Hm... Not going to say yes or no on that one immediately. I think I can make that work? But I want to think about it rather than just toss off an immediate ruling.
(Next post still in progress. Hoping it goes up today? Soon! For some rather ambiguous definition of 'soon'.)
Hm... Not going to say yes or no on that one immediately. I think I can make that work? But I want to think about it rather than just toss off an immediate ruling.
Hmm
A question to consider there how difficult would be to obtain and any effects that may happen if we do don it.
The example I gave with helmet, could see it temporarily knocking our dragon out of action from feedback or sheer WTF.. leave us vulnerable for a bit as we figure out what just happened.
Another room, another burnt path through the webs, another set of spiders to kill.
You're getting better at this; finding your stride, experimenting with gliding leaps and precise targeting of joints.
You even managed to figure out how to get your claws to stop going click-click with every step! ...Not that you're really quiet, yet, at least not by the standards of your own senses, but you did manage to ambush a solitary web-spinner in that last passage. So. Progress?
Another room, another burnt path through the webs, another set of spiders to- no, these ones are dead already, scorched and broiled within their carapaces, foul-smelling corpses mixed with piles of cracked and blackened bone.
The scents of bird and cat and canid are stronger, now. -You're closing on your prey.-
You shake your head. No. That's not- You want a way out, and killing the creatures you've been following might just seal you in instead.
If you even could. You've neither seen nor smelled a hint of blood - the group you're following can take down the inhabitants of these catacombs without taking injury. Which. Well. So can you - but...
Another room, another burnt- wait. Just the entrance is burnt through.
The exit, by contrast, takes up about half the far wall, nicely in the middle where the spiders didn't bother webbing things, and surrounded by... is that some sort of -insultingly-simple- pattern-matching puzzle? Yes. Yes it is. What possible point could such a thing serve?
Whatever. Not important.
No, what's important is that there's light out there, flickering orange and approaching.
"-has to be about here somewhere." "You hired me to get you there and back, not-"
Nope.
Nope nope nope.
Caution's served you well so far - time to apply a bit more of it. You turn and retreat, slowly and stealthily at first, then speeding up once you're confident they won't be hearing you.
An empty room - weren't there dead spiders here? Not important.
Another room, remains of your kills, the path still clear.
An empty room again.
A- wait, there's a spider right there, re-weaving webbing across the exit. And you're running at full speed.
Duck under- no, still one strand across, and that slows you down just enough for the spider - and the rest of the webbing it was crafting - to land on your back.
You stab the spider with your tail, spinning yourself over to fling it away. One down... four to go, and you can't exactly dodge, stuck in the doorway as you are.
At least all the spiders are on one side and can't completely surround you?
The next few minutes are not pleasant. It turns out these spiders can get their mandibles through your scales, given enough attempts. You're probably poisoned, too.
On the plus side, lots of practice at making precise strikes with your tail! (There's a spike at the end of it! You hadn't noticed that before.)
On the minus side, there are still two spiders up and active, and you can see that orange light approaching again.
Well. There's exactly one option you can come up with that has good odds of getting you out of this more or less intact.
Again with the no votes - wanted to get this up so there's visible progress on the writing, didn't have any great ideas for what to put for voting options.
(If someone else has ideas, feel free to share? But I'm not going to call for write-in votes or anything.)
I'm assuming our dragons caught in the web at this point? Initial thing that comes to mind is if can try clawing way out with tail or claws while the Wizards sketching.
Could figure how we would talk to the adventurers once they show, after all they be the best source of info we have seen thus far.
Say we either try and bolt first chance, or actually stick with them.. heh. Maybe even figure what name should be.
I'm assuming our dragons caught in the web at this point? Initial thing that comes to mind is if can try clawing way out with tail or claws while the Wizards sketching.
