Black Zenith [Adventure RPG / Chapter Four: Fires of Heaven]

"Hey, hey, nice! I wonder if I can stop you, though?" Nos stares at the naga and attempts to conjure a rock-to-the-head, obviously as much for the comedy benefit as for the chance to interrupt the naga's spell.

You conjure a nice, shapely rock above the naga, allowing it to descend and knock the naga on the noggin! You dont quite manage to interrupt the naga on your own, but you still deal 142 damage (roll 11+5), also allowing Savannah the extra time to finish the job. Also also, now hes pissed off, judging from the angry hisses and such.

Thunderpaw, noting the ancient yet precise weapon in the naga's off hand, takes the opportunity to disarm it. He jumps from wall to wall along the hallway and smashes the naga's wrist in an attempt to have it drop the weapon, and if it works he'll swipe it before the beast can.

Through you do your best to disarm the crossbow, he manages to evade your blow! Your quick movements seem to have dazzled him, though (roll 2, crit).

Savannah glances at the unoccupied hand of the Naga. He's gotta be doing something with that hand. She focuses on it, causing the cells in the beast's forearm to grow and replicate in an almost cancer-like fashion.

Nos' conjured rock distraction allows you the time to build up a mutation in the naga's hand! It swells up to one half its previous size, the skin bulging with pustules! You deal him 105 damage and ruin the spell (roll 7+7).

Watson goes for the other hand that Savannah is growing on the naga.

"Hello there!", Watson says as he grabs the naga's hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Watson then starts shaking the naga's hand up and down quickly. Suddenly he wrenches it around the naga's head, attempting to rip the arm out of the socket (if it has one) and choke the naga with it at the same time.

Yeah hes having none of that (roll 2). Instead, he hisses in fury, drawing a knife with his bad hand and slashing at you for 138 damage! Holding the knife like that seems to cause him some amount of pain.

Mael charges in, slicing at the naga and dealing 255 damage (Roll 14+3)!


Stats

SpoilerShow

Thunderpaw: 1057/1300,
Farstrider: 1000/1000
Fury Comet ready!
Vendetta ready!
Blade of Light ready!
Restoration ready!
Slowfall ready!

Bohw: 830/830
Mayor: 1180/1512,
Sabotage ready!
Selfless ready!
Hellbent ready!
Block ready!

Nos Reaper: 858/1200,
Kill Time: +2, -1
Calming Breath ready!
Overexcited ready!
Madness Dance ready!

Savannah: 757/1200
Aromatherapy ready!
Absolute Zero ready!
Parasitic Relationship ready!

Watson: 1092/1200
Wits Cd 4
Fine Wine ready!
Dragon of the Red Wine ready!

Mael: 764/1000
Inner Focus ready!

---

Naga Spellslinger: 848/1350
Suggestion ready!
Reflection ready!

Map:

SpoilerShow

Mayor charges in behind Mael, shield raised and ramming into the Naga, knocking it down with his giant girth.

Bohw hisses back at the Naga and shoots a couple rounds at him, aiming for their head.

im not going to update with one command yo

Savannah, ever the annoyance, seeks to impede the naga more. She goes for the other hand, freezing and crystallizing the blood in his wrist.

Watson steps back a bit, has a running start and tackles the naga.

"Wheeheeheehee!" Nos does his usual cackling thing and goes in swinging at the Naga, rather unfortunately behind Watson.

Thunderpaw, using the naga's dazled state to his advantage, shifts around the creature and attacks the same arm from the other side. If it drops the weapon, he'll try to grab it and leap straight off withthe naga as a baseboard.

welp that didnt take long

now im out of excuses

Mayor charges in behind Mael, shield raised and ramming into the Naga, knocking it down with his giant girth.

Bohw hisses back at the Naga and shoots a couple rounds at him, aiming for their head.

Mayor bullrushes the naga, slamming it with his shield for 135 damage (Roll 10+5)! He readjusts his position before Mayor simply bowls him over, though, falling back.

