Key Quest The Breaking Point


Age: 6 | Height: | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#29
key quest

From within the shell you only hear the whimpers and groans of something being skewered. All attacks find their way easily within, though Lucas' shadows are by far the most invasive, while Maea's attempts with the sword seem to do little.

Still, it bleeds.

And it screams.

Heaving itself, it again rattled the ground. Roana upon its shell is able to ride the motion, and somehow Maea maintains her balance as well. Only Lucas falls, perhaps scratching a knee.



Your initiative order is Roana, Lucas, and Maea. Keep in mind that your 'turn' is only about 6 seconds long. If you try to do too much, your latter actions will be ignored or rolled at disadvantage.

Ending HP

Roana: 100
Lucas: 28
Maea: 27

Monster: 13.5

You have 24 hours to reply.

Roana Steadman
Soldier

Age: 35 | Height: 5'8" | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#30
The feeling of her blade sinking into flesh, even just a little, was very vindicating. But the beast wasn’t dead yet, as indicated by the way it rocked itself. The former captain kept her lower half relaxed, her knees and hips flexing as needed to keep her feel firmly planted beneath her shoulders as she pulled her blade free. Krosis gleamed crimson, a sight she was happy to see given the circumstances.

But as the rocking slowed she moved again, bounding across the shell to the other leg hole. Once again she leapt into the air and slammed Krosis down towards the beast’s hidden limb, hoping to hit some artery to finally end this battle.



Roana runs to another leg hole and stabbies again.
Roana
'Cause it makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Lucas Copperhead


Age: 38 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#31
Lucas
clever as the devil and twice as pretty
Lucas fell down, and perhaps scraped his knee.

It would have been even mildly inconvenient if he still possessed the ability to feel pain. As it was, he was more irritated at the indignity of it - for a giant fucking tortoise it didn't have whimper and complain its way into a slow death.

"If you came out of there this would be over a lot faster," he half growled as he hauled himself back to his feet, green eyes narrowed up at the opening in the shell he had previously targeted. The cluster of orbs was reforming above him (having scattered at the tremor in the ground) and as they caused his shadows to elongate the Ascended commanded them once more to burrow deep into the dark and do his dirty work.

Why fix something if it ain't broke, after all?



Lucas rinses and repeats. (It's how his hair looks so great).
Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#32
The dying whimpers of the creature would haunt Maea for years. If she had years. Any thoughts about the future was fading away, and everything of the past had ceased to matter. Only this moment, where she felt the tip of the blade connect with something yet came away clean. Perhaps a scratch, perhaps a tiny pinprick; it was not enough.

So she returned to the stance someone had once taught her, muscles acting on their own (as was intended) and immediately she repeated the only move she knew. A forward lunge, a deep thrust that hopefully would find its way home this time.

For her sake (to spare her breaking heart). For the creature's sake (to save it from the pain). If the gods had any mercy.

_________________

Maea lunges again, stabbing with the sword at the same spot as before.
MAEA
just a glimpse of truth
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦


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#33
key quest

The blows are devastating and the ancient creature is unceremoniously and quickly dealt with. It is an abrupt and mornful ending to a story which never had the chance to be told. The things those century-old eyes had, the wisdom that it had harboured.

There was no dying breath, no secret imparted. Just a soul left to rot in the darkness with one instruction engraved into its mind.

And it hadn't even accomplished it. It had been sent to protect, yes. But also to help. To aid and guide.

But it would do none of those things now.

Now there was only stillness and thick ruby blood dripping from within its shell and mixing into the water below. However instead of diluting the water, a strange thing happened. Instead it seemed to grow and change, becoming strangely more viscous. Syphoned towards the roots of the trees, the glowing patterns on the midnight blue leaves suddenly seemed to spark to life.

Toxic yellowish smog puffed outwards from the leaves, coating and colouring the air. It burns your eyes, stings your skin, and for the remaining ascended, makes his synapses fire in strange ways that make thinking and rational thought difficult.

Behind the turtle is the door, with the following engraved on it:






For this round, you may discuss your actions together OOC and have ONE member of your group post with what you chose to do. You have  24 hours to reply.



Your initiative order is Roana, Lucas, and Maea. Keep in mind that your 'turn' is only about 6 seconds long. If you try to do too much, your latter actions will be ignored or rolled at disadvantage.

Ending HP

Roana: 99
Lucas: 27
Maea: 9

Monster: 0

You have 24 hours to reply.

