Call of the Mist Wolf | Page 12

Jack Anders · Aug 4, 2017

The dark haired support’s brow cringed modestly as he saw the figure standing ahead of the party. Considering the previous trend displayed by the statues they had encountered thus far, it was safe to say that something similar would occur. Though not a genuine expert at things mythological, he understood the identity of the figure that stood before him. This one in particular dug up some traumatic memories due to a hellish training regimen implemented during a high school Latin course for state competition.

“Janus… God of beginnings, doorways and duality.”

He’d softly utters these words while contemplating over the significance behind the statue’s identity. In theory, it ought to display powers similar related to the deity and his domain. That much was made clear considering their encounters with Jupiter and Pluto.

“I vote we head to the statue. There’s no point in busting open the glass panel to stir a hornet’s nest. For all we know the statue might do that for us anyway…”

Pausing a moment to gauge the others’ opinions, he’d shrug a bit while waiting for a general consensus to be reached. Upon one having been made, he’d either approach closer to the familiar figure or stand back to let others take a more… physical approach.

Amalia Leblanc · Aug 4, 2017

"Interesting... watch out for tampered black gemstones huh..." easier said than done, but if their natural state was black, then given how magic of different schools tended to manifest in different spectrum of colors, she could at least be more skeptical at things that were different from what their default arrangement was supposed to be.

"I'm inclined to do the same. Going over to the statue might be for the best." she agreed, not really eager to let her curiosity overcome her better judgement. There were simply some mysteries of the world that were best kept undisturbed and forgotten, buried under the sands of time. "Knowing there might be, or are, eyes spying upon us is one thing, but if there's no hostility behind them it might just be best to leave them be."

"Excuse me while I change." she said as she snuck behind something that could conceivably work as a place to get dressed, away from prying eyes before stepping back out in her dress, hair still moist from the water that clung stubbornly upon her golden locks.

She checked the straps of her sandals, the state of her equipment and even tapped her fingers over her temple to inspect the area in investigation mode to see if they might be missing anything.

Blithe Bombón · Aug 4, 2017

As the group approached the statue up ahead, Nalani cocked her head curiously at it as she studied their next choice, pursing her lips. Statues had been nothing but bad news up until now, how could they really trust for this next statue to be any better? However when Ornson came rushing back to them speaking about how he felt eyes watching him, she shuddered. That was just insanely creepy. No way would she follow any kind of gaze you couldn't see.

"I don't really quite know if we can trust statues, but I agree that it would probably be our best bet right now... Is following a pair of unknown eyes really a smart idea?" All they could do right now would be to pick and choose which one would be 'best'. The raid in itself was just a surprise after surprise, and they couldn't really do much to avoid any danger, from what she had gathered.

The thoughts still swirled around in her brain, a little quieter now but still there. Something about it told her she was on the brink of a discovery, allowing her to know what all those words put together mean, the last piece of the puzzle piece... And that was pushing her forward. She needed to find out, and soon.

Lucia Mierz · Aug 8, 2017

Lucia nodded in understanding, seeing the skeleton struggling, the barrier certainly made it difficult to leave. She did very much want to save these undead people and learn from them, but now simply wasn’t the time. “If given the chance I’ll return to visit you all if you’re still awaken. A desolate place like this is by no means a qualified and livable home. I have ambitions I hope you would be able to find some common ground with.” Lucia spoke, offering only some vague explanations about building a place for the undead to live and grow as a people if the Risen leader was curious, but if not she’d simply leave it at that. She took the time to heal, soak, what have you while the others adjusted to the information before following behind normally despite what had just happened.

The Statue however was something that made her flash a wry smile. They had always been very hazardous things, but Lucia couldn’t help glancing from one person to the next as they seemed to head towards the statue, Lucia couldn’t help a shake of her head. “I say we try to discern who’s watching us. Friend would no doubt be most useful, but if it’s an enemy it’s best to attack them now then allow them to wait for us to exhaust ourselves against the statue to sweep us up.” Lucia tried to explain her view logically hoping the others wouldn’t be so strange as to simply let someone watch them as they fought the statue.

