[Day: Friday, July 16th. Time: 10:35 p.m.] [You've met back up again at the base of the clock tower. Time is dangerously running low.] (Or running dangerously low!) [The surrounding area is full of gears and widjets and other mechanisms that make the clock tick. There's a staircase off to one side, going upward.] [Session Start!] * Maria grins. "Rei! Chie! Hi!" * Lazar waves at the others. * Chie waves to Asanjya, Lazar, and Maria. She has several slashes in her clothing and some partially-healed wounds. She looks not that great, but she's dealing. * Rei comes running in! Because, y'know, they're running. Or walking. Or something. She's wearing Chie's jacket, which is closed, and her jeans and shoes are in tatters, probably due to some acidic substance or things slicing at her or something, but she looks fine! She waves! "Hi! Hi! Hi- Maria?" Maria! * Chomei waves at the others. He's got a few cuts/burns, but nothing too major. * Chie runs over and hugs her. * Maria hugs Chie back! Uh, Maria, where'd you come from? And what's with the outfit? * Asanjya looks around. She looks, for the most part, fine. "We are reunited. However, we should move quickly." It's so good to see you again! Jail was horrible, and Dracula dresses me funny! Are you French now? I don't think so, Rei. * Maria runs over and gives Rei a hug, too. * Rei giggles and hugs back. No kidding. * Lazar has a rather large dent in his chest. Other'n that, he looks kinda normal. Aside from the Barely Contained Aura of Don't Talk To Me (TM). Dracula intended to use her against us. Or one of his minions did. Good to see her back to... normal. * Chie looks over at Lazar, but does not say anything. Obviously, she senses the aura. Well, kinda. I don't have any of my stuff. All I'm good for right now is picking pockets. * Asanjya gestures to the staircase. "Shall we?" Yeah, let's. You can pick Dracula's pocket! Maybe not. Let's go. Well, you can still kick ass. * Chomei nods. "Let's go." I'll bet Dracula's got nice stuff. * Maria bounds up the stairs. I bet. * Lazar lumbers up the stairs. * Chomei walks up the stairs after letting Lazar the Kickass Golem (tm) go up first. * Asanjya follows after most of the people but not last. * Rei floats up the stairs because lazy! [You get to the next floor. There's a catwalk across the gears, and another staircase on the other side.] * Maria looks out across the catwalk. Where does it lead to? [Another staircase :P] (Whoo!) ( ...right. Sorry, misread. ^^; ) * Maria starts off across the catwalk, looking around for swinging pendulums and other lethal obstacles. * Rei flies! A! Cross! * Chie follows Maria, also keeping her eyes peeled. * Lazar eyes the catwalk. Does it look like it'd support golem weight? ( It'd better. ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-2) and gets 6. * Chomei flies across at a similar rate to the people on the catwalk. 2d6-5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-5) and gets 3. * Asanjya just follows! [Maria notices just in time as a very long spear is thrust down at her by a purple-armored knight on the catwalk above. She dodges out of the way in time.] (It's a Dragoon!) (Dragoon!) 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-4) and gets 5. [Maria grabs the spear.] ( Does the other staircase lead to the same ledge? ) * Maria plants her feet on the catwalk and tries to swing the spear out, away from its weilder. ( Yes ) * Lazar lumbers up the other staircase and towards the knight, growling. 2d6+4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6+4) and gets 9. * Maria holds onto the spear anyway. Keep the knight occupied until Lazar gets to him. o/` * Lazar advances on the knight, and swings his sword at in like a big, sharp baseball bat when he gets close enough. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-3) and gets 9, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "I hope you invested in some good armor." ( I saw that coming a mile away. ) (... This'll hurt.) [Lazar hits the knight hard. So hard he's taken off the catwalk. Unfortunately, Lazar's sword gets stuck in the armor. Both the armor and sword fall into the clock tower gears and generally get grinded up pretty bad.] * Chomei winces. * Asanjya watches them go. "... a pity." Oh, shit. * Rei watches that happen. "Uh, oops?" Lazar needs a new sword. Oooh shit. * Maria lets go of the spear now, and leaps up to the next level. He may have to steal one. * Lazar eyes his hands, curses loudly in Hungarian, and looks around for the next staircase. [There's another staircase at the end of that catwalk, too. The whole thing is like a stack of Z's] * Chie keeps on climbing, watching for more surprises. * Asanjya follows. * Chomei lands and starts walking up the Z staircases. * Lazar continues lumbering up the stairs. If anything, he looks even more pissed now, with his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. * Maria goes leaping up levels, one by one. * Rei goes! Z is for Zip! Zip left, zip right, zip left, zip right. * Maria comes back down to whoever's in front - probably Lazar. "There's another knight three floors up. Watch out." * Lazar keeps walking. "Let him watch out." * Maria thinks about that, and goes to tell the others. * Asanjya sidles up to Rei and whispers. * Rei blinks. [As you get higher, you can indeed see another knight looking down from the catwalk above. He's moving to get over your heads.] * Rei blinks again. She slaps her hands over her mouth for a moment, then whispers back. Chie, there's another knight three floors up. I'd do something about it, but I think Lazar needs it more than me. I think he does. We'll stay out of it's way. * Lazar stops, looks up at the knight, and snarls. * Asanjya whispers back to Rei. * Chie moves back so she can stay out of the knight's way. And, more importantly, out of Lazar's. * Rei looks back at Lazar, then whispers to Asanjya. * Asanjya nods and whispers back. [The knight does not snarl back.] * Lazar keeps on lumbrin', then, trying to get onto the level where the knight is. * Rei swallows, then nods a couple of times and whispers once more before looking to see what's going on. * Asanjya looks up at Lazar. * Maria goes leaping up the flights again, past the knifght. Just how many levels are there, anyway? * Chomei scratches his head, but readies his bow in case the knight does charge down/through the stairs. ( Do I get to the level where the knight is before it tries to get all stabby? ) [Lazar gets to the level. The knight threateningly points his spear at him.] * Lazar keeps advancing and, when he gets close, tries to grab the spear and chuck the knight off the ledge. (Watch out for Pentathrust!) 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-3) and gets 1. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-2) and gets 7. [The knight thrusts at him, but Lazar avoids, grabbing the spear and throwing him off the ledge.] * Lazar eyes the spear he's holding, nods slightly, and keeps walking. (Good spear.) (STICK + METAL!) (STICK + METAL!) ( Actually, prolly metal + metal. ) [Actually, the spear is entirely metal.] (It's a metal stick, then.) * Maria comes back down to the others. "Just three more levels. No more guys with spears." Good. * Maria leaps back up to the exit and waits for the others. Good. (Chomei, stop echoing me. ;p) (But, but but... ;-;) * Lazar idly twirls the spear as he walks, trying to get a feel for it. (FISH.) (Fish?) * Asanjya follows along. (Dammit, now I'm doing it. Stop that. ;p) (FISHCHIKIN) [You reach the top of the tower: The stairs lead up here beyond the ceiling, to another actual floor.] (FICHIKIN?) (CHIKINFISH!) * Maria waits for the others to arrive before heading up. (CHIKISH!) (XD) * Asanjya arrives with the group. * Chie looks up the stairs. "Wonder what's up there?" Let's see. * Maria heads up to the other actual floor! * Lazar is still a'lumbrin'. One way to find out. (aru) [The other floor is located directly behind the clock face. You can see the time! Um, if you read the clock backwards, since you're on the inside. There's also a pedestal here, with a big glowing key on top.] * Rei points. "Shiny!" A big glowing key? * Maria approaches the pedestal, of course! * Maria checks it over for traps. * Lazar sets himself a few yards from the pedestal, and looks around warily. ... before actually having assaulted Dracula's castle, I would have said this seems too easy. Perhaps it still is. But from what I can gather, Dracula appears to be an idiot. 's what it looks like. Well, he does remember stuff but can't use it every time. That's kinda confusing and doesn't really make sense. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6) and gets 3. No, it doesn't. * Maria takes the key, grinning. If the Lord of Darkness is half this stupid, our jobs are almost completed. I wouldn't let my guard down just yet, though. * Maria puts the key in her - wait, no backpack. No pockets, either. [As Maria reaches for the key, a column of water erupts around the pedestal.] * Maria leaps back away from the water. * Chie jumps back slightly. "Like I said!" * Asanjya blinks. "My faith is somewhat restored." ( It's Dracula's bidet! ) [A waterfall falls from above, turning into a familiar demon woman with a katana as it reaches the ground.] ( Gimme init rolls ) d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (d6+7) and gets 10. d6+6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Asanjya (d6+6) and gets 9. d6+6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (d6+6) and gets 10. d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (d6+8) and gets 10. d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (d6+8) and gets 12. * Rei keeps her distance. "Victoria!" Oh, no. d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (d6+7) and gets 13. I was afraid of this... [Order: Lazar, Chomei, Victoria, Chie, Rei, Maria, Asanjya.] [Lazar's turn.] * Lazar facepalms. "Stupid cursed sword AGAIN..." Just get it away from her! [Victoria grins toothily. "Of course you knew this was coming. I can't let you interfere with Dracula's plan, after all."] * Lazar lunges forward and tries to grab Victoria and pin her arms to her sides. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-3) and gets 1. [Lazar grabs Victoria! But she slips through his fingers like water. Literally.] [Chomei's turn!] * Chomei loads up his bow and takes a shot at that sword with an electrified arrow! 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6-2) and gets 8. [Victoria one-hand cartwheels to the side, and the arrow strikes the gears behind her. She then thrusts a hand skyward, and rain drops fall. Everyone give me a def roll.]] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6) and gets 6. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-2) and gets 7. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6) and gets 7. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Asanjya (2d6) and gets 7. 2d6-5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-5) and gets 6. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6-2) and gets 9. [The rain is hard, like glass or maybe ice. It's sharp enough to cut, too. It doesn't do much to Lazar, but the rest of you take a few scratches.] [Chie's turn] * Chie uncoils the chain whip and lashes out at Ambition, trying to disarm Victoria. * Rei wails and gets sliced and diced. She hugs her arms around her chest. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-3) and gets 6. * Asanjya hisses as the rain hits her. * Chomei is sliced! Oooh, that hurts. c.c; [Rei's and Chie's clothes get sliced up too, by the way. o/~] * Rei ruins CHIE's jacket. HA HA. * Chie had gotten sliced, but she's ignoring it for now. And, hey, more fanservice. Whee. ;p [Chie wraps the whip around the sword, but Victoria retains hold on it.] [Rei's turn] ( What, not Maria's? :P ) ( Maria's already pretty fanservicey. ) ( True. ) * Rei flies up a little to get a better angle, and she presses her fingers together, pointer towards Victoria. "Now you don't!" she yells as the dark ball forms at the tip before flying for the demon and exploding. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6-3) and gets 1. [Victoria winces and covers her eyes. "Like I need to!" She roars back.] [Maria's turn] * Maria leaps at Victoria and kicks at her sword-arm before leaping back. ( Called shot to disarm, I think, and - ) 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-4) and gets 7. ( Dead on. Made by one if that doesn't count as a disarm attempt. ) [Maria kicks Victoria in the arm. She winces but keeps her hold on the weapon.] [Asanjya's turn] * Asanjya looks to Rei. "I assume we're not killing, today?" No! She's my cousin. Not if we can't help it. Fine. She's annoying but was amusing... catch, Victoria! ( Oh, right, she Ueda. DIE! ) * Asanjya tosses off a GRIPPING RING! 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Asanjya (2d6-2) and gets 5. [Asanjya catches Victoria in the gripping ring, briefly, but a quick transformation to water frees her.] [Lazar's turn] (If she turns to water and gets out, how can she still be holding the sword?) (Chie has it caught in the whip. If Victoria goes liquid, Chie's yanking on it.) ( It turns with her. ) * Chie staggers back as her whip is no longer holding anything. ( So much for our clever plan. 9_9 ) * Lazar decides that this is getting ridiculous, and tries to flatten Victoria with a shoulder charge (Golem Rage). 