A Tunnels and Trolls® play-by-post adventure run by khara_khang
Quickly, taking his scouting about seriously, doesn't load himself down with trinkets from the shop, though he does make a mental note of the potential loot for later, should the opportunity arise. At the appearance of the portal, he makes ready for whatever might spring out of it, blade raised two-handed before him. "WHUPS! Another? Well what say you all, are we in or out?"
Seeing a magical portal appear to their precious belongings, Olvarin laughs with joy at the seeming miracle and steps through, saying, "Now that's what I call providence!" Elvishly fleet of foot, he sprints towards his beloved staff and their other belongings, while looking wildly about, wary of enemies. It is best to make good time; it would be just like the undead to backtrack back at any moment.
"Twenty seconds...!" Taran roars urgently, and Olvarin instantly understands the significance of the message. He learned about portals and time limits back on the ship. Panicked and flustered, he snatches up his staff, their three packs, and the Orc's sword belts. Then he Wink-Wings back to the fading portal and lunges towards it desperately....
Whee! What a cliff hanger for Olvarin! :)
Jax is astonished by the clarity of the cold voice in his mind. Up to this point, his symbiont (Harvey, as he has come to call it), has only made itself known via a dull buzzing in his (mostly empty) skull. Jax can only surmise that through the portal lies his brother.
"Martek! It's Taran!"
"Wha---the portal?"
As he races for the portal, one hand on his sword-in-scabbard to keep it from banging against his leg, Jax wonders how his brother could have created it, but Martek did just hint at another ability of his Talo Tattoo Worm, an ability unrevealed by Grutoss and most likely present in Taran's too. Jax's voice booms out across the abandoned city block: "He could be in trouble! It's our only lead!"
Jax is a blur as he hauls the 300 feet toward the portal faster than one would believe possible for a 225-pound mass of burly muscle and tendon.
Quickly loves a race. "YOICKS! And AWAYYYY!" He tries to beat Jax into the portal with his blade at the ready.
Ebony isn't so confident that this portal has been made voluntarily by Jax's brother, and feels a sense of warning in her mind. She jumped through one portal already, and it brought her to this forsaken jungle, only to have some of her comrades snatched. This all seems too well-planned by their foes for her liking.
If all the others are running toward the portal, she will run with them. If some hang back, unsure, then she will hang back as well, and probably miss the window of opportunity.
"Shipy," Taran barks commandingly while thumbing toward the door which opened upon Olvarin's recitation of the Elven rhyme, "keep an eye on that chess room. I'll try..." he starts to say, but then realizes he doesn't know how to control the portal, whether it be opening, maintaining or closing it. "Cursed wormie," he mutters.
"Spit it out, Green Wave!" Shipy says expectantly.
"...I'll try something!" Taran replies unconvincingly. Despite his weakness, he wills, with whatever might he has in him, through whatever connection he shares with the Worm, that the portal remain open as long as Olvarin takes to retrieve their belongings. "Don't forget my pants!" he yells as the Elf snatches up his various weapon belts.
"Yes, for the love of all that is sacred, please don't forget his pants!" Shipy squeals, enjoying Olvarin's shuttle run as if he were a spectator at the Khazan Olympics.
"Rrrrrghghhh!" he says, baring his tusks angrily. The Hobbit is getting on his nerves. But at least it helps him to focus.
"Yes, for the love of all that is sacred, please don't forget his pants!"
"Oh bother...!" the Elf whins at his oversight. Spinning around, he snags Taran's pants and Shippy's [sic] breeches out of the scattered belongings, and then turns and begins his Wink-Wing spell. Olvarin is careful to teleport to the portal, since he does not know what might happen if he were to 'port through it.
To Shipy, Taran and Olvarin's amazement, a portal has opened to their possessions.
"You have got to be kidding me!" the Hobbit mumbles more to himself as he notices sigils etched into the floor. He scowls when he recognizes them, but turns away from them to watch the portal, then Taran. He looks down at Taran's hands, clenched tightly at his sides. "Do I look like an idiot?"
"Huh? Huh?" He thinks, "Does he look like an idiot?"
"Yeah? Well, I'm not! And I'm not fooled by you or your Talo Worm. I suggest you use your knife and remove it, unless you like being sipped like you're a straw. If you've got a deity, you'd better make your peace with it now, because I'm going to lead you to the other side, real quick, if that worm doesn't do it first."
Shipy's and Taran's attention is drawn away from the faint torch light across the wide expanse of the huge checkerboard-patterned room as Olvarin rushes through the portal as soon as it appears and does his best to grab everything in a short amount of time. A little lightheaded, Taran leans against the doorway and doesn't seem to want to understand what Shipy meant.
