[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 25 shots) You aren't trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] No
[X] Cast Mana Barrier
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 25 shots) You aren't trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] No
[X] Cast Mana Barrier
Adhoc vote count started by Jhin Lemon on Jan 8, 2019 at 11:08 PM, finished with 924 posts and 4 votes.
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 25 shots) You aren't trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] No
[X] Cast Mana Barrier
[x] Wait, maybe you can calm down the centipedes and avoid the violence altogether. Humans aren't exactly their choice of prey, and it's not like we are attacking their nest or something!
-[x] Cast Spell: Random Access Knowledge
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 25 shots) You aren't trained
[X] Offence: +20 to hit, increased damage, -40 to defence roll
[X] Yes
[X] Cast Mana Barrier
Winning votes:
[w] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 25 shots) You aren't trained
[w] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[w] No
[w] Cast Mana Barrier
Your insectoid opponents appear much more lethal now that they've been threatened. One brings its head down, making it much harder to strike anything but its tough shell. The other follows the opposite mindset, instead rearing up to better strike with its many legs. In response to the more threatening foe, you raise the gun and fire. It barely hits the centipede, but it's enough to make it stop its charge and screech in pain. As you shoot, you feel that it's become slightly closer to being second nature.
[Perk Gained! Half-finished Pistol Training - reduces the untrained penalty when shooting pistols to -10.]
Its friend doesn't take kindly to that, and advances towards Mira. Her spell finishes casting by the time it's halfway towards her. Light envelopes her and, and a ball of flame erupts from the glow at the centipede. On impact, it bursts and covers your foe in harsh flames. Despite the heat and slight smell of charred flesh, it seems the carapace took the brunt of the fire without harming the insect.
As it continues advancing, Liam gets in its way. Initially, it ignores him and continues to move towards the would-be cook, that proves to be a mistake. Moving past him exposed the centipede's side to Liam, a side that isn't as well armoured as its back. Another screech sounds as he plunges his sword between is a pair of its legs with surprising dexterity.
In response the injured insect thrashes from side to side, knocking into Liam several times, but doing little more than pushing against his shield. His ability to absorb the blow so that it barely does anything is quite astounding. As well as infuriating for the centipede.
With both centipedes currently occupied, you take a moment to say a few words and flex your fingers to coat yourself in a protective shell. There, dying to centipedes isn't exactly something you want.
In the meantime, the non-defensive centipede begins to recover from its shock and takes some steps forward. It doesn't get far, however, as two daggers plunge into its head from behind. It collapses almost immediately, the gunshots and stab wounds proving too much. As it does it reveals Jocelyn, positioned on its back. You'd assume the hard shell makes it harder to sense things on its back.
The still-living half of the pair stops moving. It abandons its attack, abandons its defensive positioning, abandons everything. Instead, it crawls back with a slight limp, skittering all the while. Everyone remains on the defensive, watching it, but it doesn't do anything but slowly walk back the way it came. It...almost seems to be grieving. Now you feel bad.
Your employer manages to recover quickly now that the only insect in the room is a dead one. Tobias lets him up and eyes the dead centipede with a mild look of regret. Turns out the alchemist didn't faint. Rats.
"Splendid job dealing with those nasty...creatures. I do apologise for my reaction to them. Insects are simply too undignified."
Mira decides to ignore what he said and get back to business. "So did you get your root?" she asks.
"I was distracted," he 'admits', "however this should take but a moment." Quickly kneeling down, he takes out a small knife and cuts at the bush's roots. "Done!" he announces a bit too loudly as he straightens up.
"Great, let's get out of here before more things show up," Jocelyn urges.
"No," your employer denies her, "that was but one of several items I need to gather. You dealt with those insects handily, I see no reason not to continue."
"How about because more'll want to kill us because we killed one of them," Mira argues, thrusting her hands upward.
"You give them too much credit." He smirks, "Revenge is a human concept. Insects are too stupid to know of such a thing."
"Is sadness too much of a human thing for insects too?"
"Of course."
"Then how do you explain why it got sad when we killed its friend?" Mira asks, pointing to the dead centipede. The alchemist shudders slightly as he looks at it, but recovers quickly to answer.
"Fear. It was outmatched and scared, not saddened. Fear is such a base reaction that even insects have it."
Mira just groans loudly in response. "Y'know what, fine, I'm on board. Let's get more plant pieces and ignore the murder-bugs."
"Excellent," he says. Does he not know what sarcasm is? "We only have one more ingredient to get, this will not take long."
As he begins to lead you down one branch of the cave system though, a terrible screech sounds. Much louder than the previous ones. Your employer seems unconcerned, but you are.
