>>26839517
Examine chest.

Examine stairs.

Contemplate existence.

>>26839517
Carefully open the chest, make sure it's not booby-trapped.

Also, tell dragonthing to be quiet, holy shit. "Shutup you little shit."

>>26839517

stress the fact that we need to be quiet to Gareth/Bruno

let's stay away from the hole in the wall for now, examine the chest, if it doesn't rattle, we can try opening it.

"Shut up." You hiss at Bruno - Or Gareth- and the dragon went silent, putting his paws on his head.
You look down at the chest. It's old, and the wood is half-rotted. A quick jiggling lets you determine that it's locked, but seeing as it's so rotted...

You gently pry apart the wooden top, chipping away carefully at it, and peer inside.
Inside is mostly rotted paper, piles of unreadable mulch, leatherbound journals and something beneath all of it.
You nudge the papers aside, and beneath the junk is a gauntlet. It's made mostly of leather, with silver plating strapped to it, and there was a strange rune engraved into the palm.

You pull open your own book, where the artificer's notes and your employers' instructions were, but both lists of common runes didn't mention the one ingraved into the gauntlet's palm.
Must mean this artifact is uncommon, then. Now you only need to get it back to your employers somehow, and you'll finally see some pay.

Next, you examine the stairs. They seem mostly sturdy, despite the obvious dilapidation of the mansion you're in, but both up and down stairs are dark, as they're not lit by a huge hole in the wall. You have rather good night vision, but for proper light you might need to light either a torch or your lantern.

>>26839589
Sounds like a solid plan to me.

>>26839673
Put the gauntlet on.

>>26839673

people used towers for studies and such, right?

might be something worth taking at the top.

>>26839673
Let's light a torch, then head dowb the coridoor.

>>26839673
Check the status of our torch. If it is good to go, and we have means with s which to snuff it in short order, we should explore the upper floors.

>>26839673
Light the Torch, but put the gauntlet on first. Then move up the stairs.

You dig the rest of the gauntlet out of the rotted mulch, and chip the rest of the lid away so that you can reach in and grab it. You're actually rather amazed- despite the obvious age of everything else in the tower, the gauntlet itself is fresh, as if brand new. You pull it on, and it's uncomfortably loose- until a moment later. The silver plating suddenly pushed tightly against your hand, and the entire gauntlet adjusted, fitting your hand.
You stretch your hand, and experimentally curl and uncurl your fingers. It's lighter than armor, and might actually provide you with a bit of protection, but it doesn't have any sort of obvious effect.

You pull one of your torches off of your back, quickly set to lighting it. Just a few squeezes of your lighter, and the torch was aflame.
You wave it this way and that, just to make sure it was sturdy enough to fight off a remnant with, and make your way upstairs.

The upper floor of the tower was less dusty than the one below, the walls covered with rotted shelves holding up rotted books. There was only the one set of stairs downward, and no other entrances or exits to the room. However... There looks to be bare human footprints in the dust, of someone with slimmer feet than yours. You're no tracker, but it looks like they did a quick round of the room, stopped at one shelf, and then walked back the way they came. Strange...

You get closer to the shelf and examine it, but whatever was there wasn't anymore. The dust had been brushed aside, but you could tell there was once something here.

>>26839890
Investigate the exact path the footprints went, and thoroughly look through the shelves: Maybe a secret door, or something similar?

>>26839890
Investigate the footprints. Once we've checked the room for any other valuables, see where they lead and see if it takes us to a safer way out.

>>26839890

anything else which we can salvage?

well, examine the print, are they fresh?

>>26839890
Look at other shelves and look for a book that's not dusty

You get low and walk past every footprint, checking the shelves for anything they may have touched or grabbed, but you can't find anything. You do find the odd corroded silver coin, but nothing worth salvaging. You even use your other hand to jiggle each shelf. None of them were loose enough to hide a secret door, and in one case, it is so rotted that the wood collapses, rotted books spilling out onto the ground.

As for the prints themselves, you take a close, close look. They're almost new. As almost as new as your own prints, in fact. But why barefoot?
And then behind you, you hear gibbering. You turn back, and there a remnant stood, skin as black as tar and eyes a brilliant, intelligent red.
It snarls, and takes a step toward you. You notice that one of its feet are swollen, strange talons sticking out of the toes.
There it stands, an old rusted bar in one hand.

And then, after you have a moment to take it in, it charges.

>What do? You'll most likely need a roll.

>>26840051
Punch Remnant with gauntlet,

When do we roll? After consensus?

Rolled 27

>>26840051
Throw our torch at it and roll out of the way.

>>26840110
>Before consensus. I'll be taking the first three rolls regardless of *what* consensus is chosen. The rolls are completely separate from your own votes.

Rolled 90

>>26840051
I say we try to dodge so it slams into the not dusty bookshelf

Rolled 6

>>26840137
1d20?

Rolling 1d20 for gauntlet punch.

>>26840147
>Oh, right, I forgot to say; 1d100s. That way, crits are rarer, which means I can have fun when they do show up.

Rolled 58

>>26840051
Punch it with the Gauntlet

>>26840051
Hit it with our torch, these fuckers are really flammable.

>Brawling: Medium difficulty: DC 50. Success!

You wait, and take a deep breath.
The Remnant gibbers madly, charging and howling wordlessly. It raised it's weapon above its head, and swung down.
You step out of the way, and bring your gauntlet into its face. The remnant howls, wordlessly, and you punch at it again.
And again. Its head shot back, so you sweep it with your leg. The creature collapsed backward, sprawling into the dust.
You look at your hand. The gauntlet's silver plates were dented, slightly, but your knuckles didn't seem to hurt much, if at all.

