#76
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Last edited by driftwood; Jan 16th, 2016 at 03:39 PM. |
#77
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Ronald was no friend to the deep woods, and even if he were, the tanglewood was no place to dilly dally. His lack of wood craft would have brought harm any number of ways to the unwary, or even sometimes the wary. Fortunately he was no ordinary man. When he had taken a wrong turn into a batch of thorns and brambles, the size of small daggers he had come out relatively unscathed. Sure he had his fair share of scratches, and his clothes where torn, but the giant needle like thorns had mostly skittered off of his flesh without penetrating.
Then of course there were the dangers of his companions had unwittingly laid for him. Such as the steep embankment that Forsythe had so blithely lead them over; as if it were natural to scamper down a practically vertical, at least in his own mind, slope. It's practically a wooded cliff. Even so, Ronald tried to follow gamely down the veritable cliff. Later he had to admit that he was slightly distracted by trying to give some thought to Moonbeam's words. Every once in a while she would say something almost wise, though usually it was followed by something equally inane. Still it was prudent to sift the knowledge from the trappings. After all, that was how he had made it so far in his new home having only the stories of his adventurous customers to go off of. Learn their mistakes and wisdom, so I can benefit from their work. So between his naturally light footsteps, and mulling over Moonbeam's words, it came as a bit of a shock when Senoel let go of the branch she had been holding back only to have it spring back into place almost nailing Ronald on the nose. In hindsight, she probably hadn't even known he was there, but that didn't stop him from thinking vengeful thoughts as he leapt out of the way. Nor did it stop him from losing his footing when he landed, sending him stumbling down the slope head over feet. Miraculously the dandy avoided any trees on his way down, and towards the end he managed to roll to his feet dancing lightly at the head of a miniature leaf laden avalanche. Such was his skill, that at was almost like his feet didn't quite touch the ground as he rode his way to safety. Brushing his clothes off perfunctorily, Ronald looked back up the slope to his companions, who he had speed ahead of during his ignominious tumble. Perhaps the torn clothing and the frustration over the less than complimentary situation was why Ronald opted to assist with the next overgrown thistle in the way. With nary a gesture or word the sorcerer simply glared at the offending plant, causing it to smoke, then burst into fierce and angry flames. Despite the intensity, the burn seemed to be controlled, and a matching red flame flickered in Ronald's eyes until the offending giant thistle was nothing but a sooty smear on the forest floor. Straightening his clothes at the arrival of his companions, Ronald falls back into line, mindful of the perils of the forest path, both internal and external, that lay in wait.
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Yes, I do still exist. Sometimes. Last edited by Ion2Atom; Jan 19th, 2016 at 12:43 PM. |
#78
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After Akiki showed them the break in the thorns that was the start of the way out of the tanglewood, Forsythe led, picking out the way forward based on the subtle clues that he'd keyed into after seeing the thorn-free branches at the start of the path. Akiki wasn't far behind him, but seemed comfortable letting him lead once she saw how well he found safe points of passage. His shortsword took away the occasional protruding branch that might make trouble for those behind him, though the ranger noted the extra force required to break these branches was considerable. The tanglewood was truly designed to be a barrier.
Senoel followed the two elves with a more straightforward approach, breaking or bending any branches that the ranger had left alone. Oddly enough, even the branches he removed seconds before seemed to be growing fast, some back to their former proportions by the time she reached them. What's more, some of the branches moved a little in the light breeze, which by all suggestions of their hardiness they ought not. Certainly a branch which required all the strength of the mercenary's gauntlet-arm should not have been swaying in a light breeze before she grasped it. Moonbeam's light step and light banter followed the mercenary with ease, but then, the druid was at home in the High Druid's wood. Her rambling thoughts were not much help to anyone trying to focus on clearing a path, but it wasn't enough to distract them, either. The assassin and the medic make up the rearguard, the path mostly cleared for them by their comrades so that they can keep their eyes on the trees and what might be hiding just out of sight. Ronald had been kept in the middle of the party for his self-professed lack of woodcraft, at least until a tumble down a slope bothered him enough that he glared a weed into flames. His companions edged around him a little more carefully after that, at least until the next hurdle of their passage demanded their undivided attention. An hour after they'd begun, they made it out of the tanglewood, Akiki motioning for them to stop and rest in the lee of a large boulder. "You did well," she admitted to them all, eyes stopping on those she hadn't expected to manage quite so well as they had. "The next part of the forest is less a barrier and more one treacherous thing after the next. Flora and fauna are riled by the strange magics loose in the wood, so be on your guard."