Maea Valair
Hollowed Grounds Ambassador / Loreseeker

Age: 29 | Height: 156 cm / 5'1 ft | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#34
The tortoise died, and Maea breathed a sigh of relief. A sigh that turned into a cough, and then another as the air began to fill with toxic gas. It choked her, burned like acid in her lungs and with every gasping breath it only got worse. When her hand came away bloody she knew it was just as bad as it felt. She couldn't stay here. She would die if she stayed. Die just like Kristopher, like her brother, like everyone else... without accomplishing a damned thing.

One regretful look at the puzzle, at the dead creature, at the dead man - may Ludo find you, Mort embrace you - and she fled. Turned and ran (staggered, in truth, as she kept coughing för every step of the way) out of the deadly room.

How she got up the stairs she would never quite recall. Once the darkness and the electric lights faded into the cool fresh night air it got easier to breathe, but she still nearly fell out of the door. Splattered with reanimation fluid. With blood. Bleeding from her mouth and nose and with a deathgrip around a sword that was not hers.

"Someone... help them. Below... Please! There's gas... poison."

Then she broke down in a new fit of coughs, rattling and wet and sounding for all the world like her lungs were dissolving in her chest.

____________________

Maea WITHDRAWS from the Key Quest! Calling in the Reserve team!
MAEA
just a glimpse of truth
♦ Violence, magic, thievery is permitted with Maea at all times. DM me if you have any ideas ♦
Lucas Copperhead


Age: 38 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#35
Lucas
clever as the devil and twice as pretty
Lucas did not know what all the fuss was about, but fucking hell did that tortoise bleed a lot of blood. It was a shame, really, that it apparently turned the plants into poison, because otherwise he might have been interested in sticking around and sampling some. Instead, feeling mildly perturbed by the effect that the gas was having on his systems (cough cough, so poisoned etc.) he made his way to the next door.

To the next...

"Fuck you," he told the puzzle, scanning the words quickly. "Symmetry. Except only two of you are fucking symmetrical."

So saying he reached out a finger and traced the top circle and the bottom left, one anti-clockwise, one clockwise, and waited patiently for death.


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#36
key quest

It appears that the cloud of gas has not dulled your senses too much. Blue light spills from beneath Lucas' finger and for the second time, is not followed by a zap. Instead the door rumbles to the side, but not before another burst of toxic yellow smoke is puffed into the air. Indeed as the team of four up-top race downwards the yellow smoke is thick and choking. It burns and seems to embed itself in their skin, covering everything in a painful and hazy stink. It is through this cloud that they will see the decapitated body of Kristopher and the bloody shell of the giant guardian.

As the door pulls back, the first thing revealed to Roana and Lucas is a bright and altogether awe-inspiring column of blue-white energy in the center of a dark and dimly lit room. It is about 5feet in radius and streaks directly up into the heart of the spire itself. It buzzes and crackles and strangely gives off a cooling sort of breeze and the pleasing scent of petrichor.

The walls are surprisingly lined with shelves, and on those shelves are a number of items*. Moss has grown over them and the same plants as outside appear here as well, threatening to burst more toxic gas. Only that isn't the problem. The hissing sound before that might have been just the rushing water, turns out indeed to have been caused by what you thought.

A great and powerful snake is coiled around the stones lining the base of the energy-beam like some sort of crude wishing well. With a body that appears to be coloured like soap-stone, it rears up bearing fangs easily as long as a man's leg.



* The items are as follows
1. A large mason-jar of glass containing what looks like glitter
2. An enormous mirror which is cracked down the centre
3. 4 shrunken skulls attached through the eyes on a rope
4. A cylindrical container about the 3ft long
5. A large and old looking bag
6. A rolled up piece of material
7. A cracked compass
8. A whip
9. A sapphire amulet
10. A small box with numbers on it
11. A small box with dots on it
12. A small box with a circle on it.


Your initiative order is Roana, Rory, Lucas, Amalia, Jigano. Keep in mind that your 'turn' is only about 6 seconds long. If you try to do too much, your latter actions will be ignored or rolled at disadvantage.

Ending HP

Roana: 94
Rory: 26
Lucas: 22
Amalia: 22
Jigano: 135

Snake Guardian: 120

You have 24 hours from whoever is before you, to reply.

Roana Steadman
Soldier

Age: 35 | Height: 5'8" | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#37
There were few sensations worse than not being able to breathe. Roana had a stronger constitution than Maea, who she was glad to see flee, but that did not mean that the fog of poisonous gas did not affect her. Her lungs and throat burned as she tried to breathe as little as possible, holding the collar of her shirt up over her mouth in a sad attempt to filter it out. No avail there though.

Thankfully this puzzle wasn't as infuriating as the first, and the door opened.