The remnant starts to get up, so you kick it, and lower your torch to it.

The howling started long before the creature was entirely aflame. It writhes every direction, scrabbling and clawing at the ground, trying to drag itself away.
Fire licked at the bookshelves, the old, rotted things, and they started to go up as well.

Looks like this room's going to be entirely purged by fire soon enough. It might be smart to get out while you can.

>>26840304
Put out our torch, while going down the stairs. We need to get out quickly, but not fuck it up more.

>>26840304
Let's evac from this room, try and find a way out, but take a moment if we see anything interesting along the way.

>>26840304
Well atleast we go our gauntlet. Time to get the fuck out.

>>26840304

shit, if the mansion goes up in flame who knows what might be lost!

hows Gareth/Bruno doing?
that little girl will be very cross with us if something happens to it.

You rush down the stairs again, doing your best to not breathe much smoke. The second floor is much safer, comparatively; based on how closed off that top of the tower is, the fires should die down when it runs out of air. You look out of the hole in the wall again; The Remnant is still there, pacing from side to side, gibbering and snarling. You see Gareth sitting in the corner, so at least he made it out okay.
Smoke starts pouring down the stairs, having nowhere else to go, but the stone doesn't seem to be catching fire.

Shit.
With the remnant guarding the front, you can't get out through the front door or through the hole in the tower. The only other entrance you found is the iron door in the back, but that was barricaded from the inside. Unless you can somehow scare off or kill the remnant, that might be your only safe way out.

>>26840563
Let's use some of our runes to get the door down. Thoughts?

>>26840563

the Octopus doesn't seem to concerned about where it is, let's head down and try to find that other exit, maybe we'll come across something worth while.

>the Octopus seems to be able to sense things around it, best stay out of its line of sight.

>>26840563
Maybe we could wait for the fire to burn out and then look there again.

>>26840563
Grab Dragon, creep down to the iron door in the basement(?)

>>26840563
Can we drop a torch on the big ol' gibberer? The wind might snuff it out as it falls, or it could set fire to the whole countryside and make us even more dead, but there is a slight chance of everything going perfectly.

>>26840696

let's not do that until it actually knows we're here.

>>26840715
But then it will be too late. It could dodge.

You pick up the dragon, scooping him up onto your shoulder, and make your way down the stairs.
The mansion is dark, the only light source your torch, but those two sets of footprints are still there; the slim footprints go both ways, but there's a second set in the dust; broader, one side with talons scraping in the dust. No doubt the prints of the remnant you just burned.

Eventually, walking through the dark, dusty halls, you realize that you're really rather far away from the tower by now. You see a door in the side of the hallway, and gently push it open.
When you peek in through the other side, you can see the main hallway. You've gone in an enormous circle...But the remnant is outside, this time. There are the stairs up, where the remnant had been protecting, now unguarded. Not to mention there was another door, across the hall.
But there's also the two sets of footprints in the hallway you're in, leading you somewhere else, wandering off into the darkness...

>[] Main hall: Stairs up.
>[] Main hall: Across the hall
>[] Follow the footprints.
>[] Other?

>>26840825
Follow the footyprints

>>26840825
Let's go stairs up

>>26840825

I'm really curious about what happened to the other person so I'm going to say footprints, unless they lead in to a basement.

>>26840825
>[] Follow the footprints.

>>26840825
>[x] Main hall: Stairs up.

You gently close the door again, and head deeper into the darkness, torch at the ready. You follow the footsteps, making sure Bruno Toadscream was still on your shoulder, and walk.
And walk.
And walk.
The hallway seems to get longer and longer as you walk. The hallway's solid brick walls eventually degrade into simple stone carving. If it weren't a single hallway, you're sure you'd have gotten lost by now. Eventually, you stop, and look down. You're already far into the mansion, perhaps even below it, and the walls seem damp, but there are stairs going even further down. There's much less dust here, of course, and you can only see the footprints if you really investigate it, but it's rather certain that the prints are going down these steps.

Gareth whimpered on your shoulder, and gave you a Look. One that said that he didn't want to be here.

>>26841033

I don't like this one bit but we've been walking for a while now.
reassure Bruno and promise him some yummy food when we get out of here.
continue walking.

>>26841033
Well if he hadn't brought that Jackalope down on us and woken the gibbery monster we wouldn't be trapped down here. Stupid dragon.

>>26841033
Listen for any noises I guess. If we hear nothing then head down.

>>26841033
Pet Bruno and continue walking on. But let's be cautious. Animal instincts hardly ever lie.

>>26841033
Keep going.

Also for gawdz sake can you stick to one tense.

>>26841033
Keep going.

>>26841151
>I try! I'm used to writing in past tense, but now I'm trying to do it in present tense. It's habit!

"Well, if you hadn't brought that jackalope down on us and woke up that monster, we wouldn't be trapped down here." You whisper.
The dragon pouts back at you.

You go quiet, and listen carefully. There's no gibbering down there, no mumbling... But your chest feels tight. The air down there feels strange, and you can smell sulfur and spent gunpowder.
Carefully, you continue on, torch still flickering and crackling in your hand- but it's going dim by now, and soon, it'll be out. You're rather thankful you have a second and if that fails, a lantern.
Eventually, your footsteps start to echo, and you can hear the sounds of rushing water. The sulfur here is more powerful. You can't see far into the darkness, but what you can see is that you're in some kind of... enormous cavern.

You take a step forward, and look up at the wall in front of you.
What the hell is this?
Barely lit by your flickering torch, you can see an enormous ring of runes, carved painstakingly into the cavern wall. It hums and crackles as you notice it, and your gauntlet seems to buzz.
Your intuition is telling you something, but you're not sure what. It's not a bad feeling... but it's not a good one.
It's a feeling that you're not alone here.