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So long, and thanks for all the amazing games.
pronouns: she/her ✦ On indefinite hiatus. My Site Shtuffs ✦ Ask Me Anything |
#79
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RL hit me with a 1-2 Punch. Will be back to regular posting rate soon. |
#80
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Akiki chuckles at Forsythe, her amusement tucking up one corner of her smile higher than the other. "Dearie, you're too cute for words. No, I said I'd guide you, and I stand by that. Just a good moment to take a breather." She looked around at the others. "If you're ready, then?"
Unless there are objections, she moves off in a northerly direction, seeming wholly unfazed by the exertion of the past hour plus. Almost immediately her previous warning paid off; Forsythe's woodsman's eyes spotted an overgrown patch of itchbane weed almost overwhelming the open space between the trees which Akiki had picked as a path. His warning came too late for one medic, however, who either didn't hear him or misinterpreted left for right. Almost immediately the weed's pollen, transferred when he blundered into it, raised patchy red spots on Kaminos' hands and face which he 3 damage to Kaminos and lose one recovery to scratchingcouldn't help but scratch. Lady Sidereal was too occupied trying to avoid Kaminos' potentially catching itchiness, she didn't notice the entangling vines that Ronald spotted in the same instant the elf 8 damage to Firaliwalked right into them. It was as they carefully untangled the former assassin that Akiki said something unpleasant. "Well, damn." When she earned their attention, she revealed the waterskin on her hip had leaked, likely punctured back in the tanglewood without her notice. Her pointing finger then revealed that the same was true of all but one waterskin carried among the group. The last waterskin was only half full, but she immediately insisted everyone share it around. "Best place to conserve water is in your bodies," she informed them, indicating that the skin get passed around again. "Drink up. It's going to be a problem either way, so you might as well remain fully hydrated for as long as possible."
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So long, and thanks for all the amazing games.
pronouns: she/her ✦ On indefinite hiatus. My Site Shtuffs ✦ Ask Me Anything |
#81
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Wis3+Skill3+RoughingIt2
Dice Roll:
Con2+Skill3+RoughingIt2 Dice Roll:
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RL hit me with a 1-2 Punch. Will be back to regular posting rate soon. Last edited by JonnyGulliver; Feb 11th, 2016 at 10:34 PM. |
#82
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#83
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The march was hard, though not impossible. It was obvious that not everyone was accustomed to the sort of trek that they needed to make to return to civilization, so Senoel was glad when Akiki called a temporary halt. It would be good to give everyone a moment to regroup, especially after Lady and Kaminos had run into issues along the way. Still, what their guide had to say was no good, and Senoel listened with a frown.
No water. Limited supplies. An insane group comprised of escape convicts. Well, really, nothing had changed from their initial escape from Darkskye, aside from the fact that they were that much closer to freedom. Seneol shrugged it off; the limited water left wouldn't be enough to stave off dehydration; they would just have to hope that they could find another source before it was too late. They'd have to trust for Akiki there...Senoel would have been reluctant, at best, to sample anything that Moonbeam provided anyway. Last edited by Syne; Feb 15th, 2016 at 06:00 PM. |
#84
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Ronald was breathing hard when they stopped for a rest, and spent most of his time just trying to recover after flopping on the ground. Even winded, the news of the ripped water skins elicited a groan from the sweaty sorcerer. Rising to a sitting position, Ronald took his share of the water with a sour face. He was beginning to hate this bedamnable wood. No wonder the cult of Mos Leona wanted to burn the place down. To have ALL of our waterskins broken? It's like woods are TRYING to screw us over. Given what he had seen of the place it wouldn't surprise him to much to find that forest had some sort of malignant intelligence plotting against their every step.
Ronald had intended to talk with 'Kiki, reinforcing his earlier message, but between the hike, and the loss of water he just didn't feel it. Scrambling to his feet the man aimed an annoyed kick at a nearby tree only to end up hurting his foot more than anything else. Grumbling to himself, and limping slightly, Ronald headed off behind his comrades, pausing only briefly to collect a small, and mostly clean pebble to suck on. A trick he had learned when he was on the streets. It didn't make you any less dehydrated but at least you felt a little less thirsty. "Darn right we're boned. How do all these trees grow if there isn't any water around anyway?" Ronald grumbled in agreement with Forsythe.
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Yes, I do still exist. Sometimes. |
#85
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For all their trouble, it was something they had planned for that gave them their first real hurdle. Waterskins punctured by the wild tanglewood, an almost vindictive act from something that ought not be able to have such feelings. Was it such? Was this some sort of hint at what was to come in the wood dubbed 'wild' already by those who knew of it? Chaotic effects from the falling Darkskye crystals were going to cause them no end of trouble, that much was becoming clear (if it hadn't already been so). The ranger was able to find some dew collecting in shade and an occasional berry bush with limited supply of juicy berries, but otherwise there was little he could do to offer any help to his companions. Moonbeam, of course, had something crazy sounding that served her just fine, but offered no aid to the others. A glance was exchanged between Forsythe and Akiki, and in wordless agreement both began foraging in earnest as they began moving onward. The guide stayed mostly in view, her voice leading the party on if her position was hard to determine, but the ranger ranged over a greater distance, covering a swath of forest nearly a hundred meters wide at a jog. Whether it was some twist of fate that he found little or the pace he was forced to move to keep up with the unidirectional movement of his comrades, he and Russ could only guess. Either way, his body held up under the strain better than his companions', who felt their fatigue seep into their muscles. Lunch was a dry affair without water to wet their dried fare as they swallowed. Rests were called for more and more frequently as the day progressed.
