The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by GnomeBoy »

Kylessa steps out of the gatehouse and into the rain. A flash of lightning illumes the way before her, accompanied by a distant scream...

Was that a raised hand seen in the tree limbs? The flashing of the electric storm is quick and fluttering, with much to take in within mere fractions of a moment -- even with her many eyes, not quite faded out -- there was a hand, but now there is certainly nothing to be seen in the branches.

The path forward is at times treacherous, but navigable with care.

Kylessa scouts ahead a bit, finds a safe hollow, returns to her comrades and leads them to that position of safety, and scouts ahead again. Leading the party in this way, you all find yourselves down on an essentially level plot of land, sandy and grassy with a manor house before you.

But this is no ordinary manor house. It has been sculpted and shaped, built upon and extended until it appears to be a woman emerging from the earth itself. One arm remains in the ground, while the other is raised up into the air above her head, as if in pleading or striving for some unseen something. The bottom of her ersatz ribcage shapes the foundation, and the head so shaped in classic beauty is topped with hundreds of strands of rope, dyed a deep red, swaying in the wind and rain, livid and garish as the lightning sheds it's phosphorescence upon the scene.

Surly, that giant wooden hand, raised high as it is, was the hand Kylessa saw through the trees. The scale of it all threw off her perceptions, making it seem that it must be a human-sized hand visible among the tree limbs.

With the lightning is again the scream, this time notably fainter and notably nearer, coming from that very same raised hand...

This bizarre domicile stands before you -- what do you do?
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by Judge_Yossarian »

Obadiah gapes at the sight, then begins mumbling to himself and counting on his fingers.

"Hell of a place he's built there. Never seen the like. I can't even figure out how much he must owe in property tax to the reeve on something like that! The scaffolding permits alone... certainly more than he could pay. You know what that means? Time to go see who's home, and see what we can... repossess."

He'll start walking carefully up the path to the entrance, intent on knocking on the door, unless anyone has a better idea.
--------------
Chalmers frowned. "Harold, what would be a legal purpose for which to conjure a parrot?"

The Corpse that Love Built PbP:
Obadiah the Sharp: Chaotic Warrior (2nd level), Tax collector
Str: 15 (+1), Agi: 11 (0), Sta: 15 (+1), Per: 6 (-1), Int: 7 (-1), Luck: 7 (-1)
HP: 15/24; Speed: 25; Init: 2; AC: 15; Ref: 1; Fort: 2; Will: -1; Deed Die: d4
Main Weapon: Spear melee deed+1 (dmg 1d8+1+deed)
Secondary Weapon: Javelin melee deed+1 (dmg 1d6+1+deed) (x2)
Armor: Scale Mail (+4) Check penalty (-4) Fumble die (d12) Speed (-5)); Shield (+1) Check penalty (-1)
Equipment: Backpack, Rope - 50', Chain 10', iron spikes (3), small hammer, lantern, 3 flasks oil
Funds: 476 gp, 80 cp; Languages: Common
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by Fenris Ulfhamr »

WHEW! I can post again! I was on some weird Spamhaus blacklist for a couple days... was I hacked? Anyway...


Kylessa raises a cautionary gesture to Obadiah as he starts for the door and whispers:
"We may not want to announce ourselves just yet- perhaps we try an unexpected angle?"


Is the door the only obvious way in or does the hand-tower have windows?

Black Kylessa (c) LV 2 Wizard (orphan)
Str7/8 (-1) Agi17(+2) Sta9(0) Per6(-1) Int15(+1) Luc15(+1) AC13 (padded armor, fumble d8) HP7 Sling+2 (1d4-1) or dagger+/-1 (1d4-1) Spd30 Init+2 R+3 F0 W0 Ragdoll (Mara), Pony, 48cp 602gp Common, Chaos, Halfling, Dwarven
Animal Summoning 64 Wealful/Woeful magic (erupts from the earth),Charm Person 83 Blue Star (black beam), Runic Alphabet, Mortal 43 no change, Spider Climb 53 no change (six extra eyes),Magic Missle 94 Fine Control (meteors),Chill Touch 50 no change (skeletal hands)
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by GnomeBoy »

From any vantage point you've had, you do not see any windows in the tower, though there does seem to be something held(?) in the hand.