>>26841240

back to the wall, scan the room.

>>26841240
Raise our gauntlet closer to the runes.

>>26841240
Tap the wall!

>>26841240
Step into the ring.

>>26841240
Enter room and gain gauntlet power.

What could go wrong?

>>26841240
Touch wall.

>>26841308
seconding

>>26841276
Let's do this first.

You step into the cavern, and make your way closer to the wall. The runes themselves are mostly unfamiliar, and you don't quite understand what it is. But there is, of course, only one thing you can do when confronted with a massive, possibly magical wall.

You push your gauntlet's palm against it.
That very moment, your torch went out. You are plunged in the darkness. But only for a moment before the runes in the wall blazes into light. The inside of the ring- the stone, making up the wall- cracks and bursts outward, showering you with rocks and gravel.

Behind is a swirling, violet light- almost like a liquid, iridescent and effervescent. You stand, awed...
Gareth squeaked, and leapt off of your shoulder, scrabbling for the stairs.
The same moment a Revenant burst out of the liquid, pulsing with power. It was just like the powerhouse from last night, except his legs were longer, more powerful, and his tail had a long, savage hook.

His eyes were blazing with light, almost glowing in the darkness.

>>26841308
THe runes could be a trap and kill us.

>>26841437
>revenant
>Remnant, even, whoops.

>>26841437
CHARGE!!

hit it with the torch

>>26841437
Stand still. Show the remnant our gauntlet. Do not be hostile.

>>26841437
I suggest that we cut off the entrance with our runes and try to make a run for it. We are in very narrow space with an ubercharged berserker we can't win CQC.

>>26841437
Fuck let's just run away.

>>26841501
Second.

>>26841437

ffff, shit.

be ready to dodge if it attacks and in the mean while, run.

pick up Gareth on the way.

>>26841437
Lick it.

>>26841437
Tongue in multibutt

>>26841437
Get the hell out of dodge, seal the doorway with earth rune. Grab the dragon while you're at it.

>>26841437
This guy is obviously friendly. Give him a hug. He must be so lonely being trapped in there so long.

>>26841516
>> We are in very narrow space
>Actually, you are in a rather large cavern. Even the light of the glowing purple ??? doesn't illuminate the entire thing.

In the darkness, illuminated only by the strange glowing liquid in the wall, you face off against a remnant, one stronger than the rest you've faced, save the strange guardian.
You stand still, and hold up your gauntlet.
The gibbering suddenly turned into howling, and it charges.
So you do the reasonable thing and run. You dart toward the stairs, stumbling up it, and run through the darkness. You can't seem to find Gareth...

And then there was a loud crack, and you smell a strong whiff of gunpowder. Then a second crack.
You know that sound. That's the sound of a gun.
You look back, still running, and see the remnant on its knees, two steel spikes through its head and throat, respectively.
You recognize those spikes.
<Big fella, neh?> You hear someone below say, in an exotic language- one you already know. You stop, and peer down into the darkness. Barely silhouetted by the violet light, you can see someone covered in cloth, a long galdian musket on their shoulder.
Galdia. A country of sand, mud, and a few trees, to the south. A real shithole, though they get rather offended when you say that.

>>26841688
say back in the language "one outside is at least 5 times as big"

>>26841688
Torch the remnant and thank the man.

>>26841688
"Hello there."

>>26841688

"Thanks for the assistance, you are the adventurer the villagers told me about?"

>>26841733

might be a woman, going by the footprints.

>>26841733
It's a woman, I bet.

>>26841774
Knowing Exabyte, it might be. Also why the fuck do you have the same name?
>>26841688
<There's a bigger one outside. You up for the challenge?>

>>26841819
>Knowing Exabyte
?

<The one outside is at least five times as big.> You respond.
<I know. That's why I came in through the roof.> He says, and chuckles. <Hello.>
<Hello there. Are you the adventurer the villagers told me about?>
<Probably. I dunno what they said. Can't speak a lick of Lelan. Just threw coin at them, and took food.> He responded, and nudged the remnant with the butt of his musket. The musket was rather simple- put a packet of gunpowder in this chamber, slide a spike down the barrel, and pull the trigger. But you know from experience how good they are at firing long range.

You make your way back down to the foot of the stairs as the galdian man pries his spikes loose from the body. Then you drag it aside, and set it on fire.
<Those seem to burn well.> The man says; you just nod at him. You can't see his face behind all the cloth he wore, but you had a feeling he was smirking.
<Now, what's this thing?> He asks, looking up at the swirling violet liquid. <Magic?>

>>26841851
Exabyte ran 6 other quests.

>>26841774
Oh yeah, search for the dragon, he's bound to be here somewhere.
>>26841819
Dunno, it's a pretty cool name so I decided to start using it.

>>26841866
<Presumably. It just spit out that remnant, though. I bet that scholar back in town would faint if I told him something like this exists.>

>>26841866
<don't know of anything else that glows purple, you?>

>>26841866
Chat him up, what he's after here? How does he look, is he older or younger than us? And what is a galdian doing here anyway.

>>26841866

<Probably? I'm not to sure, i just thought touching it would be a good idea and we know how that turned out.>

<did you happen to notice a dragon running away?>

>>26841866
<I guess it is some kind of chemistry combined with magic to supercharge the remnants. And by any chance you didnt see a dragon around here did you?>

>>26841866
touch it w/ rune gauntlet

>>26841944
That sounds like a really, really bad idea.

>>26841874
It kinda pisses me off. And flatters me at the same time. I have somebody who wants to be like me. Yay.