Occasionally they would notice a glowing pebble lying near their path, grasses swaying towards it as if they had will of their own. Each time Akiki hurried them past it, even if they had to stop and rest after the exertion. Her mutterings grew more common as she saw what had become of her forest, and the time a dire badger raced out of their line of sight, magenta ichor oozing from sores on its body, a muted wail accompanied Akiki falling to her knees and praying under her breath for a minute, hands clasped together so tightly her knuckles turned white. As the sun begins to set, the group struggles up a rise and spots a field of graves surrounding an old structure long since abandoned to the ravages of time and the ministrations of the growing Wild Wood. Akiki takes one look at the place and halts in her tracks. "I will not enter such an evil place. Look, it's almost as if it is cursed to attract the worst." Her pointing finger indicates a greater number of glowing stones that have recently fallen than anywhere along their path thus far. She then eyes the structure and nods at it. "Even the plants know better, see?" For something that has been abandoned as long as this seems to have been, it's been remarkably safe from the overgrowth of the Wild Wood taking back what land ought to have been its own. "Your path continues that way, but I will bid you good luck and return to my village." She turns back and grunts in surprise, bringing the group's attention to the sight of stones in the hill they just climbed; it appears that a massive wall might have once encircled this area, but it's so ruined that it wasn't recognizable for what it was until this point.
__________________
So long, and thanks for all the amazing games.
pronouns: she/her ✦ On indefinite hiatus. My Site Shtuffs ✦ Ask Me Anything |
#86
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Moonbeam rolled her head in a broad circle, producing some satisfying cricks as she completed the circuit.
"I like these woods! Like, not like like like, because of the murder crystals? But aside from that?" When Akiki announces her departure, the druid's face falls. "Won't you stay? Can I contact you by sparrow with news from the progressive activist front?" Turning her attention to the stones and ruins, she rolled Wis and her background for understanding how things decay and can be reused - no specific lore, but a more general sense of what the current state of things meanconsiders the circumstances. "I don't think it attracts the worst, because we're here and ---" She glances at herself and the others. "Oh," she concludes in a quiet voice. |
#87
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Skill3+Wis3+A little bunny told me2
Dice Roll:
"Wuzzat you say?" "Um... You mean that musty old tome back in Neim?" "Let's see. Yeah, I think there was a passage on this place. I mean, the location seem about right if I know my geography. "Page 387 near the top..."
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RL hit me with a 1-2 Punch. Will be back to regular posting rate soon. Last edited by JonnyGulliver; Feb 20th, 2016 at 12:20 PM. |
#88
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As the group pauses atop the rise which was once a wall of massive stone blocks, the last rays of sunset light the field of gravestones a bloody red that might almost be mother nature's way of warning them against what was about to happen. But too little, too late, for the glow of purple pebbles throwing actively moving shadows against the tombstones highlights the shaking of the ground as some of the graves with broken markers erupt in moving skeletons. The purple pebbles and red sunset paint the graveyard in wide swaths of unease, though there are some strange hints of blue light over behind the hospital which the party will have to consider later on. For now, they are about to be set upon by the restless dead.
__________________
So long, and thanks for all the amazing games.
pronouns: she/her ✦ On indefinite hiatus. My Site Shtuffs ✦ Ask Me Anything Last edited by Aethera; Feb 22nd, 2016 at 10:26 PM. |
#89
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Dice Roll:
ELVEN GRACE: 1d6 vs Escalation Dice 0 TERRAIN STUNT at Escalation at Dice Roll:
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RL hit me with a 1-2 Punch. Will be back to regular posting rate soon. Last edited by JonnyGulliver; Feb 22nd, 2016 at 08:05 PM. |
#90
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Moonbeam sighed at the skeletons shambling out of the earth. "Your turn on the wheel is supposed to move you and your karma into a new form, not persist in your old one!"
Reaching out, she attempted to grab the negative vibes of the hill and direct them back at the skeletons, but much like the natural vegetation Ruination, rolled a natural 1she was badly rebuffed, leaving her with a pounding headache. Shifting, she assumed the shape of a fearsome owlbear, secure behind her hardened bulk and with razor-sharp beak and claws gleaming. "This place shouldn't be - let us help you move around the wheel!" |
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