[IC] TotM:DC "Terraria: A fresh start"

[Powder Miner]

Satomi curled a lock of her orange hair around her finger as she started to go deep into thought. "Hmm... well, this is actually something of a difficult situation. Because of the level of the other side, we can't just bypass them since they'll attack anyway, and because they're in water we can't burn them. I suppose that we have three options from my point of view... we have the time-consuming option, the destructive option, and the difficult option. The time-consuming option is just grabbing a rope somewhere and having one of us fire arrows which you then reset so we can fire them again; enough time with that, and we can just kill them all. The destructive option would be to find something that floats on water and is flammable, but even if we tether that we'd be putting burning things upstream and that might end poorly. The difficult option is to try to set up a block or drop a container of some sort to crush or contain them, but we'd have to hit and building it would require some strength.

 

...of course, I could just try to build a device that expedites the first option, and then perhaps take inspiration from it to mount on top of the wall, but that would take resources and time too. I think I like that option for its own reasons, because I love making these devices~ ...but, um, it'd be an undertaking of its own." After getting a bit sing-song at the idea of inventing a specialized siege weapons, Satomi gets a little embarrassed, blushing slightly, but she nevertheless turns back to Kusuke to get his input.

[StormLord]

Ruined Castle(Jun):

Spoiler

Int check: 15 vs 8,

Luck: 65,

 

Jun doesn't see any traps, that seemed to be the only one. The door to the right looks like it doubles back into the main hall/throne room. The room at the other end of the hall looks to be some sort of kitchen, the door is in several rotten pieces on the floor to the left of the doorway, failling tables and corroded/rotten cookware litter the room. A door to the outside is open on the other end of the room and clearly hasn't been that way for long.

 

Jun decides to cautiously approach the door leading to the outside and look around for just long enough to check the area for absolutely anything of interest.

 

Jun sees clear footprints in the snow leading to one of the towers.

 

Jun cautiously approaches the tower and inspects the door after doubling back and telling Toshiro about what she discovered.

 

Int check: 1 vs 7,

Luck: 37,

 

Jun walks up to the door and inspects it. It looks like it's just "pushed-to" instead of properly closed, even so Jun doesn't find any traps and so continues inside. The room, if you could call it that, had just enough space to open the door, there were two narrow archways on either side and a set of aging wooden spiral stairs leading to the top of the tower. Judging by the cobwebs in the archways they haven't been used in some time, and the stairs have fresh dust kicked off them.

 

Obviously Jun decides to turn off her stealth field and just carefully walk to the top of the tower with her hands held up to show that she means no harm...while also watching out for traps.

 

Dex save: 11 vs 18,

 

Jun starts to take a few steps up the stairs when she hears an odd.....thumping sound. The sound rapidly starts getting louder and multiplying, dust start getting knocked loose on the steps above her and she finally realizes what happening as a small stone tumbles down the stairs past her....followed by another stone, and another one, and a bigger one.

Jun decides the best course of action at this moment is to turn around and start running back down the stairs, which she succeeds in doing only after being struck by several of the larger stones.

 

Res save: 18 vs 10,

 

Her armor holds up and Jun only takes 11 damage from the trap

 

Jun is downs a Crystal Vial restoring 10 HP.

 

After practically flying up the stairs with her A.G.I.L.E. system Jun reaches the top of the tower and finds a small wooden hatch. Upon opening the hatch and poking her head out Jun is met by a fairly "ragged" looking woman with dark hair, wearing an old fur coat, and holding a rod about two feet long, seemingly made of metal and ice, pointed at Jun's head.

A simple and stern "Who are you?" is the only other thing the woman gives up.

 

Jun slowly but surely raises her open hands up in the universal gesture of non hostility and says "One of the people who are trying to get you out of here".

 

"Right like I haven't tried that at all. You look more like spider food to me, just like the last idiots that came through here."

 

"I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the last group of idiots who came here didn't have a plasma sword, a stealth field, a suit of highly advanced power armor, literal decades of experience, and at least three more people who are just as good waiting below to try and help you get out of here didn't they?"

 

Diplomacy check: 8 vs 4,

 

She thinks for a second before putting the weapon away with a sigh.

"No they did not. But tell me, why come all the way out here?  Do you know what wanders the forests?"

 

Jun slowly lowers her hands and walks up a stair. "Not really, all we knew was that it was holding you hostage and that it was probably less risky than going back into the corruption. So any more information you can give us about the spider would be a great help"

 

The woman seems almost startled when Jun mentions the Corruption, but tries to ignore it.

