Fuck yes dragon quest.

Run back and tell Cygnis that they are attempting to perform some ritual on an unconscious Arman, and that there are perhaps forty cultists... far too few for us alone. She will need to transform, and hurry before it's too late! We will get Arman away while she deals with them.

>>12493307
Won't give us much of an opportunity to off him, especially if we rescue him before they brand him. (People were wanting him to die before we could rescue him/in the ensuing carnage in the last thread, so I'm tossing that out there.)

>>12493354
Yeah, I'm hoping we can kill him in the chaos. That's why I'm not advocating a plan. If we wanted him alive we should probably go in by ourselves to draw off the cultists from Arman, have Cygnis suddenly appear and flame them, then Scinnari teleport over and grab him.

But we need to have chaos. Also they are probably prepared for Cygnis so hopefully it will take some time and maybe hurt her or they can kill him for us.

>>12493447
Errr, that said, killing Arman is mainly to disturb and enrage Cygnis against the cult. That way when we tell her Kazmiri is with them she will be all for killing him. Otherwise we might want to keep Arman because he's a valuable link in the temple... then again, the temple upper clergy already know us and purging the cult again trying to rescue Arman will likely just make us even more friends there. Provided they aren't snakemen.

Well, a rather risky possibility: Cygnis has said she is able to heal us, to a limited degree, and, ideally, Arman. Perhaps allow ourselves to get badly wounded towards the end of it, and try and get her to save us instead of Arman?

Now that I type it out, it seems too risky, but it's a thought.

>>12493552
I'm against any plan that requires injuring ourselves to the point of mortality.

I'm kind of against killing Arman now, simply because he could be useful. If you guys did want to kill him, however, why not find a way to let the cult finish what they want to do. It might end up with Arman being a pawn of theirs and we can leave it up to Cygnis to kill him to put him out of his misery. It's risky but potentially a very good outcome.

I need a verdict, people.

And probably a 1d100, depending on what said verdict is.

Eh if you guys are adamant at killing Arman, just let the cult have a better of chance of finishing this ritual of theirs. Go back to Cygnis and explain the situation, possibly not mentioning the fact we saw the sermon looks like it is almost done. It's not our fault if it finished while we were gone... Well not completely. It's risky and that's why I think we should just try to get them in on this ASAP and save the dude. There are other ways to off him later under our terms. Plus, Cygnis would <3 us if we can save him without harm.

rolled 53 = 53

>>12493741
Wait a few seconds then go back and tell Cygnis the situation and how we have to hurry to save poor Arman. Quick, no time to waste, there are 40 and you have to transform, ect. I'll try to snatch him from them while you are fighting.

Then while everyone is distracted hopefully he will be bad enough to die on his own. If not we can hurry it along, maybe with her own dagger if we have it on us.

>>12493797
I'm not adamant about it, but it doesn't really seem like we need him anymore after we give this great showing of helping the temple. He still owes us 300 gold but I imagine the temple will pay us for trying to rescue him and flushing out the cult anyway. And they might want to hire us to ensure it's stamped out too.

rolled 32 = 32

>>12493830
Oh there are reasons why we could use him. Kill him on our own terms and make it seem like Kazmiri caused it and that he is linked to the cult. Would of got Cygnis on our side to deal with him directly then but most people seem to wish to off him now. So be it although I only forsee bad things.

>>12493871
If by most people you mean me. I think we are the only two in this thread?

Maybe there is a third. It's tough being anon.

>>12493881
I was speaking more from last night, where the general consensus was killing him if I remember what was said correctly. It seems tonight is slow at the moment.

We really need to get our Kobolds digging out a basement for us. I think they should mine out a tunnel leading under it from the sewers and then begin excavation. They should only build the stairway up into the house after it's complete.

Kobolds are great diggers and have a work ethic that puts the japanese to shame. Plus we have 200+ of them. It should take a week at most.

>>12493797
>>12493814
>Go back, tell, hope he dies before we can save him, or genuinely save him
############
Retracing your steps, you return to Cygnis and Scinnari waiting in the corner.

"Listen. Carefully." you whisper, mainly talking to Cygnis, but making sure Scinnari can hear you too. "Arman is ahead. They have him bound to the altar; it looks like they intend to brand him at the end of their ceremony, or possibly kill him; they're currently in the middle of it, I think.". At this point you are forced to grab Cygnis' arm and prevent her from moving. "No. First, plan. There's about forty of them, I think that means we need you. If you are able, give me a ten- fifteen count to get into position, where I will try and free him and remove him from the altar. Make /sure/ to give me that grace period; those cultists will be swarming me as soon as I release him, /but/-" you state, "Arman is not fireproof. I may be, though I'm not interested in risking it; Arman himself is not. Do you have that?"

"Yes. Let's hurry." Cygnis responds. Scinnari merely nods.

"No, let's /not/ hurry, have yourself a leisurely count, like I said, I may need more time." you reiterate, before disappearing again. This time you run, hoping you aren't heard.

Looping around the becowled 'parish', you climb the dais from the side, literally walking right in front of the priest as he speaks. At least he doesn't seem able to see you. Bending down, you examine the chains; fairly solid.
>Your own mental count reaches seven.

Sturdy. Cuffs around his wrists and ankles, connected to the cornerstones of the altar. Locked.
>Nine.

Carefully backing up, you notice the preacher advance, holding the brand out before him. Oh dear. On the other hand, there's a keyring dangling from his belt. Reaching out, you manage to carefully undo it, making noise, but it lost under the priest's chilling dissertation; whatever language he is speaking in, it sounds rather ominous even though you don't understand it.
>Twelve.

Suddenly, hell breaks loose. Cygnis counts fast, apparently; you can hardly claim it was unexpected, considering her attachment, though.

The back rows of the congregation are consumed in flickering, golden flame, dense enough to almost be a solid wall. You feel the heatwash from where you are, a gentle zephyr, though you see Arman's side that was facing the burst redden. Glorious. If she isn't careful, she'll off him herself. The priest above you suddenly topples over, an arrow through his neck, Scinnari is contributing too.
>Fifteen.

