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[DnD] The Fantastical Contraption - Pt. 4 - Heart of Darkness
Farangu
I am a beardy manWith a beardy planRegistered User regular
I am a beardy manWith a beardy planRegistered User regular
Keltain - A storied land, full of rich history, and sights to see. The peaks of Dagger Point. The vast steppes of the Giant's Staircase. And the scarred fields that once hosted the Incest War! Oh, the checklist a tourist would have!
There are some, though, that have other matters on their minds besides all the pretty vistas. One of those sort is Corran. Corran is a gnome, and he has children on his mind. Well, to be more accurate, he has young adults on his mind. And his kitchen. And his spare rooms.
It's not that he wanted it this way. He was perfectly fine living in his reclusive retreat, away from all the prying eyes and screams of vendors and customers. You see, Corran is, not to be too blunt about it, a genius. Possibly THE genius. If it involved machinery, any sort of gear or cog or sprocket or steam assembly, Corran had either mastered or invented it. He thought he could make a pretty platinum off his brainy brain. And he did. But he didn't realize the hangers on that would entail. The whiny customers, the insistent vendors, and the pitiful, but frequent attempts at sabotage by the competition. He had had enough, which is what prompted him to build Corran's Reach, a little home away from...everything.
But one day, 20 years ago, his life changed drastically. He came across five bundled babies, laying in the crossroads a mile from his house. To this day, if you ask him why he kept them, he couldn't tell you. He did try to make an investment out of it; try to pass along at least some of his knowledge to his adopted children. He's still not sure what stuck and what didn't. But there are times...fleeting moments where he sees how far they've come in their own individual ways...and he smiles.
These smiles are occurring less and less now. The children are almost adults now. They have their own group of friends, a local pack of vagrant children their own age who have taken to calling themselves The Lost Boys. It's almost time for them to leave the Reach. This is the problem that has been wracking his brain for sometime now. How to do it? Would he cry? When will they leave? He doesn't know.
KKKKRRRRRAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!
"...That came from the kitchen."
Maybe he's changing his mind about that last part...
The party:
Skarr, an Orc who's just one ragefit away from hitchhiking along a road to sad piano music. (Played by Steelhawk) (sheet)
Daus, a Changeling wizard that likes to lie. So he's totally going to pay you back that money he borrowed. (Played by Aegof) (sheet)
Vista, a Warforged Barbarian who's sworn to protect the [strike]four three [/strike]two remaining brothers under pain of magnets. (Played by Susan) (sheet)
Orsik, a Dwarven Artificer who's been 'round the world a spell, and is good at making timely appearances. (played by MaxFrost) (sheet)
Tharatus Wran, a Human Hexblade that makes regular deals with devils for power. Going back to that whole "trustworthy" thing, then. (played by Illianthar)(sheet)
Former party members:
Carrel, a Gnome Warlock who thought he was totally not going to be taken over by dark energies. Until he was. (Played by WhiteWolf) (sheet)
Korin, a Dragonborn who apparently gains his powers from being unable to keep anything to himself. Last seen falling down a pit that was emitting zombies, so...yea. We're hopeful.(Played by Kinahto) (sheet)
Swanky, an ADD-addled halfling. So, you know, normal. Until he got poisoned.(Played by Smoove Operator)
The region:
The rules:
The game is starting at around midday. You can set yourselves near the crash in the kitchen, or wherever you like on the compound. I'll let you RP until I get a !ready from each of you. And...
GO
There are some, though, that have other matters on their minds besides all the pretty vistas. One of those sort is Corran. Corran is a gnome, and he has children on his mind. Well, to be more accurate, he has young adults on his mind. And his kitchen. And his spare rooms.
It's not that he wanted it this way. He was perfectly fine living in his reclusive retreat, away from all the prying eyes and screams of vendors and customers. You see, Corran is, not to be too blunt about it, a genius. Possibly THE genius. If it involved machinery, any sort of gear or cog or sprocket or steam assembly, Corran had either mastered or invented it. He thought he could make a pretty platinum off his brainy brain. And he did. But he didn't realize the hangers on that would entail. The whiny customers, the insistent vendors, and the pitiful, but frequent attempts at sabotage by the competition. He had had enough, which is what prompted him to build Corran's Reach, a little home away from...everything.
