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Post by Spwack on Jun 6, 2020 4:49:58 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, potions and scrolls, 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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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jun 6, 2020 23:11:47 GMT
I'm Henry XIV - king of the porcelain doppelgangers. I look like a porcelain statue come to life, with hard white skin and a regal face.
The last thing I remember before I came here was my coronation. The succession to the doppelganger throne is a complicated process because of our face-stealing ability. In olden times people would simply try to kill the king and steal his face, but gradually this backstabbing became codified into an elaborate set of political rituals.
Anyway, I had successfully acquired the king's face, making me legally the king. Then, right after I was crowned, there was some kind of explosion and I woke up here.
For now it seems I am alone. I will start by approaching the steel box and seeing if there is any way to get at the weapons inside.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 7, 2020 6:54:24 GMT
((Oh dear, this can only go well))
As you approach the box, it props itself up on two stubby legs. There's a gout of foul steam from somewhere, and a loud crackling voice issues forth: "ATTEEEEEEN HUT! AT EASE, MAGGOT! I AM SERGEANT TOUGHMUFFINS, REGIONAL QUARTERMASTER AND YOUR ONLY HOPE IN HELL OF SURVIVING THIS, WELL, HELL!" There's a clang, a bang, and a crunch as Sergeant Toughmuffins settles back into place. It's not a particularly good noise. What do you do?
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nick
New Member
Posts: 12 Likes: 1
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Post by nick on Jun 7, 2020 7:34:38 GMT
I am Austin Vorch "The Swarthy", failed shepard turned mountain warrior. A wizard cursed my sheep to always look at me funny, so I cut 'em up and wrapped them in mint leaves. I started hiking back to my village to ask the lads if they knew if any wizards lived around here I could get revenge on, when the clouds broke and a colossal goat head with winding labyrinthine horns descended from the god-realm and swallowed me up! I woke up here. I look like this: After waking up and watching the exchange above, I get up and try to use my claymore to separate the good Sergeant from the wall without breaking my claymore (I assume he's connected by wires/pipes etc.).
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Post by Spwack on Jun 7, 2020 9:25:38 GMT
nick Sergeant Toughmuffins props himself up a little higher and takes a step. Somehow, for something (someone?) with no arms, you can just tell that this is a Fighting Stance. "OI! WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT WITH THAT SWORD THERE MAGGOT? YOU COULD HURT YERRSELF WITH THAT AND I'D HAVE TO WRITE HOME TO YER MAM!" You can also see a tiny, ghostly skull-and-crossbones float up next to the Sergeant. An omen, perhaps? ((Yes it's an omen, skulls show up next to dangerous creatures, on a scale from one to three))
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nick
New Member
Posts: 12 Likes: 1
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Post by nick on Jun 7, 2020 10:02:21 GMT
...I hold the sword less aggressively and say "What kinda creature are ya? And if ye got me mam's address, can ye point me homeward?"
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Post by Spwack on Jun 7, 2020 10:13:36 GMT
"HARRUMPH." Harrumphs the Sergeant. "Technically I'm a vendor machine. Coins go in, weapons come out, that sort of thing. But I'm much more than that, ya see? And no, I can't. Firstly because I don't got no fingers or arms to point with, and secondly, homeward is the same direction for everyone: up."
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 7, 2020 13:19:37 GMT
I step out of stasis, saying: "...big misunderstanding! Didn't I have until the next week to pay?" Then I finally look around.
"Um... Hello, porcelain guy and big sword guy and metal box guy. How do you do?"
I wait for a while, eyeing everyone nervously.
If the awkward silence lingers, I'll go and investigate the journals on the table.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 7, 2020 13:46:28 GMT
"NICE TO MEET YOU TOO, MAGGOT!" says Sergeant Toughmuffins. The journals on the table are currently* blank ((The journals represent the contents of this board)) ((*Unless someone wants to try and recover the contents of the original dungeon server, but I'll leave that up to player discretion))
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 7, 2020 14:18:28 GMT
I take an empty journal and a pen with me, then.
"Mr. Sergeant, sir, would you mind being more specific about how to get out of here? I'm sure someone like you would know all the ins and outs of their dungeon, right?"
"I also couldn't help but notice your great selection of items you have there. I'm fully aware how hard it is for a true connoisseur to part with a piece of their collection, especially in exchange for something as lowly and uninteresting as money, but what if I told you I could instead do some bartering, a curio for a curio? I've heard someone name this very chain I have here as the mighty Chain of the Nightingale. I haven't even been able to ascertain all the powers it might possess, but surely your expertise greatly outclasses mine? Maybe you would like to add it to your collection, in exchange for some of your wares?"
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Post by 7Q45QBH0, "Sandra" on Jun 7, 2020 16:31:23 GMT
"-OR THE GLORY OF CAOILAINN! FOR REVOL-" shouts a figure in tie-dye armor holding aloft a pickaxe. This is 7Q45QBH0, designation Sandra, fae changeling, revolutionary ex-herbalist and doer of odd jobs.
She was making a death charge on the battlefield for eternal glory, and has now found herself in Cell Block 0.