[Actions and another roll?]

>>12494126
I now have visions of kobold sweatshops, and kobold warrens full of WWI&II propaganda posters. I'm not sure whether to be amused or annoyed.

>>12494148
Is Arman watching us? Might be worth grabbing any items of importance from that area while Cygnis is busy so she doesn't take things that we might want for ourselves.

Unless Cygnis looks like she has the cultists dealt with already. We should free Arman and make it look like we kept up what we said we'd do. Part of me is tempted to brand him if Cygnis has no clear view of the altar, since she'd have no idea if the priest did it or not but I think that's too risky. I think we should just save him/hope Cygnis cooks him herself.

>>12494148
How injured is he?

>>12494164
The difference is the kobolds love working slavishly for mere food and shelter. Especially for a dragon.

>>12494167
I agree that we should open his chains and hope she roasts him accidently. However if she doesn't I think we should cut some runic shit that looks like cult scribblings into his flesh over his heart before shoving her dagger into it. Seems we were too late.

Only if we get away without her roasting him though.

rolled 22 = 22

>>12494148
Oh, and dice.

rolled 66 = 66

>>12494148

We should really see about that sword we liberated from Roteye's ship all those threads ago. We have an area anti-scry amulet after all so we can open it now.

Oh, and we still need to count the riches in that chest. Ooooh yeah.

>>12494177
Unconsciuos, and he looks beat to hell and back. Still alive, though.
>>12494244
>>12494250
>66
Acknowledged. Had to finish something up, post coming presently.

>>12494426
Well, if he makes it out alive then it's not ALL bad. We just have to kill him and frame Kazmiri.

Where all the people at?

Picture in honor of our inevitable fight with Kazmiri. Bastard has a dragon's grudge going for him now.

>>12494395
Pretty sure we already did.
###############
Invisibility makes it much easier to undo the locks, freeing his wrists and ankles. Lots of chafing, it looks like, the certainly haven't been gentle. A pity they weren't more thorough.

Hefting the body as well as you can, you sling him over your shoulders, and start moving as fast as you can for the side wall. There seem to be no actual exits, though there might be something behind the wall at the back of the dais; several of the cultists try to run for it, though they could be just trying to get something between them and the massive gold-plated dealer of fiery death. Cygnis is incinerating cultist left and right, and Scinnari is underneath her, using her bow to pick off anyone that gets too close. Most are running /away/, though, so she doesn't seem hard pressed.

Dumping the body on the rock, you stand in front of it, half hoping she'll breathe some fire your way, and accidentally kill Arman. No dice, though; she seems to be hunting down the remainder, and with a final gout behind the dais' backwall, which produces a pair of blasted, flaming bodies from the other side, a silence falls on the room, broken only by your breathing and the crackling of fat and muscle.

Cygnis glances around, and focuses on you. No chance to finish the job on Arman, it seems. She moves down the corridor she came from, returning, clothed, in her humanoid form. Concern obvious, she rushes to Arman, and you leave them alone while you return to examine the dais for valuables in the sparse flickering light.

[dice 1d100]

rolled 55 = 55

>>12494557
Also might want to show our concern for Arman.

rolled 8 = 8

>>12494557
Too bad Scinnari offed the priest so fast. Oh well.

>>12494582
>>12494565

Some golden symbols, four dozen gold on the priest. No poor follower is he. Nothing else is particularly valuable, though the gong is once again rather ominous. Annoyed, you search the rest. Beyond the brand, there seems to be nothing much of importance, except a jagged obsidian knife. Lovely. Picking it up you examine it closer, and the world warps slightly.

Blood. Sacrifice. You must give it; the Binder demands it. To carve a living heart from someone's chest; freely given or forcibly taken, it demands sacrifice.

You suddenly realize you have the dagger resting against your arm. That wasn't supposed to happen. Deciding to choose the better part of valor, you rip some of the priests' cloak off, wrapping it around the hilt. Interesting. /Creepy/. Cults, will you ever tire of them?


As a final note, you check behind the wall, and find a secret door, open ninety degrees, mechanism and hinge melted. Lovely. Still, it doesn't look like anyone escaped. The hidden passage rises rapidly, and the door at the other end is shut.

[actions]

>>12494797
Convince Cygnis to get Arman out of there and we'll take care of the rest. That should give us more freedom in exploring the rest of the place. Maybe we should do something with the gong this time...

>>12494797
Obsidian is pretty fragile, try breaking it.

Of course, if it's magical it's not going to break without being disenchanted. Such is life. Go invisible and look through the door. Don't go far, just peek around. Then come back to the chamber and check on everyone.

>>12494809
Well, first off there is no way Arman is going back up the way we came down. Second off I want to get her injured if possible, hopefully while dispatching a major cultist.

Only way out is through the secret door.

>>12494836
I suggest we don't touch the obsidian. It doesn't look very nice after what it almost did to us.

>>12494919
We can try crushing it without actually touching it.

But yeah, might be a good idea to fly it out into the deep ocean and drop it in one night.

Possibility: Go ask Cygnis, "Hey, what's this?" Hand it to her, and watch her carve Arman's heart out?

Because that would be aces.

>>12494969
Oh. Wow. That's pretty evil. I like it.

I just hope she doesn't carve our heart out.

>>12494969
... No. It would be too obvious we did it on purpose. If we hand it to her covered up, she'll wonder why we did that. If we grab it normally, we might do something to ourselves or to them. The only way to do that would be to make her notice it herself and have her pick it up herself. And if she harms herself and something bad happens, you guys will feel real silly then.

>>12495004
We could say we just felt it was strange and preferred not to touch it. She's the one who knows about this stuff after all, we're just a mere mortal adventurer seeking her draconic guidance. Dragons are all prideful, including us.

rolled 3, 4 = 7

Greetings writer dude!

Looking awesome so far. I'll pipe up when I have something to chip in.

As an aside, I am personally feeling a little tsundere for Cygnis <3

Verdict?