But one day, 20 years ago, his life changed drastically. He came across five bundled babies, laying in the crossroads a mile from his house. To this day, if you ask him why he kept them, he couldn't tell you. He did try to make an investment out of it; try to pass along at least some of his knowledge to his adopted children. He's still not sure what stuck and what didn't. But there are times...fleeting moments where he sees how far they've come in their own individual ways...and he smiles.
These smiles are occurring less and less now. The children are almost adults now. They have their own group of friends, a local pack of vagrant children their own age who have taken to calling themselves The Lost Boys. It's almost time for them to leave the Reach. This is the problem that has been wracking his brain for sometime now. How to do it? Would he cry? When will they leave? He doesn't know.
KKKKRRRRRAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!
"...That came from the kitchen."
Maybe he's changing his mind about that last part...
The party:
Skarr, an Orc who's just one ragefit away from hitchhiking along a road to sad piano music. (Played by Steelhawk) (sheet)Daus, a Changeling wizard that likes to lie. So he's totally going to pay you back that money he borrowed. (Played by Aegof) (sheet)Vista, a Warforged Barbarian who's sworn to protect the [strike]four three [/strike]two remaining brothers under pain of magnets. (Played by Susan) (sheet)Orsik, a Dwarven Artificer who's been 'round the world a spell, and is good at making timely appearances. (played by MaxFrost) (sheet)Tharatus Wran, a Human Hexblade that makes regular deals with devils for power. Going back to that whole "trustworthy" thing, then. (played by Illianthar)(sheet)Former party members:
Carrel, a Gnome Warlock who thought he was totally not going to be taken over by dark energies. Until he was. (Played by WhiteWolf) (sheet)Korin, a Dragonborn who apparently gains his powers from being unable to keep anything to himself. Last seen falling down a pit that was emitting zombies, so...yea. We're hopeful.(Played by Kinahto) (sheet)Swanky, an ADD-addled halfling. So, you know, normal. Until he got poisoned.(Played by Smoove Operator)The region:
The rules:
Story takes precedence over gameplay mechanics. That's Rule #1.
You level when I tell you. That's Rule #2.
OOC chat is either DimGray or goes in the OOC thread. That's Rule #3.
AT LEAST one post per day, weekends optional. That's Rule #4.
Battle posts must have: Movements in coordinates from the grid I will give you, COLORED attacks(At-Will in Green, Encounter in Red, Dailies in Gray, Status and lasting effects in orange), damage rolls in red, and finish each post with the name of the next combatant in Lime. Orokos or Mythweavers are fine for dice rolls. We'll be using block initiative: If there are a bunch of you scheduled to go before the next monster, those of you in that block can take your turns in whichever order you like.
You level when I tell you. That's Rule #2.
OOC chat is either DimGray or goes in the OOC thread. That's Rule #3.
AT LEAST one post per day, weekends optional. That's Rule #4.
Battle posts must have: Movements in coordinates from the grid I will give you, COLORED attacks(At-Will in Green, Encounter in Red, Dailies in Gray, Status and lasting effects in orange), damage rolls in red, and finish each post with the name of the next combatant in Lime. Orokos or Mythweavers are fine for dice rolls. We'll be using block initiative: If there are a bunch of you scheduled to go before the next monster, those of you in that block can take your turns in whichever order you like.
The game is starting at around midday. You can set yourselves near the crash in the kitchen, or wherever you like on the compound. I'll let you RP until I get a !ready from each of you. And...
GO
Hey! Want to learn how to play Street Fighter? You should read this.
Chicago Megagame group
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Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
Farangu on
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What sounded like a spectacular accident tore his attention from his idle search. Accidents were uncommon enough these days that it was always worth seeing the aftermath. There were some walls still stained with ghost images from his attempts to marry gadgetry and illusion. They would fade in time, he assumed.
