>>4007770
=================(Case Start)=================

“The tainted do not show any boons from their affliction outside of their higher than average resistance to black mana spells, and their increased ability to utilize them. They still die as easily as any other.” ~ Varen Los, Crusader Captain of the western urals.

==========(Chapter Start)========

Henry followed Sophie up the ladder with more than a hint of caution. Their trip through the remainder of the catacombs hadn’t been without a hitch. There were swarms of undead down here, if Henry hadn’t been with them then there would’ve been no way for them to pass. He’d simply taken control of them and let Madison break their skulls with his mace, which more or less disabled them. Technically they were still active but without any sensory organs they’d be all but useless in combat. Henry also had the good sense to ensure some of the basic undead remained active.

The ones Henry was more concerned about were the ones with pieces of glass and rubber hooked up to them. From what Henry could tell they were some sort of mana battery, but he wasn’t all too sure why they would be hooked up to an undead creature, nor how stable they actually were. He doubted they were simple bombers, as bomb runes or detonation runes would be far cheaper to produce and much less likely to break from regular combat. He made a note to have Johnny grab a couple of the devices if they had the time.

As Henry poked his head up over the top of the ladder, he came upon what looked to be a dungeon. Sophie had already gotten the door open. For the time being the room seemed to be clear.

“Alright this is the part where we split up.” Sophie said. “Johnny you’re with me, we need to secure a suit of possessed armor. I believe we can find one patrolling the halls. As for everyone else, you know your orders.”

“Oy Madison what the feck are you doin?” Coliq asked.

“There are people in these cells.” Madison said.

Henry glanced around and sure enough, there were. As he approached a cell the sole occupant scuttled back. Their tongue had been cut out. Whoever was going to use them didn’t like screaming.

“We’re not here on a rescue mission.” Lily said, piping up.

“I’m not going to recuse them I’m going to end their suffering.” Madison remarked.

“Fucking hell, of all the people to have morals.” Coliq said.

“Shut the fuck up before I break your neck.” Madison said, shutting both of them up.

Henry turned to ask what Johnny thought of this only to find that his skeletal servant had already absconded with Sophie. Fucking hell.

Decisions:
1. *side with Madison* (+reputation with Madison, -reputation with Coliq and Lily)
2. *side with Coliq and Lily*(-reputation with Madison, +reputation with Coliq and Lily)
3. (write in)
4. *grab Coliq and let Lily figure it out, you don’t have time.*

>>4007793
>2. *side with Coliq and Lily*(-reputation with Madison, +reputation with Coliq and Lily)
>3. (write in)
"We're here for a job, we do the job first, then you can go back and do what the hell you want, but if you fuck this up you'd wish you had an easy death."

>>4007845
Supporting this idea

>>4007845
>>4007865
roll 1d100

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>4008054

>>4008146
not a success

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>4008054

>>4008214
success, writing

>>4007793
“We’re here for a job, we do the job first, then you can go back and do whatever the hell you want. But if you fuck this up for us you’re gonna wish you had an easy death.” Henry said, simply.

Madison stared Henry down for almost a minute before grunting and walking off in a huff. Henry breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn’t want to get into an actual fight with that man.

“Thank fuck, someone with some sense.” Coliq said. “Alright partner I suppose we’re gonna get along just fine then.”

“I gotta go…” Lily said, “Good luck.”

“Yeah, you too.” Henry replied.

“Yepper.” Coliq said.

Henry started onwards with Coliq as they climbed a set of stone stairs out into a small cramped hallway. From what he could tell their path to the vault wouldn’t be too dramatic. They had to slip past a few patrols but that would be it. If anything their job was the easiest.

Decisions:
1. *move forwards aggressively.* (roll 2d100, will get you to the vault if successful)
2. *move forwards at an average pace* (roll 1d100, will take a safer route)
3. *move forwards cautiously.* (no roll, but will create a random encounter, potentially good potentially bad, but not horribly so)
4. (write in)

>>4008303
>3. *move forwards cautiously.* (no roll, but will create a random encounter, potentially good potentially bad, but not horribly so)

Screw the dice gods

>>4008314
Supportin

Rolled 2 (1d5)

>>4008314
>>4008350
writing

>>4008303
Henry and Coliq made their way down several hallways and through a couple of rooms before they noticed that there was a distinct lack of guards, and the overall lack of upkeep they’d been giving the place. Henry chanced a peak out of a window that still had a few panes of glass in it, and noticed there were a great deal of them outside. He then noticed that there were several people lashed to polls and a hell of a lot of kindling underneath em.

“Bloody hell.” Coliq muttered after glancing over Henry’s shoulder.

Henry felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw what appeared to be the captain of the guard and Holms Squire, and sure as shit he was a demonhost. Henry could fucking feel it all the way from the window. He turned around to notice that Coliq had fallen over and was shaking despite himself. In comparison Henry was unaffected, he’d been more surprised to see something so dangerous, though it must’ve been suffocating for Coliq.

“I-I’m fine.. long as I don’t get close. No wonder she made the teams like this… if both of us lost our shit…” Coliq said.

“Come on, get away from the windows.” Henry said, pulling Coliq out of range.

The man pepped up and was more or less back to normal, though he didn’t seem to be in nearly as good a mood.

“I imagine the screams are going to start in a couple minutes.” Henry said.

“The hell you figure that?” Coliq asked.

“They’re going to sacrifice people via fire. Burning to death is very painful Coliq, let me tell you.” Henry said. He felt a bit smug as Coliq finally showed a bit of fear.

“Have you seen them do that to someone before?” Coliq asked.

“No.” Henry replied. It was the truth, the Lic’toron didn’t burn people, took far too much time.

Decisions:
1. *cut through the grand hall, might be a bit risky but will save you some time*
2. *head through the library, its quiet and unlikely to be well traveled given the state of the castle*
3. *rush for the vault, hope nobody’s around*
4. (write in)

>>4008441
since a 2 was rolled then that means the Van Graf faction is conducting a human sacrifice and the castle is relatively occupied. The captain of the guard is harder to reach now, but there is overall less living security and you will have a bigger window to stop an alarm being triggered.

>>4008441
>2. *head through the library, its quiet and unlikely to be well traveled given the state of the castle*

>>4008441
>2. *head through the library, its quiet and unlikely to be well traveled given the state of the castle*

No nerd can concentrate with all that ruckus about to happen

>>4009203
>>4008980
roll 1d100

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>4010372

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>4010372

>>4010678
Oh boy, here we go

>>4010764
You're fuckin welcome

>>4010678
writing

>>4008441
As Henry and Coliq walked through the dusty and cramped library, they noticed that the place was incredibly well stocked, though not expertly cleaned. Henry took a moment to gaze at a few of the books before Coliq tapped his shoulder and pointed to an empty table. On it were some blueprints for the creation of a Tulpa, as well as some complex Franks. There were a trio of books laid out on the table alongside some lit candles. The person who’d been reading them was nowhere to be found, and finding the library empty, and finding the books to have no mana signature whatsoever, Henry stepped forwards. The first was a tome on the creation and insertion of tulpas. The second on the various processes of maintaining a large frank, and the third on the application of black mana spells to further increase an undead servant’s effectiveness. Henry glanced back to Coliq before shoving all three books into the knapsack he’d brought with him. Jackpot.


>Gained –
> Book: “Dialect on the creation and insertion of tulpas into a host body” (great condition)
> Book: “Increasing the potency of undead via black mana crafts.” (excellent condition)
> Book: “Maintaining and accepting the behavior of large risen creations, Vol 1.” (average condition, well read)

Maybe someone was looking out for him after all.

“Oy you know you won’t be able to carry as much loot, right?” Coliq asked.

“Coliq, this is worth far more than a single trinket.” Henry replied.

“Whatever, buncha words I can’t even read.” Coliq replied. “Feckin books, can’t believe people pay so much for em.”

“Maybe when this is all over and we both get out alive I can teach you to read.” Henry said.

“No need, I can write my own name, that’s all I need.” Coliq replied.

>>4011036
Henry sighed. Larry had been the same way until recently. All of a sudden, the man had wanted to learn to read and write and it had fallen to Henry and Charles to be late night tutors. Johnny had only chuckled when Henry asked if he knew why.

Regardless, the way out of the library was also unguarded. As the duo continued towards where the vault would be Henry noticed again the lack of patrols.

“Something is up.” Henry said.

“Oy you mean the lack of people? Well they’re all at the big feckin party.” Coliq replied.

“And the undead too?” Henry asked.

“Maybe they wanted em there to party too?” Coliq offered.

Henry sighed and shook his head. The man knew his way around explosives, but wasn’t all that bright otherwise. Where had all the undead gotten off to? There should’ve been more patrols around here.

As they rounded a final corner Henry spotted the vault stairwell. The thing had a massive archway with a brilliant bit of stonework topped off by a gargoyle. Flanking the entrance were a pair of possessed armors, spearmen. Henry figured that they’d have protection from seizure but he couldn’t be sure without trying. The other option was to just blast them and remove their cores. He figured he had a thirty percent chance of managing to sneak behind one of them and deactivating it. Coliq on the other hand would be hopeless. The man wasn’t all that stealthy. Doubly so with a pack full of explosive runes and blast powder.