>>12495019
That's more believable than just handing it to her and I approve of something more like that but I still think it's a bad idea to use cult items on her. It seems like they're trying to bind her under their control and that may very well do it. We should at least try to understand what the cult is doing and twist it to our own uses, which means we might want to save the knife for later studies.

>>12495032
Stop that. She's an enemy and we are using her. We can't be nice to everything with a vagina and a victim complex. We have our own smart and useful helltart.

Do remember that we are a red dragon, and reds have issues with metallics. Also anger issues (which we fortunately have less of than a normal red) and pride issues (which we have mostly on par with normal reds).

rolled 6, 6 = 12

>>12495061

Me personally - not me as I would play our PC =]

>since ramtoody
When was ramtoody?

rolled 60 = 60

Tell Cygnis to melt the gong, hand her the knife and ask her if she can tell anything about it... we find it creepy and rather not deal with it, and she's much better versed in things like this than poor mortal us. Then when all that drama settles we go invisible and explore upstairs.

Bam, done. Rolling in case we need one.

Why not have Cygnis stay here with Arman to protect him then while we scout out ahead? I think we need to minimize Cygnis' potential to loot stuff we'd want. Like juicy, juicy info on the cults rituals and spells. A Cygnis bound to us would be a nice addition to our hoard and just something amusing for a red dragon to say about a gold dragon.

>>12495061
> which we have mostly on par with normal reds
Not on par with a normal red. Normal reds are ridiculously bad about pride, to the point where they sometimes refuse help offered to them purely because they didn't take it by force themselves. We're proud, but we're not that proud.

rolled 5, 3 = 8

>>12495095

What happens if she turns the thing on us?

>natural sequadly
The captcha says this. But I'm inclined to disagree. I think it'll end badly for us.

rolled 52 = 52

>>12495043
Hand her the knife, it would be delicious to see her cut out Arman's heart. Just sayin, also to be done non-chalantly. Kind of like the chloroform thing with a girl. "Hey what does this smell lik----" *Girl passes out* goes to "Hey this looks like an interesting magica----" *Arman's heart is laying in Cygnis's hand*

rolled 3, 7 = 10

>>12495099

This

>>12495155
You're assuming she'll use it on Arman. We almost used it on ourselves. She might do it to herself, which is why I'm trying to warn people of. That, and who knows what kind of effects it'll have once a sacrifice is given to the blade.

>>12495107
Yet. We're still establishing our power base.

When we are ancient (fingers crossed) I could see us doing that.

>>12495167
But we want her hurt and mentally unstable.

>>12495176
> When we are ancient (fingers crossed) I could see us doing that.

I'd rather we didn't, even when powerful. It would be descending into stupid evil, rather than the more pragmatic evil that we've been up until now. We don't have to be a textbook red.

rolled 23 = 23

>>12495167
I think we could overpower a mentally distraught elf. Whether or not we use strength or finesse. She "might move too quick" for us to stop cutting out Arman's heart though.

>>12495195
But we also don't want to help the cult, I guarantee that whatever they want is bad news for us. If that blade wants blood, I say we don't let it have any. We have no idea what it might do.

>>12495205
Of course not. We're far from a textbook red, but we can't just ignore that reds have some inherent... predispositions. I mean, we're already pretty far off the beaten path to be mucking about on a flat non-volcanic island in elven form while manipulating a gold dragon. I think we should be prideful and never ever forget even the smallest slight.

I didn't mean that we should refuse help that without which would get us killed. I was thinking more that someone was offering to help us do something we could already do ourselves, and we refuse because we know that we can do it better, faster, and without any uncertainty. Stupid mortals. That's pride. It's also reasonable... to an extent.

>>12495205
Oh come on. What's the point of being an empire ruling ancient red dragon without a few truly evil overlord moments? The centuries can get boring, why not spice them up?

>>12495244
>>12495289
Speaking of which, I feel a compulsion to recount our hoard in the near future. Perhaps sleep near it one night.

Yessssssssssss.

>>12495289
> The centuries can get boring, why not spice them up?

That's what we have our helltart for. And hopefully Asha soon. And maybe even Cygnis if we can manipulate her well enough. There will be plenty of stuff to do without descending into stupid evil territory.

>>12495309
Asha is human and will be very DEAD by that point. Maybe her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild
ren will be around to serve us if we keep them around as a mortal puppet dynasty. Our helltart will either be loyal or dead by then, probably.

I don't think we should even entertain the idea of letting Cygnis live that long. Too dangerous.

>>12495032
Nice to have you.

>>12495107
Proud, but not to the point of stupidity.

>>12495155
>chloroforming girls
Whoa there. Don't get me on more CIA watchlists than I am already.

>dagger trick; 60, 52
################

"Cygnis. What can you tell me about this?" you ask, approaching, knife held gingerly, "It seems very... culty. Creepy. I'm somewhat worried." Cygnis looks up from Arman, who seems to now be conscious due to her healing efforts. "It's pretty obviously some cult artifact, I think, but I'm not certain what it does."

"Give it to me, I'll deal with it." Cygnis replies, taking it from your hands. You watch with interest as she examines it, eyes starting to glow with a greenish light after a few seconds. She holds the dagger before her, point down, and begins to lower it towards Arman's chest. Arman stares blankly for a moment, then shouts and writhes, trying to get out of the way. Her polymorphed form is much stronger than he is, though. You make a fuss out of trying to help him, but your hands on her wrists are not pushing upwards all that hard. She drives it almost an inch into his chest, before her eyes snap open, and you, with Armans assistance, yank her hands upward. The cut in Arman's chest is narrow, and bleeding profusely. Cygnis stares at her handiwork in shock for a moment, before recovering, performing another healing invocation, changing the likely-fatal wound to a large, shallow gouge.

"O- Arman! What have I done? I'm so sorry! Please, the dagger-! I don't know what-" She begins in a flurry, speaking very rapidly, but not finishing a single sentence. Arman, for his part, is still trying to crawl backwards away from her, and shouting back. Scinnari, too, behind you, is making her voice heard, taunting Cygnis, you think. Or possibly Arman; either way, in the incoherent babble, you doubt anyone can understand anyone else.

