garmr
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King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 11, 2020 0:13:01 GMT
"These are the directions given by Professor Spell-O-Matic: East, North down the stairs to the floor below this one, North-East, East, South-East." Henry says as he leads the party down the east corridor from Cell Block Zero.
"Tell me, Elizabeth, what do you remember from before you arrived here? Perhaps if we compare our stories we can begin to understand what dark conspiracy has trapped us in this place..."
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Post by Spwack on Jul 11, 2020 6:27:54 GMT
Heading east, you swiftly arrive at a four-way intersection. To the north, a set of stairs plunge down into the ground, unadorned steps roughly hacked into the stone. The other passages lead south and continue east. Are you going to just follow the instructions from the Professor?
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 11, 2020 7:29:03 GMT
"I remember... before I woke up, a long time ago actually but not *too* long ago (I think?), someone did something important for me. I can't remember what... but I woke up with tears in my eyes, and I remembered feeling loved."
Elizabeth follows Henry XIV up to the intersection. "What say you, your highness? I guess we ought to listen to the professor."
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garmr
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King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 12, 2020 1:04:40 GMT
"How interesting. Perhaps if we search long enough, we can restore your memories and return you to the one who loves you."
Let's follow the directions, but take time in each room to investigate anything interesting. I'm sort of hoping we will find something useful along the way that will help us deal with the Beholder.
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Post by Spwack on Jul 12, 2020 9:24:40 GMT
Down the stairs lead, down, down and down again. Your shins ache by the time you reach the bottom, and you aren't relishing the climb back up, but it's a very easy way to reach the floor below Cell Block Zero. Before you stands an immense vault of age-blackened iron, old in the same way that an oak tree is old. It bears two chunks of elaborate mechanism protecting two keyholes from tampering, and the keyholes themselves you can already see are twisting wounds of artifice.
This is not the type of vault you'll be opening without those two keys.
The vault is dead ahead, but you can easily walk to the left and right, in a long winding arc. Taking the right-hand path, it curves around to the North-East, matching the instructions from the Professor. This path seems to follow a large circle around the vault. If it was a clock, with north at 12, you would have entered at the 6 and have walked around to the 3. The tunnel breaking off from the 3 has a wooden sign jammed into a crack in the rocks: splintery and sullen, it bears a skull-and-crossbones, and nothing else.
What do you do?
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 12, 2020 19:17:51 GMT
"The professor said to travel north-east, then east? Did he mean this tunnel?" Elizabeth asks Henry XIV. Can I roll to carefully listen for noise in the hallway? I also want to inspect the floor for any pressure plates--though without walking in, I'm sure it'll be hard to notice any immediate danger.
Also, how far down can we see?
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Post by Spwack on Jul 13, 2020 1:00:55 GMT
No pressure plates or anything like it. You don't need to roll to listen, just asking is enough for me to say, no, you can't hear anything. You can see to the end of your torchlight, and you can see several large smashed boulders scattered about at the far end of the tunnel. Some of them appear to have been sliced perfectly in half...
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 13, 2020 6:39:11 GMT
Is there anything on the floor nearby? I'm looking for something to throw across the hallway, to see what happens.
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garmr
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King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 13, 2020 8:20:20 GMT
While Elizabeth is checking for traps, I'm looking in my pack. I have an item on my sheet called a 'Frognade' (as in 'frog grenade'). Do I know exactly what this does?
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Post by Spwack on Jul 13, 2020 10:42:10 GMT
Grabbing a stone, it clatters down the hallway. There's no reaction.
((Your trap-checking is really good. Half the "challenge" of dealing with traps is remembering to check, so don't worry too much about how exhaustive you are! Unless it's a really suspicious situation, but you'll know that when you see it))
The frognade is a grenade powered by rapidly dividing frogs, and I mean rapidly. It's good for crowd-control and blocking off locations.
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garmr
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King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 14, 2020 0:57:21 GMT
OK, I'm forming the basics of a plan. If we can find our way to the beholder's lair, one person could distract it while others grab as much treasure as they can. The frognade could be used to pin down the beholder or to block it from pursuing us. I'm open to other suggestions though.
Since Elizabeth has (probably?) shown the tunnel is safe, I'll advance to the end. Are these boulders sliced horizontally, vertically, diagonally? And can I tell what sliced them, e.g. is the rock cut cleanly or fused by heat?
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Post by Spwack on Jul 14, 2020 3:19:50 GMT
The rocks looks like they have all been cut perfectly along single straight lines. You're pretty sure there's no natural or mechanical way that kind of precision could've been achieved. The end of the tunnel opens out into a massive dark space, your torchlight only illuminates the walls and floor right near you.
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 15, 2020 2:58:55 GMT
"East, south-east... there must be another entrance 135 degrees to the right of us, in a circle. Up and to the right..." Elizabeth thinks out loud. Is there anything we can hear this much closer to the large room? I think something lurks there.
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Post by Spwack on Jul 15, 2020 7:27:33 GMT
((This large room is the location the Professor sent you, it's weird having a circular section as part of the direction))
You can hear absolutely nothing apart from your own heartbeat, your own breaths, and the crackle of the torch.
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 16, 2020 0:02:36 GMT
I walk slowly towards the center of the room, testing every step in front of me in case there's any pressure plates or otherwise loose stones.
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Post by Spwack on Jul 16, 2020 1:17:08 GMT
As you walk out into the chamber, you realise it is in fact a massive cavern, stretching high above and far away. Your little pool of torchlight barely makes a dent in it. You might as well be floating in an ocean. Then, you see the moon. No, not the moon, but definitely a large glowing orb, opening and closely. Surrounded by... eight other... smaller orbs... also blinking open and shut. They all turn towards you, and you see two little ghostly skulls pop up next to it.
