Hey guys! Guess what’s getting introduced soon? Yup, the insanity rolls! And some new monsters. I’ll include the stats for each monster if they’re above the norm; a couple of them get bonuses here and there. I’ll explain those when you encounter them.
About Insanity:
You guys each have 30 sanity points. Every five points, you gain an erratic effect which will appear from time to time throughout the story. Dice also get rolled.
26 - 30 points: No dice roll.
21 - 25 points: On a 1, crazy stuff.
16 - 20 points: On a 1 or 2, crazy shenanigans!
11 - 15 points: On a 1, 2 or 3, baaaad stuff.
6 - 10 points: On a roll of 1 to 4, you soil yourself, see monsters, set your teammates on fire because they look like fireplaces…
1 - 5 points: Roll of 1 to 5, you do naughty things.
0: You get a nasty surprise.
- Turn 29: The Tines of Madness -
You’re trapped in Cnoc Adh! Oh dear…
The sun is setting in the western sky; where the sky can be seen past the inky black flames, it’s burning the more conventional golden-orange. To the east the moon has begun to rise above the treeline, the three pieces of the Goddess’ corpse hang delicately in the night sky, aglow with silvery light yet somehow… flat. The light just isn’t right. Nobody can quite put their finger on it, but the moon just looks subtly
wrong. It’s almost nauseating to see.
“And there’s not even a hill here. Why did they call the village Silent Hill? That makes no sense!” Grouching, Cyrus sets himself and faces the gates, examining the magical trap walls. “Hm. This is quite unlike any magic I’ve ever seen,” he murmurs, adjusting his glasses idly with one hand. “But I can sense the power. We would have a rough time of it if we tried to smash down that gate. Well, the least I can do is try and put the fires out.”
The air around him ripples gently as his magic flows forth. The ripples brush up against the towering tongues of fire and slide right off. “What?” he muses, trying again. His magic has the same result, just slipping over and around the black flames. “Oh hell,” he swears. “I can’t touch the flames!” He kicks at an unoffending rock. “Well. It would seem that whatever force has created this trap is incredibly resistant to normal, Goddess-given magic. We
might be in a bit of trouble.”
He mutters darkly and wanders back over to the maypole. “Stupid magic. And what are those damn signs? They’re really annoying me!” he shouts before wandering over to the nearest devil-sign and inspects it. “I have no clue what this sigil is for. It has none of the usual control loops, power routes or shapers. Is it just for dramatic effect?”
He groans and holds his head. “Ow! No. No, they’re not for drama… Oh Gods!” he falls to his knees. “It’s in my head… It’s in my head!” He shakes himself roughly to focus his mind and clear his thoughts. “Damn. It’s an insanity sigil. Fellows, we had best move quickly. These signs on the houses will slowly drive us mad.”
Baldur grumbles.
You grumble. "What a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into." ((Please give me a little more to work with))
A sense of unease slides over your shoulders. Are you already mad? Maybe. Who knows?
Your eye has finally totally regenerated. From next turn on, you have full vision!Quickly locate my good friends. Relay information!
You feel happy, despite the incredibly obvious trap. You have a new dagger of some kind and a pile of gem fragments that should be worth a good amount! You also seem to have worked out what killed those creatures. "Hey, friends! I've discovered that these people were obviously killed by somebody who enjoys killing things, rather than some manner of beast like the ones in the forest,” you explain to them when you finally catch up. They’re standing near the maypole in the centre of town, trying to ignore the multitude of bodies in every direction. “Also, said killer also seems to have been a person. So, watch out for suspicious murderers. I also found some good stuff on the corpses. Well, that and some maggots."
“Empty your pockets of maggots!” Ekoka says in disgust. His normally-dark skin has paled somewhat since entering the village.
“Why would someone keep maggots in their pockets? They'd spoil. You'd need a jar with a piece of meat inside to keep them for any length of time. And it's good to know that somebody is paying attention at least."
“How do you know it was a person?” Cyrus asks quizzically. He has tied his handkerchief into a bandanna around his nose. “The bodies are torn to shreds!” You shrug and explain your findings in greater detail to the mage, cheerfully describing the methodical slaughter and how the wounds seem similar to the ones on the messenger’s corpse, but not quite the same.
You finish by showing your gems proudly to Cyrus, since he seems the most interested. He pales and backs away. “Ow… those hurt my head!” he mutters, averting his eyes from those beautiful gems. You shrug and put the fragments back in your pocket. If he can’t appreciate them, he doesn’t need to benefit from their lovely value, does he?,
"Finally, is anybody else feeling very unsafe all of a sudden?"
“Yes, things are VERY unsafe! It's obvious!" Ekoka retorts as next to him, Baldur sighs and shakes his head. He waves that rocky hand of his at the giant walls of fire. “We’re kinda stuck here in crazy butcher land!”
You shake your head. “No, this is more… uh…” Something dark skitters through the edge of your vision and neatly scatters your thoughts. “What was that?”
Thuun wonders how many of his teammates have just soiled themselves. Then he wonders how they expect to survive without him. They're probably pretty doomed.
