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.
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:21 pm
Olivia thanked the two gargoyles with a very chipper, "thanks!" and a kind happy sort of smile before she proceeded to the second floor. With the key she was able to go up the stairs and find herself in front of five more doors. So many doors, they all looked different and all seemed to have so many different locks.
And in the center of the room was another gargoyle. This time he was wearing a very funny looking hat. Olivia approached, eyes wide and wider with his greeting.
A guide? She wondered as he continued to explain to her about the castle in the locks in a very funny sort of way. But one thing she did understand was that this task was not meant for those to go alone, and she a moment her eyes lit up at the prospect of going together finally with the company of others. Would those she remembered be joining her? She had to wonder, possibilities might be small but they never need be counted out.
"Ell eff jhee?" She repeated, having no idea what it really meant. Would it summon someone like he seemed to make it seem like it would? But she didn't get much of an answer as he went about collecting some dice he had scattered to the ground.
Olivia turned and stared at the door in which she had walked through, wondering who would join her.
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:45 pm
Molan didn't give the gargoyles, who were back to bickering, too much thought as he wandered up the stairs and turned the key in the door and opened it. He pocketed the purple key again at that point and slowly made his way up. He'd barely made it too far in and spotted the three new doors when he heard the gargoyle. And found himself staring at the odd creature.
...wow.
He nodded in silence at it spoke, lifting a brow at a few of the things it said. "Right." Some silly saying and he could drag people to his... world? Version of the world? How would that even work? He rubbed the back of his head briefly before shaking his head. "It's that a bit rude t-" He'd barely gotten to begin questioning the validity of randomly pulling people into worlds when he suddenly found his own world fade into... another.
Wait so that spell worked?
He stopped mid breath to glance around to his side, only to spot a rather familiar figure that was shorter than him. "Olivia?" Oh, and he'd thought he'd gotten out of asking just what kind of relationship he had with her. And now it was only more complicated... oh kings and goddesses... this was-
Why?
OOC
Character name: Molan Character appearance: A simple form in color, he has a yellow lock of a pendant around his neck. He has ears and a rather fluffy tail as well as horns. Link to Heart LogHere Current HP 60/60 Current weapon equipped Lost Memory
Inventory:
Raja
Kawaii Shoujo
Offline
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:04 pm
While she had expected an entrance through the door, never did she imagine someone would magically just appear in the room with her. Olivia's eyes were wide as Molan began to materialize and even wider - if at all possible - when he was a solid form. It was also just a simple fact that it was him at all. The boy gained himself a happy little squeak.
So the spell did work in fact, and seemed to call to her deep down hopes of people she knew in various forms of memory. The girl wasted no time as to bring herself up to his side and gave him a wide smile and a stare. Perhaps now they could discuss what he wanted to discuss, before they had been sadly pulled from the Gold Trail to this new set of worlds (we will not speak of the tragedy of losing Cotton, it is much too painful). "Yes." She said. "Molan," she added.
"The words worked."
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 80/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands Inventory:violet key
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:18 pm
Molan wasn't sure what he'd expected from the odd words. Well aside from failure. But certainly materializing where he'd been standing, but in another instance of the world, was not it.
...what if they'd been in the same spot. A look of horror crossed his face as he realized that much. "Those words are dangerous." Was his only reply, even as she squeaked happily and wandered over. Use. With. Caution. Still, he did finally manage a smile, hesitating a bit s he lifted a hand to pat her on the head. "So you were sent here as well?" He replied, deciding perhaps to avoid the subject. But he still wanted to know. He REALLY REALLY did.
Because... even if it was in the past, the past just kept coming back to haunt him. And she seemed more than a little happy that it was he who had appeared. "Let's not use those words again unless we need to." He added, partially for his own sake and partially to avoid potentially ending up merged with another person. REALLY.
He then decided subject change time was in order and noticed the doors were still their in this plane. They'd likely need to complete the tasks. A pause. "Olivia, should we each try one?" He motioned briefly, hoping to distract her briefly from asking. How was he even going to word it.Well maybe. He'd think about it while they dealt with the rooms. "When we finish we can discuss what... we were going to talk about... before." There were, in fact, several pauses and hesitations as he spoke, slowly edging toward the door that, oddly, smelled quite nice.
OOC
Character name: Molan Character appearance: A simple form in color, he has a yellow lock of a pendant around his neck. He has ears and a rather fluffy tail as well as horns. Link to Heart LogHere Current HP 60/60 Current weapon equipped Lost Memory
Raja
Kawaii Shoujo
Offline
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:31 pm
"Dangerous," she parroted and blinked, having not thought that they would. Perhaps it had hurt when he was transported to where she was? The girl glanced at him, pulling her attention from his face to look him over a little. It didn't seem like he had been injured. Why he would think so, she did not know. And with a little hesitation she agreed to his request; others she knew could be brought here.
