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Post by Spwack on Aug 21, 2020 1:42:54 GMT
Cell Block Zero is a strange place indeed. The walls are lined with silver cages, buzzing with bizarre and otherworldly magic. Locked within each cage are slumbering forms, no two alike, perfectly preserved in the moment between heartbeats. The room is lit by a blackened brazier full of off-orange coals, smokeless and soundless and requiring no fuel (as far as anyone can tell). The middle of the room is dominated by a massive iron table, covered in stacks of blank paper, torn journals, and writing utensils. In the far corner stands a large steel box with a glass front. The sides are painted in thick stripes of brown and green, and the whole structure has a certain surliness to it. Behind the glass are dozens of hooks, holding daggers, axes, helmets and bandages, and there's a slot to put coins in on one side. There are four exits to the room, to the North (perhaps a river can be heard?), South (the smell of mud and rot), East (cold stone) and West (the clatter of metal on metal, faintly). A cage opens, and out climbs... you! Who are you? What was the last thing you remember before seeing this strange room? And most importantly... what do you do?
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Post by frankiestein on Sept 16, 2020 4:20:37 GMT
I am Hurricane! A stout fellow, belly bulging against a tight red sash that slashes across my body and wraps around my waist. His face could be described as handsome if he didn't have the fondness of food that he did: strong chin hidden under a roll of olive complexioned fat and a girth surrounded his entire form. He knew though that this is what GOD wanted for his children, or else why would he not make food so delicious? In his time in the world outside, he was a knight errant, serving no one but the call of duty and righteousness. If people are to enjoy their time here on earth, they need those to protect them from the sinners and demons of the world. The church did not enjoy his positions, and eventually decried him as nothing more than a hedonist. But what did they know? They hadn't seen the face of GOD like he had. As he climbs out of the cage, he stretches out his back with a quick jerking motion.
He reminisced briefly about what he had seen last before waking in this dreadful place: the soulful blue eyes of Javier, his lover and best friend in these troubled times. He above anyone else understood the calling that Hurricane had to answer.
"Oh Lord below, what have you gotten me into now? It befuddles me still so many resist your enveloping void." he states to nothing in particular. He checks himself to make sure nothing has been implanted on him or in him. Assuming everything is there, he will move on to investigating his new situation. - Do I have my listed equipment?
He will begin by inspecting the stacks of paper, looking both for information as well as a source light that could be used besides the brazier (which does not seem movable. I am also assuming the exits are not lit). After that, I'd like to see what the other slumbering forms in the various cages are, specifically if any have the muscles of someone who could do me harm or have the bearings enemies I have made in the past.
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Post by Spwack on Sept 16, 2020 10:07:28 GMT
Everything that is meant to be is present, and nothing untoward can be found. You are whole, very hearty, and also furnished with a bag including three torches and three rations. What does Hurricane prefer to eat, if he must subsist on travel-ready foods?
The other sleeping forms seem trapped in an enchanted slumber, but safe behind the odd silvery cages. They are surrounded by a haze of unknowing-ness, and you can't make out their features, not just yet at least.
((All cages contain future characters, though some could certainly be from your past!))
The brazier is indeed not moveable, and the contents of the paper depend heavily on what other adventurers have recorded on it. So far there are a few scraps of notes, and a rather detailed map of the nearby rooms on this floor and a few of the floor below.
What do you do?