The two guards stood in full sets of plate mail, each carrying a halberd. The stuff was far better maintained than most of the castle, actually. Whoever owned them had given them quite a bit of care. The one on the left was even shining a bit in the moonlight, as it had been freshly polished.

Decisions:
1. *Use spellcraft (choose from spell list)*
2. *Utilize stealth to take out a guard* (roll 1d100, 70 or higher required, if successful will take out one of the two guards. Will alert remaining guards)
3. *throw bomb runes at the guards* (roll 2d100, first for success and second for noise, low rolls will mean the enemy’s armor is too strong and the guards are alerted to the noise, respectively.)
4. *utilize regular tactics against fully armored and effectively unkillable opponents, if your suicidal*
5. (write in)

>>4011038
>1. *Use spellcraft (choose from spell list)*
Use lightning talons on one while Coliq handles the other, and once ours is down, we'll move to assist him.

>>4011038
Can you clarify, if we fail the stealth roll we'll alert the remaining guards, but won't that be true for every other option too?

If we use Necromantic Heart, do you suppose the guards would ignore us? What's Henry's take on that, how likely are they to be keyed to attack other undead? Does he think the guards are too sophisticated to fool? Can he tell if they have some kind of magical link to other undead in the place or will other enemies rely on sight and sound to find trespassers?

>>4011098
Do you think we should cast Haste as well if we attack?

>>4011131
unless your actively looking, most low level spell craft will not be detected. As it stands the living members of the castle are focused on the sacrifice.

Necromantic heart would thwart any attempts to lock onto your lifesigns, which would render most detection magic ineffective. However direct line of sight would still be effective against you.

As it stands, Henry thinks security is shoddy and a bit too much so. The entire place is crumbling and it doesn't seem to have been kept up well.

As for the undead, Henry could detect a magical link between them and their controller, if such a link exists. Do you want to roll for detection of that?


any further questions?

>>4011171
in relation to the first question and as an addition to my response, bomb runes are significantly louder than the average red mana spell.

>>4011172
one last thing, if the guards do hear you they WON'T immediately know what the noise was, and you'll have some time to flee. However them finding the destroyed remains of two possessed armors will go about as well as you'd expect.

>>4011173
Didn't realize they were possessed armors.
Could we fool their senses using necromancy?

>>4011171
Yeah I think we should roll to see if there's a connection and what can be done about it.

Can the armors be dispelled or are there usually protections against that? I dunno maybe we can hijack or piggyback on the connection and/or fake it out so the controller won't notice that we're fucking around.

>>4011177
they're more advanced than a basic undead so a roll will be required. But it is certainly within Henry's capabilities. However a failed attempt would alert them.

>>4011197
So, if we attack we may or may not alert other guards, and tip off the controller. If we try to use necromancy to fool them we may or may not tip off the controller and start a fight.

Both options are bad... but we have to get past them. I'll want to try the option that has a chance to let us pass without a fuss

>>4011209
the controller will only be notified if there is a direct connection, if they're on "autopilot" then there will be no alarm. you can roll to detect whether or not the undead are being directly controlled are not

Direct control is how that nevermore that attacked Blaise was directed while autopilot would've been the undirected horde. A necromancer cannot control more than a dozen undead directly without further magical artifacts, skill, or prep. I've used the word 'herding' to describe how Henry has controlled his own horde and its no different here. The undead patrolling simply have more complex and hardcoded instructions.

>>4011237
Okay, so I think that's definitely worth attempting.

>>4011302
roll 1d100 to detect necromantic connection

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>4011356

>>4011359
pass

>The two possessed armors are not being directly controlled. They have no way of receiving orders remotely either. Henry guesses that they're simply guarding the vault and were expressly created to.

Decisions:
1. *Use spellcraft (choose from spell list)*
2. *Utilize stealth to take out a guard* (roll 1d100, 70 or higher required, if successful will take out one of the two guards. Will alert remaining guards)
3. *throw bomb runes at the guards* (roll 2d100, first for success and second for noise, low rolls will mean the enemy’s armor is too strong and the guards are alerted to the noise, respectively.)
4. *utilize regular tactics against fully armored and effectively unkillable opponents, if you're suicidal*
5. (write in)

>>4011493
>They have no way of receiving orders remotely either.

Does this mean that we can't use necromancy to fill their senses as he suggested it is that possible with option 1?

I have to sleep now so I won't vote atm before clarification

>>4011616
no you can totally use magic to overwhelm their senses. sorry I didn't update the listings

>>4011616
>>4011695
Lets overwhelm their senses.

>>4012176
roll 1d100, I'm fairly sure everyone's in agreement

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>4012466

>>4012506
thats not good enough I'm afraid, anyone else?

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>4012466
Uh oh

>>4012622
passed
writing

>>4011493
Coliq grabbed for a couple of runes and was about to throw them when Henry put his hand on the man’s shoulder. He simply shook his head when Coliq turned to look at him in confusion. Henry had a far better solution in mind.

“You know I’m a necromancer, right?” Henry asked.

“Yeah?”

“I can do something quiet, give me a minute.” Henry said.

“No fun, even if they’re just glorified tin cans.” Coliq replied.

Henry peeked out from around the corner they were hiding behind. The suits of armor were still standing exactly where he’d last seen them. The fact they didn’t move at all might’ve been eerie to some but to Henry it just showed they were well made, professionally so. Anything less would’ve eventually wandered if not. Controlling undead was like herding cats at times.

Henry leashed a bit of black mana out of his palm, concentrating on the best way to create a distracting spell. It would likely last only a couple hours, but they’d be long gone by the time it wore off. Henry’s ability to create illusions was piss poor, he’d never really seen the need when he could just use a bolt spell or a dagger. But when it came to undead, he was in his element. It was fairly easy to knock off an unprotected undead’s senses, as the things didn’t have nearly as strong a connection to their bodies as a living being.

Henry cast his spell, the black mana bolt arcing across the floor and then curving up at the last minute, a trick Ophelia had taught him. To someone like her it was a palor trick, to Henry it was a way of being stealthy or catching an opponent by surprise.

The first bolt landed on target and the second was right behind it. A moment later Henry threw an empty pouch out in front of the undead. When they didn’t respond he stepped in front of them. The trick had worked. The undead’s view was all shadows now, and their hearing would be utterly muffled. As he’d expected the undead would simply continue to follow their orders to wait in place instead of reacting to their new lack of stimuli. As long as nobody was dumb enough to interact with them the spell would hold.

>>4012691

“Coliq, whatever you do don’t touch em, long as we do that it’ll all be good.” Henry said.

“Lovely.” Coliq said, stepping out and sauntering over. As Henry started down the stairwell Coliq rushed out in front.

“Trapper’s duty.” Coliq said. “I figure they’ll have some tricks up ahead.” He continued.

Henry glanced ahead and noticed that there was a lit lantern up ahead, sitting on the ground.

“That’s concerning.” Henry said. “I reeeeaaaally hope Ivy hasn’t paid the vault a late night visit after reading the tomes I just stole.”

“Oy don’t even feckin joke about that.” Coliq replied. “Sides she’d be out with the others, right?” Coliq said.

“I didn’t see her out there. I get the feeling she’d be kept apart from the others and that she isn’t really running the show here.” Henry continued.

“Oh fuck.” Coliq muttered. “Oh shit… look, shut up before you make me panic, and please run slower than me if she’s up ahead.”

Henry peaked around the first corner after reaching the bottom of the steps and noticed that there was an entryway that had opened up in one of the walls that hadn’t been marked on the map. Not only that but there were several destroyed sections of wall as well. Henry cautiously peered down the passageway to find that it led too far to see. The edges of his sight ending in pure black.

“Fucking hell.” Henry muttered.

“Oy these are destroyed dart traps.” Coliq said. “That one up there would’ve dropped rocks on our heads… and looks like a bunch of detonated bomb runes… still fresh, but we didn’t hear a thing?” Coliq said.

“We have company.” Henry muttered. “I knew there were too few guards here!”


Decisions:
1. *head further down, you need to scout things out for the time being so you can inform the others.”
2. *Separate with Coliq* (give him a task, rolls may be required to convince him)
3. *head back the way you came towards the two possessed armors.*
4. (Write in)

>>4012694
>3. *head back the way you came towards the two possessed armors.*
>4. (Write in)
Since they don't have a connection, can we usurp command of them?
Better to have extra fighters.

>>4012730
you absolutely can, you can roll for it now if you wish, just roll high

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>4012803
Rollan, here to hoping for anything but a 1

>>4012694

>>4012730
Good idea. I wonder if this implies that whoever destroyed half the castle without anyone noticing either bamboozled the undead as well or that they belong to them and not the castle.

We might have an army of reanimated or mind controlled guards ahead of us. They can have been used to trigger the traps

>>4012991
that sure isn't a one

>>4013002
it isn't destroyed so much as fallen into disrepair, the current owners don't take great care of their stuff outside of places like the library.