Heh, that's also another option..but the Wizard mistakenly think we are attacking and counter if sense magic build-up...or try and steal it. Don't want to mindlessly waste potential allies if we can help it. Wyvern did say we would have greatly improved relations.. led me to think might have assumed initial hostility otherwise. (That red text ain't helping either)
Wizard may give us a good point towards magic use... and if nothing else we could probably use their help dealing with the whole poisoning issue.
So.. had a bit of an idea I may use Fate Point for @Wyvern .. counts as major i think
Given our dragon clearly has instincts [red text?] and have a past of some variety since we have the book.. perhaps can be items around the catacombs hat can help us piece together what exactly has happened to have us be here.
Specifically, can imagine pieces of armor [probably full plate or similar to be worn by a dragon] suited to us around that finding and donning could help "unlock" a memory in question. Example I initially figure is helmet-mask that if nothing else would keep blood or poison out of our eyes given the spiders to have cause to be initially worn... until the mental effect hits heh.
So, after extensive consideration, I'm vetoing this as a fate point use.
Parts of it are things I planned to have around anyway - stuff that "used to be yours" lying around, not just in the Catacombs - that can help you piece together what happened (and why).
Some of these items might even be armor fit for a dragon.
They will not fit you.
Or, at least, not without some re-forging. After all, one of the tied plans was called "crafter-in-scales" - so we'll have some crafting coming up sooner or later.
..
Heh, wonder if that means Wizard is gonna abuse the whole "stuck in web" and try to ask us about various pieces they found or stick it on us for a sketch.
Need to write this down.. keep my mind focused and keep track of what I know. Get started... set priorities. Notes.
Goals: 1: Find a way out of this place
2:Figure out what happened to me and why I woke up here
3:Collect what is yours... Find gear and items to assistance in the above
Cathedral of Bones: A strange place almost entirely made of bone besides that disk where I woke up and was the only thing alive around.. Weirdly that stone disk was layered with runes..I couldn't read them but seemed familiar, a clue? Maybe arrived here by some magic. The bones that made up the place either were giant or more akin to creatures my size. The clear point there is that it wasn't a singular kind of creature that all the bones came from..Hopefully none of them came from my species. Best place came across thus far to rest in this labyrinth, only one exit so its defensible.. especially if I can block it off somehow.
Catacombs: The maze I currently am in, stone construction mostly with plenty of alcoves and multiple floors. Currently I've seen it overrun with both "undead" and giant spiders. The spiders themselves have webbed up multiple halls so it seems likely this place has been abandoned for some time. Place was definitely important given the sheer amount of architecture.. maybe a burial ground? Explains all the bone constructs existing down here, but why are they animated? Spiders and skeletons dont seem to attack each other, but are not fully allied as saw a construct stuck in a web.. need to avoid that myself...
Myself:Woke up in the cathedral. No sign of why or what placed me there. Memories are blank.. don't even remember my name.. yet but feel.. instinct maybe? Think.. I felt panicked when I woke up... but why? I know I am a dragon, and I'm seemingly recovering from what happened to me.. even if I missed the obvious. How did I miss having a spike on my tail before the spiders? Its my tail!Everything I seen thus far has tried to kill me, both alive and undead.. if Spiders count as alive. Anything actually intelligent thus far I have not met yet.. but people are down here.. the dead adventurer and the traces of flame mean that much.. I have an "inventory" where can keep items I find and seem useful. A charred and wrecked piece of leather armor isnt worth much besides kindling..
Giant Spiders: Something alive down here, but unfortunately that's about the best part about them. They like to jump and ambush me, but they die fairly quickly. Fangs seem to be poisonous, and they spin web that have blocked off a lot of hallways. The spiders have some wits given they try to attack from multiple angles, but still stupid enough to do it in plain sight. It seems that the webs do their job well with being durable and sticky.. Fortunately the stuff likely would burn quite nicely, but need to find a way to get fire first. Can potentially be eaten, but they are entirely horrid and rotten.. not nearly desperate nor hungry enough to try it again. Keep aware of their webbing signaling they are in the area and wont be caught off guard.