That doesnt stop Bohw from launching a barrage of magical projectiles at him, though! While the two first miss entirely, the first takes him in the neck, dealing 240 damage (roll 16+4)! It must've missed his windpipe, but it sure struck true regardless. The magical crossbow bolt dissipates a few moments later, leaving the naga to bleed.

Savannah, ever the annoyance, seeks to impede the naga more. She goes for the other hand, freezing and crystallizing the blood in his wrist.

You freeze his wrist! Being a reptile, he can deal with such temperatures fairly well... He just cant function in them. He drops the crossbow as his arm slackens, hanging uselesly down. Also, he takes 165 damage (roll 18+4).

Watson steps back a bit, has a running start and tackles the naga.

You dont manage to take him to the ground (damn snakes), but you do manage to break a couple of his bones, dealing 569 damage (roll 17+5, crit)! He crumples to the ground in a heap, hissing in pain as he dies!

"Wheeheeheehee!" Nos does his usual cackling thing and goes in swinging at the Naga, rather unfortunately behind Watson.

As you advance, you notice that the naga is dying rapidly! You contemplate whether or not you should hit him anyway, but decide not to, citing that it would take too much effort to first lift your heavy hammer (not that its very heavy in your hands), and then smash it back aaaaall the way down again. Anyway he's gonna die shortly regardless. Maybe. You never did figure out why everything else is so much squishier than you.

(i flipped a coin)

Thunderpaw, using the naga's dazled state to his advantage, shifts around the creature and attacks the same arm from the other side. If it drops the weapon, he'll try to grab it and leap straight off withthe naga as a baseboard.

You had such an epic move prepared and now its all ruined.

You just kinda pick up the crossbow. It seems to be unusually light, considering its large size.

Vinewood Heavy Crossbow
Deals 2x damage, but after each shot, one round must be spent reloading before firing again.
Can be carried in one hand.


Stats

SpoilerShow

Thunderpaw: 1057/1300,
Farstrider: 1000/1000
Fury Comet ready!
Vendetta ready!
Blade of Light ready!
Restoration ready!
Slowfall ready!

Bohw: 830/830
Mayor: 1180/1512,
Sabotage ready!
Selfless ready!
Hellbent ready!
Block ready!

Nos Reaper: 858/1200,
Kill Time: +2, -1
Calming Breath ready!
Overexcited ready!
Madness Dance ready!

Savannah: 757/1200
Aromatherapy ready!
Absolute Zero ready!
Parasitic Relationship ready!

Watson: 1092/1200
Wits Cd 4
Fine Wine ready!
Dragon of the Red Wine ready!

Mael: 764/1000
Inner Focus ready!

---

Naga Spellslinger: 0/1350
Suggestion ready!
Reflection ready!

Map:

SpoilerShow

"Feh. Right, lets keep moving.""

Bohw pouts and cups her hands together, conjuring another ball of light hopefully better than the last.

Mayor steps forwards into the darkness a bit, on the sheer basis that he wants to be in front so he activates the traps. He takes a bit of a breather in the meantime to recover a bit of health.

Watson uses Fine Wine and has a bell ring above the party and a wine-coloured symbol glowing under their feet. A Red Circle around Bohw is created though, to exclude her from healing. The remaining six including Watson are healed as the Bell's ringing and the symbols fade away.

Watson staggers but continues walking with the rest of the group.

"Feh. Right, lets keep moving.""

Bohw pouts and cups her hands together, conjuring another ball of light hopefully better than the last.

Mayor steps forwards into the darkness a bit, on the sheer basis that he wants to be in front so he activates the traps. He takes a bit of a breather in the meantime to recover a bit of health.

You make an awesome ball of light, shining brightly and illuminating the area perfectly! It'll stay with you for quite a while. (roll 19-1)

Mayor takes the time to perform a full systems restart, even updating MSGolem in the process and avoiding future bluedeaths fix up his armor and any damage done to it (roll 20).