>>26841944
Let's not, it might ruin it.

>>26841968
Dude chill, we have different trips. There's no way people will confuse us two.

<Presumably. Don't know of anything else that glows purple, you?>
<I know of a few drinks that do, but this isn't it,> He responds.
You look the galdian man up and down, but again, you can't quite see his face.
<What's a galdian doing here anyway?> You ask.
<I'm an adventurer! Nationality knows no bounds!> He declares, putting a hand on his hip.
You peg him as relatively young, based on his voice.
<Did you happen to notice a dragon running away?>
<This fella?> He asks, and holds up Bruno. <He ran into me squeaking. I was off next to the underground river thataway, and he just barreled into me. I've named him Malchak.>
Then he tilted his head. <Which is, surprisingly enough, my own name too! Call me Mal.>

He turns to the portal again, which surprisingly, didn't spit out another remnant.

>>26842007
Enter portal; Disregard safety

>>26842007
"Apparently everyone has a different name for that one. I've been calling him Bruno. The Smith's daughter calls him Gareth."

>>26841895
yea be a smart ass to the person who just saved our ass.

File: 1377549279381.gif-(485 KB, 193x135, wa.gif)

485 KB GIF

>>26842007
mfw Mal is a sentient remnant

>>26842007
TAP PORTALIS WITH GAUNTLET

to confirm safety.

>>26842007

let's not go through it, we don't know where we'll end up and we promised to help the village protect itself against the Remnants.

inspect the runes and the rest of the chamber.

ask Mal what he was doing down here.

>gotta sleep
>good luck gentlemen

>>26842007
Call the dragon by different names - Bruno, Gareth, and Malchak. See who he loves the best.

>>26842007
<Maybe we should shut it down somehow? I don't really like the idea of having another one of these things just popping out behind us.>

>>26842121
Also, check out the portal, what it opens to now that the remnant is gone?

<Apparently everyone has a different name for that one. I've been calling him Bruno. The smith's daughter calls him Gareth.>
<Malchak is the best name for him.> Mal says, and started stretching the dragon's jowls. The dragon started wiggling in response, clearly joying the attention but not how Mal is paying it.

You turn to the swirling violet liquid, and walk closer.
<Hey, bro, what are you doing? Hang on a sec for me to reload. In case something else comes out, see. Alright, ready, bro.>
Then, without hesitation, you touch the portal with your gauntlet.
It buzzed, then vibrated, and words- alien, gibbering, senseless words- burst into your mind.

>Roll 1d100! Difficulty: Medium.

Rolled 7

>>26842173
Bro? fuck he is from Jersey we need to kill him now

Rolled 18

>>26842173

Rolled 10

>>26842173
Is that us who suddenly turned into a brodude for no apparent reason?

Rolled 2

>>26842173
This was a poor idea, and I don't think it was ours.

>>26842215
No, the galdian speaks with the carets.

File: 1377549845569.png-(193 KB, 640x400, 1361322321962.png)

193 KB PNG

>>26842205
>>26842207
>>26842215
>>26842227
Fucking /tg/ dice.

Rolled 2

>>26842205
>>26842207
>>26842215
IT BEGINS!

Rolled 21

>>26842173
The clone situation is kinda getting ridiculous.

>>26842257
I know right

>>26842291
I think the gauntlet is affecting us somehow, since touching the liquid wasn't part of the plan. Maybe we should take it off and stash it in our backpack?

>DC: 50. Failure!

Your head pounds. Words, unbidden, vibrate through your mind. That gibbering, that muddled speech, is echoing in your head,

Someone claps you on the shoulder, and tries to tug you back, but you shake them off, and through no decisions of your own, you step forward.
You collapse on the ground, and the buzzing, the babbling, thankfully stops. Finally. But your head still pounds.
You pry your eyes open, and push yourself to your feet. Your surroundings are... strange, eerie. The sky is as violet as the liquid was, silhouettes far off in the distance. The air is stale, almost stiff, and you grab your spear, just in case.

In front of you stands nearly half a dozen... uncomfortably feminine remnants. Sitting inbetween them, lounging back in an overly pompous chair, is a very thin, scrawny man, his eyes red.
But most importantly, his skin is the ashen grey of a kystaran. A living kystaran.
"Ah, hello!" He says, as one of the remnants start fanning him. He's speaking Lelan, surprisingly. "One of you monkeys finally found that thing, did you? Please give it back."

>>26842368
'Who are you?'

>>26842368
"Uh. Nice to meet you. Do we know each other?" Maybe we're related!

>>26842368
"Shutup slut. I'm going home."

>>26842368
"Give what back? Oh, the gauntlet?"

>>26842408
Speaking of which, can we see where we came from? Would we be lucky enough to have a giant stargate just shimmering behind us?

>>26842368
'Who are you?'

'What would I gain from giving you that?'

>>26842368
Trade you for it

"Who are you?"
"I am the High Lord Baerade, and you stand in my domain." He says.

You look back, where the portal was, but you can't see anything- just the flicker of a spark.
"Of course, as it's my domain, you're not allowed to leave until I say so."
You turn back to him.
"Give what back? The gauntlet?"
"The domain access device." He says, rolling his eyes. "It's not just a stupid bit of armor, you know."
"What would I gain from giving you that?"
"Nothing. I was already planning on killing you and harvesting your spirit for a new heavy guardian, as you somehow got my last one stuck outside. I just thought it would be more polite to ask."

His grin was much too wide as he continued. "But since I'm in dire need of entertainment, let's make this an arena, shall we? I'll summon some minions, you fight them, so I summon stronger minions and so on until you die. How's that?"

