/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance★

After breakfast, you divy up the party. Yalda is to stay with Nizera and try to befriend her, while you and the two frontliners head into the catacombs. It's a risky move but you can't just leave your stuff out here alone and bringing Nizera with you provides its own problems. Since the mark of sonance hasn't the range to act as an alarm, you'll just have to rely on luck. I also accidentally fucked up the spell list. The mark of whispers is the telecommunication one, mark of sonance makes a sound.

Yalda waves to you and wishes you all luck as you delve back into the catacombs, past the mural room and through the lichfire tunnel to the intersection, taking a sharp right and heading for the storecloset.

As you collect some much needed alchemy supplies, your salamander companion tours the walls. "Wow, a crypt? That lady must be pretty important to have so many dead guys around. What's all this stuff, Ototo?" She asks, grabbing either of your shoulders and looming over you as you search the shelves. Her breath echoes in the stale silence of the catacombs, she seems rather calm.

"Well, all of these are embalming fluids and little tools. I don't have much use for the tools but the fluids are usually acids or alkalines that can help in my alchemistry. I'm trying to label and sort out what I need." You glance over the unmarked glass vessels, taking one to uncork and wafting the scent toward you.

"See any lube? That could be useful. There's a table right over there we can even test it on!" She suggests, tail wagging.

Hadima groans, "Are you so shameless that you'd seek to sate your lust on an embalming table?"

Sanya shrugs, stepping away from you to invade Hadima's personal space, much to her dismay. "Hey, some people are into that sorta thing." She says, wrapping an arm around her shoulder but being shoved away before any smug expression can be forced into her view. "Hmph…"

-Embalming storecloset loot-

>76s Alchemy Supplies

>A Scroll of Aka'bel No fucking joke, 1d100 and you fuckers actually got it- again. was hidden on the top shelf behind a few potions!

>You appropriate their simplistic glassware to add to your collection

Next, you hit up the odd crawlspace you found but couldn't explore. You tell Hadima and Sanya to stand guard as you crawl about, using your telekinetic crystal suns to illuminate the long sandy tunnel and ensure nothing creeps up on you. The dark, lightless goal you trudge on hand and knee for takes your breath away, the tunnel claustrophobic at some twists and turns. Nonetheless, you reach the end and find your treasure.

You pull yourself out of the tunnel into a small circular cave, your crystal suns bobbing and weaving out of the tunnel to realign above your head. The room seems to be a simple hideaway of small treasures, silver and gold piled up against the walls. On the wall opposite of the tunnel is a statue of the woman you had seen in the murals but in so much more detail.

Oddly, the girl is carved entirely out of salt. She holds in her hands a large sickle, her body clad in long flowing robes with a baggy and long sleeves that conceal all but her pale lips and bony fingers. The statue is collared in pale cloudy cyan gemstones.

However, the most drawing part of the statue is the blue and black robed monk huddled at its side, curled defensively and lacking in flesh. As you gasp from noticing the corpse, a rat scurries from underneath the cloth and toward a hole in the wall. You stare awkwardly at the skeleton for a minute. The monk is curled up with its arms grasping the statue, a small yellowed and faded note fallen from its open palm and onto the ground.

It's cliche, but you tentatively unfold it in search of information. In common, it reads; "Oh dear Al'sabbeth, I have failed you. Though this crypt is so close to completion, I can never hope to find the apprentice which will take my place as tender. As I came to the mural doors and sought to undertake my search of the aforementioned replacement, I found myself done in by the sandstorm. The doors no longer part, I cannot leave, and this place is destined to be lost and forgotten. I am unworthy of being buried in the hall of priests, for I have no one to bury me there, no one to claim this humble life in my absense. So I bury myself here, away from the rest in shame with only my offerings to ask for mercy"

You flip the note over, your mind puzzled as to who Al'sabbeth might be. Yet, why does that name sound so familiar? It continues; "To he who reads this now, if one ever does, do not move me from the awkward grave I have chosen, I still do not deserve a place amongst my forebearers. My task was simply to tend to the dead and assure an heir to the crypt. The latter is where I failed. Yet, I can still redeem myself with patience and with your help. Beneath the pedestal in the center room is a staircase activated by a stone on the left pillar, it will lead you to the tenders room. Take the pitcher of salt, don the holy garments, and read the scroll I've left on the desk if you wish to take my place. If not, leave this place and never return!"

The way the note is written is mad and desperate, your linguistic skill pressed harshly to decypher the scribbling. It reads as if one is begging another, as if desperate for a conversation- even with someone that may or may not exist.

>You find 172 silver coins in the small room, give or take. You doubt he'll be needing it as an offering any more.

As you exit the small tunnel with your sack of coins and the note, Sanya glances down with a risen brow. "Ohoh, find something fancy eh, Ototo?"

"Not so much fancy as intriguing. There's apparently another room! It's right here in this note." You wave the little paper about, having it snatched from you by Hadima.

"…Al'sabbeth? Who could that be?" The lioness throws the paper back toward you, causing you to dance a bit to grasp it from the air- and carefully as it'll likely crumble given how old it looks.

"Hey, careful with that! The lore here should be treated with the upmost respect, if you value its secrets." You warn her.

Sanya nods and crosses her arms, chastizing the mantimata. "Yeah, aren't you the one that wants to learn what's going on here?"

"I'd say it's out of boredom rather than interest. Really, I want to go home." Hadima admits, leaning against the wall.

>The exact same method of exploration as before is employed. You and Sanya prance about with greed in mind, taking anything laying on a table and not clutched by a corpse in the shrine. Anything on the map in green has already been taken, but anything that remains orange is being avoided due to religious importance. You end up only looting 5 of the little areas of their decor and silver.

>143+160+132+155+59 = 649s worth of loot!

>You cannot discern whetheror not there are any traps or curses to the loot, but things seem relatively fine in the crypt. Dark, illuminated only by your spell, empty, dank, creepy- but alright.

>When you reach the second wing on the left, you find it to be rather dull. The catacombs are lined by shelves of corpses in a long winding tunnel much like the one on the right side. The contrast is in the fact that the rooms have been filled with sand and debris. The end of the tunnel is caved in by a dune that reaches the ceiling, but you do manage to collect a few treasures here and there.

>You collect 177+158+99+54+115+160+124 = 887s worth of loot in the caved left wing of the crypt!

The final wing of the crypt is forward, the continuation of the mural giving no new details to the story- that is until you reach the final room. It's a large cave much like the one you entered from, featuring skulls and glittering gold on the walls. It leads to a massive set of stone tablets on the far wall, the mural depicting something unbelievable.

Poseida and Herusk are first entangled, the woman's fangs seeking into his neck and constricting his body with her tail. The next depicts Poseida holding her stomach, with Herusk limping away. The third is chipped and faded but shows Poseida's face in great pain. The fourth and final tablet is completely busted in half, its face laying down on the ground beside the centerpiece statue of the robed woman from earlier; "Al'sabbeth, The Restless Daughter" is captioned below the shrine. She holds a large wooden sickle with a real blade in her right hand and a pitcher in her right, salt pooled upon the anvilesque altar she stands on.

>You can piece together the rest, can't you? There's a scroll in the center of the altar, sticking out of the salt

9:00, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 68L & 60P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

>>285227

>>285227

>You can piece together the rest, can't you?

of course we can… it so obvious

so Poseida and Herusk had a spat, she bit him but he turned it into a hatefucking and got her pregnant. Al'sabbeth is the daughter.

And she is apparently a goddess of salt.

>to do

lets carefully extract and read the scroll in the salt

Also, is Clay still secret searching or should we roll again to get him to look over this branch of the crypt?

>3 on the map is behind the hoard of treasure. You can see the altar of gold and hear Clay's excited chiming when he points to it, however some foreboding force keeps you from entering. You have a feeling of dread and unrest looking at the altar, as it depicts the woman you saw in the mural. She holds a simple hand sickle in her right hand, while the left holds its hand out. There's a stiffness to it that makes you think the hand may be some sort of lever.

Before we leave I want to find out what's causing this feeling of dread

we need to learn Divinate Magic and Spirit Reach asap for safer crypt looting

>>285236

>Also, is Clay still secret searching or should we roll again to get him to look over this branch of the crypt?

Roll perception or roll charisma to have clay do it.

>Divination Magic and Spirit Reach

Yeah, good spells to research. Might have to find someone who knows them first to teach them to you though. Magic is still wonky for me, hardest part of DND. Never sure what difficulty to make it.

>of course we can… it so obvious

hopefully not so obvious it's dull.

Rolled 20, 12 = 32 (2d20)

>>285238

First roll is Charisma to try and get Clay to find everything.

Second roll perception, if that fails

>>285247

was something in there supposed to be really difficult to find normally?

>>285252

No, I just really fucking hate that number.

>>285236

This.

Also let's make a sketch of the new mural, Poseida and Herusk having a child seems like important lore.

Before leaving we should also check the secret room discribe in the note.

I feel like there's something to do with this godess and Nizera but I don't know what.

You carefully step up to the altar and reach out your hand toward the silver knob of the scroll, tugging it from the mound and shaking free all the debris into the sand at your feet. You take it in both hands and unfurl the top, starting from the title…

Scrolls of Sky, Al'sabbeth's Beginnings -- In the years of humanity's infancy, the suns Poseida and Herusk did battle in the glasslands. Vibrant, pale blue lightning fell from blackened clouds over a symphony of thunder as the two gods towered over Eriad. Herusk was the first to speak. "Your tyranny over me ends here, wicked serpent. My claws will be soaked in your blood and the world will roar my victory in its death throes!" The iron-clad hyena snarled and sunk his paw into the solid glass, shattering and rending the surface with a set of ravines with intimidating intent.

Poseida's tail rattled and coiled, her lips singing a discordant hiss of mixed emotions; Anger, despair, indignance. She responded, "You cripple the earth, slaughter my sons and daughters, and yet you still have the audacity to spit such lies? How dare you blame me for your own attitude, you wretched beast!"

"Every time, you refuse to take responsibility for the filth you scatter on the world! You pushed me to this, accept your fate! I'm putting an end to this!" He said, rage shaking in his tone.

They charged one another in the raging storm, claws slicing skin and battering armor. The blows of gods rung across the whole of Eriad, shaking the oceans and eroding mountains just from the sheer sound of their final war. The fight was decided when Poseida caught his striking paw and overturned him, her tail rapidly coiling around his lower torso and constricting him to immobility. Snared, Herusk continued to gnash and claw at her, though she returned the favor much more valiantly, scarring his face and sundering his flesh.

"You'll fail, Herusk, for you are wrong. Your very ideas sit in the false basis that life is a burden, because you have yet to experience it yourself. You were created as the omega but I will enlighten you." Poseida told him, her hands taking his paws in a surprisingly superior grip.

Herusk was filled with shock, his breath labored and body numbed by her grip. Her lower half ground and slid across his own until an intimate connection was formed, his member entering her, sharply contained by her sex. He squirmed and struggled against the sensations, striking her body and drawing blood in an attempt to escape- but she struck him back harder, marring his flesh and matting his fur with the blood of gods. He spat and wheezed, strangled on two fronts. "What do you think you're doing, you wretched whore!? Get off of me, kill me or get off of me!"

"I know it cannot end that way…" She lamented, her hands gripping his neck and shoulders. "I must teach you of life with experience and wisdom, or you will never see things as I do. I will give you a daughter and end this strife through our unity as parents!" She sang, looming a smile over him.

And it was so. The struggle only served to blanken Herusk's mind, bringing him to the edge. His seed was sown into her womb and she, exhausted from the effort, finally uncoiled herself from him. There were no words spoken between them. The thunder faded, the water calmed. Herusk was faced with the shame of defeat. Crippled, bloodied, abused, he made his way out of the glasslands and back through the earth to his plane.

The war was over and the world was yet again as it had been, with Poseida ruling from her star over the earth with Herusk nowhere in sight. As she progressed through the stages of her fertility, something was horribly amiss. The waters visible within her womb did not show the face of the child she had expected. Instead, it grew cloudier each passing day. The pains of pregnancy grew more unbearable with each month. The smog in her womb took on a bleak stygian color, tainting her very skin and wracking her body with immense pain.

She endured it, refusing to surrender the child. She fully believed that this daughter would put an end to the constant wars. On the day of her birth, she was silent and regretful. The daughter she had expected had been born frail and pale, with long flowing white hair and eyes that were not her own. Her aura was one of contradiction, her mouth leaking ichorous blood. Al'sabbeth, she was named and an outcast, she was titled. Her very presence shook the souls of the dead and frightened the living, an oxymoron of divine proportion. She was the spitting image of both her parents, the goddess of life and death in one, but she would only drive the three of them further apart.

This is probably the most important stuff to critique. This fundamental lore that I write deserves your most harsh criticism so please, anything at all don't be afraid to mention it. This is what makes the world interesting, I can't fail at writing it.

And some information of this goddess, knowledge known to you from the scroll.

Al'sabbeth is a constellation of stars that make up the shape of a sickle. She is often depicted in lore as a tall girl with a youthful face wielding a large sickle with a blade of salt. She wears long black robes embroided with silver and blue teardrop-shaped stones, the hood often baggily bunched around her shoulders. She's mostly human in shape, though her body is concealed by the dark and chaste clothing. Her hands can be depicted either normally or as bone, as well as lacking some flesh or having one hand skeletal with the other normal. The artist's rendition usually matches her mood. Her slender face is pale and often looks foreboding, disinterested, or frustrated. One could say Al'sabbeth is imagined to have a resting bitch face. Her hair is carved as long and flowing with minor curls sticking out like briars, platinum in color. Her eyes can be depicted as closed when watching over the dead, or wide open with a piercing blue gaze.

This goddess is lesser-known and often taboo, hated by both followers of Poseida and Herusk. She's associated with ghouls and zombies, liches, vampires, and plenty of other creatures of the night. She is the raiser of the dead, breaking the tenants of life and death at once. Her use in crypts is often 'ironic'. Most would decorate their crypt with Herusk, as he represents death and acts as a ferryman to the afterlife, but by making docile depictions of Al'sabbeth and including her as a watchful statue, it is a ward to necromancy. It often represents her absense, that she does not wish to disturb these dead. Others include her as a fetish to inspire resurrection and enhance their dark powers, usually resorted to for revenge or powerlusty reasons.