Alphabet Chocolate · Aug 8, 2017

“Necro...mancy?” Alpha was shocked at the man’s words and she hesitated, loosening her grip on Terry’s body, as she listened closely to the man’s remarks. She rubbed her reddened cheeks and bit her lip. She didn’t want Terry to go through any sort of pain; the dog was her companion and the mere idea of bringing the dingo through all that left scars upon her very heart. Yet, as she looked down, her eyes were shined over with a gloss of pain and despair. She had heard of necromancy before; it was a popular type of magic for many film villains and fictional characters. There was scarcely a single soul who hadn’t known what the branch of magic did and, upon seeing the revived corpses that called themselves ‘The Risen’, she knew it had to exist in some capacity. After a minute of debate, completely drowning out the conversation and wealth of information being presented before the party, she gave a nod to herself. She would risk anythingーeverythingー to make sure that her precious friend was safe and sound. It may have been just a game, but the emotional connection she had forged with the pup was not fake. She had been with him since he was so small and tiny; a bundle of joy that could fit in her folded arms. She had taken care of him from then up till now and, after failing that trust Terry had held for her, she was determined to make sure she wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

Alpha tuned back in right on time to hear Ornson’s remarks, quickly turning to look at the crystal wall herself. “The statue...it can’t talk. It can’t do anything except attack and hurt and kill us and leave us for dead and-and-and…” she drifted off in her tangent, her eyes growing unfocused and wild. She didn’t notice anything around her; not Merkaba’s sudden disappearance nor the reactions and words of the others. “The eyes,” she calmed herself, gripping Terry’s fur and, to her dismay, felt a chilling cold settle upon the dog’s flesh. She ignored it, gritting her teeth, and took a breath. “It belongs to someone, right? And whoever is here...they know magic. They can talk to us. They can tell us what’s going on…They can tell us how we can revive Terry.”

She didn’t know whether it would be a friend or foe awaiting them, but she was willing to take that risk. She and the others could simply respawn; they could come back new and fresh with untouched skin and perfect condition. Terry, however, couldn’t.

Alphabet Chocolate wants to follow the eyes.

Aaron Marone · Aug 8, 2017

Aaron frowned at the Risen’s words and request. They were trapped here and wanted to be freed. That definitely didn't sound like the request made by every single “oh yeah I'm totally a good guy” character in every single movie where someone was trapped ever. He sighed heavily. They hadn't given him a reason to distrust them. They hadn't given him a reason to trust them. He didn't know what to assume. If the group decided to take a vote at some point about the barrier, and he hadn't received new info by then, he would probably abstain from the voting. He cursed when he noticed Merkaba had disconnected. Of course she would abandon them.

When discussion turned to which path to take, Aaron mused. “We don't know what the eyes are. We know the statue will likely be a fight. The known enemy or the simply unknown? I personally would like to understand both, but I realize that may not be possible, so if I must decide, let us risk the eyes, in hopes they will be friendly.”

Aaron turned to Alphabet and put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Hey, ABC… I don't know how to say this. Don't hold on tightly to things that can't be kept. I know you loved Terry, and Terry loved you. But even on the off chance he could be brought back, I don't think he would want to be. Look at these Risen. Do you really think Terry would want an existence like they have?” He asked her.

Aaron votes for the eyes.

Raid Master · Aug 9, 2017

Raid Master

It seemed that the group was completely split on the issues and it came down to Ornson to be the tiebreaker. On one hand, he certain agreed with the sentiment that the group was more equipped to deal with the statue, given that they had just survived life-endangering encounters with two different statues, so their chance of surviving the third may be just as likely.

On the other hand, the pair of eyes may not be enemies, and perhaps belonging to individuals who can be reasoned with. If the passage was inside the wall, then that means that they would be safe from all harm on the way. Or… it could lead the group into a nest full of blood witches intending on ripping them apart. Either way, Ornson was at a difficult crossroad, one where he was completely split between and did not want to take the responsibility of having to make the tough decision, so he grabbed a coin and decided that head (1), would have them follow the eyes, while the tail (2) would have them encounter the statue. After the coin was flipped, it landed on his open palm, which he closed. The moment he opened it, it seemed that fate has decided that they would confront the statue.

“Divination has shown me the way, it appears to be our fate to press forward and conquer that statue. I will take the lead; I have some protective magic that I can use defend myself from incoming attacks,” said Ornson as he pulled his staff out and began to approach the statue with careful steps.

After a few steps forward, the statue with the familiar black pool around it rotated in a crude matter before it faced the Druid, who quickly chanted an incantation, “Orela noreh mahstar ofrey!” after which his body gained bark skin, which he hoped would be enough to eat whatever comes his way. Except it didn’t come at him, but rather, under him.

Within a few seconds, Ornson found himself standing atop a portal, which he dropped into and was launched out from another portal on the ceiling, doing massive damage from the fall… “Guhk!” he groaned before passing out, completely incapacitated.