There are two doors below the "rib cage" -- one on the left side and one on the right.

Circling the structure reveals only a carriage house around the back, which we'll agree is not of any interest and doesn't reveal any important info...
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by Fenris Ulfhamr »

Kylessa returns from her brief survey of the perimeter:
"Nothing around back... Left or right then?"

Black Kylessa (c) LV 2 Wizard (orphan)
Str7/8 (-1) Agi17(+2) Sta9(0) Per6(-1) Int15(+1) Luc15(+1) AC13 (padded armor, fumble d8) HP7 Sling+2 (1d4-1) or dagger+/-1 (1d4-1) Spd30 Init+2 R+3 F0 W0 Ragdoll (Mara), Pony, 48cp 602gp Common, Chaos, Halfling, Dwarven
Animal Summoning 64 Wealful/Woeful magic (erupts from the earth),Charm Person 83 Blue Star (black beam), Runic Alphabet, Mortal 43 no change, Spider Climb 53 no change (six extra eyes),Magic Missle 94 Fine Control (meteors),Chill Touch 50 no change (skeletal hands)
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by a500dude »

Hodin chuckles at Obadiah's tax calculations, and says, "We go in the right door." He proceeds forward toward the doors.
The Corpse that Love Built PbP:
Hodin "Nightclaw" Roldwan: Lawful Warrior (2nd level), Soldier
Str: 13 (+1), Agi: 7 (-1), Sta: 16 (+2), Per: 8 (-1), Int: 13 (+1), Lck: 6 (-1)
HP: 7/12; Speed: 25; Init: 1, AC: 15, Ref: 0; Fort: 3; Will: -1, Deed Die: d4
Main Weapon: Longsword melee deed+1 (dmg 1d8+1+deed)
Secondary Weapon: Spear melee deed+1 (dmg 1d8+1+deed)
Armor: Chainmail + Shield (+6) Check penalty (-6) Fumble die (d12) Speed (-5)
Equipment: Backpack, Flint+Steel, iron spikes (5), crowbar, lantern, oil (5 flasks), rope (50'), waterskin, rations (5 days)
Funds: 388 gp, 75 cp; Languages: Common, Giant
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by GnomeBoy »

Opening the right hand door, you find...

Several tables in the partially-lit room beyond, some showing heavy wear and stained with some orange substance -- and are those claw marks? Along the curved back wall, there are a collection of cages and glass jars and boxes.

One cage has a large lizard with what look like Halfling feet and hands sprouting from it's back... A large glass cylinder filled with orange liquid holds an elf's head with diaphanous, translucent tendrils floating down from it... A tortoise is in a cage, looking dead, with a small dwarven head next to its normal-looking tortoise head... A table holds two vials and a single earthenware jug, each stoppered with a cork... Another table features a book laid open, stained with blood and some unknown orange jelly, alongside a collection of strange surgical tools of unknown purpose...

To the right is a passageway leading into another room, dimly lit.

To the left is a passageway leading into another room, not lit at all.
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by Fenris Ulfhamr »

Kylessa moves toward the book carefully, eyeing the cages warily with dagger drawn. Could this be the mad doctor's notes? Or better yet, a spellbook? She eyes the open pages not wanting to touch the gelatinous substance unless she must.

What's it say? What's it say? :mrgreen:

Black Kylessa (c) LV 2 Wizard (orphan)
Str7/8 (-1) Agi17(+2) Sta9(0) Per6(-1) Int15(+1) Luc15(+1) AC13 (padded armor, fumble d8) HP7 Sling+2 (1d4-1) or dagger+/-1 (1d4-1) Spd30 Init+2 R+3 F0 W0 Ragdoll (Mara), Pony, 48cp 602gp Common, Chaos, Halfling, Dwarven
Animal Summoning 64 Wealful/Woeful magic (erupts from the earth),Charm Person 83 Blue Star (black beam), Runic Alphabet, Mortal 43 no change, Spider Climb 53 no change (six extra eyes),Magic Missle 94 Fine Control (meteors),Chill Touch 50 no change (skeletal hands)
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by GnomeBoy »

The lizard swishes its tail as Kylessa approaches and the tendrils below the elfen head flutter. She peers at the book, laid open, and can make out the following words, not smeared into illegibility...

