RAIXEL'S SUPER SECRET INTRODUCTION GAME

[beowuuf]

Well, maybe it only occupies four... nah, actually it probably is that long. Yeah, this wasn't a 'kill the worm and then solve the puzzle deal'. This was a 'solve the puzzle and outsmart the worm before it swallows you whole' sorta puzzle

I won't give you any ability to sense anything others cannot, the song of mana is more a narrative flavour for what you can see. Sometimes it will be the way your 'knowledge' manifests itself (like 'knowing' the switch was a magical trigger), I think in this case I will flip it to a perception check. Meh, maybe I'll throw in a little knowledge she shouldn't have


Petal looks around, feeling the aura of the room through the tingling of the mana she is joined to, just as much as with her eyes. The dangling pits seem to say 'EW IR', as if encouraging and beckoning lowly ground creatures to, for one brief moment, experience the joy of being able to defy gravity and come back up. And the pits themselves are not natural, and mock 'DES YA' at the earth aroudn them. Under the mocking song of the open pits though, is a tinge of fearm, and also a tinge of expectation. Petal realises that some of the pits (though she has no idea which exactly) can actually be sealed shut again - thier mockery stopped. And also, there seem to be some pits awaiting revelation, and their mocking song is low and threatening. Certainly the pit Petal just came down seems to be one such impermenant fixture, all bluster for it seems to know it can be removed easily. And the threatening song seems to come from some area of earth close to the other end of this sectioned off area (opposite the false wall), false earth awaiting a chance to fall apart.

Perhaps guided by an internal compass, Petal can also spot the wall closeby seems wrong - she recognises she is on the other side of the illusionary wall she had seen in the cistern. This means, if needed, she has another way out of this place. Well, except their may still be some lurking elementals in that room. She is not too sure how elementals perceive the world, nor how grown up these ones she has encountered are. She might, perhaps, need to be quiet in this room lest she draws unwanted attention from down below.

It is surely hard for Petal to trust that one slim piece of clear material can save her from such a gigantic predatory, but she gets as close as she perhaps dares. She has seen armoured yellow worms in this dungeon, creatures from Chaos's twisted imagination. IS this thing the source of that inspiration? Or is this thing its mother? Or are those worms the real thing, and this twisted leviathan is actually Chaos's take. The skin looks thick and oily, with dirt encrusted on it where it has moved and wriggled. It has quick, jerking movements, obviously hating its entrapment. The goldish coloured skin is littered with slikes great and small - do those impede its movement, or do they make it possible?

It looks like it is stretched out, its coils managaing to stretch into the the a twenty by thirty area. Its trunk is about six to eight feet thick.

It is, in all ways, a terrifying and sickening sight. The fact it senses Petal, twisting its head one way then the other beofre smashing its head against the glass, it certainly...unsettling.

Petal is perhaps happy to return to the other room, despite the possible dangers. She is not on the other side of the glass she previously was, a lever in easy reach. Infact, to be fair there are two more levers she can reach easily, even though another person would need to navigate a pit, and be blocked from reaching the last one by a yawning void. Petal noticed these levers are set oddly in the wall, and are small. Perhaps to resist the attempts to simple leap at them or rope them, or whatever other method a clever adventurer would have to activate them while there are pits under them. Would one let her activate it due to her flying?


That's about it. Despite the size of the map graphic, the levers are small. They look normal. Feel free to start experimen-


Petal realises, just on the edge of hearing, there is a very, very dull roar. It is not from below her, it feels as if the glass somewhere up here is shaking. Somewhere, luckily not too close but close enough - the worm has just followed her up!


-ting.

[raixel]

I love your mana descriptions. They just rock! I will follow the pattern ive been following and list a few actions, editing out (if needed) those that dont work.

Petal shudders as she hears the worm's roar in the distance. She is reminded uncomfortably of a harvest festival in her village where newly harvested corn kernels would be put in a pot with a little oil unti they exploded, and then all the young pixies would toss kernels up in the air tryin to catch as many in their mouths as they could. Only in her mind the kernels have little pixie wings and long black hair and are being snapped up by a giant circular maw.

"I can't let that thing get anywhere near me. It probably wouldnt even notice if it ate me..." she thinks, shivering. "I hope it didnt eat Growlgra."
She turns her attention to the room she is in now. 3 levers, a pit and a glass wall. Because she can, she goes over and tries the one over the pit first. She will flip all of them back to their original position before trying a new one. If one does someting, she will make a note of it and go on to the next one After that, the one next to it, and finally the one farthest away. Every time she flips one she looks and listens for it to change anything farther out in the grid. Percept (1d20+4=23) She then makes a note of what happens, as well as where the worm is.
Her eyes light up for a second "Hmm. I wonder what would happen if the worm got trapped in an area where the mana song felt like it was weak. Or if one of these pits closed in it when it was halfway out.." she thinks. Then her face falls "Of course, it might end up making two half sized worms..."

She shrugs and turns back to the lever puzzle. After trying one at a time, she pulls two at a time, starting with the two side by side, then the ones that are farthest away from each other, then the one in the middle and the one off by itself. Then finally, after keeping an eye out for trouble while making notes of what happened when she pulled various levers , she pulls all three of them. Then she resets them, and stops to ponder what she has learned.
.
Sorry I jammed it all in one post. I was trying to avoid a series of posts of " Petal pulls this lever" "ok, nothing happens" "ok then she pulls this lever" "this happens" "ok petal writes that down, and pulls these to together" and so on and so forth.

[beowuuf]

Just continuing your own mana description theme from the short story


Petal keeps her ears, eyes and even her inner senses open as she flicks each lever in turn, expecting anything could happen.

Flicking the lever over the pit, she can sense and feel the rumbles in the ground of something moving closeby. The wall behind her vibrates as if the thing was on the opposing side. Flicking the next lever along, there is a fainter feeling of something moving , and a rumbling in the ground. Finally, as she flicks the level closest to her old room, she sees the pit on the opposite side of the glass disappears.

The disappearance is off - it is as if all the roots dangling down reach over and knit themselves together, and then tug at each other. Within second with a rumble in the ground earth and roots pull themselves together, and then in the blink of an eye the floor goes from cracked grey earth to cracked stones. It is impossible to tell a pit had been there at all. Flickign the switch back, the ground rumbles again as the ground simply collapses under its own weight and cracks and breaks.

Owing to the odd way the ground knits itself together, it does not seem like the worm would be instantly cut apart by the ground suddenly filling. However, perhaps the pull of the pit reforming would be strong enough to slowly crush it? Or at the very least trap it?

Petal goes and tries the other levers again, in various combinations. The lever with the pit protection does seem to trigger a pit just beyond the wall. As Petal tries odd combinations of levers, she realises that the second lever seems to open a pit inside the original room.

The lever combination does not seem to matter, each lever appears independant. The swelling song of the opening and closing pits is finally silenced as Petal stops with all the levers in the opriginal position.

And now that the silence is back, now Petal hears a 'zap'.

"Cheat! You're cheating!" comes a high pitched voice Petal hasn't heard for many blissful minutes. The miniature Lord Chaos stands on the other side of the small glass room to her. He waves his finger accusingly in her direction. "No flying! No flying! Jumping down and climbing up! That was the idea." He stands his small booted foot. "It's so unfaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair!" He stands his foot again, and crosses his arms swiftly over his body.

It is at that moment the worm decides to make its appearance again. It smashes against the glass beside the open pit and lever, a hideous mouth movements and slime trail felt as it apparently tries to such the small area of glass off of its mounting. Being unsuccessful, it then dives into the closest pit.

