Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Flintlock smiles at the others and quietly let's them know that whatever is on the other side of the door is mild mannered and probably not a threat. Big thumbs up from the short, metal man, who is currently blending in nicely to the backdrop of the surrounding room..
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Ah, that makes more sense. I was wondering why a room was called a theodolite.Pulpatoon wrote:The Princess enters the rag room, toting an urn. (Point of clarification: The Crooked Theodolite is an arcanum that precisely measures rooms.)
The Princess sets the urn down to rest, as she is not used to carrying things herself.
(How big is it?)
"This chamber is disgracefully untidy." She tries not to touch anything while waiting for the others to finish their business here and move on.
- ChubbyPixie
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
"Haaaaaaahh..." says Wikerus, wincing and glancing around the room frantically as if looking for something misplaced. "Fffffffff...!!! ... it doesn't taste... Don't taste it. ...I don't feel well..." He carefully replaces the lid and joins the group, seeming a bit unsteady on his feet.
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Deet looks at Jake's carved rat skull, then pokes through rags with his bayonet, mumbling "genus rattus... tails have proprioceptive functions... ugly, diseased..." Schroff scouts around the room, excited by all the new scents his snuffling uncovers.
I'm out of town a few days without my computer, so map update coming Tuesday...
I'm out of town a few days without my computer, so map update coming Tuesday...
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Splinters looks at the cat skull sized rat skulls rat and cat skulls and a mutters to himself, At least these rats can be killed by cats! I'm not going back to a weird giant castle full of giant rats!
He pushes forward, out of the rag room, if there's an obvious exit, ready to pull the line of the duplicator he's carrying in his backpack should the giant ape return. On the other hand, he carries his musket, trying to look dangerous but not pointing it anywhere. Just in case we meet some friendlies. Ideally, he's trying to remain quiet and not alert the ape he's following.
He pushes forward, out of the rag room, if there's an obvious exit, ready to pull the line of the duplicator he's carrying in his backpack should the giant ape return. On the other hand, he carries his musket, trying to look dangerous but not pointing it anywhere. Just in case we meet some friendlies. Ideally, he's trying to remain quiet and not alert the ape he's following.
Last edited by kensanata on Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
I run a blog. I also run a site for campaign wikis. I wrote a face generator, a character generator, a dungeon mapper, a Traveller subsector generator, and a hex map generator (editable as text).
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Didn't it say rat skulls the size of cat skulls? Don't think there were any actual cat skulls here...kensanata wrote:Splinters looks at the rat and cat skulls and a mutters to himself, At least these rats can be killed by cats! I'm not going back to a weird giant castle full of giant rats!
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Further investigation of the rag-room reveals about a dozen mostly-complete rat skeletons, each skull bearing markings carved in their forehead. The rats, prior to your investigations which have shifted them around a bit, were arranged in a tight circle in the center of the room.
To Horton's eyes, the marks look related to Ancient Hyborean in construction. He cannot make any sense of them.
The rags are almost entirely filthy, although there are occasional piles of clean rags, once neatly folded and stacked, but since slumped over and mingling with the dirty ones. The dirty rags are smeared with a thick, mineral-smelling grease, a golden oil, and a number of unidentifiable fluids.
Splinters moves past Flintlock and opens the door on the opposite side of the room.
The Crooked Theodolite: This room is 40x50', with a 30' tall barrel-arched brick ceiling. The floor is dark stained wood, crossed with carved geometric bands. A gemstone is set in the center of the ceiling, casting a dim pink radiance over the room. Three walls have two doors each. These doors are all closed, except the one Splinter's is now peering through. The fourth wall has an open doorway that leads to ascending stairs. Faint blue light glimmers from up the stairs.
A door on the opposite side of the room creaks and begins to open. It is opening slowly, as if by stealth.
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To Horton's eyes, the marks look related to Ancient Hyborean in construction. He cannot make any sense of them.
The rags are almost entirely filthy, although there are occasional piles of clean rags, once neatly folded and stacked, but since slumped over and mingling with the dirty ones. The dirty rags are smeared with a thick, mineral-smelling grease, a golden oil, and a number of unidentifiable fluids.
The urns are 18 inches tall, and weigh about 15 lbs.Starbeard wrote:The Princess sets the urn down to rest, as she is not used to carrying things herself.
(How big is it?)
