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Post by Mushgnome on Jul 30, 2012 17:50:59 GMT -6
Fated to Die attends his own wedding incognito, his face obscured by the extravagant feathered headdress he wears in the style of the ulfire people. He lurks at the periphery of the crowd and tries to lay low [Charisma check = 19] but his cult of personality is too strong; he courteously refuses the obvious advances of the dolm ladies, but attracts too much attention, the mind of the Crone reaches out to find which of the guests is fluttering the heartstrings of her daughters...
Fated sheds the mask, turns his coat inside out to hide its luxuriousness, and pulls the collar tight around his ears. Will the disguise work? [11] The dolm women have not spotted him as the real groom, but he can only hope the Crone's psionic powers have not betrayed him...
Fated lurks in the shadows beyond the bonfire, apart from the festivities. Does he regret his decision at all and secretly pine for the carefree dolm woman who could have been his bride and the quiet life of a marsh-dweller? Who can say from the distant look on his face as he stares into the embers.
Toward dawn, Fated to Die's ulfire men congregate around the bonfire. They feast on leftover cobra meat, toast each other with sparkling berry wine, and laugh like victorious teammates. 4 of them are gathered around the fire and will chat freely with anyone who wishes to step forward and join them. The 5th is still passed out in the tent with [5dd] 11 of the revelers, and the 6th ulfire man, as you may recall, is playing the part of the decoy groom, the Whipped Man. He was carried willingly into the honeymoon tipi with Festive, the Crone, and the entire party of bridesmaids, and hasn't been seen since.
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Post by Mushgnome on Jul 31, 2012 17:13:46 GMT -6
Little Brother saves vs. poison at +2 at rolls 13. He survives the titanocobra venom! Princess heals the wounded with the symbiotic fungus that coats her scales. The dinosaur posse is restored to full strength, thanks in part to the Crone's expert veterinary care!
Snarf re-rolls his random psionics for the day: clairaudience 1/day, telepathy 1/day and at-will with rider.
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Post by ehiker133 on Jul 31, 2012 19:33:48 GMT -6
Shade quietly (is there any other way?) listens to the stories of the men.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 1, 2012 6:37:14 GMT -6
The 4 ulfire men gathered around the fire are engaged in their usual boasting and idle chatter. They boast of last nights' conquest in vague terms, each proclaiming that his partner (or partners) was the fairest of the marsh-women, while staying mum on the specific details of the ritual itself. Their good-natured ribbing is unusually insightful this morning and the barbs cut deep; reaching out with his mind Shade senses a particular insight and wisdom in these ulfire men that he had not noticed before.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 1, 2012 17:45:25 GMT -6
Rod Quarry is next to join the bonfire. You notice he, too, is looking particularly wise this morning. He's hungry, too, so he grills a rack of titanocobra ribs which the dolm women had previously marinated and spice-rubbed the night before. The smell is mouthwatering! He opens a bottle of rum from his personal stash and shares it generously with all.
Breath of New Moon goes off to find her henchwomen, leaving Fated and Shade in command.
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 2, 2012 10:58:05 GMT -6
Shade drinks rum and eats of spiced titanocobra ribs.
He tries not to let the power of being in charge go to his head.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 3, 2012 19:30:16 GMT -6
Shade drinks rum and eats of spiced titanocobra ribs. He tries not to let the power of being in charge go to his head. is challenged to heroic combat by a Cthulhuoid entity! Will he accept the 2d6 challenge at the fighting capability of Hero - 1 ? Is he in his armored or natural form? How does his Deep One minion assist? |
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 4, 2012 0:37:03 GMT -6
He will... accept the challenge.
And he goes with his natural form, creating a bone-like spear for his weapon.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 4, 2012 6:40:14 GMT -6
Shade encounters a large alien creature! It has a slug-like body 10' diameter at its base and tapering to a cone, topped by four 10' tentacles ending in bizarre appendages.  Shade fights as Lycanthrope-1 in his natural form and rolls 3 on 2d6 (he needed 9). The monster attacks as a Troll (needs 7) but only rolls a 2. My interpretation of these lousy to-hit rolls in Heroic Combat: The monster appears at the edge of camp. Shade is the first to notice it; everyone else is surprised. Shade rises up on his tentacles to challenge the intruder. They spend the first surprise round staring each other down, tentacle beast to tentacle beast, each mentally sizing up the other...
