{"id":6382,"date":"2019-05-26T17:52:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T22:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/?p=6382"},"modified":"2021-12-27T00:23:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T06:23:51","slug":"one-in-a-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emifail.com\/ocs\/cascade\/one-in-a-million","title":{"rendered":"one in a million"},"content":{"rendered":"

rocco goes super saiyan, bishop remembers a friend, talmage receives an order<\/em><\/p>\n

luci<\/strong>: i have a question first.\r\nluci<\/strong>: am i<\/em> a sphinx?\r\nbishop<\/strong>: no, you're twinky\r\nluci<\/strong>: i think it's a valid ques-- whAT\r\n<\/em>luci<\/strong>: WHAT DID YOU CALL ME<\/em><\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
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emifail<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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we are at the western edge of highkeep; a large stone wall circles the outside of the city. built into this keep is a large living area for vale operatives as well as the school, arkadia university.<\/p>\n
the western entrance has two doors: one leading to the outer wall (waterfall) and one that leads to the inner wall (city). we are 40 feet from the edge of the waterfall.<\/p>\n
mr. graves stands before us. he’s feeding birds, wearing a beautiful three-piece suit despite the hot weather. he hands rocco a key that will get us in and out of this door. we will be compensated for whatever we bring back to him.<\/p>\n
graves<\/strong>:\u00a0i will see you in the morning.\r\nrocco<\/strong>: yes, sir!\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: should we meet you ... here?\r\nbishop<\/strong>: i'm sure he'll find us.\r\ngraves<\/strong>: if you find another way out, i would be very ... excited to hear about it.<\/pre>\n
mr. graves leaves.<\/p>\n
rocco<\/strong>: luci<\/em>\r\nrocco<\/strong>: do you wanna know something fun?<\/em>\r\nrocco<\/strong>: his cane is a knife<\/em>\r\nluci<\/strong>: okay. i'll keep that in mind\r\nrocco<\/strong>: well, i just know you really like knives!\r\nluci<\/strong>: i ... guess\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: have you seen him use it before?\r\nluci<\/strong>: ... has he killed someone in front of you\r\nrocco<\/strong>: it's-- he goes so fast, you know? that it's hard to see him pull it out\r\n[emily<\/strong>]: dude he did NOT FUCKING ANSWER THAT QUESTION<\/pre>\n
rocco unlocks the door before hanging the key back around his neck. bishop wonders why mr. graves even has<\/em> this key, before helping push the heavy door open.<\/p>\n
the hall is about 40 feet wide. there are grates in the ground that let air out. it’s very damp and humid here, moss is growing on the walls. you can see rushing water through the grates.<\/p>\n
to our right we can see where the nets beneath the waterfall are set up. lanterns are lit along the wall. to our left, towards the city, there are big, barred gates that have been drawn down, four levels of them, to protect the city from potential attackers.<\/p>\n
no one is here, but we can hear chatter: guards or vale officers, we aren’t sure. bishop takes a moment to unharness his wings in case someone falls off the waterfall.<\/p>\n
we go down the stairs and turn left, running into a big, grated door. to the left and right of it there are large wheels creating a drawbridge situation. bells are attached to presumably alert anyone of the door being opened. we don’t want to alert the guards because we aren’t sure how illegal what we’re doing is …<\/p>\n
rocco<\/strong>: does anyone wanna just go and talk to them?\r\nbishop<\/strong>: um, no\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: not really\r\nraja<\/strong>: do you?<\/em>\r\nrocco<\/strong>: well, i mean, i could<\/em>\r\nraja<\/strong>: what would you say?\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: \"hi can we please explore your spooky sewer systems, we're looking for a stick\"<\/pre>\n
we decide to try and lift the gate regardless, just being very quiet about it. luci muffles the bell with fabric.<\/p>\n
bishop tries to lift the gate but isn’t strong enough. he tries again with luci, rocco, and raja helping. they still can’t lift it.<\/p>\n
