Where we left off…

You and Vakith investigate the rest of the chamber where Ku-Lung had been held. Many parts of the chamber feature burnt out stone, coated with a thin layer of iron. How… odd. You come to the conclusion that there’s little else to be gleaned from this area though, and head back up the stairs.

Across the way from the staircase, the iron door that was on the lefthand path is broken, its doorway shattered by the movement of the large reptile through it. You see a flash of burning light from inside that path. Sounds like Ku-Lung was not lying about ‘burning.’

You decide that it probably will not be too useful to head that direction; you couldn’t help him with burning and it’s probably best to stay far out of his way. You, Vakith and Sally take the upward stairs, which open out into… an entire town in this cavern. It’s all Ancient Vyrian architecture, but this is a full town. And it’s lit up by torches.

Vakith also can tell that there’s something wrong about this scene, and steps back into a battle-ready stance. After a few seconds, it begins: several humanoid figures made of the same silver-violet flesh begin shambling from various buildings in this ‘town.’ More begin streaming out until nearly two dozen are slowly limping towards you.

Vakith looks to you, for a plan. Sally is crouching defensively.

>Retreat. There’s too many, and we don’t know what they’re capable of.
>Fight them. We saw yesterday that the Contagion is killable.
>Lead them towards Ku-Lung. He’ll handle it.

(Bump, I guess. Slow morning.)

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>239680
Let the dice decide

>>239710
(hail, wise and mighty dice)

The Contagion is killable. We know this. We’ve seen this. You conjure a fireball in your hand, and nod to Vakith.

You lob the ball of fire overhead, and it crashes into the shambling crowd. Two of the shamblers collapse from the impact, burning and letting out a sick gurgling sound. Vakith’s form shakes briefly, before he rockets forward with light shining on his blade and crashes into the shamblers, bowling several aside. The crowd turns on him, moving in to surround him.

Vakith lets out a roaring, mad laugh as he begins cleaving apart the shamblers. You provide support from near the stairs, blasting the crowd where it’s thickest at any given time. Sally lunges forward, grabbing the shamblers who fall, to drag them away and begin ripping and tearing.

Yet it feels like progress is being made too slowly. Sally’s progress against the regenerative monsters is slow, and those she can’t grab simply get back up. The magic is beginning to drain you. Some are getting hits in on Vakith, and it seems like only half of them have been removed from the fight so far.

>Continue as we are. The less there are, the easier this becomes, right?
>Retreat, get to a chokepoint. Vakith can’t handle being surrounded like this.
>Just retreat in general. We can fight them later, can’t we?
>Retreat to Ku-Lung.

(to those new here; these are only suggestions. Write-ins are ALWAYS welcome.)

>>239716
>Retreat, get to a chokepoint. Vakith can’t handle being surrounded like this.

“Vakith! Chokepoint!” You call, and he seems to understand. He breaks the line surrounding him, shoulder-first, charging to get back to your side. Sally seems to understand you’re making a retreat. You lob fireballs at the crowd that is shambling ever-quicker after Vakith.You glance side-to-side, looking for a chokepoint to abuse; you’d rather not have to try to use something like the stairs if you can help it. One of the nearby buildings has a decent door for this purpose, and nothing had come out of it… You decide there’s no time to waste weighing the options. You need to move. You rush for the door with Vakith and Sally following, getting inside quickly. The inside has a fair amount of rubble, but no shamblers, so safe enough.

As anticipated, the shambling crowd rushes the door after you, and Vakith begins hacking and slashing as they try to funnel through the doorway. Without Sally on rip-and-tear duty, very few are staying down.

>Try to help any way you can?
>Search this building, make sure nothing’s going to come at you from the other side.
>Look for another exit, to try to attack them from the side and get Sally an attacking angle.

>>239733
>Look for something to barricade part of the door with

You search the room quickly, looking for something you could barricade part of the door with. Unfortunately, it seems like all there is here is stone--whatever wood was once here has rotted into nothingness over the thousands of years. You search into the next room of this building, and find a sizeable chunk of broken wall; it’s definitely large enough to block the bottom half of the door. You cast Magic Hand on it, dragging it across the floor as you can. You tell Vakith to step back a bit, and slowly slide the stone to cover the bottom half of the door. It certainly means the shamblers will have a harder time getting through.

The battle’s still not won though, and you hear the sound of what resembles a blast furnace coming through the ground beneath you.

>Attack from outside.
>Search to make sure your current position is safe.