Watson uses Fine Wine and has a bell ring above the party and a wine-coloured symbol glowing under their feet. A Red Circle around Bohw is created though, to exclude her from healing. The remaining six including Watson are healed as the Bell's ringing and the symbols fade away.

Watson staggers but continues walking with the rest of the group.

You heal everyone except Bohw for 144! (Roll 7+5)

Now you're intoxicated. Great.

---

The party proceeds onwards, entering yet another room after having ascended a short staircase. This one is particularly wrecked, and part of the wall seems to have fallen in, crumbled rock and dirt spilling onto the floor. An old stone well is situated a short distance into the room for some reason. Some of the dirt seems to have been intentionally compressed into small mounds in places, and signs of humanoid inhabitation are scattered throughout the room in the forms of various tools, an abandoned weapon rack, a few pots, urns, and some crude furniture. Light streams in from holes in the ceiling, pooling on the floor. It would have been a heartening sight if not for the light being tainted by the presence of the black sun. Noone seems to be here, though. Theres a doorway in the northern wall.

Stats

SpoilerShow

Thunderpaw: 1266/1300,
Farstrider: 1000/1000
Fury Comet ready!
Vendetta ready!
Blade of Light ready!
Restoration ready!
Slowfall ready!

Bohw: 830/830
Mayor: 1512/1512,
Sabotage ready!
Selfless ready!
Hellbent ready!
Block ready!

Nos Reaper: 1062/1200,
Kill Time: 0, 0
Calming Breath ready!
Overexcited ready!
Madness Dance ready!

Savannah: 961/1200
Aromatherapy ready!
Absolute Zero ready!
Parasitic Relationship ready!
Wand of Healing: 48

Watson: 1336/1400, Drunk (+2, -2)(3)
Wits Cd 3
Fine Wine Cd 10
Dragon of the Red Wine ready!

Mael: 958/1000
Inner Focus ready!

---

Naga Spellslinger: 0/1350
Suggestion ready!
Reflection ready!

Map:

SpoilerShow

Thunderpaw passes the Heavy Crossbow to Bohw, then investigates the weapon rack. Anything the party can use is an asset to the group. Anything they don't need is an asset to the army. And in this ancient place? Some of it might even be enchanted.

"So, I have a question. Since you can conjure balls of light as messengers, can you possibly summon one to zip up the hole and inform our backup of the blocked passage? Maybe our location?"

oh yes silly me i should choose my wordy dealy things better

abandoned was supposed to indicate that it was empty

Savannah looks around the empty room. Looks like people lived here or something. Maybe those bandits or whatever? No, she doubts they could have gotten this deep. She picks up a broken tool from the ground and drops it into the well to see how far it goes down.

Watson just lazily walks by the walls, looking for anything suspicious.

Savannah looks around the empty room. Looks like people lived here or something. Maybe those bandits or whatever? No, she doubts they could have gotten this deep. She picks up a broken tool from the ground and drops it into the well to see how far it goes down.

As you approach the well, a scaly hand suddenly emerges, grabbing your wrist and yanking you forward! Suddenly, nagas emerge from everywhere around the room, some dropping down from previously unnoticed burrow holes high in the walls, some dispelling theor invisibility, and some charging in from the far door! Oh and why yes theyre in the well too.

(Also of note: Savanna is currently still in spellcaster mode because theres actually plants growing in this room)

(only have a phone for internets for a bit, don't expect any long posts, even though this is longer than my regular posts.)

Mayor does the mayorly thing, he runs up to savannah and grabs her around the waist with one arm and wreching her away, whilebreaking the hand of the naga with his other arm.

Bohw uses Sabotage on the Nagas charging in from the far doorway.

STAY THE HELL BACK DOWN.

Watson runs to the well and uses Dragon of the Red Wine and breathes fire down it to prevent any nagas from coming up.

