/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>195905
Posey takes 10 on spellcraft recognize Prestidigitation, potent 'universal' magic that her cruel masters forbade her from learning.

She feels the oil being vanished from her fur and mane, leaving it magically clean.
She glows, once again clean. Her glammered body looking radiant. Her mane rosey and fabulous. Her coat snowy and spotless. Her morale recovered. Her smile and optimism restored.
Her eyes turn into glowing golden hearts
"Bl-Blackheel...! I.. I could kiss you right now..."

>>195908
It is impossible to overstate just how dire Posey's situation was with that oil covering her. How nasty of a substance it is.

Blackheel has a smug smile on his face, his horn still lit up in a blood red, radiant glow

"You are a pretty mare." He admits. He leans over, and kisses her on the lips

>>195907
Silver can feel what is like a brushing motion, acting on his fur

>>195909
Posey also kisses.
Posey is a very good kisser. It's not just grace or experience. There's something almost hungry about how deeply she leans into it.
But the moment passes nevertheless

She whispers puts her , very, very very subtly
"If you keep acting like such a terrific gentlecolt like that, I might just have to make you mine, forever..."
She then gives him an eyelash-fluttering wink, and she turns to give him some space to cast on Silver, swishing her tail seductively as she steps away.

.

I sleep now.

>>195847
Cavaliere looks after where she ran, and shakes his head dismissively.
>>195892
Cavaliere stares at her. "So that's what made the mighty Miss Glow retreat when you were eager to fight Light Water alone a minute ago. Not any minions, spells, or monsters from beyond this world, but the most basic of partisan weapons." He bursts out in mocking laughter. "I thought you incapable of any survival instinct."

>>195887
All the same, Cavaliere approaches Zara. "It wasn't my intention to put you in harm's way. When I saw griffons up there, my first thought was that they may have been the boarding party from the boat. They weren't, and yet I'm sure we could have talked down that general if it weren't for a millstone strapped to our paw. I would offer you a smoke, but it would be best to wait until we're out of here and not covered in flammable substances."

He will find whoever has rope and secure those enemies that are still alive.
>>195903
Hoofcuffs intended for Light Water, but we used the last of the rope I think. Somepony else has some.
>>195903
She already gave him a BTI (booping-transmitted-infection), what more do you want?

I'm going to write a long post in OOC about what I think.

>>195903
Posey has a pair of manacles that I forgot why I even put on her sheet. May as well take them.
>>195911
>Miss Glow
"-That is not my name. I am Rosey Ring." she interrupts
>"I thought you incapable of any survival instinct."
Posey gives a huff
"My mane is not just a symbol of my heritage, my pride as a mare, and a testament to my boundless beauty, it is also a valuable esoteric implement for my sorcery and spiritual practice as an exorcist and and warmagus, an extension of my powers. I defend my mane with the same tenacity as I do my life, sometimes even moreso. I would rather be buried with an intact mane than go shambling about without one. Of course, I would not expect a griffon to understand..." she retorts
She produces and ivory comb and begins to brush her mane
"Besides, when the monster got between me and the griffon, he was already as good as gone. I had no reason to pursue him further, as much as it frustrates me to have let my enemy escape, so I turned back. We can deal with him once our current crisis is resolved."

Posey pauses
"This does give me an idea though..."
>>195909
Could Posey use the empty potion flasks and part of this big pile of oil to improvise some flammable splash weapons?
"If we can set Light Water on fire, that could interfere with his spellcasting concentration." Posey ponders
"Fire magic is not my specialty, but in my line of work you learn to improvise." she continues
She stops a good distance from the oil and frowns, not wanting to get dirty again. She directs her Unseen Servant to get to work for her.

>>195910
Blackheel puts a bit of effort into it as well. Posey is the one to break away. When she does, she can see that Blackheel is smiling and his eyes are half lidded. He stands there for several seconds without moving. It is only after a delay that his ears perk up and he says "huh?" He turns her head to look back at her, before focusing on other tasks.