The Crooked Theodolite: This room is 40x50', with a 30' tall barrel-arched brick ceiling. The floor is dark stained wood, crossed with carved geometric bands. A gemstone is set in the center of the ceiling, casting a dim pink radiance over the room. Three walls have two doors each. These doors are all closed, except the one Splinter's is now peering through. The fourth wall has an open doorway that leads to ascending stairs. Faint blue light glimmers from up the stairs.
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Splinter quickly moves back a step, letting go of the rope to the mirror engine, nearly closing the door. He leaves a small gap for his musket and kneels into firing position. Then he whispers to his friends: Hush! Something is coming.
I run a blog. I also run a site for campaign wikis. I wrote a face generator, a character generator, a dungeon mapper, a Traveller subsector generator, and a hex map generator (editable as text).
- ChubbyPixie
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Poking rags to and fro, Wikerus examines the focal point of the rats' original arrangement, trying to determine what, if anything, they are symbolically guarding, or perhaps worshiping. He hopes he's right it's just symbolic, suddenly realizing he's now at the focal point of a potentially literal animated rat skeleton attack.
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Splinters observes two horrible figures sneaking with obvious caution through the door. They are dressed like the previously encountered pirates, but are less than half the height of an average human. Their skin glistens with a texture more like sharkskin than human flesh, and the shapes of their heads and limbs are all wrong. As the emerge into dim pink light of the glowing gem, they are revealed as bearing the features of a remora.
The half-sized remora-figures venture slowly away from the door, sticking close to the walls. They are making their way in the direction of your door.
Wikerus, head swimming, stands among the rat skeletons. He does not notice anything of interest.
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Wikerus, head swimming, stands among the rat skeletons. He does not notice anything of interest.
More on Wednesday!
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Jake
Ugly little bastards... Jake says, readying his maul for a fight.
Ugly little bastards... Jake says, readying his maul for a fight.
Expect Nothing, Appreciate Everything.
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Ugly, but tasty. Try not to squish 'em too much.
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Splinters will wait for them to come close, real close. Close enough for them to be jumped by his friends. Then he'll fire the musket, in their face! No talking to fishheads.
I run a blog. I also run a site for campaign wikis. I wrote a face generator, a character generator, a dungeon mapper, a Traveller subsector generator, and a hex map generator (editable as text).
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
kensanata wrote:Splinters will wait for them to come close, real close... Then he'll fire the musket, in their face! No talking to fishheads.
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
The Princess waits behind Splinters, holding the large urn precariously. If things go wrong she intends to dump the urn over one of their heads with a "Cads!" and traipse off back to the safety of the hallway.
Last edited by Starbeard on Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Horton had really been hoping that sneaking would have prevented this sort of thing. He stands still and waits to assist the others once the fish-heads get close.
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
The little fish-heads continue to tip-toe their way towards the party's door, unaware that they are being observed.
Okay, you have the drop on them. If you are planning on an attack, present actions for the first two rounds—first round they are surprised, second round they will have a chance to respond.
We'll be using the play-test rules for combat. This means that instead of adding up damage from multiple attacks, we'll preserve the highest result.
Please make it clear which action is for which round (1 or 2) and which fish-head is targeted (Remora and Remorb).
If you're curious, here are some of Chris McDowell's thoughts on this particular change:
Feel free to provide feedback on this and any other elements of the playtest in the OOC thread.
Actionsx2!
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We'll be using the play-test rules for combat. This means that instead of adding up damage from multiple attacks, we'll preserve the highest result.
Please make it clear which action is for which round (1 or 2) and which fish-head is targeted (Remora and Remorb).
If you're curious, here are some of Chris McDowell's thoughts on this particular change:
Feel free to provide feedback on this and any other elements of the playtest in the OOC thread.
Actionsx2!
More on Friday!
- ChubbyPixie
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Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Wikerus holds back, not willing to attack a creature without having some idea of its intentions. They do seem like sneaky fish, though. Almost cartoonishly thievish. He wonders what his impression would be if they looked like goldfish instead...
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
Jake
Jake holds his position, ready to defend if need be.
Jake holds his position, ready to defend if need be.
Expect Nothing, Appreciate Everything.
Re: Chapter 3: The Glittering Tower
The Princess holds her position behind the fighting types.
In the second round, if there is combat, she will do her best to drop the urn onto remora's head and scamper off to safety.
In the second round, if there is combat, she will do her best to drop the urn onto remora's head and scamper off to safety.