What do you do?
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garmr
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King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 16, 2020 2:08:48 GMT
(In case you're not aware, Elizabeth, the two skulls means it's a very powerful monster.)
Looking around, is there anywhere to take cover? Or any sign of the treasure?
I will get out my steel mirror on an extendable pole, with the pole compressed so I can control it easily. If the beholder shoots beams at me I will try to deflect them with the mirror. But for now I will keep it by my side and step forward.
"Greetings, nine-eyed one. I am Henry XIV of Caoilainn. Be you the master of this cavernous domain?"
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Post by Spwack on Jul 17, 2020 1:09:39 GMT
There's plenty of cover, what with all the smashed boulders, which range in size from a basketball to a small house. However, looking at how they are sliced, maybe that's not the safest option.
No sign of any treasure just yet.
"I AM THE MASTER OF ALL DOMAINS" squarks the Beholder. "KNEEL AND I WILL END YOUR PITIFUL EXISTENCE."
However, it isn't firing just yet... what do you do?
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 17, 2020 7:09:30 GMT
I kneel down before the beholder. "We don't have any beef with you, master. What are you doing down here? Have you always lived here?" I keep my face down, but my eyes tilted up to try to watch the beholder's movements. I don't want to present myself as a threat, and maybe the beholder will be cooperative with us.
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garmr
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King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 17, 2020 8:18:59 GMT
"Elizabeth, I'm afraid your kind words may be falling upon deaf ears..."
I will to retreat back to the tunnel we entered through. If the beholder looks like it's going to attack, I will shout to try to draw its attention to me instead of Elizabeth.
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Post by Spwack on Jul 17, 2020 10:38:03 GMT
The Beholder floats closer, blinking. "WHAT? WHAT? YOU DARE QUESTION ME, LORD OF ALL I SURVEY, AND SURVEYOR OF ALL? GIVE ME ONE REASON I SHOULDN'T SNUFF YOU OUT LIKE THAT" the Beholder twitches one eye-stalk, making a crackling-snap noise. One of the other eyes is staring directly at you garmr, you've definitely got its attention already... What do you do?
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 17, 2020 20:24:40 GMT
"Well, I am not questioning you, my lord... I am just asking questions." Elizabeth feels more confident, since the beholder seems attentive and didn't immediately kill her. "Is there anything you want, master? My comrade and I have accidentally wandered here, but we can depart as easily as we can come back with anything you might want." I grasp my psicrystal of madness in my palm like a stress toy, as though I were disinterestedly holding a smooth rock.
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Post by Spwack on Jul 18, 2020 2:50:23 GMT
"LEAVE, NOW! BRING ME TRIBUTE, GOLD AND JEWELS, OR ELSE I WILL BRING UNTOLD ELDRITCH DESTRUCTION DOWN ATOP YOUR PATHETIC BROKEN BODIES!"
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 18, 2020 4:01:39 GMT
Elizabeth nods and backs out of the cavern, her face aimed downward to show respect. She waits until she is back at the end of the hallway to turn back around and talk to Henry XIV. "Flattery will get anyone anywhere. I don't think we *necessarily* have to follow up on his command, but it'll do now." She looks back suspiciously at the hallway, speaking more quietly. "What all do we have to work with? I don't think we can take him head-on."
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Post by Spwack on Jul 18, 2020 4:09:44 GMT
The Beholder lets off a bit of a light-show as you leave, beams of magic playing across the ceiling and floor, making the cavern thrum like a struck drum.
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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 18, 2020 5:14:26 GMT
Henry XIV is sweating (a gross milky substance that drips from his porcelain skin.) "I thought you were dead for sure, Elizabeth, but it seems you had the right idea after all. Hats off to you." He opens his pack to show what he has to offer, which isn't much: endlessdungeon.freeforums.net/thread/10/henry-xiv?page=1&scrollTo=36"I bought this frognade from a witch. Apparently it fills a space with a large number of amphibians. Perhaps we could lure the beholder into this narrow tunnel, run past him and then trap him in frogs, giving us time to seize some treasure." He shrugs, acknowledging the evident risks associated with this plan.
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 18, 2020 6:37:34 GMT
"I have a bucket of illusory goop... I wonder if I can make this look like a decent sized amount of gold." Will I be able to pick up and put away the goop once I'm done with it, or is this a one-time illusion? If I can use it freely, I want to try turning it into gold.
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Post by Spwack on Jul 20, 2020 7:11:02 GMT
The goop is for one time only, but it can be easily turned into an attractive bucket of jewels and gems. However, as you are the original creator of the bucket, if the beholder touches it, he may not be as fooled as he first was and then, shit may be fucked yo.
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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jul 20, 2020 9:13:30 GMT
"I have heard rumours that a beholder's eye projects a beam of anti-magic, which might dispel the illusion."
Do I know if these rumours (e.g. out-of-character knowledge) are true?
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Post by chiquitafajita on Jul 20, 2020 21:05:11 GMT
"Maybe if we can use the illusion as a pretense to gain access into his lair, and then launch an attack before he has the chance to suspect us... I have a crystal that when broken, makes all creatures within my sight either blind or prone or screaming or armless. The only unhelpful outcome would be if he becomes armless, seeing as he's a giant floating eye. Then, once he's incapacitated we can take his gold and run. Maybe we can use the frog grenade for good measure?"
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