>>4012694
>>4012694
Henry turned around and headed back towards the possessed armor, Coliq following behind more confused than ever. Henry checked the hallway to ensure nobody was there then set to work. Coliq offered a couple objections but Henry cheerfully ignored them. He needed backup and really didn’t want to rely on a lone slightly nutty explosives expert.

Thus Henry wrested control of the possessed armors and started ordering them around. The armors stood at attention than fell in rank behind him. Henry paused for a moment and the two armors took protective positions in front of him. Much better.

>gained two possessed armor servants on a temporary basis, once you let go of their control they'll revert back to their old instructions

“Why didn’t you do that from the start?” Coliq asked.

“If the guards notice these two are gone then we’ll be in trouble. So we have to act quick then put these two back. We can use them as our eyes and ears after we check the vault entrance. I assume all of the guards and traps up ahead have already been dealt with. Probably the same in other parts of the castle. I don’t think it was done by the current owners.”

“So what, someone else is here to steal shit on the same night we are?” Coliq asked.

“Seems to be.” Henry replied. He remembered what Ludvig had told him about the Tide Shaper magical item. Venser was after it, and Henry assumed Sophie as well, though she hadn’t told him or the others. He assumed she was working several secret jobs, it would be like her, and wouldn’t have been the first time.

Henry turned back towards the stairwell. Coliq began preparing explosives and muttering that he always got the shit jobs.

Decisions:
1. *head back down, cautiously.*
2. *blow through the path leading to the vault, you want to catch whoever is down there unaware.*
3. *back off and try to reconnect with the others, who are in a demon controlled castle, potentially full of guards*
4. (Write in)

>>4013150
>4. (Write in)
I have a deep feeling this is a set up.
VERY DEEP FEELING
1. *head back down, cautiously.*

>>4013150
>1. *head back down, cautiously.*

>Enable paranoia mode.

If they are vensers people I won't feel bad if they get away

>>4013806
>>4013277
writing

>>4013150
Henry and Coliq moved forwards cautiously while the possessed armors clanked a good distance behind them. The two things weren’t all that stealthy so Henry had the two stay back so he and Coliq could scout ahead. The man was able to keep his mouth shut well enough and he knew Sophie wouldn’t have hired him if he couldn’t sneak at all.

The way up ahead was fairly simple. A couple, of winding corridors full of disabled traps and a few destroyed undead guards. Henry wasn’t incredibly worried however, the destroyed undead were basic Franks and regular undead with various simple modifications, nothing drastic that a normal person couldn’t beat with the requisite skill. Still, there had to be several of them to be able to do this much damage, a single person would’ve gotten tired.

Henry slowed up when he heard excited talking coming from up ahead. He peeked around a corner and found two men and a woman discussing something while perched atop a couple of destroyed possessed armor pieces. The more dangerous frank’s must’ve been too large to fit down here. The vault door was a massive thing, made up of iron and steel, completely untouched by rust, heavily enchanted from what Henry could tell.

The first man had a flowing cloak and two pairs of daggers at his side. The woman had a large assortment of scryglasses and other boffin’s bits, probably a blue mage of some sort. The last man seemed to be a bit more capable, he had a bunch of glass jars containing various gheists. Henry figured he was a Paladin of the order of Lanterns, he didn’t look to be older than thirty, so likely experienced enough to be troublesome, not to mention the other two.

“So what’s the deal with this door again?” The cloaked one asked.

“It needs two keys and a drop of the captn’s blood. Otherwise it won’t open.” The woman said.

“Yeah but what happens if the captn died?” a ghiest catcher asked.

“Dunno, guess they’d need to tune the door to someone. You guys think we should cut the captn’s throat and destroy the keys when we’re done here?” The cloaked one asked.

“Long as Granny Rags is okay with it.” The potential paladin said.

>>4013976

“Works for me.” The woman added.

Henry slowly backed away and had his undead slowly retreat as well to a relatively safe distance.

Fuck fuck fuck, what the fuck was going on…

Henry thought to what they’d said, they’d mentioned a Granny Rags… could it have been that beggar looking woman that had been with Ashur and that flame mage back at Del Mar’s house? She must’ve been fairly important. The three of them didn’t look like pushovers… should he try to kill them?

Decisions:
1. *have Coliq hurl a bunch of explosive runes into the room. The noise will be trouble but you’re a good ways underground now…*
2. *Head back and try to think of a plan*
3. *charge in, you need to clear them out, now*
4. *step forwards and try to talk with them, you’re obviously not demon tainted… well, not like the Van Grafs’.*
5. (Write in)

>>4013979
Can we alert the castle to them, and use them as cover?
Who would think that they're being robbed when they're already stopping a robbery.

>>4014169
I mean... yes?

>>4014169
just gonna go out and say that raising the alarm will result in the mission going loud for the remainder of the case

>>4014476
Meh
!!!
Can we disable the people and leave them so they take the fall for the theft?
That means we'll have to leave some treasure on their persons.

>>4013979
>3. *charge in, you need to clear them out, now*

>>4014499
>>4014752
one vote for charge in.

Framing them would required them to be incapacitated, either through combat or less obvious means.

>>4014752
>>4016610
Incapacitate them instead of killing

>>4016616
alright, how do you wish to incapacitate them? As it stands Henry spell set is incredibly lethal, while Coliq's is even more so.

I'm gonna need write ins for this unless you want to just chance it through a combat encounter. If you do then you'll need to do rolls to ensure you don't kill them when they only have one or two wounds left.

>>4016633
can we distract them with the suits, and then ambush and incapacitate them?

>>4016831
Is it possible, yes, but you'd need to roll incredibly high to succeed. Lets say 5d100 with all five above 80s considering the three are named NPCs

>>4016633
Is there a chance that we can scramble all of them with Memory Scatter? Like can it be juiced up that they are confused about the size of their team or the "backup team" (henry)? Can Henry multi cast or cast quick enough to do it?

It seems like we're out of options if we care about these guys and their well being. I can't see how we deal with this without hostilities from their part. At least if we kill them all no one will know it was us, like at Del Mar.

I think we should simply surprise attack them with Ball Lightning. Unless there is a risk of the spell destroying the lock mechanism?

>Ball Lightning
>Rush in the armors asap after the spell to clean up, the two of us backing them up if necessary

>>4016955
Memory scatter is a good idea

I have to go now but if the memory scatter idea has a decent chance of working count that as my vote. Otherwise I think we should straight up murder them with lightning before they know what hit them.

Even if the memory scatter roll fails, unless they have warded themselves heavily against it, being hit by that spell ought to give them a handicap when the battle begins.

>>4017040
>>4016967
right, you'll need to make a total of four rolls,

The first one will be for the initial shot, the next three rolls will be for the two follow up shots. If all three land then you'll have a window of time to capture them.

You only have enough blue mana for a total of three shots so make them count.

Roll 4d100 if ready

>>4017400
Can we hit one with memory scatter, then hit another after smacking him in the head?

>>4017413
I'd recommend using one of the possessed armors to actually get in close, but yes. An opponent doesn't even need to be conscious for it to be effective.

>>4017421
Aight, have the "guards" approach as we memory scatter one. the guards and qolique engague the other two, with quolic aiming to smack one in the head hard enough for the next memory scatter to be effective. Then we just catch the last one to question.

>>4017436
Aight, we should memory scatter the thief lookin guy first, then have the strong one next, leaving the smart one, who would be able to answer questions better to be the one we capture.

>>4017421
Have the armors go ahead of Coliq, while he stays out of sight behind for better sneak attacks.

>>4017469
>>4017456
>>4017436

Right, Roll 3d100, first roll for the initial memory scatter spell, the possessed armors and Coliq will subdue to the second one leaving the arcanist woman remaining for turn two.

Rolled 89, 18, 64 = 171 (3d100)

>>4019245
these rolls better be good

Rolled 64, 27, 49 = 140 (3d100)

>>4019245

>>4019289
89, 27, 64 are the present rolls.

1. the memory scatter is a clean hit, and will disorient the cloaked man for one turn.

2. The armors assualt is utterly ineffective.

3. Coliq manages to get a solid hit in

Writing

Rolled 80, 75, 2 = 157 (3d100)

>>4019535
Rolling to see if the cloaked figure can even perform any action

rolling response of arcanist and paladin

Goddamn it

>>4013979
The trio continued to talk while Henry relayed his plan to Coliq. The man wasn’t too fond of the whole thing for the simple fact he’d be thrown into harms way and not even be able to blow anything up. He even had a whole bunch of bomb runes tied together for just such an occasion. Henry had him lay traps along their escape route as a sort of plan B.

The assault was quick. Henry flung a mind scatter spell which arced along the floor before popping up right into the cloaked man’s face. He was momentarily rendered unable to do anything as a lick of drool crept down his lip.

>Cloaked figure is confused, actions have higher chance of failure
>-1.5 blue mana from Henry

Henry rushed forwards with the two armors flanked behind him

“COMPANY!” The maybe paladin roared, a white mana shield being conjured forth to go with his rapier.

The arcanist managed to set up a shield spell around herself while Henry attempted to tackle the cloaked figure. The cloaked figure barely managed to dodge via what appeared to be muscle memory. He obviously was suffering from a bit of short term memory loss but he was still lucid enough to respond. Henry hadn’t damaged his long term memory after all.