((Once you want to leave the room, just make a new thread with that intention))
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 12, 2020 2:17:59 GMT
I check out the shared inventory space seeing the sign written in charcoal saying "TAKE ONE LEAVE ONE" doing some light organizing I grab the suitcase with many locks then place the rest in semi organized chaos on the floor
- Empty chest - Improvised rust remover (chest and fine sand) - Metal collar - Random shitty books (incorrect almanac, novel with pic of Fabio on cover, textbook with bad construction advice i.e. wondrous properties of asbestos, book on trees but every description is the same) - Muriel the Magic Mirror - 30ft of silk rope - small Black cube from the gundead tower
and I add to it the supplies from Garrets barter emporium
Fishing rod shiny locket greeble 3 gizmos pinning bit medium ticky thing spool of fine wire
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 12, 2020 2:55:48 GMT
Next I check on the Slaboratory A communal alchemy table with about 70% of what you'd want to actually, you know, do alchemy. Located in a cell in CB0 that has been converted, the wall mounted cots have been raised to be an appropriate height to work on. There's retorts, flasks, crucibles and some burners (although no oil at the moment). There's a donation box chained to the door of this communal space (currently empty)
there is one green potion turning gray with sediment on the bottom labelled "potion of mapping" in elegant spiderweb script
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 12, 2020 2:59:05 GMT
I drag the great metal box from one of the cells to the center of the room. It is much heavier than it appears and I can barely move it. After it is placed I label it with charcoal writing "FIND THE LADY" and draw an arrow pointing to the opening of its large lid
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 12, 2020 3:02:09 GMT
"Sergeant ToughMuffins! roll call!"
list off current active adventurers
and
vending machines
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Post by Spwack on Oct 12, 2020 7:39:53 GMT
"ATTENNN HUT! I would call ye 'maggot' like I do the rest, but I feel that would be, ya know. Not the done thing."
You've never seen look quite this awkward, but anyway.
"Let's see what we've got here. Mechanical vendors nearby are, myself, Professor Spell-o-Matic, and One-Hit Wonders down the hall. Flights-of-Fancy has also reported in recently."
((Little bit of metagaming here, but perhaps some of the other group will be tempted back eventually?))
"Active delvers are: - Yourself, Blerble the Worm - Sir Hurricane and his goblin squires - Miss Joffi Rinc - Jaxudyzad - Henry XIV And perhaps a few others, but they haven't checked in recently."
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 12, 2020 12:19:35 GMT
Rechecking on the metal box with « find the lady » written on it. I open the lid and peer down inside before dropping a rock in and listening carefully. After testing the acoustics a bit, I crawl done into the box to see where the rocks have landed.
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Post by Spwack on Oct 13, 2020 2:51:35 GMT
Looking down the box, you can see the metal-lined walls of the shaft down, but this time, it seems to have a ladder. There's a clatter and a bang as the rock falls down. Clambering down, you are standing in a long hallway. The smell of rust and sound of dripping water can be heard from down the right, while the left is silent apart from occasional plinks and dings.
Whichever way you go, make a new thread and have at it!
((There have been some changes to the Metal Box Minidungeon))
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 13, 2020 3:03:10 GMT
Oh I am not looking to explore here at the moment. I am looking to make a safe landing spot for putting some treasure into the box. Hopefully have it be semi silent. It seems the contents of the box do not affect its weight so I would be able to stash Stuff in here for easier hauling.
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 13, 2020 3:05:03 GMT
Rock seems to have landed safe and sound? Not wandered off down a hallway? You said it clattered about on the metal quite loudly? Could I make a sound buffering landing pad out of mud from the depressed frog area? Perhaps utilize that with one of the empty treasure chests from the shared supply.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 13, 2020 5:59:43 GMT
((We have an alchemy table, a pile of shared items and a minidungeon-in-a-box in CB0? ))
I will assist in any preparations that Blerble wants to make.
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 13, 2020 14:06:52 GMT
Jaxudyzad, I believe we can haul this dungeon in a box to the beholders lair then fill it with treasure but we need to make things as quiet as possible due to their blindness. We also need some other back up plans just in case.
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Post by frankiestein on Oct 14, 2020 3:15:33 GMT
Walking up from the southern frog area and dispensing some vegetables from his bag of them to his goblins, Hurricane enters the room "Hello! Seems that the frog were not meant to be for the time being. Figured I mine as well help out with this Beholder business which is sure to be some nastiness."
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 14, 2020 5:58:08 GMT
"Glad to have you with us, Sir Hurricane. This business could indeed easily turn nasty, but I choose to believe in our success. Anyway, could you give us a hand?"
I will telekinetically lift the minidungeon-in-a-box, but also grab it to keep it steady and up.