Al'sabbeth's requests for service are very simple. Disturb crypts and cause unrest among the dead. Anything from befriending creatures of the night and graverobbing to raising the dead or sacrificing corpses to be reborn can be used to gain her favor. She will not accept a follower of Herusk or Poseida but does not conflict with other gods or elementals. One must renounce their faith in the triad before joining her.

I will give you all time to reconsider your thoughts and post Clay's discoveries tonight.

Also, roll your dexterity artistic skill please or elect to take a 10 / use your magic for a 20.

>>285464

been reading fantasy for decades. for what it is worth - props for originality in your mythos. I don't think anyone has previously written a story with a female diety of the good side trying to prevail over her evil counterpart by such means and going to such extremes. Makes sense to me in context of what her sphere of divine dominion is.

>>285469

Examine the scroll for info as to who wrote it.

Make a note in quest journal to bring this up with Poseida when we are able to interact directly and confirm if it's an accurate account.

>Also, roll your dexterity artistic skill please or elect to take a 10 / use your magic for a 20

is there some cost to using our magic for a 20 on whatever this choice is about?

>>285477

The cost is in time. It'll take you hours to get it just right, taking a 20 assumes several failures and uses of material. Your magic covers the problem of materials such as paper and ink but not the time invested.

>Make a note

Done.

>Examine scroll for info as to who wrote it

As with all scrolls of Aka'bel, which this is one, they're from unknown authors. Usually it's assumed a historian of Aka'bel wrote it.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>285480

well, we are not in a hurry and every chance to practice our magic skills is a worthy investment so I propose we take 20 with use of magic - if this particular use will improve our skills in any way.

otherwise, here is a roll for our artistic skills

>>285492

Hey, underneath my abrasive and off putting exterior I have the soul of a charismatic artist. My mommy told me so… with her eyes.

It's obviously coming through in my dice rolls.

So don't hate on me for being awesome.

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>285469

>Oh dear Al'sabbeth, I have failed you.[…] this crypt is so close to completion

>requests for service are very simple […] Anything from befriending creatures of the night and graverobbing to raising the dead

Something seems pretty wrong here … If she's for bringing the dead back why would one of her worshiper build a crypt in the first place ?

… Unless it's a place to store bodies waiting to be resurrected, Which means :

-Spooky undead incoming

- No moral penalty for looting everything, nobody likes Al'sabbeth anyway.

>What to do ?

-Inform Hadima and Sanya about our findings on Al'sabbeth

-Determine how the dead can be raised, is it with the scroll mentioned in the note ? (roll)

-Depending on the answer and what the girls think either finish the looting or leave.

-Think of a place to deliver the new Aka'bel scroll. Maybe not femgoria since they're probably followers of Poseida.

At this point it seems ok to leave, we have valuable lore (Aka'bel cookie points), and a good ammount of shekkels and reagent.

This story is pretty good, but it might lack a little detail at the end about the first interaction between Poseida an Al'sabbeth. I mean if Poseida is ready to rape Herusk maybe she would be ready to try and raise/love Al'sabbeth ?

>>285510

They're supposed to be snippets of a much larger story, with summaries in place of where other scrolls go. So if you continue to find her lore you'll get that part of the story.

>17+5 knowledge roll

You can raise the dead with magic and religion. You doubt a piece of paper that isn't drenched in arcane runes will do anything. None of the scrolls or notes you've collected so far will let you raise the dead.

>No moral penalty

Except maybe the penalty of a zombie goddess wanting your balls.

>Think of a place to deliver new aka'bel scroll

Roll knowledge to see if you know of anywhere or anyway.

Rolled 11, 17 = 28 (2d20)

>>285526

>None of the scrolls or notes you've collected so far will let you raise the dead.

Alright, but could a magic scroll do it ?

> read the scroll I've left on the desk

We should find that scroll just in case.

>a zombie goddess wanting your balls.

But isn't graverobbing her thing though ?

first roll : knowledge as requested

second roll : trying to understand what is this place because I must admit i'm still confused.

>>285510

>At this point it seems ok to leave,

we have north passage unexplored and a spooky location in east passage as well

Should check those out first.

Goddess' story makes me sad. She turned out as she did due to Poseida's choices and is hated by everyone for it. I want to help her>>285582

though given MC's role and origin story we are kind of of restricted here in that regard.

>Her slender face is pale and often looks foreboding, disinterested, or frustrated

yeah I can see how that last part could be true

The parts relevant now are that she is not against looting crypts. So we are free to take everything here.

I suggest that we clear out the treasure we found, but that at each of her altars, MC leaves an offering of his own and addresses a prayer to her

>he is glad to have learned of her story

>he will strive to deliver this scroll somewhere where others might learn of her

>he is not taking the gold here as a way to disrespect her personally - as far as she knows she does not look down on looting of crypts

the most important part

> in light of what he learned here of her and how most people treat her and her worshippers, he empathises with her and would be open to helping her should she have a need of him

>ask for any guidance she cares to offer him

>>285608

>helping Al'sabbeth

I'm done for that, but we need to be cautious about it because raising the dead and befriending creatures of the night is not really MC's style.

>unexplored stuff

Yeah we need to finish that

>>285582

>11+7 arcana

Yes, you could use a magical ability to raise the dead. It could be in a scroll, it could be in an artifact or something of that sort. However, you do not have inherent knowledge of the scroll downstairs until you go and get it and inspect it.

>Isn't graverobbing her thing?

Yes, but there's certain nuances. Roll faith and you'll understand more.

I'll assume that 17 is a faith roll for trying to understand this place

>17+2 pass

So the way, to your understanding by reading this background story and other texts around the room, Al'sabbeth works is as follows;

Al'sabbeth is a goddess of the undead. She is the antithesis of Herusk and Poseida, helping her will gain their ire depending on your actions. Disturbing the dead is an attack on Herusk. Graverobbing will make him salty, and raising the dead will make Poseida angry.

Most places cremate their bodies to avoid the soul returning to the corpse. That's why your mentor's in an urn, to give him eternal peace. People that bury either do it out of tradition or preservation.

In this odd specific case, these bodies are being buried with religious significance toward Al'sabbeth. This is a tomb of her own praise. You aren't robbing a crypt of herusk, her father, whom she holds ire to, but her own place of worship.

A baron would want you to thieve from competition, not from his own home.

>We have north passage unexplored.

No, this little room you're in right now is the north passage, check the map. You've yet to uncover all secrets in the east wing AND haven't explored the underground room beneath the salt pitcher.

>I suggest we clear out treasure, but not at her altars.

That might work, actually. You may be able to balance out your karma with thinking like that, keep it up.

>>285608

just to clarify, we are currently waiting on update of whatever Clay found on second search attempt?

>You've yet to uncover all secrets in the east wing AND haven't explored the underground room beneath the salt pitcher.

Should explore underground room first.

Than MC should pray at her altar in east wing as described here

>>285608

Than gather the party, warn them that our danger sense is tingling at the big altar in east passage but MC wants to find out what's there - try pulling the hand lever.

>>285677

Yep. Let me just re-read the thread and compile a little list of what needs to be done this morning and I'll have the update out sometime today

You let the knowledge sink in for a moment as you roll up the scroll, your party standing around you with quizzical expressions.

"Well? What the fuck does it say?" Hadima asks impatiently.

"It's the origin of Al'sabbeth. It details her birth, the daughter of Herusk and Poseida…" You go through paraphrasing the story to them, tucking the scroll in your robes when you're done.

"Man, that's kinda sad." Sanya admits, "Like those old love stories where she tries to fix the guy, y'know? That's all Poseida wanted."

Hadima rolls her eyes sourly, "Thinking tainted seed could bloom is foolish, she should've used sex as a means of slavery, not child."

"I think you're both missing the point here. Al'sabbeth is abandoned by both her parents, regardless of what happened. For a goddess to be forgotten like this, it must be disheartening. I say we share her story!"

"We can decide what to do with it later, won't be able to do much outside of the city anyway. So, what's the plan?" Hadima crosses her arms and juts out her hip, eying around the mural room.

You retrieve your journal and flip open to a new page, quickly scribing the information and walking about the mural room. "Well first, I need to take some notes."

Both of your party members groan.

>Nat 20! Your drawing is very impressive, a direct transferral of mind to paper. You're even a bit amazed at your own skill by the time it's finished. It resembles the mural very closely!

>You gain a permanant +4 bonus to your artistic skill, bringing it up to +5.

Only half an hour of drawing passes before you stand up and hold out your notebook, both the girls eyes widening.

"What in the name of all that is logical, didn't you suck at drawing a mere day ago?" Hadima complains at your unfair talent.

Sanya nods along with a smirk. "Don't doubt Ototo, he's a fast learner. I'm just glad it didn't take all day."

"Alright, I'll take another look before we go and check that secret room." And so you do, looking around the room for something of importance. As you're checking stones and peeking behind the tombstone murals, you hear a familiar set of jingles.

Clay leaps from your robes and dashes across the sandy floor, knocking smack-dab into the altar's base. He doesn't seem to mind the impact, rather using his stubby limbs to clambor onto the base and again onto the next part of the platform. You become intrigued by his hike, making your way over to the altar and guiding him with a finger.

He finally arrives at the foot of the large statue depicting Al'sabbeth, where he points at the back of her heel. It does look a slight bit out of place…

Drawn by curiosity, you prod the little lump of stone and behold the immediate click of an unknown mechanism. Stone grinds painfully slow from the right hand of the statue before you, her fingers peeling away from the handle of the sickle. With a frigid pace, it keels over and into the pile of salt like a guillotine, filling the air with a clang as it tumbles off the altar.

The wood encasing the shaft peels away in its tumble and the smooth silver sheath also comes lose, revealing a pristine white link of bones as a true handle and a blade of solid grey stone. The sickle is massive compared to you, like the statue and gives off an immensely powerful aura. Roll Arcana

Noting the item of importance whether or not you've discovered its purpose, you collect it for reasons. Your party member, also morally ambiguous adventurers, do not seem to mind your looting of the large scythe- despite how comical it is for a little boy to carry on his own. Clay follows behind the large scythe jumping and cheering, especially with the praise you give him for the find.

>>285991

>You and your party return to the center room and push the stone detailed in the note.

>As expected, the ground shudders and the sand surrounding the main pedestal falls away to reveal a winding staircase.

>At the bottom of the small set of steps, you find a quaint little circular stone room. Shelves line every side, and where there are not shelves or tiny drawers there are desks with hutches or beds beneath cubbies in the walls. All manner of supplies fill every nook and cranny as if someone intended to stay prolonged underground.

>One of the desks is covered in papers and a rather lavish, silver-trimmed scroll. You assume this to be the scroll the note spoke of.

>Unraveling it, you find its contents to be propagandous and typical of religion, though it does reveal some interesting information.

>This crypt is being used as corpse-storage for revival rituals that may be documented somewhere among the other scrolls if you want to take the time to search for it. Roll luck

>The job of the tender is a simple one: During the day, you take the pitcher of salt around and sprinkle the bodies. It's apparently some sort of preservative. It's not normal salt, however, the color and smell is completely different Roll Alchemy

>In the room is all the supplies the tender would need. There's food, shelter, a large supply of water, and pious clothing that's to be worn until the tenders eventual burial, dark blue in color.

>You are now in the tenders room. What do you do?

11:35, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 68L & 60P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

For your service to Al'sabbeth, she offers you the following according to the scroll:

1. Necros Pact - Most lesser undead such as ghouls, zombies, and mummies will treat you as an equal and ignore your tresspassing into crypts. Disturbing their things and graverobbing will still gain their ire.

At the 3rd rank, they will treat you as friendly and respond to simple commands. They will allow you to take things from their crypt without stopping you and even extend their hospitality to your party members.

At 5th rank, they treat you with honor and respect, responding to more complex demands. The crypts consider you as an honored guest and will often offer you things and show you secrets. Passages once hidden will open at random and urge you inside for their treasures.

2. Service of the Fallen - You can enlist an undead follower of the first tier any kind by completing a ritual, much like enlisting any other follower. To hire an undead, you must offer them a freshly severed finger. Whether it's yours, your companions, or a captives is up to you but it can't have been severed more than a day ago. Unfortunately, the undead are still affected by rotting and can die of natural causes such as sunlight.

At rank 3, you can enlist two T1 followers or one of T2 quality, such as a skeletal warlord or a lich.

Furthermore, you can summon followers and dismiss them at will using one of their bones as a token.

At rank 4, you can enlist two T2 followers.

You can also revive your followers by following a two-hour ritual of recall, involving the sacrifice of 20s worth of salt.

At rank 5, you can enlist a duo of T3 followers or a T4 follower.

Your followers are no longer affected by the terrain and don't die of natural causes due to a cloud of darkness surrounding them.

At rank 6, you can enlist a trio of T3, a duo of T4, or a single T5 undead into your service.

3. Ghuljaw - Your body is attuned to undeath. Your water and food requirement is reduced by 1 and in addition, you can restore both your hunger and life by consuming raw human flesh, specifically human flesh.

At rank 4, you delve further into inhumanity. You gain a permanant +5 insulation against weather, as well as another reduction of 1 on your sustainance requirements.

At rank 5, you're considered more undead than human and no longer require eating or drinking. Your insulation bonus is increased to +10 and you can permanantly breath underwater. The drawback to this transformation is you are considered undead, meaning turn spells and wards now work against you.

At rank 6, you gain advantage on resisting spells and wards targeting the undead.

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>285991

>The wood encasing the shaft peels away in its tumble and the smooth silver sheath also comes lose, revealing a pristine white link of bones as a true handle and a blade of solid grey stone. The sickle is massive compared to you, like the statue and gives off an immensely powerful aura.

>>Roll Arcana

>>285992

>Than MC should pray at her altar in east wing as described here

>

>>>285608

>

>Than gather the party, warn them that our danger sense is tingling at the big altar in east passage but MC wants to find out what's there - try pulling the hand lever.

still suggesting that we explore the scary altar

>>286008

>18+7 pass

Stygian Scythe - A scythe made of ebony bone with a blade of sharply carved saltstone.

Size: M | AP: 3 | RNG: 10ft | HIT: +DEX | DMG: 12d6 | CRIT: 20, x2 Darkness

-Every successful strike with the Stygian Scythe heals an undead under your command for 50% of the damage before resistances.