The certainly paladin managed to easily fend off the oncoming blows from the armors, whose movements seemed stilted in comparison. The paladin managed to crush one of the helmets with his conjured shield and kicked the flat headed armor to the floor before rounding in on the other one. As he raised his sword he suddenly stopped and fell unconscious to the floor, his conjured shield dissipating into nothing. Coliq had hit him in the back of the head with a bomb rune.

Even if it hadn’t gone off it was still a rock.

Coliq grabbed up a few of the ghiest bottles and looked them over for a moment before rushing over to help Henry.

“Rufus behind you!” The arcanist said.

>end of turn
>Rufus’ confusion lasts one more turn
>Paladin is out of the fight.

Determine actions:
1. Unharmed possessed armor
2. Damaged possessed armor (will take penalties to movement due to loss of balance from damage)
3. Henry
4. Coliq
5. (write in)

>>4019585
Btw, I've been looking at the spell list for our options of course, but it seemed to be lacking. We leveled up in thread 47 didn't we?

>Black, Red, Blue

>Silence
>Cancel
>Lightning Rod

Or has that stuff not gone into effect yet?

>>4019585
Henry and the undamaged armor corral the last functioning person, while Coliq and the damaged ones takes down the cloaked one.
I also frickin forgot to roll yesterday

>>4019585
If we can use our new spells,

>1 Unharmed armor attacks Cloaked man
>2 Damaged armor supports Henry
>3 Henry casts Silence on the Arcanist and then try to punch him out
>4 Coliq grapples the Cloaked man

If we can't use the new spells, same as above but
>Henry readies a Dispel to snap cast at the Arcanist, and then try to punch him out.

>>4019676
>>4019836
the new spells haven't been fully learnt yet, to do so you need to cast them once successfully. It doesn't matter where this happens, however failed casts will still use up mana (unless your in a place where free mana enchantments have been laid)

lightning rod is a passive and wasn't actually chosen, at the end of the last case the two spells with the highest votes were.

>>4020054
>>4019836
to cast an spell you haven't learned, you'll need to make rolls to cast it, the more complex the more rolls required.

Silence will require 2 rolls and cancel will require 1 roll to cast successfully, these rolls are added onto any others (such as actually being able to hit the target)

The arcanist currently has a blue mana shield around herself, low level spellcraft will not be able to pierce it under normal circumstances. Lightning talons will cleave it like butter though.

secondly, the arcanist is a female.

thirdly, the shield itself is only front facing, it is about seven feet wide and extends up to the ceiling of the corridor. However her back is exposed.

>>4019676
very few mages become all rounders, Henry is just set up to be incredibly lethal due to the upgrade choices that have been made throughout the quest. In fact I'd argue he's incredibly dangerous for a human mage based on the spells he can cast.

However a hammer isn't all that great at non hammer things.

>>4020054
>>4020071
Ok, let's not experiment with new spells right now...

The Cloaked Man and Rufus are the same person correct?

Is the blue mana shield able to stop physical force as well as magical? Seven feet wide, how wide is the room? Could Coliq throw a bomb rune to bounce it off of a wall and land behind her?

It doesn't have to be activated. She should know what it is and throw her off, if not make her panic. Can a mage see if a rune is activated in battle, I mean do they normally have their mage sight turned on in fights?

Maybe we should play to our strength and simply let Henry rip through the barrier like tissue with lightning talons and intimidate her into a puddle on the ground and capture her together with the armor.

>>4020082
Yeah the triple mana and knowledge of/access to truly evil magic shit makes him crazy dangerous

>>4020102
the cloaked man is named Rufus.

The blue mana shield can stop most blows from human tier attacker. It wouldn't stop a house falling on it but it would be able to stop a conventional attack.

The room is twenty feet by thirty feet. Its distinguishing features are the massive vault door, the exit leading back to the tunnel, and the dead low level franks that are scattered about.

Most mages would be able to react to a rune being thrown. In fact I'd expect the arcanist to immediately attempt to defuse the bomb rune after Coliq throws it. This could act as a distraction if you want to do that.

Anything else?

>>4020122
Yeah but we have the ability to "miss" her completely, and have the spell bounce back around the shield anyway. We just need to have an attacker there to distract the shield.

>>4020132
>the spell

you mean the rune?

I want to remind you that a bomb rune is like a shrapnel grenade. Coliq can attempt to make the blast non-lethal but that'd be a tall order even for him.

>>4020122
I believe that's all.

>Coliq throws a rune to distract the arcanist, then restrains Rufus.
>The damaged armour assists him.
>Henry attacks the arcanist's shield with Lightning Talons, and is ready to snap cast dispel if she attacks. He will do his best to intimidate her to surrender and avoid killing or maiming
>Undamaged armour assists Henry.

What do we roll?

---

Afterwards I believe we should restrain and interrogate them, if they are Vensers people let them free once we've raided the treasures we came here for.

>>4020140
though of course you could just kill her and utilize necromancy to get her to talk, assuming her head isn't damaged.

>>4020153
dispel only works with spells in the air, not spells that have already taken effect. enchantment breaking is a higher tier of blue mana spellcasting, and with Henry's limited ability with blue mana is a bit beyond him.

>>4020153
roll 4d100

first roll for the distraction, second roll for the takedown of Rufus, third roll to see if Henry is able to get close to the arcanist. and forth roll to see how effective the damaged armor is, (with movement penalty)

>>4020153
Supporting

>>4020140
It's just a rock if it isn't activated right? I don't want to set off a grenade, we are still in stealth mode. We don't absolutely need the distraction but on the chance that an inert rune thrown at her helps, then we should. It's quick and little effort

Rolled 5, 33, 74, 97 = 209 (4d100)

>>4020162
Yes, I remember that. I just want it ready in case she attacks Henry in response, there is no guarantee that she is a bad combatant. I don't want him taking a magic missile to the face because he underestimate his opponent.

>>4020165
Rolling

>>4020167
correct, however Coliq will need to put on a show to fool the arcanist. However he's a master explosives expert...

Rolled 92, 9, 76, 60 = 237 (4d100)

>>4020165

>>4020176
>>4020171


Present rolls

5 (crit fail), 33, 76, 97 (crit success)

>>4020176
A master indeed, wow.

Fingers crossed a third person do a fly by roll in time to fix that second die

Rolled 6, 37 = 43 (2d100)

>>4020178
rolling responses

>>4020198
Lmao, ok

>>4019585
first roll for the distraction, second roll for the takedown of Rufus, third roll to see if Henry is able to get close to the arcanist. and forth roll to see how effective the damaged armor is, (with movement penalty)


Henry set the second part of his plan into motion. Coliq immediately grabbed a bomb rune from his bandolier and chucked it at the arcanist. The woman reacted swiftly, her shield shifting suddenly to catch the rune and then bounce it back at Henry. Henry simply dodged it and kept charging. She likely thought it would go off on impact and was unlikely to try setting the thing off with so little time to think. He hoped.

Rufus attempted to duck and weave out of the way of the armor, which was successful up until Coliq simply stepped on the man’s flowing cloak. The man jerked around and was tackled to the ground by the statue. Coliq grabbed a piece of rope from his pack and began to hum as he bound the squirming man’s hands together. It really wasn’t fair, the poor bastard couldn’t even fight effectively with his memories in a jumble.

It suited Coliq perfectly. He kicked the man in the head a few times when he began to struggle more effectively as the memory scatter’s confusing effects wore off, and then finished tying him up.

>Rufus is out of the fight, unable to move or spellcast effectively.

Henry pulled up on the shield. The arcanist began to slope it in such a way as to create a prison. Henry smirked; this would make things a lot easier. Before the woman could react any further he cast lightning talons on himself and tore through the barrier, the remaining chunks dissipating into aetheric residue.

The arcanist began to back up, right into the waiting arms of the undamaged possessed armor. The armor simply grabbed her into a bear hug and lifted her up off the ground. Henry continued to advance on her, his blood pumping. He raised his hand up before realizing he was about to kill her. He hesitated before taking a deep breath and yelling for Coliq.

>combat ended, one special point rewarded (for excellent display of skill overall)

To the woman’s credit, she hadn’t begged for mercy or stopped struggling even after Coliq had kicked her in the ribs a couple times. After all three had been bound and tied up they were dumped against the wall by the two armor pieces. Rufus was sweating and seemed to be praying for salvation while the paladin was still out cold. The arcanist was studying both of them with evident confusion on her face. She’d probably figured out that the two of them weren’t part of the castle’s inhabitants.
Decisions:
1. *stab one of them in the heart and raise them as a zombie, you have some questions you want answered and you don’t trust any of them to be truthful while still alive.*
2. *ask questions without murder*
3. *place some cloth in front of their mouths to prevent them from calling for help*’
4. (Write in)

>>4020238
remember that thing Henry did all the way back at New Haven? When he asked a corpse some questions. Bet you forgot about it.

>>4020238
>2. *ask questions without murder*
"Is the church so bad off that they have to send paladins to rob demons?"

>>4020238
“Is the church so bad off that they have to send paladins to rob demons?” Henry asked.