Roana rushed in, spluttering, coughing, gasping for clean air as she entered. She stayed on her feet but leaned forward, arms braced against her legs as she tried to catch her breath and clear her mind of the fogginess that had taken over it. The hissing noise was what caught her attention. She looked up, Krosis lifted defensively in front of her as she squinted up at...a giant snake?!

"Please tell me you don't see the giant snake and that I'm just poisoned and hallucinating..." she said to Lucas quietly, not having seen the others come in yet.
Roana
'Cause it makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Leatherworker

Age: 36 | Height: 175cm / 5'9 | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#38
A winding stair—

(down and down)

And every step of the way his heart hammered louder and louder. Rory was a child of open expanses, of cloudless, starry skies, of the breeze drifting through the Fields and the forests—not a creature that thrived within stone walls deep in the earth.

But there was no space to turn back. There was nowhere to turn around, so the fear pooled in his throat and his eyes and recklessly he charged on with the others, caught in a wild ride he no longer wanted to participate in. There was none of the deranged excitement of Long Night, none of the sense of purpose, just the hitch in his breath and the death ahead.

The world took on a yellowish tint—

It burned in his lungs; in his mouth; in his eyes; in his nose; on his skin, a thousand tiny fires biting into him.

And yet there was no place to go, until they spilled into a chamber. It was tinted with yellow, but through it he could make out the shape of something large and dead-seeming. Coughing violently into the nook of his arm he summoned the largest thing that came to mind, which turned out to be a small bear. He followed it towards the dead thing, making out two shapes beyond it in what seemed a doorway full of radiant light.

The dead thing was a tortoise, massive and moss-covered and very slain. Despite the vibrant blood it was .. magnificent, beautiful, so different from what he had heard and seen of the Demon. Not a thing deranged and machinated, but something that had bled

His free hand reached out to touch its nose. Would it still be warm from life?

"How long were you alone in here?" he whispered, his voice rough and grating through his throat.

Then the massive snake—a shadow across the vibrant light in the next room—caught his attention, the fangs illuminated by the glow, the distance altered by his mind and the coughing and the adrenaline spike through his system—

A form of tunnel vision he could not escape, and with an undignified, instinctive yelp Rory ducked down behind his small bear, then trying to improve his cover by making use of the dead tortoise too.

Violence had never been his first response to anything, anyway.



Rory has Kristopher's rapier, and has summoned a small bear that he's sort of hiding behind. He touches the dead tortoise and then tries to hide behind it as well as the bear bc fuck that snake.
Lucas Copperhead


Age: 38 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#39
Lucas
clever as the devil and twice as pretty
Maea leaving, others joining them, and the lingering sensation of something being not quite perfect... Lucas couldn’t feel pain but he could damned well tell when something was wrong, and Roana’s coughing and spluttering was a good indication. Still, into the room they went, with the poisonous gas at their heels. Only to be greeted with a great deal of old tat (in his not so humble opinion)... oh, and a giant fucking snake.

Lucas wasn’t so stupid as to not be wary of the serpent, and he kept his steps slow and his stance wary, ready to spring or dodge out of the way at any moment. ”Hey, listen. You can keep your big... glowing laser beam thing, I don’t really care.” He spread his hands, his tone almost absurdly conversational. ”You got any idea how not to die from poison, though? If not, this gas is going to get you too.” Shrugging to Roana, Lucas tipped her a wink. ”It’s cool, snakes like me.”



Lucas tries to reason with the snake, obviously.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
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#40
AMALIA
you're staring at the sky
watching stars collide
And way down they go.

It is a rescue mission, nothing more. In one hand, the staff adorned with antlers, glowing softly red in the dim underground light. In the other a lantern, small and ornate, Ludo's calling card. Armed with illumination the girl descends, trepidatious yet resolute, flanked by a hunter and a bard.

With every step Amalia's dread deepens, but it is too late now to recant. Maea had been in a terrible state, and the young baker's heart churns at the thought of her childhood acquaintance brought so close to death. That others were there, that they may not have been able to make it up... Well. Outlander or not, enemy or not, Amalia cannot find it in herself to leave them to die.

Entering the great open space Amalia draws to a stop, coughing as a yellow haze drifts through the dusty light. Reaching into her cloak she withdraws a silver scarf to wrap around her face, and ties Ludo's lantern securely to one of the antler's tines. She is aware of Rory's soft voice, of the creature in the cave, but there will be time enough to mourn. Now is for the living.