I'm obliged to pay the lad Toto boundless grandeurs of silver in recompense for his harvesting of exotic animals... my excitement is piqued as the combination of dwarven blood with that of Old Snapper is quite favorable and excites in me an extreme astonishment.... Alas! The fashioning of the medusa fish with the elven blood remains unviable outside of an aquatic environment... the deformity birthed of the halfling and the reptile chimera remains hideous to me... I cannot cast off my melancholy for fear my experiments may not be sufficient to restore my beloved's true and fair countenance. I am therefore determined to become acquainted with not only the science of anatomy, but also examine the corruption which befalls the human body...


The book appears to be largely glued into this repose, so smeared is it with blood and god only knows what.
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

Link: Here Be 100+ DCC Monsters

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Fenris Ulfhamr
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by Fenris Ulfhamr »

Despite the nearly irresistible curiosity, Kylessa averts her eyes from the tank containing the so -called "medusa-fish hybrid". Unwilling to touch the strange orange material besmirching the tome, she resolves herself to sate her appetite for arcane lore on less tainted fare hoped for farther in. She cautions the other two in a loud whisper:

"I wouldn't look to closely at the abominable creatures yonder, I'm not sure why they call it a "medusa-fish" but I doubt it's worth finding out the hard way! Seems the ol' doctor's trying to raise some long-dead love, his bride, maybe?- and these pitiful things are his first experiments..."
'

Black Kylessa (c) LV 2 Wizard (orphan)
Str7/8 (-1) Agi17(+2) Sta9(0) Per6(-1) Int15(+1) Luc15(+1) AC13 (padded armor, fumble d8) HP7 Sling+2 (1d4-1) or dagger+/-1 (1d4-1) Spd30 Init+2 R+3 F0 W0 Ragdoll (Mara), Pony, 48cp 602gp Common, Chaos, Halfling, Dwarven
Animal Summoning 64 Wealful/Woeful magic (erupts from the earth),Charm Person 83 Blue Star (black beam), Runic Alphabet, Mortal 43 no change, Spider Climb 53 no change (six extra eyes),Magic Missle 94 Fine Control (meteors),Chill Touch 50 no change (skeletal hands)
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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by GnomeBoy »

20+ days since it was anyone other than you and I, Fenris... whaddaya think?
...
Gnome Boy • DCC playtester @ DDC 35 Feb '11. • Beta DL 2111, 7AM PT, 8 June 11.
Playing RPGs since '77 • Quasi-occasional member of the Legion of 8th-Level Fighters.

Link: Here Be 100+ DCC Monsters

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Re: The Corpse That Love Built - PbP

Post by Fenris Ulfhamr »

Let the cry of Bueller go forth once more and rally our forces!

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

See if it works twice, or if it's Vancian and I get it once per "day".

Black Kylessa (c) LV 2 Wizard (orphan)
Str7/8 (-1) Agi17(+2) Sta9(0) Per6(-1) Int15(+1) Luc15(+1) AC13 (padded armor, fumble d8) HP7 Sling+2 (1d4-1) or dagger+/-1 (1d4-1) Spd30 Init+2 R+3 F0 W0 Ragdoll (Mara), Pony, 48cp 602gp Common, Chaos, Halfling, Dwarven
Animal Summoning 64 Wealful/Woeful magic (erupts from the earth),Charm Person 83 Blue Star (black beam), Runic Alphabet, Mortal 43 no change, Spider Climb 53 no change (six extra eyes),Magic Missle 94 Fine Control (meteors),Chill Touch 50 no change (skeletal hands)
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