Rufus shuddered and the arcanist slumped back away from him. Coliq giggled a bit before poking Henry in the ribs.

“Oy yer gonna scare em half to death mister scary man.” Coliq said.

“I was only asking a question Coliq.” Henry replied.

“I think they think we’re part of the castle guards. Like they’d ever hire a man like me.” He said.

Henry agreed, Coliq had a constant slouch, was gangly, and honestly smelt worse than the sewer Henry had lived in most his life.

Decisions:
1. “today’s you’re lucky day, answer a few of my questions and you’ll get out of here alive.”
2. “Coliq, what does a bomb rune do to a man’s head?” (roll 1d100 for intimidation)
3. “You, Arcanist, what the hell is someone as smart as you doing with this lot?”
4. (write in)

>>4020238
>2. *ask questions without murder*
>Put disabled bomb runes in their mouths to show that we are in business

Begin with questioning the arcanist, let Rufus unscramble himself a little.

>"We're here to break in too, so long as this remains a stealth mission you'll get out of here alive, you will just have to wait your turn. The human sacrifice ritual is about to begin and the longer you fuck around the higher the risk that you will be burnt on a stake in the courtyard. The other alternative is that I kill you now, no muss and fuss and talk to your zombies instead. Understand?"

>"Give me the keys and the blood to open the door and tell me what you came to get"

>>4020300
I was too slow but I think this still works as a follow up

>>4020297
>1. “today’s you’re lucky day, answer a few of my questions and you’ll get out of here alive.”
3. “You, Arcanist, what the hell is someone as smart as you doing with this lot?”
>>4020300
They can't talk if there's a bomb in their mouths
Stick them up their ass instead

>>4020307
>>4020300
roll 1d100 for intimidation

>>4020312
I don't want the bombs used yet.
Or the threat of them yet.
If we go with the horrible, they'll be more likely to start shit.

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>4020311
Lol well we won't put one in the person we are expecting a reply from.

Do you think we should make the armors go back and take up their positions again? Henry can use them to get early warning if someone is coming.

>>4020312

>>4020327
>Do you think we should make the armors go back and take up their positions again? Henry can use them to get early warning if someone is coming.
Yeah, this sounds very good.
And we should start off pleasant, and if they refuse to answer questions, then we can get nasty. but it's always good to start off nice first.

Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>4020327
>>4020312
Didn't really want intimidation yet, but 12 sucks anyway

>>4020324
We can wait if you want, it's no skin off my back. But we should keep the tension high while they are still rattled from the fight

>>4020333
What would be more frightening, a scary guy in a scary place, or a very nice one?

>>4020332
I didn't see your post before I rolled sorry. 54 isn't a disaster at least.

>>4020342
>>4020339
>>4020333
>>4020332
>>4020300
>>4020311
Writing

>>4020339
Err, a nice guy in a scary place.

>>4020297
Henry whispered into Coliq’s ear and was smirked as the man lit up and began hopping up and down giddily.

He began digging through his things and produced a couple of small runes. He began carefully placing them around their prisoner’s feet.

“Bomb runes?” Rufus asked. “No no no no…”

“Oh don’t you worry they ain’t full bomb runes, they’re firecracker runes. They’ll hurt you plenty but won’t blast you to bits. I’m a professional, so you know I’m telling the truth… hope you don’t. Haven’t been able to blow ANYTHING up today.” Coliq said.

The two awake prisoners shuddered. Rufus began to have a nervous breakdown while the Arcanist stared at Henry with murderous intent. Intent Henry returned with double the malice. He smiled inwardly when the Arcanist noticeably backed down.

There was something to be said for inspiring fear.

“We’re here to break in too. So as long as this remains a stealth mission you’ll get out of here alive. Just be a bit patient.” Henry said. “The human sacrifice ritual is about to begin, I figure it’ll last an hour or so, maybe less if they don’t wait for the body to burn up completely. The longer you fuck around the higher the risk that you will be joining the poor unfortunates outside. The other alternative is that I kill you now, and speak with you when you’re more cooperative.”

“That means I get to blow your legs up, and he gets to talk to your corpses when you got cheese legs.” Coliq said.

“What?” Henry asked.

“You know the cheese with all the holes in it? Their legs will look like that. The firecracker runes tear right through people without tearing em in two.”

“Ah.”
Henry glanced over at the two armor pieces and sent them away back to their initial positions. The fact one of them was damaged was a concern but it would be worse if they weren’t there at all, he figured. Besides they’d give him early warning.

“Coliq, can you keep an eye on the tunnel just in case?” Henry asked.

“Sure thing.” Coliq replied. “Tell me if you want me to blow em up, just make sure you get twenty paces away first.”

“Right.”

“So where are the keys.” Henry asked.

“Oh god.” Rufus said. “W-we don’t have em y-yet. We’re waitin-”

“Shut up!” The arcanist said. “We were scouting the vault out; we don’t have them yet because of that. So, I guess you’ll have to get them.”

Decisions:
1. *believe them*
2. “What are you hiding?!” (write in if you want to get violent)
3. “Well don’t say I didn’t give you a chance” (kill them?)
4. (write in)

>>4020376
>4. (write in)
"So you have multiple teams to collect the required things too."
Smile evilly.
"A pity that the rest of my team isn't so forgiving as me"
"How Coliq, how bad would the damage be if we detonated them in their ass?"

>>4020376
>No I won't, my team will give them to me soon if you have more people roaming the place. Had. If they met then your guys are dead, I hope you weren't friends with them.

If we're going to play the cool cat and wait, let's crack open one of those books we found. The one on undead potency sounds good

>>4020431
Oh! After an uncomfortable amount of silence let's call out Rufus's name, to startle him, then ask if he works for Venser. Take note of everyone's reactions to that.

>>4020388
What do you say? I'm very curious if they are, because then I will want to make sure they (have a chance to) survive. But it could also be trouble. But Venser is already suspecting and there is mutual respect.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>4020388
>>4020407
>>4020431
writing

>>4020376
“So you have multiple teams to collect everything.” Henry mused.

“Just like us?” Coliq asked.

Fucks sake. He didn’t need to mention that they had others in their group.

“Oy Coliq I’m doing the talking, don’t reveal anything to em.” Henry said.

“Oh… oh fuck, right sorry.” Coliq said, slapping his forehead.

Henry sighed before returning to them, an evil smile on his lips.

“Well, it’s a pity that the rest of my team isn’t nearly as merciful as me. Oy Coliq, how bad would it be if we detonated one of these firecracker runes in their asses.”

“What?” Coliq asked.

“The fuck?” The Arcanist said, outraged and disgusted.

“You heard me. If they try something stupid I say we make a show out of their deaths.” Henry added.

“Well… I’ve never actually shoved an explosive rune into someone’s ass before. But I’ve done it to a pig once… long story. Anyways, I’d imagine it’d destroy a lot of their internal organs, probably be real painful, though I doubt they’d burst open if its just a firecracker rune. The released mana might do some damage in such a small space… I’d say it’d be pretty feckin painful, but no way to be sure unless we try, the shy-en-tired method, right?” Coliq asked.

Henry wondered what Ophelia would think at that utter butchering.

“Close enough.” Henry replied.
Henry sat down by one of the light runes hanging off the wall, and flipped open the book on increasing the potency of undead via black magic enchantments. It would be a fun read and potentially useful.

Henry waited about fifteen minutes before he made his move.

“Oy Rufus.” Henry said.

“Y-y-yes?!” Rufus asked, trying to hide deeper inside his cloak.

“Do you work for Venser?”

“N-NONO, I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO THAT IS!” Rufus said.

“Idiot.” The arcanist mumbled.

Bingo.

>Objective completed; vault area secured.

Perspective Shift:
1. Sophie and Johnny’s team
2. Lily and Madison’s team
3. Stick with Henry and Coliq

>>4020473
>1. Sophie and Johnny’s team

>>4020490
Lets see how johnny is doing

>>4020492
>>4020490
writing

>>4020473
Johnny glanced uneasily at the single strand of string floating in the air. Sophie was attached to it of course, and while he couldn’t see her, the impropriety of it all. She found it cute how it made him uncomfortable. He supposed it meant he was still human in some weird way. The suit of armor they’d found for him clanked as he made his way down the hall, halberd in hand. They’d already managed to get the first key and were now heading down towards Ivy’s living quarters. Sophie had explained they were saving her for last, as she didn’t know if her affliction would grant her protection from being noticed by a being as powerful as a demonhost. Though she had mentioned she was able to utterly fool angels.

As Johnny clanked along on his ‘patrol route.’ He noticed the lack of guards, to which Sophie had explained they were occupied by the sacrifice occurring outside. Johnny had simply accepted it, nothing could be done about the poor soul outside, it wasn’t worth throwing their lives away. He hoped Henry wouldn’t play the hero.

As they approached the basement the string attached to Sophie suddenly stopped. Johnny almost bumped into her before he realized it.

“She’s up ahead.” Sophie said, carefully walking forwards.

The two made their way forwards, finding themselves in a large two story room. They stood on walkway which spanned the entire room, with bookshelves and tools lining the walls. Down below was the lab where a cheery demonhost seemed to be talking with her latest creation.