While Ornson took the first step, as soon as Nalani move from her spot, she would hear the whisper once more… saying, “S-A-E-I…” forcing her to recite it yet again. However, the moment the words came out of her mouth, her body began to emit a purple for a brief moment before it died down. If she checked her status, it would appear that the previously mysterious status effect has changed… More precisely, it changed to 4/4 before disappearing without a trace. The voices inside her head did not stop, however. But other than the voices getting a little louder, nothing else happened.

Encounter

If you are intending on rushing the statue, you must roll in our tracker thread so you can plan out your reply accordingly. I triple checked the link, it's correct.

For this cycle, you get a +5 modifier to your roll per mastery tier (including beginner) if you had points in medium armor mastery. +10 for Expert rank.

Rogue ALSO gets a +5 modifier to their roll per mastery tier (excluding beginner) +10 for Expert rank.

Support can forgo their roll (thus giving up movement toward the statue) to cast a speed buff: Illumancy gives +20 modifier to 3 rolls, make sure to tag those people; while Muse give +5 to the entire group. These speed bonuses can stack. This will cost 25% Energy.

All speed buff will be tallied at the end of the cycle, so don't take damage yet unless you roll really, really low.

Anyone who rolled 50+ will successfully reach the statue. At least 3 people must reach the statue in order to remove the red crystal jutting out a bit from within its head.

Anyone who decided to run and fail the 50+ DC will be tossed down from the ceiling or out from the side of the wall via the portal, which will deal 33% damage.

If you want to do something different, you can as well, just hit me up. This is the quickest way to end the encounter.

@Aaron Marone @Jack Anders @Alphabet Chocolate @Dempsey Fabijain @Amalia Leblanc @Nalani Rosa @Merkaba
Code:
[textav]link[/textav]
[text][tn]Name[/tn]
[hp]100[/hp][en]100[/en]
[/text]

Post

Roll + Mod = Result
Roll Link

Blithe Bombón · Aug 8, 2017

Nalani froze in her spot as she watched Ornson get thrown about, maybe the statue hadn't been such a good idea after all. She gulped a little bit at the site before here, but even before she could make a move, her thoughts began to act up again. And just the same as before, the words slipped out of her mouth as easily as if she had spoken them. She looked surprised, and even more surprised as purple emitted from her body, but soon the purple died away, and nothing changed but the status effect disappeared from her bar and the words dancing through her head even louder. It bothered her that nothing too important happened, but she needed to continue on.

"I'm fine, it's not a big deal~" she said as if to ease anybodies worries in case they were feeling so, before pointing at the statue, "We need to grab that red crystal popping out from its head, so... I'll try first, okay?" and then, with all her might, she burst forward towards the statue as fast as her skinny legs could carry her, speaking the words of the shield spell she castes before to allow the purple magic to guard her. Unfortunately, she was not fast enough... And about halfway there, just as it did to Ornson, the portal opened below her, and with a squeak she fell in.

Her body came flying out of the ceiling, landing with a thwomp beside Ornson's body, a groan of pain emitting from her mouth as she did so. She did not move from the ground as she laid there, trying not to alert the statue again and get over the sore throbbing echoing throughout her body. Boy, this was a videogame, but did that ever hurt! Thank goodness she had her shield, or it probably would have been much worse.

Nalani Rosa

77 HP

MAX HP
100 EN

MAX EN

DM Edit: Shield works -10 DMG

Jack Anders · Aug 9, 2017

Jack Anders

100 HP

MAX HP
75 EN

MAX EN

A loud groan sounded from the dark haired man as he’d pause to witness an uncannily similar scene once more. Having noticed Orson being targeted first by the statue once more, he’d shake his head wearily while investigating the man to check up on his current condition. A sign of relief would sound after the fact upon noticing that despite the druid’s incapacitation, the others were faring much better as far as outpacing the portals was concerned. It still didn’t change the fact however that he was practically the group’s guinea pig whenever they came across a minefield or anything of the sort.

Having noticed the red crystal over yonder, the support would instead begin chanting in order to bestow greater speed to his allies. It wasn’t as though he’d have a good shot at making an attempt himself. It’d be best to invest more so in the other rogue-like characters to ensure greater chances of success. His incantation quickly finishing, he’d call out to the other party member while offering a bit of encouragement.

“Punch cat! Time to go zoom, zoom, zoom!”

Holy flames would materialize about the woman’s ankles, accelerating her movements with each passing step should she choose to proceed.