-The scythe can be used to rot a 30ft area, turning it into unholy ground that increases undead movement by 5 and decreases living movement by 10.

-Spells using the scythes as a focus heal undead for 25% of the damage dealt.

Al'Sabbeth Synergy: Necros Pact is improved by one rank. Service of the Fallen allows 1 more follower. Summon Darkness + Raise dead gain an additional use per day.

Rolled 8 (1d20)

Rolling Luck

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>roll alchemy

>>286013

This and the more necronomicon styled undead with sacrifices and such is awesome. I really don't think it's our style though. On the other hand, when we find a Pharaoh maybe this undead stuff might be of use.

>>286025

You are not lucky enough to find any scrolls regarding undeath in the piles of loot. You won't be fucking zombie-girls anytime soon.

>>286026

>2+7 alchemy

You cannot discern the mixture's components. This makes you salty, you should be a better alchemist than this.

>>286027

can we take some with us to study later?

>>286055

You can take anything you want in the room, so long as you're willing to strain the weight and time of picking up all these scrolls, despite not knowing what they do or if they're of any worth.

Still failed the roll on raise dead so likely won't find that.

>>286059

>During the day, you take the pitcher of salt around and sprinkle the bodies.

i just meant the pitcher of salt - her can experiment with it later to determine what it is.

Rolled 17, 20 = 37 (2d20)

>>285992

>You are now in the tenders room. What do you do?

-Take the food and water supplies

-Restock on Ink and paper if possible

-Check the [pious clothing] for magic (first roll)

>Stygian Scythe

It seems useless to us since we're not a necromancer. Is there a way to take it appart for magic component or to learn about enchanting ?

>Think of a place to deliver new aka'bel scroll

2nd roll for Knowledge

Al'sabbeth's path is not really our style but we might want to consider looting more crypts to please her and piss off Herusk

>>286087

>It seems useless to us since we're not a necromancer.

you never played MMORPGs did you?

>-The scythe can be used to rot a 30ft area, turning it into unholy ground that increases undead movement by 5 and decreases living movement by 10.

>A'nan Speed 10ft

>Hadima Speed 10ft

>Sanya Speed 9

scythe is a reusable AOE snare that can be aimed at ground with a snare effect so powerful it would make our whole party helpless if it hit us. Fastest enemy we encountered so far was speed 15 if, desert pack of wolflike things i remember correctly. It would take 6 turns for them to cross the cursed area.

if its too heavy to carry around we should attach to Haremoklas to use from the mount defensively. Also once out in desert, MC should use to make sure he can affect area at far enough range to not hit himself

>>286181

Unfortunately, the scythe is not that robust. It's meant for necromancers, it cannot be used at range. It affects 30ft around you, or rather a 15ft radius/30ft diameter.

However, the thing you've found is- through your arcane knowledge, EXTREMELY POWERFUL. This is an artifact, a magical weapon.

>>286184

well that makes both speed and snare effects a lot less useful even for necromancers. Is the curse on the land permanent?

>>286187

No, but the rot is. Also, necromancers count as undead in their later stages.

>>286198

>unholy ground that increases undead movement by 5 and decreases living movement by 10.

so how long does this effect last?

>>286202

The unholy ground effect is an AOE that eminates from the player that lasts about 24 seconds (4 turns). However, the rot is permanant. The land will be infertile.

>>286181

> decreases living movement by 10

>A'nan Speed 10ft

>Hadima Speed 10ft

>Sanya Speed 9

So basically you're saying that using it would make all our party members unable to moove ?

>EXTREMELY POWERFUL. This is an artifact, a magical weapon.

So we can :

1- Keep it just in case we become a necromancer and turn everyone in the party undead ….

2-Sell it for mad shekkels. But do we really want some mad necromancer to use it at some point ?

3-Study it for knowledge on undead and enchantment (don't know if it's possible)

4-Destroy it for cookie point with Poseida (and Herusk?)

5-Bring it to an active Al'sabbeth temple for cookie point with her. Again there's a risk of giving power to unfriendly necromancer.

I vote for n°3 since it's without draw back. But I don't know what to do with the scythe after that.

>>286248

>10 movement

No, that's a calculation error on my end. I was thnking pathfinder when I statblocked that and comppletely forgot my movement is superior because it's based on AP.

In reality, at 10 movement per AP, the actual stats of the scythe should be as follows;

Stygian Scythe - A scythe made of ebony bone with a blade of sharply carved saltstone.

Size: M | AP: 3 | RNG: 10ft | HIT: +DEX | DMG: 12d6 | CRIT: 20, x2 Darkness

-Every successful strike with the Stygian Scythe heals an undead under your command for 50% of the damage before resistances.

-The scythe can be used for 3 AP to rot a 15ft radius around the wielder, turning it into unholy ground that increases undead movement by 2 and decreases living movement by 2. The radius can be spread a further 15ft in all directions if used again.

-Spells using the scythes as a focus heal undead for 25% of the damage dealt.

Al'Sabbeth Synergy: Necros Pact is improved by one rank. Service of the Fallen allows 1 more follower. Summon Darkness + Raise dead gain an additional use per day.

Now I see what you guys are saying, sorry for the misunderstanding. I had calculated it for a 30ft movement system.

>>285992

>You are now in the tenders room. What do you do

explore the scary altar in east wing.

Gather the party, explain the feeling of dread he is getting and his intense curiosity about this place.

State that he understands that curiosity is not a good a reason to risk anyone's life, so accompanying him while he does the potentially very stupid thing he intends to do (pull that arm lever) is going to be completely volunteer based.

To that end party should gather camp and prepare to head out. Anyone who doesn't feel like maybe getting eaten by some ancient horror today, stays with the mounts ready to get out of here if it looks like things went badly.

Anyone who is also curious is welcome to prep for whatever comes and join him.

>Necro Scythe

I don't like the idea of MC trying to take apart a divine weapon for studying or anything - the item sounds like it's very powerful and tinkering with it like that could be dangerous.

Also I am pretty sure that destroying any holy items is going to piss off the related deity. I am iffy on whether Poseida is really going to approve of us hurting her daughter in any way, but I see that Herusk likely will cheer us on in that regard - Herusk being in favor of any given course of action is a strong reason for me to not do that.

I propose we keep it with us, be on lookout for opportunities to make use of it. We might cross a potentially friendly powerful undead or maybe find another branch of her cult and could use it as a bargaining chip.

Also, Gula should be happy at the honor of storing such a precious magical artifact - we promised him treasure to fill him.

>At rank 3, you can enlist two T1 followers or one of T2 quality, such as a skeletal warlord or a lich.

A lich is a mere Tier 2 of 4 undead in this setting? They are usually top of the monster hierarchy.

>>286249

>This is an artifact, a magical weapon.

are DnD like immunities to certain tier's of weapons and effects going to be a thing in this combat system? Stuff like 'can only be hit with +4 or higher weapons'?

>Take the pitcher of salt, don the holy garments, and read the scroll I've left on the desk if you wish to take my place.

Now I'm curious, how would Nizera feel about running with Al'sabbeth and tending this crypt? Maybe we should ask her about it.

>>286863

She will probably be pretty opposed to it since Al'sabbeth is not a compromise between the two gods but rather the opposite of both of them.

Also leaving her here is king of a death sentence since nobody's going to come to resupply the place.

But after we're done with the place, we need to tell Al'sabbeth story to Yalda and Nizera, for exposition/NPC interactions purpose.

You and your party split up in the tender's room to collect some supplies. You work through the papers and scrolls to refuel your supplies of ink. Unfortunately, none of the paper is in good condition. A lot of it has been stuck together or destroyed by age and not even your mystical shenaniganry could really fix it. Thus, you manage only to find enough ink to top yourself off. This place, though designed to last a while, really doesn't do so in practice.

Sanya and Hadima collect the water and food on your behalf, counting as a full resupply. Your food and water are now maximized.

Now, to deal with your finds. You take the scythe and jiggle your waistband to awaken Gula, the bag's sewn eyes jolting open with a flail of tassel-like golden threads. "Huwah!? Massah? Massah where ARE we!?" He glances around, his vacuous mouth peeled into an inquisitive purse of comical design.

"Oh hey, I totally forgot about that guy." Sanya admits.

"Well, massah, I figured I'd sleep until we got to some treasure, given we've just been slackin' lately. Speakin' of slackin', how 'bouts you stop that? We got scrolls to deliver, girls to woo, treasure to swallow! Woo'ed girls to swallow!"

You jossle him a little and take up your scythe. "One, we're in a tomb built in the honor of a goddess named Al'sabbeth and all I know is there's a lot of treasu-"

"TREASURE!?" He interrupts you, wide-eyed and bouncing uncontrollably. You hold him still by his straps with one hand, like trying to restrain a bucking bull.

"Calm down, calm down Gula!" You command him and he obliges, stopping his ridiculous bouncing and resting against your thigh. "I have this wonderful artifact I'll let you hold onto, if you'd just be so kind as to stay still so I can put it in."

"O-okay, okay, I'm ready. J-just to let you know though, I don't have much experience with shafts that big." He mocks feigned fear as he looks over the scythe, glancing at your party members for some sort of recognition. Sanya snickers a little but his audience turns out to be a bit dull in the end.

Having enough of it all, you hastily loose his drawstring and pull open the lip, stuffing the scythe head-first inside Gula. Like a vacuum, he pulls the rest in by himself almost like a holster, distending his cloth all the way to the floor before- with a burp, he deflates like a balloon to his original size with the scythe inside. "Ahh! Delicious!"

You return to searching the room, checking around for one last thing. The pious garments of the tender. You locate them unceremoniously folded at the foot of the bed. Taking them up by the shoulders, you let the long flowing robes uncurl for inspection.

>Arcana 17+7, pass.

The robes aren't very mystical. They're fancifully decorated for an apprentice's wear but they aren't anything special. They're comparable to Yalda's sarisong. Since you don't have much interest in joining Al'sabbeth, you leave them on the bed for now.

>Your final task is to put the salt back where it belongs. You gather up a little clay bottle from the room and transfer the salt into it for later study, then instruct your party that it's time to move on.

>You head up the stairs and pull the stone to close up the tender's room, placing the pitcher of salt back where you once found it.

>It's a short walk back through the mural room and to the surface, the noon suns hanging high in the sky's center.

>You call for a meeting in the spare tent.

The five of you sit in a small circle, the bright sunlight permeating the canvas of your tent and filling the makeshift room pleasantly.

"Alright, I've a few things to explain." You steel yourself for the lengthy recap of the situation with a deep breath, the air stale with heat. "This cavern and the mural within it are a shrine to Al'sabbeth, daughter of Herusk and Poseida, goddess of the undead."

Nizera's head perks up with a rattle of her bindings, her disbelief and ire drawn in an instant. "Daughter? Just what are you talking about?"

"Quiet, girl." Hadima raises her paw threateningly, raising her chin and leering down at the prisoner with the intention of punishment but you put a stop to it with your commanding word.

"No, she deserves to ask and know." You rummage in your satchel and retrieve the scroll, as well as your journal, then pass them to Hadima. "Show her, it's all true. The mural has been carved extensively to tell the tale and I've recorded it in, if I may be so bold, immaculate detail."

Sanya nods, "He sure did, not half bad for somebody I've never seen draw anything ever… Ototo and I saw the whole thing with our own eyes too! Poseida raped him, it's right there in the scroll."

"Could you be a little less crude about it?" Hadima complains, quickly followed by Yalda.

"W-wait, Poseida raped Herusk?" She scoots away from you and to the scroll, the prisoner and Yalda clamboring over Hadima's thighs to look at the pictures in your book.

Hadima sighs, paraphrasing the scroll as she overlooks the text. "As the two of you are uneducated, I'll make this fast. Poseida raped Herusk in an attempt to show him the glory of life by bestowing upon him the gift of her womb and a child but his seed corrupted her and the child was born an abomination. As foolish as it was to try and teach a man anything so complex…"

"Oh fuck off." Sanya retorts, snatching the scroll and journal to return it to you.

Nizera finally huffs, "Of course she would. Life is forced upon every one of us, it's not something we ask to suffer. We're brought into this world to fail by that wicked snake and even here she, like her followers…" She narrows her eyes at you specifically, "Cannot see the error of her ways. And yet, Herusk lost to her?" Her anger is replaced with a lack of conviction, of disappointment. You can't quite put your finger on what she's thinking. Maybe you can talk to her about it later?

You clear your throat to regain control of the conversation, "Anyway, inside are an unclear amount of mummified bodies, at rest and with offerings. The tender of this catacomb has passed and we've gathered as many supplies from within it as we are morally obligated to take. In our search, I found a number of secret rooms- one of which has a lever we've yet to test. I don't know what will happen when the lever is pulled but I doubt it will be without risk. I'm too curious to let the lever pass me by, so I'm going with whoever wants to come. If you're not interested in doing it with me that's fine, just get the animals ready to move in case something goes wrong." You exhale sharply, awaiting their answers with a bit of a heavy heart.

"I'm with you, ototo!" Sanya pipes up. "I'm just itching for some adventure."

"I'm on the fence about it, honestly, it seems like a waste of time. We've gathered enough supplies and the city is still days away. I'm sure there's a lot more exciting things for you there~." Hadima says with a lewd tone, tugging on the front of her dancer's wraps to entice your eyes and mind.

Yalda shakes her head. "I want to help you, but I too think we should just leave. It's not worth the risk a-and I saw the treasure you brought up! We've more than enough."

"I'll do it." Nizera narrows her eyes at you, clenching her knees. "It's the least I can do, chained up like this, to prove that my way is righteous. I'll cleanse the undead menace within that place should it surface."

>Your party has made their opinions known. What is your final decision?

13:45, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 90L & 90P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

>Nat 20 on navigation

There is a tower closer to you than the Femgoria city, you've read of it in an atlas and just now recalled the information as you mulled over your new scroll. You could turn in all three scrolls you've gathered there and avoid the city alltogether, or turn them in there. It's up to you.

>are tiers of weapons ineffective going to be a thing in this setting?

