[LP] The Way of the Tiger. (Complete)

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon May 16, 2016 8:53 pm

You make a small hole in the grey gauze curtain and peek through to see the profile of two familiar faces: Tyutchev and Thaum. They are dressed in black priestly robes over their clothing, stripped from two dead bodies in the corner, and they are looting golden ornaments from shelves.

The wall behind them has a carving of a beautiful woman's face, and out of her screaming mouth come a multitude of spiders. Other notable features of the shrine are a small river that runs through its center in a special channel, and a rack of spare black robes standing near the entry.

• Continue on, following the corridor around to the left?
• Reach into the shrine to grab a spare robe as a disguise and leave the duo to their looting?
• Start a fire nearby to draw the attention of those in the temple to the two interlopers?

Avarice · Post by **Avarice** » Mon May 16, 2016 10:14 pm

*reach for the torch*:
"Im Avenger and this is jackass"

Given the mural, I suspect touching the disguise might trigger another one of those spiders that try to get under your brain (there are 2 of those in book 6)

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon May 16, 2016 10:45 pm

Agreed. Getting rid of Thaum the illusionist and Tyutchev the motherfucker seems worth risking a few burns.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Tue May 17, 2016 3:28 am

Haha yeah lets fuck over these guys

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue May 17, 2016 6:17 am

Avarice wrote:*reach for the torch*:
"Im Avenger and this is jackass"

angelfromanotherpin · Tue May 17, 2016 12:27 pm

You use your flint to set fire to a tapestry in the hallway, and then rush to hide in the shadows as you hear footsteps coming.

Make a Fate Roll.

10+1, Fate Smiles.

Half-a-dozen gray-armored guards rush past your hiding place. Tyutchev and Thaum will soon have their hands full. Note on your Character Sheet that you have gained revenge against Tyutchev and Thaum.

Unable to suppress a smile, you slip on, heading left along the corridor. The wheezing you heard when you first entered becomes louder again. Beyond another gauze curtain you find a hallway with bronze double doors guarded by a single figure in gray platemail armor, features hidden beneath his metal mask and helmet, a sickle on his belt.

The wheezing is coming from a giant creature in apparent slumber, atop a horrific ornate gold and onyx statue that you take to be the goddess Nullaq. Water trickles from the ceiling over the creature, giving its grey skin a glistening sheen. The monster's squid-like head is reminiscent of a Kraken, but with a spider-like body. You cannot be sure, but you think it sometimes whispers things you cannot quite catch. Four emaciated Dark Elf slaves slump in brass chains at the base of the statue, scratching at their own bleeding eyes and moaning softly.

You feel the creature's presence weighing on your mind. You grip the Sceptre tighter, feeling its power keep the evil at bay, stopping you from slipping into insanity. You concentrate on getting past the guard.

• Do you have the Poison Needles skill and wish to use it at a gap in the armor of the guard?
• Rush to incapacitate the guard with a Cobra Strike to the neck before any alarm can be raised?
• Use your flint to set the gauze curtain on fire as a distraction and then slip past when the guard investigates?

That's a remarkably unsatisfying 'revenge,' especially because killing six temple guards seems like it would be routine to these guys.

Avarice · Post by **Avarice** » Tue May 17, 2016 1:04 pm

Claiming that was ''revenge'' for 2 murder attempts is too generous.
At best it can be called a prank.

I have an eerie feeling that whatever is in that armor will be immune to poison, but the other option is the obvious fail and I dont think "set it on fire" will work all the time

Needle its eyeballs

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue May 17, 2016 1:29 pm

I'm very tempted to continue our blazing trail as a pyromaniac, but Poison Needles is a blue option, so I guess that's more likely to bring good result.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue May 17, 2016 1:49 pm

I question the value of pyromania and think that getting up close and personal is more dangerous than sniping, so Poison Needles.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue May 17, 2016 3:10 pm

Blue option is blue - share some needles.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Tue May 17, 2016 4:23 pm

You use your blowpipe to spit out a poison needle into the unarmored neck of the guard. He slumps to the ground, but you have already raced in to catch him and ease him down silently. You check that the giant creature is still slumbering and step lightly through the bronze double doors.

Huh, super effective. I was convinced he was going to turn out to be a golem or something.

You enter the sanctum of the Forbidden Sanctuary, a hall lit by a dull circle of flame set into an onyx wall, reminiscent of a setting sun. The black stone here is veined with white, giving the appearance of netting or webbing. The floor is awash with black knee-deep water, presumably blessed holy water of Nullaq.

You creep forward. From alcoves at the side step a handful of gray-armored guards, but they are held in check be the command of a woman who appears on a raised platform by a sacrificial altar. She is dressed in black and has a black snake around her neck which occasionally coils and twitches. She carries a candle in her hand and appears in no discomfort as the wax drips on her open palm.

'Welcome, Avenger,' she says, stepping down into the water in front of you. 'Kwon himself must walk with you to have guided you here. It is said that you slew my former master Shadazar during the invasion of your city, a feat I have only just come to accept. In her absence, I am the Keeper of the Forbidden Sanctuary.'