>>12495346
We should take it from her, making damn sure not to actually touch it with our own hands, and set it down on the floor. Well away from us.

i suggest we support Cygnis argument since we after all "accidentally" gave it to her.

probably should explain to poor Arman what we are doing here and figure out how he was abducted and who was involved.

>>12495346
Well I expected roughly as much, she is a gold dragon after all. Very mentally formidable. Still, this can't have done her relationship or mental state any good. Excellent.

Let's scout upstairs now.

Writer-dude, you end your stuff with [commentary] right? It's hard to know when to post and when not to.

this might be paranoia but is Arman really a human? after all they supposedly only do this crap to dragons.

purely speculation.

>>12495473
Why would you say that? Imagine how low the sacrifice rate would be if they had to find a dragon for every one of them! Dragons don't just grow on trees.

rolled 56 = 56

>>12495346
hehe, awesome, JUST AS PLANNED, sorta, anywho

Take it from her, MAKING SURE not to grab it like we did before. "Well, that was a bit...odd....I think I'll put this away for quite some time. Cygnis, I think you may have to explain that to Arman a wee bit later. For now *motion for Scin to recover him* (this will maybe allow Scin to get Arman's trust, and she can toy with him.....heh)Scinnari, see to it Arman is coherent enough to get out of here. I'm going to look around and make sure no one got out that way." Head towards the exit/entrance invisible. Also, be wary of the ambush people coming back.

>>12495346
Grab it by the blade, let it cut your hand, and then yank it away and toss it to the floor. Make it dramatic.

Hug frantic Cygnis close to you and whisper comfort to her. Scinarri, can attempt to continue her babbling to make Arman more terrified, or at least doubt Cygnis' sanity.

This way we can drive a wedge between them, and still have gratitude of both party.

>>12495594
Hug a gold?

Disgusting.

rolled 33 = 33

>>12495615
/agree

>>12495483

what the hell happened to pax?

>>12495631
He said he wouldn't be questing Friday-Sunday. I hope he does tonight, I don't participate but it's fun to follow.

>>12495648
When'd he say that?

rolled 59 = 59

>>12495669
>>12495631
I dunno, I've been looking for the quest too. If you don't know what we are talking about Writerdude, it's Commanderquest. You and Pax started around the same time and I love both of your quests heartily so. Although, I gotta say, I am missing Commanderquest thoroughly so.

>>12495615
See second line of this: >>12495346

More power to us, we can stand doing things disgusting to reds in general. We have the cunning for it...

"Alright, that didn't look too productive." you say, feigning a forced-calm understatement. "Perhaps I should take that and burn it, or something? Toss it into a voclano?" you offer, reaching for the ritual knife. Before you can take it, Cygnis screams, and smashes it against the floor. Sharp obsidian shards fly out, nicking your hand and Cygnis' arm, as well as some of Arman's side. You have the worst of it, and pull back in pain, cursing softly.

"Well, that didn't go as intended at all." you say in the near-silence that follows the blade's breaking. Hmm... "Scinnari? Please collect Arman. Help him to his feet, Arman, we intend to get you out of here. Cygnis? If you're feeling... well, perhaps you could help me scout this next passage. I believe I would not like to be accosted without some assistance." you say, bringing a semblance of order to the individuals around you. A devil, a dragon, and a human. An interesting array.

Pulling Cygnis away from the rest, you show her to the secret passage she melted. "Follow me, say, fifteen feet behind me. Close the gap when I signal. Please." you add, an emphatic almost-prayer in the last word. Polite, and an emulation of a mortal who's just seen a dragon come down hard on a mob.

Turning, you climb the passage. It's steep, but no where near as steep as the entrance you used. Pulling the door to the side, you look out on a wine cellar, looking much more recently used, and better stocked, not to mention cared for, than the most recent one you have seen. All of the kegs seems to be stamped with a "Bierce Vintners" label. Along the far wall is a staircase that ascends into a lit room, you can tell, from the light filtering down.

Waving Cygnis up, you advance, and look upward. It seems to be a kitchen, from what little you can see. And the much more you can smell; a meal has been prepared here recently.

"Can you hear that?" Cygnis asks quietly from behind you. You nod; noise from above suggests a battle. Judging by the sound of combustion and explosion, there is probably a wizard involved.

[Actions?]

>>12495743

Go invis and scout

>>12495726
Wait, pull out the chips of obsidian out of our body first!

. . .
Not sure about the others though. At least the ones in Cygnis. Arman... Might be taken by the Binder if we let the wounds fester... Is that good?

rolled 86 = 86

>>12495743
OH SHIT....I think Kaz found out about the cult using his resources or something similar. Either way, we need to;
GET
THE
FUCK
OUT.

Grab the gong, get Scin and Cygnis out of here. This is bad. We can't take Kaz right now.

rolled 9 = 9

>>12495775
Actually, this, with the combination of getting Cygnis to get the rest out of here. We need to be uber stealthy though.

>>12495594
>>12495615
Hey, A, she's a female elf right now, not a gold, B, golds are still dragons, which means they're better than humanoid races. (except for their annoying habit of being holier-than-thou do-gooders,), and finally, C, it would probably be more horrifying to her, when she finally realizes what we are, than it would be to us. Imagine her delicious terror...

rolled 80 = 80

>>12495743
Let's for reals get out of here. Sneaky-like.

>>12495788
Actually... Are you SURE we cannot take on Kaz? Was it not because we were in polymorphed elf face, and need the goodwill of the populace?

If we can find the chance to kill Kaz, we need to take it. He is currently trying to get us kicked out of Freeport. Not quite legally, but he has the gold, influence, and power to make it stick in this town.

>>12495807
She just transformed though, and Kaz probably has true seeing on. That means he will be able to tell she is a dragon. Fortunately we have not transformed in ages and are safe.

>>12495855
We aren't sure, no. But it would involve going dragon and that would mess up, literally, all our plans. Besides, as I just said here:
>>12495859
Kaz won't want to fight us because he will know that Cygnis is a dragon. Probably. If he has detection on and she does not have something to disguise her polymorphing.