>>195911
Well, the white petrushka pony is being dumped onto Silver, or else he should give it back to Posey.

Zara sits down, her head lowered and not sitting straight up but lowered. She is visibly trembling, ears back and eyes large, with her tail wrapped around her. "Oh uh, okay" she manages to say

>>195915
Or Posey can handle the white petrushka

Blackheel offers,

"Don't worry, we'll kill him together."

>potion flasks
Yes, I suppose.

>>195926
>handle the white petrushka
I am slightly confused, what would you like me to do with him (I have ideas)?

>>195929
Restrain him so that he can be properly kept prisoner. Tying him up with rope or something similar is most preferred, but hoofcuffs are also good.

>>195926
Cavaliere pats Zara's back reassuringly. "I understand why you're worried. We'll make it through this."

>>195929
>>195930
Cavaliere has been tying up the prisoners since rope is more versatile than twenty hoofcuffs. He has +9 bonus to the use rope skill and can take ten.

>>195930
Oh, I thought you wanted me to finish him, lol.

Posey levitates her fluffy, pink shackles over.

>>195931
Zara is pat. She looks upwards towards Cavaliere as he does so

>>195931
>>195932
Between Cavaliere and his hopefully sufficient quantity of rope, and Posey's pink hoofcuffs, the white petrushka has, hopefully, been secured

>>195922 →
Posey explains her plan to draw fire while the rest of the herd runs through the corridor.

>>195934
"The enemy was firing at close range from multiple directions in the corridor. I was not able to see them directly until the end despite my Darkvision spell, so it seems as though they had cover to hide behind. No form of mind control allows thralls to see in the dark, so I suspect that they were relying on the light from that fire breathing monster that I felled and shooting at me between its gouts of flame; they should be more limited in their attacks now that the beast was destroyed."
"Combatants for the strike team should assemble immediately, while technicians, wounded and other noncombatants stay in the boiler vault. I have the advantage of darkvision, so I may be able to draw their attention while the rest of the herd moves through. Once the enemies are distracted, the herd can gallop through the corridor at full speed. If you cannot see them, they cannot see you, so just keep running forwards. Once the corridor is cleared, combatants can regroup and proceed towards the bridge, and I will rejoin you once I shake-off the shooters."

Posey puffs her chest out and tosses her mane

"Are we ready?"

I think you're taking some details way too seriously. I had not prepared the upper levels yet. I was not looking in reference to some kind of map, I was not thinking carefully about lighting conditions and which electric lights would be on and which would not, and what sources of light would be provided by the enemies. I was trying to emphasize "You can be attacked from behind. You can be attacked from the left. You can be attacked from the right. You can be attacked from the front. You can be attacked from above. There are literally a dozen different rooms that enemies can hide in or come from. You have placed yourself in an extremely bad position, and that mistake will become a fatal mistake should you chose to keep making it." And then when you moved upstairs, it's the same but more so, as Posey could accomplish being surrounded in three-dimensional space. She could literally be surrounded from both above and below, as she almost certainly bypassed an unknown number of enemies on the crew deck that could now come up the stairs behind her. If her teammates wanted to, they could not intervene and rescue her. They did not want to. The petrushkas shooting from darkness were not a complete and serious encounter. They were a reminder that she was in an unfamiliar, hostile terrain where she does not know what she is facing, and she has every reason to believe that she will be facing something, and it is hostile. Like, you know the various kinds of warnings video games will give you when you go out of bounds on the map that say basically "Get back on the map in the next 10 seconds or you will die"? That's what that was. It was my way of saying "Are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it?" If I were actually describing the area in question some of the electric lights would have been on and some would have been off. That was unnecessary to describe to Posey as she has darkvision, so it was not. The "25-35 feet" was in reference to fear effects and was a way of saying "You are in such a large, unexplored, hostile area that you are not necessarily within short range of every hostile." It is not a statement of actual differences. If I were preparing encounters in that area, I would refer to actual dimensions on a map and be more specific. I forgot that Darkvision has a span of 60 feet, in the exact same way I forgot that the fire damage of the hellhound may well have sparked the multiple pounds of tar sticking to Posey, which maybe should have lit fire and delivered at least 1d6 fire damage every single turn until it either burned out after about 50 turns, or Posey jumped into the ocean.

