oxford ♔ crawling out of my own skin

[valdrin]

WHO || Marty, Matthew, Nels, Miles, Val'drin, Mr. Broggon
WHAT || The Knights investigate a mysterious package sent to a shop owner
WHERE || Sword & Sorcery, in Oxford, England
WHEN || Wed April 16th, about 8pm
HOW || Actionspam

Sword & Sorcery:  Old Books for a New Age is located in a strip mall in a relatively nice part of the city of Oxford.  A scattering of other cars fill parts of the parking lot, with most of the vehicles congregated to the side nearest the Teriyaki Rok'n'Wok, a rock and roll themed teriyaki restaurant.  The bookstore sits farther down the line of shops, in the more deserted section of the strip mall.  Val'drin raises an eyebrow at the Rok'n'Wok, slipping one hand into his pocket as he surveys the others.  

"Everyone's at least armed, I do hope."  

Comments

[zwy_il]

Many thanks, mister Broggon.

[He deftly snatches the teacup, slyly scoping the contents out with a Spot of 15, to be sure everything is on the up-and-up. Old habits die hard.]

[valdrin]

[ broggon joins them with a coffee mug of his own that reads "World's Greatest Wizard".

"Nasty business, this whole thing. Just got this vibe about it, if you catch my drift. I thought perhaps--"

abruptly, the bell over the front door jingles and someone calls out:

"Mr. Broggon, are you here? I have a delivery for you."

val'drin raises an eyebrow at nels as broggon excuses himself and rises, rushing to deal with the deliveryman. ]

[theworstmagician]

[Marty watches Broggon leave to tend to his delivery, then reaches out to take his coffee off the counter. Unlike Nels, he doesn't bother checking it before taking a drink; he just goes for it then wanders to the nearest shelf, looking at the books.]

Hey, do you think he'll give us a discount here for helping him? [Not that Marty really... reads a bunch of books or anything, but who knows. HE LIKES GETTING REWARDED FOR THINGS.]

[valdrin]

That depends on whether we help him to his satisfaction, I imagine. [ he keeps an eye on the front of the shop, where a uniformed deliveryman slides a large wooden crate off a dolly and hands broggon a clipboard to sign. as the deliveryman departs, they hear him say "Thanks, Joe", and then a listen check of 16+ catches him say, more to himself: "This is very odd. I usually get my book shipments on Tuesday." ]

[theshameofcain]

[From somewhere in the back of the store, completely oblivious to the fact that a mission is going on, someone yells:]

IS THIS A FIRST EDITION??

[She was here the whole time. Don't question it.]

[valdrin]

[ val'drin sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose. squires.

meanwhile, a listen check of 16+ means that when mr. broggon bends close to examine the shipping label, they can hear that something shifts and bangs against the side of the crate. val'drin.. is not one of those people. ] Bambi, if you would...

[zwy_il]

["Did we come here to shop, or work?" Nels signs to Valdrin. Also, Listen check of 14 doesn't catch the comment from the shopkeeper.]

[theshameofcain]

[Bambi comes out from behind some bookshelves, clutching a hardback book like it's her precious.

She does hear the mysterious banging when she steps out (listen 19)] What was that?

[valdrin]

[ val'drin looks idly over that way ] What was what?

[ there's a moment of silence... and then a second, louder bang sounds, that everyone can hear. the wood cracks as part of the crate breaks away, and a long, spindly tentacle that ends in a thorny protrusion snakes out of the opening and wraps itself around broggon's legs. with a mighty pull, it topples the man and begins to drag him toward the dark opening in the side of the crate. ]

[cuivre]

[JFC WTF.

This is a million kinds of not okay.

Miles will run over and grab for Broggon's hands. Time to start a tug of war? (str check? 20 total)]

Don't let go, man!

[zwy_il]

Not good!

[Nels' hands dive into his bag to pull his blades out, and he will move to get a better look at the situation, and get as close to within striking distance as possible. Hooray for not having quick draw yet (Not that it'd help much, since his blades were packed away and not at his side...)]

Tentacles? Wonderful...

[theshameofcain]

[YOU KNOW WHAT BAMBI HAS ON HER?

HER PRECIOUS.

She only hesitates for a second and then lunges for the tentacle, whacking it as hard as she possibly can somewhere in the middle between crate and Broggon. (atk 17, dmg...4). SHE TRIED OKAY

And she's also crying inside. THIS IS A FIRST EDITION.]

[valdrin]

Oh, for the love of--

[ val'drin moves to grab the other end of broggon and tug (str 14??). they both successfully 'aid' broggon's str check of 10, which amounts to a 14 total against the tentacle's tug... which is not quite enough, although it's close. the tentacle yanks him a wee bit closer to the box despite their resistance. it does seem to make a noise of dissatisfaction at being whacked with the tome, at least. ]

[theworstmagician]

[ Wow, this sure escalated. Marty's a bit slow to react, because he's kind of thrown by the sudden appearance of tentacles. But, he quickly gets his ass into gear, grabbing... the coffee pot because he's pretty sure that breaking glass on it can do some damage to this thing, right? Right. Besides, his only alternative is the gun tucked away in the waistband of his pants, and he doesn't want to friendly fire all over Broggon.