The Hobbit looks up at Taran and notices the tired, glazed look on his friend's face. Then Taran's large Orcish hand reaches out and grabs Shipy around the neck, shutting off the Hobbit's air.
"Listen to me, you little weaselly bastard, I could snap your neck like a twig! No one would ever know or even care! You're nothing! You're a pathetic little nobody we keep around just for amusement. There is nothing wrong with me nor with this Orc host!" Taran shakes Shipy like a child.
Jax sprints the distance to the portal the almost the moment it appears. Amroth, Martek and Ebony didn't move as Jax sprints away, but Quickly follows Jax in hot pursuit. Martek's animated rope stretches out and snags Jay and Megol by their ankles, tripping them, then returns to Martek's side as if it were an accident, thus effectively ending their dash for the portal. Jax disappears into the portal, then Quickly, and then the portal closes and vanishes.
"You can't all run off. I need your help! I agree, it is somewhat ironic that I'm being the cautious one here, but even in my most adventurous days, I'd never try this without at least five of us...."
Ebony interrupts him. "Oh, what help? If someone starts shooting, we'll make a very good shield for you?" she adds somewhat sarcastically.
"Something like that," he grins.
[Group reshuffle:
Jax steps through the portal inside the temple, followed by Olvarin and Quickly, after whom the portal closes. Taran casually releases his grip on Shipy's throat and moves his large hand to pat the Hobbit on the shoulder as if the two were having a bit of friendly shenanigans. Shipy quickly moves over and hides behind Jax.
"Rrrrrghghhh!" he grunts again, just now realizing what he said, but thinking it was his own Orcish temper.
Quickly, Jax, Shipy, Taran and Olvarin gather together near the doorway into the room. Everyone seems very pleased with Olvarin's snatch and grab operation. Many thanks are given to him as Shipy and Taran find all of their items to be exactly as they were before. Shipy draws his seldom used crossbow pistol and holds it in case it is needed, and glances malevolently at Taran.
What do you do?
Martek and the others approach the huge bronze doors where the portal was. Martek withdraws something from his pocket and waves it at the ancient double doors, causing them to open.
"It's always nice to bring a key."
The group enters the temple and keeps walking.
What do you do?
"Rrrrrghghhh!"
"RRRRRRRRGH!" says Quickly, not knowing Orcish, but wanting to be polite. He looks around him, mouthing the names as he counts. "Jax, Taran, Olvarin, Shipy...." He looks around behind him. "Oh bloody 'ell. Is that all that came through? WHUPS!" Taken aback by the scene in front of him, he points. "Why aren't you guys wearing any pants?"
"At the moment my agenda melds with your agenda, since wherever Shipy is, the Mummy is. When it doesn't, then I will tell you."
"I'd appreciate that."
"Just don't, don't touch anything in here. You're all clueless."
I like this guy.
"...I think we're sunk one way or another. If you wanna go in after Taran and Shipy, even I'd be hard-pressed not to go in with you, but it's a doomed effort, mate."
"While I agree with the sentiment, I admit to some surprise to hearing someone else state it. So far, we have no real proof of anything truly untoward having happened to anyone. The Leprechaun might still be on the ship. Taran and Olvarin could have simply fallen through another portal, and it's unlikely that the Hobbit is dead if they set up an attack to deliberately take him prisoner. This doesn't come close to being atomized by the Death Goddess, or whatever happened to you the last time we took a trip together." [Jack disappeared after insulting Lerotra'hh in Dangerous Creations, but Jax procured his safe return. --ed.]
"Ah, chin-bone up, Jack. I'm a big believer in deus ex, though in our case, we can always fall back on a little Dea Ex Pecunia," Jax states wryly, drawing out his Get Out of Trouble™ token and walking it across the knuckles of his meaty hand.
Jay looks over at it. "Does that have any active properties other than hope?"
Quickly flies over to one building sporting a sign in Elvish that says it was once a supply store.
One of the other PCs would need to translate the sign since Quickly can't read Elvish.
Jay can, if nobody else will.
...Jay keep[s] silent.
Or at least on a speaking-time-delay.
The echoes from their shoes add an eerie noise to the ghostly silent city.
Realizing that adventurers shouldn't make such noise, Jay decides to buy quieter shoes next time he purchases a pair. (And perhaps this time they won't be stolen by some bum [like they were at the end of Dangerous Creations --ed.].)
As the group approaches the temple, they see a glowing portal open up about a hundred yards away.
What do you do?
Approach for a closer look, preparing to act if something emerges.