Like, if you came home at night and saw that the front door open, you wouldn't just barge your way in and go up the stairs. You'd look through every single room looking for an intruder, because you don't want to be attacked from behind.

I typed twice as much, but the point is that what Posey encountered was not a deliberate, planned encounter and location with well thought out details that are accurate to what is there (it's actually much more dangerous), but me telling you "If she goes up one more flight of stairs, she will die, and no one can or will save her."

>>195936
Oh. I guess I was overthinking it. Sorry.

Posey still relays this plan, as a means for others to avoid damage when going upstairs.

>>195909
Silver's snoot wriggles from aide to aide, and he lets out a satisfied snort as the very pleasant feeling of having his fur brushed and cleaned out washes over him. Starfire finds that the thick fur and the oil don't play very well, but it's well worth seeing his glorious floof return.

>>195937
Kira speaks up. "I could also be all sneaky-beaky like, slither around looking for their positions as well as secret pathways to sneak up on them like ambush predators. I imagine a boat like this has to have some way to vent air around, otherwise it would all go stale, so maybe we could use that to our advantage?"

>>195938
Posey nods
"Very well, slither ahead if you please. The rest of us will follow."

>>195936
Posey asks Blackheel how he wants to approach.

>>195942
Hide: Kira attempts to blend into the surroundings of the ship corridors using her snek skills. For added sneakiness, she gives a brief tongue flick.

[1d20+14 = (6+14) = 20]

>>195951
It's probably easier to take 10 in this circumstance. The non-monster enemies do not have Darkvision (but you have scent, so you can detect them approaching), and you are not in combat (yet) so there's no reason not to take 10 when you would probably succeed on a 10.
Probably also want to do Move Silently to sneak across the hall unheard once you are hidden.
Note that in areas of darkness or shadowy illumination you can Hide without cover.

Maybe Posey should also proceed with stealth, although taking 10 she only gets 17 on stealth (if she takes off her armor). Then again, the advantage of darkness could help.

Do we have anything left to do before we change scenes?

>>195956
"Would you prefer to just wait here and rot until another monster breaks in?"

>>195957
"Our enemy is waiting on us to make the next move, and any mistake will be seized upon. Let's weigh our options first," Cavaliere responds.

He also checks to see if there is an access point from the boiler room to the bow cargo holds.

>>195958
"There is no strategic way to approach when monsters are being conjured out of thin air at unlimited range. Every few seconds spent waiting is only giving the enemy more opportunities to harass us: every few seconds is another preventable casualty. The only winning move to is to slay the enemy swiftly and immediately with the strongest forces available."

He nods. "That's what I would like to do. The best move will be to destroy the one entity conjuring these entities. Once we do that with our full strength, we can worry about getting off this island."

DM, can I roll an Arcane check to see if I can know anything about how the Intruder can be destroyed, or if it can be destroyed at all?

Or make a check that would otherwise reveal the logical order to finish this quest in?

>>195947
“Well, we have the boiler on. Soon, there will be enough steam to run the engine. It works best if we have the bridge, but with a throttle here and the rudder room we may be able to move her forward and to starboard, and send her out to deep water. Both tubes with the patrol boat will commit her to deep water, or even just turning a few valves. Then we can concoct a story, abd cross the border back into Stalliongrad from the Nova Griffonian side.”

>>195962
>cross the border back into Stalliongrad
o_O

"........................ Very well. Sounds like the bridge should be our next priority then."

>>195963
He flips an ear and looks off to the side.