>>239747
>Cast Detect Magic

You cast Detect Magic to try to find any clues to what these things may be. They light up in the same way as the creature from the previous day, as a horrible, painful visual sensation. So it’s definitely more of this “Contagion.”

One of the shamblers falls over the stone, and is promptly snatched and dragged away by Sally.

>>239756
>Search this building, make sure nothing’s going to come at you from the other side.
>Search to make sure your current position is safe.

You search around the building, making sure you’re not sitting in a dangerous situation already. Unfortunately, you find there’s a back entrance to this building, leading out to another part of this town; featuring large open path and more buildings. Before you can even scan for more shamblers, the path before you begins falling. Through the hole you mostly see a lot of fire and… molten iron flying about, and when your eyes adjust you realise that below you is Ku-Lung, burning something by breathing out large quantities of burning slag. His scales have also shifted towards red and grey to match, as well as being adorned with glowing red runes the size of you. What did you release?

Either way, you seem to be in the clear, given that the path has turned into a hole. As you head back to Vakith, you can hear Ku-Lung shouting in a language you don’t understand before continuing his molten assault.

It takes longer than you were comfortable with, but it seems like no more of the shamblers are getting up. You appear to be safe for now; both you and Vakith are tired though.

>>239794
>Take a few minutes to rest, then climb over the barricade stone and scout around the front of the building

You decide to sit down to rest for a few minutes. You can still hear Ku-Lung from below, but for the moment it doesn’t seem to involve you. That is, until the ground beneath you begins shaking. It could be nothing, but on the other hand it could be Ku-Lung causing another collapse in his rampage. You, Vakith and Sally make your way out through the doorway, crossing over the stone barricade. The bodies have all almost entirely vanished, leaving violet stains as the only sign of their once being there. You scout the area (and thankfully it doesn’t seem like anything is collapsing) and find something… troubling. All the buildings where the shamblers came from feature long, near-organic tunnels that dig into the stone downwards. It seems like they crawled up these pseudo-organs that resemble their own flesh to get here. That’s… kind of awful, actually. Vakith seems to share the sentiment.

Your party wanders on down this ‘road’, looking into the buildings you pass but finding little else than the silver-violet flesh-tubes. No more shamblers or otherwise. It’s eerie in its own way.

You come to the end of the path, where a large building with closed doors sits before you, built into the rock wall behind it. Should you try to enter?

>>239823
>Yes

You and Vakith together take hold of one of the stone handles, and try with all your might to pull it open. Slowly but surely you succeed, and the dark inside is laid bare. You conjure your ball of light, and immediately wish you hadn’t. The entire inside is painted with blood, stained only in places by the violet marks. Organs and body parts are haphazardly pushed to the sides of the room, and you recoil instantly with disgust. Vakith seems more angry than disgusted, and pushes inside.

“New flesh comes through the door…” a voice booms from inside. It’s not speaking any language you know, but you understand it.

>Vakith needs to pull back NOW.
>Whatever’s inside could use a killing.
>Stay out here to collect ourselves while Vakith handles it; we’re a little too faint-hearted for this.

>>239837
>Warn Vakith about the message you heard

“Vakith-” you start, but he shakes his head.

“I heard it, too,” he says in a low growl. “I am no one’s flesh to be used.” He starts forward. If we’re going to tell him to retreat, we need to do so now.

>>239845
>Whatever’s inside could use a killing. Advance inside with Vakith.

Something horrible is in there, and you’re going to kill it. It may even be responsible for all this, and the Contagion will be killed with its demise. You advance inside behind Vakith, holding your light. The blood on the ground is dried, almost part of the stone at this point. A deep, roaring laughter ripples through this slaughterhouse. “The things we shall make from you…” The voice seems to come from everywhere at once. You can’t pin a location. “We often dream of having such interesting materials to work with. Ah, today the Void is pleased.” You reach the room’s other side, and Vakith opens a door. “We will delight in ripping you apart.”

“Who are you?” Vakith calls out, anger shaking his voice.

“We are Void. You are flesh.” The next room is more of the same; blood and organs everywhere.

“Show yourself, foul creature!” the Paladin yells.

“Come, you shall see us. Come deeper in.” A door on the other side of the room swings open. You have a bad feeling about this.

>>239884
>Go through the door. Explain to Vakith that he should be careful about standing directly in front of us in case we need to cast a long-range spell like a fireball.

We're still with Sally, right?

