Nothing particularly exciting happens to Durin, Astrana, and Vino as they walk on the path through the dark woods. It's chilly and the finger-like branches of the trees seem to lean out to touch them, but they do no harm.
Inside Durin's head, Rot is as annoying as always.
No! Fool! You shouldn't take the path, that leads to death! Cut through the woods!
Of course, in the vampire's memories which Durin has access to, Rot always walked on the path and never among the trees.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
On temporary hiatus until player time is freed up.
Charlie's Plot
Moved to Remnant / Inside for debriefing summary post of Latas, interrogation of prisoners, and attempt to capture Charlie, but also on temporary hiatus until player time is freed up.
Coffin Hunting
"On the way out, sure," Vino says to Astrana. His bird scouts a bit ahead on the path, but doesn't fly into the woods, while his bat-hawks continue to scout far overhead. "Just stay alert."
"All that's important is that the coffin is destroyed. A fire wouldn't ensure that." Durin says as they head through the gate. Rot's voice is ignored once again. It was a weak bit of trickery.
The drowpire keeps a wary eye out as they move toward the door. When they reach it, he tries to open it.
Astrana stays waaay back as Durin opens the door. Opening closed doors were always a bad thing in her opinion, you never knew what was waiting on the other side.
The door... doesn't budge! It's locked.
Oh my, it looks like you can't get in without the key. I'd just leave.
Rot sends Durin a memory of a certain NPC escaping with the key to the mansion!
Of course, there's also memories of other entities opening the door for Rot. Grumpy werewolves and ghosts and stuff. He usually just knocked.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
The door immediately swings open after Durin is done knocking. In the entrance-way stands a half-transparent butler, who looks unnaturally... clean. His angular face has no blemishes, his short black hair is combed neatly, and his eyes are narrowed with just the right amount of smugness. He is dressed in a dull gray but spotless and neat suit. The butler looks down his nose at the three people at the door with a tight-lipped frown of disapproval. His mouth doesn't move, but the ghost's cold and harsh voice can be heard, permeated with distaste.
"Yes? What do you... "people" want?"
The butler says "people" in a way that hints that he hardly counts the three as real people and would much rather label them as something lesser and dirty and disgusting.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
"We're associates of Rot's." Durin says in a neutral tone. He tries to take a step into the mansion. No slamming the door in his face! "We won't need your assistance."
The drowpire looks at Astrana and nods to the ghost butler. Anything she can do about him?
Astrana is standing quite far away but still see Durin's glance which causes her to smile widely, she loved when she got to be useful. Especially when she could try out a new trick.
Reaching into her little shoulder bag she pulls out what appears to be a circlet.
She steps towards the ghost and holds the circlet just in between her horns when the staff start to glow red.
Suddenly the circlet seems to transform into pure energy casting the area in a powerful light which likely will blind anyone nearby. Then a beam of radiant light shoots out from it aimed towards the ghostly butler. This beam is especially harmful to the undead and beings of darkness.
The butler contemplates what Durin just said, but before he can act Astrana takes out the circlet and works her magic.
The light... isn't as bright as it should be. The dim and dismal shadow over the woods and mansion dulls the beam. Still, it strikes the butler head on! He disappears for a moment, then comes back flickering a bit... before reassuming a "solid" form, looking a bit haggard but still undead. This is a haunted place. The darkness, the dead, the evil, are all strengthened, while the holy and bright are unwanted.
The butler's form seems frayed around the edges, and there is a spot of red growing on the left side of his chest. His cool demeanor has changed into a rage-filled, monstrous visage.
"You... are no friends of Rot. Not welcome..."
The gray man fishes a gray handkerchief from no where and suddenly springs forward toward Durin, hand and hanky outstretched. The ghostly cloth will disintegrate the matter it touches, so the drowpire better move out of the way quickly!
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Vino sends a blast of wind at the unButler, to try and push it back, and then fires his shotgun at it. It's loaded with shot, with some extra garlic mixed in.
Durins whips his sword up in a flash. He points it so it will hit the red spot if the butler runs into it, and he's ready to move it as necessary. The sword happens to be able to effect incorporeal foes, though it won't actually inflict proper wounds. Just harm them.
While the light subsides the crown seems to have settled floating right between Astranas horns emitting a light which might be uncomfortable for undead beings to look upon.
Seeing it doesn't had the intended effect she whips up something else instead, she sends an bolt of demonic energy at the butler from the tip of her staff. It's no where near as powerful as the radiant beam had been but might harm the ghost none the less.
The butler barely flickers when the wind blows past him. The shotgun also does little to the incorporeal ghost. He swipes his obliteration hanky at Durin's wrist as the drowpire stabs at him with his sword.
The sword goes through the red spot, and the blood spreads even more, now a physical liquid than splashes onto the ground. The butler's face contorts in even more pain and anger, and then he gets whammed by a bolt of demonic energy. Empowered by the haunted place, too.
He fades with a hideous and horrible wail, leaving only the handkerchief behind.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Durin twitches his wrist to the side, just enough to avoid the complete removal of his hand. it does take a good chunk out of his wrist, however, and his sword clatters to the ground.
"Damn." His nostrils flare, his fangs extend. Impulse control is lacking lately.
[Yellow Road]
People arrive here along with Moff 8! Anybody that got dragged along with the Hypnohottie group. Gus is, of course, the guest of honor.