There is a long, long stretch of time where its long body trails along the floor, visible coming out of one pit further along if Petal goes to the glass, and disappearing again by the glass.

"Cheat!" coems a distant voice, echoing from underground. Apparently the miniature Lord Chaos has dived into a pit the moment the worm appeared. Theer is an audible 'zap' sound again, and Chaos is heard - for now - no more.


There we go, a few clues to be going on with. You can assume a lever does one thing, and that thing is usually opening and closing pits. Some hidden before, some open before. I've updated the map, and will put the two side by side.

[raixel]

Crap, correct me if i'm wrong, but the worm is in the room directly underneath Petal now? Pit #2 doesnt have a corrosponding one in the "basement". Is it supposed to be that way? Also since in the original map the #3 pits were already open i'm assuming that she doesnt need to pull the lever to go down them. If she does, let me know and I will add it to the text. I'm also gonna just write all of her actions but note that she's keeping an eye on the worm and wont blithely walk into an area where it is. If it follows behind her, she will keep going (perferably trying to trap it by flipping a lever) but if it turns around and tries to go back through the #3 pits, she will go around the other way

Petal's eyes grow wide when she sees the worm dive into the pit directly next to her on the other side of the glass.

"Titania's tits! That pit is connected to the room beneath me!" she realizes. Thinking frantically, she flips lever 2 to open its pit, and dives through the other pit in this area (the one by lvr 1). When she is underground again, she keeps an eye out for the worm, tracking its movements carefully. She then flies up through pit 1.

"Hmm... I wonder if there is a way to close a lever to trap the worm in a certain area," she thinks to herself as she moves. "I wish Growlgra was here to help me. This would be so much easier if I wasnt alone."

She flies quickly over to the pit that was opened by pulling lever 2 and descends down it, trying not to touch the unnatuaral root-like things around her. After her feet touch the ground, she quickly looks around for the worm again.

"I hope it isn't very smart. It lives here though, and might know its way around. Ive got to get it to stop tracking me or get interested in something else"
She looks at the wand in her hand. Its mana seems puny and laughable compared to the mana thrumming through the body of the great worm.
"I'd probably have as much use calming it with this as an ant would trying to talk to me," she sighs ruefully as she moves to the pit in the farthest north section of this maze. The one that is next to the farthest right lever on the north wall. When I say north I dont mean that Petal actually knows its north, just that its north on the map She flies up the pit and flips the lever right next to it, noting if she can see or feel any changes. After moving it back to its original position, she flies over to the bottom-most pit in this area(one of the #3s), thru it and back up the pit right next to her (the #3 with the lever on it).

Hovering over the pit, and praying the worm wouldnt come roaring out of it and swallow her whole, she flips that lever and examines her surrounding for any changes.
She gets lost in thought for a second thinking about life in the village before her father and brother went off to stop Chaos' rampage, when she was still a sorcen (a pixie term for someone who has the natural ability to hear the Song, but has not taken the test to become a full fledged sorcerer). She remembers her mentor, a wizened and crotchety old pixie named Alorthin, one of the most powerful pixie sorcerers alive at that time. He saw great promise in her and so agreed to teach her the uses of the darker runes that most pixies never touch. Suddenly her eyes light up as she looks at the pit next to her.

"I wonder if these pits can be affected by ZO?" she muses to herself KnowledgeArc(not sure if I get the extra +4 on this) (1d20+4=14)

[beowuuf]

Oops, actually, what I needed to do was 'ghost' the 2 pit on the topside map, since you said Petal restored all the levers to their inital state (and hence all the pits were closed/open as they were before). And yes, sorry, I maybe did stick the worm right under Petal. I actually had not planned that rouute originally. but hey ho - that's now it has gone You're a good enough player to deal with it! You can indeed go through pit 3 (whichever one it is!), since you opened it back up again. Actually, that seems a little irritating, I'll indicate which pit actually opened properly. But Petal shouldn't know exactly.


Petal almost flies into the miniature Lord Chaos. "A cheat! A cheat!" he says, although in deference to his nature, he actually seems quite taken with it now. Perhaps it also has somethign to do with the fact that the worm, in the next room, is once more bashing its head against the glass instead of looping up and back to chase Petal. At least, for now. Mini-Chaos laughs loudly, and fires a few harmless fireball-like flares at the glass. "Stupid worm! Cannot cheat!" There is more high-pitched laughter.

For now, the worm seems to be more concerned with shifting aroudn it's own sections area of cavern, as if looking for a weakness in the glass.

Petal takes the opportunity of Chaos and the worm to be distracting each other, and moves in a zig-zag and into the main cavern. Down in the corridor, the elemental gives an ood gurgle of greeting,. It does not sound a friendly greeting. Still, the newly opened pit is available for use, and Petal is free to use it.

It is probably imagination that a root or two is still twitching and reaching out. Still, down on the floor, the roots are happily far enough away to not be any concern. It is strange to be hemmed in, both in a large cavernous room, and yet trapped in the corner of a reasonably small space. Petal looks fearfully across to where the worm last was - thankfully, for the moment, Lord Chaos's silent mockery seems to be distracting it even more. Infact, Chaos has gone from being terrified to being bold - the small robed figure can be seem teleporting in and out of the worm's room. In a way, Petal has her wish. However, it is probably a safe bet that Lord Chaos will get bored of his game and realise Petal's misery is a better game. And surely Lord Chaos is too tricky a prey for the worm - it can only be a matter of time before the pixie becomes the better taregt once more.

Once more back in the room, the pixie's action generates an immediately obvious result - a pit further across closes. To one who can fly, the closing pit seems a trifle and not worthy of the effort, but of course the pit beside it leads to a new area. Any normal land-based creature would, of course, welcome easy access to the other pit. Trying a stunted run to leap across one pit and freefall into another would be unpleasant to the point of painful.

This section of the upper room was, of course, the last place Petal saw both Growlgra and his bika friend. There is slime, and sadly a little blood. What there is not, both above and below, is a sign of either creature now. Were they just illusions? Or were they swallowed by the worm?


Feel free to make a retroactive perception check for this area.


Petal then keeps moving, hoping to swifty explore the next area along. Goign down the pit though, unfortunately she finds that either the worm or Chaos has grown bored of their game. She is face to face with the great worm, and its mouth opens wider than she could have ever thought a mouth could or should grow...

Of course, once more the worm slams into into a glass wall. Petal can swear she can hear the bellow of rage. The glass rings alarmingly. Still, once more Petal has avoided the beast. She rises up high, and quickly goes for the lever. Nopthing seems to have happened though. Whatever the effect is, it seems to be far away - or perhaps non-existant? Still, a lever with a pit under it? Petal can be almost certain that the previous lever must have closed the pit she now hovers over. How much slower would another adventurer have to be without the ability to fly?

And of course, her thoughts of her family, and teaching, and her sorceress nature bring thoughts of certain other powers she possesses. ZO has always been a strange rune, for a strange power. The negative energy always had such a bad rng to it, and yet teachers spoke of it in turns whimsically, warningly and even warmly. It was as if the energy of the negative plane has a 'life' to it, a 'spark'. The way it was discussed it sounded as if the energy was not harmful as such, but was certainly contrary. That with was closed would open, that which was left lying would be shut. A mage could harness whims of the energy to flip things. Sometimes a mage could even command the energy for a long term lock. In practice, Petal knew that she could easily flip these levers at a distance - well, at a distance providing a glass wall was not in the way.

