9th Circle Heist Chapter I - From Plague Mort to Smaragd

[Shayuri]

Satisified at not having to go through first, Thorn quickly slips behind the dwarf lich and follows her. Just before actually going through the portal, she makes a flicking gesture with her right hand; which looks like it's trapped in a thick tangle of metallic barbs. From somewhere in that mess pokes a black iron ring, which she grasps and yanks on. In an instant an entire chain has been pulled free, festooned with cruel hooks and spines, with only a few safe spots to touch, that she holds it by.

Thus girded, Thorn steps into the portal, as ready as she'll ever be.

 

[Nephtys]

Avaniel steps serenely trough the portal, everything about her radiating a calm and pleasant self-confidence in addition to a beauty so perfect and elegant so as to seem almost exaggerated. Outwardly she appears to be in effortless control of the situation, but inwardly she frets to herself.
This was not at all what she wanted to be doing. Leading, (or was she only one amongst equals?) No definately leading, (imagine being the equal of dretches and half-bloods, impossible!) a band of lowly criminals. Certainly they were capable, deadly even, but hardly in her own league. Well, after all, their simplicity only made them more useful to her. If only she could endure their stench.

-
ooc:
Bluff.................. 26 (11+15)
Diplomacy.............. 29 (11+15+3)

 

[Voadam]

As Haakon climbs down with his claws digging into the abyssal plants his large black shield floats beside him.

 

[UniversalMonster]

Welcome to the Jungle

One by one you each descend through the portal and end up-- where else? The Abyss. Home for some of you...

Smaragd is a layer of the Abyss- and probably one of the safer places you could visit, all things considered. You are in an endless emerald jungle- multilayered canopies of vines and thorned plants of every description abound, and the cries of predators can be heard in every direction. The canopies are so thick and multilayered that few ever see the ground, let alone travel on it. In any case, the upper reaches are safer.

Now that you are on the other side of it, you can see that the portal you just came through is made from a massive pair of sharklike jaws, lashed together and decorated with candles and other bones. It is set fairly high up in the jungle branches, which requires a certain amount of climbing.

The hag is there, and once the last of you has come through (and someone has helped BoB out of the tangled stinging thornbush he managed to land in) she pulls down her chain grapple with a yank.
"The portkey is a chain, in case you have to get out of here. Now to Tharirmun. It's just a half a league..*" she says, indicating the path. And you can see a trail marked off with rope bridges and crude, evil-looking totems of skulls and decorated bones. A few of the skulls are old and crumbling, but a few you notice are still wet and grisly.

The jungle canopy is torn away in places by something massive that moved through, and some of the plants are pocked with strange holes. Apparently she wasn't kidding about the occaisional rain of acid. You rarely see the sky, but when you do it is a shocking pink sunset looking vista, and there is no visible sun.

So off you go, crossing rope bridges (or perhaps flying as some of you can do) through the jungle. After about a mile though, you reach an area where the rope bridge has been cut or bitten through somehow.

"There is another way.. we can go back.. circle around.." says the hag uneasily, looking around.

OOC: Everyone make Spot Checks and initiative rolls at invisiblecastle.com and link the rolls to your post here, saying what you are doing. If you need help, let me know.







* - a league is about 3 miles, so half a league is ~1.5 miles.

 

[Nephtys]

Initiative: 6+3
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161533
Spot: 9+21
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161535

Avaniel looks out across the chasm with eyes like brilliant gemstones, then turns to the group.
"Those of you who cannot fly are welcome to enter my Extradimensional Storage" (ooc: Portable Hole just sounds wrong, especially from a Succubus. ) "and I will carry you across."

 

[Shayuri]

Init 21: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161587

Spot 17: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161589

Thorn shrugs, the gesture freeing up the dark, violet/black wings from her shoulders, where they're normally folded like some kind of half-cloak.

"I can probably carry the little one," she comments, nodding at the dretch. "Unless he's considerably more massive than he looks."

Even as casual as her voice sounded, Thorn kept looking warily around. Something felt off. A broken bridge in the Abyss might just be wear and tear...or it might be a prelude to an ambush.

 

[Voadam]

Init 7 http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161623

Spot 27 http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161626

Haakon's massive wings stretch out from beneath his dark cloak as his eyes scan the jungle, instinctively drawn to signs of movement and the outlines of still figures.

"I can carry the hag." the gargoyle rumbles to his companions.

 

[Guest 11456]

Klassandra Doomrunner : Female Dwarf Lich Cleric 11

Klassandra looks around warily, wondering what is up. She does not like the look of things. She glances at the others to see what their assessment is.

Spot Check: 14+14=28
Initiative: 5+2=7

 

[Evilhalfling]

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=161554

Initiative 11+4= 15
Spot 4+9 = 13

BoB looks around confusedly.
Check and see if whoever cut the ropes is still here

**Is AnYBoDy ThErE?** BoB brodcasts as a general hail. **to Thorn** Okay but no dropping.
something shows up before he acts he will cast greater invisiblity instead.

 

[UniversalMonster]

OOC: The Hide DC was 26. Klassandra, Haakon, and Avaniel made it and can act during the surprise round!

Init (surprise round)

Abyssal Megaraptors +2: 15
Avaniel +3: 9
Klassandra +2: 7
Haakon +2: 7

It was an ambush!
Crashing through the canopy -- they come..! Four savage-looking fanged dinosaurlike demonoid creatures- each one garishly colored in shades of iridescent green and magenta, and encrusted with bony protrusions. Despite their savage appearance.. you get a distinct sense of malevolent intelligence from them.

The megaraptors land on the canopy branches and begin tearing towards you with obvious violence.

This is going to be a test combat so we can get used to the format. See map! Use the letter number coordinates if you need them. For the first round it's partial actions only- so the dinosaurs are going to spend the round running at you from the position shown on the map. After this round, the characters that missed their spot checks will be shuffled into the initiative order, so go ahead and post your action even if you missed your spot check. Feel free to coordinate anything you like exactly as if we were playing around a table.