Dungeon Keeper

[cityship]

The Tapestry had spoken. Not in words, but in ideas and images, ciphers and cryptic nonsense that had been laboriously deciphered, interrogated with spells and technology, pieced together from scrap. They had led here.



Planet Designation: AST994-III
Status: Terrestrial, K-class.
Non-sentient life: None.
Semi-Sentient Life: None.
Sentient Life: None.
Water: None.

Climate: Desert/barren.
Landscape: Rocky crags.
Air: Normoxic concentration: 29% oxygen, 60% nitrogen, 3% xenon, 6% trace gases, such as hydrogen, krypton, and argon.

Air Pressure: 14.352 pounds per square inch.
Sky: Red. Cloudless.
Sun: Class A star.

Warnings: Information from Tapestry indicates significant underground population. Subsurface information not available. Use caution.

Mission: ?

Somewhere down there, an object valuable and vital to the mission lay in wait, something so important that its existence was encoded into the Tapestry itself. Whatever it was, they needed to get it.

The only problem was, how to get in? The subterranean world had no access to the surface, and to physically breach it would not only be prohibitive, but catastrophic to the point of apocalypse to that underground world. Science could not solve this problem; thus, the crew turned to magic. The Tapestry had provided what were, after some analysis, unquestionably teleport coordinates. Five of them, for three people each.

To ensure the crew members were not lost, nor left behind without help, contingent spells were laid upon them, to return them to safety and help should they become injured, or should they find the item.

Without further ado -- with no natives to meet and negotiate with, no further preliminaries to make or plans to be made -- each of the five groups, with their supplies and equipment, were taken to the start.

[OOC: Don't worry too much about posting order. I will jump in where a response from the mysterious sky narrator is needed! Going with this, if you feel you're getting lost or outraced in posting, let me or the group know and we'll slow it down. The explicit purpose of this plot is for everyone to have fun, so please speak up if there's anything anyone can do to make that happen better!]

Comments

[cityship]

Sofia had spoken up... just a moment too slow.

As the coffin opened just enough to let light reach inside it, a skeletal hand seized the lip of the lid from inside, then hurled it aside without any obvious effort whatsoever. The lid flew off to the side, crashing to the ground in a cacophony of stone-on-stone that surely ruined any hope or pretense of stealth. The skeleton inside sat up with swift, dramatic purpose. In place of eyes, it had brilliant red sparks inside the sockets of its skull, and wisps of beard still clung to its chin in defiance of al laws of biology and decay. The mighty warhammer that had previously lain across its chest now rose in its hand, sparks crackling along its length as the animated elder swung it impassively at Hawke.

The one best suited to defend a hero or legend from desecration in death, went the philosophy of these dark dwarves, was the hero or legend in question...

[zenithianhero.livejournal.com]

Fortunately (somewhat) Sofia was used to such matters and in a near auto response, she already had her sword out, moving her other hand into a spell. Boom was...well it did exactly as it said, and she aimed the center at his hand, hoping to knock the hand off that was swinging the warhammer and stop him before it met Hawke's skull.

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

For Cassie the situation was a bit more awkward. Not so much because they'd suddenly been attacked from such an unexpected place, although she admittedly wasn't really accustomed to being attacked by skeletons, but because she was already in morph. Finding a place farther from the action, she quickly demorphed and remorphed into a wolf. Hopefully, that would be enough.

Growling, she ran forward and lunged, using her powerful jaws to grab the arm that Sofia was not dealing with and pulling back hard, trying to at least move the dead man away from her companions. < I'm sorry. > Her thought-speech was quiet as she spoke to their attacker. They were the invaders here after all. < We didn't mean to disturb your rest, but we had no choice. Please to return to where you belong. > She didn't know if there was any point in trying to reason with the dead hero, but it had to at least be worth a try. Her grip on the arm never loosened though as she pulled him back as hard as she could.

[cityship]

While that was an excellent thought (ha ha, telepathy puns!), the force animating the corpse had no mind or reason. The ancient dwarf's spirit had long since passed to its final rest, though the magic that moved its body called upon its skill.

Sofia's action had been adequate to deflect the hammer, sparing Hawke a blow, but not enough to disrupt the bindings that tied the undead together. Surprisingly quick, the creature yanked powerfully on the arm in Cassie's jaws, intending to drive her off-balance so that the hammer now descending at her lupine form would strike home all the more effectively.

[zenithianhero.livejournal.com]

She couldn't let that happen, if she could. Sofia quickly moved her entire body to stop the hammer, simultaneously casting the Kaclang spell, turning her into a pure heavy and solid metal statue for a few seconds, her hands wrapped around the weapon. Hopefully that would disbalance him, or the hammer would fall on her metal frame.

Unfortunately, it also meant she could not move for a short while.

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie saw the blow coming out of the corner of her eye, horror ripping through her as she released her grip on the arm to try to dart out of reach. Shock, gratitude, and worry rushed through her though as Sofia took the blow intended for her.

< Are you okay? > she asked Sofia anxiously as she surveyed their surroundings. It was then that she noticed that the warrior hadn't moved since saving her and that something was off about her scent. It seemed that something had happened to her body, but what had done it? Had it been intentional on Sofia's part or had the skeleton done something to her? She hoped desperately that it was the former and that it was reversible.

Cassie charged at the skeleton, this time grabbing the hammer's handle with her teeth as she tried to rip it from the dead man's iron grip.

[cityship]

The hammer struck the metal statue with a heavy CLANG and a discharge of electricity into it. Luckily the sparking was far less serious than the blow itself, which her spell served to immunize her from harm.

Now why did everyone want to take its hammer?! As the wolf seized its haft, the skeleton reared back to deliver a mighty kick with its sharp bone foot.