"I can have a rock or javelin floating as far away from us as possible and make some noises if there's a chance the beholder will notice us. Maybe we could have Terrance float up and grab one of their eyestalks? That should keep them distracted and I don't think they would be willing to disintegrate their own eye."
"Hm, what does Muriel the Magic Mirror do? Could we use them to deflect any unfortunate eye-rays?"
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Post by Spwack on Oct 14, 2020 7:18:37 GMT
((@red_kangaroo there was a pile of loot retrieved by prior expeditions that I had completely forgotten about until wingilbear reminded me, so here it is!)) wingilbear the rock is where you left it, but the box doesn't give you a good feeling at all in terms of safety and security. This area feels, to your tremorsense, weirdly porous, like burrowing through sand. You might be fine where you are, because you are holding this part of the tunnel open, but there's no way to tell what might happen to anything in the "tunnel" behind you. Muriel the Magic Mirror is a full-length mirror on a large stand with tiny wheels. It's currently covered in a cloth. Do you want to pull aside the veil and see what Muriel beholds?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 14, 2020 8:56:05 GMT
Yes, I will peek behind the curtain.
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 14, 2020 15:10:08 GMT
It seems this dungeon in a box cannot transport our loot. Let’s check one hit for potions then grab aN empty treasure chest
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Post by frankiestein on Oct 15, 2020 4:43:24 GMT
"Happy to help however I can! I figured that perhaps me and my lads here." gestures to goblins grandly "might be able to make a distraction of noise to cover any sneaking that might be undertaken. However, it strikes me: can you just lift the gold away with like you did that thing?" Hurricane seems very impressed by your telekenesis though he is not familiar with it.
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Post by Spwack on Oct 15, 2020 5:27:23 GMT
@red_kangaroo
This is what you see when you look at your reflection in Muriel: Yourself, wearing a truly exquisite hat. Your pose is regal and refined, your elegant costume is supported by delicate tendrils of barely-there psychic power, and you can feel the presence of your telekinesis enveloping and surrounding your body like a second skin. In the mirror, you can see the form your power might take, that of an incredibly loyal and protective almost-creature, composed only of invisible force and willpower.
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 15, 2020 8:16:22 GMT
To one hit please « hey dude what you selling? »
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Post by Spwack on Oct 15, 2020 11:02:21 GMT
"Heyyyy worm dude! How you going? Yeah let me, just uh, let me... there we go!"
Bottled Weather (150 cp) Potion of Etherealness (150 cp) Bottle of Motive Fluid (100 cp) Bottle of Plant Killer (100 cp) Potion of the Legendary Sorcerer (350 cp) Various unstable potions (50 cp each)
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 15, 2020 12:51:35 GMT
« Thanks maybe later bra. » doesn’t look like much that will help us with a heist think we will grab an empty treasure chest and the medium ticky thing and whatever the rest of you can think of then head to the beholder.
Which is East to the junction, saying the password « password » to get the bridge to move letting us go north, down the stairs, anticlockwise around the big circle past the dwarf vault, then east along the tunnel with the skull signpost.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Oct 15, 2020 19:27:22 GMT
I smile to myself, then stop. Not because I don't feel like smiling, but because what I see in the mirror seems too good to be true. Or at least the full truth. Everyone aspires to greatness and indeed, you should dream big if you ever want to accomplish something truly relevant. With this dream-come-true right in front of my eyes, everything in me yearns to make it a reality right in this instant, yet I hesitate. I touch the scars on my face to remind myself that everything has a price. Though I now embrace this path of psychic enlightenment, I was thrust upon it against my will, paid for my power with blood and pain. I cannot let myself believe that this... this wonder wouldn't be paid for hundredfold.
I don't know if I want to pay the price of something as great as I was shown.
I don't know if I will have a choice.
"I don't think it will be just that easy, unfortunately," I smile at Hurricane. "While my mind is strong enough to lift a great weight into the air, I quickly loose control when I am too far or when I try to move more than a few things at once. I don't think we will have the time to wait for hours as I fetch the whole treasure hoard one coin at a time. Frankly, I don't even know how long I could keep at this, as the power is a boon I only recently acquired."