What will you do
[] Investigate
-[] Alone
-[] You might be able to sneak off with one other person? (70% chance)
--[] Write-in who (not the alchemist)
-[] Try to convince the alchemist to let you all investigate (10% chance, Random Access Knowledge will not provide a boost)
[] Haha, no Eshani, don't split off from the group.
Winning votes:
[w] Haha, no Eshani, don't split off from the group. Yeeeeaaaaaahhhh, investigating loud screeches seems like a bad idea. Sticking to a group sounds like a better idea than finding a giant-er bug and probably getting eaten by it. Instead, you just walk along after the others through a somewhat narrow crystal tunnel. More of those glowing mushrooms spring out from the cracks, providing a mysterious air. Or, they would if you weren't still thinking about giant insects. Darn murderous centipedes, ruining a good mood. And the alchemist made them murderous, so this is all his fault.
You stretch out a hand to brush it against the bumps of the wall as you walk, enjoying the coarse feeling on your skin. As you do, however, you feel a splash on your hand. Looking up, you notice the crystals on the ceiling of the cave are quite jagged and long compared to the rest of the cave, which is just somewhat bumpy and rough. As you continue looking a drip of water catches in the faint light as it falls. Pretty.
A few steps later you bump into Tobias' back. Stepping back and blinking forward, you notice the tunnel expanding to another room. Something brushes against your leg. Looking down immediately and raising your leg, you spot a small fuzzy critter bouncing past and down the tunnel. You watch several others hop after it, squeaking on each bounce. They vanish into the darkness before you can get a good look though.
"Careful," Tobias comments.
As for the room itself, it's pretty barren; there are some mushrooms, but those things are everywhere in here. A few aren't glowing like the others, but other than that and those squeaky jumping things, you can't see anything to get here, and there's no other tunnels leading out. He'd better not want one of those for his experiments.
"So what are we looking for?" Jocelyn asks.
"The tribloom mushroom my dear," replies the alchemist.
"Aren't there mushrooms everywhere?" Tobias asks.
"No, no, you fool. A tribloom mushroom," the alchemist 'clarifies'.
"So, what's a tribloom mushroom?" You ask. He rolls his eyes in response and looks around.
"Aha! Here!" he cries before hurrying over to one group of dark mushrooms, "here, this."
You all walk over and crowd around the fungus. It looks like a slightly bigger than normal mushroom, with a pair of tiny mushrooms growing on top of it, or maybe they're just mushroom shaped growths.
"A mushroom with mushrooms growing on it?" Tobias asks as he crouches, only to be met with another eyeroll.
"Not just any mushroom. The tribloom is not a simple host to a pair of parasitic mushrooms. These growths are actually decoys for those rodents from earlier to eat. They are filled with nutrients to persuade them, and thus are extremely useful in my field," comes the explanation.
Pulling out his knife again, the alchemist cuts off the pair of growths. He then stands and looks around the rest of the room.
"Didn't you get what you need?" Mira asks.
"Yes, yes, but if there are others it would be a waste to not harvest them," your employer absentmindedly answers while continuing his search.
You all just sorta stand around and watch him walk around the room, it's pretty boring, but at least he isn't talking any mo-...is that scuttling you hear? From the tunnel? You listen a moment. Yes, yes it is. Okay, calm down, you might be trapped, but those bugs should be too big to fit through the tunnel. Liam notices your expression.
"Are you alright Eshani?" he asks.
"Yeah, it's just-" you start to speak, only for Jocelyn to step closer and interrupt.
"Hey, any chance I can join in so I'm not bored out of my mind?" she asks. Liam gives her a half-glare. "Oops, did I interrupt you? Sorry."
"It's alright," you assure her. "As I was saying, I think more of those centipedes are just outside the tunnel."
"Um, you all heard that big screech before, right?" Jocelyn asks, her face shifting from fun to fear.
"Indeed," Liam answers, fearless or masked, you aren't sure.
"Maybe yo-" you try to suggest something, only for an "Aha!" from the other end of the room to interrupt. You cough lightly and try again, "Maybe you could take a look Jocelyn?"
"Alright..." she seems half hearted about it, but goes off down the tunnel regardless. You wait a few moments for her return, during which time the alchemist finishes his harvesting.
"Are we not missing one of our number?" he asks. Almost in response, Jocelyn returns at that moment.
"That's a lotta bugs, but they seem to be looking the wrong way right now," she reports, then looks at the alchemist standing in front of her. "Oops."
He seems to be on the verge of a panic attack.
What will you do?