As for the road itself, it seems fairly normal, and certainly not paved with yellow bricks. That would be silly. Beyond the road, things get a little more interesting. Twisting shapes, vibrant colours. It might be wise to not look too closely. Certain things were not intended to be encountered by mortal minds.
A decidedly Un-mortal mind arrives, in the form of Rocid. For awhile he merely gazes in awe at the shapes surrounding him (with his invisible eyes, obviously) before tearing them away to look at the stones that make up the road exclusively.
"Steady, Durin," Vino says, using the wind to pick up his sword. "Can you hold your weapon? How badly are you injured?" He's not looking at Durin, but instead, staying alert for the next attack.
Astrana stays back, staring at Durin. If the monsters inside the manor wasn't enough they also had to deal with a mentally influenced vampire. Things weren't exactly looking up.
"I can't mend that wound." She quickly declares without even looking at it. "Can't vampires regenerate?" She asks the two, feeling a bit foolish.
Durin nods and closes his eyes. A moment later he's recovered from that lapse of control. "We regenerate, but slowly. If it won't interfere with your casting until we're done here, then heal it. If it will, I can use my left hand." Not quite as well, but it'll hardly make a real difference.
The wound itself looks nasty. A chunk of muscles and tendons just gone. Thankfully it only grazed the bone.
"Uh, by not being able to mend your wound I mean I can't cast healing spells at all. The pact magic is very specific in what and when I can cast. I could set up a ritual though but it might take a while." Astrana explains as she walks up to Durin to get a closer look at the vampires wound.
Durin puts his sword back into its sheath for the moment. "Then don't bother. We don't have the time for it." The vampire takes the blood pack. He punctures it with his fangs and it's drained in seconds. Now, he looks around for what ways they can go, searching Rot's memories for guidance.
"Because we wanted to strip you down of course." Moff answers a matter of fact-ly. He's still disappointed that that never happened. Oh well.
"So are we going to swing a pocket watch in front of his face or something? I have three." Moff produces three watches. One has a big M on it. The second has an engraving of Magtok's face, and the last is plain, but it popped open, revealing a picture of Cyban. "Mags let me borrow these."
"No Moff, it's because I didn't know you could do crap like this when I came up with the plan." Rocid is looking rather seasick for a blue floating brain, but manages to not puke over the side of the Yellow Road for now.
"You can try things the old fashioned way, but just in case, I'll try some psionics to get him going in the right direction. You may want to stand back though, I'm not very good at this, and there is a slight chance his head will pop. "
And unless someone will stop him, Rocid will manifest the power, presumably hitting Gus and implanting a series of reasonable sounding suggestions into his mind.
You are attracted to Vasquez. You want to see Vasquez naked. You will attempt to convince her to become naked for you. You are impatient. When Vasquez gets down to her bra, your patience will run out. You will stab the bra off of her to hurry things along. You are attracted to Vasquez..."
The words will keep repeating themselves over and over in Gus' head until he does something about them. They are monotone and incessant, and may just drive him completely insane when combined with the overactive stimuli that the Yellow Road is providing him. But that's a risk 'Cid is willing to take.
As soon as Durin begins drinking the blood, Rot begins another mental assault, this time trying to flood the drowpire's memories of the ancient vampire's best meals. Lots of blood and screaming and young maidens. Rot sends his scorn of the bagged blood and suggests that Astrana looks very tasty.
If this doesn't work, the Rot grudgingly surrenders the memories of the way to his coffin. It's inside the mansion, obviously. One of the torches on the wall of the second story is a switch that opens a staircase down to one of the many basements.
Looking inside the mansion, they will see a rather large entry hall. The room is filled with light from a rather lively hearth against one of the walls, though the observant will notice the fireplace is barred off and dug deep. No chance of reaching the fire, or the fire reaching anyone. A thick red rug stretches across the floor. The room is sparsely furnished, with an organ in the off-center, some armchairs around the fire, and cobweb-covered lamps, busts, and portraits lining the walls. There are four doors (including the entrance), one on each side of the square hall, and an elaborate marble imperial staircase leading to a second floor landing with many more doors. And... dripping water? Not even blood: it looks like its coming from a bathroom on the second floor. Gross.
The hidden lever from Rot's memories is on the left up on the second story. If all three of them step inside the mansion, the huge double doors behind them will slam shut, revealing a second lock on the inside of the doors. Looks like you need a key to get out too.
__________________
Avatar by Gulaghar. Yeah.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Durin lunges at Astrana and tears her throat out. Nah, he hasn't been worn down enough for that. Instead his hands are suddenly clawed, tearing the bag and sending the rest of the blood spilling to the ground. He tosses the bag aside with a growl. His eyes have a hungry gleam in them when he looks at his companions.
"We need to go to the second floor." He proceeds to give a bit more detailed directions. He turns around abruptly and starts walking toward the left side of the staircase.
The tiefling gives Durin a weary glance and lifts her hand to say something, an old habit she gained from her compound.
"Wait, the butler attacked us since we aren't this Rot vampire right? I happened to have a spell which might make us able to dodge further attempts on our lives. It's an illusion, if we make you look like right they might just let us in."
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" Rocid is looking rather seasick for a blue floating brain, but manages to not puke over the side of the Yellow Road for now.