I will grab the silk rope (there's never enough rope, especially as we will likely climb) and follow Blerble to the entrance of the beholder's cavern.
(( wingilbear , would Blerble know anything about how to unlock that vault or where to look for the keys?))
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Post by frankiestein on Oct 15, 2020 20:50:43 GMT
Nodding in agreement, Hurricane will fall in line behind, trying his very best to keep the goblins in toe and trying to teach a modicum of tactical approach.
"Fair enough! This certainly seems like a place of continually changing circumstances. Would we like to go with the plan of me talking as a means of distraction or shall we attempt stealth alone?"
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 15, 2020 23:25:07 GMT
Many have tried to open the dwarven vault by magic, fire, and force but it can only be opened by two great angular keys (like triangle prisms) and I have no idea where they are.
I think we will try stealth first, distraction second, trickery third, and death fourth. When the time comes for trickery, blame everything on the name thief.
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Post by Spwack on Oct 18, 2020 2:59:22 GMT
((How do you want to manage the CB0 inventory wingilbear)) "Hey no worries! Good luck with uh, whatever it is you're doing!" ((Great respond @red_kangaroo! We shall see what happens)) And with that, the intrepid three (and four, if you include various goblins and slimes) head out once more! ((New thread incoming))
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Post by wingilbear on Oct 18, 2020 4:38:43 GMT
Shared inventory is open to all including npcs but I think I will have sergeant tough muffins Encourage those they see to leave some stuff when they take some stuff
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Post by Spwack on Nov 20, 2020 1:51:07 GMT
- Continuing on from the other thread - wingilbear: ((To clarify, things that are currently stored in the cells are safe and fine, I'm just considering whether it was reasonable in the first place to give everyone unlimited and easily accessible inventory. Andsaca had that cache of hidden power gems, that was good, and I'd like to encourage that kind of behaviour more!)) Sarge has only one recommendation - "Buy more stuff! You'd do well to get some proper armour on you m'boy, I'm sure there's some reticulating splines that would suit your, uh, self quite well." @red_kangaroo: "I should hope so as well" says Velicious, and he smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. He slinks off back into the gloom. < Velicious will remember that > There are indeed an currently unknown wealth of gems, and a smattering of arms and armour. Shall we say, a halberd, a helmet, a cuirass, another sword, an axe, two shields and a bandoleer of daggers. ((Unless there is something in particular someone is looking for? frankiestein?)) The Professor is eager to help such storied heroes. "Indeed! That is quite a feat to be sure. For such an array of items, I should think a flat rate of 20 tassels should be enough per object. Let me see, hmmm..." "The ruby set into this stone is a potent healing relic, but it has been marred and drained by time. It used to heal at a touch, now it only heals if it remains in contact with the flesh. Even then, it only barely restores the injury the wearer most wants healed, which will return should the healing magic cease. I should warn you, the injury itself will never heal properly so long as you keep using that magic to stave it off." "This urn contains... a ghost? I think. I am unsure, but I believe the urn is it's burial - no, a temporary burial place! There are runes of debt and binding upon it. I should be careful unsealing that. Or else, just throw it near something you dislike. I apologise, I shall only subtract 10 tassels from your credit. And indeed, if you do use this I would be interested to know it's effect. "This is a Seven League Boot. Notice the singular, not plural term? You may have some trouble with this, unless you can locate the other Boot." The Professor has a specific slot for identifying wands, and it slides open to inspect the two wands. "Indeed! A finely made Catherine Wand. One of the most banned spells in the world, would you know?" The other wands shoots straight out with a ping. "Urgh! Foul! Feculent! I would throw that in the river, if I were you. Or better yet, sink it into clay and fire it into a brick first. Just don't - don't break it." Do you want the other things identified as well? You've got There's a glowing purple orb, the stones, the hex-bow, two scrolls, some "interesting documents", a large tome. There were also four potions, if anyone wants to claim them. ((Phew! Lorge post))
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