summary
caranthir: BITCHES BE CRAZY caranthir: *casts lightning bolt*
joaquin & dahlia scout out the cult entrance. dahlia is wearing the cult ring she stole from someone earlier. there are a few dwarven guards wielding warhammers. there’s like. idk walls and stuff
[emily]: havi is still in mourning
they return to the inn to everyone playing never have i ever.
[ben]: never have i everrrrr gotten all of my friends killed [kayla]: YESSS
we talk strategy. dahlia suddenly can no longer speak nor move, and is in crippling pain. joaquin runs over & takes her cult ring off – it’s burning hot. he drops it.
[ben]: is anyone else wearing a ring [shad]: well uh [shad]: i would assume lia's dead body [kayla]: i don't think she's in pain right now
havi attempts to study the ring. he determines dahlia was experiencing a transference of life energy. it was harvesting her soul and starting to transfer it somewhere else. she’s fine now. havi checks on the cult ring he has in his bag (tanum’s) and it is also hot to the touch. we realize the cult is currently harvesting the soul of EVERYONE who has a ring!!!
WE GOTTA GO
there’s still a guard posted out front, so we try to sneak out back through the kitchen.
joaquin: wait, what are we going to do when we get there. jojo: uhhhh killing a cult??? COME ON joaquin: no, who's gonna be in the front and who's going to be in the back? joaquin: are we going in both the back doors? clint: *puts a hand on joaquin's shoulder* hold on there, brother clint: clint: we need a plan
shad requests that clint make a mole check. (joaquin is clint’s brother, joaquin has been on the run for a while now, cycling through various disguises and identities. his is current identity [joaquin] has a fake mole that he draws on every day.) he makes the check – but says nothing.
when they leave the inn, havi can see a mist floating through the sky, heading to the capital. it’s all the souls that are being harvested. ben starts a countdown timer, when the timer runs out, all the souls have been harvested.
ireth, lindsay, and reginald take on the front doors. they attack from afar and the dwarven guards retreat into the castle.
dahlia and caranthir pick the lock in the back. they sneak into the storage room. caranthir hides in a closet.
havi, joaquin, and jojo go in the side, through the kitchen. the door is locked initially, but havi melts the lock with sacred flame.
jojo tries to open the door into the kitchen, but it’s locked. philip hears footsteps approaching.
havi: jojo, block the door! [shad]: is there a lock on the door??? [emily]: no stand in FRONT of it you're like 7 FEET TALL
jojo stands in front of the door, but it swings away from him and he falls through, hitting his head on the doorway. a bunch of dwarves run in. joaquin kills a bunch of them. jojo throws one onto the ground. havi misses all of his physical attacks.
they take down all the dwarves. havi touches jojo without saying anything, secretly casting a spell. shad is terrified.
jojo: what was that havi: it was just a spell jojo: what havi: it's nothing bad jojo: WELL I HOPE NOT havi: just go with it jojo: havi: IT'S NOTHING BAD
dahlia & caranthir find a room full of weaponry. caranthir takes a wand. the doorway is lined with some kind magical field that needs a certain combination to take the items through. caranthir grabs a big axe and wails on the wall, thinking about how strong jojo is for inspiration. it does nothing. they run into the room with havi, jojo, and joaquin.
dahlia asks havi if he can cast dispel magic on the doorway. upon seeing the lock, he knows this is waaaaay over his skill level to disarm. he can however recognize if they take anything out of this room through the barrier, all the remaining items turn to ash.
havi finds 2 staves that each hold one revival spell. joaquin takes a bunch of rings. havi recognizes a lot of the items as things he had at his shop. he’s … sad. they exit the room, and everything in the room dissolves. jojo becomes hysterical at the idea that lia’s heart may have been in the room.
regardless, we book it to the main room of the capital building. on the way there, jojo & joaquin ask havi what their weapons do. the axe takes 5 points of jojo’s hp each time he hits with it, and takes 10 hp from the enemy. joaquin’s swords have 1 daily cast of fireball each.
[kayla]: i just wanted to add that i was navigating us to this room so we’re moving twice as fast
[ben]: i am [ben]: SO tempted to move the countdown to 0 just because you said that
[shad]: i have a feeling they still need their hearts to be revived [shad]: so we're going to have to cut them open to put the hearts back in [emily]: we can do that! [emily]: i already had to do that [shad]: technically tanum's chest was already open - lia's is not [emily]: welp *places a hand on shad's shoulder* [emily]: have fun cutting open your dead girlfriend
they enter the room and see a dwarf in the center of a pyramid-like structure. it’s the same dwarf that cut off caranthir’s ears.
caranthir: BITCHES BE CRAZY caranthir: *casts lightning bolt*
jojo hits the guy. shad rolls on the floor, against ben’s direct orders [x] 1:55:37 –
havi misses all of his attacks. BUT. he can sense where meekus is. meekus is represented in game as a dolphin figurine we have for some reason,
Main Boss Guy holds his hand in the air and absorbs caranthir’s lightning bolt. jamal finally rolls an attack over 10.
jojo gets hit with [x] 2:34:13 an encounter power for 92 damage, but havi’s death word kicks in, leaving jojo at 1 hp. jojo runs off to take cover.
we notice philip & meekus are gone. jojo notices where meekus is, and can tell he’s alive but covered in scars from being tortured.
the dwarf casts wall of stone, trapping joaquin with the him. clint cries. we learn if we kill the dwarf NEAR the the ankh, it will permanently kill him.
caranthir pulls out a random wand and uses it on the wall, casting wall of thorns on it. jojo punches the wall really hard. dahlia hits the weak spot jojo made, creating a very small hole she can fit the ankh through.
suddenly, dahlia’s hand gets wrenched out of the wall, and the ankh goes flying into meekus’s hand. he raises it to the sky and a huge pillar of water comes crashing in through the ceiling, breaking the wall of stone. he holds the ankh against the dwarf, waiting.
some other dwarf i guess uses magic to levitate 2 glass jars into the air. it’s tanum & lia!!! shad cries. jojo tries to hit the dwarf, missing.
havi casts death ward on meekus in case the ankh can affect him. joaquin finally kills the dwarf, the ankh goes off. it kills the dwarf instantly, and SHOUKD kill meekus, but he goes down to 1 hp. jojo retrieves the hearts. we run back to the inn.
havi asks meekus what he knows about tanum & lia’s conditions. he says he can help return their hearts to their bodies, but is afraid they are dead. that’s ok with us
jojo and havi each use one of the revival staves on their significant others.
lia awakens with a gasp, slapping jojo in the face before pulling him into a kiss.
tanum awakens next, scrambling backwards momentarily before grabbing havi’s face and kissing HIM. [x] 3:45:20