“Although… if that snake-thing really can release the puppets from the Entity’s control… I think we should. If we can.”

>>195964
"I am an experienced exorcist, and I have heard of no such power, secular or spiritual, that could expel evil so conveniently." Posey says

Or has she?

Rolling Religion to know wtf Kira is doing
[1d20+11 = (20+11) = 31]
And Arcana
[1d20+11 = (12+11) = 23]

>>195966
Posey has been studying exorcisms, far realm entities, esoteric spiritualism, and mind control magic for nearly a century. She is an expert in this field.
What does she know?

>>195965
>>195967
To the lamias, the Ouroboros isn't just a symbol; He is their God. The Cycle Given Form, The Eternal Hunger, The Beginning and The End. According to Lamia religious beliefs, the sun is actually an egg containing the current iteration of Him, and that at the end times, when the world has grown corrupt with entropy and decay, the sun will hatch, and out from it their God will be born anew, filled with a gnawing hunger that must be sated. He will eat the shell shards of His egg, then the stars in the sky, the moon, and then finally the very world itself. When nothing else remains in the Universe, and His hunger remains not yet sated, He will then eat Himself, starting at the end of his tail and working His way further and further up His body, until He can take no more and His body bursts, spilling out from His corpse a new Universe. His scales shall become the stars, the largest remnants of His body becoming the planet and the moon, and left behind will be another sun, another egg, containing the next iteration of Ouroboros. However, the lamias don't believe this otherwise cataclysmic event is negative, far from it in fact. They believe that the act of Ouroboros consuming the world and the entire Universe will be an act of renewal, rebirthing a doomed and decaying Universe into something new, something pure. They also believe that when they are consumed by Him, their souls will become a part of Him, and thus they will become part of the new universe that comes from Him. They believe that all living beings, not just lamias, are a part of Him, and that He is a part of them, that they are all in a way the children of Ouroboros. The lamias just simply believe that they are the closest to being in His image. And while He has not hatched yet, the lamias are still able to feel His presence and to call upon Him, to request blessings and give service in exchange, and they claim that this is the source of their magics.

Kira is a firm believer in Ouroboros, and she believes that by using herself as a conduit for His presence, His power, she can call upon Him to banish the Traveler's influence from their minds, returning His lost children to sanity.

>>195968
But what are you actually doing mechanically? Does this emulate a spell? Is this just a prayer requesting divine intervention (Gate/Miracle/Wish)?
Posey has done something similar before, in the swamp, although she needed a sapient sacrifice to make it work. I would be thrilled to discover a means to do it without one.

Also, pic related

>>195966
Mechanic details aside, does Posey's nat 20 tell her if this plead for divine intervention has any chance of actually working?

Can I know the official results of those checks so that I can go back to dialogue?

Fuck it
>>195964
Posey pauses, then cups her hooves together and politely bows and politely smiles.
"Religion is very important! Of course we will make time for Kira to practice her faith. Who knows, we might all just learn something."

. . . . . . .