Headless Skeletons: "Undead" that keep coming to life when I get near random piles of bones. No way to tell which ones will get back up and which will stay dead properly. The consistent part about them is I haven't seen a single one with a skull yet, heck the only skull I've seen is the dead adventurer's. Discounting any spider skulls I left in my wake.. do arachnids have skulls?Just need to break them apart with brute force and they stay down. Biggest threat they possess is surprise, but they seem mindless and dont seem coordinated. Last thing I need is one being smart enough to reform behind me after I pass it by...
Figured I'd try my hand at in verse journal entries for our dragon as a way to keep their thoughts straight. Be it their thoughts on certain areas or goals they set for themself @Wyvern
Neat. Should probably get an apocrypha threadmark, but, uh, I'll revisit that consideration when I'm actually awake enough to, y'know, read it. Tomorrow? We'll see. Tomorrow might just be a collapse-and-do-nothing day.
You may be amused to know that, apparently, my prior apartment was just not conducive to running this quest - it went on unplanned hiatus when I moved in there, and I've resurrected it now when I'm in process of moving out again.
Yeah, I've been trying to catch the story up to stuff that's already been voted on, rather than adding new votes each time. Since coming off of hiatus, the only vote's been character creation part one, which got tagged with informational rather than being a main threadmark. (And is also now closed. I'll be posting a character sheet informational thing once I've got it written.)
Yeah, I've been trying to catch the story up to stuff that's already been voted on, rather than adding new votes each time. Since coming off of hiatus, the only vote's been character creation part one, which got tagged with informational rather than being a main threadmark. (And is also now closed. I'll be posting a character sheet informational thing once I've got it written.)
Your also being bit unorthodox with the player character already being active before full details were set on them heh. Granted that can work pretty well (cautious over aggressive approach giving points to stealth-diplomacy?)
Granted, not sure how much I changed your plans on my musings or using fate point to have our dragon be caught by spiders. In verse though Wizard taking the opportunity and remarking on our capabilities-appearance is a pretty funny integration for character development.
Neat. Should probably get an apocrypha threadmark, but, uh, I'll revisit that consideration when I'm actually awake enough to, y'know, read it. Tomorrow? We'll see. Tomorrow might just be a collapse-and-do-nothing day.
Woo, moved. Yesterday was, indeed very splat. Today I am starting to catch up on writing projects.
Not going to put this to an official Vote, but there is a thing I'd like feedback on:
What do people think of using colored text for speech? I've found that it can help make it clearer who is talking, as well as make speech stand out from descriptions of actions and environment... ...but it can also sometimes impede readability.
- (In other forums I've been in, you can specify background color as well as text color, which allows some ways of alleviating this issue. Alas, SV does not appear to allow background or highlight tags. Which means I have to test any text color I want to use against both light and dark themes. A nuisance.)
Thoughts? Opinions?
Example text settings I'm considering: "The Dragon speaks." "The Ashen Wizard replies." "And the Foxy Lady is sarcastic."
Example text settings I'm considering: [COLOR=#4080ff][FONT=arial][B]"The Dragon speaks."[/B][/FONT][/COLOR] "The Ashen Wizard replies." "And the Foxy Lady is sarcastic."
Freak A Nature said everything I'd Like to say to that:
Good Idea, need to keep good contract in mind which could get hard If there are too many Characters that need their own shade, maybe also looking at Fonts could help.
When it comes to the next update, get the feel the spiders may have been able to cocoon our dragon in webbing fully due to being poisoned. Most spider's venom is more intended to paralyze the victim first so would be how they managed it. Does gives us an idea how effective various toxin would be against us though.
Not sure how much damage would be done though, but narratively seems our scales are quite resilient to being pierced, at least by typical claws-fangs of overly large wildlife.
Thinking of it... @Wyvern will next post be narrative update or more mechanics-information?
