or suspicious, hoping there isn't some convoluted underwater smokestack or anything else ridiculous in his way again.
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NEW STATS GET
STR +0
AGI +4
MAG -2
RES -1
CHA +1
INT +1
Attor baps Yilin on the head with the end of his new spear. "Attor could only afford two! You have freezey-freeze!"
However, the krait-vorzh is keen to his environment, instinctively keeping an eye out for dangers, hazards, threats, and tasty squid.
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UNFORTUNATELY, only the first person to bother with looking around is allowed to take a risk in investigation. (I don't know what sort of DnD you play where you're allowed to have multiple rolls on the same thing by different people, but that's some crazy talk) Because Yilin is supremely stupid and inept lately, he fails to note the signature flickers in the water of some elemental creatures native to the depths of the sea. While your party moves along, seemingly free to bicker and whine among yourselves like you seem to always do, those same creatures set in around you and set up to strike you down.
From behind you come a series of miniature whirlpools, twisting and pulling at the water like extreme winds, so strong that they could rip your limbs out of their sockets. It takes some effort to avoid - they seem to have only been warning shots. ...but the sources aren't backing off. Maybe they were just sizing up their prey.
Hulking creatures of crystal glow and shimmer in the water, limbs ending in fine, sharp points. They could cut through rock - and they demonstrate this by slicing the ground beneath them in twain. Their bodies reflect your shocked faces, and lack any real faces of their own. More monsters, it seems - Shards. Probably put together by the aboleth in their free time, when they're not busy corrupting people into skum or devouring minds and flesh. They make for very decent guards, and they seem intent on "guarding" you far away from here.
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Blast it! These things weren't here when we came back the other way!
No matter--I'll blast these things out of the water. I puff my chest up and then spray a stream of bubbles at Shard 1, except the bubbles have FIRE in them!
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((In every DnD and/or Pathfinder game I've played, all players make their own reactive checks...since perception in this context is passive, It would have been allowed. You're the GM here, just throwing my 2 cents out there. [:) ))
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How many times are they going to be accosted in this underwater hellhole!? Granted, it had actually been a while since he had fought, but seeing that he had still been human at the time that seemed to be a lifetime ago. And how the heck had these ugly critters snuck up on him without him noticing!?
For once, seeing that he's caught off guard, Yilin attempts to use his magic defensively, casting up a wall of ice in front of him.
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Attor doesn't really know what he's looking at, but he doesn't like being attacked much either. So, given his options, it's obvious that he's got a spear, so it's time for stab-stabs.
At being caught off-guard, though, Attor's not in the best situation. He decides to go for the slowest shard, but even then he's pretty slow to begin his own attack.
-
It's a tense moment--so tense that it seems drag on for 11 days.
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(I was writing a story for you and then I had papers and I have two DnD groups so I don't even know what's gonna satisfy you)
The monolithic Shards seem to be pretty defensively-minded themselves - all the magic and striking in the world could simply chip at their bodies. Still, the spear from Attor could possibly do some damage. On the other hand, Vir's bubbles wouldn't even leave a little bit of a singe on their bodies.
Despite their overbearing size and unwieldy forms, they can do their best to topple down on top of the enemy. Two of them head for Yilin, bringing arms up like icicles to try and bust through his defense (AGI +1 thanks to his blockade of ice). The last ignores the pitiful display from the seahorse and moves to Attor, slicing in front of him.
-
Yilin gains quite a lot of room for manuever thanks to his ice wall forcing the Shards to behave rather clumsily, room that the changed-eel wiggles to try and gain advantage with!
For once during this miserable day the former human is able to gain quite the advantage over his opponants, and whips his claws about forward, attempting to turn the ice wall into an icey prison against one of his attackers!
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Well, blast. It seems as though 5% of the time my magic attacks don't seem to do anything, and for some reason that 5% of the time happens a lot... It must be something in the water.
Regardless, even though these things passed me over, there is no way the eel is going to last two against one for very long, and then the two of them are going to turn on me, and I'm not keen on dying again!