Posey takes Blackheel aside and speaks in a hushed tone, taking 10 on Bluff for innuendo (24) to prevent the message from being understood by any other entity.
"I have my doubts that divine intervention can be relied upon. Ponies of my profession know that our gods cannot always be relied upon to deliver us from evil in insurmountable odds even when we are more than faithful, because we live in a world of personal strife. Wild champions like Kira possess rudimentary magic of the priestly variety, but what she describes is nothing short of a Miracle: an equivalent to casting Dispel Evil on hundreds of targets at extreme range. I can count on one hoof priests I have heard of who were capable of calling on such power..."
She continues
"Still, the chance of success is not zero. The Intruder is an Invader from beyond the firmament. It has reshaped the morphic elements of this world, built up a flock of believers, summoned otherworldly monsters, and even named a number of 'priests': if it is as powerful as it claimed to be, its presence threatens to provoke the wrath of the sovereigns of which it has entered their territory. Local spirits and folk deities rarely act directly unless to counteract a divine Intruder, and this may very well be such a scenario. I am familiar with the ʊərəˈbɒrəs, through my studies of death and alchemy. It is a primal spirit that encompasses the cycle of death, and this Intruder has openly threatened to break the cycle, putting it under the eye of the serpent through its portfolio sense. It I assist Kira by drawing a chalk sigil to emulate a rudimentary temple, we may yet invoke its attention. Intervention however is another discussion."
Her expression grows more serious
"But I am not betting on thoughts and prayers to save us. Regardless of the success of Kira's prayers, we may be able to use this situation to our advantage...." she says
"All this time, we have been fighting on the terms of this mad mage and his monster, fighting through waves of seemingly-endless summons and suffering losses while it suffers nothing and watches our movements from afar. Even now, all we have accomplished is repairing its mode of transportation. No matter how we approach, to assassinate Light Water or destroy the Intruder itself, it could simply determine how many monsters it can fit into a room at once and wait to ambush us with overwhelming odds. It is a frustrating, demeaning and hopeless strategic position to be in where every move means playing on the terms of the enemy. Instead of being forced to fight it on its own terms, I suggest we make it fight on our own terms, with a little bait and some bluffed mantras." she says
"It stands for certain that the Intruder will invariably try to interfere with Kira's prayers if they have been a ghost of a chance of success, because doing so not only threatens to foil its plot but also counter its incursion with divine presence. By default it would just summon a monster to our location, but what if perhaps we could make it do something more drastic, such as appear before us or even send Light Water himself to Dispel the ritual. We can do this by combining it that the situation is so dire that its direct and immediate intervention is necessary. Kira's little prayer need not be so bombastic; with my occult skills, I can 'dress up' her recitation to bluff the Intruder into desperation and convince it or Light Water to come to our location, and we can destroy it as it arrives." Posey says
She puts her chin up
"I have interacted with Light Water enough to determine that he is in fact not smarter than us. He can be fooled. Earlier, I successfully taunted him into summoning another flying monster to our location immediately after a fight, just so that I could confirm that he was capable of doing so. If he is an expert in the arcane, he will recognize my mantras and sigils and with no time to read further he will resort to drastic measures to intervene. A demiurge like this will stop at nothing to drive a rival out of its territory."
She gestures to the bound white unicorn
"It will be rather simple. We pick a location through which we want to fight the Intruder: I suggest somewhere on the upper decks, within view of the bridge. I assist Kira with her mantra, and draw a sigil to her deity on the deck to guarantee mental presence of the Oroborous through its portfolio sense, and I will assist her in her esoterica to make the ritual look more formidable and powerful at a glance. Right before her prayer is finished, I will take the blinds off of that unicorn and show Light Water the ritual through his eyes, and I will begin to chant a fatal verse mantra into his ear to bluff the enemy to panic. With only a few seconds to process the information, we can force him to play on our terms and arrive before us, and then we can hit him with everything we have. If Kira's prayer works in the end, that will be icing on the cake."

Thoughout this process, Posey takes 10 on innuendo (modified 24) to deliver this message secretly.

>>195973
Blackheel’s ear swivels
“You want to provoke some kind of cosmic deific entity into attacking by inviting a different quasi deific entity into this space? I have my skepticisms, but I am intrigued. What do you think you can make it commit to any such battle, and how do you plan to win it?”