>>26842548
"Bite me boss bitch" rush his punk ass

>>26842548
charge?

>>26842548
"But you wouldn't do that to your countryman, right? 'cause you're a fair ruler and all?"

>>26842548
"I'd rather take my chances fighting you if that's all you can offer."

>>26842548
Rush him, then use earth surround to trap him with us and away from his minions

>>26842548
Threaten to destroy the gauntlet.

'I'd rather die fighting.'

>>26842548
"Well, you seem to be under a number of wrong headed impressions. First off, your guardian got itself stuck after it went outside to kill the jackalope.
Second, this may be your domain but you're not the only one with a bargaining chip. You even try to harm me, I'll just destroy or ruin the access device out of simple spite.
Third, you'd be better off letting me go. I might not be a threat, but I could sure as shit be a huge pain in your ass. The easiest solution is often the correct one, and trust me, I'm just too damn hard to kill."

>>26842682
Can we be more... terse?

>>26842746
Probably, but throwing a lot of words out rapidly and confidently like that is a pretty good way to throw someone off.

"But you wouldn't do that to your countryman, right? Cause you're-"
"Hahahahahahaha," He interrupts you, cackling madly. He laughs for a full ten seconds, before turning to one of the remnants at his side. "Did you hear that? He thinks he's my *countryman*."
The remnant doesn't move a muscle, uncomprehending.
"Oh well." He says, and claps. "Time to start!"

"Bite me." You snarl, and charge, drawing your steamsling and spear in one smooth moment. You knock away one of the feminine remnants easily- they didn't seem suited to combat- and barrel forward.
"Shit!" He says, and says a word- a rune, you realize- and behind you, four of the large, muscled remnants materialize, already charging you. "Kill him! Hurry!"

"<Earth. Surround.>" Is your eloquent response. His eyes widen as stone bursts from the earth, capturing you, the one feminine remnant next to him, and the High Lord himself.
He looks much less comfortable than he was a moment ago. With a drastic grab for his sword, he barely knocks away your spearthrust, while the remnant does absolutely nothing, still fanning the location the High Lord was. Something started pounding on the rock behind you, trying to break through.

>How do you intend on fighting him?

>>26842548
"I'd just like to go home thank you."

>>26842780
Shank this bitch then loot his corpse

>>26842780
Brawl! We'll cave his stupid high lord skull in.

Rolled 46

>>26842780
shoot him in the face. Lord or not, he can't survive a round to the brainpan.

>>26842780
He seems antiquated. Bet he hasn't even seen a steamsling before.

Press the offence with the spear until he tries to keep his distance, then use the steamsling and shoot him in his stupid fucking face.

>>26842783
this

otherwise we shoot him in the fucking face

>>26842780
"So when I kill you, does that mean this'll become my realm? Never had my own realm before."

>>26842780
Provoke him, while keeping distance by pushing him back with the spear. When he does a mistake use it to kill him or injure him.

>>26842802
>>26842797
>>26842792
Let's not, don't you remember that he's the only one who can send us home? We need to capture him alive.

>>26842777
Seems brash. Kind of vulgar. Don't want to play as the gruff merc.

Err if he gets the upper hand while we try to talk to him he is going to convert us into a remnant.

Better to kill him.

>>26842780
"Still don't think I'm your countryman?!"

The High Lord springs out of his chair, sword in hand, and starts his own attack. He's broadcasting his attacks too much, trying to make a show of it, while you just knock his attacks away.
"So, when I kill you, does that mean this'll become my realm? Never had my own realm before." You say, casually. He's actually making you strain yourself with the attack, but you play it off like it's nothing.
"It'll just fall apart without me." He snarls. "Don't go thinking you'll be able to get out if you kill me."
"You're a bad liar." You respond, and he just growls and grabs his blade with both hands.
"<Fire.>" He says, and his blade burns.

>Roll combat! Mediocre, Difficult!

Rolled 22

>>26842974

Rolled 79

>>26842974
Nat 1 inc

Rolled 16

>>26842974

Rolled 83

>>26842974
I don't think he's bluffing, though.

our dice are out to kill us it looks like.

Rolled 89

>>26842974
"Both of us can get out of here unscathed if you let me go!"

Rolled 24

>>26842974
"You're a big bitch you know."

>>26843021
This is actually decent for /tg/ dice.

Rolled 43

>>26842974
Do not stop. Willpower mode engaged. Determination mode engaged. Destroy him.

Rolled 19

>>26842974

>>26842992
"Say your my bitch"

Rolled 27

>>26843108
*you're

Rolled 66

>>26842974
We're so fresh he can suck our nuts

>>26843161
>#swag

>DC: 60. Partial success!
>Partial successes are when you're below the DC by 10 or less. You succeed, but at a cost.

Sparks dance between the two of you, as you parry the blade wreathed in flames. You grit your teeth, as he swings harder and starts wasting less movements. You draw your steamsling and fire, but the bolt simply slams against the wall behind him.
"<Time. Self.>" He says, and something on his person... breaks. You feel it.
And then he became a blur.
You hazard a thrust, but he's too fast, leaning out of the way. You're being pushed back, spinning your spear in front of you with both hands. The flaming blade crashes against your weapon, and finally knocks it aside.
"I got you!" He snarls, and thrusts.
A blade wreathed in flame slams down on your arm. You roar, and return his attack with your own- a thrust to his throat.

It's a direct hit.

Through the haze of the pain in your arm, you feel the Earth Surround crumble.
As do the remnants.
And slowly, so slowly, the sky starts fading.
Beneath you is the corpse of the High Lord, broken and intact runes alike on him. His sword is warped, half-melted by the flame.

And behind you, the portal blazes into light.

