Completed Play-by-Post: In Search of the Sorcerer

[Grimgravy]

"Let's see if Ker can talk to the dog and go from there."

OOC

I'll have limited or no internet access for the next week. So I won't be able to participate much.

 

[nikolokolus]

Spoiler

Might as well try Borric's sense danger on the boxes if you can.

Spoiler

Hey great to see you, are interested in joining up again? If not, no worries, but Borric is still chugging along

Borric handles the boxes tenatively and sniffs them and does a variety of other esoteric investigations quietly. After a minute or two he shakes his head and hands them back, "Boxes is safe I think?"

"Let's see if Ker can talk to the dog and go from there."

OOC

I'll have limited or no internet access for the next week. So I won't be able to participate much.

Spoiler

We can take a minor break for a bit. I've been pretty swamped with work and other personal obligations myself lately, but if people don't mind a couple of days between posts I can still keep going

With few leads presenting themselves you all descend the stairs back to the second floor where the guest rooms are located and decide to rest up and tend to your wounded (fast forwarding a bit). You awake without incident and the dog perks up and yips a couple of times excitedly when you begin to stir. Presumably Ker or Marcán prepares a 'Speak with animals' ritual?

 

[Siveon]

OOC

Didn't know if I can do it, but I'll join in just to have an extra ear handy.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Spoiler

Hey great to see you, are interested in joining up again? If not, no worries, but Borric is still chugging along

Spoiler

I'm at home for the next few days, y'see, will be back at the uni soon, so sadly joining is not much of an option. You guys are doing pretty okay with Borric anyway. At best all I can do is keep an eye on this and chime in with crazy ideas every now and then.

 

[nikolokolus]

OOC

Didn't know if I can do it, but I'll join in just to have an extra ear handy.

Spoiler

Good catch. 2nd level Drood spell, so just Ker for now

 

[Siveon]

OOC

Curse my modesty.

 

[Helly]

Spoiler

Sorry for the lack of answers, that was a pretty hectic week.
Yes, Ker will rest and call on to Cernunnos to talk to dogmeat

 

[Grimgravy]

"Can't wait to see what the dog has to say!"

ooc

Managed to find some time and internet. Still will be spotty for a while.

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

Cormac takes a nap while waiting for Ker to talk to the dog.

 

[nikolokolus]

You all find a safe place to rest and wake up some hours later feeling slightly refreshed in the eerily quiet confines of the gloomy tower. The dog perks his head up and sits at attention.

 

[nikolokolus]

Spoiler

Hey guys, just wanted to throw this out there. I don't know about all of you but I'm feeling pretty creatively sapped lately; I won't go into too much detail, but RL has been insanely busy and stressful the past few months, also I'm starting to feel like interest might be flagging a bit. Would you all be OK with a break? I don't want to kill this thing and I know many a campaign has died due to a "temporary" break, but I'm just not feeling it lately and I feel like the quality of what I'm writing and putting out there is not up to the quality I expect from myself. Give me your thoughts

At the minimum, I'd love to wrap up this bit in the tower at least and then I guess we'll see where we go from there.

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

Spoiler

Finishing the tower and taking a break would be fine with me.

 

[nikolokolus]

OOC

Another thought occurred to me. I think maybe one of the reasons I'm feeling bogged down with this game is that I'm trying to run a completely home-brewed adventure that would probably be much better suited for a live game. If people are up for a change in direction I could see myself running one of the many DCC RPG modules I own with that particular system; we could do a funnel or you all could start out at 1st level, I don't mind either way.

I thought about adapting some DCC adventures for use with Swords & Wizardry, but frankly the gonzo weirdness does best with that system and it's just as easy to use. As always I can give access to the rules to anyone who wants it, so there would be no financial burden.

Think it over.

The mangy mongrel nudges Ker insistently and whines.