The pits...the pits she could only partially theorise over. Technically, normal doors and pits should be able to be opened and closed, providing they possessed the abiltiy to open or close. A doorframe or real pit was in a permenant state. Somethign that could be either - ZO so loved to play there. Still, would ZO's playful nature be accepted or rejected by the nasty-minded pits? And of course, what of the odder tales of using ZO? The strange splashback some mages had reportedly felt. Emotions could flip flop too as they tried to command the energy - marriages had been ended, frienships split, and strange partnerships allegedly formed after its use. Was that merely anacdotal?

Her fast thoughts we ruined by a rumble that started in her chest, and ended up a painful ringing in her ears and through her teeth. It was true, when the worm was in the same area, the roar was powerful and deafening. It was, infact, a physical and near debilitating thing in and of itself. The worm had obviously come back up. And by the sounds of it, the worm was directly around the corner, filled with rage!


Dun dun dun! As you guessed, you do onyl get a +4 for the arcana check. Still, hopefully enough to confirm you are right, you can try to flip pits that can be opened or closed anyway. Of course, the trick is which are closeable, are there any hidden pits? Anyway, the worm has simply come out of the easiest pit, which happens to be the bottom right pit. For the moment, Petal would be around the corner, sight of her blocked by the wall.

Good luck!


I've left pit '12' closed, since Petal was looking around. She probably won't see what changed, nor even hear it, although as a player I think I need to keep you informed. This place is madness to keep straight as it is!

Enjoying it ok?

[raixel]

Sorry, was very busy and couldnt get a post in till now. Yes, I am enjoying the hell outta this puzzle. Little confused tho. When Petal moves, is there any way to number the sections/pits that she goes thru(like a number/letter grid on the side of the map), so we an both say "Petal moves thru the pit at 3c" or somethin in ooc? Its kinda hard for me to get a mental picture. Also, I'm a bit confused as to where the worm is right now. Petal is hovering over pit 3, so the worm is on the other side of that wall? Im assuming the 'bottom right pit' is the next to pit 3? I will write like its in that area and she cant see it. If this is wrong, i'll edit it later. But yeah. Even tho its not realtime, this is one of the best DnD adventures ive had in a while. After playing for 20 yrs like I have (ive played since i was about 10), you get jaded. But this adventure has kept me on my toes and engrossed me. I find myself thinking about it during the day.

When Petal encounters the place where the two Bikas were, she stops and looks around for any sign of them. She sees the blood and tears spring to her eyes. She angrily scrubs her wrist across her eyes, keeping the tears from falling..
"I swear, I will not lose another friend to Chaos. He will pay for the pain he has visited upon innocents ten-fold." she vows silently, as she searches the area carefully for any tracks or signs of them. Perception (1d20+4=13)

After flipping the levers, she couldnt tell what the last one does, she to be safe she leaves it in th 'flipped' position. As she sits there and ponder whether or not the capricious and odd element ZO would work on the pits or levers there is suddenly an ear splitting, bone shaking roar. Petal instictively shot a few higher in the air, heart hammering in startlement. The worm was very close. She had to get out of here.

Looking quickly around, she dove down into the pit she was hovering over. Even though there was more levers in the area she hadn't tried yet, they could wait. For now she had to get away from that horrible worm. She flees up a few steps and over, flying up through the pit there, to put at least one wall between her and the horrid creature as fast as possible.

Heart still in her throat, she looks around frantically for a way out. Seeing nothing but glass walls, levers, and pits, she flies as far as she can to the left and dives down the pit there. one pit over from 5 "So, is the point of this fiendish puzzle to get out of this room? or is it something more?" she muses as she moves. "I need to find out what to do here, and where Growlgra is. I hope he's alright."
Thinking of her friend calmed her mind and hardened her resolve. She took a deep breath to steady herself as her heart stopped racing. Finally able to think clearly, she makes a note of where the closest lever is that she can see and makes her way to it. the one 2 squares over and 1 up from pit 5 .
Once there she flips the lever, again straining to hear or see any changes in the layout of the room.
"Hmm. I wonder where that tiny Chaos has gotten off to," she thinks to herse;f. "Hmmm. The worm already knows im here, so I wonder what would happen if I tried talking to him again."

So saying, she looks around to see if she can see his tiny fiery form anywhere still.

[beowuuf]

Not a problem, you've been posting detailed fast posts! I noticed the slight reduction the last few days, but a) you can be as slow as you like on your own, and b) more importantly you're still hitting the 'required' meaningful post/day. You might notice I couldn't carry on updating first thing in the mornign after the first few days, so I feel my posting ability will be the limiting factor anyway! Once again, thanks very muchfor the compliment, and I'm very glad you are enjoying it. Creating a cut down CSB map maybe let's it be a little bit more manic and intense than the real game will be. Then again, since you've joined the later levels...and the main group is wicked cool...I can see it remaining interesting once you merge too

And yes, grid references would be a very good idea! Sorry, I labeled the pits in my master copy, so it sort of made me forget how hard it is to navigate without them! I'll do a letter/number grid in white, and retain the black numbering for the pits/levers. As for where the worm is...I have a bad feeling I haven't been clear. It's in the upper level, right where Petal is. Petal is in a 1x1 square dead end that is hidden from view by a wall, the worm is at the other side of the room! Still, Petal's actions were fast enough to clear out of the room anyway, so that's cool.


Petal moved swiftly, luckily before the worm could realise where she had been. It moved its head side to side, smashing at the glass with a fury. The noise echoed distressingly, and Petal sudden;y realised exactly how powerful this magical glass must have been. She could swear she could still hear the noises faintly even as she swopped up and down two sets of pits. At some point, she managed to pick up a miniature Chaos too.

"Flee all you want, the worm got your friends, and it will get you too! HAHA!" the little Chaos shook its fist, and then for safety teleported to the other side of some toughened glass. He then disappeared. "Escape, you make it sound so easy," said a faint voice from one of the pits below. "Yes, all you need to do is escape before you join your friends in torment, sizzling in the belly of the beast!" There was another zap, and Chaos reappeared in sight behind the glass. He made a rude gesture with his fist, and then apparently laughed at his own cleverness.

However, Petal was tryign to put together the various sights she had seen. The blood in that first room - there was not enough, surely? She had seen no sign of the two bika, and yet there did not seem to be enough blood to say they were dead, surely? And wit ha shudder, what about the worm's teeth? They had seemed pale white, sticky, and menacing. Was it a good sign there was no signs of...mess? Could it possibly be it had litereally swallowed the two bika whole? Were they still alive, perhaops, inside that thing?

Of course, it could have been a trick of Chaos. Or they could have dived down a pit, and found another escape route. Who knew? Could she trust the words of the mini-Chaos?

Taking a moment, Petal flipped the new lever that presented itself in the new area. She could feel the ground shudder, and perhaps even guessed the direction. However, the lllumination she was casting, even to her low-light vision, was not good enough to see clearly across the room. (I've marked the pit that disappeared on the map, but unless Petal burns precious mana on some light, she's goign to be unable to see certain changes right away).

Luckily, her new position once again put a small wall between her and the sight of the worm. Althoguh could the worm actually see? If so, wouldn't it spot her faint illumination?

"Haha, you want to talk to me, do you?" said the mini-Chaos again, reappearing with a zap beside Petal. "You wish to beg for your life?" The minature Lord Chaos stood to his less than impressive height, and waved an imperious hand. "I shall hear your pleas now. I am in a merciful mood." He then barked with insane laughter.


Lol, got your wish! We shall see if it will be a good idea! No real insightful thigns observed with the middling perception I'm afraid, just a restatement that nothing says either of the two bika are definitely dead.