"[Taran] could be in trouble! It's our only lead!"
Jay, guessing that Jax knows this either from the tattoo on his back or from watching the Corsican Brothers too many times will step up his approach to the portal to a run. Jay isn't nearly as fast as the Orc, but he is above average in that respect.
Martek's animated rope stretches out and snags Jay and Megol by their ankles, tripping them, then returns to Martek's side as if it were an accident, thus effectively ending their dash for the portal.
I hate this guy.
Jax disappears into the portal, then Quickly, and then the portal closes and vanishes.
"Martek, I hope you have an explanation for doing that."
"You can't all run off. I need your help!"
Jay thinks that next time he will specify "a good explanation."
"I agree, it is somewhat ironic that I'm being the cautious one here, but even in my most adventurous days, I'd never try this without at least five of us...."
"If we had all taken the portal, perhaps there would be considerably more than five of us."
"Oh, what help? If someone starts shooting, we'll make a very good shield for you?"
"Something like that."
Jay says coldly, "I fail to see the humour. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you're not serious, but the second you give me cause to think otherwise is the second I'm off. I'd rather take my chances searching for the others alone than have to rely on someone with that kind of attitude."
What do you do?
That depends, what's here behind the doors? Is Martek saying anything? Is there anything here other than a corridor? Anything on the walls, et al.?
"Rrrrrghghhh!"
"RRRRRRRRGH!" says Quickly, not knowing Orcish, but wanting to be polite.
*L*
Taken aback by the scene in front of him, he points. "Why aren't you guys wearing any pants?"
Shocked, and slightly embarrassed, at the sight of... oh wait, I already used that one. Never mind.
Jax barrels through the portal and skids to a stop right in front of his naked brother. Shipy streaks around and behind him. The rustling to his side turns out to be Olvarin, also in the bare and handing the others their clothes and possessions. Quickly zips into the room. The portal snaps out of existence. There are no undead minions or Mummies in sight, but the dark room beyond Taran features an unnaturally dancing torch light, and some vague figures on HotVision™.
"Why aren't you guys wearing any pants?"
"I knew you made that portal, T. How, I don't know. I thought you were in, uh, trouble, so I ran," he stifles a laugh of relief.
"Hey, where's my eating knife?"
"I think I saw an eating knife back there...."
Yes, good has been done here [yet another allusion to VeggieTales --ed.]. As the trio dresses, he turns to Olvarin, but the eminently embarrassed Elf fumbles with his silk pants. "Hi, Olvarin," he smirks, turning away.
Shipy still cowers behind Jax. "What, first that Mummy and now Taran's bum? Don't worry, soon you'll be free from both. We made it to the temple gate with Martek's help---yeah, remember him? Why exactly he's here, I have no frakkin' idea, but Grutoss is involved, so something big must be going down. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of our favorite Swamp Rat, or the rest of the party, for that matter." Jax notes Shipy's oddly malevolent glances in Taran's direction, but misinterprets them.
"OK, no more time for fun'n'games, you two. Where to? If it's through that room, we've got company," he says, pointing to the distant torchlight in the darkened room beyond. "It's a bit muddy around the torchbearer, but I can make out at least two guys heading our way," Jax reports, stepping aside toward the wall at the edge of the doorway. "What say you, T? Since they glow, they aren't undead," he adds, turning around, "but the Mummy's minions weren't all undead...."
Jax looks back to find Shipy staring at some markings in the floor, and so he holds the others back from the doorway. "What's up with the runes, Shipy?"
Quickly chooses the better part of valor and goes invisible, exasperatedly swapping blade for bow again. "So there's more than one? And living? Well. Shall I shoot first, or are we going to talk to that lot with the torch you mention?"
Incidentally, Khara, do I see anything invisible now?
Shipy streaks around and behind him.
Pun intended, no doubt.
"I think I saw an eating knife back there...."
Yes, good has been done here.
And the Peach is appreciative.
'Cause he's got hair!
"...I can make out at least two guys heading our way. What say you, T?"
"Huh, hm, rrggh..." Taran looks up from donning his clothes and weapon holsters. "Yeah, sure," he says, distracted by what he just did to Shipy. "I noticed 'em, too. As for the portal, somehow I know it was me, too. I'm, uh, glad you and Quickly found us, but what about the rest of the group? Strength in numbers doesn't do us much good if we don't have, well, the numbers."
Jax rolls his eyes at his brother's ever-astute wit. But it is the thought that counts, and both Orcs briefly consider the fate of the other half of the party.
"Party? Where, dude? Heh-heh."
Taran continues to dress. "Hold on while I get buckled up."
