Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

Nothing bothers her as she walks, and she reaches the house she's prepared without further incident. She finds it exactly as she'd left it, the door closed.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Satisfied that the house is reasonably safe, Ashley eats a small meal and reassures herself that all the doors are as firmly secured as they are intended to be. She briefly considers leaving a message of some kind on the front door, offering aid to people who need it or warning scavengers off, but decides all that would be likely to do at this point would be to get the house looted while she was gone. Instead, she chooses one of the upstairs rooms - not the one she fought in - as a bedroom.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

Picking one of the smaller rooms, Ashley finds that this door has a lock on it. She could sleep with at least a chance of safety here. The room has only one window, and a fairly small one at that.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

(Ugh, now you're making me paranoid. 'Oh yea, you made it home without anything attacking you. Nothing is inside the house. The room is perfectly secure.' >.<)

At the last minute Ashley decides to reverse her decision about messages, and writes three messages on the door, using minor light magic to hide them until conditions are met.

"At noon tomorrow this message will fade and I will return offering aid to those in need."

"Warning: this domicile is protected by magical traps."

"X"

The first she hides from all but women looking for aid, and sets to expire at noon the next day. The second she hides from anybody not standing on the top step, and sets to stay until removed. The third is the same as the second except it is dispelled when first read by any but Ashley.

Ashley is about to settle down for sleep when she remembers the webs in the basement and the unusual security precaution she took before she left. Knowing she'll never be able to get to sleep unless she looks, she checks the door to the basement to see if the hair she left there to indicate the door hadn't been opened is still there.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

(Paranoia is good. Except when it's not.)

This area seemed normal, so she got her messages across without spending too much energy. Ashley finds the hair she'd left unchanged, indicating that the door hadn't been opened. Still, it might pay to examine the basement fully, just to be safe.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

I looked down there before, and nothing has opened this door since then. There's no way anything could be down there. The reasoning was sound. But then why was a little voice whispering in the back of her head? then why are you afraid to go down?

In the end Ashley knew she'd spend the entire night watching her door if she didn't at least walk down the stairs again, so she grabbed her pistol, conjured a little ball of light, and sent it down into the basement ahead of her...

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

(Casting gets autosuccess. Because I am lazy.)

The light illuminated the basement, showing the massive web still in the corner, and now Ashley can see something roughly human shaped and slightly larger than a child, stuck to it and wrapped in silk. There didn't seem to be anything moving in the basement, except perhaps the occasional twitch from the wrapped bundle, which sent a shiver down her spine when she saw it move.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Seeing the bundle, Ashley freezes. Crap crap crap... there's a freaking huge spider actually *down here* and there's almost certainly a way into the house I don't know about.

And I'm not going to be able to leave this alone, am I? Damn...

Ashley splits her little ball of light in four and sends one to each corner of the room to provide even illumination across the room and 4 big shadows pointing towards anything that moves. Then she moves towards the web, trying to keep her eyes everywhere at once.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

Perception: Success.

Ashley slowly descends the stairs, her boots clunking against the wood and her weight causing them to creak in protest. The bundle seems to notice the noise, and starts to squirm around. Her light illuminates the buildings large basement, which seems to connect with the other nearby houses, and she spots a set of stairs leading further down over near the corner. Suddenly, just as she is about to reach the web, she realizes that she couldn't have seen under the stairs, and quickly spins around, spotting the massive black spider just before it can lunge at her, the creature only five feat away.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley's reaction in such a case is instinctual - without even thinking about it she weaves heat and cold, leveraging the steady coolness of the caves against the dying day's heat above, to bring about a supernatural gust of air in the face of her attacker, hopefully driving the monster back.

(Gust, level 3 storm spell)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 32/36

Casting: 8 + 20 + 10 + 8 + 3 = 49 vs 22 = Success.
Mind vs Body: 14 + 40 + 3 = 57 vs 16 + 30 = 46 == Ashley wins.
Damage: 4 + 6 + 10 = 20 x 2 = 40 damage.

The spider is caught by the gust of wind and thrown across the basement, colliding with a stone support pillar. Its legs wave weakly in the air, the creature badly injured and stunned by its impact with the column.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Fucking hell, spiders... and who knows how many of the things are in that basement tunnel system. Crap.

Trying to keep her hands from shaking, Ashley raises her pistol for a finishing blow...

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 32/36

To-hit: 19 + 20 + 3 + 2 = 44 vs 33 - 12 = 21 == hit.
Damage: 2 + 16 = 18 Damage.

The thunder of her gun nearly deafens the young mage, and Ashleys ears ring in the silence, the gunshot having splattered the creatures insides. It didn't move its legs anymore, save for an occasional dying twitch.

(Gain 2 exp.)

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley ignored the dead spider for the time being and turned her attention back to the web. Whatever had been trapped might still be alive. And human, for that matter, if that thing really thought it could take her...

She walked toward the web again, a little less paranoid now that the attack had come. As she neared, she re-holstered her pistol and pulled out her pocketknife, intent on finding out what was to have been for diner.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

The thread proved difficult to cut, but eventually she got the bundles head free of the silk wrapping. A kobolds head pulled itself out of the silk, and took in a few gasping breaths. She knew enough about the Fey to recognize it, and realize that she could at least expect it to not be immediately hostile.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Great, I save someone and it turns out to be a kobald. I mean, nobody deserves this but...

Ashley gets its head free, being careful of the mouth as she works, then stops and tries to get the thing to wake up, poking it.

"Hey, hey, are you alive?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

The kobold squirms as she slowly cuts it free, and scrambles as she finally frees it completely, falling over but quickly regaining its feet, only to fall over again. It looks up at her and says, in a low squeaky voice; "No, I'm dead and buried. Of course I'm alive! Stupid humans, always asking silly questions...."

Ashley also can't help but notice that the kobold was completely naked beneath the silk.

(He was already awake.)

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

"Mhmm. Where did you get caught and did you see any other spiders before it covered your head?"

Ashley was a little bit curious how far the spider roamed, and how far the caves went, for that matter. She pitched her voice slightly louder then normal and watched the ladder for more spiders.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

"That was the only one I ever saw, it caught me while I was away from my companions and dragged me down here. We were in some building, I don't know which, they all look the same to me." The kobold replied. Ashleys voice didn't echo like she thought it should, and the trapdoor doesn't budge as she watches it.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

"Were you in the town itself, or just outside it, or what?"

Ashley walks over to the trapdoor and takes a closer look, thinking that the owner of this house probably wouldn't leave open a passage to other houses without some sort of lock...