@Lucia Mierz @Aaron Marone @Ornson (@Raid Master) (+20)

Amalia Leblanc · Aug 9, 2017

Amalia wanted to groan. How many of these statues did these forgotten people manage to create to defend their territory. Moreover, couldn't they have made it harder for outsiders to tamper them in the first place? She didn't have time to ruminate on the details, it seemed her other companions were resigned to taking out the statue. That meant that she was going to have to leave it to her other companions to play hero again.

She adjusted her footing and set her instrument to her shoulders and got to work. By now she had become fairly proficient in what she needed to do here. A speed enhancement to improve the chances of all their other fleet footed friends. Hopefully with Jack's own variant, a few would make the cut.

Granted she wasn't feeling particularly hopeful. She had a bad feeling about this.

She spied at the corner of her eye, the druid taking the brunt of another attack meant for one of them and almost wanted to stop just to face palm. She'd need to get to his side later to check up on him, but she couldn't very well stop now or more people were going to drop if they didn't disable that giant thing.

Amalia Leblanc

100 HP

MAX HP
75 EN

MAX EN

Alphabet Chocolate · Aug 9, 2017

Alphabet Chocolate

67 HP

MAX HP
100 EN

MAX EN

Alpha frowned as Ornson had decided that checking out the statue seemed to be more important than investigating the matter of the glowing, reddened eyes. At the man's decision, she gave a glare at the druid and crossed her fingers, staunchly refusing to budge from the spot. Terry needed help right now and she wouldn't oblige her help to a man who didn't care about her best friend. That decision, however, only lasted a solid minute until Nalani charged and, upon seeing her friend get thrown through a portal in some pain, she growled. "Get away from Nalani!" she charged, determined to avenge her friend's injuries.

Unfortunately, it went as well as one would expect from a small, little girl up against an ancient, magically-powered, possibly sentient, extremely powerful relic of a statue designed after a Greco-Roman deity. She was promptly tossed through a portal and landed atop of Terry's corpse, eyes unfocused, scratches and bruises on her body, and hosting a dizzy concussion. "Don't worry Nalani, I saved you!" she slurred before drooping over, nursing her throbbing headache.

32 + 15 + 5 = 52 [1/3]
Call of the Mist Wolf

Lucia Mierz · Aug 10, 2017

Lucia

100 HP

MAX HP
100 EN

MAX EN

It was only thanks to the support that Lucia could manage to jump over the portal opening up beneath her. Grumbling internally as she bent her body to avoid falling in on the other side to continue her sprint towards the statue. "This is a bit troubling..." Lucia couldn't help grimacing as she tried to reach up to the statue to grab onto it-- afraid that if she didn't have something to hold onto she might just fall down into the next portal. She tried to raise a hand towards the statue's face, making a few sharp hand gestures to try and cast a simple spell, it was in truth very crude, not something she was particularly skilled in since ailments weren't her specialty. It wasn't difficult either though as she tried to create a mild black fog around the statue's face to try and blind it thinking that it might operate like the other statues and require sight to track it's targets.

Whether it helped or not, Lucia would begin working to try to rip the statue's power source from it's head while clinging as best she could.

27 + 25 = 52
Roll Link

Aaron Marone · Aug 10, 2017

Aaron Marone

67 HP

MAX HP
100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron watched Orson flip a coin, and then claim to have determined the path through 'divination'. "No, guys, everyone saw that, right?" he asked, looking around. "He... he literally just flipped a coin. We're trusting this? Guys? Am I the only one who thinks that maybe this... okay, fine, whatever. Let's get this over with."

Suddenly he felt Jack's and Amalia's magic both wash over him, felt his body lighten, and his legs feel stronger. He blinked once. "Really, buffing the guy who wears heavy armor for speed? I... I guess it makes some sort of sense, in some way or another..." he sighed and shook his head. "Alright, here goes nothing," he muttered.

Aaron lowered his head and charged forward, aiming directly for that statue. He pumped his arms, desperate to get any speed he could out of the whole ordeal. He felt his body move with a speed he wasn't used to. He felt light, he felt free. He felt like he could fly!

That was when he realized he was flying. Well, more accurately, falling. He hit the ground, hard, with a "oompf" and a curse of pain. "Nope, that didn't work. Not at all. Ow."

14 + 25 = 39
Roll Link

Raid Master · Aug 10, 2017

Raid Master

Thanks to bark skin absorbing most of the damage from falling, Ornson stirred awake after his short incapacitation. Seeing the rest of the group tried to pass the field of portals using everything they could muster, which resulted in a few people being ejected from the side wall and from the ceiling, his heart became heavy. While the small, dark haired girl reached the statue along with the woman who was revived earlier, he knew he had to stand up and get to the base of the statue to lend them a hand.

