The island is small and solitary; it's only building an immense tower, stark against a violet sky. The structure looms over all else, dwarfing everything in its shadow as stone gargoyles stare down at you from its heights, their faces fixed and leering. At its base is a set of massive doors that open with surprising ease.
The First Floor
There isn't much to see within the first floor, everything is a washed-out grey and crumbling at the edges. A set of stairs leading up to another door looks to be the most promising path, but before you make more than a step toward it, a gruff voice speaks up, "It's locked." To the side a gargoyle, cracked and missing pieces, shifts in place before continuing, "The door. Need a key for that 'un an erry other floor besides. It's a 'prison' you see," the creature sneers, rolling its eyes and throwing up air quotes in the nonverbal language of sassy teens everywhere. "Prison of...eh....Identity, or sommat. This week. Last week it was the Prison of the Lightless Misery of Existence in General. Week before that was Prison of Flying Fire Swords. You've got some good timing, really."
It stares at you expectantly for a beat before jolting up with a clatter of falling rocks, "Oh! Yes! Keys! You'll be wanting one of those, dare say. Unless you aren't here for the prisoner? Need to use the toilet, maybe? Or the ring-a-ding? Maybe just a glass of water?"
From above a watching gargoyle suddenly shouts, "FOR ******** SAKE, BRUTALIS. JUST GIVE THEM THE KEY."
In wide-eyed offense it looks at you, like can you believe what it has to deal with here? Huffing and clearing its throat in a gravel-filled gargle, it snaps out, "Well, I have the first key, but I can't give it to you without the ol' something for something. Grit for grack. You buff my back and I'll buff-"
"OH MY GOD."
"Right. You get the idea, no such thing as a free munch. In fact, I'm feeling a bit pebblish myself, so here's what we'll do: You go over to yon kitchens," it nods toward a nearby door that wasn't there before, "...and in return for bringing me tea and tasties, I'll give you what you need to move up in the world. Pretty easy, eh?"
The Kitchens:
You step into the kitchen and find yourself in a kitchen from some point in your past. It's identical in every way, right down to the food within the fridge. Write out preparing a drink and snack for the waiting gargoyle, and post it here. In return for your efforts, Brutalis gives you a purple key.
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:20 am
Rep made his way to the enormous tower with a deep sense of foreboding, nothing good ever came of old twisted buildings he was sure. He eyed the door with a grim feeling it wasn't going to be open in the first place before this state of affairs was confirmed by a gargoyle. He listened in bemusement as the creature detailed what the tower actually was, along with what he'd find therein.
When it asked him to go get something he gave Harrison a grim "I'll be back too" look before trotting off obediently to get it what it wanted.
He expected an old, grand kitchen but what he found instead was a tiny one, messy, cluttered and falling apart. But he recognised it. How could he not? It was exactly the way he recalled it, a positively hazardous area, with the cooker caked in indeterminate carbonised and caked on foodstuffs, the sink piled high with awful, unwashed plates, the counters covered in who knew what.
It was home.
And not even home as he knew it as Deus, as he'd known it in his own flat but home home. The kitchen where the only things well stocked were the tinfoil and spoons. He opened the fridge and frowned at the lack of contents, not hugely surprised.
And then he went and got the only snack he knew would actually be there, a pot noodle. He added hot water and filled a - mostly - clean glass of water and took both out to the waiting gargoyle.
"Sorry. Its not much."
Baneful Crew
Dramatic Hunter
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Toshihiko Two
Sugary Marshmallow
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:52 am
Maybe a dungeon wasn't the best choice, but hell. They all had locks around their neck. Maybe this was the best place to start, when it came to getting things free.
He remembered, like having a dream filled in. He and Rep's first meeting, the sewer chocolate, the countless battles. The mornings, the days, the nights. Their room, their stuff. Everything hadn't filled in yet, but he'd gotten a big chunk of it back. It had been mixed in with something, at first. Highschool, spells, treasure piles, and heavy doses of fire... but the Great King had stripped that away.
Rep had never been a dragon, but sometimes, in the heat of battle, it was close enough.
B0nez was here, too, and that was a relief. B0nez was more than a friend, his weapon, and they were bonded and tied up together for better or for worse. This adventure, what they were doing now, it wasn't any weirder than the other s**t that they'd fought through in the past.
Harrison split up with Rep at the gargoyle's request, but only for a few minutes. Everything was faster, working in tandem.
What he wasn't expecting was to step up into his mom's trailer.
He lifted a small ceramic peace frog from the window. Felt real. Opened the fridge. It felt unnerving, being here. Like any minute, his mom would walk in (she wouldn't be back until late). He opened the freezer, and liberated one of the many cardboard boxes.