"What sorcerer's trick is this? Porcelain Prince, big box, bladesman, giant...nose-person, where has the enemy run off to?"
Sandra takes notice of the sounds of battle to the West and presses her ear to the door. Does it appear locked?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 7, 2020 18:49:38 GMT
"I would have you know that among the people of Ughleya, my nose would be considered a sign of great wisdom."
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Post by Spwack on Jun 8, 2020 1:16:18 GMT
@red_kangaroo "Listen 'ere, anybody tells you they know everything about this place? They's lying. Maybe to you, maybe to themselves, but either way, it's probably going to go badly." "Mm... sorry kid, no can do. Can't make any authorised sale without proper currency changing hands. Part of doing business, see? But you sell that there thingummy to, I don't know, those poncy elfses? We can talk. But hey, you need a tip on killing something, you come to yer old Sarge, alright?" 7Q45QBH0, "Sandra""The enemy? THE ENEMY? WHERE?" Sergeant Tougmuffins takes a little while to get the excitement out of his system, bouncing around on stubby legs for a moment before settling again. "Ahem. Uh, yes. No. No enemy here." There are no doors on either of the hallways, just a notable point where the stone floor goes from smooth sort-of-concrete to slabs of cut stone. The line between the two seems unsettlingly neat. And it doesn't sound quite like battle now that you pay more attention, more a regular clackedy-clack-clackedy-clack. Also, everyone starts with three torches and three rations. Feel free to describe what form your rations take from your culture! Otherwise, it's hardtack and very very old cheese.
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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jun 8, 2020 1:51:44 GMT
King Henry XIV takes a sheet of paper and writes on it "Pay the Bearer 100 silver dinars, by order of His Opalescent Majesty, Henry XIV". He hands it to Sergeant Toughmuffins.
"Good sir, you will find that my bonds are legal tender recognised throughout the well-known kingdoms of the world. If you please, I will have your finest battle-axe, and spears for all of my companions here."
(Henry's rations are 'biscuits' of bone china.)
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Post by Spwack on Jun 8, 2020 2:30:47 GMT
"Oh, oh my dear boy, you really don't know where you are, do you?" The Sergeant seems unusually sombre for a moment. "I seen a lot of odd 'uns come through here. Beggars, kings, popes and paupers. Those that head out and come back, they all start to look the same. You feel me? Those that come back, that is. You best keep that note close by. To owe a debt, down here... a debt with yer name on it? Tha's bad. Tha's very bad."
"Also, this ain't any kingdom of the world, well-known or otherwise. This is a kingdom under the world. And it ain't got no king the likes you'd recognise."
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 8, 2020 10:31:06 GMT
@toughmuffins "Thank you, I'll try to keep that in mind."
"Well then, my newfound friends, I have been in enough dungeons in my time to know that the only way to escape one is to capture a mad scientist, then slowly lower them over a huge vat of acid until they give you the codes to deactivate the security golems and open the blast door. What you say we head out and find ourselves a scientist? I don't think I have a particular preference for a direction, but here the pickaxe crazy - I might not have caught your name? - seems keen to run towards the dangerous metallic sounds?"
((Jaxudyzad's rations are small live lizards. They are eaten raw to preserve the flavour.))
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Post by Spwack on Jun 8, 2020 11:01:24 GMT
((In general, PbP can suffer from a drag of everyone waiting for everyone else to post, or trying to get a consensus on where to go. It's best to make assumptions, and then let everyone else decide if they are following the main group or not))
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 8, 2020 13:10:54 GMT
"Well, then. Allons-y!"
Are the coals in the braizer accessible? If so, I'll try to poke one out with my walking stick and golf-club it down the western passage to provide a little light.
Then I'll light a torch and with the walking stick outstretched in my other hand, go down that corridor.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 8, 2020 14:25:07 GMT
The coals in the brazier seem ephemeral and only slightly real, clearly magical in nature. You can tap one down the hallway easily enough, but it seems to float rather than fall. The western hallway from Cell Block Zero is quite short, ending in a large rectangular chamber, like a very small warehouse. The clackedy-clack sound quickly reveals itself to be a minecart trundling along a track, which leads precipitously up a steep ramp into the ceiling, and from there... well, who knows where it leads? You can see the spring-loaded launching platform, a number of easily accessible levers, and a ready stock of carts waiting to be loaded and sent rocketing along the tracks. You can also see a somewhat distressing pile of smashed and shattered carts, in a loose heap in the far corner.
On the other side of the room, you can see another of the vendor machines, though this one is merely painted a serene and flawless blue, like the sky at dusk, and is backed to the brim with scrolls and rune-etched shards of wood. From the name emblazoned in silver above the glass frontispiece, you surmise that this would be: PROFESSOR SPELL-O-MATIC.
Apart from the tracks leading into the roof, there are no other exists to this room.
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nick
New Member
Posts: 12 Likes: 1
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Post by nick on Jun 8, 2020 16:00:36 GMT
(My rations are minty sheep stakes)
From the starting room I will go North, towards the watery sound. (I know, splitting the party already...)
