I think we're getting a continual flow of energy from the mana fount - difference between the immediate boost we didn't take, and the ongoing boost we did.
I'm gonna vote 1 - sneak north, and Y - get Perception.
It's possible that Blades and the harpy are "black tentacle worshippers" or something, and already on our side... but whether they are or not, it'll be more difficult to get anything from the Mandragoran soil if we're busy dodging throwing daggers. So staying stealthy until we have a better idea of what's up is, IMO, a good idea.
Blah. I suppose if it doesn't take too much time... acquire ye perception, head for that mandragoran's turf.
There's no precedent for hoping they harpy and daggerdude will be anything but hostile to us. We ARE horrible rapist parasites, after all, are we not?
Do we still have that Morph option thing available? That was cheap, right? If we can find some cracks or something in the room to squeeze through, we might be able to just squeeze through some cracks in the floor or something to get down to the font. That would be nice.
Certainly option 1; option 3 seems like a pointless distraction now we've set the Runestone as our goal, and option 2 is mildly suicidal - we're a small black tentacle currently cowering under a skeleton, I don't know what we could hope to achieve against a fully-fledged Necromancer.
Not sure which to choose from X and Y. X is much riskier, but I'm hesitant to say Y because we seem to have done a lot of leveling up lately, and I'm sure doing too much too quickly would come back to bite us. Hard.
Something here is telling me that 3 and Y will yield the best results long term. Y is almost the clear choice over those as X does nothing relevant. I would rather just not be involved at all, and without knowing where to lead the other group.. yeah that would work out pretty badly. As the group is committed to getting the rune at this point that leaves option 3 as a non factor right now.
1y – Evolve perception and head for the mandragoran
Current Status:
Tiny Black Tentaclespawn
Health: 25/25
Energy: 50/50
Overlord Energy 125
Abilities: Stealth I, Infest I, Symbiosis I, Aura Sense I, Perception
Status: Dark Blessing
DATA:
Time: Past Midnight
Allies: Hul’jet (Floor 1 Sigil Crypt)
Known Entities: Human Male (F2 North), Harpy (F2 North), Runestone (F3 North), Purple Spawn (F2 East), Green & Blue Spawn (F1 South?), Demonic Aura (F2 West), Adventurers (F2 South), Three ?? Humanoid Males (F1 South?)
Heading north, you find a rough cave overgrown with lush ferns and a variety of exotic flora in full bloom. Green motes of light illuminate the grotto, and you can feel the warmth of mana poring up through the soil like a sauna. This is the mandragora’s garden.
The mana fuels your growth, extending your senses outward, and as you finish an intense focus washes over you. It’s as if you’re truly seeing the world for the first time. The darkness no longer hinders your sight, and the scents, the colors, even the auras are so much more vivid. The mandragoran’s position behind a cover of large fern leaves is immediately obvious, the harpy and the human hunched over her.
Even unconscious, the mandragoran’s grace is undeniable. Her hair is a flow of magenta vines capped with a flower not yet fully bloomed, and beneath her skin shines with the lustrous green of a tropical forest. Physically she appears similar to a human of perhaps twenty, little when the hierophants of her people measure their age in centuries. Your gaze is drawn particularly to her legs, brown root-like appendages that would be ideal for digging.
With a silent dash you circle in closer. From here you see the source of the sap trail, a huge slash in her right flank oozing a stream of green ichor. The red-haired man is working to bandage it while the harpy applies some sort of salve carefully with her talons. The rusty sword that inflicted the wound has already been cast aside.
“Careful, Cam! Don’t move her around too much!” says the harpy.
“I know! I know! But we’ve got to stop this bleeding!”
“Give me a few minutes with the salve and I’ll fix that. Come on, Ket, stay with me!”
When the mandragoran doesn’t answer the harpy turns quickly to scan the room, then looks to her human partner. “Any sign of the bastards who did this?”
The warrior takes the cue and checks the hallway, hand instinctively reaching for his blade as he drawn near. “Looks like we’re clear. Fucking mages! ...You need any help Zel?” .
The harpy raises a wing to signal silence, concentrating intently on her patient. Only when she finishes applying the salve does she answer. “Alright, go ahead with the bandages,” she says, rising. “Maybe a towel too.” She grins and wipes herself off with one wing, flicking a globule of the green fluid off into the corner. Not that it really helps. The two are both covered in it after their impromptu first aid treatment.
“Mmm, want me to towel you down when we’re done?”