No, but there is damage reduction that can go to 1 or 0, so immunity is possible but not innate. Weapon tiers basically shift the die from roll to fix. Most weapons work off something like 10 d 10 + 0, and an upgrade in quality makes it 9 d 10 + 10. The quality basically makes one die an automatic maximum.

Rolled 18, 14 = 32 (2d20)

>>287084

All right let's to pull the spooky lever then !

Firts roll to judge Nizera's intentions, second roll to check for traps/magic near the lever

>>287113

>Insight 18+2 pass

Nizera has the fire of holy war in her eyes. She wants to kill those spooky skeletons. Undeath is highly opposed by Herusk.

>>287084

Guess we're pulling the lever then, along with Sanya and Nizera. We've got to let her do something eventually, so we might as well let her start proving herself.

>>287084

>"I'm on the fence about it, honestly, it seems like a waste of time. We've gathered enough supplies and the city is still days away. I'm sure there's a lot more exciting things for you there~." Hadima says with a lewd tone, tugging on the front of her dancer's wraps to entice your eyes and mind.

>

>Yalda shakes her head. "I want to help you, but I too think we should just leave. It's not worth the risk a-and I saw the treasure you brought up! We've more than enough."

to maybe off set some salt if this goes badly

A'nan should explain to Hadima and Yalda that he agrees they've gotten more than was reasonable to hope for from exploring these crypts but greed isn't what's driving him here.

Besides being an adventurer he is also a fledgling mage. Being one means searching our knowledge, lore and mysteries just for the sake of learning and discovery, and generally poking his nose into everything interesting even if my sometimes get a bit gnawed on as a result.

Mention that he regrets giving in to fear when they were in city ruins - whatever mystery was hidden in that bell tower and whatever that bell did is now gnawing at him.

seriously anons, anyone up to come back there and ring that bell? I feel like we are shitty adventurers here

>>287177

>bell

i think coming back there just for that might annoy the girls.

kind of curious what DM prepped there though. i kind of missed that bit, one update we were exploring and than were on the move when i got back

>>287177

>bell

Let's see what does that spooky lever and then we can think about the spooky bell. It's not going anywhere we can come back to it even after femgoria

>>287295

Hint: As a DM I literally make things up as it happens. I have perfected the art, even in live sessions, of creating dungeons and scenes off the top of my head. You didn't miss anything that already exists.

You look between Yalda and Hadima, pursing your lips and knitting your brows. "You've got me all wrong. This isn't about greed, this is about exploration. The last opportunity with the bell I missed and I still have regrets over it. I want to know what's back there. I want to know what this place is really for. I want to discover every secret before we put this behind us. So, are you all with me?"

The party nods in unison, all standing from the circle to join you. Your group heads into the cave in a solid formation with you in front, guiding by the light of your crystal suns. You pass the carved walls with trim of bone, take a right, and soon arrive at the end of the catacomb where the lever sits.

The familiar statue of Al'sabbeth sits surrounded in gold artefacts, random trinkets piled around her cloud-colored pedestal, a pure white with a glossy, granite texture. You reach your hand out toward the statue, that nagging feeling of dread returning.

"Well? Pull it!" Sanya urges you, gripping the hilt of her blade and clenching her free hand expectantly.

Hadima and Yalda exchange curious glances, the fear clear on their faces but in different forms, the former name being more paranoid and ready than the latter. Nizera broods in the background as usual.

"Well, here we go!" You exclaim, wrapping your fingers around the fist of the statue's right angled arm.

>14+7 arcana

The rush of anxiety fills your fingers and staggers you from your action. The feeling of something horrible about to happen is ingrained in the statue itself. It is no spell or ward to force you into such a feeling- it's a promise from something desiring to be left undisturbed. You've made up your mind to pull the lever but your party is ready for whatever will happen.

The stone grinds harshly as you push the hand back to her side, the sound of shifting stone and clicking mechanisms resounding throughout the catacomb. Dim blue lights glower from within the stone cracks of the walls as lichfire once again ignites in old bone sconces. Flame fills the room with an eerie glow far overshadowing your summoned light. The marble stone and tan walls of the catacombs are tinted with the glow of undeath. The light even reveals itself in the eyes of the statue.

That grinding returns as the statue descends into the earth, treasure piling onto its pedestal. The gold-plated pottery cracks and thunks as it falls into the mechanism, mercilessly crushed on the idol's descent into the earth as it no longer provides support for the items. The room begins to shudder and shake when the statue stops underground. More plates and coins spill out from the crescent of treasure as three walls descend into the earth betwixt the sconces to reveal three faces.

Before you are three jackal masks trimmed in silver rings, bone lining the hairline as long, intimidating dreadlocks. The mantle and form is made entirely of a shiny, shaled onyx that covers the shoulders and collarbone entirely. As the figure is revealed further by the falling stone, it is revealed that they are women with matching busts bound in mummified linens, their skin a pristine onyx color with no blemishes. The same linens cover their wide hips with typical skirts charmed with silver buckles and tassles.

The stone fully melds with the floor and a sudden quake staggers your party. The lichfire that once illuminated the creepy onyx statues suddenly snuffs out and you're left in the comparatively dim light of your three suns. Then, the fire wists through the air from the snuffed torches as a smoke that returns to a brighter glow. It infuses itself with the center statue's eyes and alights them with lich flame.

The center statue cracks as she stands tall, feminine onyx fingers stretching out to the left and right, an intimidating blaze flickers in the visage's iris. Cracks form in the statue as she moves to touch the walls beside her, the blue in her eyes engulfing her limbs with a sizzle and spreading throughout the cavern.

The two pairing statues, much larger in form, ignite in the same manner and begin to crack, but the fire keeps spreading. It fills every void in the old stone walls as torches blaze blue throughout the catacombs. Mummified bodies begin to shift and twist and ghoulish, wrapped bodies stand from burial coves, dusting off their aching limbs and stumbling down the hallways, peeking out of every poorly lit door.

When you turn back to the three statues, they already step down from their revealed tombs and into the treasure, crushing it underfoot. The short, center girl wields an ankh in her hands and illuminates the room with her own aura of undeath, while the other two hold crooks as large as warhammers.

Sanya draws her blade off her shoulder and gets into a stance for the rearguard. "We've got company!"

Yalda covers her mouth to conceal a terrified cry, this is the first time she's been faced with such heavy potential combat.

Hadima draws her whip and also takes the rearguard.

Nizera grips her chains, looking to you; "If you want my assistance in this fight, you must break my cuffs. We're heavily outnumbered and I can't cast with these cumbersome things on."

>What do you do? You are faced with three onyx anubi and a shitload of mummies.

14:20, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 90L & 90P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

Sorry this took so long, mothersday and shit and also planning the encounter. Pls no bully

>>288252

tell Yalda to free Nizera

MC should evaluate the situation, confirm/check the following details:

>The short, center girl wields an ankh in her hands and illuminates the room with her own aura of undeath

What's his arcane knowledge telling him about her? Does this smaller girl appear the source of control for all the mummies waking up?

What about mummies - how tough are they and what it would take to put them down?

>try and talk her down

From description doesn't seem like talking is an option, given how she immediately went to raise the mummies, but it probably won't cost us that much time to at least try to address her and see if she responds - even if fighting is the only option it might reveal how sentient of an opponent we are facing.

>possibility of relocating to better position

Looking at the map, I understand us to be at location point 3?

What's our chances of legging it through the south passage to the passage branch with the access tunnel? How many mummies in the way down that route?

Because at point 3 we are exposed to get mobbed from all sides. If the group needs to fight off a horde of mummies, the tunnel entrance leading to that secret tunnel will have all enemies coming at us from the north, should be easier to defend.

And if we can figure out a way to stall the mummies in that passage, the group could use the tunnel to get back to entrance - from there we can clear out this place far more safely.

At mouth of the access tunnel, A'nan could use his AE magic to hold mummies off while the rest of the group evacuates via the tunnel, have Hadima go last, holding up inside the tunnel and use her whip to tug him quickly up inside the tunnel mouth after he chugs the elemental jar to buy him the space needed.

>>288369

side note about our spells

not yet explored in this setting, but a lot of fantasy settings hold that undead should be highly resistant vs cold and lightning because presumably they don't need to maintain body temp to function as living humans would, nor would decaying bodies presumably be using the nervous system that's the most susceptible to damage by electrical current.

if the same holds here, our spell selection sucks for tomb raiding as a main hobby and we should seriously focus on Nizera teaching A'nan some fire magic asap

>>288369

This.

Can we use [Blazing Swiftness] on our party members to make them move faster ? Because we might be able to buff everyone speed, leg it to the entrance and then collapse the walls using [Thunderslam] or [Force Push] (not sure wich does what)

>>288385

>Side note about our spells.

You're correct, the mummies have flat elemental percentage resistance that basically halves damage.

>What's his arcane knowledge telling him about her?

Roll it.

>What about mummies?

Roll knowledge

>Looking at the map…

You are in the crescent part right infront of 3, where the wall of treasure is. So you're actually in the end of the hallway. The mummies are coming from the main hallway so you could easily take a sharp left, run down that access tunnel and get to the secret exit no problem. Blazing swiftness would be overkill.

Rolled 7, 7 = 14 (2d20)

>>288419

>What's his arcane knowledge telling him about her?

>Roll it.

and second one for mummies

if she isn't up to talking, supporting the escape, regroup come back and kill everything plan

>>288454

>Arcane Knowledge 7+7

This girl seems to have the contradictory aura of undeath and life, there is a sentience to her. You think she is connected to the mummies.

>7+5

Mummies are a slow, high-defense enemy with relatively low health. They mostly use melee and swarm tactics and tend to be the first reference to golemancy being connected with necromancy.

>>288466

>The mummies are coming from the main hallway so you could easily take a sharp left, run down that access tunnel and get to the secret exit no problem.

in that case I propose we skip the talking attempt right now, throw a quick apology her way for disturbing her beauty rest and leg it - reason being that if she responds and engages us in conversation, we are liable to get cut off while talking to her and will end up in much worse position

we just took a bunch of treasure out of here, so I assume she isn't going to be happy with us.

If we get out through the tunnel, get back to entrance we can either try to fight our way back in through the mummies or maybe she will come after us to the entrance into the crypt - whatever we decide to do, we will have a clear path of retreat out of here.

The faceless, linen-bound corpses shamble through the crypt, sand pooling atop their feet from their trudging march toward your party.

The anubi shake their blazing, masked heads and turn their permanant, scowling jackal visage upon you specifically. The two raise their crooks and march through the glittering gold unflinching, shattering them under their apparently immense weight.

The one in the center raises her silver ankh within the safety of her cove and drops to a knee, gripping her heart as she rocks the fetish back and forth. The sounds of large bells toll through the crypt, drawing the attention of the mindless zombies and invigorating the flames brewing in the walls and the eyes of the undead.

"Yalda, shed Nizera's chains so that she may join us, I have a plan! Follow me!" You command, immediately setting your sights on the far left tunnel and envisioning the proverbial light of your potential escape. It'll be much easier to funnel them into a choke rather than be surrounded. "Sorry for disturbing you!" You fruitlessly call out to the anubis, who seems to be focused on murdering you and your friends.

>Hadima takes the initiative and strikes at the anubis' feet.

>She misses the first attack with a 3+6, unable to coil around them effectively.

>She tries the same maneuver again and gets a nat 1, provoking a counter-attack from the Anubis

>The anubis bonks Hadima harshly on the head for 40 damage! Hadima is now at 100HP

>On Anubis 1's turn, she moves to bonk Hadima again but gets a nat 1, provoking an attack of opportunity from Hadima

>Hadima rolls a 15+6, finally pulling off her maneuver with great success and tugging the Anubis' feet out from under her.

>The Anubis now lays on her back. This fight is already full of shenanigans.

>On your turn, you rush down the leftward path right past the Anubis, who cannot make an attack of opportunity due to being prone.

>You use mirage of sonance to create an obnoxious sound infront of you, drawing all of the mummies to your location and even distracting the anubi!

>Sanya takes two cracks at the downed anubis with her shiny sword with a 4+3 and a 12+3

>The anubis, prone, is struck by both for 59 damage!

>The downed anubis' onyx armor cracks sickeningly like the shell of a bug, the plates crumbling off her pale skin and turning to black dust.

>Yalda spends her turn unbinding Nizera's chains in a frantic manner, checking over her shoulders and heavily breathing with fear.

>Nizera is freed, using her full movement to rush over to your side to deal with the mummies.

>Anubis 2 stumbles through the pottery, her blazing eyes set on you and her crook intimidatingly clenched in one hand. She walks right past Yalda, aiming for the escaper.

>The Ankhnubis winds her ankh back and forth, stirring the hearts of her two comrades.

>The black armor on both the anubi begin to harden and sheen over with a cold aura of ancient magicks.

>On Hadima's turn, she strikes the anubis thrice with her claws, missing every single one and getting a nat 1 that provokes an attack of opportunity which can't be capitalized on because the enemy is prone.

>On Anubis 1's turn, she gets off the ground and readies her crook.

>Sanya is fed up with the Anubis already. Like an eerie torch, her tail blazes to life and her eyes glow with primal fire. She raises her blade, grits her teeth, and lets out a vicious warcry as she bashes her blade into the enemy two times. She rolls a 19 and a 20, critting the downed anubis for 145 damage!

>The anubis is fucked beyond belief. Shards of onyx burst into the air and fly across the room as her blade brutally cleaves her in twain. Pale gore flies through the air and spatters Sanya's armor, the undead masked guardian laying finished. The glow of undeath fades from the mask and she returns to dormant, dead flesh, sweet eternal rest.

>Unfortunately, that lichful essence begins to waft its way toward the Ankhnubis, swirling around her ankh and bolstering the luminescence of her gaze.

>Yalda makes it to you on her turn.

>Anubis 2, enraged by the death of her fellow guardian, immediately turns on Sanya for a duo of bonks!

>She deals 48 damage after resistances with the first, and misses the second.

>On your turn, you prepare for the approaching mummies. You help Yalda into the access tunnel, but Nizera refuses your assistance.

The mummies are swaying and lurching down all three hallways mere feet from the escape route. You're quickly being surrounded and Hadima has been caught up in combat.

"Nizera, what are you doing!? We have to get up there!" You plead with her.

"You go, I'll keep my promise." She flicks her hand dismissively toward you, urging you to take Yalda's hand and help yourself into the escape.