"Well it's big enough to put a hole in the roof of a building, it radiates ice magic constantly, it takes offense to anyone entering its territory, and for some reason it won't approach the castle. Oh and it's called the Borean Strider."

 

Jun nods at the woman before she turns around and says "Well, then, gather your things, and lets get the hell out of here. We'll escort you back to town or wherever...my name is Jun by the way"

 

"Good to meet you, I'm Rose." The woman followed Jun down to meet up with the others and collect her things.

 

[Sutoratosu]

Lucille waited with the others at the bottom of the tower; One of the many stones which had nearly killed jun made for a half decent seat. Before long she heard footsteps descending the stairs- not just one set but two. Turning to the source as Jun finally made it to ground level, she rose from her spot and stretched. Her beast simply stared at the ragged woman the diplomat carried in tow.

      "So I'm guessing this is her?" she asked "If so, then I'm lucille, and the others can introduce themselves. We should get moving soon though, somethings not quite right about this place... and I want to meet this snow monster for myself."

[Aurorix]

"Heh heh, you're just paranoid of traps." The fishman says to the little blind girl with a shrug,  "I'm sure this place is fine other than that." He then turns his attention towards Rose, and spoke with a big smile "The name is Toshiro by the way. We'll get you out of here in no time so look forward to it." He gives the lady a thumbs up and one could swear his teeth twinkled for a moment as he smiled.

[Chevaleresse]

"Well, we've got plenty of time. Actually. . . How fast do you think you could work if you could, well, work with yourself? I'm not an expert on siege weapons but I could shift you around a bit. Though I don't think it'd actually be that much faster from your perspective. We wouldn't have to worry about ammo afterward, either, since I could just reset the thing. What'd you have in mind?"

[StormLord]

Ruined Castle(Jun, Lucille, Toshiro, Leo, Calvera):

The women gives Lucille a glance, then her beasts, then looks back at Lucille.

"Yes, I'm Rose, and trust me you don't want to meet this thing if we can avoid it."

She gives Toshiro an odd sort of confused look.

"I-I'm just going to go get my things then."

 

After a couple minutes she comes back with a single small bag and three vials of opaque yellow liquid.

"I've only got three of these left, but if we get in a fight you should take them, they'll make you a little harder to kill."
Loot get:

Spoiler

Ironskin Potion(x3): +3 Res for the remainder of the encounter, usable once only, usable as a free action.

 

"So we're on the east end of the lake, and we need to get to the south end to get back to the village.  The way I see it we've got two options, I know a shortcut down to the lake where we can cross the ice to the south banks, that'll be the fastest rout, or we can follow the path through the forest, but that'll take longer.  If any of you have an idea for a path I haven't tried yet though, I'm happy to listen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dye Trader's House(Alyssa):

 

After wandering around the village for a little while Alyssa eventually locates one of the houses by the river that has several clothes lines full of brightly colored garments and a feint chemical scent wafting from behind it.

Making her way around to the back of the house Alyssa would see a man of some undetermined middle eastern origin wearing a stained apron over a quite nice looking blue robe and leaning over a large vat in which he was processing plant matter of some sort.

As soon as she came into view he stopped what he was doing and looked up.

"Oh, you must be one of those dashing adventurers I heard came in last night.  Let me get a closer look at you."

He stood up and removed the apron before walking closer.

"Yes, yes.  You my dear have to be from somewhere far far away, because unlike any of those other....'people' that live here you've got an eye for fashion."

Edited February 4, 2018 by StormLord

[Endlessblaze]

"I have no particular ideas for an alternate route, at least not any good ones. You probbly know this area better then us. But the monster is probbly going to come after us either way right?"

[Aurorix]

"I say we go down the ice banks, or the quickest route. We'll most likely have the fight the beast either way so we may as well cut down on travel time." The fishman shrugs,  "Besides, what's one monster going to do against all of us?"

[Sutoratosu]

"Eat you, digest you, then excrete out whatever's left a few days later. At least, that's what tended to happen when people got cocky around the giant biological weapons back home. But I doubt it's much different on other worlds." without waiting for a response from the fishman, or particularly caring how much the others bitched out over her dropping the detail of 'Other worlds' (the guide had basically admitted they were expecting a bunch of 'heroes' from some distant realms for fucks sake) she returned to the actual meat of the topic "Either way, I agree that we might as well stick to the lake... for some reason I doubt being in the forest will really help when that thing comes for us. No point wasting the extra time."

[Yours Truly]

Jun rather quickly rushed towards the Rose and immediately unleashed a torrent of questions about pretty much everything she could immediately think of about the lake really.