Taran closes his eyes and widens them to clear his vision, if not also his head as well. After he buckles his pants, he checks his pocket for his Get Out of Trouble Coin and makes sure he feels the hard metal. It reassures him, as always. Finding his small knife, still holstered in the mini-scabbard wrapped around his belt, he considers it curiously. Something Shipy said about cutting out the worm flits past his train of thought. It's not the first time that he silently curses the symbiont, but he tries not to slip into depression on the job.
"Thanks Olvarin. I've never seen anyone move so swiftly!" he finally offers when he is fully strapped up. He reaches out to pat the Elf's shoulder, but feels uncomfortable with the gesture, and awkwardly retracts his arm.
Taran unholsters his double crossbow, and makes sure it is doubly-loaded. Tight, cramped spaces or not, it doesn't matter with his seek-enchanted bolts. Taran figures he can concentrate on being "SniperOrc" and leave the swordplay to his brother "BlurBlade."
"Shipy, no harm done, right?" Taran says unconvincingly, as he tries to figure out why he threatened Shipy. Then, to Jax, "Let's go!"
Olvarin is still wriggling into his other set of clothes; the clothes in which he first left his village. Blousy poet's shirt, black tights and low soft boots. Familiarity with his younger years gives him a keener sense of identity.
Meanwhile his comrades are questioning each other, and already discussing plans to proceed. The Elf is in awe of the fleet wits of his compatriots. Clutching his beloved staff, Olvarin addresses Quickly, concerning his past question.
"Why aren't you guys wearing any pants?"
"Taran and I were kidnapped by anthropomorphic undead. They stripped us of all our equipment and raiment, and dragged us to the Mummy King and Shippy [sic], who was also shamefully naked.
"The Mummy King told us that I was to be a sacrifice, that Taran's Warrior's heart was to be plucked out, and that Master Shippy's [sic] state of being---neither Human nor Elf---all were vital to his evil ends!
"But thanks to Master Shippy [sic], we escaped through a teleporter! And once we were here another portal emerged, leading to our stripped equipment."
The Elf pauses, lost in thought, and then says, "From what I am hearing now, it was Taran who somehow made the portal. And Shippy [sic] seems frightened, and I don't know why. All I know is that he is fixated on Taran. But we have other things to engage our attention, don't we, Quickly? Like yonder lights the Orc brothers ken...."
Quickly flickers visible a moment, and then back, to give Olvarin the right direction in which to be talking. "That's what I say. Can you tell if they're coming this way? If I prick them now, by the time they get here, they'll be nodding and looking to their beds. Shall I?"
Jax wonders on overhearing Olvarin's summary, and revisits his assessment of the strange looks that Taran and Shipy trade. But Quickly refocuses his attention on the figures making their way across the vast darkened room beyond the doorway. "Don't shoot just yet, little Warrior. Surely they've already heard us, or seen us silhouetted in the dim light of the corridor entrance, and yet they haven't attacked. We owe them that same respect. They are also making no attempt to hide their flame. Just be on guard. And don't cross these sigils on the floor until Shipy figures them out."
"I'll be above you then, and I'll stay put; I've got an arrow ready if they come at us." Quickly's still invisible.
The now smaller group led by Martek follows the wide high corridor beyond the doors as the doors close behind them. The passage twists around a few turns, and then straightens out again for a long while. The air grows cooler and less stifling than it was outside, but it is not foul, and at times the group can almost feel currents of cooler air upon their faces, issuing from half-guessed openings in the stark white walls. In the pale light of Jack's lantern, they catch glimpses of side passages with stairs and arches, and of other passages and tunnels, sloping up or running steeply down, or opening blankly dark on either side. It is bewildering beyond hope of remembering.
The long wide corridors have high vaulted ceilings and their walls are stark white. The echoes from the party's boots seem to be the only noise. A dragonesque wall mural on the right side of the corridor catches the party's attention as they approach it.
Removing a Moonstone key from his pocket, Martek waves it at the map as if it were a magic wand. The Moonstone is a flat blue stone with gold geometric patterns engraved upon it. It isn't much larger than the palm of his hand. After Martek waves his key, the mural reveals small bright dots, moving in real time. Most dots have a different color, but some are deep black. Martek points his finger to the different dot groupings on the mural.
"These are us right here. Those five would be our missing comrades there. These three dots are likely Shipy Sr. and his group. That group of dark dots is likely the Mummy and his cronies. As for this group with a couple dozen members, I have no clue." The news he gets from the mural doesn't help any.
Amroth, Megol, Ebony, Jack, and Jay all stand together surveying the mural and notice that all of the groups seem to be converging on the same area.