>86 plus "scout". None of the obsidian stuck.
############

You climb out into a hallway, with a door open at the end; through it, you see the kitchen you smelled. Unoccupied. Perhaps the servants have gone home for the night. Looking back, you see another staircase, starting directly above the start of the one you just took, and ending above it too, one floor up. On the right of the hallway at that end are a pair of double doors, probably to the dining room, where it smells like food has been set out. From above, you hear a cry of agony which trails off into an uneasy silence.

[Actions?]

>>12496047
We go to scout and only peek into one room? Feh.

Get everyone up here and let's try to hustle out before we're caught.

>>12495859
I'm pretty sure we transformed earlier today. And saw Kazmiri; he didn't seem to notice.

[Old cult temple, killing the thief and Batora, swiping the crate]

We have our gem yes? I say it's worth looking into what's going on in the room over. There's a chance we'll get definite proof Kaz is apart of the cult or there's a chance the cult might be trying to take Kaz out and saving Kaz and getting on his good side/making sure he dies could be beneficial.

>>12496093
Doesn't matter, we have an item to stop people from noticing we are polymorphed. Our anti-detect/anti-poison ring.

Hopefully she does not.

>>12496077
Saving the 86. Just adding this new development.

>pic related
Also, d'awwwww.

could burst through the door and pull the stereotypical swashbuckler adventurer, maybe with a short dialog along the lines "you have cultists in your basement" or some witty-er comment to throw off everyone.

Cygnis should either appear as someone else to preserve her identity or if she does not mind the possibility of people knowing their is a gold dragon she could go dragon form.

for irony sakes we could ask is she would allow us to ride her. a red dragon riding a gold dragon. :P

>>12496165
>riding
>implications
We're not /that/ friendly yet. And anyway, wouldn't we prefer to meet a nice fem red somewhere instead, for our first time?

>>12496143
Correct.

Come to a consensus for me to act on, please.

was thinking more of winged elf on a gold dragon

>>12496182
We're going to kill her, don't worry. Why is everyone suggesting nice things for the MORTAL ENEMY WHO WOULD SOONER KILL US THAN SEX US, especially when we have our helltart. Helltart is likely much better in bed too.

We're trying to use her as much as possible while slowly killing her. This friendship is not real people. Stop being bros to someone we hate.

we should look indide carfully and asses the situation

>>12496204
Get the others and let's make our way out. There's really not a lot we can do here, WD.

>>12496215
Please. Kill her? I rather we find a way to twist what I assume the cult is doing and bind her to us. Having a gold dragon minion and easy access to her hoard and knowledge would be sweet. Bonus points if she has to obey us while retaining her own personality.

If that is not possible than death is possible I suppose. Regardless - on to the present. I maintain taking a look on what is going on.

>>12496247
Man, this is all kinds of suicidal. Reasons:
1. Binding is godly or at least fueled by a godlike power. That means we wouldn't be in control, it would.
2. If it breaks golds are actually stronger than reds by a slight amount.
3. Even if it doesn't Scinnari is a devil and privy to the majority of our operations. We would be a dragon researching how to bind dragons in full view of a devil.
4. Who says the research itself wouldn't be dangerous? We might bind ourselves on accident. Shit would not be cash.

>>12496215
> Why is everyone suggesting nice things for the MORTAL ENEMY WHO WOULD SOONER KILL US THAN SEX US

A couple things to remember. The chromatic/metallic rivalry is mainly pushed towards violence by the chromatic side. Metallics prefer to just be colossal dicks instead of actually fighting. And second, a personal relationship can help confuse that. It might be easy for Cygnis to dismiss a red she doesn't know as a simple brute, but she would likely have a significantly more difficult time doing the same in our case if we keep up the gentleman adventurer part.

I've mentioned it before, no matter what we decide to do it will be easier if she holds us in high regard. Being nice to her is simply the sensible thing to do.

>>12496215
> Helltart is likely much better in bed too.

She can't fuck us in dragon form though.

rolled 60 = 60

>>12496247
see
>>12496281

We DO NOT want to research this further. Any form of control over the superior race that is dragons is blasphemous and dangerous not only for our own hides. But for those that seek to control and manipulate us as well. Having that kind of power is silly and dangerous on soooo many levels. We need to purge it.

We should peek inside the next room. This isn't where the battle is taking place. That is upstairs. We will see to that after we examine this room.

>>12496281
Oh I know it's hella risky. But if we're really careful, the benefits could be huge. I honestly don't expect people to go along with it unless it seems very likely to happen but I personally would pursue that path. We have backup means of dealing with Cygnis anyways and I would not let Scinnari in on the whole binding a dragon research. That would just be silly. Regardless, that's all long term, slightly possible stuff. We should get back on topic and make a consensus so we can continue.

>>12496291

>>12496339
The way I see it, the cultists quite likely have a way to bind dragons. It wouldn't hurt to figure out a way to counter it at least or resist it in the worst case scenarios. We don't know how big this cult is and if it's big enough to go beyond this city, it might be useful to know.

>>12496369
I believe Writer-dude mentioned that he was running this off a 3.something draconomican, not 4e. In 3e it's not a case of "kill on sight, everything else be damned." It varies a lot more from dragon to dragon.

"Alright. Cygnis, head downstairs, get Scinnari and Arman. Lead them outside, get them out of here." you decide, hoping there aren't guards out there. Or if they are, that they don't mind people leaving. Ah, hells, Scinnari can probably handle it.

"I..." Cygnis begins, unsure. Obviously some residual problems there. Understandable, you figure.

"Listen. Cygnis." you reply, putting a hand on her shoulder, "It wasn't your fault. Arman should understand that. Perhaps it only targeted dragons, or something. You've seen the cult's symbols. It wasn't your fault. It's okay." you reassure her. Solidifying your image as a good friend, an ally. "If he doesn't understand, that's his problem. Now. We have to get him out of here, even if he's being an ungrateful rescuee. Go get Scinnari and him, get them out. Head back to the temple. Scinnari, for obvious reasons, will have to leave you there, but I'll meet you there when I'm done here. Understand?"