Ulrich Von Lucian-Today at 8:42 PM
"Do you know how thick the ice covering the lake is?"
"Do you know if the monster would be light enough to stand on the lake's ice without creating a crack that would send it and potentially us plummeting straight down into the frozen water? And do you know if it would be as adversely affected by the freezing water as we are?"

"And how well do you know the way to the village? And how fast can you sprint?"
"How slippery is the ice covering the lake anyway?"
 

StormLord-Today at 8:46 PM
"Anywhere from 4 inches to more than a foot."

"The monster makes ice and snow everywhere it walks, I've seen it wandering around on the lake without issue before, and I doubt the cold water would do much to it"

"I can make it back to the village unless it's somehow moved drastically. Still in the stupid little valley right?"

"The lake is covered in ice and snow."
 

Ulrich Von Lucian-Today at 9:00 PM

"How long do you think it would it take us to go through the forest in terms of hours? And how long do you think it would take to go through the ice banks?"

"Because right now the Ice banks seem like an absolutely terrible idea, but I also want to know what fresh hell would await us in the forest before I strongly suggest that we go through there instead"
 

 

StormLord-Today at 9:14 PM

"2 hours to go through the forest, about half that across the ice."

"Last time I tried to run and hide through the forest I narrowly avoided having a tree dropped on me."

 

Ulrich Von Lucian-Today at 9:27 PM

"Does the borean strider specifically hunt you?"

StormLord-Today at 9:36 PM

"It's been trying to kill me for the last couple months, not that that has stopped it from also trying to kill anyone helping me."

Ulrich Von Lucian-Today at 9:37 PM

"Does it go after you first or does it seem willing to attack and chase after the nearest target?"

StormLord-Today at 9:38 PM

"It always goes after me first."

She then took a deep breath and walked back to the rest of the party before she outright said "I can now confidently state that we are about to give the Borean Strider absolutely every single advantage in the fight it will presumably start when we are too deep inside of the snow banks to find adequate cover or change directions and run towards a less difficult to traverse area. And while I would honestly suggest that we send out a fast scouting party down to the forest first to try and distract the strider and draw it in before we set the whole place on fire and head to the village through the snow banks. The fact that the borean strider seemingly chooses to ignore other valid targets and try to hunt Rose down first might nip that plan in the bud if she leaves the castle before it dies, also I can't set a forest on fire quickly enough, and I am not sure if Calvera can keep up". 

[Aurorix]

"The only two solutions I can think of are we kill the beast before it even gets close to Rose or we have Rose bait the beast into a trap then we swarm it while it's distracted. Also, Rose, ya may want to drink one of those Ironskin potions when we come in contact with the beast. Unless you think you can take a hit or two to the face on the off-chance it does manage to attack you." Toshiro said giving his two cents on the matter.  "Also we may want to have someone specifically in charge of protecting Rose, so she doesn't take said hit to the face."

[StormLord]

Rose turned to look at Toshiro.

"Hey, what do think I am?  Made of glass?  That I'll crack into a million pieces at the slightest tap?  If so you've got another thing coming."

She took a second to calm down a little bit.

"You could try to set a trap and bait the strider into it, but don't let your guard down and be prepared to deal with it if things go bad."

[Sutoratosu]

"Whoa, whoa, hang on," Lucille interjected "Kill the strider? Are you kidding me? Ha...hahahahahahahaa"

     she shook her head, with some obvious disdain just beneath that laugh "Oh that's rich. Kill it? And waste the resource of a perfectly good giant monster? Really, even when there's an entire damn army sailing to this island to kill everyone and everything on it, who will be bringing their own giants? No, no it's smarter to make it submit, than it is to just put it down, in this scenario- from everything I've heard, this is a free siege weapon we're talking about. I doubt it really has a mind of it's own, so with enough effort I can probably get it under new management. MY management; I've done it several times with some of the bigger terrors lurking back home. And once I do make it kneel, from there things would be as simple as calling to it once the fleet arrives..."

[Yours Truly]

Jun stared long and hard at Lucille before she replied with "Alright so I guess we'll just track down the giant monster that regularly kills and eats human beings, and then we'll just do practically nothing to prevent it from trying to kill the rest of us while you yell at it to stop trying to do that and listen to your commands until it rolls over and shows you his stomach like a good boy. Because I definitely don't see any way that could go horribly wrong". She then turned back to face Rose and the fish man before she continued by shrugging and saying. "Also I honestly think that using Rose as bait for the Borean Strider is going to backfire on us considerably if it decides to attack her first the way it apparently did whenever someone tried to rescue her...and actually Rose, do you know where the Borean Strider hunts or makes its nest?".