The picture on the front wasn't exactly what was inside, but it would have been weird if it was. He peeled off the plastic part-way, then stuck it in the microwave. While he was waiting, he handled more things. Turning over sponges, decor, expecting to find something hollow, or fake, or strange, or out of place.
The microwave went off. He peeled off the rest of the plastic, then stuck it in again. He found a fork in the silverware drawer, and grabbed a coke from the fridge.
When the microwave went off the final time, he stacked the meal, the drink, the fork, then headed... to the couch, right? No. This meal wasn't for him. He stepped out of the trailer, and into the gloomy hallways of a stone castle.
"Getting kinda hungry," Harrison grumbled, but handed it over.
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 11:16 am
Second floor
To reach the second floor, you must have the key to open the locked door:
The Second Floor
The second floor contains a round room with five doors: the one you stepped through; a door with three locks; and three more doors, each with an odd characteristic. In the center crouches another gargoyle, a gaudy purple wizard's hat perched on its cracked skull. "Lo!" It booms pleasantly, if a bit dramatically. "Tis a merry wanderer before me! I am the guide, Dirk Bladegod the Excellent. Thou must be on a mission of great import to hath wandered so far and found mine castle!" It pauses for a long moment and then continues a bit awkwardly, as if it's trying to remember something, "Yon locked door needs three keys to open, all turnt upon the same breath. Moving forward is not a task for a solo adventurer, so thou shall needest to keep a party of fellow heroes!"
It leans forward, the star on its hat bobbing excitedly, "But worry not! Though it might seemeth empty of souls, many other travelers are on the same path as thee! We've just used the arcane majicks to summon the Power of the Instance to keep such company from crowding, littering, and throwing parties in our sacred halls! Just look inside and reflect upon thy need, chant the spell Ell Eff Jhee, and thou shalt soon findst a group of like-minded warriors to aid you on your quest. And now..."
The gargoyle's expression crunched up in thought until finally it reaches under its hat took out a book. Several many-sided dice drop and scatter on the floor. "Aw s**t," he mutters, Flipping through the book, the creature began to grumble in thought. Something about Dungeons and Humans. He's too distracted now to be of any further use, and doesn't even offer up a key. Hopefully the other three doors will be more helpful.
The OOC
About locked doors: - they lead to the next level - once used to unlock a door the keys do not disappear, they remain in your inventory. - the lock colors correspond to the keys needed. - any black key can be used for the black locks. - all the locked doors will now have 3 or more keys needed, that you'll have to turn at the same time. One key per hand! This means one person alone can only turn two keys! That's not enough! Do some math. Come back. Figure out how many people you need to proceed and go find them here. - create a journey thread for your group! - once you have unlocked a locked door, that door remains unlocked to you. Meaning you can go back to lower levels without having to screw around with keys and locks to get back up.
Rooms, Keys, and Infirmaries: - Rooms all have a key you can win through luck, lore, and battle! - Have fun! - If you don't currently have the key from a room, you can redo it as many times as needed. Meaning if you should lose a key, you can redo that room to get another one. - Bosses do not reset if you die in the fight (meaning you don't have to start a new fight, just come back and continue the last one) but the other rooms do. - Another boss spawns for every person in the room. You can attack them separately or together, but if there are 3 people fighting, there are 3 bosses to defeat. - You only get to roll once for loot per room battle, no matter how many enemies are there. - If you should die:
You awake feeling wonderful in an incredibly plush bed. Your clothes are sitting in a nearby chair, freshly washed and folded. A small but nourishing meal is beside your bed. Once you're ready to leave, a gargoyle slides in front of the door to look you over. "Oh yes, yes. You're looking quite well aren't you." It gives you a stony smile. "I'm very glad my meagre skills could be of use to you. Now of course, I would never ask for payment for those services which have seen to both your health and your comfort. Those are a duty and privilege, such an honor, really. But..." it hisses, smiling wider to reveal several sets of shark-like teeth, "...as they say, if you think you're getting a free lunch, most likely, you are lunch."
To leave the Infirmary, you must pay by giving up a key of your choice. If you have no keys, you can pay with your limbs, your senses, or your weapon (which can still be used for the minipet and post-event artifact, but no longer during this event.)
The Power of Instance and Ell Eff Jhee: - All characters within the Tower are there at the same time, but in separate instances. Meaning they can't see or interact with each other though they are essentially going through the same things in the same places. - The solitude of the Instance can be countered by the Ell Eff Jhee spell (aka: the Looking For Group thread here) which merges your instance with that of others so that you may all adventure and interact together as a group (max of 5 members!) - As part of the group you can choose to get keys from rooms together or separately. Everyone can do all of the tasks or you can split them up.
