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

[theshameofcain]

[Once she's decided it's safe to approach, Bambi removes one of the bobby pins holding her hair in place.]

Lemme try something.

[idk how far she's gonna get with a disable device 16, but she's tryin']

[cuivre]

[Miles moves with her, peering over her shoulder as back up, both in a mechanical sense (aid check, also disable device 16? can i do that?) and as physical backup in case something nasty pops out of that thing.]

[cabot]

[ bambi keeps feeling like she's on the brink of popping it open... but the stubborn lock will not budge :( ]

[theshameofcain]

Ugh! [She throws down her bobby pin and kicks the chest.] You suck!

[valdrin]

[ val'drin sighs and steps forward, pulling out an actual... lockpick. ] Allow me. [ with a 24 disable device, it pops open readily. a cloud of dust erupts from within and val'drin yanks out a handkerchief to cover his mouth, waving one hand in irritation until it clears. when it does, he carefully draws out two dusty vials of a glowing blue liquid, and then a larger item wrapped in cloth. when he cautiously removes the coverings, it reveals a gleaming longsword. ] Well, well.

[cuivre]

[He's already standing nearby so he peers down at the pretty shiny ooo]

What exactly do you think we're looking at here. Besides the obvious, I mean.

[It's gotta be special, right?]

[theshameofcain]

[Bambi squints at the pretties, but doesn't come up with anything familiar, as she does... not have spellcraft ranks.]

Beats the shit out of me.

[cabot]

The potions are definitely curative. [ he hands them back over his shoulder to miles, to take a better look at the sword. his eyes widen a bit, and he's clearly impressed. ] I think it's a speed blade, actually. Someone's enchanted it with a haste spell, which makes it faster to wield.

[zwy_il]

[Nels lets loose a big whistle;] She is a beauty...

I don't suppose there's any sort of official policy on what becomes of this treasure? [He said, holding his aged dull blades in hand.]

[theshameofcain]

Wow if you get the sharp pointy, I'm taking that book from upstairs. [She glances over the top of the chest.] D'you think there are more spiders?

[She said with a spot of 7....]

[zwy_il]

You can have all of the books, as far as I'm concerned

[cabot]

Have at it. [ val'drin waves his hand, unconcerned with who gets the blade, to be honest. while magic weapons are neat, he likes his artifacts a little more obscure. ] There might be more back down the other passageway. Only one way to find out.

[theshameofcain]

Yay...

[Once more into the breach. Bambi's staying close to Miles though. Hi, Miles.]

[cuivre]

[Hi bb. He's got you.]

Go for it Nels. Congrats.

[And off they go to run into what is likely to be more spiders. And possibly something nastier. Hurrah.]

[valdrin]

[ val'drin leads them back down to the first turn in the chamber, heading down that passageway as they cut away webs again. as they approach the corner ahead, a listen check of 10+ is all that's necessary to hear angry chittering from snapping mandibles, an alien, unnerving noise. ]

[theshameofcain]

[(listen 11) Bambi stops.] Oh Jesus Tapdancing Christ...

[zwy_il]

[Nels hears them, but he's too busy inspecting his new hardware to let spiders get him down.]

I suppose it's fitting the blade drink some spider blood first.

[valdrin]

No sense beating around the bush, I suppose. [ val'drin pulls his gun, grimacing, and then around the corner they go.

a door leads into a chamber, but it's been busted open, hanging on one hinge and covered in thick strands of webbing.

beyond, a chamber about 30 feet deep is visible, within which an enormous monstrous spider, about the size of a bear, hanging from a web sling, the source of those horrible sounds, clearly. ] I think we may have found the mother.

[valdrin]

[ and you know what, he's gonna POP IT TWICE BAM BAM. (atk 17, atk 21, total dmg 21) right in the fucking face, eat it.

however, that rouses a smaller spider from the webbing beside him, and it drops to the ground, scuttling forward to attack him (atk 20, dmg 3). he hisses as the venom courses through him, draining 2 Str with that crit failed fort save. ]

[zwy_il]

[Nels charges in, with a wicked grin on his face, ready to battle.]

[He swings at the small one, with an attack of 21, for 15 (Got a little penetration damage in).]

Eight eyes, and you didn't see that coming?

[cuivre]

[Miles moves in as well, trying to get to an advantageous position before he attempts hand-to-hand on the giant spider. Rather poorly. Yuck. (atk 13, which i highly doubt hits)]

[theshameofcain]

I HATED ARACHNOPHOBIA. [Bambi gives a mighty... screech and swings her bat and... completely misses, I guess (atk 8) She probably actually had her eyes closed.]

[valdrin]

[ nels fancy new sword spears the smaller spider, killing it entirely with a spurt of blood and guts. miles' fist comes perilously close to the large hanging spider, but strikes only air, and poor bambi... well, she's just back there. pets her head. a second small spider scurries out of hiding to flank miles, nipping at him (atk 20, dmg 2, plus roll DC 11 fort save or take 1 Str damage). the large spider hisses, and spits a web at him... but he's too close for it to do so effectively and it misses with an 8.

val'drin shoots at the other small one (atk 19, dmg 6), and it flies aside, legs curling in on itself as it dies twitching. he fixes his second shot on the large spider (atk 25, dmg 7). ]

[zwy_il]

[Nels will move to close with the big momma then, flashing his blade dripping spider guts.]

[Action point that awful attack for a still terrible one! 7 makes an attack of 18 with a boost from his Inspiration pool, will deal 9 damage if that hits (Boosted with inspiration as well, otherwise terrible roll on that too. Dice hate me tonight. Also that will be all of his Inspiration points for this encounter.]

I've seen about enough of your kind today, spider.

[valdrin]

[ actually... that does hit. And quite successfully, spearing the spider and evoking a death cry from it, as it shudders and then goes limp, still hanging in its cradle of webs.

/init ] Glorified pest control. Feeling particularly knightly now, certainly.