He clapped the book shut--for this well-worn text, he would need no bookmark--and stood to leave. He wore human today, as was normal for him, dark skin and red hair and perhaps a little too tall for his clothes. An intentional effect, of course.
The source of the noise was not far, he thought, but more important to him was who was responsible. Korin and Skarr seemed likeliest. Or both together. The two of them, angry at the same thing at the same time could get. Well. He remembered it being unpleasant, so maybe that's all it was. Still. If it was them, together, perhaps it would be best to save the sharper barbs for another day. He briefly considered turning back to his book, but his pace didn't slow for a moment.
If we really wanna get movin', I suppose 'm !Ready.
CRASH!
Korin was so surprised by the noise that he had tripped, face first, onto the ground. He looked up at his opponent weakly, "Gah, I think I have a concussion. There goes combat practice for the day..."
Truth be told, 'combat practice' for Korin was more about catharsis than any type of actual training at this point. His 'opponent' was not actually his brother, but a not-too-convincing stand-in he had drawn using his eternal chalk on the side of a nearby tree. It was fairly inaccurate, partially due to the fact that this particular drawing was about a week old, and Daus had changed appearance several times since then, but mostly because Korin was an absolutely terrible artist. Still, it served it's purpose, which was to let him take his anger at his brother out in some way other than yelling at him into the wee hours of the night, or actually beating on him. After all, Daus's a lying jerk, but he's still his brother.
Still, what was that noise? It sounded like something breaking... could it have been burglars? Invading hobgoblins? A DRAGON? Suddenly filled with dread, Korin charged full-speed towards the kitchen, heedless of anything, or anyone, in his way, while yelling in Draconic, "STAY BACK, FOUL BEAST! TIAMAT SHALL NOT HAVE OUR HOME THIS DAY!"
I'm !ready anytime you all are.
I better go see what happened he thought to himself. Slowly, he gathered some fey energy to the point of his fingertips should it be the work of some invader. "Always be prepared for the worst, in a world like this" his adpotive father had consistently taught him. He slowly walked towards the kitchen with trepidation, and just a hint of exitement on his face.
!Ready to go chief.
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He did not like this.
"WHICH ONE OF YOU GODS-DAMNED LOST BOYS DID THIS!?! Kaneel?!? Pelton!?! Dort!?! You manipulating brutes! You come out now and I promise...I won't transmogrify you into anything too horrible..."
All of a sudden, a dark shape darted out in front of him. He raised his cane to defend himself from...a cat that just jumped out of an open window.
Corran stood there for a second. Then he let out quite a sound for someone of his stature.
"BOYS! HERE! NOW!!"
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Thanks for the compliment. I thought I might've been going a bit too over the top, but I think I know what tone to hit now.
I know I'm gonna have to go in there... but I really don't want to... he eyed the handle to the door and sighed as he opened the door and was met with his dragonborn brother, panting and looking around with a crazed expression, rambling about full blown dragons.
He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it after thinking better of it.
Then thought better of not saying anything.
"Don't you have a half-finished ballista somewhere, Dad?" Daus asked. "You, me, maybe Carrel, could put it together in a few minutes." There was a roar from outside. Daus imagined dragons sounded a lot like dragonborn, but louder and scarier. Ghost Sound couldn't get quite loud enough, Daus thought, but it might not matter with Korin. "If we have a few minutes."
Bluff: 1d20+10 12
Korin DIVES in front of his adoptive father, valiantly attempting to shield him from imaginary dragon breath.
After a moment, he stops wincing and looks around the room in confusion. "Hey, what gives? Where's the dragon?"
Insight: 1d20+5 7
As he neared the rounded the doorway into the kitched he realized that he misjudged his speed just a smidge. To avoid sliding headlong into the door frame he planted a foot firmly against it and launched himself up onto the opposite counter. Still too much momentum..., his mind raced looking for a way to slow himself. Perfect! he thought as he spied Daus standing a few feet in front of him, his slender back to the door. Swanky vaulted off the counter and landed perfectly on Daus' shoulders.
"...and Jazz hands!" Swanky announced as he spread all his fingers and shook his hands quickly on either side of his brother's head.
"...what did I miss?!"