Nos gasps in half-mock awe. "Ooh, quite a trap! Whatever shall we do?" After a moment where presumably no-one answers him, he shrugs and starts twirling around with both arms outstretched. As he spins a shape begins to form next to one of his hands. When he suddenly stops and claps both hands together, his spell sends an anvil flying into the deepest cluster of naga that should bounce once or twice after hitting a target. "Taste my Hilarious Bouncing Anvil, and Despair, snake-freaks!" Nos yells after them, a grin on his face.

Thunderpaw, who had made it all the way to the weapon rack, looks up to see the face of a snakeman staring back.

"..."

"FINE! YOU CAN KEEP THEM!"

Suddenly, the rabbit hurls the entire rack at the naga, weapons falling off and hitting as their own.

(Hey Chim, does this count as a standard attack cause of my throwing weapon feat? :V)

Savannah yelps in surprise, pulling out her knife to slash at the hand grabbing at her own before she's encircled by another arm. She starts to swing at it, only to realize that it's Mayor. She instead opts to trap two nagas that have slithered under some plants, growing them into a thick and thorny cage around the two monsters.

Mayor does the mayorly thing, he runs up to savannah and grabs her around the waist with one arm and wreching her away, whilebreaking the hand of the naga with his other arm.

Bohw uses Sabotage on the Nagas charging in from the far doorway.

You grab a whole handful of dynamite and light the fuses, tossing them at the three naga charging in with their spears raised, making sure to scatter the dynamite nicely. They foolishly ignore your bombs and then they go boom, much to their surprise. The three of them take 168 damage (roll 13+4)! One of them throws a spear at you, though, striking you for 113 damage, then quickly drawing another spear from the bundle of spears on his back.

Mayor quickly solves the situation at the well by breaking the nagas hand, doing 207 damage (roll 18+5)! Watson's follow up blast of fire makes him lose his grip and fall back into the well, disappearing from sight. Then he tosses the weapon that naga had been holding - a light wooden club studded with a variety of fangs - at the fellow who threw a spear at Bohw! It only glances him for 63 damage though.

STAY THE HELL BACK DOWN.

Watson runs to the well and uses Dragon of the Red Wine and breathes fire down it to prevent any nagas from coming up.

You take a large breath, then a larger gulp of wine, and then you let loose a breath of fire! You burn the three naga trying to climb the well for 450 damage, each, even forcing one of them to release his grip and fall back down. They seem somewhat less affected by your fire than they should have been, though. One of them lunges at you, slashing at you with the hatchet he had been holding clutching! You just kind of step out of the arc of the blow, though (Defense 10 Vs Hit 5+3). The remaining one thrusts a long, curved dagger into Mayor, doing 88 damage. Mayor is neither impressed nor amused.

Nos gasps in half-mock awe. "Ooh, quite a trap! Whatever shall we do?" After a moment where presumably no-one answers him, he shrugs and starts twirling around with both arms outstretched. As he spins a shape begins to form next to one of his hands. When he suddenly stops and claps both hands together, his spell sends an anvil flying into the deepest cluster of naga that should bounce once or twice after hitting a target. "Taste my Hilarious Bouncing Anvil, and Despair, snake-freaks!" Nos yells after them, a grin on his face.

Yes this is the coolest spell cast yet. You conjure an anvil in an extremely flashy image and, without stopping for even a moment you THROW IT IN THEIR FACES AND IT PROCEEDS TO BOUNCE AND SHIT first striking one naga on the snout and then the next fellow takes it to the stomach and the third naga dives for the floor to try to avoid the gigantic hunk of iron aimed at him but it was going for his tail and it sweeps the floor with them all doing 209 damage to each (roll 18+5)!

They look somewhat less certain about their decision to attack you all suddenly but i guess they dont have a choice now so they proceed to charge at you, who is clearly the deadliest mage within a hundred miles, and then they kinda stab you with their spears for 138 and 50 damage!