 

[Helly]

"So, what should we ask our doggy? Tell me and I'll ask it directly." Ker cast the spell after petting the dog. "What's your story, boy?"

Spoiler

I'm definitely in for some dcc, the game kicks ass!

 

[nikolokolus]

Ker unsheathes his ceremonial bronze dagger and makes a small cut in the palm of his hand before taking up his oaken wand and begins chanting sacred words - old words with primal guttural tones. You feel your mind falling backwards in time into the misty depths of the past when man and beasts were close cousins and could speak to one another. You open your eyes and the dog perks his ears up when you start speaking to him in yips and growls that you know to be the speech of wolves.

The dog begins whining and yipping back at you and images form in your mind. You see blood, you see fire and you feel the wrongness of black magic and a deep sense of betrayal. The yips and barks continue and the images that the sounds evoke, swirl and coalesce into the overwhelming impression of a tall and noble man suddenly twisted and contorted and made into the form of the canine before you.

The dog pauses for a moment with his tail swishing back and forth over the floor. He goes over to the nightstand where the two silver boxes are and paws at them and then digs at the floor while he yips a couple of times. The image that fills Ker's mind seems to suggest that there is something "buried" or perhaps hidden about the boxes.

 

[Grimgravy]

"Ask if he knows any details about the door upstairs,the main door to the tower, and the shaft behind the phantom door downstairs. Information about the basement might be of use too."

OOC

If you need a break, I'm ok with it. I would hate it if this game fell apart though. Not sure what DCC is, but I'd give it a shot.

 

[nikolokolus]

OOC

If you need a break, I'm ok with it. I would hate it if this game fell apart though. Not sure what DCC is, but I'd give it a shot.

Spoiler

Not to sound too fickle but I'm already starting to feel a little bit revitalized, but the next month or so is going to be madness as I close on my new house, pack, move, have Turkey Day, Christmas, New Years and two birthday weekends (out of town) with my niece and then nephew. FML, that sounds even worse when I type it out.

If we do a DCC (Dungeon Crawl Classics) campaign it might be a side project next year, 'cause I still really enjoy how things have unfolded here so far and I still have lots of ideas for where it might be going. So please pardon my sporadic posting for the next month and a half and we'll resume our regularly scheduled programming (including the bi-weekly VTT game ).

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

"Ask if he knows what the thing is outside of the balcony, where the balcony leads and and what is on that moon?"

Spoiler

I agree on not wanting this game to fizzle out. I'm liking the creep factor of this tower and some of the weird dimension spanning properties of the tower.

 

[nikolokolus]

"Ask if he knows any details about the door upstairs,the main door to the tower, and the shaft behind the phantom door downstairs. Information about the basement might be of use too."

OOC

If you need a break, I'm ok with it. I would hate it if this game fell apart though. Not sure what DCC is, but I'd give it a shot.

OOC

I'll wait to reply until Helly jumps in and handles the asking, since Ker is the only one who can communicate with the "dog"

 

[Helly]

Spoiler

What the... Why can't I see updates here despite watching the thread ? Codeeeeex

"First off, he indeed was a man transformed by black magic. It seems something is hidden within those boxes, or something near them at the very least." Ker shows each of the boxes to the dog. "Which one is it? Or is it about both?"

 

[nikolokolus]

The dog barks excitedly a couple of times indicating a concept that means "all" or perhaps "both." He nudges one box with his nose and then the other and whines with a sound that seems very frustrated; apparently he seems to lack the vocabulary - or the language of dogs and wolves lacks it - to express exactly what he is trying to indicate.

 

[Helly]

"Should we bring them downstairs? In the basement?"

 

[Siveon]

Marcán chuckles, "Ask if we should just open them."

 

[Grimgravy]

"Things would be much easier if we could un-dog him."

 

[nikolokolus]

The dog shakes his head at Ker and whines, he then nudges the two boxes with his nose seeming to push them toward one another and yips excitedly once at Marcán's off-hand comment.