Junkyard Borg?
Jan. 7th, 2006 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothLazar's game again, where we continued our streak of getting ourselves trapped by seemingly harmless locations. This time, we didn't get much done because we went out to eat at Torrerros, and didn't get back 'till 8:30... then spend a half hour jabbering about this and that.
Twidget, halfway through the game, started getting bored or something and kept trying to tie my shoelaces together, to tie my feet to the table leg, or steal my socks... if I'd been in a better mood I might have found it funny, I suppose. I've been in a nasty mood this week, though.
Jardin and Balthazaar managed to run out through the burning area before the tunnel collapsed... actually, they didn't know for sure it was going to collapse, but the inobtrusive wooden supports were no longer so inobtrusive once they were on fire, so they figured getting out was a good idea.
After a bit of lively discussion, they decided to try going back in by the nearest door, in hopes that it would connect to the relatively un-looted area they'd found inside. What they found was even better -- a whole area of unlooted shops, in front of two makeshift but solid barricades.
The lack of bodies (or looting) was suspicious, as was the shadow that Wayne kept seeing out of the corner of his eye -- there were handholds along the ceiling, disguised as decorations, that looked like they'd been used recently, but no one could see any sign of the creature he thought he'd seen using them. So he tried to keep an eye out while they started looting the shops, but who can really keep an eye out when faced with wonderous treasure troves of magical tea, fine art, maps and atlases (which, sadly, they didn't dare open because of the book curse) and even a church with golden candlesticks? Mmm, golden candlesticks...
They also found a bank, but Ka'sa was able to spot the trap on its vault, and it looked nasty enough that they didn't want to risk trying to open it. Especially since there was a good chance it was full of useless ancient paper money. They already had a hold full of paper money -- it was what they were using to record the messages from home on.
Once they'd gathered up a ton of loot (literally -- Wayne and Jardin could each carry about a half ton of crap and still fly) they noticed that the tea shop, the first they'd opened, was missing its door... and its contents. It was now as suspiciously clean as the hallway they were standing in. Oh, and was that the half-made barrier they'd passed by without thinking, now solidly closed up behind them?
Perrel tried to chop his way through the barrier, but even his excessively deadly axe [that's a technical term in shadake }:)] was only able to just barely scratch it, for all that it looked like it was made out of junk. Worse, they heard Balthazaar scream, and fire a shot -- he'd stayed behind in a taxedermy shop the rest of them hadn't been all that interested in, looking for useful dead animals to take back to his lab and reanimate. They rushed back to rescue him, but found him apparently unharmed... except for the lack of an aura.
"Gah, we've got to get out of here! There's an invisible soul-stealing monster around!" Wayne remarked.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Jardin scolded, "It might not be the same monster that attacked Balthazaar, as walled us in."
"Right. There might be a *different* invisible soul-stealing monster."
"You and your invisible monsters," Perrel sighed. Wayne had also been the main proponent of the 'invisible mage' theory for the murders that were now assumed to have been done by Roshan.
"We know there's at least *one* invisible monster. I saw it!"
Fortunately, there was a way past one of the barriers -- the church had been an entire complex rather than a single room like most of the shops, and its back door opened past the barrier. Just, not the barrier leading out -- they'd be heading deeper in. Jardin's command decision was that heading deeper in was better than staying like rats in a trap until their souls were taken too, so they busted open the door, screaming in surprise as a massive deactivated war machine that had been leaning on the door flumphed down at them, pushed it out of the way, and nailed the door shut behind them.
The war machine, like the giant statue guarding the harbor that they'd skirted on the way in, still had an aura. Wayne decided to try to talk to it and get it to help them out. "Hi, Mr. War Machine! Time to wake up!"
Unfortunately, that worked. The ensuing battle didn't result in any actual injuries for the group, because the machine was designed to work at long ranges against large groups of soldiers -- its only useful attack was an area-effect concussion blast that it couldn't use once the entire party was grappling it, or in Ka'sa's case inside it. Talking to it further in Ancient Cytherian seemed to get it under control (this was a Cytherian city, after all), but it was hard to say for sure because the rest of the party hacked it to bits at about the same time.
