A Tunnels and Trolls® play-by-post adventure run by khara_khang
I hope you weren't sending me "secret messages," khara, 'cause I didn't get them....
I was kidding. <grins>
Taran indeed has a serpent power totem.
The serpent power totem would be very useful.
"Maybe we should all bleed then. If it's magic, we might all have green blood!" she says, holding her hand out and prickng her finger, letting the blood drop from it.
Felixia's red blood does little to solve the problem.
"Yes, far be it for a Zweetz agent to find out where one of their own castles was---Demens was an acceptable sacrifice to keep that knowledge a secret."
Krandor answers Jay's sarcasm matter-of-factly. "I think the Zweetz agent knew where his own castle was, he just didn't know we were going there. If you had your way, Jay, I'm sure he would have known. As for Demens, I didn't know he was going to get killed, and I still don't know everything that's going on." The rest of Jay's abrasive comments fall on deaf ears.
Blerrg's toothy smile fades to more of an astonished look when the room shifts and changes into a dirty and somewhat bloody corridor about fifty feet long. On your end, the corridor dead-ends, but on the other end is a set of doors guarded buy the strangest 20-foot female creature you have ever seen. Her arms have been haphazardly removed and replaced with metal appendages with razor-like whips and needles long enough to skewer any living being. Her whips and needles all seem to ooze a white fluid. You see no way to escape the corridor except by passing through the door below her. To make matters even worse, the corridor slowly begins to shorten, forcing you closer to her.
When the corridor eventually shortens to about 25 feet, you will be in range of the door guardian. You figure you have about twenty minutes at most to solve your dilemma.
"Oooo... I'm, I'm... just the messenger!!!" he repeats. "I guess you guys are on a time limit thing." Blerrg gulps, remembering the pain of being brought back from the dead the last time and not really wanting to experience it again.
Seeing that they are on a time limit, Jay moves around through the group and begins casting Poor Baby on each person, one after another. Only Blodwydd's wound doesn't heal by Jay's spell.
Jax shifts his weight uneasily as he squeezes his fist around the coins. The coins in Jax's hands begin to glow brightly. Somewhat surprised, Jax looks upwards above his head to see Felixia hovering there. Pausing only a moment, he then circles through the group. The coins also glow when they near Blodwydd.
Titania's eyes widen a little as she sees Jax's coins glow when they near Felixia and then Blodwydd.
"Ugh, maybe you're on to something, brother. Hey Blerrg, keep the lady company until we figure this out!" says Taran jokingly.
"I was told 'Do Not Meddle in the Affairs of Doors, for Orcs are Crunchy and Good with Ketchup,'" Blerrg replies, grinning back at Taran.
What do you do?
Titania flies over near Jax as he makes his rounds. Orcs make her nervous, but she feels that out of all their number, it is obvious the Orcs are not the traitors, so they are the ones to speak with. And, this one seems to have the brains. "Uhm, excuse me, Sir Orc... have you noticed that the coins glow when you approached two of our number? What do you think that means?"
Felixia looks at the coins Jax holds. "What are they? Why do they glow so?" she asks, fluttering down to him and looking at him with wide eyes.
Jax quickly thanks Jay for the healing spell as he waves his fist near Titania; the three coins therein don't glow. "Titania, what you have noticed is precisely why I just approached each of you. Don't know why they glow yet."
The burly Orc turns to face Blodwydd and Felixia. "Blodwydd, Felixia: has any stranger given you anything, and have your bags been in your control since you packed them?"
Responding to the pair's quizzical expressions, Jax rephrases his questions: "Uh, do either of you carry anything not fully identified?" He continues to operate on the optimistic hunch that none of the group are agents---that rather, one unwittingly carries a Zweetz scrying device---but so far the facts are far from conclusive either way.
If either answers "yes," he suggests that Jay quickly cast on her items the same spell he used before to ascertain the "vibes" of his own tattoo and gloves.
Ten minutes pass as your group continues working on solving the problem.
The female door guardian occasionally snaps her whips, which make marks on the stone floor as if it was soft butter. She continually flexes her metal needle-like appendages, testing them for future use. Anyone looking at the door guardian for more than a few minutes will realize that she exudes magical protections.
Titania's innate Fairy magic reveals to her that the coins themselves are not magical, and this makes her wonder if they were created with technology, as Krandor spoke just moments before. "The coins themselves are not magical, Jax," she says, hovering in the air near Jax, and stating the obvious as she saw it, but sure the others are not aware of it.
Jax's shoulder quits throbbing with pain after Jay's spell and it seems much less stiff.
"Blodwydd, Felixia: has any stranger given you anything, and have your bags been in your control since you packed them?"