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-3) and gets 7. [Lazar collides with Victoria. She staggers back and wipes her lip.] [Chomei's turn!] * Chomei tries to knock Victoria's sword from her hand with a well-placed shot! 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6-2) and gets 2. [Chomei hits the sword and knocks Victoria off balance, but she retains hold of it. She spins fully around, creating a column of water around herself.]] [Chie's turn] * Chie lashes out with the whip again, hoping to penetrate the water shield. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-3) and gets 4. [Chie's whip does penetrate the shield and does pull the sword from Victoria's grasp.] * Chie yanks. Hard. [Rei's turn] * Rei cracks her knuckles, then tosses nothing underhanded at Victoria. "Hope this works!" (Mind Twister.) 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6-1) and gets 4. [Maria's turn] * Maria keeps ready to do something once the water shield goes down. [Asanjya's turn] * Asanjya frowns, then raises her staff and waits. (Hold action.) [Lazar's turn] * Lazar doesn't fear no steenkin' water. He drops his spear and tries to wollop Victoria with a trio of double-axehandle blows (Golem Rage). 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-3) and gets 7. [That takes some effort, but Lazar does manage to break through the wall of water, albeit barely. He nicks Victoria.] [Chomei's turn!] * Chomei loads Rownal with a freezing arrow and tries to shoot the sword with it, attempting to encase it in ice. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6-3) and gets 6. [Chomei does freeze the sword. Meanwhile, Victoria grabs her head and winces. "Owie! Stop hitting me! It hurts!"] "Owie"? I think she's back to normal. * Rei squeals. "Victoria!" * Asanjya swishes her staff, and releases another Gripping Ring. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Asanjya (2d6-2) and gets 7. [Victoria blinks at Rei, rubs her eyes, and blinks again. "Rei? Why do you have green Eeek!" She yelps as a gripping ring appears next to her. Quick as a flash, she draws her twin guns. "Oh! I see, you came to challenge me again. Yay!" She crosses her arms and takes a shot, one at Asanjya and one at Chie. Gimme ranged def rolls!] ( And back in init. It was Victoria's turn anyhow. ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-2) and gets 1. What? NO! We did *not*, actually! Rei, explain things to her! 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Asanjya (2d6) and gets 5. No. Nonono! This isn't a challenge! You were possessed! [Chie and Asanjya both manage to avoid the bullets.] [Chie's turn.] Asanjya, BACK DOWN. [Victoria points a gun at Rei, grinning. "Oh, don't be shy! I'm happy to fight with you. Really!"] * Rei 's eyes go wide. "Uh, Victoria, I kinda die gasping when I get shot in the wrong place, or the right place depending on how you look at it, and see, I'm already all bleedy." * Chie has an ice-encased evil sword caught in her chain whip. "Victoria, don't point a gun at your cousin! It's *rude* and she doesn't like it!" (holding action) "That's ok. If you die you just come to where I live, and we can play more!" [Rei's turn] Okay, she's fucking lost it. Uh, no, last time I died, I didn't go where you live, and it really sucked a lot, and I don't think I'll get another chance at living again, so I'd rather not thanks. [Maria's turn!] Rei? Permission to counter? I... guess so, but no killing. Look, I was only trying for insurance. * Maria LEAPS up to Victoria and -- thwaps her upside the head. "Cut it out." [Maria catches Victoria's attention. She grins and points a gun at her. "You guys seem a lot stronger than before. This should be a fun challenge!"] [Asanjya's turn!] (Okay don't want to interupt but goodnight everyone I'm going to bed.) ( Night ) * Asanjya snarls unintelligibly, and releases another Gripping Ring. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Asanjya (2d6-2) and gets 3. This is *not* a challenge. We do *not* want to fight you. What part of that do you not understand? * Maria sighs. [Asanjya catches Victoria. She blinks a few times while caught in the ring, but doesn't look to concerned at her predicament so much as confused. "Huh? But you keep attacking me! Of course you do!"] We came to get you unpossessed, and you are, so would you just *stop*? [Lazar's turn] We're *defending* ourselves because you keep attacking US! How about we stop and she stops! I agree, dammit! Fine with me. "Do we have to? Can't we go a few more rounds?" No, we can't. No, we have more important things to do. Nuh uh. We've got something very important to take care of. Do you even know where you are, Victoria? * Lazar stomps up to Victoria, scowling, fists clenched... and stops right in front of her, glaring. "You mother worried about you. She want you come home." [She blinks and looks around. "Uhhhh..... China?"] * Asanjya keeps the Ring active. Wrong! Try Transylvania. More specifically, Dracula's castle. "Oh, one sec." You don't remember a thing about the past few weeks, do you? [Victoria turns into liquid and escapes the ring, then reforms. "Transylvania? .... Is that in China?"] No, actually, it's in eastern Europe. ".... which.... is in China?" Nope! "Oh." Victoria pouts. "I want Chinese food suddenly." You got all possessed and tried to bring about the end of the world as we know it. Um... * Asanjya throws up her hands and utters an oath in a horribly growly language. * Maria rubs her face. And when we get out of here, I can cook Chinese food! Okay? She's a *really* good cook. "Okay! So, the world's ending? Cool! I'll watch." (Rei and Victoria are related! Who'da thunk?) You'll like it! Well, technically we're here to *stop* the world from ending. The food, I mean. Not the world ending. I'll just let Rei explain. "... Oh." [Victoria looks disappointed.] Because then you can't have Chinese food if the world ends. And that'd be bad. * Rei dives down and hugs Victoria, bloody cuts and all. "But I'm glad you're better!" "Yeah, but.... Chinese food versus an apocalypse? Waah!" * Rei pats Victoria on the back. "It's a decision we must all face sometime," she says seriously. [Victoria sighs. "I know," she says like she really means it.] Hate to interrupt family time, but there's something we need to do upstairs. Yeah. As much as I'd like to chat, we have work we need to do. Uh, guys? What the fuck am I supposed to do with the sword? * Maria walks over and grabs the key, now that there isn't a half-god keeping her from it. Leave it. [Maria gets a glowy key.] * Rei looks to Chie. "Uh, good question. It'd be nice if we could just destroy it somehow." * Chie shakes her whip, which has an ice-covered evil sword tangled in it. Store it. [Victoria gasps with inspiration. "I know! You can give it to me and I'll find something to do with it."] Laz, when we kill Dracula, will the castle collapse, or disappear? I might be able to destroy it later. No, we will *not*. ... NO. "Why not?" Because it'll possess you again. You already found something to do with it. It involved trying to kill people and destroy the world, and it's how you got here. Collapse. "Oooh. Trippy." Very. I don't want to touch the damned thing. No like idea of leaving here... but we no can carry around with us. "Come on, can't I have it? It sounds like such fun!"] You *had* it. Playtime's over. Alright. We take the chunk of ice to a lower part of the castle, so that when the castle collapses, the sword will be burried under tons of stuff. [Victoria pouts. "You just want it for yourself."] Toss it into gears, maybe? Do not. "Do too!" Oh, yeah. That's right. I really want that thing. Gears won't hurt it, I'll bet. No, but it will stop anyone from getting to it. Better than nothing. I don't think we want to keep the sword anywhere near the Count. In the gears or the basement. Yes, Victoria, we love having our minds taken over by inanimate objects. That's what we're really after. We don't have time for the basement. Gears. [Victoria sighs. "Well, if you're not gonna give it to me, I'm gonna go."] I could go to the basement really fast? Bye, Victoria! * Chie waves. Later, Victora. See ya Victoria. [Victoria waves. "Byeeee! Good luck with the apocalypse thing! Try not to win! ... Uh... How do I get out?"] No, my point was that neither place is ideal. Can we leave it here and collect it on the way out? Won't the ice melt? Be hard to collect while castle collapsing. * Chie points downward. "Just head down the stairs." And what place would be ideal? An Interpol vault? Yeah, that's worked real