At about that point, Wayne noticed reflections off their lanterns. Lots of reflections, like hundreds of eyes, moving towards them. The concussion blast had cracked open a wall into someone's bedroom, so Ka'sa squeezed in and let the rest of them through the front door of that house. It was untouched, and the only occupant was a very dead person sitting in a chair, holding a gun, watching the door. They nervously sat around the room watching the door with the skeleton as the sound of dozens of clicking legs scurried around outside.
Checking afterwards, the bedroom had been stripped, and the remains of the war machine were gone. The boards they'd nailed the church door shut had been taken, but the door was still shut, as was the door to the bedroom. Apparently, these things scavenged everything they could get their hands (or whatever) on, but couldn't open doors. Perrel had actually peeked under the door during the noisy bit, and reported a horde of legs made out of junk -- one that used to be a sword hilt, another that was once a chair leg, and so on.
Wayne: "They left the barrier open to lure us in here, then closed it up behind us!"
Jardin: "Maybe they just needed us to open some doors so that they'd have enough material to finish their barricade with."
Ka'sa: "You know, you could both be right..."
At any rate, once the immediate danger was past, they explored the house they were in and found it reasonably well stocked for alchemy, at least -- it had an actual lab, as well as a working kitchen with water and fire available. Jardin had all the gold candlesticks available, Ka'sa had the valuable wood from the paintings' frames, and Wayne had some tarps he could cut up into strips and do his stuff with, if he didn't want to cut up the paintings themselves.
He actually did try cutting up one painting, which ended up spraying magical aerosol paint in the air, getting all over him as he used it to coat the plastic for added effect. The painting had to be stiched closed to stop the bleeding -- it didn't look like it was going to run out of paint anytime soon.
Jardin: SEP field. Wayne: Rock-generating tarp. Perrel: Glue bombs. Ka'sa: Explosive femurs. Their goal of making all this stuff was to use against the robots (or whatever) so that they could safely make their way to 'The Lab' or 'Gerod's place', a name they recognized from the diary they'd exploded. The person who'd used to live in the house had left notes all over the place, but those looked like the two most useful to follow up on.
last session | next session
Twidget, halfway through the game, started getting bored or something and kept trying to tie my shoelaces together, to tie my feet to the table leg, or steal my socks... if I'd been in a better mood I might have found it funny, I suppose. I've been in a nasty mood this week, though.
Jardin and Balthazaar managed to run out through the burning area before the tunnel collapsed... actually, they didn't know for sure it was going to collapse, but the inobtrusive wooden supports were no longer so inobtrusive once they were on fire, so they figured getting out was a good idea.
After a bit of lively discussion, they decided to try going back in by the nearest door, in hopes that it would connect to the relatively un-looted area they'd found inside. What they found was even better -- a whole area of unlooted shops, in front of two makeshift but solid barricades.
The lack of bodies (or looting) was suspicious, as was the shadow that Wayne kept seeing out of the corner of his eye -- there were handholds along the ceiling, disguised as decorations, that looked like they'd been used recently, but no one could see any sign of the creature he thought he'd seen using them. So he tried to keep an eye out while they started looting the shops, but who can really keep an eye out when faced with wonderous treasure troves of magical tea, fine art, maps and atlases (which, sadly, they didn't dare open because of the book curse) and even a church with golden candlesticks? Mmm, golden candlesticks...
They also found a bank, but Ka'sa was able to spot the trap on its vault, and it looked nasty enough that they didn't want to risk trying to open it. Especially since there was a good chance it was full of useless ancient paper money. They already had a hold full of paper money -- it was what they were using to record the messages from home on.
Once they'd gathered up a ton of loot (literally -- Wayne and Jardin could each carry about a half ton of crap and still fly) they noticed that the tea shop, the first they'd opened, was missing its door... and its contents. It was now as suspiciously clean as the hallway they were standing in. Oh, and was that the half-made barrier they'd passed by without thinking, now solidly closed up behind them?