The harpy laughs and drapes herself over him, watching as he finishes bandaging. “Maybe. Depends on what comes after.”
“Let’s just say it’s something special for a special lady.”
“Mmm, keep talking,” she says, and then pausing, “On second though, don’t.” Before the man can respond she wraps herself around him, kissing passionately.
You watch the harpy’s top draw taut as she presses her stiffening nipples against her partner’s back, and his growing hard-on in response. All around you can smell the lust radiating off of them, raw desire boiling just below the surface. It takes all your self-control not to join in.
You can wait, and it would be foolish to risk detection now, with so little between you and your goal. The though itself is strange. On reflection you’re struck by a sudden insight – this is due to the mandragoran’s blood, the one thing you and they have shared! It must be an aphrodisiac, meaning Ket is an alraune.
Your mind begins racing in new directions as you consider the possibilities, only to be drawn back to immediate reality by a lusty moan.
The red-haired man slurps noisily as he licks the harpy’s nether lips, lavishing attention on her feminine bud and causing her to gasp involuntarily as her juices drip forth. His own member is itself wet with precum, throbbing in tune with each stroke from his partner’s talons.
“Cam, wait.” she says, producing a small silver bag. It’s a warding circle! You dash madly though the foliage as she casts the bag’s power in a circle around the two of them and the resting alraune.
No, you will not be denied! In a frenzy you charge beneath the falling dust, your tail singing as the ward blinks to live behind you. The mortals are oblivious to your presence as they continue their foreplay. You coil behind a clump of grass and watch.
The harpy is furiously sucking the man’s cock, taking is length deep into her throught and coiling her tongue around the tip, teasing it. The man gasps, bringing a devious grin to her face. She slowly flaps her wings, causing her breasts to rub up and down his erect member while her powerful chest muscles massage it.
“I’m gonna!” The red-haired warrior grabs hold of his lover as his muscular frame tenses, spraying thick seed down her throat. She licks her lips and smiles as he withdraws. “A little quick on the draw there, eh?”
When her sardonic quip fails to provoke a response the harpy grins again. Then in a single motion she dives on top of him, knocking him onto a bed of ferns and straddling him. The red-head laughs in turn. “Maybe I wasn’t fast enough.”
As she spreads her needy pussy wide he thrusts into her, the force easily lifting her off the ground. She gives a startled shout at his sudden penetration, her light frame moving up and down with each stroke. It doesn’t take her long to get over the shock, and once she does she joins in, riding him cowgirl style in rhythm with his thrusts. “Haa, harder!” she says, a look of wild lust in her eyes, and she uses her wings for additional lift each time he pounds his cock into her.
“I’m almost there!” With a cry the warrior thrusts deep into her core, bringing the harpy over the edge at the same time he reaches his own limit. The harpy arches her back as her inner walls wrap tight around his member, instinctively trying to draw in his hot semen. When she finally releases him a gush of white cum spurts from her pussy, dripping across her lover and mixing with a pool of her own fluids. Panting, the harpy falls to the ground, kissing the red-haired warrior once again.
In the wake of their bliss the two share a private smile as the she lays her head on the man’s chest. She then envelops her lover in her wings and sighs contentedly, he in turn wrapping one arm around her and closing his eyes.
The two lovers drift blissfully into sleep in each other’s arms, completely unaware that you’ve slipped inside the perimeter of the warding circle…
Now with three hosts in front of you, which one do you pick? You'll drain them, of course, but there are other considerations here.
1.) The young mandragoran, Ket. Her energy potential is lower, but she’ll be easiest to influence. Her abilities may also prove… useful.
2.) The harpy, Zelari. She has the strongest aura and the wits and will to lead. The best pawns are those with their own pawns, and perhaps she could be more.
3.) Cambor the Blade. He’s easily the best combatant, with strength and training on his side. If you fight the Necromancer and the purple spawn that will be key. On the other hand he’ll be the hardest to infest initially.
4.) Grab a little pick-me-up before the main event. Drain energy from one while they’re vulnerable, then infest another. Be sure to list who is the final target!
Man, it's like like a flashback to Vampire the Masquerade all over again ! Out-of-game, I’ll be posting a bit slower since I’ve got a lot lined up at work.
Draining Ket seems to be the most trouble free source. Attemtping to influence the Harpy will in tow also have the warrior to follow (likely into battle against the Necromancer).