[raixel]

Hehe I love mini-chaos. I'm drawing a sticker right now (i do street-art. Not graffiti, but like stickers/posters on poles and weird LED light things zip-tied to fences. Its quasi-legal here as long as you dont spray paint, or do private property) of a child-like Chaos (with a big head, and giant red eyes, kinda pop-art style). I'll post it if I ever get a working scanner!

Petal submerges the desire to throttle the imperious little twit as he commands her to beg for her life. Instead, she smiles sweetly.
"No, I'm not going to beg," she replies "What fun would that be? Then you wouldnt be able to watch me run through it. I just wanted to compliment you on the fiendishness of your puzzle! It would be hard enough to do without the giant worm, but adding the worm is just twisted genius! This puzzle must have killed many unworthy adventurers. It truly shows a creative mind at work!" Um, I'm thinking this is a bluff? Her end goal is to get him on her side more, and perhaps get him to help her. I remembrer we discussed it before, and I think you said that this type of sitch would be a bluff. If not -4 to the roll for dipl. Bluff (1d20+8=14) She bats her eyes at him sweetly and bows.
"If you'll excuse me, my lord. I must go explore more of this wonderfully twisted puzzle" she says, before moving off and diving down the pit in front of her e4.

As soon as he can't see her face anymore, her eyes narrow and she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand like she just put something unpleasant in it. It takes all her self control to not spit on the ground. Having to cater to the whims of that twisted creature disgusts her. If it wasn't for the driving desire to find her friends and family, she would throttle the helmet off his insane little head. But, for now, she must play it cool. He might be the only one who can help her.

Once underground, she looks around. "Hmm, where to now. I should stay as far away from the worm as possible, so maybe I should look around this section. I dont know what that last lever did, so I think it was better not to flip it to its original position. The way I look at it, all it might do is open or close a pit, which doesnt really matter anything to me. But it might open a wall, which would be a way out." she muses to herself as she flies up thru the pit next to her d4

"From what I gather, this is one of the biggest rooms in the area. Probably a lot of levers here. I'll start with this one I saw from the last room." she thinks as she moves to pull the nearby lever. d2 After flipping it, she of course listens and looks carefully for any change.

She then moves off towards the other nearby lever that she can see a5. How many squares can see see? I dont want to describe her seeing something that she cant , keeping an eye and ear out for the worm, or the little Chaos. She pulls that lever as well, then stops to look around and take stock of her situation.

Ok, I'm stopping there so I dont line up too many actions for you to resolve. Her next move will be to hit the lever at b6, then since she cant see, follow the wall along south to ind out whats down there. She knows that theres levers down there, from pulling the lever at f9, but she doesnt know if she could get to them from this room. Playing this puzzle w/o a char who can hover would be next to impossible with only 1 or 2 ppl. Poor Growlgra.

[beowuuf]

Ooh, street art - cool! And lol, I wonder if anyone will actually get the reference at all!


Lord Chaos seems a little put out, but then comes aroudn to the sweet words. Then as Petal comtinues, his red eyes get wider and wider. There is a moment's silence as Petal bats her eyelashes. "You scare me," he says, and teleports out of sight. There is another moment's pause. He telports back. "Scary," he says again, and teleports behind the nearest glass, his helmed head pressed against it.

Heh, the bluuf is good, but the roll was middling. So I though having him terrified of Petal's enthusiasm for now seemed a good compromise Still, I think things are moving in the right direction if you want to get him on side. I think I said before I thought it would be un if eventually something liek that happened, but didn't expect such a conscious effort for it. That's pretty cool. Petal and Lord Chaos, against the dungeon! I reckon perhaps one more successful attempts (or a couple of middling attempts) after this puzzle is solved may well see you having a permenant mini-ally!

Petal's wish to stay far away from the worm was, of course, easier said than done. As she explores this huge area, she realised that onl;y one small pane of glass was seperating her from the worm above. And, infact, there were probably a pit or two that lead right back to the section with the worm. Certainly, its ragged breathing could be heard as a dim, echoing noise from the end of this area.

Infact, roll me a stealth check, please!

After Petal resurfaces and gets her barings, the new lever she picks seems to close a pit close to her. Not anything she, as a flier, should care about...however it might well have opened up sections for those less fortunate. Moving to the next lever, only the dimmest of shudders on the ground tells of something happening. Whatever it was, it was far away, well beyond her ability to spot it.

How did this puzzle ultimately work? Was something supposed to finally change at the start again, or the end? If so, where was the end? Or was there somethign strange going on beneath? And dare she risk more light, it was getting hard to see around here!


If you had a decent torch light, the view distance would be 20 foot bright and 40 foot dim (as normal 3.5), so Petal could double those as normal. I think Ful stacks to roughly torchlight levels, if I remember correctly. At the moment, I imagine the light level is roughtly at half, and these squares are actually 10 feet, so she can only see dimly to 40 feet. I'm lettign the glass create lots of odd reflections and refractiosn, so occasionally you'll spot things beyond that.

And yes, I tried to make this little area a CSB nightmare if you were playing it properly, and yet be easier for Petal in some ways(and for you, since the puzzle needs to be PbP friendly). Still, ither people might kill the worm, so it's not all easy!

[raixel]

Heh, what would be even funnier would be if he starts to think shes cute! . He starts goin 'I made you something' and drops a tiny modified oitu thats all screwed up at her feet, gives her little screamer-bunch bouquets.

Stealth roll 1d20+4=21
Im not sure what else to do here, besides roll a stealth check, so im just gonna continue with my original plan. If the stealth changes it, i will edit.

Petal hears the sounds and shuddering in the distance and looks around perception (1d20+4=8). Could she have more light? Or would that draw the wom to her? She decides to play it cautiously and only use the light she has, just in case.

She notes that although she can hear the grinding of the "roots" in the distance, she can't see anything, so she leaves the levers in their flipped positions for now. After looking around carefully, she swiftly moves to the nearby lever and hovers over the pit to reach it. b6
"Ugh, I hope that worm doesnt come flying out of one of these pits at me," she thinks as she pulls the lever. After noting what happens, she moves along the wall to the south. When she passes the alcove, she peers inside and sees the lever located there.
She quickly darts in the alcove, flips the lever, and flees back out and away, just in case the worm pops out of the nearby pit. Then she stops and re-evaluates her light source and exactly what the goal is here...

[beowuuf]

The stealth check was to ret-con if the worm heard you or not. 21 seems good to me, so you won't get sneaky following worm at the start of this update at least


Petal flips the lever, and apparently nothing changes. She carries on downwards, flipping the lever quickly that she finds. This time, she hears a rumble coming from where she just came from...or in that vague diretcion.

Petal might have been getting bored of pits and levers, but looking back towards where she had been, she sees something either hopeful or fearful. Just as Petal is working out about her own lighting issues, in the dim light she can see a soft blue glow. coming from the corner of the room where she just came from.

Unfortunaltely, she can also see, in the odd dull light generated from there, the face of ther worm. It is luckily behind glass, but is now facinated by the glow from the top corner of the room too. There is a wall that will allow Petal to sneak close to the glow, and she has closed a few pits in that area. Still, could she be between two dangers? Or is she simply one quick movement away from escape?


I'll leave it there for now. The first lever opened a teleporter! Woohoo! Is it really that simple? Maybe.... but don't go through the teleporter in your next post just yet Just tell me what Petal will do, if she'll investigate, etc.

[raixel]

Don't go for the teleporter?! Whats THAT supposed to mean?