>Nat 1 willpower

You've never faced real zombies. You don't want to leave Nizera down there to fight them, but you equally don't want to risk your life to make her. You quickly scramble up the wall and into the escape, drawing your final elemental urn to hopefully help her in some manner.

>Nizera reaches into her heart, literally pushing her fingers through her bare flesh and draws from it an orb of fire. The crackling flames blacken her skin and molt her flesh as the undead surround her but she shows no signs of pain. She grits her teeth, drops to a knee, and slams the blazing fire into the earth!

>Massive geysers of flame erupt directly infront of her, disintegrating 3 of the mummies

>Another erupts at her direct left, disintegrating 2 more mummies

>The debris from the second slam falls onto the mummies behind, setting them ablaze. They sway and screech, but eventually fall as they're consumed.

>The mummies shamble on from the right, swiping at Nizera to avenge their brothers.

>There's so many of them, scratches line her back and rend her clothing. She looks badly hurt!

>The Ankhnubis' loud bells toll again, the blazing mummies stirring restlessly. They raise arms and heads as if they're going to rise again but find their bodies unfit for service due to the fire eating away their flesh.

Hadima and Sanya, finished with one anubis, decide to move on to the next.

>Hadima attempts another two swift strikes with her whip against the second Anubis.

>They both succeed and collectively deal 72 damage

>Sanya joins in from the side, flanking the poor girl with two wicked claymore sweeps!

>She deals 106 damage with her claymore, shattering onyx and arm alike. This kills the Anubis.

>The Anubis fades as the first did, her cold essence wafting off her mask and weaving around the main Anubis with a blazing glory!

>The crook-wielding guardian Anubi have been defeated, but their defeat has bolstered the Ankh-wieding Anubis in the center!

>The party is separated by mummies and Nizera is surrounded! You still have 3 charges of healing left for the day and so does Yalda.

>What do you do next? The fight is far from over!

14:20, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 90L & 90P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

OOC notes about the combat system, only read if you give a shit about numbers and stuff. So I was doing this combat scene and was really disappointed with the way the numbers worked. They feel clunky. It may be that I have to do the rolls for all the characters and so the stress is on me, but trying to calculate damage resistance and healing didn't go as efficiently as planned. I may drop the percentage-based armor and use DR instead. For instance, some armor will have a DR of 20 against blunt force and have penalties accordingly. This seems easier to manage without a calculator but also runs the risk of mob-type enemies that deal 20 damage each being entirely ineffective, but perhaps that's the point. I did however really like the way Nizera's spell worked with numbers. I've also decided instead of using confirm-crit I'm going to make crits automatically confirm but only deal 50% extra damage. I think this way when you hit a crit number it's always meaningful but not game-breaking. It's a little bonus but a satisfying one, unlike in some games where you can lose it on a coinflip. Also while testing maneuvers I am at a crossroad. I considered making the trip Hadima tested use DEX instead of HIT, which seemed fine for balance so people can't use crazy ass high-hit staves and such to knock people over, but the issue is with larger enemies like the anubi having such a low dodge, they can't get out of it even if it's harder to trip them due to size. Therefore, I may work on combat maneuvers next and use something akin to a CMB/CMD. Any feedback on the fight, how the numbers worked, how it was spaced, if I did too much/not enough for this post is appreciated.

>>288700

Glad to see Nizera is a real pyromancer. Hopefully she doesn't just chaos storm the entire crypt down though.

I suggest we try healing her - this was from Poseida right? A good time to show the positives of not being a death-obsessed maniac. Doing it ourselves would be ideal but since Yalda can't really do much else and we need to use our shota magic when we can, it's probably better if she does it. We do have force push, it might help with clearing the area so Nizera can make it up. We can also fucking fly with zephyrstep so maybe we could try force pushing the remaining mummies away from her and assisting her up so Yalda can heal her. We also need to consider getting some buff spells (as well as some save or suck, this is dnd right) because we have 1.5 rapetrains in our party. Having only variations of frostbolts etc is a bit iffy in this situation.

>>288701

Percentages will never work well in a non-computer environment in general. DR is simple, and also allows for proper armor i.e. blows that actually don't damage you. Being hit by a knife that cannot punch through your plate doesn't deal any damage - while a ballista shot wouldn't give a fuck. For avoiding some enemies being completely ineffectual and thus imbalancing encounters completely you can do something like crits/sneak attacks/flatfooted (if it's proper flatfooted and the attacker actually gets the time to do it, since obviously you don't have to be a trained rogue to see that the armpits are less armored) etc. ignore half/all armor (like stabbing through visors or other weak points). Alternatively, though this would probably be more annoying to keep track of, consider having DR degrade as you receive blows.

Basically it's a double edge sword IMO. DR is both more and less realistic depending on who you fight, but I atleast have the 'armor reduces speed and dodge' thing downpat that most DND systems fail to separate. I think I'll be trying DR but I mostly want to work on the lore.

>>288700

Our retreat plan is a failure. So >>288729 this, and after regrouping with Nizera, keeping Yalda at the rear to heal us, we have to push forward to get to Hadima and Sanya. They might manage on their own but even if we reach them after the battle they will need some healing.

>>288736

In that case why not use AC as an additional roll on top of to hit? You'd have to modify it a bit, but if you separate actually hitting a proper blow and piercing the armor you sort of solve the entire problem - perhaps make crits or whatever possibly bypass the armor roll. It means you can separate bonuses that help you pierce armor and bonuses that help you hit - it's always a bit weird when a strong blow makes it easier to hit people with no armor in 3.5. Then you could do like, hitting half AC is a glancing blow which deals half damage for instance, and hitting full AC is a penetrating hit for full damage - or whatever other distribution or detail level you care for.

Also, I like the presentation of the fight and how you split up turns. I like having some rolls properly represented and the greentext is a good format. Any more detail would be superfluous in my opinion, it's not too interesting to read descriptive fight scenes honestly beyond what's happening on a basic level. I like the occasional regular lines explaining rolls though when it makes sense and especially when it impacts characterization, like the nat 1 willpower one.

>>288779

The reason I will not separate AC and HIT is because that's what deathwatch did and it was a fucking mess. Basically what happens in deathwatch is it's two retards in power armor fumbling for 6 hours until one of them smacks something and instantly kills it. I like the direction you're going, but I think what I'm going to do is make DR have a piercing minimum. So let's say you have pierce resistance 30, and you get hit by 25 damage. Because it's below your maximum, you only take 5 points of damage, which is the hit minimum. You're still hurt by carry-through force but it's minimized. If you're hit by 40 damage, you take 10 points as normal. This way mob monsters are still dangerous to armored folks. Alternatively, this armor piercing system may be implemented as a perk for certain monsters or specifically for piercing. Infact, the original 'piercing' damagetype's critical effect was armor reduction so that might be brought back!

>On your turn, you turn your hand to the enroaching evils and hymn words of power.

>The mummies tumble like a line of dominos, their frail bodies lacking the agility to keep balance.

NAT FUCKING 20 WILLPOWER

"Nizera!" You call, swiping your casting hand back from the mummies toward your feet. The stale air of the crypt swirls around your toes with an unfitting laughter and you gracefully bridge the distance with no trouble. You sweep her up in your arm and turn to run, ignoring the fact you're surrounded and focusing only on the safety of the girl. The breeze shifts the sands beneath your feet and with a shove of your toes you ascend, robe flourishing magestically, with your comrade in hand to the escape tunnel!

She grips tightly to you, her hands buried in your chest and back. No words are spoken, but she seems quite grateful that you've pulled her from the grasp of the mummies, who are still an issue. They clambor over the blazing corpses of their fallen comrades groaning and roaring, their hands flailing for the small cliff to the escape. Their grips look to find purchase, arms laying across the edge and legs following.

>You've only spent 2 AP on movement, which means you have plenty of time for a little surprise.

>You take the prepared elemental urn in your free hand and heft it up on your shoulder like a shotputter, Nizera still held in your arm, and throw it into the enroaching army.

>The pottery shatters and the ghastly roar of flames fills the hall. You cover your eyes with your sleeve to protect your face from the heatwave as the blazing glory consumes your enemies, killing a shitload of them.

You push Nizera toward Yalda, "Here, let's tend to her wounds, then regroup with Sanya!"

Yalda catches the woman and nods, setting her hand against her wounds as the crystal clear phantasm of water trickles off her fingers. "A-Alright, I will, but there's too many mummies! We'll have to go around!" She informs you.

>Your flame has effectively blocked this path off, not that you could get past them if they weren't on fire.

>Nizera's opposing god halves the healing to only 30 points, but it's something.

>On Hadima's turn, she focuses all her power to the Anubis. She whips her twice with the Lion's Tail, marring her flesh and dealing 42 and 47 damage respectively.

>Unfortunately, the onyx armor on the Ankhnubis is effective against this damage, and she is protected from 20 points on each strike.

>The anubis thus takes 22+27 damage for a total of 49 damage. This system may work yet

>Sanya moves forward and thrusts her blade into the Anubis, dealing 43 damage.

>The anubis' onyx armor reduces this damage by 10, so she only takes 33 damage.

>The Ankhnubis raises her ankh and rings her bell again, stirring more of the dead with ancient magicks.

>The Ankhnubis also tries to whack Sanya with her paw, but misses.

>You, Yalda, and Nizera all spend your turn using the access tunnel to get to the entrance. At sprinting speed, you manage to make it back to the circular room with the pitcher of salt just in front of the catacombs. There's mummies everywhere. They begin to enroach on your position.

>Hadima tries her whip again, successfully hitting the anubis for 45 and 52 damage!

>After reductions, the Ankhnubis takes 47 damage. Her onyx armor cracks under the harsh lashes of the quick rope.

>Sanya wildly assaults the Ankhnubis with her blade, shanking her twice in the chest for 51 and 56 damage.

>After reductions, she takes 67 damage. Her onyx armor has been completely rended by Sanya's maneuvers and begins to fall in thick plates, cracking like pottery.

>The Ankhnubis bashes Sanya with her Ankh two times, dealing 37 and 26 damage.

>Until Sanya's armor is tweaked… She has a reduction of 5 to blunt damage, getting a bit of leeway and only suffering 53 damage right to the face.

>Sanya looks close to death!

>What do you do next? There's mummies everywhere! The Ankhnubis still stands strong.

14:20, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 90L & 90P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

Also, is ~2 turns per post alright for you guys? I need to make sure I'm not taking too much control. I've also balanced the armors to have proper resistances in the form of damage reduction. The way I plan to make enemies still effective is by making crits ignore DR, which is a fantastic idea, and possible make hit-penalty maneuvers that aim past armor but sacrifice accuracy. Furthermore, enemies that rely on gang tactics have 'penetration' perks that make it so they always deal a minimum of about 1 to 5 damage. This seems to be working really well in what I've tested and run by friends so, any more suggestions appreciated. Sanya's armor will be upgraded when I get to the heavy tables.

>>288933

Oh shit !

Ok so we push forward to help Sanya and Hadima

MC at the front clearing the mummies from the way with [force push], Nizera at the rear burning those that try to get to us and Yalda in the midle protected from both side.

We try to move as fast as possible, when we arrive we need to quickly get Yalda to heal Sanya while we attack the Ankhnubis : Can we [thunderslam] it to get it prone so that Hadima and Nizera can finish it more easily ?

When did Yalda get acces to healing magic ?

>>288943

Of course we're not controlling NPCs so MC has to explain his plan to Nizera and Yalda.

sorry for double post

>>288933

Two turn seems good. I like the flow of combat you've got.

>>288943

I'm good with this plan.

>On Hadima's turn, she viciously lashes the Anubis twice, dealing 45 and 46 damage.

>After reductions, the anubis only takes a total of 51 damage.

>Surprisingly, this is the straw that breaks the camel's back! The Anubis' armor shatters into several shards that fly off her body and bury themselves in the sand. She gasps in effeminate surprise as she finally staggers.

>Sanya follows up swiftly with the swing of her blade, narrowly missing. However, she manages to catch the Ankhnubis on the backswing for a raw 55 damage!

>The Ankhnubis looks severely damaged without her armor, her abdomen cut with a dark, cold gash.

>The mummies spin in the air as you cast them aside with your force of will, parting the enemies like the red sea.

"The way's clear! Forward! Nizera, burn them while they're vulnerable!" You announce, heading halfway down the hall with the rest of your AP.

>Yalda sprints past you, preparing herself to heal Sanya on the next turn!

>Nizera casts a fire spray on the downed mummies, ancient linen turning to snowflake-esque embers fluttering in the storm.

>The mummies that survive begin to stand again!

>The Ankhnubis wildly swings her Ankh at her attacker, Sanya, who seems the weaker target.

>She misses the first terribly, staggered by the pain, but the second downward strike conks Sanya hard for 27 damage! She got lucky.

>Sanya is really really hurt!

>Hadima lashes out with her whip again, only making contact once with her bare flesh for 44 damage!

>The Anubis isn't looking very good.

>Sanya gets a nat 20 on an overhead cleave, dealing 75 raw damage to the Ankhnubis!

Sanya's sword cleaves the air with a terrifying rush, carving a war path straight for the snout of the mask. The Anubis with the ankh glances upward toward the blade with another subtle gasp of surprise. Time stands still as her onyx snout is cut by the power of the blade, the force rippling through the stone and forming forking cracks as it's wedged between the halves. The mask fragments between her eyes as the magic disappears from them. The ankh falls from her hand in defeat and naught a second later, the visage shatters around Sanya's blade to reveal the terrified, pale face of the girl underneath.

She drops to her knees, her dark paws sinking into the sand as she tearfully looks up at the still warrior. Her mummies, inflamed, are also sapped of their magic and they tumble to the ground like unstrung puppets.

"No…" She says quietly over a deep, weeper's breath, tears welling and slowly trickling down her blue-tinted, porcelain-pure face. She looks cold and pristine, no signs of blemishes or veins on her slender face. One could think she were carved of marble, if it weren't for the obvious softness of her flesh and the gash in her torso proving she had the makings of a mortal.

Sanya, bloodied and covered in facial welts, raises her blade again as if to finish the girl but Yalda- the closest, rushes up to stay her blade. "NO! ARE YOU CRAZY!?" She cries in a shrill voice, forcing the salamander to lower her heavy blade. It clanks as it hits the stone floor, wielded in both the warrior's hands at a stayed position.