Rolled 19

>>26843222
Grab dem big runes and runnnnn

Rolled 83

>>26843222
Take some runes and jump through portal.

>>26843222
Awww yeah, gotta love that loot. Grab that shit and get outta there.

>>26843222
grab his body and run for the portal.

>>26843222
Grab an armful of runes, anything else that looks remotely magic, and GTFO!

>>26843222
Take some of the runes and get to the porta!

>>26843222
For a lord of a nether plane this guy was a giant pussy..

Favoring your burned arm, you reach down and grab every rune you see, even the broken ones. The world starts getting staler, more closed in, and you can feel it.
The world is a dome.
The world is a dome and it's getting smaller, you realize.

Then, trying not to hyperventilate, you run toward the portal. Behind you, the world is evaporating, melting away. You can't see it, but you can *feel* it.
And you stumble through the portal.
You find yourself collapsing in the cavern, arms full of runes.
The last word you hear before you lose consciousness is the word 'Bro'.
In Galdian.

Splendid.

===

You wake up with something licking your face. Your arm hurts.
<Malchak likes you.> Mal said. You open your eyes to see he's gotten a fire started, and he's cooking something. Your arm hurts, but it's been wrapped and treated; mostly, at least. It still hurts, but there's nothing you can do about it. The dragon's lying on your chest, licking you with an awfully worried expression on his face.
<You've been out for a while. What happened?>

>>26843397
<The gauntlet led me to a magical realm built by a Kystaran. The Kystaran tried to kill me. I killed him first.>

>>26843397
"Got in a sword fight with a mage. It went better than expected."

or whatever a mage is in this universe

>>26843429
Seconding this.

>>26843397
"Got pulled into another realm ruled by an ancient Kystaran mage. He got me pretty good, but I got a spear through his face and all of his runes.
Said he owned the big nasty guy out front, wanted to turn me into the next one. Sort of answers where those damnable things are from."

>>26843397
"Another day in paradise, don't worry about me" check to see if that asshole hasn't looted all of our hard earned runes

>>26843429
Thirding

<The gauntlet led me to a magic realm built by a Kystaran.> You say. <The Kystaran tried to kill me. I killed him first.>
<Good on you!> He said, and clapped you on the shoulder. <Come on, I'll have some rice in a little bit, and then we can take on that big fella. I figure if we can lure it back inside, we can go out through the tower. There's a big hole in it, see.>
You grumble, and sit up, laying out the runes. All of them that you remember are there, even the broken ones.
<What are those things, by the way? You were carrying an armful of 'em.>

>>26843534
"Runes. A means to do magic. Some of them are so common they're barely worth the material they're made of. Others are so rare you could live off the sale of one for the rest of your life. Can't tell which is which until you get them translated though."

>>26843534
<More magic. There is a scholar in town studying them and if you can pronounce the words associated with the symbols you can use it yourself.>

Show him earth.

>>26843534
<You can use them to cast magic if you know the words. Which I don't. But hopefully some of these are rare and valuable.>

>>26843534
<These are runes. They allow us to do magic by saying the words inscibing upon them.>

>>26843534
"They are nothing, little trinkets I collect"

>>26843583
Second dialogue, but don't actual show him by using the runes. They have a finite number of charges.

>>26843534
I'm not sure if we should trust this guy.

"Magical artifacts."

<More magic.> You say. <There's a scholar in town studying them. You can use them to cast magic if you know the words. Which I don't.>
<Shame.> He says. <You don't even know what they do?>

You pull open your small book, and take a look at all of them. Of the three intact ones, you can only decipher two of them- one is Fire, though it's rather degraded, and the other is a shaping rune, Self. From what you can read, the second would give you different effects based on what you used it for- like how Earth and Self would create a set of armor for you, temporarily. Fire and the unnamed rune both seemed rather dilapidated, cracks covering the edges, while Self seemed in better shape.
You just shrug at him.
<Rice is done.> Mal says, and holds a plate out to you.

>>26843672
<Thanks Bro!>

>>26843672
Don't eat the Rice. It's poisoned.

Kill the dirty Australian.

>>26843672
thank him.

>>26843768
just... no, if he wanted us dead we'd be dead.

>>26843781
Unless he wanted us to open the portal and get the runes?

Kill him. It's for our own safety.

>>26843781
Obviously he treated our wounds and waited until we were awake so that he could poison us because if he just killed us in our sleep he wouldn't get to see the horror and betrayal on our face.

>>26843672
Kill him like the rat he is "hey can I see your gun?" Pow stab him in the face

>>26843804
He could have done so while we were knocked out.

>>26843672
Can we tell what the broken runes are?
Or are they broken in that they're in thousands of pieces broken?

>>26843804
>>26843824
>>26843873
Don't be assholes, say thanks and eat the rice

<Thanks, Bro.> You say, and start to eat.

He pulls back the cloth covering his face to eat, so you do the obvious thing and examine him. He's the fitting image of a Galdian- reddish skin, yellow eyes... His eyes are slitted, though, which is probably why he doesn't use a torch. You've known a few people who had eyes like that, and they all had splendid night vision.
<You've got a lot of scars.> He says, meeting your eyes. <And I noticed your chest was wrapped, like if you had your ribs fractured. You get into a lot of fights?>

>>26843894
<Bad past. The ribs are from recently. One of those remnants came after someone and I got into a scrap with it.>

>>26843894
"More than I'd like. Last night a few remnants came into town and tried to drag off the nice inn keeper woman. Hit my ribs like a charging bull."

>>26843894
"I'm experienced."

Rolled 81

>>26843923
Second.

>>26843894
>saying bro
Fucking dropped.