I assume that there is no ability to communicate, only to understand that which is going on or being spoken?
4, beat me to it. Drain the Mandragora, infest the harpy. Draining the mandragora can be easily explained as it simply succumbing to it's wounds, and we should be able to influence the harpy enough to get them to fight the necromancer, out of outrage that Ket died. both the harpy and blade seem competent enough, we should be able to make do with that, when it comes to the confrontation.
4, drain Ket, but if we infest the harpy we need to be careful, although i personally would prefer to infest Blade, I don't think its feasible at this point, Our final target if the opportunity presents itself should be the necromancer, So 4 -> Harpy
I think not completely draining the Alarune is the right way, but if it does kill it then so be it.
I did notice that the word "digging" was italicised so that is clearly why I would want to make damn sure that the alarune survives any encounter. In fact I would not want to even be bothered with the necromancer and simply try to manipulate the alarune into burrowing downward. The idea being that the warrior would protect the drained/weakened alarune while it tried to dig a way downward to "escape". Controlling the harpy who is likely the leader of the pack would make this an even more likely scenario.
I'm'a gonna go against the tide and vote 1 - infest the alraune, Ket. Any inconsistencies in behaviour can be chalked up to the wounds she's already suffered, and we can probably talk the other two into "avenging" her.
Don't drain Ket! In her fucked up state, it'll probably be lethal, and she makes people horny with her Alraunery, which we can use to our advantage on horndogs and the like, to more easily assimilate some bitches. Also, some kind of healer and bitchin' ass potions will probably be beneficial to our lair and/or thralls.
As we are still under the effects of the dark blessing, I'd say infest Cambor... but with the ward and our lack of the respawn blessing, a fuck up there would be fatal. Therefore, GET DAT FUKKEN BIRD.
Choice 4 wins - drain Ket, infrest Zelari. But what's the goal?
To answer questions, you can't communicate with perception, but you can communicate with your host using symbiosis (limited) and its followup, Influence (200 energy, but you have at least 160 incoming). With your basic aura sense you can also tell roughly when to stop draining.
New vote! Do you:
A.) Kill Ket with the drain, use her death to motivate the others.
B.) Drain Ket lightly, manipulate her indirectly when she wakes.
B, definitely. Also, since I'm on my cell right now, be a dear and give them my evolution options as well, since it's hard to copy-paste between pages right now. Thanks! Keep forgetting to do it when I'm at home...
Alright then, here's the evolution list that Shrike has unlocked for you as overlord!
NOTE: to clarify, these are not part of the current vote. They'll be available next post depending on the energy gained now.
Starting evolutions from the arcana group…
1.) Mana Drain I – 200 Energy – You can drain mana from a creature at very close range (on or near their person). If they focus they will notice this, but few mortal beings remain vigilant constantly…
2.) Resistance I – 400 Energy – You are highly resistant to control magic, and partially resistant to other magics.
3.) Influence – 200 Energy – aptitude for black tentacles, the cost listed accounts for this – You can communicate with your host. You can also make stronger suggestions at a cost to your energy, though without further evolution they are not absolute commands. If the host is unaware of your presence, you can use Influence in pure suggestion form – they might never realize it’s coming from you!
Thanks very much. I think Resistance is to help against Blue, so we can definitely wait to save up for that one, but Influence would be really handy, now that we (hopefully) have a host.
Well I guess I should let you see my unlocked evolutions too:
I.) Cock Tentacle – 75 Energy – Your tentacle head evolves to resemble a penis. You are capable of cumming, but some denizens can use this to drain you. Cum can be used to deliver other evolved abilites.
J.)Sucker Tentacle – 75 Energy – your tentacle head grows a suction cavity resembling a pussy. This makes it easier to drain energy and harder to detach you. On the downside, the sucker is more vulnerable to damage, especially immersion (say in acid).
K.) Sleep – 150 Energy – status add (all status adds require a delivery method, either inhaled, eaten, injected, or skin contact) – this increases fatigue and makes the target drowsy
L.) Poison I – 200 Energy – status add – this lowers the target’s physical abilities and health over time
M.) Aphrodisiac I – 250 Energy – status add – increases the target’s physical sensitivity to stimulation. (Note on price: yeah. NEEDS MOAR ENERGY!)
I also vote for option B. I feel we might reap greater benefits from manipulating her whilst she's alive than we would from using her death as motivation.
! Out-of-game, I’ll be posting a bit slower since I’ve got a lot lined up at work.