_____________________________________________
HoTS: Schmutz#1686
Knew I made the right choices.
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"A very stealthy dragon for one..." he says as he slinks about the room as quietly as he can, looking for dragons in places they'd never be able to even fit. After his quick search reveals nothing, he looks back to the others.
"By the way, stranger," he says to Daus in a mocking tone, "Have you seen my brother around here? He's about your height, maybe a bit shorter, grayish skin, white hair?"
Korin glances back and forth in anticipation, then his head hangs in disappointment. "I was hoping that'd startle it out of hiding."
"I think I saw the dragon near Daus' room! Hurry Korin, we must go now! Dragon, HOOOOOOOOOOO!"
_____________________________________________
HoTS: Schmutz#1686
Korin begins to charge full-force once again, toward Daus's room.
"You boys...You're going to drive me crazy yet. Now what have I told you about LEAVING THE WINDOWS OPEN?!?"
He bonks each of you on the head with his cane. "Now you boys owe me a bottle of Gnarvale 1092! But before you get it for me...I want new project schematics from each of you before dinner! And tell Skarr when you see him that includes him, too!"
Now since I'm not up to date on all the Adventurer Vault supplements, I've decided to delegate the responsibility, hence the "project schematics". Each of you is going to give me a sort of wish list of items you would want your characters to have for the immediate future(i.e. the next few levels - try and space out your requests, so they're not all high level). I'll try and dole them out as fairly as possible.
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*grunt*
THWACK!!
*snort*
THWACK!!
*spit*
Skarr slammed the old wood axe into the chopping block. The axe head buried itself deep, and Skarr was sure one of his brothers would need his help to free it. Wiping his hands on a rag, Skarr makes his way around the massive pile of wood, amassed in an afternoons worth of hard work, towards the house. Outsiders have no idea the amount of fuel a place like Corran's Reach uses up.
Shirtless and no less massive, Skarr enters the kitchen, (ducking his head at the lintel and twisting his shoulders to make it in) just in time to see his brother Korin lying on floor of the kitchen, peeking between the fingers covering his eyes, asking about a dragon. Skarr's shadow eclipses his prone brother, "Get up, Korin. You look like a fool." Skarr says, his voice deep and harsh.
He drops the dust filled rag onto his brothers face and grins, "But while you're down there, you might was well clean up the mess."
Skarr always sounded harsh, even when he was in a good mood. Skarr's laugh chased animals away and his smile chased everything else away. It wasn't easy being green, either. But these people where his family, these people he could relax around. The stink of sweaty Orc assaults your senses, as Skarr dutifully lines up alongside the rest of his brothers.
"Whatever happened, it wasn't my fault...not this time."
!Ready
D'oh! I missed a bit while writing. Oh well, you get the idea....
"Well, at least you were quick enough to figure out there was a problem. Compared to Mr. JazzHands, whatever the hell that means. I 'll tell you what I told them: New project schematics by dinner!"
He turns to walk away, then pauses.
"Oh, and one more thing..."
He then bonks you on the head with his cane. "NO MORE LEAVING WINDOWS OPEN!"
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Swanky cruises down the hall, offhandedly apologizing to Daus on his way by the shifter's room...
"Sorry about the mess, you never know where those pesky dragons could be hiding."
Finding Corran, Swanky hands a crumpled up parchment to him, performing an elaborate bow and using a ridiculous English accent.
"Your schematics, as requested sire..."
As Corran uncrumples the sheet, it is immediately clear that there have been multiple erase marks and that the few schematics that are legible are overshadowed by an elaborate drawing of a small person in a viking hat standing proudly on a mountain, holding a flag that says "Swanktonia".
Character sheet changed to reflect use of Shuriken instead of hand crossbow.
Wish list (Is this kinda what you had in mind? If not I'll change to update):
Lvl 2: Aftershock Shuriken (AV2)
Lvl 3: Addergrease Leather Armor (AV)
Lvl 3: Catstep Boots (PHB)
Lvl 4: Flaying Gloves (AV)
Lvl 5: Cape of the Mountebank (AV)
Also, I should have put this in my first post; !ready
_____________________________________________
HoTS: Schmutz#1686
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"You didn't miss much, Skarr," Daus said as Corran leaves. "We need to pick up some wine. And Korin thinks there's a dragon about."