[Sutoratosu]

"...you know damn well that's not what I meant" the beastmancer turned dead and center to woman's voice and fixed a glare a thousand times more venomous- the entire day she'd spent with them mostly ignoring when she tried to offer alternatives to whatever idiocy was about to commence. It was getting more than a little bit old...  "Obviously it's going to attack us and all- I'm not saying we lie down and let it kill us. Only that there's another way to resolve this mess over than slaughtering a creature that, given our general situation on this island, could help in stopping that hoard of diminutive savages from murdering everyone. Why kill a stray dog when you could establish dominance instead, turn it into a guard hound?  I find it ironic how you sit here and spew the sarcasm, when not even a full hour or two ago, I did something very similiar when that fucking abomination of a worm came for us in the corruption. Or do you just conveniently not remember how all of you disregarded my repeated warnings that something wasn't right and we probably shouldn't have stepped beyond the flower barrier?"
      She doesn't even give the ambassader a chance to respond before turning to where Rose's voice was previously "though, all of that aside, I do admit that knowing the areas it regularly stalks or where it rests would make things much easier, regardless what we do."

[Projeck]

"Um... well, if it helps at all, it seems things normally up here are made of ice, or snow, from my earlier experience by the edge of this area. Maybe I could try to melt it...?"

Calvera shrugged, scratching her head. She had stayed silent mainly because she didn't want to intrude on the brilliance of the others.

[Aurorix]

"I just have one question for you," Toshiro spoke to Lucille straight-faced, serious and arms crossed. His three red eyes gave an almost piercing like feeling. Almost like a a complete 180 from his care free attitude,  "How confident are you that you can tame this Strider without getting one of us killed or critically injured given what we know so far? Don't lie or beat around the bush, I want your honest input on this."

[Sutoratosu]

"If no one does anything stupid, I'm certain that everyone can get out alive, and that there's a chance I can get it under our control," she says almost immediately- almost as if... she'd been planning the contingency since the very beginning. Which she had, right from the very minute she'd learned the Wife was still alive. "It's an apex predator defending its territory... or just agitated by some unknown factor. Doesn't matter which. I've had to deal with this type of mess too many times to count; in a lot of those situations, simply getting into their heads  is enough... like it was with the worm. The ones who managed to resist those probes, push back against the link- they were almost always smarter than they looked, or driven by pure rage. Sometimes a combination of the two. Those were the ones who needed to be beaten a bit before they'd submitted to my service, or were turned away.

     From what I've scried and everything I've heard, the frost strider will most definitely fall into the latter category of beast. Like I said, my point wasn't that we stand by and act passive as it murders us. No, quite the opposite, if we've any chance to make it useful, or get out of here alive, we'll most likely have to engage it. There's no chance to make it useful if you go in intending to destroy it though- the fight has to be a display of dominance, a show of might greater than what the strider can muster. Because sometimes, might is the only thing monsters understand.... doesn't matter if it's in the form of a man, or a beast."

   

With that said, she turns to where Calvera's voice had been, before turning to where she sensed each individual's heart beat in turn "Nothing I've learned thus far suggest the Strider had ranged adaptations. Its size, mobility, and ability to lower temperature seems to be it's main advantages. But the size also gives us a bigger target, its mobility can be hampered if we destroy a few of the legs, and given it's habitat and abilities, I wouldn't be surprised if it had vulnerabilities to fire. The woods may provide more cover, but fighting it there would put us inside of a kindling box. The shores of the lake leave us exposed, but we'd be able to exploit that potential weakness with much less risk, if I'm right about the biology. We exploit the weakness, and keep our distance while we attack, we can bring it to it's proverbial knees much faster. From there it's just a matter of me going in and binding it. 

       Her eyes harden, like blank pools of liquid platinum, shimmering in the dim light "If I'm somehow wrong about the fire though, or I can't bind it... then so be it. Do whatever needs doing in that case. But at the very least, we need to be trying to harness any potential resource we have for the invasion. We're already way in over our heads in this world- just the 8 of us and a few villagers against an entire army? That gap has got close somehow, or else it's all over."

[Aurorix]

After hearing Lucille's plan the fishman's big smile grew back.  "Well, alright then, let's do it then. I just wanted to test your conviction about this, because I would not risk my life on someone indecisive about this. However, you more than easily proved your conviction about this just now."  Toshiro had no qualms about taming the beast, he was quite for it, actually.  "Then let's scrounge up as much fire as possible. Unfortunately, I myself lack any way to produce it. Actually all I have is copper suit, a potion and these dull iron rods! Ha ha!" The fishman chuckled patted his blades in reference to them.