"Und- understood." Cygnis replies, almost on the verge of tears, you think. Glorious. You're well on your way.

"Good. Get them out of here. And don't mind what Arman says. Or Scinnari." you call as she descends. You turn to the stairway, climbing the stairs upward. The wall of the stairwell is decorated with paintings of ships, possibly Kazmiri's own.

>>12496481
At the top of the landing, a short hallway, with a door at either end, and windows out onto the street. You see none of Kazmiri's guards standing outside, though there are guards on other properties in sight. Ideally, they will decide Cygnis, and anything going on over here, is none of their business.

Writing off the first door as a bathroom, from the smell, you instead pursue the smells of blood.. and death. Throwing open the door to the bedroom, you gaze in on an abattoir. The floor is shredded, a line across the room, that chewed through both carpet and furniture. The bed is cut nearly in half, along with a guard. The curtains are on fire, and three more guards are lying on the ground, dead. A fifth pair of feet in guard's boots is sticking out of the closet.

Of more immediate interest, the body of Kazmiri Verlaine is slumped against the wall, dead, certainly. Several stab wounds perforate his chest, though the snake person over his chest seems to be dealing them now that he's dead. In the hand not holding the jagged kukri dealing the blows, the snake creature holds a large feathered dart, with a rather sinister looking gleam on the tip. It snarls and spins to face you.


[Dice 1d100]

rolled 6 = 6

>>12496496
Ha! I knew Kazmiri wasn't really apart of the cult. Maybe we should get him resurrected if we can't profit from his death enough...

rolled 69 = 69

>>12496496
Looks like they replaced him.

Anyway, lets do this.

>>12496516
They probably offed the real Kazmiri and replaced him.

rolled 9 = 9

>>12496496
Looks like we have a fight.

Good that kaz is dead. I suggest we polymorph after Cygnis leaves so that our Cibach Azal persona is not tarnished from association.

rolled 80 = 80

>>12496516
Hmm. The result of this post will determine if I am done for the night in terms of rolling.

>>12496551
Or just go invisible. I mean, the emerald is fine, too.

>bicameral stallbro
I din't know what that is, but that sounds like two houses of awesome.

>>12496496
Aww, he's dead? Fresh dead or old dead? We have to find out if it is truly him who ordered us to be banished or not.

Seconding polymorph. Also, snakemen got good senses...

>>12496529
>>12496516

With a shout, you charge, parrying the snakecreature assassin's sword arm with your arm, smashing your hilt into his skull, when you realize you're too close to bring your rapier to bear. With a kick, you cast him back from you, stunned. He collapses, still conscious, but somewhat damaged. You prepare to finish him off when you hear a noise from behind you. Spinning around, you catch a human dressed in leather armor bursting through a second door behind you, sword in hand. A study, judging by the books visible. Blocking his shortsword, you thrust at his shoulder, striking meat. He shouts in pain, drawing back, and you manage to land a slice on his arm as he retreats.

Reaching down, you pick a thin dagger from a belt sheathe on one of the dead guards. Armed with a blade either hand, you step forward, parrying the humans' feeble thrust on the dagger, and running him through with your rapier. He spasms, and gasps, inhaling. Satisfied that he's down, you shove him down, kicking him, for good measure. Drawing your weapons from the body, you turn to face the serpent-creature again, now standing and ready to engage you. His comrade bought him some time; ideally not enough.

[dice 2d100]

rolled 23 = 23

>>12496752
I'll take one roll. Someone save us from my fail roll.

rolled 32, 40 = 72

>>12496752
Fuck up that snake!

rolled 12 = 12

>>12496752
Grrr. Fucking snakes.

rolled 13, 65 = 78

>>12496752
Best of 2, hope this one is better.

rolled 79, 44 = 123

>>12496774

>>12496774
>>12496777
>>12496785
>>12496786
/tg/ dice are strong with these ones.

Battle music while we wait: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8q0849p3xc

>>12496777
>>12496774
>>12496777

>32, 40

Deciding you have no interest in finding out whether the dart is poisoned as you suspect, you immediately go for his shoulder. He parries with his kukri, and you threaten with your offhand dagger. What follows is a visually exciting, but rather fruitless exchange, culminating in him landing a nasty cut on the back of your hand. As you retract, he takes the brief respite to throw the dart at you.

[1d100, you REALLY want to beat Fifty five. Eight-up wouldn't hurt either.]

rolled 18 = 18

>>12496867
Sigh. It was bound to happen.

rolled 17 = 17

>>12496867
Well, let's give it a shot.

rolled 44 = 44

>>12496867
Ok, shit just got real, lets do this.

rolled 52 = 52

>>12496873
>>12496874
>>12496877

Oh wow. We're fucked.

rolled 45 = 45

>>12496873
>>12496874
Dice gods have forsaken us.

>>12496867
I really didn't want to do this, but time to use that 98 we have saved up from way back when.

rolled 55 = 55

Someone really needs to get on making that "/tg/ dice, /tg/ dice everywhere" pic. Seriously? Five rolls and not a single one above the 55 that we need.

>>12496912
THIS THIS THIS

>>12496927

/tg/ dice spite you

>>12496927
> 55 at last, but too late

ALL OF MY HATE.

rolled 92 = 92

>>12496912
Fucking use it

Also, writer dude, what would happen if we didn't, just curious.

>>12496927
Oh lordy. That's just cruel.

Well? Should I use >>12496873 ?

Use the saved 86?

>>12496927
Someone needs to screencap that.

Proof that the /tg/ dice are sentient, and they really hate us.

Alright. Whatever high rolls we have saved up, now is the time to use them.

>>12496953
Do you want to find out?

[Sorry, but I don't have an adequate picture for the pleasure I take in asking that question.]

Also, props to the fellow who posted music. I like.

>>12496958
I think he did use the saved 86 on scouting.

We have that ancient 98, but I was hoping to save that for the ultimate showdown with Cygnis.

>>12496978
An 18 is pretty bad, but then again we might be able to rely on our supreme draconic might to resist the poison. But we would lose all chance to loot Kazmiri's stuff.