"Are you!?" She pulls a hand from her sword to shake a fist at Yalda. "She just tried to fucking kill us all! SHE HIT ME IN THE FACE WITH AN ANKH!"

Hadima groans as she coils her whip around her expanded fingers, "Oh are we really going to argue mercy now?"

"Yes, we are." You say, stepping between everyone to look upon the Anubis. "She, like us, bears emotion and flesh akin to ours. We came here seeking information and she, now obviously defeated, is a valuable source of it. Not to mention we did just kinda rob this place and touch the statue… We technically started it."

>Your persuasion of 15+7 is a hit amongst the girls!

Sanya sticks her blade into the ground infront of her and takes a deep, relaxing breath. "Fair enough, fair enough…" The rest follow her example, even Nizera, who snuffs the fire in her fingers and rolls her eyes.

"This undead abomination ought to be purged, if you ask me." Nizera says.

"Well nobody did, so shut your bitchy mouth." Hadima rebuts, placing the whip at her hip where it belongs.

Deciding to be the more diplomatic of the group, you set yourself down at the kneeling Anubis' level and start with a few frequently asked questions. "Who are you and why did you attack us?"

>Charisma fail

The Anubis, knowing defeat, keeps her head low and crosses her arms over her wound. "I will not give my name, but I shall enlighten you to your error. You sought the treasure belonging to the sacred tomb, you disturbed the rest of the dead. It's very obvious why you've gained my ire as a guardian of this place."

"Guardian?" You ask ambiguously in hopes of milking some more information.

>5+7 persuasion, fail

"Yes, isn't it obvious?" She speaks with a haughty sarcasm, gripping her linen skirt.

"What are you? You look a little pale." You note.

>7+7 persuasion, pass.

"I am indeed, undead. Anubi such as myself are designed for protection. I was designed for the protection of the crypt with my sisters, who you have slain." She says a little bitterly, casting her gaze to the two pieces of dead guard to her left, and the intact but battered remains of the one on her right.

"Sorry about that." Sanya says, pursing her lips with a bit of embarassment and casting her gaze away from the carnage that she was most involved in. "But uh, how come you didn't stop us the first time around? We fucked with a lot of stuff before you woke up."

"I hadn't been awoken. When I did, I saw intruders, and I followed my purpose to the bitter end- or so I thought… This isn't supposed to happen." She admits with embarassment in her voice.

>Congratulations! You won! The Anubis and the treasure is now at your mercy.

14:25, 7th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 90L & 90P | You have 2143s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

RANK UP

SANYA: Changes with Sanya are now complete. She is a R3 Highlander who is now starting training in heavy armor. Here is the manifest of her abilities for review.

Highlander R3 (STR) XP: 0/800

+3 damage die, -1 less AP on weapon draw, Hit penalty -1,

R3 MANEUVER | BACKSWING: Can attack the same target an additional time for 2 AP instead of 4 This was initially one of her background perks but it ended up being implemented in the new skills list so I chose it for her. Your other options were a 50% dmg ajacent target cleave, and a 200% damage boost with an accuracy penalty

Quality Iron Greatsword With Stats | HIT: 3 | DMG: 12 + 11d8 + 1d8Fire | CRIT: 20x/1.5/Sl

Scalemail With Stats: Wgt: 16 | Dodge: -4 | Max+: 3 | Resists: Force+20, Pierce+30, Slash+25, Fire+20 |

HADIMA: Changes with Hadima are also complete. She is a R2 Whipwielder, as before, but whips have been heavily changed as can be seen below.

Whips R2 (DEX) XP: 123/400

+2 Hit, -1 AP cost

Distinguished Lion's Tail With Stats | AP: 2 | HIT: 5 | DMG: 27+2d12 | CRIT: 20/x3.0/Sl

Claws With Stats | HIT: 6 | DMG: 3+4d8 | CRIT: 20/x3.0/Sl

A'NAN: You better get ready for some fucking magic, because you just ranked up in casting!

Casting R2 (XP: 53/400)

+2 Attunement, +0.6 affinity per cast, +2 Dmg Die to all spells

Along with the above, you can choose from 3 different choices.

Spellblade: Add your magical damage die bonuses to your melee weapons and change their critical effect to your most attuned element

Geometrics: Improve upon the theory of one shape type of spell and shift its statistics. For instance, you could permanantly improve the range of circular AOE spells by 5ft, or make cones and lines wider, even improve the length or width of a bolt so that it can hit ajacent targets This one is a huge work in progress, as shapes would have to be defined in the spell (which they usually) are and each shape would have to have changes to it balanced

Specialist: Double affinity gains with one element, but reduce all other affinity gains by 20%

Varied Interests: Choose 3 elements, all 3 gain an additional .4 affinity per cast.

Tireless: When you cast without charges, you gain a +10 bonus to the fatigue roll.

Destructive Intent: Your spells are more volatile, who needs fancy affinity tricks and geometry when you can blow stuff up? +1 Damage Die.

HOT TIP: If you pick one of these and decide you'd rather have another later, it's not possible to exchange it without a hefty price. However, you CAN forgo a rank-up, missing out on the retroactive bonuses and setting your EXP to zero in exchange for taking another one of these Rank 2 choices. However, your next level-up will be treated with one experience tier higher. This can also be done at later levels, such as rank 4. You can forgo any rank to take advantage of previous bonuses, provided they do not overlap or are not marked as mutually exclusive such as brawling stances. The same goes for Sanya's 2 handed weapon moves, she cannot for instance use backswing and cleave at the same time to cleave twice. That would be full of shenanigans.

Quality Petrified Staff (Fox Lantern) With Stats: HIT: +0 | DMG: 11 + 5d12 | CRIT: 18/x1.5/Fi

Astral Frostclaw With Stats | HIT: 3 | DMG: 4d8 + 1d8 Frost | CRIT: 19/x2.0/Fr

YALDA: Is undecided. She could be the party's healer, or some sort of weird combination of rogue and gigalo which you guys seem to be privy to. For now, I'm leaving her unchanged with only a little group experience built up. She didn't really fight all that much anyway. Maybe we can give her some sort of morale boost skill? Honestly an actual 'motivation' skill that gave the party bonuses at the expense of yourself would be awesome for that guy who always plays a fucking business man or a worthless ass weed wizard

>>290148

I hope just by reading this you guys will know why this post took so goddamn long

>>290148

>Along with the above, you can choose from 3 different choices.

Initially it was 3 different choices but it ended up being 7 because I was like "fuck it I need to test these anyway" and threw them in. You can only choose 1.

>>290148

I vote for Tireless

Also bring the Anubi up to date on the current situation of the crypt : it's lost and forgotten everyone is dead and the only reason she was awoken is because we are stupidly curious and awoken her ourselves. Now we're going to leave, what does she want to do ?

Appologies to the girls for putting them in danger.

>>290148

Also tireless.

>>290538

>>290241

>Tireless

Really? What do you guys want tireless for?

>>290538

I tend to like some abilities that are useful in dire straights. That being said, you seem pretty surprised that it got picked twice. If it's the case that you think it's a dead pick, why did you include it?

>>290561

I don't make dead picks. It's pretty useful but it's a gamble, I was just surprised that 2 people went for it is all.

I expected something like specialist, destructive intent, or spellblade to be heavy first picks. Tireless isn't terrible it's just not what I expected.

Given the roll for it is something like 5x spell level base 10 on an endurance roll, which you have no bonuses to, it's okay. High level spells and botched rolls can really hurt though. I remind you, you'll take nonlethal damage, so if you do your health (which isn't much) in spell damage you'll go unconcious.

>>290569

I'm tossing my vote in for Destructive Intent. We don't want to get into the situation where we have to cast without charges in the first place, and an extra damage die per spell could keep us from getting there.

>>290597

>Destructive Intent

supporting

Any tiebreakers?

>>290569

Switching my vote to destructive intent, this >>290597 makes sense

Take the Anubutt with us.

>>291551

I know y'all niggas been waitin' for update but I got a test in 2 days and neglected the fuck out of my studies. Give me until then, if you would.

>>290151

>skill selection

+1 for tireless

I like caster generalists. A skill that allows a bonus to fatigue roll effectively adds an extra cast of any spell we have access to. (haven't reviewed the casting rules, but I am assuming OP picked a number high enough to be relevant for that bonus)

That beats out more damage per cast because in some situations we may need to rely on non-damage spells like buying time wtih CC or summons.

Damage is basically the most available ability we have - anyone in our party can do damage and there are craftable items that can pile that on.

General spells grants versatility which is more precious

>battle overview

am kind of salty at Nizera and the girls for not listening to MC and disengaging properly so we could execute the withdraw and counter-attack maneuver. Winning big fights by just powering through is less fun because it's sort of like beating fights in MMOs with just auto-attack and random button mashing.

… actually just want to clarify - did we just get bad luck on withdrawal attempt, or was the withdrawal not possible to begin with or did Nizera and the girls screw it up by not listening to MC's orders?

>to do next

>Sanya looks close to death!

use stroke of mending on Sanya (would be nice if skill descriptions/limitations were in the party sheets as well, or maybe a separate glossary so we don't need to go searching through past threads everytime)

we should finish searching the place - did the lever do anything other than sic defenders on us? any new containers/areas opened? if not, lets get back to our camp with anubis, MC should go over everyone and heal up those most hurt

>Undead Anubis

get a promise from her that she won't try to attack or hamper us from this point on.

to start with we should ask her what properties/limitations her undead status implies. Her injuries, how she might recover and whether we can help should be a priority.

>>291674

>Taking the anubis

Wait what ? We've bearly begun to deal with Nizera (Who Hates undead) and you want to add the anubis on top of it ?

We kind of robbed her crypt and un-animate her friends I don't really think she wants to join us.

We could ask her what's her plan now and maybe offer to help her with that as reparation, that would make more sens than just offering her to join us.

>>291686

I haven't suggested we include her in the party yet, but if we are not about to kill (and I see no reason to do that right now) than leaving her bleeding on the ground seems like a dick move.

If she is a guardian of this ancient location than we have current access to a sentient witness of an ancient era - a potential treasure trove of info.

If we are going to have a civil conversation with her, probably best to at least try to patch her up from wounds we inflicted on her after we invaded her 'home'

And we are also all probably going to be more comfortable talking and taking care of our own wounded companions back at our camp rather than in middle of a fight scene.

>Long term decisions regarding Anubis

we don't even know if this guardian can leave this place or if an undead companion can be sustained in long travels For all we know she might burn in sunlight or need fresh brains to remain awoken. There are details here that need to clarified just to know what our options are. For example, a middle ground alternative between leaving her here and taking on a random undead anubis as a permanent party member would be to escort her to a city with an Aka'bell temple, whose archivists and historians will probably cream their robes at the chance to talk to a resident that lived way back when this desert was habitable.

Also, a potential practical application for us is that if she is from an era of like a 4+ centuries ago, or better yet, 1k+ than just as a casual Normalfag of her time period she could possess knowledge of lucrative locations that were prominent repositories of wealth/knowledge in her time period, but have been forgotten and not yet uncovered since.

>>291689

>Normalfag

ty auto-correct bot for making me look extra edgy - obviously 'nor'+'mie' wasn't enough here

>>291674

>Tireless

Alright, since we're still in tiebreaker mode and I do my test today let me clear some stuff up and do some more leveling. My goddamn apologies boys, I did not mean for this update to be postponed so hard. At this point you should all personally fuck the anubis for what I've done to you.

>Tireless.

When you run out of charges, you have a difficulty endurance check equal to the spell's level and difficulty +10. With tireless, the +10 is countered and balanced.

Without tireless casting frostbolt 1: 10+5+5 (spell level 1, the tick next to frostwave, plus frostbolt is a difficult spell.)

With normal endurance you would need a nat 20 to pull this off without charges. Because it goes off endurance, it's very difficult for a mage-built character to do this in the first place.

With tireless, you only need a 10. 5+5.

However, if you botch the roll you take the spell's damage as fatigue damage. This can knock you out.

>battle overview

Nizera disobeyed you, but Hadima and Sanya were combat locked. They would've taken deadly attacks of opportunity with their mobility because Sanya is armored.

>would be nice if spells were described

I meant to put A'nan's character sheet with more detail in a separate paste so I'll elaborate the spells once I figure out how to statblock them.

>did the lever do anything?

Yes! It opened the 3 huge doors to the tomb behind the anubi guards, which likely has magical items and say, a thousand silver in it *wink*.

>Aka'bel tower

There is actually an Aka'bel tower nearby you could take her to, if you want to take 5bfc0e's idea. You can drop off your 2 scrolls, get your massive Aka'bel boost and B-line for femdom city to deliver the last scroll.

>>291712

>This can knock you out.

Conveniently, we have 4 cute girls to carry our unconscious and very much unable to resist body back to our very private tent whenever this occurs. Nothing says rapebait like going weak in the knees and passing out.

Also in my opinion it's more interesting from a narrative perspective than just dealing more damage. We could have some cool last stand scenarios where we just need that one extra spell and so on. I vote for tireless.

>>291691

Isn't it only robots and normalfags that use norm-ie anyway.

>>291712

>>291689

>There is actually an Aka'bel tower nearby you could take her to, if you want to take 5bfc0e's idea. You can drop off your 2 scrolls,

This sounds like a good plan, if the anubis is interested in that.

>>290148

>YALDA: Is undecided.

how about all points into lewd/religious?

sorting through all possible 'development' influences on her duing our travels, exposure to lewd stimuli was probably the most consistent one

>near exclusive company with sex obsessed MC and lewd-enabling monstergirls

>ever increasing adoption of lewd lifestyle changes such as constant nudity in casual setting, communal nude sleep arrangements, constant witnessing of sexual interactions between MC and other girls, erotica as primary entertainment

>up close and personal brush up with sex slavery

>direct participation in week long set of sessions of erotic torture of a prisoner

>as a Poseida follower, witnessing direct positive effect of above lewd application into shifting loyalty/alignment of a direct enemy

>witnessing semi-consistent positive (for her alignment) outcomes from a lewd-focused approach to most situations - DID rescue, shrine restoration and improvement, generally positive interactions with most other people worth the trouble

looking at that list, have to wonder if a religious/spiritual person looking for a new path in life would be gradually arriving at some pro-lewd conclusions while going through that. Particularly the part where a Herusk follower was turned away from path of pure evil with sexual over stimulation, starting from a situation that was looking to have no good ways out.