I'm getting the sense that magic (or physical attacks, for that matter) aren't going to be very effective on these things. Keeping my distance from the dark magic being tossed around, I opt for a different approach-- "Hey, you!" I swim up behind Shard 2, trying to attract its attention, then let out a FERAL SEAHORSE SHOCKWAVE ROAR.
-
Attor, twists and swirls through the water to try to avoid sharp, crystal-y pain and death.
Failing to do this causes the krait to feel quite a sharp pain from a sharp thing. If only his scales were harder!
Despite this, though, he tries to stab the crystal with his spear, letting out an aquatic hiss.
-
Determined and angry (or at least, what could probably be conceived as anger), the two Shards already on Yilin continue to try and strike at him with their crystalline bodies. They throw their whole being into every strike!
And despite a general lack of intelligence in MOST seahorses (and occasionally in animals possessing the name Virmir), this one seems to have found the weakness right away. Hardened crystal of this size is not really in any danger from physical or magical attacks, but the bonds possessing it are easier to target. They don't really possess a mind, either, so where would the struggle come in influencing or outright controlling them?
Still, Attor attempts to strike at them, and the Shard retaliates in the same way.
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(You're asking for it with these posts, bird brain. [;))
Hmmmm, somehow that seems to have shaken up that thing somehow, at least a little bit more than the other two's more direct attacks. I wonder if I can somehow shake it up enough to make it fall apart? I puff myself up and SHOCKWAVE BLAST it again!
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Attor attempts to dodge the shard's attacks, being a failure so far in combat starting to get to him. Granted, being hit has made him all the more dodge-happy.
However, Attor's stab attempts aren't working! He's at a loss for what to do against this stab-immune foe! But then, he remembers, he has magical items!
He whips out the wand, and attempts to use it to slow down the shard he's had so much trouble trying to stab, or at least do SOMETHING to it. (Shard 3) Unfortunately, he has little to no idea how to actually use the thing, so expect flailing and pointing.
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Yilin glares-or at least glares as best a strange eel creature can- at the shards and wiggles and wriiiithes, hoping that this slimy form is at least good at slipping away from the incoming blows! He whips his claws out, creating a wave of icicles from the sides to crash inward at the first shard to try and finish him off.
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The Shards don't seem to be phased by any amount of damage that they take. Probably just an upside of being constructs... or maybe you really aren't doing anything noticeable. That'd be pretty sad.
There isn't much variation to their attacks. They definitely don't possess much of a mind, if there's anything at all in what might be their brainspace. Attor's wand, however, does do something... but the target he was aiming for is not exactly what it hits. It affects him instead, his form turning more fluid and losing some definition. He's going to be even more difficult to get a handle on now, but he does lose a touch of the strength behind his attacks that he used to have. ...and the wand seems to have disintegrated after causing its change. (+2 AGI, -1 STR)
Virmir is much smarter than your average seahorse, it seems - his shockwave blasts are so effective that they completely burst apart the second Shard, sending little bits of crystal about. That's a bit of space created for the party.
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OH YEAH--I mean, *ahem* yes, I knew that would happen.
Really, it wouldn't make much sense for me to try anything else--it's just a matter of choosing my next target. The eel is going crazy with his dark magic and I don't want any piece of that, so I turn my attention to the shard attacking no-pronouns, blasting it from behind with a SONIC BLAST.
(Other players should be capable of performing a CHA attack as well. All we're really doing in the end is picking rock, paper, or scissors.)
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Feeling a little energized, excited, and maaaybe a bit cocky, Yilin swims straight up and then down as he tries to evade the shards' blows.
Glowing even more fiecely, he spins upward in the water and SLAMS a cone of ice right down on top of the first shard.
-
I tense, watching the shock waves ripple through the water. The intensity of the moment slows time--so much that it seems to take 44 days.
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Attor is confused by the stupid wand not working right, but doesn't allow that to distract him entirely. He continues his dodging, unsure of what he can even do against these dumb shards.
STATS
STR: -1
AGI: +6
MAG: -2
RES: -1
CHA: +1
INT: +1
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Um... is this still going? I’m looking for a thing to do. >.>
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MEDIK NEVER FINISHES THESE
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Well that’s a shame. It looked fun!