Turn 75 - Flaming Fool FiestaShashari carefully examines the journal-like strips of leather. Doubtlessly they will have a whole lot of information pertinent to her current interests, not dying horribly and obtaining good loot. And possibly passing some kind of cryptic challenge, she guesses.
And it does look like it has a lot of information, but the handwriting seems like it is fiendishly difficult to read. That is, if you could call it proper handwriting at all. It's all over the place, really. And she's pretty sure sentences aren't supposed to branch off into three directions like that. Still, the strips look relatively new, at least when you compare them to the room as a whole. Somebody's certainly been here.
* * * * *
Phiali, in a fit of desperation, tries to climb up on the roof of the house!
[Climbing roll: 3]
However, he has a bit of difficulty in that. The house is a bit high, and the utilitarian construction means that there are few places to grab onto, though Phiali does try, climbing on a windowsill and trying to reach the second floor.
[Climbing roll: 4]
He jumps up, grabbing onto the second floor window, which happens to be open, and pulling himself up until he is safely on the window. Then he rather dangerously jumps up to reach the roof, which he then attempts to scale.
[Climbing roll: 1-->3]
The roof, however, proves more than a little slippery, sending Phiali tumbling right down to the ground!
[Phiali landing roll: 5+1]
However, rapid-fire prayer and muscle relaxation save the day as Phiali lands into a damp bush, totally unharmed in any permanent fashion! He climbs right out, awash with disappointment. Maybe he can steal something to make himself feel better.
He searches through the homes one more time, finding very little of interest until he is struck with an idea! Maybe one of these guys hid something in the floorboards! To this end, Phiali rips out a bunch of flooring, finding nothing in two different houses. However, third time's the charm, as he locates a rather decent-looking batch of...
Wait, no. That's a whole lot of spoiled meat.
Very spoiled meat, probably several years old. Pungent and quite infested with life, it seems.
* * * * *
Elizas decides to stop looking for an audience - after all, who's the visionary here? He is, that's who! So he just keeps on playing.
[Vocal performance roll: 2+2]
It's a bit sad, though, how nobody has any time for him in this situation. Here he is, pouring his heart out, and nobody's listening. As such, his music takes on a sadder tone, which does seem to attract some attention. Namely, the attention of some women in white robes strolling along the street.
"Ah, look upon the fine street musician, my brothers and sisters! There he is, singing and playing his heart out, hoping to earn a living through his fiery passion. Truly an admirable life, is it not?" a plump, jovial middle-aged woman asks, smiling widely.
"A shame one has to make a living on the streets these days with such talent. A sign of the times, one might say. What's the world coming to, really?" an older, stern-looking woman with a shaved head asks.
"Maybe we should give him some money?" a very young woman in the group, hardly out of girlhood, it seems, suggests.
"Would that not taint his purity? Look at him. He seems happy playing his music, free of what is material and what is irrelevant," a lady in her mid-twenties asks.
"True. After all, it is very easy to drown the holy fire in great torrents of ultimately worthless money, is it not?"As Elizas finishes up with his song, the jovial woman speaks to him.
"Compliments on your musical ability, sir. Where did you learn to play like that?"* * * * *
Lars, ever the man with the plan, begins the ceremonies.
"Then we shall go."He takes the key and unlocks the door after opening the cask, then pulls it open rapidly and spills the cask of oil into the room, much to the surprise of the priest and five guards within!
[Oil use roll: 1-->6]
The oil spills out slowly, allowing plenty of time for the guards to back away. When Lars lights it up, the entire thing goes up in multicolored flames, a pretty, yet ultimately harmless event. Lars steps away from the door, waiting for the fire to go out.
It doesn't for some reason. Guess it's pretty thick. However, before Lars can ponder the wisdom of this maneuver, he notices that the five guards and one priest charge right out of the flames, not a drop of fear in their eyes!
[Priest fire extinguishing roll: 4]
[Guards fire extinguishing rolls: 4, 2, 1-->1, 5, 6-->2]
They seem to be mostly fine! As in, only two are still on fire in a moment. But gods, does one of them compensate for it. His robes, unusually dry and possibly soaked with some sort of fragrant oil, appears to combust extremely quickly, going into a screaming, flailing frenzy! This, naturally, only spreads the flames further as he slams into his fellows, blind and consumed by rage!
[Priest fire extinguishing roll: 6-->5]
[Previously extinguished guard fire extinguishing rolls: 3, 3, 2]
Shortly after the idiot fire dance, everyone except for the priest is on some form of fire!
[Guards endurance rolls: 2, 1-->3, 1-->6-
2, 1-->3, 4]
And after that, only one guard isn't busy crackling busily on the floor as their burns rapidly accelerate through varied degrees.
[Last guard fire extinguishing roll: 1-->4]
However, he seems to be in too much pain to actually do much about the fact that he's on fire. The entire bunch of people, heathen priest included, watch with bemusement as the situation develops.
[Last guard endurance roll: 3-
1]
And shortly afterwards, that guard passes out on the floor, joining his in all likelihood dead comrades. The hallway fills with the smell of burning flesh and the sound of fat sizzling. After a moment, the priest raises his gaze and looks at Lars.
"Perhaps that wasn't the best approach, eh? Heh," he says, chuckling. Moments later, he begins outright laughing.
* * * * *
Gronok thanks the helpful scribe.
"Thank you, kind sir. If you and the other scribes reconsider my offer - remember, god of learning - ask for Gronok.""Good luck to you, sir, and may the sun always shine upon your head."Gronok then leaves, initiating a search for the poor quarter. Too bad he hasn't got the slightest idea where it is - Lazalam is a pretty big place, after all.
Phiali: 1 MP
Lars: 4 MP
Gronok: 3 MP
Elizas: 3 MP
Shashari: 5 MP
Author
Topic: Prophets of the New God: most unfortunately dropped. (Read 69934 times)