“Oh you’re going to be just perfect… so unlike the last one…. I mean you’ll be better than anyone my love!”

Johnny would’ve raised an eyebrow if he still had them.

“Just as looney as I thought… alright I need you to make a distraction so I can slip into her living quarters.” Sophie said.

“Any suggestions?” Johnny asked.

“Alive for five hundred years and still needing to ask how to do things.” Sophie whispered gleefully.
Johnny didn’t much appreciate the her joking nature.

Decisions:
1. *’patrol the upper walkway as nosily as you can, when she’s giving you orders to return to your regular post Sophie can sneak in and out.’*
2. *throw a piece of glassware over the balcony, that’ll get her attention all right*
3. *simply slam the entry door closed and try to lead Ivy away*
4. (write in)

>>4020519
>1. *’patrol the upper walkway as nosily as you can, when she’s giving you orders to return to your regular post Sophie can sneak in and out.’*

>>4020519
>1. *’patrol the upper walkway

Can do the classic slapstick of holding the halberd the wrong way so Johnny can't get through the door if he needs to buy more time

Is the door to her room currently in her view? Otherwise Johnny should delay as much as necessary.

I gotta go now, good luck

>>4020546
YES

>>4020546
>>4020529
roll 1d100+10 because that image is hilarious.

Rolled 59 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>4020614

Rolled 100 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>4020614

>>4020618
Clankity clank, Ms Demonhost, here comes the calcium boy.

>>4020618
FUCK YES
LET THE SKELE SHENANIGANS BEGIN

File: 8b55c639ce74e438-e1493670(...).png (228 KB, 800x400)

228 KB PNG

>>4020637
>>4020618
>mfw

>>4020662
calling it a night here, got classes tomorrow and I can't afford to stay up late.

>>4020665
will be posting later tonight, thread ain't dead quite yet.

>>4020519
Johnny began to think of a retort, but the woman was long gone by the time he’d come up with something appropriately witty. Dejected and ever so slightly annoyed, something Henry would’ve told him was perfectly normal, he set his sights on patrolling the upper walkway and making as much noise as possible. If he knew necromancers then any disturbance to their work would greatly upset them. He stomped his feat a bit more to really emphasize the noise, just to be sure.

Not even a minute later he felt a presence to his left. Crouched on top of the walkway was a very annoyed demonhost. Ivy scanned him up and down and sent out several pulses of black mana, trying to figure out what had happened. Johnny waited for her to realize what happened, but it seemed like whatever Sophie had done to the control crystal had managed to work. The control had indeed been overridden but without actually looking at it then it’d appear perfectly fine to an observer.

“What… are you DOING?!” Ivy asked, “NO NO NO YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE PATROLLING THE SECOND STORY CAUSEWAY!” Johnny wondered how she even knew where the armor had even come from. Had she memorized all of their patrol routes?

He turned away and continued his ‘patrol route’, completely ignoring the demonhost. A more… living person would likely show a bit more self-preservation, for instance, not showing their back to a very dangerous being. However Johnny was far removed from such petty things.

“STOP!” Ivy yelled. “Oh what in the hells have those damned brats been doing to MY undead?!”

Johnny stopped, not even bothering to turn around.

“Return to your patrol route, second floor, west causeway!” Ivy said. “And come back down to this room when dawn breaks, I want to see your control crystal. I will NOT have one of MY projects be DEFECTIVE!”

Johnny turned around and got to see the demonhost childishly stomp her feat. Johnny didn’t even react when her stomping shattered the stone floor of the walkway. Ivy sure didn’t notice. Johnny saw that there were similar cracks and destroyed parts all over the room. He began wonder if he’d just met the reason the castle was so damaged.

>>4025651
As he reached the exit, he spun on his heel, walked through the entrance, and unceremoniously faceplanted as his polearm caught in the doorway. He continued to walk forwards on the ground, not trying to get up, and was impressed as Ivy used a single hand to lift the entire suit of armor up.

“If I wasn’t so BUSY I’d fix you right HERE AND NOW!” Ivy yelled. “But UNFORTUNATELY I’m stuck building SEIGE WEAPONS FOR A CERTAIN SOMEONE WHILE THE REST OF THE DEFENSE FORCES FALL APART. Lord knows nobody cares about the castle defenses, nobody will even notice a defective armor… fine, go, and don’t get your polearm caught in the door. Keep it VERTICAL!”

Johnny’s nonexistent ears rung. He wouldn’t consider himself easily wounded but the woman’s voice sounded like a Church alarm siren going off.

He continued out into the hallway, and noticed something sticking to the ceiling. He watched as it scuttled overhead and then out of view. From what he could tell it appeared to be partially human shaped, female, and possessing more limbs than it should have. He considered spinning around but figured that Ivy might’ve still been watching him. As he rounded the corner he chanced a peak back but found the figure was gone.

He nearly took Sophie’s head off when the woman poked him from behind.

“I got it!” Sophie said.

“I believe there may be Franks sticking to the ceiling, be careful.” Johnny said.

“Oh, please, like they’d even be able to see me.” Sophie said, twirling the key around her fingers. “So…”

“So?” Johnny asked.

“Are you gonna ask me what I saw in her room?”

“No.”

>objective completed, keys acquired.

Perspective shift:
1. stick with Sophie and Johnny
2. Henry and Coliq
3. Madison and Lily.

>>4025654
there were going to be multiple parts to this, but that 100 kinda says it all don't it.

>>4025654
>3. Madison and Lily.

>>4025654
>3. Madison and Lily.

>>4025657
Like you keep saying, Sophie is op

>>4026362
>>4025680
writin

>>4025654
Madison enjoyed the snapping noise the guard’s neck made as he ended the man’s life. Sure, he’d been told by Sophie not to kill any people unless it was ‘utterly necessary’, but that was the hell of it, he didn’t consider these pieces of shit people.

Lily recoiled in disgust as Madison shoved the body into an unused corner and continued along, he’d done it to five people already and he didn’t show any signs of slowing down. She’d casted a fair share of paralysis spells and her attempts to figure out where the captain of the guard was via mental magic had thus far been unsuccessful. There was some kind of shroud over their minds, preventing her from being able to get a good look without the alarm almost being raised. She threw her hands up at the realization that they were screwed and glanced out the window to watch the ‘show’.

“Horrible isn’t it?” Madison asked, wiping his hands off.

“Shut up I don’t want to talk to you, you’re as bad as they are.” Lily responded.

“hrmph.” Madison responded. “Found the captain.” Madison continued.

“What?” Lily asked.

“Right there, genius. In the middle of about twenty others. Seems he’s setting fire to… ah.”

“Holy shit.” Lily muttered.

The screams began to echo through the castle as the sacrificial pyre lit up. The chanting that had been going on before turned to joyous laughter and music. The whole scene made Lily sick. She couldn’t stand watching any further. Madison on the other hand stared at it with murderous intent.

“It’s a shame.” Madison said.

“Its horrible.”

“No I mean, there are too many of them for me to kill, I’d probably die if I went down there.” Madison continued. “How do we get the captain away from the others?”

“I have an idea… urp.” Lily responded. “I need some time to charge a spell up…”

Decisions: (Madison)
1. *go with Lily’s idea, you guess. You won’t be able to do any more murder of shitheaps but it’ll probably work… you don’t really trust this waif of a girl*
2. *Create a distraction, you can probably find something to explode*
3. *wait for the festivities to die down, then ambush the guard captain, it’ll be more risky as the patrols will resume, but less trouble overall*
4. *you think the guards keep ballistae on the upper towers, perhaps you can use one to try and kill the demonhost… from what Lily’s told you they can’t defend themselves from unknown attacks well. You really wouldn’t mind adding one of them to your count.*
5. (write in)

>>4027596
for the record they're in a second floor room on the east side of the castle at present, there is a recently dead body stashed under a bed

>>4027596
I want to know what her plan is before i decide. She can't be vague and mysterious during an important mission damn it

>>4027596
>5. (write in)
"Mind telling me the spell, don't want to get caught in it."

>>4028719
>>4028317
writing

>>4027596
“What is the spell?” Madison asked.

“A very complex and intricate-“ Lily started

“Don’t get all academic, just explain it simply.” Madison said.

“But you probably wouldn’t-“

“If you have such a good understanding of it, then you can explain it with simple words.” He continued.

“Ugh, fine. I’m going to cast a silence and cloak spell on myself, then cast an illusion spell on him to entice him away from the others. Then he’ll be easy to apprehend. I doubt he’d expect anything in his own castle.”

“You’re being careless.” Madison grumbled.

“Bah, says the man who just murdered everyone we came across.”

“They can’t hurt us if they’re dead.” Madison replied.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” Lily muttered.

“Can’t believe that husband of yours can stand a single moment of you.” Madison continued.

Lily muttered a few words under her breath. Madison cheerfully ignored them.

“Come on, lets get this ready.” Lily said.