Hehe. I was thinking, has she been in here for more than 4 mins since the last time her spells refreshed? If so, is there any way that when her spells were gonna refresh, I can ret-con burning some/all her mana on VIBRONETA so that she' s not beat to all get out? Its something she would have done, at least using some mana, cuz she knows she's in a lot of pain. I just forgot (as a player) cuz I was so into the lever puzzle and im not the one going around with bruises, cuts, and a few snapped ribs (from getting slammed into the ceiling by the oitu)

Petal stares warily at the blue glow. She closes her eyes and listens to how its Song changed the Song of the area. I fig since these are just flavor text, I can do a perception, and just get a diiferent "spin" on the same information another player would get? perception (1d20+4=20)unnatural Was it the way out? Or was something nasty gonna come popping out of it?
She saw a nearby lever d9 and flipped it, just because it was there and closing any pits might make it harder for the worm to get to her. Then she turned back towards the teleporter and very slowly crept towards it, keeping herself as hidden as she could. stealth(hide) (1d20+8=10)
She kept her eye on the worm, watching it carefully as she moved.
Shes basically moving at 1/2 speed during this round so that she can see what happens with the teleporter

[beowuuf]

Lol, I just meant 'don't say you go through it' for reasons you will see below. Petal can certainly have every intention of goign through it, and can certainly go through it next update

And the timing thing is very rough. Really, it's a way of saying 'after each encounter, your mana refreshes'. After @5 minutes of an intense encounter, you've probably recovered a decent amount of mana. And again, that @5 minutes is a fudge to acknowledge that if I've kept the pressure on, and an encounter has stretched but also included some unspecified time gaps (you know, like the Soorec fight where there was a lull to bring everyone back, but it could have blown up again) then I let everyone refresh resources to be nice.

I'm also putting in some real world 'in combat, with adreneline, your mana recovers faster than out' in place with that @5 mins. Also remember the spell slots aren't explicitly your mana. They are still abstract - like your mana actually only lets you cast say 3 highest spells, manybe one 2nd level. The other 2nd level and 1st level spells represent the fact that during a fight in DM, after you blow your full mana you actually have, you then tend to slowly recover enough to squeze out a few lower level spells too over the course of the fight. So similarly, in a real world fight, I assume your mana only actually lets you cast a few spells, and then recovery lets you cast a few lower ones again.

All this is a long way of saying nope You rested and refreshed your mana already at the start of this room (and she's only spend a few minutes whipping around, really), so because Petal is in a 'reseted' place (despite rushing around scared of worms) her mana will probably be regenerating slowly anyway. And you chose - possibly wisely - to conserve mana and not cast more healing, nor light spells, nor any utility spells. I'd be more inclined to be lenient in a one-to-one part of the game, but still - all your decisions stack up and matter. You chose to simply grab the key earlier and run, taking damage but completing it fast, and you chose to use offensive spells inetad of heal to stave off pursuit, etc. Choices are good Me providing you with consequences...well, it amuses me! I mean...it's important to the game!

So yeah, Petal can either keep hold of her mana but have low hp, or can ret-con casting healing magic before the final teleporter run, but not nearly enough time has passed to get refreshed so she'll have no mana. I am an evil DM, but hopefully you might already trust me enough that I'm not going to automatically kill you for fun just because I drained your resources as part of my evil plan. Just I'll make your choices matter in as evil a way as I can, to hopefully keep challenging you to make interesting choices

Eh, that's the plan. If you disagree, do a Petal-like batting of eyelashes and I might relent. No point in the game not being fun. Thoguh I will be that strict in the main game :p

Edit: Actually, jsut re-read your question, and the answer is 'yes' - you can retcon healing. Of course, I've just explained in depth why the assumption you were gunna get more mana back right now wasn't a good assumption to make


Petal looked across at the glowing area. The sound of it, the gentle hum in her mind and ears lets her know this is one of the blue hazes she has encountered before - areas of magic that teleport thigns from one place to another. That much is certain. And Petal just gets a feeling, from looking at the lay-out of the room, from trying to piece together the actions she has taken, the effects, the possible effects - that this feels logical this is the end point of the room. Or at least a major stage of it. If it is a distraction, Lord Chaos is far too evil. Then again...Petal did cheat. Would Chaos himself cheat now too? at the very least, everything was coming together as a certainty that this was the object of the room.

As if to back up this assumption, faintly Petal could hear the call of the teleporter. It was a low, deep sound, like a barotone singer. It was caling to her, specifically, whispering runes of IR DAIN and reassuring her of escape on the wings of magic.

Petal gently flipped the lever, and noisily the pit right infront of her knit itself shut (on d8). The worm, way off in the distance and only faintly outlines, all moving shadow and sparkling teeth, shifted left and right. It decentded out of view into a pit right beside it.

Of course, the large section just below her meant the worm could pop up anywhere. Possibly just beside the pit she closed. The glasswork seemed complex in this corner down below, but was it complex enough?

Petal began moving slowly forwards, trying not to draw any attention.

"What are you doing?" said a loud, squeaky voice at her side. The 'zap' a moment told who the voice belonged to. "What of your friends, abandoned in the worm's belly?" mini-Chaos said. He seemed positively aghast, and a single fiery tear dropped from under his helm. And irritatinly, down a pit right beside where Petal was.


There you go, that was why I didn't want you to leap through the haze. It's liek;y to be a one way trip - or at least a one way trip that would be irritating to wind you way back from. While Petal might suspect mini-Chaos is attempting a trick, as a player know that I'm saying if Petal leaves, Growlgra and the other bika (who could that be?) are probably done for without some sacrifice later to come back here. Of course, that 10 for stealth means the worm knows where you are - thatnks to a pit and a Chaos. So do you really want to stick around, with the limited resources at your disposal?

Choices, choices...

[raixel]

Petal glanced at the small figure that appeared next to her. She was shocked to see him crying. Insane lords of Chaos don't cry. Do they? To cry meant that one had emotions, cared about something enough to shed a tear. Was he crying for the Bikas? Then why did he create this mess if it hurt him to see things caught up in it?
As Petal mused this over, another fiery tear dropped into the pit she was hovering on top of. She prudently moved away a step, on top of the pit she had just closed. By her calculations, the worm would have to surface at least once before reaching this area. So she could spend a few mins talking to the little Chaos safetly. At least she hoped her calculations were correct.

The little being looks so positively heartbroken that Petal can't help but feel like comforting him. "There, there, don't cry." she says soothingly, while tearing off a hem from her dress and offering it to him so he can wipe his eyes. Diplomacy (1d20+4=20)
"What do you mean, my friend was swallowed by the worm?" she asked him. "I would like to help them, I dont know what one pixie can do. The worm is huge compared to me and I could just as easily get eaten too."

[beowuuf]

Technically, once the worm surfaces where you were, it can stay up in the room. The large underside and large mainroom bit beside the teleport are linked. Still, it would need to come from the bottom corner... maybe...


"Thank you," said the mini-Chaos, taking the offered scrap and gingerly running a spiked gauntlet under his oversized helm to gently wipe an eye. There was an acidic scent to the air as the cloth burnt. Chaos then noisy blew his nose, and his gauntleted hand came away empty of any remnant of the cloth.

"Well, when I created the worm...well, made it bigger...it was to terrorise all those people who think they are better than me, just because I am, temporarily, small. But you're small too! And so are those dog...things. The worm's big nashing teeth aren't for biting into small things, that would be just cruel. Again, Chaos seemed sad and disappointed in Petal for suggesting such a thing, and quietly sobbed. He stopped when Petal compared herself to the worm. "well that's the point, isn't it! You could easily get eaten! Dodge its jaws, go rescue your friends, and then escape. I'll let you go, you've been so entertaining!"