You ask her why she does not oppose you.

'You have overcome all the challenges of the Rift to be here, there is nothing more I can do to stop you. Your presence represents a greater cosmological battle underway between the gods, who are undergoing a reordering of their supremacy. You and I are but instruments in their struggle. In our secret archive there is a prophecy of a mortal with one eye deciding the fate of the gods. That is why the Black Widow fears you.'

Recalling your recovery of the Scrolls of Kettsuin, you comment that you were influencing the fate of the gods long before you lost your left eye.

'No matter. I will take you to see Glaivas now.' She turns away from you and starts to walk.

• Grab her to hold as a hostage to ensure she takes you to Glaivas?
• Follow her to see where she leads you, remaining wary for treachery?
• Launch a Leaping Tiger kick into the back of her head?

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Tue May 17, 2016 5:00 pm

Trust in anti-ninja honesty.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue May 17, 2016 5:52 pm

Follow her - we grab her and she'll stop her hands-off policy towards rival instruments of fate.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue May 17, 2016 6:25 pm

Follow her.

Avarice · Post by **Avarice** » Tue May 17, 2016 6:36 pm

Grabing her will probably result in getting bitten from the snake on her neck.

Between kicking and following - grabbing and kicking are both the agressive options, so following the principle "which does not belong", Im gona trust in reverse-honesty

Follow her at needle-spitting distance

angelfromanotherpin · Wed May 18, 2016 12:28 am

The Keeper walks out of the water onto the raised platform, where she places the candle on the altar. She gestures back over her shoulder and towards a window.

'From here you can behold the fabled City of Bone, which no man has ever seen and lived to make it to the sunlit world.'

You give her a nudge in the back with your Sceptre to keep her moving and she continues on through a black velvet curtain.

You push past the black velvet curtain into a spacious hall of obsidian lit by the reverse side of the dull fire disk in the wall. Along the side are numerous alcoves blocked by octopus-like creatures, their heads above the doorframe, their spiked tentacles forming something akin to thick prison bars.

'Only once before has an intruder infiltrated into a temple this far down,' she says, 'a group of suicidal crusaders who took a sacred talisman from the followers of Death near the City of Bone. The survivors still pay for their temerity to this day.'

The Keeper walks over to one of the creatures and whispers in some guttural language that you would not believe pronounceable by a human tongue. The creature gathers its tentacles upward, revealing a rectangular block of dark ice. From a sash at her waist the Keeper produces a squid-shaped Amulet of Nullaq. She touches it to the ice which immediately transforms into water, gushing over the floor, revealing the gaunt and emaciated form of Glaivas. He falls straight to the ground within his cell, too weak to stand, his green clothing little more than rags. His eyes struggle to focus, and it seems he recognizes you.

'Your prize, Avenger,' the Keeper says, stepping back with a smile. 'Although in reality he is your doom. I am curious enough to let you take him, for the forces of the Black Widow surround this place. How can you carry him beyond them and up seven tiers of the Rift? You are but a human, I cannot see how you can fulfill the prophecy. My faith in our prophecy is tested.'

• Help Glaivas out of the cell before she changes her mind?
• Demand that the Keeper help him?
• Smash the Sceptre into her smiling face?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed May 18, 2016 1:09 am

Help Glaivas out ourselves.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed May 18, 2016 2:28 am

While it's really tempting to smash her face in, Glaivas is top priority. Help him out.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:59 am

We probably shouldnt turn our back on the priestess? She might cast a sperl

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed May 18, 2016 5:46 am

"Help Glaivas out of the cell" and "don't let the priestess out of our sight where reasonably practical" are not mutually exclusive.

angelfromanotherpin · Wed May 18, 2016 12:33 pm

You rush in to aid your dear friend, helping him to his feet.

'So the prophecy proves false,' the Keeper says, and the octopus-like creature drops its tentacles down to trap you in the cell. 'I have you and the Sceptre, Avenger, without any real effort at all. My ascension to rule is assured.'

You try to move the tentacles blocking you, but every time you do so you are hit with a powerful electric shock from the creature. You realize you will be trapped here in the Forbidden Sanctuary at the pleasure of the Keeper.

The Keeper has the Sceptre and she will be the new master of the Rift. Soon she will lead her forces out to conquer the sunlit world as well.

{Death}

Cue sad trombone noise. Care to pick again?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed May 18, 2016 12:35 pm

If she wants the scepter so bad, give it to her face. Bash her in.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Wed May 18, 2016 1:30 pm

Agreed, give her the sceptre.

Avarice · Post by **Avarice** » Wed May 18, 2016 1:54 pm

I miss out *one* vote and you guys get us killed.
So much for our flawless run.

Im gona go with demanding for help.

Glaivas is still in the cage, even if sceptering her face in works, we still need to enter the cage to get him out.

I dont think she will sound an alarm because if she had the power to do anything that doesnt rely on tricking us, she would have done it already.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Wed May 18, 2016 4:04 pm

yeah get her to get him out, I doubt she has an octopus key on her