Daus tried to get along with Skarr, mostly. Mind games with Skarr were. Well there were a lot of reasons not to mess with him like Korin, and not all of them were selfish.
"If you need a hand with those schematics, come find me once you've cooled down a bit." Daus had a few ideas half-scribbled out already; fleshing them out and making them presentable wouldn't take too long.
L2 Gem of Colloquy
L3 Talon Amulet
L4 Orb of Menacing Impulse
L5 Shadowdance Armor
Following closely behind Swanky, Korin also offers his apologies to Daus, "Yeah, I'm really sorry too. But I swear I saw that dragon hiding behind the one bookcase you keep all your favorite books on!"
He sheepishly hands his schematics to Corran, ashamed of his inability to track down the vicious dragon. And, you know, tearing up half the house looking for it.
His schematics were poorly drawn as always, but his written descriptions of the items and their use was clear and descriptive, and some of the concepts were surprisingly clever. Of course, slightly worrying to Corran was the design of a bracelet, based on an item usually meant to be used to fight lycanthropes, which Korin had somehow found had the side-effect of temporarily disabling the abilities of shapeshifters, including Changelings...
L2 Feyleaf Sandals
L3 Brooch of No Regrets
L3 Lunia's Bracelet
L4 Joyous Armor
L5 Chainreach Weapon
"Something seems off here, but I'm not sure what..." he said to himself out loud. Determined to make the best of a situation that he was unfamiliar with, Carrel thought up some ideas that he felt would best accentuate his fey abilities, and dropped the list off with Corran some time later.
Level 2 Feyleaf Sandals
Level 3 Executioner's Bracers
Level 4 Parchment Armor
Level 5 Goggles of Aura Sight
"Boys! Food's on! Get down here!"
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After readying himself for the day, Swanky crept into the kitchen. Good, I'm the first one here. Swanky quietly opened the door to the cupboard where Skarr kept his favorite plate and slunk inside. This was an old game, and one that had cost him many bruises, but the look on Skarr's face was always more than worth it...
OOC:
Stealth check:
1d20+9 = 23
_____________________________________________
HoTS: Schmutz#1686
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Korin sits silently in his seat, and simply stares at the sheet, apparently contemplating it deeply. This is probably the most disturbing part, as he's not known to deeply contemplate ANYTHING, let alone schematics.
"Ok boys, how do you want your...eggs...
Alright, what's wrong with you guys? Your silence is...kinda scary, to be frank."
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SCARR! SWANKY! EGGS ARE GOING ON NOW, SO GET DOWN HERE!
What's on your mind, Korin?"
It was always amazing how quickly he could go from bellowing to speaking softly.
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Another day, Skarr...
Swanky kicked open the door of the cupboard, and let out a primal scream (well, as halfling screaming goes it was fairly primal). He threw himself past Corran and tumbled under the kitchen table, popping up in his normal seat.
"Scrambled soft, please!"
_____________________________________________
HoTS: Schmutz#1686
"Well, at least one of you's acting normal."
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He sits down with a slight grin, but as he looks at it, his smile fades. He slowly looks up towards Korin.
"where...did you see this."
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"Must've been something we saw in town the other day. Last night part of that showed up in one of my dreams. It was sandwiched between a dream about slaying that pesky dragon yesterday and a dream where I was escaped from a dire badger by climbing a glass rope to nowhere....classics. Speaking of sandwiches, I'd like to change my order, can you make a scrambled eqq and cheese sandwich?"
Slight pause
"Uhm, Dad, I can't help but notice that you aren't exactly what I would call 'engaged' in the egg-making." Swanky said, using finger quotes to help illustrate his point. "Any way I could help remedy this situation?"
_____________________________________________
HoTS: Schmutz#1686
"Wait, you too?" Korin says, now in a bit of a panic, "I could understand Carrel or Daus dreaming about this stuff, but US?! Dad, what's going on?!"