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Post by 7Q45QBH0, "Sandra" on Jun 8, 2020 16:30:37 GMT
Sandra stalks about the exits, listening at each. When she hears Henry's mention of bonds and legal tender, she takesa closer look and immediately falls on bent knee.
"Your Pearlescence! If you too are in this wretched place with us, I can scarcely imagine what is happening. Are you hurt? How run the butterfly fields back home?"
That last bit is code. Sandra is one of a few who knew that Henry hated the butterfly fields, and planned to raze them to the ground when he took the crown. If this is her battlefield companion, he would know that.
Sandra's rations are bunches of fae herbs, seasoned with wood chips.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 8, 2020 17:17:10 GMT
I try to bring my hand closer to the ethereal ember, and if it doesn't look like it will burn or drain me, I'll pocket it. Then I go and check out the pile of broken minecarts for anything that might have been left behind by former passengers.
"Good day to you, professor Spello'. Or is it night? Good time period, anyway! How is the business? Pray tell, would you know which of these levers can one use to travel the tracks without ending like, well..." I gesture towards the pile of scrap.
Then I shout back towards the cell block: "Your Majesty, if you'd like an expeditious way upwards, I might have happened upon one."
(And I'm not completely keen on shooting myself away completely alone.)
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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jun 9, 2020 1:16:43 GMT
"Sandra! I hardly recognised you in this forsaken place!" says King Henry XIV. "The butterfly fields... why, it would have been my first decree to have them all plucked and shovelled into the machines of war. But alas, I ended up here instead, no doubt because of some conspiracy among my enemies at court."
Glancing warily at Sergeant Toughmuffins, Henry XIV shreds his 100-dinar bond into little pieces. Then he follows Jaxudyzad into the minecart room.
With regal self-assurance, he examines the levers and begins pulling them at random to see what they do.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 9, 2020 2:46:12 GMT
nickYour journey begins! Head to this threadred_kangarooIt's definitely hot and still burning, it probably isn't safe to put the ember in your pocket. It looks like the pile of shattered carts has been picked over pretty thoroughly, but there's scrap metal a-plenty if you need that for anything. The Professor takes a moment before replying. "Good time period to you as well, traveller. The leftmost lever is the only one currently functioning." garmrMost of the levers just make a hollow clonking sound, like a gear not engaging properly. The leftmost one sends the minecart rocketing up through the hole in the ceiling, and the tracks rotate a new one into the launch-site. There's a loud ticking sound as the spring ratchets back into position, and the lever pops back up, ready to go again. ((Also I think it's possible to change your display name to include your characters name, that might help in the future?))
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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jun 9, 2020 10:39:32 GMT
Henry XIV takes out his "Gravity Ring", being careful not to touch it with his bare hands. He acquired it shortly before his coronation and isn't quite sure how it works. Quoting from the character generator:
Gravity Ring - The tiny floating arrow turns incredibly slowly. Anything in contact with the ring feels that "down" is the direction the arrow is pointing
- How big is the ring? - Can the ring's alignment be changed manually by turning the ring? Or does the arrow float independently of it? - Does the arrow drift in every direction? e.g. if I sit and wait for a particular direction, will it eventually come?
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Post by Spwack on Jun 9, 2020 11:51:46 GMT
The ring would fit on your finger, if the arrow wasn't in the way. The arrow floats independently, and currently points towards the ground. It can be turned, but only with great effort and concentration. Otherwise, it stays pointing "down".
((I might reword and re-describe that whole item)) ((Also if anyone has any questions about anything they have on their character, they are welcome to post in the comments of the character sheet, or here, or wherever they like))
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Post by 7Q45QBH0, "Sandra" on Jun 9, 2020 16:40:17 GMT
"My king, I don't know what you intend to do with that ring, but it may be safest to give you a lifeline." Sandra takes out her ethereal string and creates a lasso to fix around Henry.
Can anything be seen beyond the opening into the roof? Light, darkness, any sounds in that direction?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 9, 2020 16:48:30 GMT
"Thank you, professor."
I will hand Henry my torch and if need be, I can extend the string with my nightingale chain.
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garmr
Full Member
King Henry XIV
Posts: 227 Likes: 31
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Post by garmr on Jun 9, 2020 23:55:57 GMT
Henry XIV takes Sandra's string and ties it around himself like a harness. Then, with great effort, he twists the ring around until it is pointing toward the wall so he can walk upwards. - If the ceiling shaft is close to any particular wall, he will walk up that wall. - If the shaft is in the middle of the ceiling, he may have to turn the arrow further until he is able to walk on the ceiling.
Assuming this works, his goal is to ascend the shaft until he reaches a safe landing, find somewhere to tie off the string, and then call for the others to climb up after him.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 9, 2020 23:56:20 GMT
You can hear the minecart track extending pretty far upwards, with some kind of mechanism in the track to grab the underside of the cart to shove it along further up. You could hear the clackedy-clack of the wheels recede as the cart goes along its merry way, clearly much further than either the chain or string would be able to reach.
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