Decisions: (Madison)
1. *veto the idea*
2. *get ready to save this stupid woman when things go wrong*
3. *let her try, you only need the captains blood, you don’t actually need the man himself.*
4. (write in)

>>4029553
>2. *get ready to save this stupid woman when things go wrong*
>3. *let her try, you only need the captains blood, you don’t actually need the man himself.*

>>4029553
>2. *get ready to save this stupid woman when things go wrong*
>3. *let her try, you only need the captains blood, you don’t actually need the man himself.*

It does sound like a good idea, you know if the dice gods allow it

>>4030252
>>4029788
roll 2d100

Rolled 41, 7 = 48 (2d100)

>>4030629

>>4030648
Fuckity fuck

>>4030648
no crit fails, so someone else can attempt to salvage it.

Rolled 72, 12 = 84 (2d100)

>>4030629

That sure didn't help much... Fingers crossed for passerby #3 to save us with a good ass roll

>>4031282
>>4030648
gonna let this stew overnight,

Current Rolls:

72, 12

first roll is a success so things won't be deadly but the second roll is going to cause trouble.

Rolled 45, 62 = 107 (2d100)

>>4030629

>>4032124
rolls are now 72,62 writin in a bit

>>4032445
gonna post later tonight, no time right now.

>>4029553
Madison watched as Lily cloaked herself and then silenced herself. He lost track of her after she moved away a couple feet. But he could still see the tracks she was leaving. Between her and Sophie she was the more skilled mage but Sophie was far, far better at staying unseen, even without her affliction. Madison clutched his mace, waiting for things to go loud. He figured if it did he’d die badly, but he hoped he’d take down four or five of em on the way out. Maybe cripple a few too. Bastards would probably just throw em on the pyre.

Lily crept out and wormed her way through the crowd. With all eyes focused on the bonfire or on the food and drink, nobody noticed a few tracks left here or there. They were treating this whole thing as a celebration, had the victims been important? Or was this just how they treated every sacrifice? She couldn’t exactly ask as the victims were dead and the aggressors would use her as kindling.

Creeping up behind the captain, she began to conjure her spell. The Demonhost had left, it seemed. Before long she managed to fire off her spell. The bolt left her hand and went into the captains back, dissipating and leaving a small mana tether. A very small one, she didn’t need a huge cord. She began to feed suggestions and a small illusion into the man’s head. Trying to keep him quiet and also guide him towards the latrines. She’d seen a few on the way in.

Madison watched in a mix of shock and slight disappointment as the captain of the guard moved his way out of the crowd and back towards the building. As he rounded the corner Lily dropped her cloak and silence spells and fired a much larger bolt of mana into the man’s back. The captain of the guard’s eyes drooped and his posture slackened. Madison waved his hand in front of the man’s face a couple of times.

“He won’t wake up as long as I’m in control, though his higher motor functions won’t work either. All I can do is guide him for the moment.” Lily said. “For some reason I can’t interact with their deeper minds, just the surface, so I locked him out. We’re going to need to knock him unconscious after this is all done.” Lily said.

“Right.” Madison replied.

Decisions: (Madison)
1. “Where is the demonhost? Wouldn’t he have seen you?”
2. *snap the man’s neck, you only need his blood. The thought of this man surviving the night makes your blood boil.*
3. *play along for now, but you are going to kill him before the night is through if you have any say in the matter.*
4. (Write in)

>>4033564
>4. (Write in)
Take the blood now, and if you have it, poison him. But no immediate death, it might alert others.
If not, knock him unconscious near the dead guards, so when they find him they'll think he killed them.

>>4033607
Gonna say Madison does keep poison on his person, nothing incredibly potent but if the target is helpless then it will be effective. The captain isn't a demonhost and thus has no abnormal resistance to poison.

>>4033564
>3. *play along for now, but you are going to kill him before the night is through if you have any say in the matter.*

We've already done enough to draw attention. Him getting sick or woozy from poison before we're out of here sounds like playing with fire

>>4034394
We'll be knocking him in the head and depositing his body elsewhere. The poison is to kill him at another time in case there's magic on him to alert others when he dies.

>>4034632
Huh? I thought we'd just get some blood, get out of sight and turn off the magic. He'll take a dump and go back. Five or ten minutes of this guy being gone is going to make people wonder.

>>4034649
He saw Lily when she revealed herself at the end there.>>4033564
>“He won’t wake up as long as I’m in control, though his higher motor functions won’t work either. All I can do is guide him for the moment.” Lily said. “For some reason I can’t interact with their deeper minds, just the surface, so I locked him out. We’re going to need to knock him unconscious after this is all done.” Lily said.
So his higher functions have lock down so we can't fuck with them, means he'll remember, so he needs disposing of.

>>4035655
>>4034649
>>4034632
>>4034394
couple things to note. Mental magic can be a bit iffy in terms of practice. Its considered one of the most complex kinds of magic, certainty one of the most complex on Chime. However, Lily is perfectly capable of erasing the Captains short term memory. In fact she's planning to do so.

The question is whether Madison can control his impulses.

>>4035803
the deeper mind involves long term memory, personality, and inbuilt perceptions about the world.

The shallows are short term memory and split second emotion.

This is the working framework I have as of now. I'll change or add to it as needed.

>>4035805
Aight, then, we'll do what>>4034649
said

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>4035807
>>4034649
writing

>>4033564
Lily grabbed a needle from her things and drew the captain’s blood through a small gap in his armor. Madison tapped his foot impatiently, holding himself back from killing the waste of flesh that stood before him.

Lily mumbled something about how the connection was iffy before blasting the captain with a couple of blue mana spells.

“Right, he shouldn’t remember any of this, or if he does his mind should make excuses for him. I hope.” Lily said.

“Can’t I just snap his neck and then we don’t have a problem.” Madison asked as the captain stumbled away towards the latrine.

“No, they’d notice if he was gone too long. Lets head back to the vault and get this over with.” Lily said.

The two continued onwards, through a few more chambers. Lily groaned as Madison killed a couple simple Franks with relative ease, even though they could’ve just passed them by.

“Wonder how they know not to kill the guards.” Madison mused.

“Their black mana, they stink of it.” Lily said. “I’d imagine the undead are keyed not to attack those with demonic taint.”

“Right.” Madison said.

The man’s ear’s perked up, he started walking, stopped, and started again, motioning for Lily to follow close.

As Lily got close, Madison reached for his mace.

“We’re being followed, dunno who but something doesn’t’ feel right.” Madison said.’

“I didn’t hear or sense anything.” Lily said.

“Call it a gut reaction.” Madison said.

Decision: (Lily)
1. “Just keep the mace away from me”
2. “I checked, there’s nobody here, you murderous idiot!”
3. “We’re almost back to the vault entrance, come on.”
4. (write in)

>>4035817
>4. (write in)
"Ambush?"
As in, ambush the tails.

>>4035825
roll 1d100

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>4036079

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>4036079

>>4036081
>>4036148
success, writin tonight

“Ambush?” Lily asked.

“Yeah I think they’re going to soon.” Madison said.

“No I mean we should ambush them.” Lily responded.

“Right, there is a sharp turn down this next hallway. I say we give our guest a bit of a welcome.” Madison said.

The two rounded a bend and waited, Lily checking further down the hallway to make sure they weren’t interrupted by any of the castle’s security.

A few moments later Madison swung his mace, impacting the arm of a partially cloaked figure. Their spell hadn’t been near good enough to fool Madison.

The figure was forced back a few steps, then he was revealed as the illusionary rune on his arm shattered into pieces. The man wore a dented metal helmet that only covered the top of his head. His face was showing an expression of partial shock which quickly became calm as he pulled out a couple of daggers and lunged at Madison.

Madison had to respond. He couldn’t rely on Lily to react, and besides he was blocking her line of sight.

>roll 1d100

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>4037617

>>4037686
Wow, now I dont want to roll, nice one!

>>4037986
>>4037686
welp.

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>4037617
>>4038336
Here goes nothing

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>4037617

Oh my fucking god why, fuck, it's your fault>>4038340

>>4038427
I am now the sads

File: download.jpg (4 KB, 234x216)

4 KB JPG

>>4038427
:)

>>4037617
The man ducked and weaved out of range of Madison’s mace while grabbing for something around his waist. Madison backed up as the man threw something onto the floor. The area lit up with a bright light as the flash rune went off, temporarily blinding Madison and giving the dagger wielding man a chance to close the distance.

Madison swung then sidestepped as he heard the man approach, his instincts honed over years of combat with opponents stronger and faster than himself. The attacker weaved away from his blows and passed him. Madison, still recovering from the light, swung around to see the man stick a dagger into Lily’s midsection.

>Lily takes two wounds. Gains “crippled” status (unable to walk), gains Bleed status (will take damage over time if left untreated), gains “agony” status (unable to fight or cast spells due to inability to cope with current level of pain)

Lily recoiled and slammed against the wall as the man placed a dagger to her throat. Madison, even though partially blinded, saw his chance and expertly swung at the man’s hand, forcing him to let go of his dagger and back up.

The attacker had one remaining dagger, and had quickly grabbed out another rune. He was a dangerous opponent, but he’d made a mistake. He’d royally pissed Madison off.
>Madison gains “rage” status (increased damage, lowered defense, increased pain threshold, lower chance to hit)

Decisions:
1. *turn his head into scrambled eggs with your mace*
2. *use spell: unrelenting force* (will give you bonuses to speed and offense.)
3. *try to fry him with a bolt spell*
4. (write in)

>>4039377
I'll be a bit more active tomorrow so expect some posts throughout the day.