>>26843894
<Cheeki Breeki>

>>26843894
<I don't get into fights often, but when I do I usually fight with stronger opponents>

>>26843955
<CHEEKI BREEKI V DAMKI.>

<I'm experienced.> You say. He nods.
<Obviously.> He responds, and you spend the rest of the meal in silence. Bruno ate his own fill of mushrooms that Mal had found who-knows-where. You take this examine the broken runes, assembling them as best you can, and figuring out what they were. Earth, Air, Light... rather common. One was Force, which is mentioned as a powerful one.
And then you look at the rest of them. They're all the same rune, cracked in different ways. The same symbol.

Then you look at the one new intact rune. It has the same symbol on the front.

<Anyway.> Mal says, suddenly. <How's your arm. Think we can get out of here? Sun'll go down soon, and I have a bad feeling about staying the night here.>
You stretch your arm, ignoring the pain. It seemed to be moving fine, and it smells like Mal put some kind of medicinal herb on it.

>>26844071
<Yea, town sounds good. Arm hurts, but ignoring the pain works too.>

>>26844071
"Yea. Let's go."

>>26844071
<Yeah, let's get out of here.>

Also fuck yeah, time runes. I wonder what Time Lance does?

>>26844145
Maybe a beam that critically ages stuff inside it?

>>26844071
"Keep your eyes open for any golem you might see, I collect their hearts too.

>>26844145
Would time self/ time surround be bullet time? Because that would rock.

<Yea, town sounds good. Arm hurts, but ignoring the pain works too.>
<Ignoring the pain is always a good idea.>
<Let's get out of here.>
<Right.> He responds, and pulls on the cloth covering his face.
<Keep your eyes open for any golem you might see. I collect their hearts too.>
<The big stone jerks? Yeah, I like to stay away from those guys.>

The two of you, with Bruno clinging to whoever he feels like, make your way through the hallway and back out into the main hall. Mal cracks open the door and peeks out, before turning back to you.
<That... ball of arms thing is still out there.> He whispers. <It's just kind of standing there. Or lying. Whichever counts.>

>>26844214
I assume that's how it looked to the mage we were fighting. Dunno how we managed to win, maybe he just sucked really hard.

>>26844216
do we have another of those torches? Light it up and toss.

>>26844216
<You a good shot? Use my steamgun.>

>>26844216
"Well, if it is all the same, let's try to avoid that bastard for now."

>>26844295
If we're going to do that, just drop it from above.

>>26844216
Have both of us shoot at it with our guns.

>>26844216
We should loot this chamber before we leave, starting with taking, or making rubbings of the runes on the "gateway"

>>26844348
>When you returned back to the cavern, you actually saw nothing remaining of the gateway. No light, no runes, no nothing.

<You a good shot? Use my steamgun.>
<This thing's teensy.> He says, giving your sling a disapproving look. <I'm used to, y'know, rifles. Things with barrels. I have my musket. That'd be pretty loud, though. These things burn good, right? Let's just throw flaming things at it. Or even avoid it entirely. The back door's all collapsed on the inside, so we can't go out that way, but we could lure it in here and make an escape through the tower. It's a smooth wall, but has tons of vines, so it's not hard to climb down.>

>>26844392
"What are you afraid to fight one tentacle monster? Lets kill this son of a whore"

>>26844392
>>26844392
Why not just climb down the wall we used earlier?

>>26844392
"I made handholds to get up there actually. It'll be easy."

>>26844392
Might as well try to burn him then. Do we have those torches still? Otherwise we'll just grab a piece of wood from the fire and use it.

>>26844392
<Take some cloth and some oil from my lantern then, wrap it on the spears in the rifle you use.>

>>26844504
Didn't we find a fire rune?

>>26844592
Yeah, but should we really use a rune when we can just light something on fire?

<What, are you afraid to fight one tentacle monster? Let's kill this son of a whore.>
<No wonder you have so many scars.>
<Take some cloth, and some oil from my lantern.> You say. <Wrap it on the spears in the rifle you use.>
<Good idea!> He says; you have a feeling he's grinning under all the cloth he wears. He quickly gets to work, while you grab some spare wood from the broken furniture in the main hall. Eventually, your preparations were complete.
<So, we're going up to the tower to attack from above?>
<Indeed.> You say.
<I like that plan.>

While the two of you walk, you look down at your fire rune, and the notebook Cromwell added to. Then you grin. Under Fire, there was a spot for pronunciation. You put the rune itself aside for a moment, and practice the word until you think you've got it down.
Then you do the same for Self, pleased that your employer's book had the same sort of list.
>Fire: ? Uses, dilapidated.
>Self: ? Uses, worn.

<Am I going to get to see some magic soon?> Mal asks, his musket's wrapped bullets on his shoulder.
You look at the stairs up to the tower, and shrug.

>What's the game plan? Both exits are toward the front, where the remnant is. Mal is primarily a long distance sniper, and your own skills can be used in almost every situation.

>>26844670
Get the monsters attention by shooting it with your sling-gun and throwing fire at it. Run back into the tower to lead it inside and let Mal take a shot. If it is still alive, cast Fire-Self and take it on in melee.

>>26844670
<So far, magic's proved unreliable and nearly killed me. Let's stick to the proper methods of killing things.>

>>26844670
throw fire at monster
lead it into tower
shoot it with mal
if still alive kill with spear and fire self

>>26844670
"If we need it."

Then >>26844791

>>26844757
Yea, this sounds fine.

>>26844791
That is the only plan really..

>>26844757
Wouldn't fire-self set us on fire? Surely you mean fire-surround.