But at least now, they would be able to spend some time together and perhaps she could ask what he wanted to talk about besides just the longing to spend time with him, among others. The tasks they were meant to go solo were very lonely after all. In the beginning she was alright, being off by herself but each new memory she gained (even losing them, but she eventually got them all back) it always seemed she was in the company of others; it felt safe, it felt warm and it felt comfortable. She liked those and wanted to keep those thoughts from that life to this one; and if she could do it with the same people from one world to the next Olivia knew she could only be happier.
They would be splitting up for now though, Molan's distraction paying off and pulling her from her own thoughts. "Oh, okay." She looked at one of the other doors, staring a little at the red one. He seemed to be going to a black one, so she decided in turn to go to the remaining one.
Olivia's eyes lit up though, once again when he made his offer, "Promise?" She actually looked a little skeptical as her hand drifted to the doorknob, "we didn't get to last time."
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 80/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands Inventoryviolet key
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:37 pm
He nodded at her parroted statement. "What if we had been standing in the same spot." He added, noting her confusion. It wasn't that he didn't like people(though... when did he get along with others?), but that he was worried. It could end terribly.
Then again, his memories often dealt with others. Did he normally like people more? He didn't mind Olivia, actually he enjoyed her company, and he liked that Miasma girl. So... so... this was confusing.
Thankfully, Olivia agreed to his idea and he was only about to open the door when she spoke up again, reminding him of that bit of failure. Thank you being pulled from world to world. That worked out SO well. "Ah... yes... I promise." He added, smiling ever so lightly, but genuinely at her. "Assuming we're not separated by some strange happening again, we will discuss it when we leave these rooms." He added, and then opened his door with a final nod and went through.
What would he find?
OOC
Character name: Molan Character appearance: A simple form in color, he has a yellow lock of a pendant around his neck. He has ears and a rather fluffy tail as well as horns. Link to Heart LogHere Current HP 60/60 Current weapon equipped Lost Memory
Raja
Kawaii Shoujo
Offline
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
6Total: 6 (1-6)
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:44 pm
It didn't occur to Olivia that there was a pool of water at the base of the door until she had it opened. When she looked inside, though, it made a little more sense of why it was there.
There was a pool (indoors? She never considered the idea ever), glistening gold and being terribly inviting. Olivia stepped inside, watching the gargoyle on the otherside as he lounged, sipping at a drink. But what caught her attention a little more was the key around his neck. Oh. Maybe she had to swim.
Wait, did she know how? Perhaps this was a time to find out. Olivia didn't hesitate to get in the water, nope. She canon-balled in, creating a decent sized splash. The water settled and finally her head emerged, well at least she could float. But still, could she swim?
Motivation came in the form of a shark. It didn't look friendly, or she probably would have let it come to her. Nope... it had lots of teeth. The girl doggie paddled like no one doggie paddled before.
Quote:
distance: 10/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 80/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-6)
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:45 pm
Somehow she had lost the shark, maybe it had given up... or maybe it wasn't really chasing her? Olivia wasn't sure, she didn't mind though because she was still freely able to swim ahead.
Then she lost her petticoats, giving her a bit of a boost.
Quote:
distance: 15/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 80/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5Total: 5 (1-6)
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:46 pm
That sudden burst of swimming really wasn't good for the body, the adrenaline from the rush was beginning to die down and rewarded her with a cramp in her leg.
Ow, this didn't feel right at all.
Quote:
distance: 16/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 80/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5Total: 5 (1-6)
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:47 pm
Olivia was beginning to swim the side stroke, trying to pop the cramp from her leg. There was an idiom to walk pain off, right? Did swimming work in this context as well? Hopefully.
Quote:
distance: 17/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 80/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1Total: 1 (1-6)
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:48 pm
Unfortunately all that time trying to work out a leg cramp allowed mean mister shark to catch up, and take a bite out of her arm, ripping off her sleeve and leaving a nice big gash.
"OW!" Pain sucked! "That was so mean!"
Quote:
distance: 17/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 60/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
5Total: 5 (1-6)
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:49 pm
Now Olivia was working with two hindering aliments; the cramp in the leg and her shoulder hurting just a wee bit. Was she bleeding? "I am bleeding," she realized.
Quote:
distance: 18/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 60/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
chirigami rolled 1 6-sided dice:
6Total: 6 (1-6)
chirigami
Swashbuckling Sentai
Offline
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:51 pm
It was probably the blood trail she was leaving behind that brought the shark back, or that it just thought she was really easy pray right now. But Olivia did manage to see him coming this time. She was not going to let him take another sleeve! No, he was mean and she was going to follow Molan's advice from last time and run.
Or.. well, swim. Olivia picked up the pace and side stroked like no one had side stroked before.
Quote:
distance: 28/30
OOC
Character name: Olivia Character appearance: The happiest little girl you've ever seen. OuO Link to Heart Log [[ x ] Current HP 60/80 Current weapon equipped Cold Hands
Reply