>>4039377
>1. *turn his head into scrambled eggs with your mace*

>>4039377
>1. *turn his head into scrambled eggs with your mace*

Yeah fuck this guy

>>4039377

>1. *turn his head into scrambled eggs with your mace*

Only good bad guy, is a dead bad guy

>>4039928
>>4039900
>>4039394
roll 2d100

Rolled 36, 32 = 68 (2d100)

>>4040134

Rolled 21, 32 = 53 (2d100)

>>4040134

>>4040365
>>4040372
36, 32...

Madison rushed forwards, swinging with the force of a rampaging bear. The assailant ducked and weaved around his attacks, slowly backing up. Right as Madison was about to bring the mace down on the man’s head, the helmeted figure threw a rune up into the air, which exploded into smoke. Madison coughed and swung randomly, managing to get a glancing blow onto the man’s head. However, the man’s helmet managed to absorb the impact and the man managed to slip away, leaving Madison in a smokey corridor. He realized it was just him and Lily now.

Madison turned around and found Lily slumped against the wall, her hand on the dagger. It looked like she was trying to remove it, rather unsuccessfully. Madsion crouched down and placed a hand on hers.

“If you do that you’ll bleed out in a few minutes, leave it in until we can treat it.” Madison said.

Lily nodded. The woman was crying, not that Madison blamed her, the fact she wasn’t screaming out in pain was a miracle. They really couldn’t afford to alert the guards.

Madison dug around in Lily’s pockets looking for the vial, only to find it was gone, shit.

“Stolen.” Lily weakly muttered.

Fuck

Madison checked the woman’s injuries. It was a gut wound which meant her lungs were okay. Her organs were probably damaged but a healer would likely be able to fix it. Shame the only healers for miles were likely in the town the Van Graf’s controlled, if there were any at all. Not to mention they’d be of far lower quality than Church healers. Fucking hell.

Madison knew she likely wouldn’t survive the night, not with an injury like that. It was possible of course, if he managed to stop the bleeding. He needed to find help, he needed to find the others if he wanted to do anything about this.

Or he could just put the woman out of her misery. Sure they needed her to check for curses… but that Henry fellow was a necromancer right? They could just use her body to retrieve the items…

Decisions: (Madison)
1. *try to find your attacker, he shouldn’t have made it too far*
2. *head back towards the vault with Lily, hopefully the others are all gathered there*
3. *put Lily out of her misery, she’s going to be an anchor to the rest of you at this point.*
4. *leave Lily behind, she knew the risks*
5. *try to bandage Lily here, your medical skills are rudimentary at best but maybe you can stem the bleeding.*
6. (write in)

>>4040479
>2. *head back towards the vault with Lily, hopefully the others are all gathered there*

>>4040479
>2. *head back towards the vault with Lily, hopefully the others are all gathered there*

Can't linger in the halls and can't leave a corpse. Try to make sure not to leave a blood trail

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>4041615
>>4041381
writing

bleed damage works as follows, to avoid damage they need to roll 10 or higher + 10 per round. If a wound is sustained the roll requirement goes back down to 10. If Lily rolls lower than 11 she sustains a wound which will kill her.

>>4040479
>>4040479
>Madison losses status, “Rage”

Madison did his best to get Lily comfortable then lifted her over his shoulder. He could feel the warm blood seeping from her wound and trickling down her side. He moved swiftly but carefully, for the first time that night avoiding patrols of undead and sticking to the shadows cast by the flickering candles and light runes lining the walls. He watched from a series of windows as the celebration around the dying embers of the sacrificial pyre died down. The revelers dispersing back into the castle.

>Living guard patrols have begun to return to the halls in force

He found the entrance to the vault guarded by a pair of possessed armors. He hesitated until he saw that one of their heads was dented into a partial pancake. He took a cautious step forward. He could see a trail of mana leading from them back into the vault and hoped it was Henry. If he had to run Lily would die.

The nonpancaked armor waved at him and motioned him through, which Madison gladly accepted. He worked his way down the steps, all the while Lily groaned in pain and begged him to stop. He ignored it, though it was rather difficult, he felt a pang of guilt for having to do this.

When he arrived at the vault door he found quite the scene. Johnny was guarding a trio of what looked to be a thief, a mage of some sort, and an unconscious paladin. The mage simply stared at him while the thief briefly flashed a smile before returning to a stake of barely contained panic. Madison narrowed his eyes but was distracted by Henry.

“Lay her over there, Johnny I want your help.” Henry said.

“What happened?” Sophie asked.

“We ran into trouble, I assume one of their friends has the vial right now.” Madison said.

“Well that’s a shame.” Sophie said. “I suppose Lily was injured by that friend?”

“Yes.”

“Pity, she won’t be much use to us from here on out.” Sophie said. “Lily, can you still detect curses like that?” Sophie asked.

Lily responded with a groan and a whimper.

“Well we’re moving to plan B then. Johnny, you’re going to handle the goods, we can remove any curses from you tomorrow, or maybe even on the boat if they’re simple.” Sophie said.

“I suppose I have little choice.” Johnny said, crouching down to help Henry.

Henry got to work, though the screams coming from the hooded prisoner due to a series of kicks from Madison were rather distracting.

Decisions: (Henry)
1.*Utilize a reduced power bolt spell and try to cauterize the wound* (requires 1 special point, will give increased functionality to the bolt spell)
2. *bandage the wound as normal, you don’t want to try something you’ve never done before, specially when it might kill the woman.*
3. “I say we let her pass and use her to handle the goods, won’t be able to break curses but I’m not using Johnny for this.”
4. “So that’s another person whose gotten killed on one of your jobs, Sophie.”
5. (write in)

>>4041999
How about Henry uses bolt on his dagger to heat it up for the cauterisation? The self lighting candlesticks are listed in our inventory but are they currently in his possession?

And use water from the purification flask to clean the wound first, and/or alcohol if there is any on hand.

Ask the prisoners if there is anything they can do to help. If they refuse, tell them we'll kill one to even the score

>>4042051
You can try this but you might melt the dagger again (like you did when trying to cast lightning talons the first time), worst case scenario the dagger explodes due to the red mana. I also WOULD NOT recommend trying to use lightning talons on a near dead person.

You didn't bring the candles with you since Henry isn't a pack rat and he wouldn't bring valuables to a place he might lose them

Henry has the flask with him, he's taken a liking to it.

>>4042051
I'll support asking the prisoners, seeing as they're church related and might have white mana.
And if the heating of the dagger woorks, we should have a bonus due to our knowledge of the human body seeing as we work with them all the time.

>>4042366
Suppin'

>>4042358
Well, shit, there's got to be a flame somewhere or is the entire place lit up by magic runes? No torches or candles aside from those in the library?

I want to keep the damn bolt spell as a last resort if we can't find a mundane way to do it.

>Henry slowed up when he heard excited talking coming from up ahead. He peeked around a corner and found two men and a woman discussing something while perched atop a couple of destroyed possessed armor pieces.

Would any of these pieces be able to contain exploding knife shrapnel?

Or we can just make that blue mage conjure a Shield dome to contain it. If she's being a bitch about it I say that Henry should do the experiment right in front of her face. That's fair right?

>>4042595
Light runes do not produce heat.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>4041999
“Do any of you lot have healing spells?” Henry asked.

“Why the hell would we help you?” The arcanist woman asked.

“Because I’ll slit your throats if you do and I find out you’re lying.” Henry said with no hesitation.

“Fuck, fine. The only one among us who would even have something like that is the man you knocked out.” She said.

Double fuck.

“And the only person with spells that could wake him up is dying from a gut wound.” Sophie said.


“Am I dying?” Lily asked, her eyelids fluttering.

“Fucking hell she doesn’t have that long left if she keeps bleeding like this.” Henry said.

“I’m sure as shit not telling her hubby what happened.” Coliq said.

Henry sighed and rubbed his head as he tried to think of a solution which wouldn’t kill the woman.

“She knew what she was signing up for Henry. If it has a chance to work then go for it, she’s dead otherwise.” Johnny said.

Decisions:
1. *cauterize the wound with a lowered intensity bolt spell* (costs 1 special point)
2. *use bolt on a throwing knife to heat it up (chance of failure, roll 1d100)
3. *ask nobody for help.* ‘you know you want to’
4. *Try to bandage normally and hope it holds*
5. *write in*

>>4042697
Lily survives the round, next round will require a 30 or higher if bleeding isn't stopped.

>>4042671
Yes? I think your misread something.

>>4042709
So I was reluctant to use the bolt on her, worried about what would happen if we rolled badly but if heating the knife is the one with risk of failure...

She's already a bad roll from bleeding out and a bandage won't stop that.

1. *cauterize the wound with a lowered intensity bolt spell* (costs 1 special point)

>Try to wash the wound with the purified water first.

If that dude used the knives on other people or zombies who knows what crap was on the blade

>>4042759
supporting