You decide to continue forward. You whisper to Vakith to give you line of sight forward, in case you need to fireball… whatever is in there. Without replying, he steps to the side slightly. Sally stalks patiently at your side, her eyes darting around to search for any danger. You wonder if she, too, could understand the words of the ‘Void.’ The three of you walk through the door.

Your light touches the opposite wall and you see it: a wall of quivering flesh. It is a mix of red, raw meat and the silver-violet flesh that has adorned the ‘Contagion.’ Honestly, as awful as this is, it’s simply nothing new at this point. Its laughter ripples through again. “We shall take... you first.”

A gargantuan tendril bursts from the flesh towards your party. You try to dive out of the way, but it wraps around you before you move more than a centimetre. It lifts you before smashing you against the ground, dazing you, and beginning to drag you back. A light fills your vision and you are nearly deafened by a cry of “You shall not!” as Vakith slices through the metre thick tendril like it was hay. Blood begins spraying from the cut appendage, and a screeching wail echoes through the chamber. The tendril unfurls from around you, and you quickly try to scramble to your feet on the bloodwet ground. Getting your bearings, Vakith is standing protectively over you while Sally hisses at the wall of flesh and begins… glowing slightly?

Another tendril bursts forward, and tries to sweep across the ground, but you cast Magic Hand to hold it back and slow it down enough for Vakith to blast through it. “We will flay you, and make such beautiful creations of your innards and soul,” the wall murmurs.

>Get out! This was a horrible idea!
>Fight back. This thing isn’t that bad.

>>239923
>Fight back. This thing isn’t that bad.

Thanks for running this session so far even with only me playing.

>>239923
>fight back

>>239947
No problem dude, I'm having fun.

You decide that it’s best to just fight back. You two are handling it fine. You lob a fireball over your party, it crashing into the very generously sized target. Similar to the fireball you threw at the beast yesterday, the fire is quickly devoured by a burst of smoke and ash, leaving a crater behind that starts to regrow. Sally the glowing lizard rushes forward, leaping into the air as she nears it, and digs her claws into the wall of flesh three metres off the ground.

So that’s why her tunnels had been so tall…

Cracks appear in Sally’s scaled hide, and fire begins venting out from them. This helps with the whole burning the fleshwall thing, as Sally begins biting at the flesh. It wails again, a tendril bursting out from under Sally, throwing her off the wall. She crashes down near you, and the tendril moves to try to smash down on her. You fire off a fireball at the tendril, the explosion forcing it away. Unfortunately, a second tendril had been en route for you, and you are smashed hard against the ground, again. Your vision is blurry and your arm hurts, but you orient yourself to throw a fireball upwards at the tendril hovering to take another hit at you. Recognising that this needs to be ended now, Vakith charges the main wall. From your position on the ground, you lose sight of the Paladin but hear the sound of flesh being rent and the wailings of pain. You black out as the pain takes you.

When you wake up, the first thing that hits you is the smell of burning and rotting. The second thing is the sensation of being carried. As your vision clears, you realise Vakith is carrying you out from the fleshwall’s chamber. You open your mouth to speak, and no words come out. Vakith shakes his head, and whispers, “Don’t strain yourself right now. You’re kind of beat up. I performed some simple healing, but it can only go so far.” You try to speak again, but feel your consciousness fading once more.

You wake up again in your bed at the hostel, with Hope hovering nearby with the most worried look on her face. “Amber!” she cries out, rushing forward to hug you before recoiling as if she just remembered that’s a bad idea. It probably is. You’re not sure how you’re injured, but you know that you are.

“Hey,” you manage weakly as greeting, and crack a smile. Best not to worry the girl.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help. I should’ve come, I could’ve done something-”

You shush her quietly. “S’fine. How’m I hurt?” you slur out.

“Your left arm’s broken, as well as three ribs,” she informs you. You look down at your arm. It’s all bound up. “Diamond performed some spellwork, but it’ll still take time. He says you need to stay still for now.”

Makes sense, even if you’re not happy about it.

[1/2]

[2/2]

The next couple days pass by in a bit of a blur. Sure enough, Diamond’s spellwork sped the process up significantly. The following day from the fight you were back to practising with your mother and the day after that you successfully casted Protection From Heat. Another day and you used it efficiently, and the day after that you were out on the town with Hope and Vakith.