Then again, who knows the next time we would get a stored 98. I seriously doubt WD will let us have something like that again for a long time.

This is the cult we are talking about. DO NOT LET THEM POISON US. Remember what we found that they used on Cygnis? It could very well be on that dart. Use the 98, as much as I don't want to, I also don't want to be captured by them.

>>12496977
/tg/ dice slay me. We had like 4 90+'s last night and a 100, but all it did was save us from a trap. Now we get completely FUCKED by a poisoned superdart. Fucking DICE.

WAIT

NO

DO NOT USE 98

WE HAVE ANTI-POISON RING

>>12497120
Oh yeah, we do. Forgot about that.

We really need to keep an inventory.

>>12497120
Fuck yes superior draconic intelligence.

Mastermind.jpg.

And I figured it out before he posted. We should totally get to keep that 98.

So fucking glad I pushed for that back then after we heard about how Cygnis got captured.

>>12497148
Hats off to you sir. I completely forgot about the ring and that was a clutch idea. The only idea I can be pleased about that I presented was the anti-polymorph amulet we'll eventually give Cygnis.

rolled 89 = 89

>>12497137
Deviousness is abound everywhere.... I think WD forgot about it too to be honest..... However, we are still taking a dart. I think we are okay though. It will hurt quite a bit though.

+cringing in wait that the ring only grant bonus to Fort save+

>>12497206
That, sir, would be bullshit. We paid for something to make us immune to poison and polymorph detection. Paid through the nose.

>99
Batting the dart aside with a inhumanly quick jerk of your blade, you close on the assassin. He turns, trying to jump out the window, but fails; you drop your sword and grab his ankle in one hand.

Banging him against the side of the house for good measure, you haul him back through the window, and do your best to restrain him. He struggles and fights, evidently not caring whether you kill him; the fact that he's unarmed and you aren't not particularly deterring him.

Deciding you have better things to do, you bring your pommel down on his head, once, twice, three, /four/ times before he goes limp. Tying him up with bedsheets, you search the room. What you find is varied; the guards have some gold on them, not much. Kazmiri has a few magical knickknacks, as well as a rather impressive jeweled gold signet ring, which you are tempted to pocket as well. The bodies of the two assassins are loaded down with plunder, oddly enough; golden goblets, silverware, most of it with Kazmiri's signet on it. Hmm... The study has been damaged, heavily. Significant portions of it have been piled in the center of the room, and burned. It looks like a clean-up, or a fake of one. Paranoia.... Searching the body one the floor, you find a bloodstained contract folded in his pocket; a 'binding contract' between Kazmiri Verlaine... And Cibach Azal... to renegotiate Kazmiri's position in the Cult of the Binder, the Unspeakable One, by any means necessary... in exchange for suitable compensation, and induction into the cult....

You scoff, crumpling the paper, and tossing it into the fire. As if anyone would believe that cultist would draw up legal contracts. Still, signs of a frame are evident. Kazmiri and yourself.... And possibly more, you realize, as you find a map on the snakeman. A map of the temple of Alset...

>>12497262
Damn. It.

I guess we don't actually get it back do we?

>>12497120
>>12497129
>>12497137

Well, goddamn.

Keep >>12497262, just because I forgot too. Anyway, [Actions?]

rolled 86 = 86

>>12497273
WD, you are a total bro. Love you, no homo.

I say we take the stuff off of Kaz, this must be his estate. Don't we have one more polymorph form left by the way?

>>12497262
Information is the most valuable right now. We can't possibly loot the whole house before the watch arrives. Make sure Cygnis is away by locating Scinnari and then polymorph so we aren't connected. Then search the house for maps to stashes, deeds, contracts, magical items, anything with a light load and high value. Grab his signet ring too, why not.

If they're framing Kazmiri now, than I doubt we have much time to act. Part of me REALLY wants to loot this place but I doubt we can afford the time. Perhaps put out any fires that could destroy the place and hope no one notices people are dead in here. Grab what's on Kazmiri, although that's risky, do a quick search for an tomes he might have that are worth grabbing and then let's go find Cygnis and Scinnari. We should probably head to the temple and stop the cult from doing whatever they want there. That and I imagine Arman is making Cygnis feel not so good with herself at the moment so we can be a nice, supporting gentleman for her current state of mind.

And now I collapse. Enjoyed it as always and see you next time Writer-dude.

rolled 55 = 55

>>12497287
>>12497273
If we have that one polymorph left, we could polymorph into a Kaz or extremely close to looking Kaz couldn't we?

>>12497328
I think we've polymorphed more than three times in a day before, it was just a strain. I think 5 was our limit.

>>12497341
Four. Five is a theoretical, if you're willing to put your all into it. (And roll high.)

Decisions?

>>12497312
do this imo

It occurs that this is a crime scene, of a soon-to-be-declared-deceased City Leader. Perhaps we shouldn't swipe all these things that can be traced to him? After all, as they clearly intend to frame us, (contract, lol), then we don't really want to HELP them, do we? Stealing things with his personal signet on them... Doesn't sound like a good idea. If you catch my drift.

Swipe all, DO NOT BRING THEM TO PLACES THAT ARE KNOWN AS CIBACH AZAL'S HANGOUT!

Stash them somewhere till we have chance to stamp out the signets. With the kobolds, maybe?

We can swipe as much stuff as we can and just lay low with it for a hundred years. Nobody will remember.

Alright, if they're going to try to frame Cibach, then we might want to stop being Cibach for a little while. If we get rid of the obvious contract, the main connection will be "well Kazmiri ordered Cibach out of the city, so Cibach obviously had him killed in retaliation!" We can sabotage that by making it look like "Cibach" really did leave the city while we assume a different identity. We can make a "triumphant return" as Cibach at a later date, once things have died down. It seems like the cult doesn't really know that we can polymorph, so it should also help us dodge the inevitable cult reprisal for what we've done to them.

>>12497273
Does that mean we keep the 98?

Also, bring down that live assassin, and make it look like that Kaz killed that dead assassin. Or are both assassins alive? We ran the human one with rapier, but last seen he was still gasping and choking.