Blodwydd and Felixia shake their heads no. Both seem very concerned that everyone is focusing their attention on them.
Felixia also realizes, even as Titania states it, that the coins are indeed technology of some sort, for technology is totally foreign to Fairies, who are themselves almost pure magic in a sense. Felixia remembers Krandor saying the two are like oil and water together.
"Uh, do either of you carry anything not fully identified?"
Felixia shakes her head no as she flutters down next to Titania just above Jax. Jax's coins glow even brighter as a tiny ring formerly invisible to the eye becomes visible on Felixia's finger.
Jax remembers that his and Taran's tattoos glowed just prior to the portal opening, and during the time it was opened during their ride from Khazan, and in Urish's Castle, where there was also a portal. Currently their tattoos are not glowing. Jax walks closer to Blodwydd and waves his hand in Blodwydd's face. Blodwydd makes a clicking noise and backs away as her appearance changes into her true bug form.
The real Blodwydd is a green and yellow six-legged alien bug wearing purple, gold and red robes. Blodwydd's weapons change into two strange-looking blue devices that hover in the air as if by magic in front of each of the bug's hands. On the blue devices are dozens of buttons, and the see-through devices move as easily as the bug's hands do, always staying within reach of the bug's fingertips.
Blerrg gulps with astonishment. "Oooo!"
What do you do?
Titania grips her kris a bit tighter, and casts Take That You Fiend on Blodwydd, or the player character formerly known as Blodwydd.... :)
Brienna throws her dagger at the bug.
Amroth charges and attacks the bug with his weapons.
Felixia squeals, looking at her ring, and flies back away from the imposter, wondering if her ring will do that to her too!
Jay will insult Krandor every 15 minutes, and avoid any combat if at all possible, but he will interspace himself to heal any other party member as long as he has the power to do so. Otherwise, he'll follow Jax.
Titania's spell (level five) takes effect almost instantly with gruesome and powerful results. Green blood suddenly begins flowing from the creature's eyes and mouth. At the same time, the two strange looking blue devices that hovered in the air as if by magic in front of each of the bug's hands fade and are gone.
Brienna throws her dagger at the bug with deadly accuracy. It too draws a deep green flow of blood from the Zweetz bug as the magical dagger jumps back into Brienna's hand after having sunk hilt deep into the bug's body.
Amroth charges in, attacking the Zweetz bug with deadly fury for the coup de grâce. The already dying bug is hacked in half at the midsection. Not entirely disliking the carnage, Amroth stops and smiles at his handiwork after the Zweetz bug is thoroughly diced into smaller pieces, then he cleans the green ichor from his sword and puts it away.
Felixia quickly pulls the mysterious ring off her finger and drops it to the floor. Felixia never even knew she wore it or how it got there. The ring makes a slight "tink" as it hits the stone floor, bouncing under the heel of Jax's boot. The sound of a satisfying crunch follows. The coins in Jax's hand stop glowing, signifying that all the Zweetz items are gone.
Most everyone in the group sighs with relief as their location again shifts to yet another room, one less terrifying and one hinting more towards a reward.
"Oooh, I've always liked this room much better than the Corridor of Death," says Blerrg from behind Taran. He pokes his idle formerly-resurrected friend to test for his Zweetz-ness, and then grins when Taran looks at him.
What do you do?
"It looks like a big sink to me!" Amroth looks around for any new door they have not noticed before.
Jax pockets the coins for later consideration and tries to make sense of the past few minutes. The doubts which now accompany his senses stayed his blade back there, and he wonders if his comrades did the right thing: plowing viciously into the bug-that-was-Blodwydd. "Was she always an agent?" he thinks, "or was her transformation another artifice of Zweetz magic, like Brienna's green blood?"
He may never fully understand, and before his transformation by the lifeblood of Arnn-Gaxx, it would have made no difference to him. But now, with the ancient Haroouugh's morals impinging on most every thought, he shivers to think that he may have been party to a trusted comrade's murder. Even if that trust were misplaced.
"First she cuts out on us in the Oblique Streams, and now this!" His attempt at rationalizing her apparent death does not lessen his vague guilt. He shakes his head slowly, more to reassert his Draconian pragmatism than to mourn Blodwydd, and he looks over in Krandor's direction for the captain's reaction. Even Jax is aware of the chemistry that existed between the two hu-manns, suppressed as of late, but strongly in evidence back at the Blue Frog. Had not Krandor also balked in attacking the revealed bug?
"I'm sorry, Captain," Jax remarks resolutely.
Turning to Blerrg, he says, "Corridor of Death, indeed."
Brienna calmly wipes her knife on her leg, then sheathes it, looking around. "What now?" she says loudly. "We've killed your bug for you. Are we to be paid now, or have you more games to waste our time?"