well. [Victoria wanders off.] I was rather planning to drop it in the fires of one of the hells. * Rei waves. "Bye Victoria." Didn't someone try that already? Yeah. Dad did. I think they did, and it didn't... yeah. Great. So there's nothing anybody can do about it. Well, then. Might as well just leave it here, someone's going to wind up waltzing about with it anyhow. How *did* it survive that anyways? [Whilst you stand here, time's a tickin'.] * Chomei rolls his eyes. "Well, I think we should shove it down the gears and leave it at that. If anythin' it won't show up until the castle reappears." I don't know. It came back with Mom. Yeah, gear it. * Lazar eyes the others, grabs his spear, and starts down the stairs. Laz? * Lazar keeps on walking down. * Chie sighs. "Okay. Think I can toss it into the gears from my whip?" Worth a shot. Yeah. * Rei nods. Here we go! * Chie snaps the whip and attempts to hurl the ice-encased sword into the gears. 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-1) and gets 5. [Chie lobs the sword into the gears. It jams things up and breaks the clock tower.] ... I hate that sword. Likewise. [Incidently, the ice is crushed by the gears.] Oh, fuck yes. I think we all hate the sword. Agreed. * Chomei loads Rownal and tries to blast it with another ice arrow, if it's still visible. I'd love to break it, but I'm not touching the thing. [It's not visible anymore.] Well, I hope that takes care of it for a while. A few days, at least. Yeah. We don't have a lotta time. Forever would be too much to ask, but... yeah. We need to keep moving. And hopefully the castle will sink with Dracula. * Lazar is still lumbering on down. Fortunately, he's not that fast. Also fortunately, Chie didn't hit him with the sword. * Asanjya hurries to wherever. * Maria bounds down the wall of the ruined clock tower. * Chomei starts going down the stairs! [You get to the bottom of the tower. The time is 11:23.] * Rei checks her watch. "Crap. No time." (The clock is also broken. It will be 11:23 forever!) (Woot!) (Rock on!) ( Alright! ) * Lazar starts heading for the door with the glowy lock. Or are we there already? [You're not there. You have to walk through the caverns or the torture room. * Maria heads there, too! And she goes through the torture room, since that's the way she came. * Lazar leads the way through the torture room, then. * Rei goes along. Torture room! How fun. o_o; * Chomei goes that way, yeah. c.c; * Chie follows and tries not to look. Yes. ( It's better than having to put up with slimes and large bodies of water. ;P ) (AGREED.) [Yes, there's all these cool fleshy things attached to these spikey things] * Rei looks just a little ill. Eeeew. (Man, that shit's nasty.) [You pass through the torture chamber and arrive at the marble hallway.] * Maria looks for the GLOWING LOCK. [There's a door there! It's got a big glowing padlock on it.] * Maria approaches the padlock and waits for everyone to get near the door. * Rei is so there! * Asanjya is near! She didn't show any reaction to the torture room. * Chomei is there, and stuff! * Lazar is standing there, and his fists are clenching and unclenching again. * Maria uses the key to unlock the padlock. Woo! [The door opens! Behind the door is a wide spiral staircase going upwards, covered by a red carpet.] What is with all the staircases? I have no clue. * Maria starts up the stairs. * Chomei starts up the stairs! * Lazar starts up the stairs. Through his anger, he has the presence of mind to look out for odd looking walls and candelabras. * Rei goes. Zoom! He likes stairs. They're a good workout! Why would he need to work out? He's undead! Yeah, they don't exactly get rock hard abs, or something. [Part way up, Lazar spots a discolored portion of wall!] * Lazar idly kicks it. (Stupid prismatic walls.) (Oh, wait, discolored. Not multicolored.) 