UNFORTUNATELY, the tentacle's too squirmy and fast, so Marty totally misses (attack 10), splashing some lukewarm coffee in the process, because. Well. He just swung a coffee pot. ]

Shit shit sorry!

[cuivre]

[-_-]

Can we try using something sharper, please?

[You're not going to sever a tentacle with a book or...whatever the hell just splashed him (at least it didn't burn?)

Heave ho, let's try this again. (Str...nat 20)]

[zwy_il]

With pleasure!

[Nels swings at the tentacle with both blades. Atk 13 and 15. For (6[Penetration] +3 + 3 == 9 damage) on first atk, if 13 hits, AND (6[Penetration] +1 + 3 == 7 damage)... Oh wait but it's AC is 18. Balls.]

[theshameofcain]

I don't have anything sharp!

[bambi makes a noise of protest and whacks the tentacle again (atk 18, dmg 3)] If I get anime monster jizz on this, I quit.

[valdrin]

[ miles manages to yank broggon completely free, but he also gives a cry of pain at his SHOULDER DISLOCATING JFC. when bambi strikes the tentacle, it retreats back into the box. val'drin looks around for anything to try to seal up the hole to no avail. ] Don't let that thing out of there!

[theworstmagician]

[Looking around, Marty's not really coming up with anything to seal the hole, either. He goes through his mental rolodex of spells, but nothing is really all that useful against... tentacles, not unless he wants to set the box on fire, but then that would open up a whole other can of worms-- namely: what would they do with a burning box in the middle of a bookstore. He's no expert on fire, but he's pretty sure that bookstores are extra flammable.]

How? Stack books in front of it? Tip the box over?

[cuivre]

[Miles would have been okay with the burning idea tbh. Even if the whole place burns down, it would probably kill whatever the fuck that thing is.

He spends his turn shuffling back 5 feet to make sure Broggon is out of harms way.]

You might want to grit your teeth or something.

[And then he fucking somehow manages a 20 treat injury check to pop that shit back in it's socket jfc.]

[zwy_il]

[Nels keeps his blades drawn, and stands between the box and the rest of the party, readying an attack in case the beast re-emerges...]

Steady...

[theshameofcain]

[bambi takes a pointed step back, examining the cover of her book for damage.]

That thing isn't going to sprout extra heads if you slice it up, is it? Wait-

[she's thinking about things that have tentacles right now. (Knowledge: arcane lore 25) SHUT UP I'M NOT AT HOME. SHE'S WASTING HER ENTIRE TURN RECOVERING AND THINKING UNTIL ARDEN TELLS ME THINGS.]

[valdrin]

[ actually bambi recognizes THOSE EXACT TENTACLES, because the leaflike ends are very distinct. they belong to an otyugh - a grotesque scavenger that usually lurks in sewers, dumps, and anywhere else proliferated with garbage, subsisting on carrion, offal, and society's other waste. they also love fresh meat.

they look like a 6 foot diamter bloated ovoid covered with rocklike skin. a vinelike stalk about two feet long protrudes from the top of their disgusting body and bears two eyes. its mouth is little more than a wide gash filled with razor sharp teeth that splits the center of its body. it shuffles around on three thick sturdy legs, and has two long tentacles that sprout from its side.

she would know that they can see in the dark, and their bite is diseased. basically, they are horrible, and probably not something they ever want to tangle with.

broggon hisses in pain, biting his teeth together as miles jams his arm back in.

"Must you??" he asks, and val'drin looks over at him, pulling his gun and fixing it on the box. ] Tell me you have kind of spell to seal it up. [ broggon winces in pain. "Well, yes, but--" he breathes heavily, holding up a finger, "I might need a moment."

except right after he says that, the creature slaps against the inside of the box with one of its tentacles for a nat 20 attack (42 dmg), shattering it apart so that they can all see its beautiful face before bambi even gets to describe it.

... at least you were right, bambi???? ]

... I'm not so certain we have a moment. [ matt told me to rolls nels' attacks for him, so he got a 19 and a 8, the first attack slicing into it just as it emerges (4 dmg) ]

[theworstmagician]

Holy crap!

[And with a manly yelp, Marty's previous reservations about fire? Gone, pretty much as soon as the tentacle monster breaks free from the box. Because wow, that thing is freaky, and he's just going to put his magical skills to use and try to set the damn thing on fire (Burning Hands) and hope for the best. It's weird; he's never really tried to set a living thing on fire before; it's always just been a parlor trick he used to liven things up whenever he was showing off with magic. But, you know what? He's not going to feel the slightest bit bad as he aims the flames right at the creature's face.

He just hopes he won't burn down the building or something. That would... probably just make this situation worse. Probably.]

[cuivre]

Yeah, dude, your moment has passed. Unless you'd rather be plant food.

[He steps in front of Boggins, though, putting his body between the creature at him. Operation Meat Shield, in progress.]