Hey, anyone else wanna attack these guys [Urish et al.]??
I still think we should parlay. If we attack, this would end up being the major fight, and we'd summon Lerotra'hh. I refuse to believe it would end with such a premature ending.
Urish scoops up Jay, turns him in mid-air and bites him in the center of the back for 10 hits.
Fortunately, Jay was as sour as his attitude, and got tossed away.
"Or the coins will just do nothing, because she already knows who the agent is. After all, if we can cast a Dear God spell and ask three questions, and if the god who answers is the Death Goddess (it never specifies which god will answer, after all)...."
Without getting into the specifics of the spell itself, it is my understanding that Lerotra'hh is a self-styled goddess, not an actual divine entity. Can anyone shed some light on this?
"...then it doesn't matter who the agent is because she already knows, and it won't matter to whom Jax and Taran give the coins, since it won't help the bad guy anyway."
"That being the case, there's no reason for this charade. Refer to my point about the Death Goddess having a sense of humor and just wanting to see people squirm."
Jax nods his head... The hu-mann Wizard spins an impressive argument.
The hu-mann Wizard just likes a good argument. "Waugh!"
Jax replies to Jay, "Or the traitor is inconsequential to the Death Goddess---she already busted up the main bug---and she is leaving the detective work in the hands," he says, looking down at the two silver coins in his meaty palm, "of her own agents."
"Doubtful. Her real agents, you and Taran, received or possessed favor coins and can leave whenever you feel like it. It's the rest of us who are stuck, which leads back to the original argument."
"I have doubts that one of us is actually a traitor, as Arahk Gnahk must think. If he had perfect information, he would know which one already."
"Based on this, the earlier experiences, and the fact Krandor obtained a position of more responsibility than latrine digging, I have serious doubts about the ability of Lerotra'hh, Gnahk, and the Khazan military."
"But I have no intention of walking through that door without each of you."
What a peach.
"Gorsh... thanks, Jax, you're a real man's Orc. Here's my shield." I take out my shield and set it down in front of Jay. "You can go ahead and cast your spell on it and any spells you want on me, assuming the spells you cast on me aren't painful ones, anyway."
"Gorsh... thanks Jax, you're a real man's Orc," says Jay, as Kahi starts tossing equipment at him. "Is a Yassa Massa spell considered painful?"
"Truly this is an unexpected adventure, as the Death Goddess's people promised."
Fortunately, they didn't promise there would be a reason for any of this, and satisfaction is never guaranteed.
Taran is glad he doesn't have to spill his blood voluntarily---just yet---in the test for the truth. Wounds from battle, he can handle, but he'd hate to have to scar his pretty, charming self otherwise.
Jay is neither pretty nor charming, but is not interested in self-mutilation for the aggrandizement of Hobbits. All we have to do is kill Brienna, Krandor, Amroth, Kahi, and Blodwydd, and resurrect them after we all leave safely.
Taran indeed has a serpent power totem. (Picked up in his first adventure when, ironically enough, he was a spy among Zweetz forces.) However, he forgot about it. And it's a good thing, too. With all the talk about Zweetz spies, it wouldn't behoove Taran to suddenly produce a Zweetz wizard serpent power totem in his possession.
<Shrug> That explanation is as good as any other. Brienna failed the test she demanded, but that was ignored. So why should an Orc carrying a totem cause any eyes to bat?
Jay will generously offer to trade Taran 200gp, a piece of string, and an oversized coat that smells of Orc for it.
The serpent power totem would be very useful.
Then Jay shall up his offer to include warm mittens and a stick. (Personally, I would have Taran hold out for triple M; he'd definitely have a better offer, like a matched set of Wand of Orcuses and a Beanie Buddy.)
Krandor answers Jay's sarcasm matter-of-factly.
What? I wanted to say that impassionately. Oh well....
"I think the Zweetz agent knew where his own castle was, he just didn't know we were going there. If you had your way, Jay, I'm sure he would have known.
"They still knew, oaf, you took us straight there to be captured. The difference is you waited until after Demens was dead to do it. What is your point, other than disavowing responsibility for your lack of leadership?"
"As for Demens, I didn't know he was going to get killed...."
"I know, you sat around waiting for it to happen, even though you knew where we were supposed to go. Thanks! That sure saved the mission for us!"
"... and I still don't know everything that's going on."
"No kidding."
Krandor answers Jay's sarcasm matter-of-factly.
That's kinda like impassionately.
The rest of Jay's abrasive comments fall on deaf ears.
He's deaf? No wonder he doesn't listen to reason.
Blerrg gulps, remembering the pain of being brought back from the dead the last time and not really wanting to experience it again.
My resurrection idea has merit: he's done it before. Add Blerrg to that list.