>>195974
"No matter the circumstance, we will have to fight it, so I say we fight it on our own terms. If I can draw sigils and mum that suggest a far more-powerful, cataclysmic spell that involves intervention of another demiurge, I could deceive it into taking drastic measures, like a soldier in a trench scrambling to throw back a grenade. The Intruder, through its summons, has demonstrated capabilities of demensional travel, and I suspect that Light Water himself knows at least some limited teleportation magic. A universal rule for summoning magic is that summons take excessive effort (full-round actions) to cast, which means putting them out in rapid succession is impossible. If the Intruder is successfully bluffed into thinking that it's immediate intervention is necessary, it will resort to using the most powerful forces at its disposal: itself and its champion Light Water. This would mean that it would arrive alone, without any monsters defending it, and any action it spends summoning more monsters would be actions it or Light Water do not spend summoning additional monsters. This poses an opportunity to defeat one or both the Intruder and Light Water without summons to defend them, which puts us at an advantage. It is certainly more favorable than walking into its traps and letting it stack the deck against us." she says
"As for how to destroy them... Bullets, perhaps. All of our combatants can ready their guns to shoot anything that arrives. I will assist with my spellcasting, and if we do it above deck my Monstro will be a formidable grappler. We would fight them in the same ways that we would otherwise, except on our own terms and without dozens of summoned monsters in our way. In the unlikely event that Kira's prayers actually does work, severing its connection with its flock should also severely weaken it, allowing them to be destroyed."

Basically just draw some sigils on the ground, say some fancy prayers, and make some Bluff checks and assume that Light Water has zero ranks in Sense Motive because it's not a class skill for most spellcasters.

>>195975
He moves his head to one side, then to the other. Then he starts shaking his head in a smoothed fashion.

“No. No more entities. No more demons and extra dimensional whatevers. No more space aliens. No beasts from the deep. No more totems and fetishes. No more bringing in monsters and hoping they will kill each other before they will kill us. We will defeat the Entity, or it will defeat us. I have no interest in some snake god thing eating us, nor some abyssal thing doing whatever it is those things do, here on the deck of what is supposed to be my ship.

The official policy of the Communist Party of Stalliongrad is that religion is, at best, a tool of social control and manipulation. Something that lulls the populace into a stupor, and allows the abuses of the few to go unchecked. My experiences with cults over these past few days has only confirmed it. At best, something like the alicorn worship of Equestria leads to weakness, because the populace relies on the help of a strong few. Or worse, the religion is the lies of a few designed to keep the few in power, and in all cases the priest is above the common folk. But that’s not what you’re interested in. You’re interested in the demons, aliens, devils, djinn, or whatever it is that sometimes, just sometimes, these alleged priests actually do get in contact with. But here’s the thing. I know what they have to offer. And I know it is nothing good. And I want none of that. Not here, not on this boat. Not tonight. Not anywhere.”

>>195976
Posey shrugs
"Then I guess you should tell Kira that her little prayer circle is cancelled. I only wanted to use it as bait."

>>195976
>>195977
Kira's snoot scrunches. "It's not just bait, and it's not a cult. At the very least our religion is nothing like whatever Light Water and that General is trying to do." Looking over at Black Heel, she pleads her case. "Sir, I don't know much about your culture, or this 'communism' you follow, but Ouroboros is very important to me and my culture, and whether you believe in Him or not, He is very real and He cares for all of His children, no matter their form. He wants to purify this realm of the corruption of the Traveler and his influence, and...and I worry that we won't have the ability to stop the Traveler without His help. There's just only so much He can do from within His egg. But by serving as a conduit for His power...maybe we can actually stand a chance."

>>195978
Oi, I wasn't talking to you

>>195978
Posey was using innuendo to prevent overhearing

>>195976
Perhaps I did not communicate the message correctly. Posey is not suggesting actually summoning anything. She is only suggesting making the Intruder and Light Water believe that we are summoning a peer threat, so that it will come out to fight us itself instead of just spamming more summons.

Rolling Diplomacy to convince
[1d20+10 = (4+10) = 14]

>>195981
Ugh

I did jump the gun by posting my idea before the check results, but if I could get the results of that Religion + Arcana check to know what Kira is trying to do, maybe I could reassure Blackheel that nothing bad is going to happen.

Posey takes 10 on innuendo to communicate her plan to the party.

>>195994
Silver nods along. "I will admit, it is good plan to draw one of them out."