Desire and the Dead IC

[Prak]

"Well, we just wan' ter get in an' see da old man, what ok?" Akarchin replies, eying the rival gangs, trying to sizing them up, "The gimps got a bi' ov an in'erestin' problem after a job wiv some Slaad." she crooks her thumb towards Baldraxe, "He's seem ter be worried abaaaht da pete tong part ov da after effects, if you ask me... Know what I mean?"

((Cockney slang translator to blame for increased weirdness here... last post I was just trying to sound low class, this post I actually got a website to do it for me...))

[God_of_Awesome]

"Hem ham hwrar urf error-ting yoo ush 'ed," Baldraxe growled, "Ha ill ekrack mmeh ehnhen."

((I just put my fist in my mouth and try to transcribe the effects))

[Prak]

"I tol' the berk not ta go down on ona them... he jes' didn't listen ta me." Akarchin explains, sneaking Baldraxe an evil smirk.

[God_of_Awesome]

"Uhll gik oo it, oo hrder ooker," He swore.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Group 1:

Zevras pelts the zombies with bolts of soulfire, keeping their attention and bringing down one. They are getting fairly close now.

Bloody Thorn almost flies past the zombies and up close to the tentacle, connects with his blue snare, and wrestles with the tentacle, attempting to hold it in place. He is smeared with a bit of the slime, which burns painfully, but not enough to throw him off the offensive. The azure bonds fracture after a few seconds, but that's long enough for a arrow to come flying from Bakir and pierce right through the center of one of the largest runes on the tentacle. It detonates, showering the area around with crimson sparks and more slime. The bulk of the monster shields BT from the worst of the splash damage, and a shriek comes from the monster beyond the gate as the tentacle separates with a loud pop.

The detached tentacle thrashes around, rolling towards BT, but he steps back and dodges its first swipe. It is bleeding ichor from several places, and is moving more weakly than before.

{Haven't gotten any Group 1 responses for a while. Auto-resolving encounter.}

The monster recoils away from the portal, first quickly groping around its edges with another tentacle then pushing away. The light fades as the portal fades from existence.

The separated tentacle thrashes around for almost half a minute before expiring, but a few steps is enough to take Bloody Thorn and anyone else nearby out of danger.

The zombies that remain are easily dispatched with the combined attention of the patrol group, You get some more burns from the acid but nothing significantly harmful.

The area seems to have been completely abandoned by the fleeing Sigilians. There might be people in the buildings, but nobody is stirring right now. The severed tentacle's acidic slime seems to be gone, having burned itself out without replacement from the living monster. There are still several prominent glowing runes on it, however.

Group 2:

The woman chuckles, and relaxes her stance somewhat. "Alright then, miss. Sorry for the holdup, but this shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Don't bull in, and you can talk to the dazzler when we're done."

She turns towards the armband thugs. "You ain't paying me enough to sit around while you act like wasters with all this posturing! Fight time!" Her hand darts out, and a knife streaks through the crowd and into the raised arm of a green-armored man. He yelps as his compatriots shout something about Toadface and engage the woman's group.

"Oh yeah! Azure Sirocco Style!" Dust from the ground begins to swirl around her and glow faintly blue as she darts into the fray, moving around her allies with uncanny speed. She draws no more weapons, instead fighting with kicks and blows from her armored forearms.

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{This is mainly a housecleaning day for me, so I should be able to post more today if I see updates.}

[Prak]

So no one's guarding the door then?

[Avoraciopoctules]

{The people standing in front of the entrance to Nymon's shop are fighting the thugs that surround them. There might be a back door. I suppose you could try to take advantage of the fight as a distraction if you want to find or make an alternative way in.}

[Prak]

Akarchin slips into an alley, gesturing for her companions to follow, looking for a back door to the shop.

[Avoraciopoctules]

{The map for reference. Nymon's shop is #23. The darker house is the shop, and it is connected to the to the wedge-shaped tower next to it.

}

You duck into the alley, moving around so you can approach the store from the opposite side. You move past the grey tower next to it, noting a sign advertising Nymon's shop and a tough-looking door of weathered brown wood on it as you do so. {I've got a screenshot of the sign I can upload if necessary.} A handful of meters around, you face the side of the shop. You are just out of sight of the fighters, and the buildings are close enough that if they turned their attention to you, it would be difficult to get surrounded if the group sticks together.

There doesn't seem to be an obvious back door, though you might be able to get into the building if you knock a hole in the wall. That would probably be fairly noisy, however. There also might be a connection to Undersigil somewhere if the store has a cellar, but it is unlikely that finding it would be the kind of operation that could be achieved in a few minutes.