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 4, 2012 7:02:01 GMT -6
Heroic Combat is available to PC's of 3rd level (Hero - 1) or higher. Each participant rolls 2d6 once and consults the Chainmail Fantasy Combat Table. Actions are resolved in an order determined by the DM (often simultaneously). A roll equal to the target number hits for no damage but has the effect of pushing back or interrupting the target. A roll higher than the target number is a "kill" inflicting damage equal to the attacker's hit dice or an alternate effect such as pin, grapple, trip, called shot, etc.
Each 2d6 roll in Heroic Combat represents not a single sword-swipe but an entire round's worth of cinematic cartoon super-hero back-and-forth. When you narrate these attacks, feel free to incorporate your henchmen ("My Deep One pins it down while I drive the bone spear through its heart") and objects/scenery ("I impale Cthulhu on the Eiffel Tower") into your descriptions.
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Post by crusssdaddy on Aug 4, 2012 9:35:54 GMT -6
Fated runs to rouse the Ulfires, taking care to keep his mask/disguise intact.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 4, 2012 15:21:58 GMT -6
Four of Fated's Ulfire men are sitting right here, around the campfire. The other two (including the phony groom) haven't been seen since the party last night.
Will Fated join in Heroic Combat with the monster, and if so, what is his strategy?
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Post by crusssdaddy on Aug 4, 2012 15:33:00 GMT -6
Fated hangs back, worried about his own skin now that he doesn't have any armor. He motions the Ulfires to do something heroic against the yucky looking monster.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 4, 2012 16:34:51 GMT -6
Fated hangs back, worried about his own skin now that he doesn't have any armor. He motions the Ulfires to do something heroic against the yucky looking monster. The 4 Ulfires must make a loyalty check on the mercenary troop table [Chainmail p. 19] 1d6=1... they ignore orders and hold their position by the bonfire, taking no action but to defend themselves (if attacked). They are joined by the strong and wise Rod Quarry who watches to see how the situation develops. The cone-tentacle monster holds position at the edge of the swamp and psionically scans the PCs, their henchmen, the dolm women, the dinosaurs, the deep one, the Crone... |
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 5, 2012 6:57:41 GMT -6
Fated rolls 19 on his save and successfully shields his mind from the alien's psionic probe. How does the telepath Shade respond to the mind-meld attempt?
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 5, 2012 10:08:06 GMT -6
He attempts to communicate with the being, passing on thoughts of peaceful intention, such as trickling streams, open grassy fields, and secluded ocean beaches.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 5, 2012 12:23:27 GMT -6
He attempts to communicate with the being, passing on thoughts of peaceful intention, such as trickling streams, open grassy fields, and secluded ocean beaches. [reaction roll = 12] After a few suspenseful seconds, the alien replies to Shade's stream/field/beach diorama with a slide show of its own: a volcano, a giant fern forest, a cave full of sweet fungus, an asteroid falling into the sun. Then a clumsy attempt to communicate using human concepts: communicate parley negotiate consult discussWhile it mind-melds with Shade, the creature whips its two claw-tentacles to and fro, making a rapid clicking sound like castanets for all to hear. Breath and her bone-women are elsewhere having a parallel adventure which will be revealed when kipper returns... |
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 5, 2012 23:08:12 GMT -6
Byakhee
The Shade of the Evermore responds with the following images...
The Shadow of the Evermore battling the frog god and it's minions, along side the byakhee.
The Shadow of the Evermore in the cryo chamber with the byakhee.
The new form of the Shade of the Evermore emerging from the cryo chamber.
The Shade, celebrating his underwater trials with the Deep ones.
The Shade, sparing the life of his Deep One companion.
The Shade, watching over his injured dinosaur.
The Shade, watching over his traveling companions as they sleep.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 6, 2012 16:41:27 GMT -6
Another series of images:
A happy, peaceful village of jale men.
Flying saucers appear and cause much death & destruction. The pilots are humanoid aliens with gray skin and huge dark eyes. They oppress and torment the humans.
Valiant cone-things make war with the grays. The jale men cheer their liberators!
A group of 6 cone-things boards one of the flying saucers just as it takes off. The cone-things tear the grays to shreds with their strong tentacles, losing one of their own number to the grays' high-tech ray guns.