"See, as I said before, there is no need to run off splitting us up when we can stay together and work as a team. Touching the mural map takes you directly to the area touched. As much as I might want to go directly to the Mummy, I suggest we go to Shipy Sr. first, since he seems to be in the room where everyone is heading, and this will give us an advantage of being there before they arrive.
"It looks like we are about to have an OK Corral of our own, eh, Miss Kitty?" Martek winks at Ebony and then looks at the others to see if anyone disagrees with his plan.
"Bitchin', man, bitchin', but I'll go no more a-rovin'... in the mists of time, anyway," adds Jack sarcastically, with his lantern casting spectral shadows upon his skull. "What, they ran out of places to defile in here?"
What do you do?
Everyone who was naked quickly dressed once Olvarin returned with their clothes. Jax and Quickly chat and get reacquainted, and question and joke with their temporarily misplaced comrades. Olvarin explains the whys and hows of what happened to them during their separation. It seem that both groups have gone through a little melodrama to get to where they are now.
"OK, no more time for fun'n'games, you two. Where to? If it's through that room, we've got company."
"Shipy, no harm done, right?"
Shipy ignores Taran, but can't help wondering who is in charge inside his Orcish head. "Right, all right, enough with the kissing and the cuddling." Shipy looks up at Jax trying to refocus his thoughts on the job they are here to do.
"What's up with the runes, Shipy?"
Shipy takes a breath and thinks before speaking. "The runes say, 'Pieces of different kindling often build the strongest fire,' or, 'We're so screwed! And we're gonna die!' I guess it depends upon how au fait you want to be. "My suggestion would be to stick together and follow a pattern of the rules of chess. I know, Wile E. Coyote could come up with a better plan... but he's not here." Shipy holds his crossbow pistol cautiously aimed at the floor so as not to shoot anyone accidentally (as other people have done in his presence in the past). He has never been comfortable in the roll of a Warrior, plus his father always told him, "People tend to shoot at people who shoot back."
"Can you tell if they're coming this way? If I prick them now, by the time they get here, they'll be nodding and looking to their beds. Shall I?"
"No, no, no. There will be no pricking anyone until we know who they are. No telling what could go wrong if you do that. There's always a reason for violence, but sometimes there are more reasons not to use it." Shipy heads out into the room after hearing Jax's similar advisement to Quickly.
The Hobbit's worries bring Quickly's thoughts back to his friend Ocullos and his encounter with Captain Jelsee on the ship, and to just how things went horribly wrong. Sometimes things that are not planned or well thought out until the moment they happen become things that are regretted later. As much as he wants to change, Quickly knows he has the instincts of a Warrior and so does exactly as he pleases, but the outcome of his actions doesn't always turn out good. Quickly cannot see anyone invisible but his magical senses spin like a gyroscope: around and around without focus. He understands what he is going through all too well: magic calls to magic, and magic calls to his blood as it does to all Fairies like the Siren of Greek myth who calls to sailors and causes them to leap overboard to their death.
From the feeling of the air, they can tell the room is huge beyond comparison, much more like a wide hall hundreds of yards across, maybe twice as deep. In the faint light from the corridor, great shadows spring up and flee, and for a second they see a vast roof far above their heads upheld by many mighty pillars hewn of stone. Before them and on either side stretches a huge hall, its floor a checkerboard pattern with pits for the black squares and with some of the white spaces holding objects. The room's black walls, polished and smooth as glass, flash and glitter. Three other entrances emanate light through dark black arches: one straight before them eastwards, and one on either side, all far away. Then the torch light in the distance goes out.
Moving together as a group, they cross diagonally onto the first square. Each square is ten by ten feet and is covered by smooth white tiles. The pits to either side are twenty foot deep spike-filled pits, with the sides tiled black. They cross two squares then turn diagonally left and proceed ahead five more. The square they end up on is covered with the debris of an unrecognizable broken statue. A few other items are abandoned on the floor as if someone crossed it in haste: a coil of rope, a backpack, a water bottle, a book and the hilt of a featureless broken sword.
"My father used to say that... life is... a great wheel. Sometimes it grinds you down into the mud, and other times it lifts you up into the light."
"Are we strapped to this wheel?"
"That's a given. Point is, is that most times you get a second chance---you just gotta wait for the wheel."
"We voted to go this way? I didn't get a vote." Jax grins.
"I was your proxy," he says, chuckling a little.
"Do you know what this means Olvarin?" Shipy peeks over the side of the square to look into the pit below, and then turns back to the statue and the items.
What do you do?
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