<So far, magic's proved unreliable and nearly killed me.> You say. <Let's stick to the proper methods of killing things, and use magic if we need it.>
<Proper methods... Stabbing, shooting, burning?>
<Yes.>
<Here's the plan. We throw fire and shoot at it from the tower, and it should climb up to get to us. We run down the tower, and around to the main hall, and then outside, and continue shooting it until it's dead. If it doesn't, I use my magic.>
He nods.
<You sound like a squad leader.> He said, suddenly.
You shrug. You don't know much about the Galdian military, but this kid might have been a soldier once.

The two of you creep up the tower, and you make a small pile of assorted wood, while Mal set a small pile of gunpowder bags far away from where you'd be flinging flaming bits of wood.
The two of you look up and out at the creature, and then nod to eachother.

You start throwing, and Mal starts shooting.
The creature roars, in response, and turns to you. A bullet catches it in one of many arms, but it literally takes its own flaming appendage and tears it off, leaving it behind as the monster continues forward. You fling your own flaming stick, but the creature bats it away with one of its many arms.
And then it starts to climb up toward you. You throw another flaming stick, and set it aflame; but without hesitation, the creature tears off its own limb again, dozens of dull red eyes glaring at you.

>Roll!

Rolled 71

>>26844948

Rolled 81

>>26844948

Rolled 24

>>26844948

>>26844921
I think it's the other way around, if we were surrounded by regular fire we would get burnt, but if it was magical fire arms or armor it's probably safe, besides, the Mage did it to his sword I think...

Rolled 15

>>26844948
Keep on rollin' baby

Rolled 29

>>26844948
"I killed your lord! By honorable succession that makes me your new commander!"

>>26844976
The mage only said Fire, so who knows what self would do.

>>26844988
I vote we find out. Flaming armor would be cool.

We need to set more then one small part of it on fire at once, it seems.

>DC: 70. Success!

<Get back!> You roar, and Mal backed away, scooping his ammunition into his arms again. While he bolted, you spill just a bit of lantern oil onto one end of your collection of wood, and fling the entire pile at the creature. It recoiled, several limbs catching fire at once, and you take the chance to bolt down the steps. The creature was too large to fit, s

Behind you, the monster howls in agony, and you can hear the sounds of tearing flesh from down here. You make your way into the main hall, and Mal leans out the front door.
<It's up there. And it's pretty angry, too. I think I can see its center body. You ready for the next part?>

>>26845009
I was wondering if flame/earth/surround might make a flaming hamster ball, but with limited charges its not worthwhile to experiment

<Let's end this.>

>>26845045
<The part where we run the fuck away? Yeah, I think I can manage that.>

>>26845045
Keep shooting!

>>26845045
<Yeah, I'll take point. Just keep shooting it.>
This is the part where we run up and stab it a lot, right?

>>26845045
<Sure.>
FIRE SELF
FIRE SELF
FLAMING ARMOR
ITS GONNA BE AWESOME

>>26845072
Also actually run away. Hold off on the magic unless it starts chasing us away from the mansion.

>>26845045
<Show me if you can make that asshole dance>

<Let's end this.> You say.
The two of you push open the doors and run out into the sunlight.
The monster is half out of the tower, the head stuck inside as it writhed. The rest of its body reminded you uncomfortably of a spider's abdomen, limbs still writhing and twitching behind it. The arrangement of arms had no rhyme or reason, and the howling is starting to hurt your head.
You pull up your steamsling, firing and winding it as fast as you can. Mal, by your side, does the same- at least until he turns to you.
<Bro, I'm out of fire bullets.>
You meet his eyes for just a moment, winding frantically to get more pressure, when a sudden whumph caught your attention.
The remnant fell out of the tower, completely alight in flames, writhing madly and howling for blood.
Then it met your eyes, even through the flames, and started crawling toward you on the dozen or so limbs it had left. It's crawling ever so slowly, getting slower as time passed, but it's still getting closer.
<This is the part where we run the fuck away.> You say.
<Best plan yet.> He responded, and the two of you ran into the trees.

>End of session!
>My twitter is at @futureexabyte
>The IRC is #Exabyte on Rizon.
>And I'll stick around for a bit to answer questions!

>>26845190
Cool dude.

I forgot, did we take the gauntlet with us?

>>26845296
I don't think we ever took it off

>>26845296
Yep! It's still on your hand and everything.

Rolled 2

>>26845296
we were wearing it so presumably yes

>>26845190
When you say the other guy had slitted eyes, is that vertical pupils like a cat, or thick eyelids like the Asian style eyes?

>>26845328
Vertical pupils. It's not uncommon in most places, but it's rather rare in Gardia. They're most common in the north. Lelan Scholars say it's an evolved response to the shroud in the north, but citizens there say that's hogwash- that the eyes have always been.

>>26845190
Fire+Self
Will it set us on fire or give us bitchin flaming robes?
taking all bets

>>26845749
That's something you'll need to ask the experts.

>>26845820
I'm willing to put money on Time+Lance being a TIME TUNNEL

>>26845190
Are there elves/dwarves/things other than humans in this setting?

>>26845961
It's only one main sapient species, barring a few rather intelligent animals.
But then again, some nationalities have red and grey skin, and slitted eyes aren't an uncommon mutation. It'd be hard to say that the humans are 'human' in this setting.

>>26845889
Time+Look = Window to the past/future?

>>26846056
Sounds cool.
>>26845820
Are there ways of combining type runes? So, something like fire+earth+surround?

>>26846372
You can try combining any runes you want in any combination, though if you add too many shape runes it might mess things up or possibly harm you. If you have multiples of the same type, you can use them together to amplify their effects. Earth+Earth+Surround might create a sphere of iron instead of a sphere of stone, for example.

>>26846527
This is excellent!