Mysterious Strangers: - You can go back down to lower levels and help other groups as a Mysterious Stranger. A Mysterious Stranger is automatically dressed all in black, is extremely dashing, and holds a slight edge of danger. No one knows who a Mysterious Stranger really is, and they don't count as group members. If your group needs such assistance (only one allowed per group at a time!) then just put an (M!) in your group's journey thread title.
A black door with a pool of water at its base.
The door swings open and you are faced with a huge pool, its waters a clear and inviting shade of gold. At the other end, lounging in a high lifeguard's tower, a gargoyle lounges while sipping a large umbrella drink and singing off-key pop songs. You see a dark key glinting around its neck as it ignored any attempt to call across the water. If you want to get the key, you'll have to swim for it!
Fortunately the water is quite warm.
To swim:
You'll need to swim 30 lengths to get across the pool!
Roll 1d6 1 - a shark bites you, taking one fourth of your full health 2 - you swim 3 lengths 3 - you inhale the golden water and it chokes you, taking one fourth of your full life 4 - a piece of whatever clothes you're wearing slips off, you now have less water resistance and you swim 5 lengths 5 - you get a cramp and only swim 1 length, you probably should have done a better job of stretching before entering the water 6 - a shark appears behind you, inspiring you to quickly swim 10 lengths
When you reach the end, the gargoyle lift's his sunglasses and gives you a Cool Guy thumbs-up before tossing you a key. You have to swim back to get to the door, but at least this time you're warmed up and able to quickly cross it without incident.
A black door that emits a wonderful smell.
Writing Prompt:
You open the door to find yourself in a place from your former life. On the table sits your favourite meal, the one you never got tired of. If you could only have one last meal, this would be what you'd ask for. Memories of this meal well up and fade away with every bite your take, each one becoming more of a compulsion than the one before it, forcing you to keep eating until both food and memory are gone.
When you finish your meal, a gargoyle dressed in clothes to match the setting appears with a purple platter in their hands. On it sits an after dinner mint and a black key.
Should you eat the mint, the memory of those meals will return to you. And you will have fresh breath as well.
A red door with the soft sounds of a child crying behind it.
The sound increases as you open the door to reveal a small mirror, about half your size. As you approach it, you see a child-like version of yourself within. A moment it later it looks up at you, eyes wide with emotion and lunged out of the mirror to attack you.
You are fighting a younger version of yourself. It holds all your true memories and is quick to judge you, to bring up any disappointments, failures, lost dreams, and accusations based on them. HP: 20 Auto-damage: 3
Loot (1d4)
[1] [2] [3] [4]
At the final blow, cracks begin to appear on the child's face. Its chest soon follows, cracking like glass and falling inward, revealing a hollow that's empty, save for a red key.
The sound of a crying child emanated from behind the red door. Carefully, because it was entirely possible that this could be a trap, Jordan opened it.
A mirror stood inside, about half his height; he could see a small figure reflected, not his own. Or maybe it was, he realized as the child looked up. It looked just like he'd looked at about twelve years old, and as he slowed and stopped partway across the room, it stepped forward, stepping out of the mirror through a rippling, waterlike surface.
"It's you," his younger image sneered. "Look at you. You never got anywhere after all."
Jordan froze. The child-self skittered across the floor and punched him, rather weakly. "You're a big wimp!" it shouted. "Look at you, you're out of control all the time now! That's pathetic."
Caught between guilt and anger, he growled, "You're not - you're not me, you're an illusion of some kind," and shoved it roughly away.
OOC
Name of character: Jordan Damage done: 3 CURRENT HP OF BOSS: 17/20 Current HP: 77/80 Special ability: Rook's Ambition Species Ability: Sun Hunter - 2d8-8 Current weapon equipped: Refraction - 2d12-6 TARGET: Mirror kid
Toshihiko Two rolled 2 12-sided dice:
10, 9Total: 19 (2-24)
Toshihiko Two
Sugary Marshmallow
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:31 pm
There was a small and familiar snuffly face in this room. Harrison squinted.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Kid Harrison wiped his nose and eyes at the same time. "I wa-ant, my, my moooom," it lunged out of the mirror, and started wailing on Harrison with tiny fists.
He put a boot on the kid's chest, and pushed him into the floor.
"Your mom thinks you're a f*****t." He brought the sword up, and pushed it right into the kid's middle. "Fix your own s**t."