Chaos then paused for a moment, and looked almost shy. "Can..can I come too when you escape?" he asked. "You are the only one who speaks kindly to me, everyone else curses me, or bows down to me." Another sniff. "It's so much fun watchign you solve all my puzzles. It's almost..pleasant." Another sniff, and his red eyes opened widely under his helm. A quivering bottom lip could almost be imagined.


Lol, awww, is Petal having a change of heart about poor Chaos? See, no one understands him..or something. Anyway, a quick checklist of what you have:
- all your mana, to play with as you like
- one wand (calm effect)
- one elemental somewhere around
- lots of pits, many you know how to open and close
- the knowledge Z can flick levers
- at least one water elemental around
- the apparent knowledge that you might be able to survive being swallowed whole by the worm, and that might re-unite you with your friend. Maybe.
- your brain
- mini-Chaos (perhaps)

Will it be enough? Concoct a mad rescue plan, or just leg it through the teleporter. Your call!

[raixel]

Yeah. I as a player know where the worm is. Petal (with her 10int) made a miscalculation. Thought it might make things more interesting

Petal looks shocked at what Chaos suggested. "Make it eat me? Doesn't it have acid in its stomach? Wouldn't I dissolve? Or did you make it so it doesnt have any acid so that things that get eaten by it don't instantly die. I really want to rescue my friend, but if they got eaten by the worm, I just dont think its possible. How would I get back out?" she stops as she thinks of something.

"Something made you small? What was it?" she asks him. "Maybe we can make the worm small too, then it would be easy to get Growlgra out cuz he'd still be big. Or maybe we can give the worm indigestion so it throws up,"

"If you help me get my friends out of the worm, you can come with me if you want." she says cautiously, still wondering if this is some fiendish trick. But she really wants to rescue her friends and doesnt think she can do it by herself, so is willing to take an unlikely ally, for now.

[beowuuf]

Indeed it does make it more interesting, just wanted to be sure I hadn't mis-communicated anything!


"Where would the fun in that be?" asked Chaos. "Of course I toned down the acid in its stomach, no point in having them dissolve before I can get there and start poking the worm for fun!" The mini-Chaos starts poking the invisible worm of his imagination in the air, and giggles.

However, then the real worm bellows from somewhere. It sounds faint - like from down a pit - but it also sounds as if the pit is the only thing that is separating Petal from the worm. The worm is close - well, perhaps further down the room - and is now unimpeded. That cannot be good.

"Nothing made me small, that's very sizist. What made you small?" asks Chaos of Petal. He tries to make an accusitory poke of his finger at her, but also keeps a respectful distance. "I don't know what would give a worm indigestion, but that might be an idea!" Mini-Chaos gives another poke of his finger at the imaginary air, giggles, and then makes disgusting throwing up noises.

[raixel]

Oh boy. I havea feeling that he's gonna be a REEEELY fun ally Note, I rolled her convincing Chaos as dip, but it also fits under the definition of bluff, I think. If you think itd fit better the roll would be a 17

As Chaos points an accusitory finger at her, Petal holds up her hands in mollification. "Oh, I didn't mean anything by it. Its just that in all the Solstice Night tales, Chaos was always supposed to be human sized. And you said you were "temporarily small". I was just curious, is all. Theres nothing wrong with it. I rather like that youre small, like me."

They continue talking, oblivious to the fact that the worm edges closer. It roars distantly and Petal jumps a little bit.

Petal rolls her eyes as Chaos gets really into his throwing up sounds, and starts gagging. I couldnt resist She runs over to try and help him, then stops as he seems to recover.
"Hmm. What would give a worm indigestion," she muses out loud. "How about dropping a fireball down its throat?" She turns to Chaos and looks at him for advice. Then her eyes light up as she looks over the flames leaping off of him.

"Hey Chaos, wanna go with me inside the worm? I bet in all your years, youve never gotten to see the inside of a worm before! It'd give you a great chance to see the inner workings of one of your creatures. Then with that knowledge, you could make better and more deadly ones."Dipl (?) If its bluff add +4 (1d20+4=13) she tells him convincingly, trying to look as excited as possible about this new "adventure".

"Well, in any case, its a lot closer than I thought it was, so I'm gonna cast some healing on me."
So saying, she begins to Sing the Song of VI. It sounds like a combination of a chime and a gurgling brook. The sound is haunting and beautiful and she feels like she is surrounded by warm water, flowing in and out of her and bathing her wounds. She focuses her memory on a time with her brother climbing up the ladders to her home before her first flight, she almost slipped and he reached his hand out to pull her up to her family's landing pad. She focuses her will on the image of the two joined hands in her mind, and the symbol of BRO appears above her head, glowing with a soft gold light. This close to Chaos, one of the High Lords (if reduced), she doesnt want to run the risk of the prayer component of NETA, so she just draws the symbol on her forehead with a finger.
As she casts, she reflects that part of being a sorcerer is the ability to alter spellcraft to the situation. Every spell she casts, even if it has the same end result,might follow a different path to get there. As the mana changes, so does her act of spellcasting.
After she draws NETA, she puts her hands parallel, one on top of the other. She then changes her wordless song into the word ONVIBRONETA, which leaps out of her mouth in a blue radiance, impacting the BRO rune floating slightly above her with a clear high note like ringing crystal. The mana mixes and falls down upon her like glowing golden rain. She feels some of her worst injuries fade away.

Then she hides to wait for the worm Hide (1d20+8=22), taking Chaos with her if he chooses to go.

Heh, You like the IC reason so I can come up with cool spell descriptors all the time?

[beowuuf]

Stage 1: making you want mini-Chaos as an ally. Stage 2: Make you want to get rid of mini-Chaos. Stage 3: Make you miss mini-Chaos. Stage 4: See stage 1


"My size is not an issue! What happened to me not a question I need answer! I shall destroy you all anyway!" Chaos suddenly got angry again, and started throwing sparks and flares everywhere. The air also began to smell faintly of eggs, perhaps he was trying ot cast poison too?

Chaos stops his ranting as Petal asks him a legitimate question. "Fireball? Hah, I don't think the worm's first reaction would be to gag. I think it would eat you all the faster!" Chaos started laughing heavily at the thought. The sweet little child-like Chaos seen earlier seemed to have disappeared for the moment. Still, like a spinning top, that aspect would no doubt return briefly once again. He then sniffed the air. "Why not poison? Poison makes me gag." Chaos then made gagging noises similar to Petal's from earlier as the scent of eggs grew slightly more. Chaos stopped gagging as Petal's alluring idea was dangled infront of him. "Bigger, better worms..." he whispered. Then he gagged again. "No, wait, what if they smell as bad as this inside? And what if there's no room in there, if its filled with Bika and pixies?"

Chaos shook his head, although his eyes did seem to still have a dim, calculating glow to them. "How abotu you go in first, and you tell me if its interesting and roomy. I'll come in then!"


Lol, I think that's probably the definition of diplomacy... making a person want to dop something because you show the benefit of it for them. Anyway, it's a relatively easy sell because he's on your side, and it was a good pitch, but as you can see, the low roll means you'd have to do something fairly big first to get him to see the reward outwaying potential risk! Oh, and yes - very nice description of the spell-song. Also gives me a good excuse to have the same rune combinations mean the same thing when different inanimate objects say them too! Oh, re


Mini-Chaos seemed to be in a calculating and cautious mood now, and it was probably best that Petal moved off. The best place to hide was behind one of the walls - especially as there was a pit close to fly down into. Chaos seemed to simply move across to the other side of the room, tip-toing around pits and looking in.