2d6-12 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-12) and gets -8. (Magic Missile!) [The wall collapses. Left in the dusty remains is a leg of meat.] * Lazar grabs the leg of meat and holds it out to the group. ... Man, that's nasty. Eeew. Meat? Eat. Make feel better. You have some first, Lazar. You've still got some damage on your chest. No offense, Laz, but I think that would make me feel worse. I no can eat. No teeth, no throat. And it work for Maria and Asanjya. It's mysterious meat in a mysterious castle. What's not to like? Oh, right. Mystery meat. * Asanjya heads up the stairs. * Maria has a nibble off it, then passes the leg to Rei. [Maria eats some meat and does actually look a little better. But it tastes like dust-covered chicken.] * Rei waves the leg away. "No way. I'd get sick from that." * Chie takes the meat, pulls out her water bottle and pours a little over the meat, hoping to wash some of the dust off. Rei, you need it. Trust me, it's good for you. [Chie gets some of the dust. Now it's only slightly-dusty-yet-soggy meat.] It's nasty! Like, twelve shades of nasty! Mom always taught me never to eat food that's been on the floor. * Chie takes a bite. [It tastes soggy/dusty/meaty, and Chie looks a bit better. There's not that much meat to go around, by the way.] * Chie chews and swallows, then makes a face. "I may regret that." Three second rule. * Chie holds out the remainder. "Anyone else want it?" That was *so* longer than three seconds. * Maria grins. "Rei does. She just doesn't know it yet." It actually *did* help. So if no one else wants it, I'm eating it all. Even if it does make me sick later. But we don't have time to stand around and argue. Give me a bite. * Lazar shakes his head, and starts walking up the stairs s'more, still looking out for candelabras/odd walls. * Chie hands it off to Chomei. * Chomei makes a face, takes a bite, and gulps it down. * Asanjya walks. * Rei floats! * Rei floats, but not with root beer. [Chomei finishes off the meat, and also looks somewhat better. But none of you feels completely better.] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6) and gets 8. * Chie climbs stairs. She feels better, except for the faintly disgusting taste in her mouth. She should have packed breath mints. * Chomei heads up! * Maria bounds up the stairs! But not too much. She doesn't want to get too far ahead of the group. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6) and gets 10. 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-4) and gets 0. * Lazar kicks at another wall. 2d6-12 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-12) and gets -3. [Lazar breaks the wall, finding another dusty drumstick.] Alright. You're eating this one, Rei. That's just creepy, you know that? [It's actually Asanjya who's most injured, so ya know.] Very. * Lazar grabs the drumstick, and holds it out. * Asanjya eyes the drumstick. Anyone? I think it's your turn. Or Rei's. Go for it, Asanjya. * Asanjya grabs it and chows down, grimacing. [It tastes utterly disgusting. But Asanjya looks a heck of a lot better than she did before eating it.] * Rei makes a face. * Asanjya shudders when she's done. I stand by my principles. No dusty drumsticks! * Lazar keeps walking. Keeps looking. * Maria shrugs, and bounds up ahead. * Chomei keeps going! * Chie walks! [You reach the top of the stairs, finally! The area you come out in is a long hallway with gold-colored walls and a red carpet. There are several doors on the sides, but at the end of the hall is a large door with a strange light coming from beneath it.] (By the way, it's not Dracula, it's Dracular.) (LAR.) ( orz ) (I never understood what orz meant.) I think we're here. ( It's a guy on his hands and knees. orz ) (Ohhhhhhhh.) [Lazar's runes are glowing!] (I always thought it was supposed to stand for something.) * Rei eyes the golem beacon. Lazar's Dracula sense is tingling. Yeeeeup. No kidding. [Asanjya's pockets are glowing.] (Asanjya's pocket sense is tingling.) It's time, isn't it? (I have pockets!) * Maria barely resists the urge to reach in and see what's in there. Yeup. * Lazar scowls, but manages to keep himself from dashing forward... for the moment. "Remember. Aim for head." Right. * Chomei nods. Yes. Let's go. * Chie reaches out and squeezes Chomei's hand. "Love you." Gotcha. ( Chie just doomed herself ;_; You're supposed to say that AFTER you win. ) * Chomei smirks back and nods. "Love you too. Let's go kick Dracula's ass." Absolutely. (Pfft. ;p) (Sheeeah right.) * Rei smiles. "Aww, how cute. Get a room." No kidding. Okay, let's go in now. * Chie heads for the door. * Chomei heads for the door! * Maria holds out her hand, which wreathes itself in black flame. She then approaches the door. * Rei goes! For! The! DOOR! * Lazar stomps forward 'till he gets to the door, then rears back and tries to punch it open. * Asanjya follows. [The door smashes inwards, revealing a cliffhanger behind it.] [Session End]