The flying saucer hurtles out of control through the lower and upper atmosphere! One of the cone-things sacrifices itself, taking control of the doomed ship long enough for 4 of his brethren to parachute to safety before the crash.
Four lost cone-things, far from home with no space ship.
Then comes another attempt to communicate human words/ideas/concepts:
portal gateway wormhole conduit passage
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 6, 2012 17:35:59 GMT -6
The Shade of the Evermore bows deeply to the sentient being and communicates an image of himself standing by the creature without his bone spear.
He holds his arms out with his palms up and further communicates, **Jale Byakhee help** followed by an image of the creature.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 6, 2012 18:55:44 GMT -6
Yithy Yub-Yub of the Great Race extends his 4th tentacle to engage in psionic communion with the 7-tentacled Shade of Evermore. This tentacle terminates in a many-appendaged globe that can best be described as "flumphlike" with many dangling bits and a ring of three dark eyes around its equator.
The being projects a mental map of the Yathlogthotep Forest and the number 0409--perhaps some cosmic coordinates?
[Try doing a google-image search for "great race of yith" and you'll see some great artists' interpretations of this unimaginable creature!]
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 6, 2012 19:32:58 GMT -6
ooc: As an aside, it is interesting to note that the Great Race of Yith was introduced in A Shadow out of Time. Shadow. Get it? Shadow of the Evermore.
Love me some H.P.
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Post by crusssdaddy on Aug 6, 2012 19:53:46 GMT -6
Fated nods contemptuously at his men: "Looks like you guys saved the day. Dickweeds."
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 6, 2012 20:10:51 GMT -6
Fated's ulfire men wisely ignore the jab from their master.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 6, 2012 20:12:45 GMT -6
ooc: As an aside, it is interesting to note that the Great Race of Yith was introduced in A Shadow out of Time. Shadow. Get it? Shadow of the Evermore.
Love me some H.P. Then you know how lucky you are that you rolled high on the reaction roll! It's been a while since I read that story, so you can help me inject some allusions into the story. But keep in mind Carcosan creatures sometimes have significant differences from their literary influences... |
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Post by ehiker133 on Aug 7, 2012 7:13:53 GMT -6
Yithy Yub-Yub of the Great Race extends his 4th tentacle to engage in psionic communion with the 7-tentacled Shade of Evermore. This tentacle terminates in a many-appendaged globe that can best be described as "flumphlike" with many dangling bits and a ring of three dark eyes around its equator. The being projects a mental map of the Yathlogthotep Forest and the number 0409--perhaps some cosmic coordinates? extends a tentacle out to the flumplike globe to make contact. He shakes his head. **We do not know where that is. How can we help you?** |
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 7, 2012 16:06:44 GMT -6
Meanwhile Breath of New Moon has gone in search of Dream Stalker, who has not been seen since last night's celebration. She finds her in the tent of one of the dolm women. Dream Stalker is lying down nude on a mat of woven rushes and appears to be in some kind of trance or stupor. Her dolm partner (also quite nude) is chanting softly and tracing her fingers in paterns over the bone woman's skin.
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kipper
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 57
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Post by kipper on Aug 8, 2012 23:11:16 GMT -6
Breath of New Moon lifts an invisible eyebrow as she takes in the proceedings. "Pardon me," she murmurs as she retreats back outside. She'll look for the Crone to question her about this strange ritual.
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Post by Mushgnome on Aug 9, 2012 17:19:10 GMT -6
The Crone was last seen entering the "honeymoon tent" along with the bride, the (fake) groom, and [3dd] 19 dolm women. Will Breath barge in and interrupt the proceedings?
Meanwhile....
Shade and the Yithian struggle to communicate with each other. The Yithian projects a series of mental images: one of his kind slithers into a circular apparatus and vanishes from sight; another stares into a crystalline device and disappears in a cloud of sparkles; a third leaps into an active volcano! The scene shifts to a jungle and the three Yithians each, separately, materialize from thin air.
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kipper
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 57
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Post by kipper on Aug 9, 2012 22:15:21 GMT -6
Is the tent guarded? Breath will talk to anyone nearby, asking how long the ceremony will take, and mention the other ceremony involving her henchwoman as well. Otherwise, she'll discreetly peek inside the tent if it seems she can do so unobserved.
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