All of a sudden, the chaking roar of the worm sounded. It seemed to come from all the surrounding pits at once. For a brief second, Petal could be forgiven for assuming a trick of Chaos would let multiple worms suddenly burst out of each pit. Thankfully, only one worm came out, but it was enough. The thing was looking the other way, for now, but was easily within distance of Petal. It seemed to be looking at its reflection, or the reflection of the teleporter's light. Mini-Chaos had, for the moment, teleported away somewhere.

There was, for now, a moment's silence as the worm's body smoothly extracted itself from the pit.


Ok, good stealth roll means its looking the other way. Yell if you want to be differently positioned than say at B5. The worm was originally going to emerge from E8, but Chaos's noises have probably meant it would come out sooner, at around E6 (assuming Petal is at B6). Hmm, so make the worm swallow a fireball or fiery Chaos was the original plan? Chaos has countered with poison, though Petal can't cast poison cloud. Hmm, anyway, the stage is set then. I need sleep, and can see what you do tomorrow then

[raixel]

Dammit! The entire huge post I wrote last night diidnt get posted and I didnt check to make sure it did before I logged off. I will post again as soon as i'm able, which is not right now

[beowuuf]

[raixel]

Ok, im gonna try and redo as much as I remember. Its probably gonna be shorter though.

Petal thinks frantically as she hears the worms roar. Should she let it eat her? Did it really eat Growlgra? And if it did, could she get him back out alive? The only proof she has that it did is the words of Chaos. And admittedly, trusting the words of an obvious insane High Lord might not be the greatest idea. He might just be toying with her, getting ready to laugh gleefully as she is eaten alive.

I'm gonna ret-con a sense motive, if its possible
She thinks carefully back through her conversation with Chaos, trying to picture his bady language and tone of voice. Was he lying to her? She focuses her mind on his tone when he said Growlgra had been eaten, as well as when the worm's acid wasnt that dangerous. Sense motive (1d20+2=18). She had to know whether or not he was telling the truth before she makes such a drastic desicion.

And she was running out of time...

She ponders the worm. Would it even be possible to stay alive inside of it? Or would her last memory be sliding down a slippery gullet into a pit filled with caustic unbreathable air and green acidic slime, splashing down next to two half-decomposed Bika corpses into acid that swifly ate away her flesh for the few last tortured seconds of her life?
She shudders at the mental image.

Suddenly, she gets an idea. Her spell of true sight would allow her to see if Growlgra and his companion were actually inside the worm! Let me know if this isnt possible and i'll edit. Seems like its possible from the spell desc tho. Not sure how levels work on it, as they arent in the description. I'm gonna cast it at UM level. if it needs to be more, let me know.

Petal takes a deep breath and holds her index fingertip in front of her lips. As she exhales, she focuses her mind on the rune of air, OH. The breath leaving her lips coelesces around her hand in wisps of silvery-blue fog like radiance. She then takes the index finger of that handvand draws the dots of the rune OH around her eyes. The runes begin to glow with the same blue-silver radiance. She draws the rune EW on her forehead with the same glowing fingertip. The rune flashes and begins to melt into the OH rune around her eyes. After that, she cups her hand into the light surrounding her. As she focuses her will, some of the light seems to pour into her hand like glowing honey. she takes this light and places it in front of her, where it seems to float. She then grasps the edges of the ball of light and pulls it into the shape of the rune RA. As she finishes it, she makes a square with her fingers and outlines the RA symbol with it, as if she is looking through a box.
"UMOHEWRA" she whispers. As she finishes intoning the spell, the runes flash and then appear to melt into her eyes. She feels her eyesight sharpen and become more intense. She imagines that this must be what it feels like to be a hawk drifting through the air on high, but able to look down and see the detail of a mouse's whisker.

She waits in the corner for a clear view of the worm and sweeps er magically enhanced gaze down it, hoping she will see the form of the Bika, alive.

[beowuuf]

True sight seems exactly the sort of thing you'd need for this! Hadn't thought of it myself either


Petal tried to work out, not only Chaos, but perhaps even the feel of the dungeon. The inscriptions never lied, and come to think of it the little she had seen hadn't been subtle. He did not seem to be arrogant, forcing people to battle with his intellect and puzzles. It was not that he was above lying, it just seemed that he would only lie if it served fooling someone into another puzzle. She could well believe Chaos was lying, but if he was, it was not to kill her, but top put her into a bad position to see if she could escape. At worst, it would not be an instant death but an escapable one.

And mini-Chaos did seem quite earnest in his tears and then anger. His emotions seemed to be in flux, but they did seem to be - oddly - genuine. Or at least, genuine at the time. Still, she couldn't be completely sure...


For truesight, it will be duration and at higher levels how deep you can look. In DM even the lowest spell could look throguh a door or the surroundign walls, so I'll honour that. A worm shouldn't be that much of a challenge - infact even UM might be too powerful (but you would need the timing)


As the spell resolves itself, she has the disconcerting feel of the world melting away. Floors and pits that looked so solid now dissolved, and everywhere she put her eyes the labyrinth of the glasswork in the cavern below was revealed. Annoyingly, the spell was not reaching far. And was quite powerful, seeing passed many things. Petal realised she would need to get much closer to the worm and then would need to judge the distance well in order to only pierce the outer skin.

Hmm, did she need a way to distract or trap the worm?


I'll leave you to decide if Petal just tries stealth to get close to the worm's body, if she tries to use another spell, Chaos, etc as a distraction, or if she wants to start trying to try out the 'let's trap the worm' plan she had involving ZO, pits, and levers.

[raixel]

so then I take it the nice huge hide roll I rolled earlier isnt applicable I'm not sure if I need to -4 from the result since she's moviing as well as hiding. If so, just subtract it

Staying carefully hidden, Petal stealthily approaches the worm to turn her magical gaze upon it stealth (1d20+8=27). Even though she is not religious, all good pixies marginally follow Titania, the High Lord of the Seelie court. Petal always figured since Titania was the mistress of good fae, she'd understand Petal's nature and not be offended by her lackadasical worship. Even so, Petal breathes a silent prayer to Titania that Growlgra is in there, still alive.

Im gonna stop there until this action is resolved before I decide what to do.

[beowuuf]

Yeah, I'm being a meany and lettign each action require its own stealth roll. Since, you know, the worm is RIGHT THERE. Of course, in good news that means you get to actually score a more bitchin' roll than the previous one! I can't let that go unrewarded...

Petal moved as quitely yet quickly as she dared, while the effect of the magic still lasted. What would she see? A rediscovered faith in Titania did not seem to stop the fears from building.

And then, the worm started to look around...

"Haha! Look upon your master and cower!" said mini-Chaos, shaking his fist at the creature. Petal could see his antics at the corner of her eye, and moved appropriately to take full advantage.

"Worship me then obey me!" squeaked the tny terror. "I command you to turn, and swallow that pernicious pixie! At once!" Chaos gestured disrectly at Petal for one heart-stopping second. It was unknown wherther Chaos thought he was being helpful, or if he was trying to enact some evil plan now Petal had refused to jump directly into the maw hersef.

The worm reared up....

Zap! "No you trecherous thing, not me!" screamed Chaos, probably only audible to hellhounds now. "The pixie! The pixie!" Chaos jumped up and down, flapping his arms like wings then pointed again. Zap![/.] "NOT ME!" he bellowed again. The air took on the scent of rotten eggs once more, and Chaos brought his 'impressive' magic to bear on the worm. For the moment, it seems more inclined to attack Chaos.