>>291712

>There is actually an Aka'bel tower nearby

what's this? background knowledge of party members or did I miss a post?

>>291761

voting for tireless now. what's some puny extra damage vs. mechanics to support an iconic heroic trope of passing out after pushing oneself past all expected limits

The Anubis hangs her head in confusion, gripping her wounds and taking on a disoriented face. You approach her calmly and kneel beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

>19+5 knowledge, extra pass!

You know that the undead cannot heal through normal means. Not even your godly power can mend her, she needs human flesh. It is the snack of most ghouls and creatures of the dark.

>Nat 1 willpower

But you'll be damned if it'll be your blood! No way are you getting eaten alive, the idea makes your skin crawl. You clear your throat nervously and pull your hand away viciously, placing it behind your back. "A-ah, I see! She needs our flesh to recouperate. I'm afraid to say this is the only way undead can recouperate." You mention as you look over your friends.

"He is right… If I do not have flesh to replace what I have lost, I will remain ruined here." The Anubis confirms, looking at you. Her eyes speak pride, hunger and acknowledgement all at once. You think she is impressed with your know-how, but you think she equally sees you as an answer to the predicament.

The party looks at one another expectantly, chewing lips and fidgeting with fingers. "I w-would but I'm a little weak myself…" Yalda says.

"Oh fucking FINE!" Sanya finally announces, stomping forward and dropping to a knee to extend her hand. "J-just fuck my shit up, I guess."

The Anubis looks up at Sanya, then down at her offered hand. She hesitates, eventually taking her arm in both hands and viciously setting her teeth upon it. As Sanya bites the scales of her other hand to weather the pain, you step behind her and place a hand on her shoulder instead. It's the least you can do. Yalda seems to get the same idea and your combined powers easily heal the salamander.

>Despite having her arm chunked by an Anubis for a couple minutes, she's put at about 90 health with quite the arm injury. A small price to pay to save a life.

Blood drips from the chunks of fresh salamander flesh on both ends, staining the pale skin of the anubis and diffusing through the sand beneath your feet. You feel terrible about her being the one to do it, but nobody else rose to the challenge. You suppose it couldn't be helped, your former opponent was on her last leg.

"I hope that makes you feel better, miss?" You trail, expecting an answer. The whole party circles the new girl like friends around a campfire, despite the smell of rot and lack of marshmallows.

She snaps her gaze to you, "Al'seketh, I was called. It is no longer of importance to me, I am simply a guardian now."

"A guardian of not much I'm afraid, this place has been untended for years!" You reach into your pocket and pull out the note you snatched earlier, reciting the basic details to her as you offer it. "This was found on the corpse of the latest tender, and I do unfortunately mean late. He killed himself, supposedly. The tablets in the back are broken and most of the left wing is caved in."

Al'seketh purses her pearlescent lips and tauts a frown, the terrible news causing her little stiff paws to curl, her fur sticking up like the needles of a hedgehog. "And so you saw it fit to raid?"

"It was an accident!" You assure her. "I pulled the lever to find out what happens. I left most of the offerings that were meant for the goddess alone and focused on storeclosets and recording secret lore, so that the story may be spread. Here!" You take out your notebook and hand it to her, allowing her to skim through your exquisite notes and beautiful pictures. Even the anubis is sufficiently wowed by your autistic- artistic skill.

"This is exact… How did you draw this? These aren't charcoal rubbings, what sorcery did you commit?" She says, a hint of disbelief in her line of questioning.

"No joke, my little ototo drew that shit by hand. I had to sit there for eight hours and guard him while he did it." Sanya backs you up, giving you a little ruffle that ends in her soaked bandages scuffing your hair. Ew!

"Hey! Don't bleed on me!" You retort, scooting away toward Hadima.

"Yeah~, don't bleed on him!" She repeats childishly and with self-awareness, hooking her arm around your shoulder and tugging you into her breast instead.

"C-Can you two tone it down for one minute!?" Yalda, ever the fun-killer, stops the horsing around by chiding in.

You unwrangle yourself from the two girl's competing grips and continue; "R-Right. I'm a servant of Aka'bel and scholar. I couldn't pass this place up. In fact, I'd say you're the best find in this whole burial! You know the whole story of what happened here and could reveal some important information to me and my colleagues! We were actually just about to leave and head to a library I spotted. If you wanted to come with, they could surely use your knowledge and in return would likely help you find new purpose!"

>13+7 persuasion, pass.

Staff -- Classic staff, usually an ornamental rod. Aside from being used as a usual melee weapon, when channeling spells through a staff, you add 5ft of range to any spell that has a range. This does not affect touch or AOE spells.

Runebranch -- Runebranches do pitiful damage, except when it comes to casting. Runebranches are attuned to a specific element or set of elements and add an extra damage die when used as a focus for the spell. This means if you are disarmed of your branch, you lose the bonus. It takes one hand to wield properly.

Orb -- A large, glass marble cradled in the hands like a crystal ball. The intricate designs held within the glass often depict spacescapes and Eriad. An orb sees into the defenses of the enemy and defeats them before they've even begun, allowing your spells to bypass 5 points of damage resistance.

Cursing Totem - A small trinket with a vicious atmosphere, such as a poppet or tiki, that excels at singling out nuisances. The cursing totem restricts the maximum range of all ranged spells to 60ft, but allows you to attack directly. Targets will garner no terrain bonuses, nor will they be able to hide behind friends. Your spells descend from the skies!

Metztli -- These circular plates are made from rare materials and inscribed with runes or embedded with rare stones to improve their draw of magical power. They are attached to the hand via several straps looping around the fingers and thumb as well as the back of the hand, with metallic padding over the knuckles and fingernails. These ritual gauntlets allow an unarmed attack to be added to a touch spellcast. In addition to afflicting one with burning hands, you also punch them!

Censer -- A pot attached to a chain with holes drilled into its bulbous top. It releases magical energy as a mist, allowing one to spread a spell over several squares as opposed to just a single target. When attacking a target ajacent to you, you affect the 2 squares directly left and right of them and split the damage.

Amulet - The most versatile of objects. A simple piece of jewelry, a hanging charm, designed in any way that pleases the caster. All an amulet does is focus spells. The details of the amulet are up to the creator's wits. Perhaps it is designed to enhance damage, or configure the geometrics of a certain school? The sky is the limit! The sky being the amulet table.

Might be best to drop the types of weapons mages are likely to use and waht they do now, as well as describe how "Metzli" work

>>291870

>>Nat 1 willpower

>>OP subtituted best girl to be zombie food rather than himself

does this MC even deserve a harem?

>Girl who just got hurt defending him and than got partially eaten alive because he was such a shitty MC tries to pet him

>"Hey! Don't bleed on me!" You retort, scooting away

what…the…fuck?

>>291879

>>"Hey! Don't bleed on me!" You retort, scooting away

It's a bit hard to tell from text but it was a playful response and not an actual angry one, if that helps.

Them's the dice though, puss out on getting your hand eaten.

>>291881

ah, well than I may have over-reacted a bit. I retract my suggestion about the training.

though that Nat 1 fail roll would be far more palatable if it was made by the players and not DM. I understand that fight scenes flow better when they are presented as one scene and that requires that DM rolls everything - but after the fight scene I am counting 3 Charisma/Persuasion, 1 knowledge and a crit fail Will roll for MC that players hadn't made but are left to resolve the aftermath of. Perhaps next time you could just give us DCs to pass and have us roll these social checks?

>>291884

If I did not handle reactionary rolls, the quest would be sluggishly slow. This is the price of playing via imageboard on cyoa mode. The willpower checks are made as I make up the scene and rolls from the characters come in. If I had you guys roll for EVERYTHING then the posts would be 100 characters long and I'd have to stop every time A'nan does anything. It's not feasable. As for the charisma rolls? I tend to do those at random and that's something I need to stop, mostly to see how a character's first impression is on a more randomized basis.

THAT SAID: Out of 10 fucking posts over 7 days, not a single one of them had a roll on it. If you're talking to someone, roll charisma and I'll use it, I guarantee it.

>>291885

>Out of 10 fucking posts over 7 days, not a single one of them had a roll on it.

ah, i stopped supplying unasked-for rolls because I thought we agreed in prev thread to wait until you tell us what's being rolled for in post (15:23:56 ID: debff4 No.282024) - and we did that to avoid situations where players make rolls about unwritten scenes without any idea of what result they are even trying to achieve

>>291887

Oh yeah…

So, this anon has informed me that I am a huge fuckup with the attention deficit of a retarded lab goldfish who can't even remember his own system. I did not engage you guys once, and thus the rolling was once again, my fucking fault.

So, to remedy this I will interact now. If there's anything you want to say to Sanya about the whole bloodletting thing to possibly get bonus points or tie loose ends, make that charisma roll now with a DC of 10. Should be no problem.

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>291888

Once we get back to camp, propose MC personally changes the badnages for anyone hurt, starting with Sanya.

It would be in fact best he always does that as his ability to clean stuff with Arcane Feats should make bandages easily reusable and sterile - regularly cleaning and reapplying them to any wounds that our Stroke of Mending doesn't fully heal should be the standard way to handle such injuries.

While taking care of her, mention that it wasn't fair how it turned out:

he lead them into a dangerous situation out of his own curiousity and Sanya went with to protect him from his own foolishness

in haste to satisfy that curiosity he screwed up preparing a proper battle plan and the party had to fight surrounded on all sides, and Sanya got hurt badly

than he was the primary decision maker on sparing and helping the undead guardian - and Sanya had to step up to be the one hurt to achieve his desired results

It hasn't escaped him that it seems like he has recently been making decisions for which she keeps paying the price - even in situations like what just happened when nothing was stopping him from stepping up but his own squeamishness.

Assure her that he will try to be better about it in from now on, because she is just an amazing girl to travel with and he wants to her stick around for a long, long time. And he is not just trying to butter her up in anticipation of their visiting Femgoria and her likely holding his leash.

>>291893

>reminding Sanya about the leash

>with Hadima around

We gonna get Tenderly Loved

>>291893

one giant lol at this discussion resulting in a just-barely-passes-DC roll

also, I am glad we are going back to that DC declaration/roll pattern because I liked that change and based on last series of updates just figured OP didn't and decided to quietly drop it.

>undead needs human flesh to heal

given that there are bunches of races in this world, something special about humans that only their flesh is suitable? Or is it a sentience requirement of some sort?

Also, can Gula store corpses without them decomposing? we off a few raiders and might be able to just trade with sentient undead guardians we meet in the future

that always seemed like a counter-intuitive requirement to me becaues usually undead as a concept serve to be a threat specifically via being resistant to damage, hard to kill, long enduring. But if they need flesh to repair any damage, they become more fragile than living beings - I could see why that's reasonable from a scienctific viewpoint, but just seems like they lose their most defining qualities.

>>291880

>read a plan for cbt femdom

>my more recent fetish

>setup flows neatly into hurt/comfort femdom, also a fetish

>mfw when 't'was just a joke mate'

bummer

>undead Anubis

Handing her over to Aka'bell temple is nice and all, but we shouldn't neglect our own interview while we have access to her.

I am hesitant on how to propose a line of questioning that won't leave OP with a task to write a history textbook or a bunch of extra lore all of a sudden

Can MC just make a few attempts at exploratory conversation about her past, her era, maybe make an emphasis on the Wonders, richest cities, libraries, temples, forts and any other major locations?

Try to get an overlay of any leads she points out onto our own map?

>Aka'bell tower

If MC introduces himself as a new follower of Aka'bell seeking to uncover lost knowledge and lore, perhaps they might have some leads for us as well - MC should offer our services as an adventuring party that would be willing to cooperate on research expeditions and prioritize Aka'bell temples as first-chance buyers on any noteworthy findings.

>supplies

We found quite a lot of cash, so we should stock up on journals/paper/writing/drawing materials and all the tools they can spare that a research expeditionary force might find useful.

Ask about any tomes they might have on magic and enchanting.

>>291990

>I just assumed OP didn't and decided to quietly drop it.

No sirree, I love the idea, I just completely forgot because I'm as reliable as Jexx and Pissed Paladin combined and divided by 3.

>given that there are a bunch of races…

Human moreso means sentience in this regard. Non-'human' races work, so long as they're not animals.

>Can gula store corpses without them decomposing

Gula is a void dimension, it does not exist outside its own time frame so they would rot eventually. Besides, only the blood of the living will do. If the flesh isn't fresh, it's worthless to the undead.

>always seemed counter-intuitive

It isn't when you factor in that eating one guy alive can bring a 500hp abomination back to full health with extra DR. OOC info but interesting to your question: The Anubis had 150 health originally, but she ended up having an effective health of 300 because she kept lifestealing the things dying around her and adding it to her DR. Undead can sustain by picking people off and eating them mid combat. It's a feature, but admittedly one that wasn't exactly stewed upon or really set in stone, just what I think is cool.

>cbt femdom

The only thing I could ever remotely get into in that sphere of femdom is fearplay where they don't actually do it but threaten to so you have to beg. Not that I wouldn't write it, I just think "why tho?"

>Writing a bunch of lore.

It's a challenge but it's worth it in the end, as I get to expand my universe.

>>291893

>Sanya went with to protect him from his own foolishness

>"I'm with you, ototo!" Sanya pipes up. "I'm just itching for some adventure."

Nop she came because she is as foolish as us, so I say we do apologize but rather than making it dramatic we should thank her for helping us and being at our side to do foolish shit with us, thanks to her ( and the other girls) we got some sweet sweet loot. also don't speak of loot in earshot of the anubis

The party returns to camp and immediately gets to work packing up. The stakes from the spare tent are drawn and bundled, the canvas is folded around the main shaft, and the whole thing comes down like a felled tree with a flick of sand. There's plenty of packing to do, but for now you sit alone in the Haremolakras with Sanya, tending to her wounds.

She's completely undressed, her armor a pile of scales in her section of the storage. As you pad her nude, scarred body with a damp cloth and undo her bandages, you can't help but feel overcome with guilt. The gaping hole in her arm is a reminder of your feeble will. "Sanya…"

"Hmm?" She asks through grit teeth, looking your sad face over. "Something wrong, Ototo?"