Seeing that they are on a time limit, Jay moves around through the group and begins casting Poor Baby on each person, one after another. Only Blodwydd's wound doesn't heal by Jay's spell.
Obviously, she's the agent. Jay takes her prisoner. Mystery solved. (What? No, of course I wasn't reading ahead. Why would you think such a thing?)
Jax shifts his weight uneasily as he squeezes his fist around the coins. The coins in Jax's hands begin to glow brightly. Somewhat surprised, Jax looks upwards above his head to see Felixia hovering there. Pausing only a moment, he then circles through the group. The coins also glow when they near Blodwydd.
Obviously, she's the agent. Jay waves his hand in her face and says "Abracadabra." Mystery solved. (What? No, I always wave my hand in the face of prisoners. Really!)
Jax quickly thanks Jay for the healing spell....
"You're welcome, I'm sure."
Jax rephrases his questions.... If either answers "yes," he suggests that Jay quickly cast on her items the same spell he used before to ascertain the "vibes" of his own tattoo and gloves.
"Sure, as long as we have the time."
Ten minutes pass as your group continues working on solving the problem.
And yet another interminable Monty python reference: "But that was never ten minutes!"
Blodwydd and Felixia shake their heads no. Both seem very concerned that everyone is focusing their attention on them.
Except Jay, who is fully attentive on guarding his prisoner and insulting Krandor.
Felixia remembers Krandor saying the two are like oil and water together.
Krandor sure knows a lot, doesn't he?
Jax walks closer to Blodwydd...
Jay will transfer the prisoner to Jax.
... and waves his hand in Blodwydd's face. Blodwydd makes a clicking noise and backs away as her appearance changes into her true bug form.
Geez, is that all it takes? Guy didn't even use a hokey magic phrase first....
Blodwydd's weapons change into two strange-looking blue devices that hover in the air as if by magic
Jay thinks they look like they hover as if by technology, but no matter....
What do you do?
Titania... casts Take That You Fiend on Blodwydd....
Brienna throws her dagger at the bug.
Amroth charges and attacks the bug with his weapons.
Felixia... flies back away from the imposter, wondering if her ring will do that to her too!
So she's a bug, and all of a sudden this makes her evil. Go figure. Brienna was at least given some explanation time to make a case (a case made for her by Krandor the Omniscient). Sigh... Jay will heal whomever gets severely wounded, until he's down to 1 Kremm/Power/Mystic.
Titania's spell (level five) takes effect almost instantly with gruesome and powerful results. Green blood suddenly begins flowing from the creature's eyes and mouth.
There always needs to be the big fight seen at the climax.
Jax pockets the coins for later consideration and tries to make sense of the past few minutes. The doubts which now accompany his senses stayed his blade back there, and he wonders if his comrades did the right thing, plowing viciously into the bug-that-was-Blodwydd. "Was she always an agent?" he thinks, "or was her transformation another artifice of Zweetz magic, like Brienna's green blood?"
Gee, I actually hadn't read ahead on this one. Go figure.
[Jax] shivers to think that he may have been party to a trusted comrade's murder. Even if that trust were misplaced.
Well, she never did me any wrong, unlike some bozos in this group....
[Jax] looks over in Krandor's direction for the captain's reaction.
He knows all.
Had not Krandor also balked in attacking the revealed bug?
Right. 'Course, he'd never actually say anything.
"What now? We've killed your bug for you. Are we to be paid now, or have you more games to waste our time?"
It wasn't a game. Don't you feel heroic? Didn't you know you were specifically needed to save all of Khazan?
"It looks like a big sink to me!"
Amroth walks over to the water and peers into it, while casting a curious glance at the small golden booths.
[Jax] looks over in Krandor's direction for the captain's reaction. Even Jax is aware of the chemistry that existed between the two hu-manns, suppressed as of late....
Krandor stands silent, wishing he had gotten the chance to question the bug, and had the chance to save Blodwydd from whatever fate she had met with.
"I'm sorry, Captain."
"So am I Jax, for many things. Not everything happens like we want it to. Sometimes things just happen to us." Krandor sighs in futility.
"Corridor of Death, indeed."
Blerrg answers Jax, "O-yes, but there is no death here Jax, and no bathing either, Taran.... har har har." He slaps Taran on the back. "There are 700 gold crowns on the floor behind the pool for part of your reward to share among your group. For the second part of your reward, just go to the pool and ask for something within reason. After you get it, then exit through the center booth against the back wall, and that will take you back to the Blue Frog Tavern. The other booths exit to other places."
A strange golden Water Spirit rises up out of the water in front of Amroth. It looks more like it is part of the golden pool than the water itself. "How may I grant you a service Amroth-Esa?"
What do you do?
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