You sit in the carriage and think about your teammates, wondering if they know just how screwed they are. Mist is continuing to rise around the village, slowly seeping into the carriage. You shudder at its cold fingers on your slowly-growing legs, wishing you had something to cover up your teeny tiny feet with.
Angels be praised! You have incy-wincy ankles now! They’re so tiny and adorable and can take absolutely no weight whatsoever without shattering like the pathetic little glass bones that they are, but you have ankles! It’s a definite improvement.
The mist glows where it touches your legs, set alight by the warm orange light seeping forth from your knees. You shudder at the cold touch, but marvel at the luminous beauty of the mist. It takes a while for you to notice, but you slowly realise that the light of the regeneration spell appears to be dimming slightly! What’s going on?
You hear a rustling from outside. The gentle patter of feet carrying something over the dusty path towards the carriage. Suddenly there’s a thump from the roof of the carriage! Your heart races. You would swear, but if you remain quiet you might not get noticed. At which point you realise that the mist all around the carriage is glowing with refracted bronze light from your legs.
Oh dear.
Spellsword has completely cooled down! Now there's good timing.Head towards where Felice indicated the survivors are. Manipulate my rocky hand into a fist.
You mutter darkly about the priest before forcibly shaping your rockhand into a fist. You’ve decided you’re going to put your fist through the first creature you meet. This is bloody nonsense! Magic that’s impervious to magic, signs that make people go crazy, and that
damn annoying buzzing sound in your ears…
You swear and stalk off towards the house that Felice pointed at. You haven’t quite decided yet whether you want to save the old woman in the house or punch her lights out for dragging you guys all into crazytown, but you’re going to find out.
Stick with the others. Keep a lookout for nasties. Defend against possible nasties.
“This is bad, why did I ever get on land. Nothing good comes from being on land, capn' used to say.” You start swearing. A lot. Crows’ feathers turn white in shock, rocks tremble at your language and hide. You truly are eloquent as you loudly speculate on the identity of the monsters’ fathers and the origins of this bloody village.
When you finally run out of words, you notice that Ekoka has wandered away from you, Cyrus, Baldur and Lyu. “All right, gotta stay together, land-beasts are cowardly and try to pick off stragglers,” you explain to the others, making shooing motions to indicate that they should follow Ekoka. He has the right idea. Find a nice basement. Get underground. Hide. No, wait. That’s the crazy talking. Cyrus said you were all going crazy. Slowly. Or did he say slowly but mean quickly because he wants you all to go crazy so he can take your stuff?
He
did say he was a bandit. That’s like a pirate, isn’t it? Hm. It bears closer thought.
Lyu Brak (Harry Baldman)Profession: Priest
Status: Showing off his loot
Inventory:Staff (Bronze-Capped)
Religious Necklace
Warm Priestly Robes and Pants
Warm Priestly Shoes
185 gold
10 Jimsonweed Fruit
Many bits of Thuun’s legs
Jagged shard of bone
Curious dagger
Pile of black sapphire fragments
Wounds/Status: You’re all good!
Abilities: [Boundlessly Cheerful] [The Good Priest] [Not that faithful] Righteous Litany]Baldur Bergfalk (USEC_OFFICER)Profession: Mercenary
Status: Doing nothing much.
Inventory:Broken greatsword
Worn leather jerkin (and normal clothes)
Worn leather boots
Bear fur cloak300 gold
Wounds/Status: [Slashed left eye(1/3)][/color]
Abilities: [Skilled Bargainer] [Guileless] [I'm Not Right Handed] Lao Thuun (BFEL)Profession: Warrior Mage
Status: Giving his hiding spot away admirably.
Inventory: Blunted bronze sword
Leather armour and boots
Acolyte's SuncloakReligious Necklace
210 gold
Wounds/Status: [Healed stumpy legs]Abilities:[Enduring] [Dragon Aspect: 1] [Slow Cast] [Atoner] [Spellsword (1/3)][Regenerative Magic]Spells:[Life Spell: Wisp] Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 0] [Fi: 1] [Wa: 0] [Li: 2] [Fo: -1] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0] Felice Nasib (Pancaek)Profession: Seaman
Status: Swearing like a sailor.
Inventory: Repaired Shortbow
Seventeen Arrows
Razor-sharp DirkNautical Longcoat and Boots
313 gold
KidzukuWounds/Status: You're perfectly healthy!
Abilities: [Fearless] [Kidzuku: Arrowtime] [Not a Landlubber] [Trick Shot] [Kidzuku: Comprehension]Ekoka (GreatWyrmGold)Profession: Wanderer
Status: Growling and making fists of stone.
Inventory: Cracked shillelagh
Wanderer's Cloak
Sturdy Clothes and Boots
Length of Rope
Flint and Tinder
380 gold
Wounds/Status: You’re all good!
Abilities: [Survivalist] [Dual Focus] [Slow Cast] [Maladjusted to heat] [Guiding Spirit] Spells:[Wind Spell: Alacrity]Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 1] [Fi: 0] [Wa: 0] [Li: 0] [Fo: 0] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0] 
Author
Topic: Roll to Go Mad: Turn 44 - The Markets (Read 132360 times)