Since then, no one has seen anything more from either the Contagion or Ku-Lung, though apparently a sizable part of the mountain had caved in and when it was investigated, there was cooled iron slag all over. Sounds like part of the ruins were caved in by Ku-Lung’s rampage and it even reached the surface. This still doesn’t explain why the entire town was underground; a cavern no less. You’re developing some terrible ideas of what this may mean for Ancient Vyre. What is the Contagion? Where did it come from? Is it involved in the fall of Vyre? On the other hand, no one has ever reported out about anything like this Contagion, or this Void. It’s probably something very local. At least, you hope so. Vakith isn’t as convinced.

Sally’s fiery state from the encounter with the fleshwall seems to have had no permanent effects on her, though you seem some faint lines where the cracks had appeared on her. Obsidian is even more confused than before about that.

Hope’s training has gone along very quickly, thanks to her already having the basics of Spirit magic. She can successfully call on weak spirits already.

The question now is what to do from here. You can fight even with your body being weak, and you’ve made it very clear to Vakith you won’t tolerate being left out of anything.

>We need to check the ruins out again, make sure that the Contagion stays dead.
>We should head to Vakith’s brotherhood, to report on his success and find more evil to deal with. That was the original plan wasn’t it?
>Stay here for the time being. Make sure nothing attacks this place again, but don’t go actively poking our heads into trouble.

>>240037
>We need to check the ruins out again, make sure that the Contagion stays dead.

>>240037
>>Stay here for the time being. Make sure nothing attacks this place again, but don’t go actively poking our heads into trouble.
Amber's still injured rushing off now seems like a bad idea

>>240054
>>240061
(Ooh, disagreement. It's actually about time I headed out for the day, so let's see if we can get votes one way or the other by tomorrow

thanks for playing, everyone!)

>>240071
Thanks for running this session.

>>240037
>Stay here for the time being. Make sure nothing attacks this place again, but don’t go actively poking our heads into trouble.
Let patrol the area for now.

You decide to stay in the village, and keep an eye out for more trouble, but not go poking your head in more trouble. This place could still be vulnerable, and you’re worried about that. Vakith has been making regular patrols already, but you’re now fit enough to be running some yourself.

And today, as you stand atop the hill where the Contagion first attacked you, a figure walks from the darkness towards you. You prepare to shoot a fireball for help, before realising it’s a fully humanoid figure; a Baerysun with darker skin and now that you see them, the largest wings you’ve ever even heard of on a Baerysun. You tense, ready for trouble, but in a deep and smooth voice the Baerysun speaks to you politely, “Good day, Amber Suarz. It is I once more, Ku-Lung.” Before you have a chance to voice surprise or disbelief, he continues, “I appear before you in this form as not to disturb the locals. A Shōlong tends to take many by surprise.”

You nod in agreement. “What is it that you wish to speak to me for?” you ask, speaking as politely as you know how to, to match him.

“You and your companion stood against a Contagion-Heart and neither fled nor died. I find this… impressive and useful. You see, I believe the Contagion runs deeper than a single set of ruins in the outer reaches of Vyre.” He pauses to let that sink in. “It is not often that I would consider looking to a mortal for assistance in my endeavours, but as it stands: I am but one Shōlong. Thus, I tell you now: you will be called upon in the future to strike down more of the sickness. Prepare yourself for that eventuality.”

“And if I refuse?” you ask boldly.

“I destroy you. You knowing of my existence is a liability should the time come that hunters come for me.”

“Is that a way to repay the person who freed you?”

“I do not operate on the idea of what is fair; I operate on the idea of what is necessary. Make yourself necessary.” The transformed Shōlong turns to leave. “But perhaps you shall defy me, and even slay me. This land is full of surprises, after all,” he says, his rumbling laughter filling the darkness as he makes his leave. You say nothing, considering his words deeply. He probably could kill you. But you’ll probably also meet your end fighting the Contagion if you have to do so again. It’s a sticky situation, and one that you’d rather avoid thinking about for as long as possible, actually.

It sounds like you’ll have more time to stick around learning magic, though, while you heal. What should you learn next?

>Consecrate Ground: Makes an area protected against any shadowy energies, including necromantic.
>Blinding Light: Create a damn bright light to blind those around you.
>Destroy Frost: Destroy cold-based energies, and dispel cold in general. Will do everything from directly counter a frost spell to instantly melt ice.

(I probably will not be posting any more until Monday. It’s a busy weekend for me, unfortunately. We will pick up in new thread Ecliptica Quest Part 2.5.)

>>243087
>Blinding Light: Create a damn bright light to blind those around you.

>>243087
>Blinding Light: Create a damn bright light to blind those around you.