When Jack’s spell enveloped him, Ornson could feel like well-muscled body began to lighten as he got up to his feet and began dashing toward the statue, trying his best to use his speed to avoid the portals that were attempting to catch him. Thankfully with his medium armor and Amalia’s energetic song, he was able to traverse the holey field full of portals and reached the statue just in time (16+15+25=56). Standing directly below the statue, he muttered a quick incantation, “Shilalegh medurah abnha!” The spell turned his staff into a flexible vine that he used as a whip to strike the statue’s face. He was careful as to not hit Lucia who was right behind it.

The statue’s head burst open from the impact of his vine whip, throwing the red crystal out of the socket it was latched into, severed from the black tendrils that were attached to it. Unlike the first two statues they encountered, however, it appeared that the tendrils were less pronounced here… which make it a lot weaker. It appeared that the tendrils required time and proper preparation to correctly set up… which the blood witches they killed did none of.

After one of the party members obtain the crystal. The party instinctively knew it was time to move on, as there was not a lot of time left before they would have to log out and fulfill their real life needs and obligations.

When Ornson turned back to the group, he helped the fallen party members up, which included Aaron and Nalani before he donned his hardened staff at his back, using a sling to keep it fixed against him as he made his way to the exit, which was a steep staircase that led the group up and up…

Another half an hour would pass before the group arrived at a very crude looking room, where there was a massive, square shaped pit in the center. If the group looked up, they would be able to see some kind of tall platform that was connected to the staircase on either side of the room.

When Ornson made his way up the stairs, he immediately alerted the entire group. In front of him, trapped inside what appears to be a magical prison (as a glance in the investigation phase would yield), was a much smaller version of the mist wolf, which was slumped over on the group, its breathing, unnatural and ragged. When Ornson attempted to touch the wolf, the powerful barrier repelled him tossing him back several feet. “Wha-???!!!” he had never seen such powerful barrier magic before.

Turning back to the group, he spoke, “It doesn’t seem like this isn’t Hemomancy, I don’t know what kind of magic this is, but it appears to be very powerful but archaic magic, I would reckon it is the same magic the Risen has mentioned a while back,” he said.

“I think the mist wolf has scattered its soul into several smaller forms, to keep itself from being absorbed by the blood witches? It is the only probable scenario I can imagine here. Something is draining it… seeing how it keeps fading in and out of existence. I don’t believe that in normal behavior,” Ornson sighed.

After borrowing the amulet from Amalia once more, the man began to scan his surroundings. When he noticed something strange, he turned back toward the group, “I see something, there are some symbols on the wall of a language, which I cannot read.” After he contemplated for a moment, he passed the amulet to Nalani. “Were you not speaking the devil’s language up until now? Perhaps you can decipher its meaning,” he suggested.

If Nalani looked through the amulet, she would instantly have recognized the letters on the wall. Upon seeing the sight, the voices inside her head would shout at her, forcing her to recite the words aloud in a language the group could comprehend. “And xxx xxxx there be light… there xxx light.” It seemed the magical etching had corroded with time, leaving a nearly incomprehensible sentence. What could it possibly mean?

If the group approached the edge, they would see the pit more clearly. There was a soft radiance from the chamber’s ceiling pointed directly at the pit. Being on top of the platform, which was the zenith of the chamber, the party could see massive square-shaped stone columns scattered around the room, with symbols they cannot read etched at the top. However, Nalani can comprehend them and each of these pillars spelled out all of the letters Nalani had seen and memorized. In total, there were 16 massive pillars and from a quick glance, it would seem there was no probable way for the group to move these pillars by normal mean.

When Ornson asked for the amulet again, he described what he saw. "Uhm... there appears to be traces of magic leading from the pit up to the ceiling where it disappears only to show up on their side of the wall before it leads down to the barrier surrounding the mist wolf. Uh, how should we approach this? We're going to need a lot of force or some strong magic to move these things... at least I think all 16 pillars fit into the pit.” he asked, perplexed at the situation they had gotten into.

OOC: All actions are attempts, you cannot write the result of your action. If the proper interaction is made, I will assume the rest of the scene.

@Aaron Marone @Jack Anders @Alphabet Chocolate @Dempsey Fabijain @Amalia Leblanc @Nalani Rosa @Merkaba

Raid Master · Aug 10, 2017

Interaction

Everyone can try to figure out how to move the big pillars into the slots and simply attempt to do it or state clearly, in-character, how they would do it.