Then they get a good look at your sledgehammer and then they realize that they just made a mistake. Well one of them seems to realize that, the other is either too stupid or too brave to.

Thunderpaw, who had made it all the way to the weapon rack, looks up to see the face of a snakeman staring back.

"..."

"FINE! YOU CAN KEEP THEM!"

Suddenly, the rabbit hurls the entire rack at the naga, weapons falling off and hitting as their own.

(Hey Chim, does this count as a standard attack cause of my throwing weapon feat? :V)

yes ofcourse

i'll repeat though there werent actually any weapons on the rack it was like empty because they took the weapons before hiding in ambush i mean come on

Two naga drop down from the ceiling not far from you! This simply wont do. You proceed to pick up the weapon rack and HURL IT LIKE A FRISBEE at the closest one's face, dealing 428 damage (roll 14+5, crit)! He staggers back, hissing furiously as he spits out a broken snakefang! He slithers up to you, lunging at you with two bone daggers, striking you for 150 damage!

Savannah yelps in surprise, pulling out her knife to slash at the hand grabbing at her own before she's encircled by another arm. She starts to swing at it, only to realize that it's Mayor. She instead opts to trap two nagas that have slithered under some plants, growing them into a thick and thorny cage around the two monsters.

You only quite manage to trap one of them - the other got away to stab Thunderpaw. But your victim is well and truly trapped once you're done with your spell, a thorny canopy of vines and stems encircling her. She looks down at the spear in her hands and goes siiiiiigh. Spears are horrible for cutting. She starts sawing at her cage with the speartip, but the huge thorns are severely slowing her progress because come on thats unfair (roll 11+7).

Mael charges to the aid of Nos, slashing at one of his adversaries for 135 damage (roll 5+4).

The last remaining naga, who had been hiding in the room all along under an invisibility spell waves her hands and suddenly theres three of her!



Stats

SpoilerShow

Thunderpaw: 1126/1300,
Farstrider: 1000/1000
Fury Comet ready!
Vendetta ready!
Blade of Light ready!
Restoration ready!
Slowfall ready!

Bohw: 717/830, Piercing Javelin (+20)(3)
Mayor: 1424/1512,
Sabotage Cd 8
Selfless ready!
Hellbent ready!
Block ready!

Nos Reaper: 874/1200,
Kill Time: +2, -1
Calming Breath ready!
Overexcited ready!
Madness Dance ready!

Savannah: 961/1200
Aromatherapy ready!
Absolute Zero ready!
Parasitic Relationship ready!
Wand of Healing: 48

Watson: 1366/1400, Drunk (+2, -2)(1)
Wits Cd 2
Fine Wine Cd 9
Dragon of the Red Wine Cd 8

Mael: 958/1000
Inner Focus ready!

---

Naga High Priestess: 1500/1500, Mirage Mirror Image (2)(5)
Mirage Cd 3
Oblivion ready!
Resurgence ready!
Naga Prime Hunter: 1273/1650, Sabotage (1)
Firesoul ready!
Confounding Gaze ready!
Runeguard ready!
Naga Blood-Warrior: 588/1100, Sabotage (1)
Naga Spear Thrower: 410/850, Sabotage (1)
Naga Fighter: 468/900, Fell?
Naga Fighter: 675/900
Naga Fighter: 675/900
Naga Spear-Maiden: 1060/1100, Cage of Thorns (20)(4)
Naga Fighter: 472/900

Map:

SpoilerShow

(And I only just noticed the subtext. Oh well, still did damage)

With one of the snakes sufficiently angered, Thunderpaw turns to the replicated priestess. Taking a leaping jump off the face of the defanged monster, he lands a Fury Comet square in-between the three illusions, testing which one was the real caster.

Watson carries one of the two naga fighters above his head and throws it down the well, thus injuring it and injuring the one at the bottom when it lands.