"I feel as if I've disgraced you today. I am the cause of your wounds. I was the one who wanted to save our newest companion and you ended up paying the price for my squeamishness. I'm a terrible friend to someone who's been the highlight of my adventure- and I'm not just saying that to butter you up, since you'll be holding my leash not too long from now." The bandages in your hand are treated with some of your reagents, the blood caught in the fibers draining as drops into a bowl you've set up, leaving behind a pristine white bandage to be repurposed. You apply the brand new gauze after wiping down her wound, caution and care in your movements.

She smiles at every compliment, her pleasant laughter shaken by the pain of being cleaned. "Oh, don't be like that buddy! It's what big sisters do! I wouldn't have let you even if you had offered. I-I was just waiting for Hadima or Nizera to maybe take the fall first…" There's a small pause filled by the zip of cloth knotting, her bandages are finished. "And you're the highlight of my adventure too. So, since I did get hurt, maybe you owe me a little?"

Your groin reacts to her tone with a twitch, your cheeks glowing crimson. "Very well." You swallow, "What is it you desire, big sis?"

She blushes furiously and fails to hold her smile back, settling on hooking your neck and pulling you into her small bosom. "Oh you little sneaky… One of these days you're going to make me go too far, you know~. But, I guess I do deserve a little reward, so how about a kiss?"

"I think that's reasonable…" You mumble into her titflesh, a little disappointed 'too far' wasn't today. So, you shuffle your way up her front and push her back onto the mountain of insanely comfortable bedding you've collected, puckering your lips and closing your eyes with nervous stillness, expecting her to take the lead.

She does, your lips connecting with a subtle, flutter-inducing pap. You part lips with her as the feeling churns like a hot breeze in your stomach and connect your tongues, slurps and small sounds of content escaping the two of you. You breathe steadily through your nose as you melt into her, your hands finding purchase on her tight sides. Her abs are chiseled but plush, pleading you to continue groping.

It goes on for a while, but eventually you hear footsteps and quickly disconnect from her, catching your breath. You look eachother one last time in the eye, smiles crossing your faces. You can't wait to get to that city.

>Sanya, +5 romance, +10 heat!

The night approaches fast, you work on Hadima's wounds and make sure Nizera is just as well. You clean so many bandages that your bowl is half-full of blood by the time everybody's topped off.

>The Haremolakras is packed and the party is ready to move again

>As the darkness enroaches on your party, a worrying storm begins to stir. The flaps of the Haremolakras have to be closed and movement is staggered. You might need to move in the morning.

>You roll a 6+14+5+2 survival against the cold, pass.

>Hadima rolls a 10+14+4+9, easy pass.

>Sanya rolls a 17+14+2, also a pass

>Yalda rolls a 6+14+2, failing. Fortunately, she's only a little chilly and seems to have a cold that shouldn't affect much of her ability.

>Nizera also doesn't do well in the storm. She seems to grasp the same cold as Yalda.

>Your Anubis is dead and doesn't give a fuck if it's hailing icicles.

>You arrive at the tower of Aka'bel on the 9th of Sha'bard.

The massive stone tower leans out of the dunes with the celestial flag of knowledge flying high from its windows. The stonework is battered and warped but upkept enough to prevent wasting away. The curtained doorways at the bulbous base of the building is guarded by two monks in robes. You're quick to bring your haremolakras closer and step out of your tent, leaving Hadima with the two sick girls to request entry.

The twin guards cross their spears as expected, silent and foreboding. It's not until you lift one of your scrolls that their eyes widen and they immediately separate. You're escorted in by the both of them, past long winding shelves that cover every wall of the small stone tower, they're carved into the base masonry. This place was meant to hold books from its inception. Every winding hall and staircase is sconced in drizzling candles that illuminate the fine titles.

The two monks stop before a counter with a librarian in a silly, familiar turban with a massive, colorful feather. He looks up from his massive index whilst turning a page and addresses you. "Hello, child. What brings you to our repository of knowledge?"

"Sir, he has a scroll! It bears the mark of our lord." One of the soldiers announces.

This changes the expression on the turbanned man to one of intrigue, his dark fingers stroking his beard. "Is that so?"

"It is, sir." You tell him, pulling out your three scrolls of Aka'bel and setting them on the counter. "My name is A'nan, a new follower of Aka'bel. I have traveled the desert collecting knowledge to return to our libraries and this was the closest one. I have vital information that needs preserving." You also take a moment to give him the drawings from your book.

The man before you opens each scroll and gives them a cursory expression, each new piece of information destroying the steadiness of his countenance. He becomes more and more impressed, incredulous. When he flips through your book, he's completely shattered. "By Aka'bel, young man, just how did you get all this information? These aren't charcoal rubbings…"

"I drew them myself, sir." You reply.

"A hand nigh steadier than Aesthea, I say. This is fine work for a hand drawing! And to think I've not seen these texts before, we might have something brand new on our hands! Guards!" He calls over his shoulder, rapidly flipping through your notebook. "Guards, retrieve the gold and make our guest at home!"

The guards quickly vacate the premesis, retrieving from the back a large chest. Another brings you a small cup of tea and bows calmly before returning to other duties.

"I don't think you quite understand the scope of what you've brought us, boy. These three scrolls detail stories of the divine, great ancient history, and medical practices yet untraced! You are very special to have procured all this on your own. I… I fear I do not have a reward proportionate to your discovery. I'll compensate you for your services, it is promised." He explains, drawing five ancient coins from the chest retrieved. "These are worth plenty. I hope you will accept them in exchange for your scrolls."

>3 scrolls of Aka'bel are exchanged for 1500s and 30 favor with Aka'bel!

>Your notebook's information is sold to the library for 450s and 5 favor with Aka'bel

Aka'bel commends your efforts!

>You have unlocked Journey to Babel, gaining a free language of your choosing!

>The cephalon of the tower delivers to you your second reward.

"And to welcome you into our family of scribes, of which it is unquestionable you belong, I present to you something useful…" He draws from his pocket Aka'bel's Honored Scribe. It's a small bottle of ink darker than night in a gilded, transparent bottle necked with Aka'bel's celestial symbol. However, an arcane glow eminates from the base of the runed artifact. "This bottle of ink is hand-crafted by cephalons for exceptional servants in the field. I happen to have this one on hand for you, it's not as personalized but I assure you it can be made so with a little patience. It will never run dry, it is fueled by the desire to know."

You respectfully take the bottle and its linking chain, attaching it to your outfit and pocketing the thing. You won't need to buy many ink supplies, as you've happened to solve the problem entirely as your reward. "Thank you, but there is one last thing I have brought you." You motion for your anubis companion to step forward and step back yourself. "This is Al'seketh, guardian of the tomb all this information was brought from. She's ready and willing to answer your questions, provided you might be able to help her find new purpose as a guardian here, perhaps?"

Al'seketh nods with a smile. "I'd like to return to my crypt with followers, if possible. I'm afraid the importance of your… Library is lost on me, I am meant to guard secrets."

"We're of different worlds, but I'm sure we can work something out miss. Mine is not a place of judgement, you are entitled to run your crypt and bring those that wish to come. Our desire is only to know why?" The cephalon says shakily, drawing his beard out slow and stunned. "You are one special young man, A'nan. In all my years I have never seen a newcomer do so much in one place. Just how did you convince her to be so cooperative?"

"He spared her life and let her eat my hand." Sanya says flatly, smirking at her own unsatisfying, detailless summary and the confusion it ought to bring.

"This only brings more questions, you realize?" He says.

"Ayup." She replies, smugly.

"This will all have to wait. A'nan, honored scribe, I'm afraid to admit that though I've rewarded you, your quest is not done. This is but a small repository, a method of decentralization for protection purposes. Though I have rewarded you properly, I cannot entrust this wayward tower to protect these scrolls. As your first official mission, would you bundle your findings and deliver them to the city in the mountains? They would be more likely to protect them."

Damn, and here you thought your journey was over. Atleast you have an excuse to go to femgoria again! "Of course, I'll deliver the scrolls."

"Wonderful, if there's anything you need, we'll try to help." He says, taking your scrolls and preparing to pack them in a preservatory manner, marking the luggage with fine scripts and notes relevant to the library and their system. He copies these distinctions into his log and sets the box aside for you to take.

"Well… There are a few things."

>Your turbanned bookworm friends equip you with some dank supplies at your request

>A massive bundle of 300 spare parchment!

>A trio of Journals to fill out during your travels

>A sturdy leather book with plenty of pages

>A magnifying glass

>A small box of charcoal rods for rubbings

>Robes of Aka'bel

A hybrid set of short robes perfect for a traveling and lightfooted scribe, equipped with pouches and straps for all sorts of writing materials. Fancy turban optional. +10% reputation with Aka'bel and a +1 to caligraphy and artistic efforts!

>You are now at the tower of Aka'bel, your quest is the same. Deliver the scrolls! You've got a lot of new supplies, but there's still the matter of the Anubis. Though she is handed over and passive, even excited, you've yet to interview her.

>Interview the anubis with three charisma rolls

>You can reimburse gifts for a small boost to favor.

>You can change into your new robes or keep your arcana wizard robes, it's up to you.

12:00, 9th of Sha'bard, Era of Balance

Upkeep: 11L & 15P | Stores: 68L & 60P | You have 6641s | 94s Enchanting | 112s Alchemy

Rolled 2, 1, 17 = 20 (3d20)

>>292675

Rolling for the Anubis interview.

Do we need to pick a new language now? or can it coincidentally turn out to be the very next one we encounter in story

>>292699

Your choice. You can choose now or later.

>>292701

well, in that case I propose we wait to choose later and see if the next time we need to talk to a 'foreigner', it's important enough to use up the extra language reserve.

>>292701

>God's favours

I guess it's not to slow down the storie and probably because no one cares, but shouldn't there be some flavor text with gaining a favor ? So far it felt really video game like "you've got enought point you've unlock this" .I mean those perks are pretty sweet it feels weird story wise that we just have them like that.

>>292712

There is something that visually happens when you choose the language, but it hasn't been chosen yet.

>>292675

>>292695

So yeah Anubis interview (those rolls though…), then we get filled up on supplies if we can and leave for femgoria I guess.

While on the road we could use down times to learn from our companions :

Lore/magic from Nizera, if she doen't want to teach us magic she might be ok in teaching us about her religion. Since we really don't understand Herusk's cult could be interesting to ask her to explain stuff to us.

We could learn Lore from Yalda or teach her alchemy/magic. I think she was missing a few stuff to complete her training in alchemy.

I don't remember if langage lessons with Hadima are completed or not

And finally we could learn some basic combat stuff, like efficient dodging from Sanya. (It could be useful that Yalda learn that too)

>tl;dr : spend quality time with companions on the road while trying to learn stuf from them.

When we inevitably sneeze on the Anubis or whatever from those rolls, I suggest we try to just calmly apologize and just say that we are after all only a 14 year old kid who has never seen undead before, and nervous as a result.

Please come back to us Starglider.

Did OP die in a freak lab accident, taken from us by his obsessive pursuit of breeding real life monster girls through heretical application of biology sciences?

>>295417

Nah, I just think I've run out of steam with this one. 5 threads and down to too few players. Which really blows because I know you guys were enjoying the thread, but the story just unfortunately has no direction it can end pleasantly on, like engi CYOA, it's something that could be picked up at random again but what's the chances of that? CYOAs need to be concise and quick, this is like a DND campaign to the point where it's slow and unsustainable, unending, going into the abyss until it can't be anymore.

That said, I have a really good setting now, my goals are semi-complete. Maybe I'll run a DND campaign of it or something somewhere? For now, I can't see this thread being updated this summer, maybe not even in the foreseeable future.

Sorry, I've failed you all.

>>296097

Do your own thing, we're just passengers enjoying the ride. But you better write a book I can buy or something somewhere down the line.

>>296097

>and down to too few players

will miss this. Between Engineering and Desert, this has become a small but important part of my life. But everything ends at some point

if the low number of players is playing a major reason in why you are running out of steam, perhaps consider taking a break and than porting this story to https://fiction.live/

place was made for CYOA, has smut/monster girl content and a lot more readers who are into these kind of story/games.

>>296097

doesn't feel like a failure. sucks that it's ending but I always liked the open no-end-in-sight kind of stories.

Even when those stories stop being told, at least they leave me with a thought that we just lost 'an observer' and in some reality those cool adventures are still going.

anyway, I hope you don't stop writing in general - I really like your take on mgs and adventures.

>>296097

That sucks, but fair enought : thanks for the story !

>>296185

> But you better write a book I can buy or something somewhere down the line.

That's one of the things I'm doing. I'm actually going to try and put my stuff into a book to support my family to some degree. I'm planning on a cyber noire type deal with drug dealers and prostitutes and already have a shitload of outlining set up.

>>296263

> https://fiction.live/

I didn't know I could store it here and will definitely look into it. If that's the case it may continue at a slower pace here.

>>296431

>anyway, I hope you don't stop writing in general

Oh hell no, I'm just going into more professional endeavors, don't have the time, out of ideas for this, too long, etcetera. I'm probably gonna write until I drop.

>>296438

> thanks for the story

Thanks for reading, it's nothing without feedback. We'll do another one soon, I hope.

Can we at least get a few femdom city scenes before you drop this? Hadima seemed eager, and we weren't opposed. Also, Sanya with a leash.

>>301199

I'm considering bringing it to that website fiction.live that one guy brought up. It'd be a much easier way of maintaining it. /Monster/ is volatile and I realize now CYOAs really gotta be ended quick or it won't be a thread anymore. Maybe there some more fun can be had? Might replace /monster/ all together for me if it's any good.

>>302194

Definitely worth a shot.

>>296097

Honestly I stopped following this because it didn't have any girl I liked.

Sorry but when it kept going on so long with girls I just didn't care for, well…

>>302748

Hey man, understandable. If the characters aren't to your liking it's not an insult. That's like if someone said "I don't watch Alien because I don't like scifi."

I think I'm going to stick to short stories and work on that book that I've got planned out, though. I really need to get my priority in order and work things one story at a time, it's my big bad flaw aside from writing like piss in general