Petal, therefore, could try and concentrate on getting the spacing correct. It was such an odd mental twist, sudden;y seeing through the segment of body as if it wasn't there. The twisting thing was hard to keep track of, and occasionally flashes of disgusting pink and brown and black flesh would burn her retina for a micro-second. However, then Petal got into the perfect position...

There was disgusting pulsating green and brown and purple sacks everywhere. Meat with strips that was probably muscle kept flashing into view. Petalmoved up and down the body a little, and then she saw a disgusting yet potentially hopeful sight - two wet and sticky and faded bika.

There were not dissovled, though it was hard to really make them out perfectly as the worm twisted and Chaos kept teleporting out of the way. SPetal thought she recognised the female bika, paws moving. It seemed as if that one was squirming. The other Bika - surely Growlgra - was being seen from the back. He did not seem to be moving as much, only to the rhythm of the worm's movement.

Zap! "She's behind you," said a muffled voice. Chaos had, apparently, decided to retreat down a pit. Whether the worm had heard and understood Chaos or not, it twisted around to 'look' aroudn the rest of the room. Rotting flesh and overpowering bile were the scents that suddenly engulfed Petal as the work twisted its foul maw in her direction. With an odd quirk of her magic, as the worm's head came forward, it sudden'y disappeared as he spell sight let her see through it.

A moment later, the spell finally faded. The now nearer and larger head was right beside the pixie. The four mandible-like teeth around its mouth started clamping together then flying apart, displaying the worm's eager anticipation.

The worm opened its mouth, wide enough to be scary, not wide enough to make Petal think any plan involving swallowing was a good idea.

The worm roared. A physicaly attack on her senses, Petal was shaken to the core.


Lol, so now what will Petal do? The roar will actually cause Petal to be Shaken - giving her a -2 to attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks for the next two rounds. Otherwise, she is free to act. The worm is still barely emerging from the same pit if that helps any plans

[raixel]

Great. I was hoping they wouldnt be in there. I have NO IDEA how to get them out. I'm gonna try something. Doubt its possible but you never know(well, i guess as the dm you do, but you know what i mean ). Chaos made me LOL btw. tiny terror hehe. I should call myself that, seein im 5'0" and 87 lbs irl

Petal thinks furiously. An idea pops in her head. Its a long shot, but it might work... It seems better than just jumping in the worm's mouth like it's a tree-slide in Forest Park.

Petal focuses her mind on the image of the two Bikas in the worm's stomach. It was a long shot, but maybe she could use mana to pull them out of the worm's digestive track. The question was, would it make more sense to push them out the worm's...umm... Petal blushes thinking about pushing someone thru the worm's hind end. But it might be better than trying to pull them thru the worm's toothy end? She was torn with indecision. And the screeching of the little Chaos wasn't helping.

"Well, its now or never," she thinks to herself.
She nods. At least if they go out the back end, there wouldnt be a bunch of teeth to contend with. But the front end was larger. Perhaps if she uses her little wand to calm it first? Where was the post with how the calm aspect worked? I'm looking for it now. But would the wand be strong enough? She decides quickly to forgo the wand and try to pull them out of the worm's mouth.

She points at the mental image of the two Bikas in the worm If the spell isn't strong enough she will get Growlgra first as he seems to be in worse shape, then try to use a 2nd lev spell on the female, if it seems at all possible after trying the 1st one.
She imagines the air inside the worm rushing out its mouth while intoning the rune OH. A noise like rustling leaves picks up around her. She focuses on the explosive waves of KATH while imagining the two Bika's bodies flying out of the worm on the air made by the spell OH. She spits out the name "KATH" in an explosive breath of air while arcing her arms outward sharply. Lastly, she imagines a giant ghostly hand holding the worm's jaws open. She reaches one hand out and mimics a scooping motion for the rune ROS.
She brings her hands up in front of her face, palms down with one on top of the other, a small gap between. She puts her mouth to the gap and says "ONOHKATHROS" sharply through it. She watches as air swirls about her and the worm, building up speed.

"Oh, by all the High Lords, please make this work.." she whispers feverently. Its 1d20+3, right? Im afraid to roll... I hope this works... (1d20+3=22)

[beowuuf]

Not too shabby a roll, ballsy plan. I won't work out the mechanics of it (especially since Growlgra is helpless, other bika is distracted and the worm's body itself was always the limiting factor. Lets just say for a roll liek that 'it works. Ish.


Petal concentrates despite the impending doom, and casts the spell of summoning as some people term it. That has never rang true ue to its imprecise nature. Still, Petal feels a welcome tug against her body, a feeling as if she were infinitely powerful and with infinitely long arms.

The worm roars again, but it has an odd gargle. And odd gargle with a howl underneath. The worm swishes its body around, but Petal catches sight of a bika at the mouth. It seems to be the other one, either Petal mis-pulled, or perhaps the movements of Growlgra allowed the other one to come up. The worm convulses, as if trying to swallow again. However, a little hand is seem wrapped aroudn a tooth - one of the two bika are hanging on!

The worm seems to understand its torment originated from an external source, and lifts itself back up and then flops forwards. Petal does not appear to have to fear being swallowed - she has to worry about being crushed!


The worm is trying somethign akin to a dragon's crush attack, since you are small Roll me a reflexes check, remembering you are still partially shaken (-2). One, probably both, bika are currently stuck in the worm's mouth. You might want to consider what you can do to help - assumign you don't get crushed, of course

[raixel]

HOLY F'N SHEET! I sorta pulled it off! Now lets see what else I can do...

Petal tries to dive to the side as the worm's heavy body comes coiling down upon her. REF (1d20+6-2=9) OW. If i'm not dead/dying, the post continues

"HANG ON!" she shouts to the Bika(s). "I'm gonna do what I can to help you! But you have to try and climb out!"

Now im wishin i grabbed that sword. I'm runnin out of ideas on how to get them out. But ive come this far and took god-knows-how-much damage from its attack, so I gotta keep goin. I'm formin a nebulous plan to run up the back of the worm and try and stab it in a sensitive spot with the wand if I can make it glow the way faux-Petal was.

[beowuuf]

Yeah, well as long as plans aren't super crazy, I'll give you a chance. A cool idea and character actions shoudl always have some effect. And a good roll usually makes sure it's the effect you actually wanted, rather than the effect I'll pervert it into Of course, you've still got a little bit to go... And unfortunately, the worm pins Petal with the crush. She takes 5 damage. If Petal or one of the bika can persuade the worm to move (which seems to be easy) she won't be pinned for long.

Otherwise, it's an opposed grapple check to get out form under I'm afraid.

Choose how much you want to modify the actions - after all, the devil's horns are cool, and invisibility could be exactly what you want after disappearing from view of the worm... otherwise, save your spells for the moment and push as hard as you can! At the least, keep the yelling to the bika.

[raixel]

Petal gets knocked flat as the worm's heavy body lands on her.
As soon as she gets air back in her lungs she shouts to the Bika "Keep moving! You gotta climb out of there! You can do it!"
Ugh, the worm stinks like rotting carcasses. Petal could feel its muscles moving under its plating. Was there a gap in those plates she could jam something pointy? She looks around for a soft spot in the worm's armor Perception (1d20+4=21) I'm assuming since the wand is tiny I can use it while being grappled? If not, she rolls a grapple check to free her arm. Hoping she can find a spot, she will jam the wand into what looks like a likely area, and floods the wand with as much mana as she thinks it can handle to make the tip hot the way the faux-petal did. Hopefully that will annoy the worm enough that it either spits the Bika(s) out or gets off of her. If not, she is prepared to struggle for her life, however ineffectually it might be. Grapple escape (1d20-4=-1)