Player Plot: Darkness

[bladeofconquest]

Who: Everyone who signed up
When: February 18th
Where: Great Cloud Observatory, Cloud City.
Warnings: Violence, gratuitous faux-Shakespearan dialogue that's probably not very accurate

When you arrive at the entrance to the Great Cloud Observatory on the appointed day, Corrin is already there; this expedition was her idea after all. She smiles as you approach. The square where the Observatory sits is otherwise empty save for her, and an old bearded gentleman seated on a nearby bench some ways away. He glances up at the growing crowd with disinterest, then back to his book.

Corrin, for her part, is in good spirits, a sharp contrast from the wreck she was only a few days before. "Good, you're here. Excellent, I'm glad you could make it. Once everyone else arrives, we'll enter the Observatory and begin our search. With luck, we should be able to find the entrance to Zodiark's temple quickly. Then the real work begins."

Comments

TEAM SIX-ENA, SERGE, REN, PAPYRUS [STEALTH]

[bladeofconquest]

Another door, another lift, this one going up. When it reaches the top, the door silently slides open and you’re greeted with a most unpleasant sight-you’ve stepped right into what appears to be a nesting area for the demons Elidibus mentioned. The sight of the beasts-weird, hunched, horned creatures that look an unpleasant mix of boar and wolf-may cause you to start, but if you keep your wits about you, you see that, fortunately, the creatures present are all, happily, asleep, and your entrance has not woken them. The nests are crude affairs, haphazardly constructed of pilfered materials, and the floor is strewn with brittle leaves, clumps of straw, offal, and most distressingly, gnawed-on bones. Four of the nests are currently occupied, but at the far end of the large space you find yourself in, is a door. If you can navigate the area between carefully enough, you might be able to make it without waking the beasts. Loud noises would almost certainly startle them awake.

Watch where you step.

[rivieran]

Ena, standing at the front, is the first to notice the beasts. She freezes in place, whirls around to face the other three, and quickly puts a finger to her lips. Demons were pretty high on the list of things she wished to have no business dealing with, and she would see that her party did their best not to wake them up.

She gingerly steps out of the lift, and she luckily takes quick notice of some of the debris on the floor through her soft-soled boots just before she would've snapped that twig. She steps back, pulls her rapier - sheath and all - out of its holster, and a faint torch-like Light begins to emanate from the handle. She holds it down to the floor, illuminating the scattered mess on the floor. She glances back at the rest, making sure they've seen this. Be careful.

[timecrash]

Serge nods at Ena, flashing her a thumbs-up. First order of business: mute iMog. Second order of business: switch to [Time Mage]. The added prediction time should be really useful here.

[einspine]

Papyrus probably looks a bit silly. As he's switched to Chemist, that means Cool Scientist is in his passive slot. Which means he can fully utilize his B.A.R.R.E.L modifier skill.

So basically, we have Papyrus in a big, holographic barrel toddling behind the others. His footsteps are light, and he'll pause every few steps as an added precaution. This probably looks rather absurd.

[bladeofconquest]

Ena's light is tremendously helpful and the group manages to make it almost half-way across the room without incident.

As they cross, one of the occupied nests lies directly in their path, though the demon's back is to them as it slumbers. Unfortunately, as the they approach the nest, suddenly in its sleep the creature turns over, facing them...and the light from Ena's sword. The creature shifts in its sleep, batting its face with a claw-like hand as the light begins to disturb it.

It hasn't woken up yet, but it will if the light doesn't go out, and quickly.

[rivieran]

Ena gasps quietly as it rolls over and holds her breath, quickly hiding her sword beneath her cloak and putting it out in the moments that follow.

She slowly turns around, her eyes wide, to the rest and the absurd barrel. What should we do?!

[timecrash]

A flash of inspiration hits Serge. He produces his Slate, changes the background to red, and points the screen at the floor- carefully keeping the faint light away from the nest. "Red light," he hisses. "Not as visible in the dark, right? Saw it in a game one time."

Whether this is incredible stupidity or unprecedented insight depends on whether it works or not.

[einspine]

Papyrus banishes his BARREL just long enough to give a thumbs up and whisper, "EXCELLENT IDEA. ...THOUGH IN HINDSIGHT, I REALLY SHOULD HAVE EQUIPPED US WITH NIGHT GOGGLES."

And back into the barrel he goes! For now.

[bladeofconquest]

Serge's solution proves to be invaluable; with Ena's light no longer shining it slowly begins to settle back into its slumber, and the light from Serge's iMog provides enough light for the group to safely navigate the dimly-lit room and its detritus-covered floor without risking the wakening of the other demons. It seems all is going well.

The group is about ten feet from the heavy iron doors when suddenly there's a rustling sound behind them. At the far end of the room from them, a demon has roused itself. It sits up in its nest blearily, batting its ugly face with a claw for a moment...and then suddenly, it turns and sees the party at the far end of the room.

It begins to growl in anger, slowly pulling itself up. The other demons begin to come to, the growling of the wakened one pulling them quickly out of their dark, dreamless sleep. A fight seems inevitable...but there's now nothing between the group and the door.

If you move fast enough, can get the heavy iron doors open fast enough, you might be able to get inside before the demons can charge you. Of them, only the one furthest away is awake and it seems to be waiting for more of its fellows to awaken before it charges.

Decide quickly; you don't have much time.

[timecrash]

Well, nothing for it. Serge tries the one thing in his arsenal that might work in this situation. It's only a fifty-fifty shot, but as he hears the growling on the other end of the room, turns, grabs hold of the local timestream... and twists.

Of course, this is gonna be a whole lot of nothing if these demons are immune to [Banish]

[rivieran]

With Serge taking the reins for battle, Ena quickly takes the opportunity to cast Invisibility on herself. She slips away from the group and rushes towards the door. She starts fiddling with the mechanism in a desperate attempt to get it open. Hopefully, regardless if Serge's attempt works or not, she can get it open fast enough for them to slip in. C'mon, c'mon!