[] Sneak around the bugs
-[] With the alchemist conscious and convinced not to scream. (10% chance, cannot be boosted)
-[] After knocking out the alchemist (70% chance)
[] Befriend the bugs? (30% chance)
[] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
If fighting: Weapon
[] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
Styles
[] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[] Offence: +20 to hit, increased damage, -40 to defence roll
[] Balance: no bonus/penalty
[] Defence: +26 to defence roll, -26 to hit
[] Full Defence: +40 to defence roll, no attack
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] Random Access Knowledge
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] Random Access Knowledge
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] Random Access Knowledge
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] Random Access Knowledge
Adhoc vote count started by Jhin Lemon on Jan 21, 2019 at 8:48 AM, finished with 945 posts and 6 votes.
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[X] Random Access Knowledge
[X] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[X] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[X] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
Winning votes:
[w] Fight your way out (make a combat vote)
[w] Revolver (-20 to attack rolls, large amount of damage, 24 shots) You're partially trained
[w] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[w] Random Access Knowledge
A hand immediately clamps over the alchemist's face from behind.
"Relax, we can fight them off," you hear Mira whisper from behind him. The alchemist makes a light, muffled noise, and then begins taking deep breaths through his nose.
"Someone should stay with him," Liam notes. Tobias looks downcast for a moment.
"I'll do it," Mira says. Tobias looks up again.
"Are you sure?" Liam asks, stepping forward slightly.
"Yeah, I'm already keeping him quiet."
Liam responds with a nod, turns to the tunnel and draws his sword before walking towards the centipedes. Liam joins, his own rusted blade in hand, followed by Jocelyn. You pause for a moment to look back at Mira sitting the alchemist down on the cave floor before she catches you looking and makes a shooing motion.
You grip your gun and walk down the tunnel. What's on the other side you were mostly expecting, but you're still surprised; a giant, by your standards, centipede stands in the room alongside several of the smaller ones you saw earlier. While those ones looked somewhat cute, this one is a lot more intimidating; its hide, while purple instead of a scarier black, is covered in small spikes; the blunted legs of the smaller ones are much more pointed on the big one; and its mandibles are quite enlarged and pointed. Even the moustache-like antennae doesn't detract from its deadly appearance.
Jocelyn rushes off to hide behind a rock almost before you notice her absence. Shortly after she does, the bugs notice your footsteps and turn. Some of the smaller ones screech and attempt to step forward when the large one lets out its own screech and shakes its head, they step back. It makes sense for the big one to be a leader. Is it going to let you all pass since you proved a threat to the small ones? It steps forward itself. You guess not.
Tobias and Liam move to stand in front of you. You instil yourself with a knowledge of guns in the face of this dangerous foe. It rears up into its hind-half of legs, and you take advantage of the vulnerabilities the intimidation provides. With near-perfect accuracy, you raise the gun and fire just below its head, near its first set of legs. It immediately drops with a mighty screech as the shot land, letting out another screech as it lands on the leg near the injury. You swear the cave shook from that first screech.
Your defenders look back and give you a smile at the fact you managed to hurt it. You smile back for a second, then your expression changes to one of worry and theirs to confusion. Despite the seemingly terrible blow you inflicted, the centipede isn't stopping its attack, in fact, it's charging at the three of you! Jocelyn runs forward with surprising speed and pulls Liam to the side enough that he only gets a glancing blow and then stands to the side of the charging beast. Tobias isn't nearly as lucky, getting caught beneath it and trampled slightly before managing to roll away. As he rolls he manages to slash at the underbelly a little, but the wound doesn't even slow it down.
It's at this point that you realise it's still charging at you. In the passing seconds, several things happen. First, you jump to the side to attempt a dodge. Second, Liam and Jocelyn plunge their weapons into the centipede's side. After a short time, Jocelyn loses her stance and gets dragged along. She pulls out her daggers and jumps off, crashing and rolling against the ground, but largely being unharmed. Liam stands strong, and his blade cuts deeply across the centipede's body. Partway through the charge, the creature just collapses from shock. Momentum, however, does not favour you and carries the limp giant into you, you bounce off its head, then into the cave wall, and finally, you fall onto a rock. The first blow is thankfully blocked by your magic shield, but hitting the wall and landing on the rock are still painful.
Various screeches sound as you stagger to your feet. You see various black blobs rushing around your field of vision. As you refocus, you identify it as the smaller centipedes retreating in panic as their leader fell. Jocelyn then gets to her feet, she seems to be doing about as well as you. Tobias needs Liam's help to stand though, after being trampled you aren't really surprised. You also take note that Liam's hands seem bloody.
Tobias casts a healing spell on himself and ends up looking quite a lot healthier, though you can tell he's still hurt. As you all begin to head down the tunnel after that victory, a weak screech sounds. You glance back to the source of the noise, the giant centipede is still alive, but it doesn't seem strong enough to do anything. Tobias glares at the fallen bug and hefts his sword high.
What will you do?
[] Let him put it out of its misery
[] Stop him
-[] Just leave it there
-[] Heal it, and hope that shows it you're nice enough to let leave
[] Write-in