[Projeck]

"Right. Well, if it comes to it... I'll use what I used back in the last world. But because of what happened last time, I'd like to try to avoid it."

Calvera sighed.

[Yours Truly]

After she heard Lucille state what her plans were in a less megalomaniacal tone she decided to reply by saying "In that case I'll try to keep the damned thing off of everyone's backs for as long as humanly possible. Although I will say that I am going for the kill the moment you show any sign of failure, and I hope that this beast chooses not to react to our initial show of dominance by casually taking out the least well equipped person in this group". Her eyes lingered on Calvera for a few moments underneath her visor as she waited for Toshiro to speak his mind.

And after she heard the fishman state that he did not have a way to cause fires, she slowly walked towards them showed the fishman a rather well decorated copper bow before she said "You can use a bow right? Because we got some arrows with a slime/gel covered arrowheads earlier, and I am pretty sure that you wouldn't need anything more than a spark to set them alight," she then moves back slightly before she gestures at the sheathed katana she was carrying. "I would offer to loan you this old thing, but I am pretty sure that you would be better off with what you already have". As an afterthought she decided to gesture at Leo's direction and say "And perhaps Leo could think of a way to set your weapons on fire without damaging them or its wielder, although I doubt that we have the time or resources to do that". 

She then turned to face Rose and said "And Rose, it might be a good idea for you to hide in the castle or try to make a break for the village through the forest while we fight the beast, as I think I speak for everyone here when I say that it is probably not a good idea to bring you directly to the giant monster that seemingly carries single minded desire to kill and eat you. That and you don't seem to have any weapons with you".

[StormLord]

Rose looked at Jun for a second.

"No I don't know where it nests, but it's never far from the lake or forest, and do you seriously think I've survived out here for this long without any way to take a hit or defend myself?  Because you're wrong if you do, and I'm not going to just sit tight in the castle."

 

[Yours Truly]

On 2/8/2018 at 10:46 PM, StormLord said:

Rose looked at Jun for a second.

"No I don't know where it nests, but it's never far from the lake or forest, and do you seriously think I've survived out here for this long without any way to take a hit or defend myself?  Because you're wrong if you do, and I'm not going to just sit tight in the castle."

 

Jun turned to look at Rose for a moment as they made their response known, and she gestured at the distance almost immediately after the other (other, other) woman finished speaking before she herself said "Well in that case you should lead the way then Rose, as we need to get to the lake's shore relatively quickly and you know this area far better than any of us do...although I still think that you should try your best to hide from the Borean Strider when we encounter it.".

[Aurorix]

"Yea, you're the one with the most knowledge about this area and if you're confident enough to hold your own in a fight I won't stop you." Toshiro nodded towards Jun and Rosa,  "Just make sure not to get yourself killed by the Strider, won't be much of a rescue if ya die on us. Heh heh. So unless anyone has any objections or has something they want to do I say we head out right now. We're loosing daylight as is."

[StormLord]

Rose led the group through a side passage, over some rubble, and down a stairway that had been cut into the hill and that let them out near the shore of the lake.

 

Luck: 47,

 

From there the party manages to start following the edge of the lake around without incident.

 

Random Event: 76,

 

About half way around the group comes across several large rock-like formations on the banks of the lake.  Closer inspection reveals they're not only large blocks of ice, but a group of wolves frozen solid while running from something.

 

Luck: 6,

 

Spoiler

 

 

After making it about three quarters of the way along the lake shore the party starts to hear a distant pounding, the heavy footfalls of the Borean Strider.

A truly massive spider almost as tall as the trees, grey-ish, and somewhat furry.  It was covered in a layer of windswept snow and ice that gave it the appearance of being covering spiked armor plates.  Its abdomen was a large pale globe with a lighter dusting of snow and ice.
Without warning the monster bent down and then sprung upward, hurling itself forward and into the air.

 

Dex check: 7 vs 17,

 

The Strider crashed into the ices a few hundred feet from the party with enough force to shake the snow loose from some nearby trees and send a couple of its legs through the ice.

 

"Well it's never done that before."

 

The Borean Strider starts to pull its legs out of the rapidly refreezing ice, giving the party precious seconds to prepare.

 

 

Init:

Spoiler

10 Strider, Stun

9 Jun

9 Toshiro
7 Lucille

5 Strider

4 Leo

3 Rose

1 Strider

0 Calvera

 

Average Dex: 5

 

Status:

Spoiler

Jun: 24/24
Toshiro: 30/30
Lucille: 28/28

Leo: 24/24

Calvera: 30/30

 

Rose: 68/68

 

Borean Strider: Healthy, Covered in ice.

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by StormLord