Perrel tried to chop his way through the barrier, but even his excessively deadly axe [that's a technical term in shadake }:)] was only able to just barely scratch it, for all that it looked like it was made out of junk. Worse, they heard Balthazaar scream, and fire a shot -- he'd stayed behind in a taxedermy shop the rest of them hadn't been all that interested in, looking for useful dead animals to take back to his lab and reanimate. They rushed back to rescue him, but found him apparently unharmed... except for the lack of an aura.
"Gah, we've got to get out of here! There's an invisible soul-stealing monster around!" Wayne remarked.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Jardin scolded, "It might not be the same monster that attacked Balthazaar, as walled us in."
"Right. There might be a *different* invisible soul-stealing monster."
"You and your invisible monsters," Perrel sighed. Wayne had also been the main proponent of the 'invisible mage' theory for the murders that were now assumed to have been done by Roshan.
"We know there's at least *one* invisible monster. I saw it!"
Fortunately, there was a way past one of the barriers -- the church had been an entire complex rather than a single room like most of the shops, and its back door opened past the barrier. Just, not the barrier leading out -- they'd be heading deeper in. Jardin's command decision was that heading deeper in was better than staying like rats in a trap until their souls were taken too, so they busted open the door, screaming in surprise as a massive deactivated war machine that had been leaning on the door flumphed down at them, pushed it out of the way, and nailed the door shut behind them.
The war machine, like the giant statue guarding the harbor that they'd skirted on the way in, still had an aura. Wayne decided to try to talk to it and get it to help them out. "Hi, Mr. War Machine! Time to wake up!"
Unfortunately, that worked. The ensuing battle didn't result in any actual injuries for the group, because the machine was designed to work at long ranges against large groups of soldiers -- its only useful attack was an area-effect concussion blast that it couldn't use once the entire party was grappling it, or in Ka'sa's case inside it. Talking to it further in Ancient Cytherian seemed to get it under control (this was a Cytherian city, after all), but it was hard to say for sure because the rest of the party hacked it to bits at about the same time.
At about that point, Wayne noticed reflections off their lanterns. Lots of reflections, like hundreds of eyes, moving towards them. The concussion blast had cracked open a wall into someone's bedroom, so Ka'sa squeezed in and let the rest of them through the front door of that house. It was untouched, and the only occupant was a very dead person sitting in a chair, holding a gun, watching the door. They nervously sat around the room watching the door with the skeleton as the sound of dozens of clicking legs scurried around outside.
Checking afterwards, the bedroom had been stripped, and the remains of the war machine were gone. The boards they'd nailed the church door shut had been taken, but the door was still shut, as was the door to the bedroom. Apparently, these things scavenged everything they could get their hands (or whatever) on, but couldn't open doors. Perrel had actually peeked under the door during the noisy bit, and reported a horde of legs made out of junk -- one that used to be a sword hilt, another that was once a chair leg, and so on.
Wayne: "They left the barrier open to lure us in here, then closed it up behind us!"
Jardin: "Maybe they just needed us to open some doors so that they'd have enough material to finish their barricade with."
Ka'sa: "You know, you could both be right..."
At any rate, once the immediate danger was past, they explored the house they were in and found it reasonably well stocked for alchemy, at least -- it had an actual lab, as well as a working kitchen with water and fire available. Jardin had all the gold candlesticks available, Ka'sa had the valuable wood from the paintings' frames, and Wayne had some tarps he could cut up into strips and do his stuff with, if he didn't want to cut up the paintings themselves.
He actually did try cutting up one painting, which ended up spraying magical aerosol paint in the air, getting all over him as he used it to coat the plastic for added effect. The painting had to be stiched closed to stop the bleeding -- it didn't look like it was going to run out of paint anytime soon.
Jardin: SEP field. Wayne: Rock-generating tarp. Perrel: Glue bombs. Ka'sa: Explosive femurs. Their goal of making all this stuff was to use against the robots (or whatever) so that they could safely make their way to 'The Lab' or 'Gerod's place', a name they recognized from the diary they'd exploded. The person who'd used to live in the house had left notes all over the place, but those looked like the two most useful to follow up on.
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