She reaches them just in time to hear Lucas speak to... A giant snake. Black eyes blooming wide, Amalia stifles a gasp of fear, shock and terror flip-flopping into her belly. she spins around, putting her back to the wall between this room and the next, breath coming fast and hot. "Safrin, Ludo, Frey.... Vi, Mort, Rae... Caido, protect us," the girl prays fervently beneath her breath, before inhaling deeply and turning back to the door.

Flush against the wall, wild with fright, she reaches out her free left hand to grab Roana's arm. "We have to go back," Amalia hisses, her voice slightly muffled by the cloth over her nose and mouth. "It isn't safe- Maea nearly died. You have to come back with us, before anyone else gets hurt." She hadn't seen Kristopher's body, doesn't know that it's too late.



Amalia has her luxere antler staff, and Rory's Ludo lantern (with Neo's permission). She tries to shield herself with the wall as much as possible while reaching out to grab Roana
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
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#41
It wasn't that Maea's sudden appearance was unexpected, but her wounded and gasping state had tightened the bard's skin over his elegant bones, jaw clenching in concern. There were others in the Spire, down below, others who needed help, even if his student, at least, had escaped.

He wasn't a hero. Not anymore.

But he wasn't the shell he had become after three years of wandering, either. He had friends at his side, people he loved too much to let down, and there was light again, in his heart. Light that came from the hand in his, and the woman who held an antlered staff beside him. It came, too, from the fiery mage across the way, and the timid bookseller who had raced into the Spire earlier, as well as a former queen, an ex-demigod, and a man with no memories. He might not be a hero anymore, but he had not fallen so far that he could let even idiots die.

And, now that things had been irrevocably set in motion, what if there would not be another chance to bring down the barrier?

Jigano paused long enough to cut and tear a strip of linen from his undertunic, binding it around his mouth and nose to protect against the poison gas Maea had warned them of before he swept up his Sparkbird-feather lantern and followed Amalia and Rory down the stairs and into the dark.

His long legs soon caught up with them, and they continued their rush downwards until a stinging in his eyes slowed his steps to caution, even as they stepped into a room that was beautiful - and terrifying, the body of a great turtle bleeding into the water and the eerie plants. Jigano frowned as Rory summoned a bear and then paused, and even as Amalia sped onwards and Lucas's cheeky voice carried from the room ahead he laid a comforting hand on the hunter's arm. "Go back," he begged. "Please. Find a healer, if you can. We're going to need one, before this is over." Because of course it was Roana down here, stubborn and confident and unlikely to listen to reason. Why should she start now? But the time for recriminations was past. He doubted Roana was going to be swayed by Amalia's pleas - Lucas even less so, but Jigano had to try to save them anyways, stepping through the doorway past Amalia and raising his lantern high, beginning to sway the bright light it emitted in a slow, hypnotic pattern that he hoped might give the serpent pause and buy the others time to escape.

But he stayed on his toes, ready to dodge just in case all his light and motion did was draw an attack.


Jigano ties a linen mask over his nose and mouth before descending. He begs Rory to leave and steps into the snake room with his lantern, attempting to distract the serpent with its slowly swaying light.


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#42
key quest

The ruby red blood of the turtle continues to gush out long after life has left its weary and aged body and in response, the trees breathe their poison. It is choking and full of weighty nightmarish symptoms. Puss leaks from orifices, eyes become bloodshot, throats close and eyes blur and burn. Though Lucas suffers none of these symptoms, his body slows, his fluid becomes sludge.

With eyes bright and intelligent the snake guardian regards the ascended. It hisses violently coiling defensively about the well, its body easily wrapping around the diameter several times and then some. Glancing immediately towards Jigano, it rears up, venom dripping down its fangs. Where it fell to the moist ground a tsssHHH sound could be heard, like acid on flesh.

But the snake does not move to strike so far as the group remains where they are.



* The items are as follows
1. A large mason-jar of glass containing what looks like glitter
2. An enormous mirror which is cracked down the centre
3. 4 shrunken skulls attached through the eyes on a rope
4. A cylindrical container about the 3ft long
5. A large and old looking bag
6. A rolled up piece of material
7. A cracked compass
8. A whip
9. A sapphire amulet
10. A small box with numbers on it
11. A small box with dots on it
12. A small box with a circle on it.


Your initiative order is Roana, Rory, Lucas, Amalia, Jigano. Keep in mind that your 'turn' is only about 6 seconds long. If you try to do too much, your latter actions will be ignored or rolled at disadvantage.

Ending HP

Roana: 77
Rory: 13
Lucas: 5
Amalia: 15
Jigano: 127

Snake Guardian: 120

You have 24 hours from whoever is before you, to reply.



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