We could always hide what we take from here in the place where we originally hid our lead chest. It'll take time to get there since we'd have to fly and all but it would keep it safe. Alternatively, we could just store it in the lead chest and hide the chest somewhere not in our home since it should be unscryable.

>>12497499
>>12497487
Relieving the dead man of his magical trinkets (some of which look to be more than mere trinkets, in all truth,), you skim his study, but find nothing. His signet and a small keyring are added to your collection. Perhaps you can return to loot his tower again... without useless adventurers in tow. Perhaps you can even add his signet to it, you decide; jewels and gold are always tempting. Taking it, you consider making a detour to hide it somewhere, and, if so, where.

Searching the rest of the house, you consider the banquet in the dining room, but decide it would be most unwise to sample it.

[leave?]

>>12497551
Bedroom. And quickly.

>>12497520
Feels like cowardice to abandon our face. Anyway, that would mean running out on Cygnis, or revealing that we can polymorph... which would certainly make ME suspicious.


Would have no reason to keep our house and position that way, either.


...Reading through previous thread. Between the book Cygnis found stating that the Temple of Alset was a front for the cult, the attempts to frame us, and the map on the assassin, it looks like they might intend to attack the temple, maybe a three-way frame on the temple, Kazmiri, and us.

And that would be bad. Cygnis and Scinnari are back there. Oh, and Arman.

>>12497582
The assassin remains in the bedroom, bound and gagged. You aren't too certain about snake-man biology, but you're fairly certain you gagged him in a manner that would prevent tongue-biting suicide.

[Actions?]

>>12497616
>forgot picture for my mini update.

Let's decide what we're doing people, and call it a night. (or do it and call it a night. Finish up here, and all that.)

>>12497616
Grab the dart, the poison on it is probably pretty vicious if they brought it to assassinate Kazmiri. I want to say bring the snakeman with us for Scinnari to experiment on, but it seems pretty fanatical and we might not be able to understand it anyway. Plus, bulky.

Grab as much valuable crap as we can and scram invisibly. Knock the snakeman out again before leaving so the guards find it. Hopefully they won't be in the employ of the cult.

>>12497644
Second thought, the snakeman saw us. Kill it. A corpse will indict the cult just as much as a live one.

rolled 28 = 28

>>12497654
Kill snakeperson, quick scan of bedroom, and then turn invisible and vamoose.

Rolling because I can

rolled 40 = 40

>>12497659
No you fool, you'll doom us all!

You know, Asha could read the unspeakable tome. We thought it was because she had dragon blood.

What if... there was another reason. We've been tracked down and countered pretty effectively lately.

>>12497659
>>12497654
>>12497644
Grabbing the dart and the captive, you release the captive, stabbing it in the chest. It spasms, and you leave the knife in. A neat tableau; the assassins killed Kazmiri and his guards, but were mortally wounded. You, satisfied, depart; you did, after all, tell Cygnis you'd meet her at the temple.

Activating the emerald, you creep out the door, stealthily. Unnecessary. The Guards are not interested, obviously more occupied with their own particular beat; most of them are private guards, not city guards. A nice thing about this neighborhood. Invisible, you take off into the gathering dusk.

[Give me a final 1d10, which will be used for OP of the next thread.]

rolled 1 = 1

>>12497716
d10? Okay, I guess.

rolled 93 = 93

>>12497716
You mean d100?

>>12497737
figures.

rolled 1 = 1

>>12497716

>>12497741

Nope. 1d10.

As traditional, I'm posting my email, and will check the final responses here before starting that one.

rolled 7 = 7

>>12497737
>>12497750
Wow.

>>12497737
>>12497750
/tg/ diceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

>>12497768
Oooh, do you have the any of the ones like "BLOOD AND THUNDER!"?

Also, I must agree, /tg/ dice seem to hate us. Passionately.

Since it sounds like the cult is planning to attack the temple I was going to suggest going home and getting Asha first, but we should likely hurry to the temple just in case first. Scinnari can teleport at will so we can just have her zap over there instead of hoofing it.

>>12497788
Yeah, I have blood and thunder. Also some others.

>>12497810

>>12497794
>devil chick
>hoofing it
Heh. Hehe. I giggled. Yes, I know we haven't ever seen her like that. But still.

Say, since she's capable of altering her appearance, to some degree, do we know if she DOESN'T have hooves? I would imagine we know a *lot* about what she looks/feels like...

>>12497819
Basically: This.

>>12497836
>>12497810
Was asking (minus the name/trip, as I hoped to stop my computer from attempting to auto-fill it in all the time,) because I've heard there are other versions, notably, a Manowar "Sons of Odin" one I've seen, but alas, saved on a different computer.

Posting as 'me' again to state that my presence on wednesday is officially In Doubt, but I will almost certainly be here on Sunday, starting sometime 15:00-17:00, like usual. (usual on sundays, at any rate. 4chan time, of course.)

>>12497891
Goddamnit, captcha. Why you do this?

That was me. In case there was doubt.

>>12497835
Well Erinyes are fallen celestials who who kept their forms except for minor alterations like black wings, claws, and horns. Interestingly, they are the only type of devil that rarely advances or lowers in rank and are born into their status more often than not. It's rare to be promoted into or out of being one because of the special class they hold in devil society. They are either actually the first celestials to have fallen or of direct decent, a sort of devilish nobility.

Also the type of devil most likely to stick around on the mortal plane forever, forsaking the hells. This is all from memory of the demons and devils book though, so don't quote me.

>>12497915
Care to name it so I can look it up? I wish to do research to it.

>>12497930
I'll email you when I find a link. Likely in 5 or 6 hours after class. The Erinyes section is pretty sparse, though. Not that I mind, I always liked them a lot and it gave me lots of room to play with when DMing.

Good thread mate!

>>12497930
Never mind, found it quick. Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. It's on /rs/.

rolled 8, 1 = 9

Awesome thus far :D

>>12497930
The excerpt on page 18 specifically is what I remember about the Erinyes.

>>12498107
Also the table on page 10 that shows ranking and exceptions.