[God_of_Awesome]

Baldraxe kneels down and feels along the wall for a way in while scanning the place.

((Search roll 12))

[Quantumboost]

Zevras moves to examine the runes with his magical sight, searching for whether they might still be a threat themselves.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Baldraxe kneels down and feels along the wall for a way in while scanning the place.

((Search roll 12))

Doesn't feel like there are any secret passages or doors. You might manage a climb up onto the roof if you are feeling daring or have appropriate gear. There's one spot where the wood and plaster seems hollowest, and that would probably be the best place to start if you want to make your own door.

Zevras moves to examine the runes with his magical sight, searching for whether they might still be a threat themselves.

They definitely still look magical, but each aura is separate from the body. The tentacle had its own aura, but this is fading rapidly and almost gone now.

Studying them a while, Zevras realizes that the auras kind of feel like what a bunch of spell scrolls would resemble. It's different, and scrolls don't explosively release their power when damaged by a surprise projectile, but the resemblance is there.

[God_of_Awesome]

Baldraxe unzipped his mask and pointed to the spot he found, "Here it is hallow. Here we may break through if we so choose."

[Prak]

"we're trying to do business with this guy... this guy that could probably warp our asses to the ocean around celestia if he wanted to, I don't think breaking into his place is such a great idea," Akarchin says, "Now if you can find an actual back door..."

[God_of_Awesome]

Baldraxe looked up, "Have we means to climb?"

[Avoraciopoctules]

{I am willing to assume someone brought rope and/or a grappling hook if your costumes gave you room to hide or reason to bring it.}

[Prak]

((Hmm... only if it's possible to find evil rope and grappling hook. Or rope/chain and some kind of sturdy hook would be covered under torture implements, which it well could...))

[Avoraciopoctules]

((Hmm... only if it's possible to find evil rope and grappling hook. Or rope/chain and some kind of sturdy hook would be covered under torture implements, which it well could...))

{I would classify the ropes carried by erinyes and the chains used by kytons as having an Evil allegiance. One that might fade if taken away from them, but an enchantment to stabilize that could fall under the "trivial gear" category.

Regular hooks only have one claw, and using them as a grappling hook would be difficult. You might actually be better off just taking an Evil chain and some shackles with small spikes on the interior (To make the shackles chill enough to hang with the rest of the stuff in the bag, of course) out, tying them together, and throwing the shackles onto the roof to serve as ballast. The roof is flat, with a raised edge, so someone lightweight could probably scramble up with that to counterbalance them.}

[Prak]

well, she can pull an infinite number of hooks out of her bag, so what about just tying three or four into a grappling hook? I'm not sure any of us would be light weight enough for the shackles.

[Avoraciopoctules]

{Wait. If you have an unlimited supply of hooks, why not just pour them on the ground until you have a heap massive enough to walk up to the roof? I thought this magic bag was a finite storage unit.

But your idea is not unreasonable. It should take about a minute to get onto the roof with this method, and I will assume that a passable improvised tool was made by someone taking 10 on their Craft check.}

[Prak]

(well, ok. maybe not infinite... but it doesn't state a limit in the spell, other than that they're small, torture implements, and have to stay in my possession, which I'm hoping would include me holding one end of the line while others climb up. We can use it to torture baldraxe while we're climbing if necessary.)

[Avoraciopoctules]

{No, pulling out several hooks, some string, and a chain, then using them as an improvised grappling hook after a bit of assembly is fine. Creative use of abilities like this is one of the things that makes D&D interesting. I'm just setting a limit on how crazy things get before we potentially head into Wish economy shenanigans early.}

[Prak]

((lol, I understand. I put the text of the spell up in the planning thread for you. It doesn't imply a limit, but... eh, up to you.))

Akarchin pulls out three barbed hooks and a coil of metal wire. After a few moments work, she ties the hooks together to make an improvised grapplehook, then ties a long rope through the eyelets and tosses it onto the roof. "Well, we can get to the roof at least"

[Avoraciopoctules]

The ascent is fairly easy once the assembled hook is put into use. Atop the roof, there is a trapdoor. The fight in front of the house sounds like it is still going, but you stay out of sight for the time being.

The trapdoor, upon closer inspection, seems locked. You can see a metal bar drawn in the crack between it and the frame.

[Prak]

"Well that was expected. Honestly I'm surprised the berk's using such an obvious lock in sigil." Akarchin politely raps on the trap door.