OOC
Name of character: Harrison Damage done: 13 CURRENT HP OF BOSS: 7/20 Current HP: 87 Special ability: King's Regret Current weapon equipped: Sorrow's Tear - 2d12-6 KEYS: Purple (kitchen) TARGET: Mirror kid
Rep eyed the crying mirror with mild bafflement and reached for the scythe, it was instinctual at this point that anything out of the ordinary was generally a very real threat.
He didn't expect a kid to climb out and careen towards him. A kid that was entirely recognisable to him as himself, decades younger, dressed in a fake ninja turtles shirt with the colours all off kilter. The timid kid looked up at him with wide and pathetically helpless blue eyes, brimming with tears.
"You look like daddy." he said, before with a cry leaping right for Rep.
"He wasn't your ******** daddy you dumb little s**t. He's her ******** pimp." and he swung the scythe hard at the figure, sending them sprawling.
"Why are you trying?" the small doppelganger asked, and tilted its head, giving Jordan a poor imitation of his own neutral mask. "You know you're just gonna lose them anyway."
It's trying to make me mad. Jordan gritted his teeth, pulled the cleaverlike blade out, and attacked the mirror-shadow.
OOC
Name of character: Jordan Damage done: 7 CURRENT HP OF BOSS: 10/20 Current HP: 74/80 Special ability: Rook's Ambition Species Ability: Sun Hunter - 2d8-8 Current weapon equipped: Refraction - 2d12-6 TARGET: Mirror kid
Toshihiko Two rolled 2 12-sided dice:
8, 8Total: 16 (2-24)
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:14 pm
"You don't know that," the kid wailed. "You never went back. You never tried. And now she thinks you're dead-"
Harrison pushed the sword in deeper, then yanked the handle horizontally.
The kid burst into a bunch of glass.
"Grow up," Harrison said, leaning down to take the key from the remains.
OOC
Name of character: Harrison Damage done: 10 CURRENT HP OF BOSS: ded/20 Current HP: 84 Special ability: King's Regret Current weapon equipped: Sorrow's Tear - 2d12-6 KEYS: Purple (kitchen) TARGET: Mirror kid
Rep knew he was fighting an imposter, but that didn't abate the fury he felt at seeing himself like that. Weak. Afraid. Vulnerable. Even the fight he put up made his guts twist in horrible, chilling ways.
The kid wouldn't shut up either. Bawling frustratedly. "That's a lie! He's my daddy, he loves me and he loves mum. I -"
"Shut up. Shut up. SHUT THE ******** UP UP." he roared, pushing the damn kid off him.
"Big man," the kid said scornfully, "hitting a child. You can't do it. You're letting everything show." It punched Jordan again, and he swung half-heartedly at it, determinedly not looking at the others.
OOC
Name of character: Jordan Damage done: 1 CURRENT HP OF BOSS: 9/20 Current HP: 71/80 Special ability: Rook's Ambition Species Ability: Sun Hunter - 2d8-8 Current weapon equipped: Refraction - 2d12-6 TARGET: Mirror kid
The kid got up looking distressed and hurt, rubbing its shoulder. "Did I say something I shouldn't have? You always did that, that's what got you into trouble, that's why daddy had to leave."
Rep narrowed his eyes, took a very level aim and shattered the creature into tiny fragments, he picked up the key ferally and spat where it had ******** hate this place already."
Jordan shoved the doppelganger away, back towards its mirror. "Why don't you just get back in there," he muttered.
"I can't go back," the thing said, drooping pathetically.
OOC
Name of character: Jordan Damage done:neutral CURRENT HP OF BOSS: 9/20 Current HP: 68/80 Special ability: Rook's Ambition Species Ability: Sun Hunter - 2d8-8 Current weapon equipped: Refraction - 2d12-6 TARGET: Mirror kid
Toshihiko Two rolled 2 12-sided dice:
6, 1Total: 7 (2-24)
Toshihiko Two
Sugary Marshmallow
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:42 pm
Harrison looked over, at Jordan(s). He recognized the littler one, too, and Jordan had a thing about kids. Even kids who didn't know when to shut their mouths.
He tugged the little s**t backwards, by the scruff of his shirt, holding him firm.
He looked at Jordan.
"He's wrong," he said.
OOC
Name of character: Harrison Damage done: - CURRENT HP OF BOSS: -/20 Current HP: 81 Special ability: King's Regret Current weapon equipped: Sorrow's Tear - 2d12-6 KEYS: Purple (kitchen), Red (mirror kid) TARGET: Mirror kid (Jordan's)