talmage realizes he might be able to help – he takes out his ink brush.<\/p>\n
[shad<\/strong>]: draw a smiley face on his cheek\r\n[charlie<\/strong>]: draw a dick<\/pre>\n
talmage<\/strong>: okay, don't<\/em> laugh.<\/pre>\n
talmage writes “you can do it” on luci’s arm, casting [guidance]. luci has a hard time reading it because talmage wrote it facing away from him.<\/p>\n
luci<\/strong>: ... thanks<\/pre>\n
luci’s arm starts to glow, and he looks uncomfortable. they’re all finally able to lift the gate.<\/p>\n
talmage offers to set an alarm behind them to alert him if anyone else passes through the gate after them. they decide not to. past the gate, we see the hall is just filled with many more gates.<\/p>\n
bishop<\/strong>: luci, how sneaky are you?\r\nluci<\/strong>: ... pretty sneaky\r\nbishop: <\/strong>if you slipped back down the hall to investigate those voices, would you be seen.\r\nluci<\/strong>: we just lifted the gate.<\/em>\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: do you <\/em>wanna lift the other<\/em> gates?<\/pre>\n
they look around, curious if there’s another way to go than through these new gates. raja, still retaining some of her elven traits, can still sense hidden doors. there is a symbol of highkeep imprinted in the ground near the gate, and she brushes some dirt off of it with her tail.<\/p>\n
rocco notices there’s a keyhole in the the ground and immediately sticks the key in it. it begins twisting, but the key is still around rocco’s neck. he manages to duck his neck out as it spins, sinking into the ground, revealing a staircase going down. rocco pockets the key again. it appears that going down the stairs will take us down to under where the water is.<\/p>\n
we close the large gate that we just spent so much time trying to open.<\/p>\n
raja<\/strong>: luci, can you help us again?\r\nluci<\/strong>: sure. you<\/em> gonna write something on someone's face?\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: did it help?<\/em>\r\nluci<\/strong>:<\/pre>\n
talmage paints “you can do it :)” on rocco’s forehead. they all are able to lower the gate.<\/p>\n
\n
[ashley<\/strong>]: we're gonna take a break\r\n[dee<\/strong>]: we solved ... almost one puzzle\r\n[emily<\/strong>]: we walked like ten feet<\/em><\/pre>\n
\n
when we step down, the wind picks up. four decaying spectrals float through the wall, wearing long back, gold-accented robes. they all have collars that chain them to the wall.<\/p>\n
spectral<\/strong>: [calendoran] {this is not for you, you should not be here}\r\nbishop<\/strong>: {who is it for, then?}\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: is he possessed<\/em>\r\nrocco<\/strong>: he speaks ghost?!<\/em>\r\nspectral<\/strong>: {we are the keepers; we keep those out who are not welcome}\r\nspectral<\/strong>: {prove that you are welcome here}<\/pre>\n
raja recognizes the sun symbol on the spectrals having previously seen it in alodia’s temple in stained glass imagery, as well as on the sun spell book for the bookstore.<\/p>\n
she takes out her golden coin, casts [light] on it, and steps forward. the creatures look at raja, bow to her, and then back up.<\/p>\n
talmage<\/strong>: what the fuck<\/em>\r\nraja<\/strong>: i told<\/em> you that i am a servant of alodia.\r\ntalmage<\/strong>: could you understand them?!\r\nraja<\/strong>: ... no.<\/pre>\n
there are three ways we can go in this room. we take a staircase down.<\/p>\n
\n
in this new room, there is a mural along the wall. it features calendora, highkeep, and two dragons encircling one another in the shape of a figure-eight. one is black and gold, the other white and gold. on the left of the room is a cave-in, and on the right are eight panels on the floor, covered in glowing runes.<\/p>\n
raja and rocco examine the mural. suddenly, a shadow takes up the space, engulfing the area. raja passes her fear save, but three others emerge from the wall.<\/p>\n
[roll for initiative!]<\/p>\n
bishop swings at a shadow with his glowing sword, but misses. rocco punches one, and it screams and completely disappears.<\/p>\n
raja and bishop take damage from shadows. one of the shadows totally envelopes rocco.<\/p>\n
shadow<\/strong>: {you are trespassing where you don't belong}\r\nrocco<\/strong>: IT'S WHISPERING GHOST THINGS IN MY EARS I'M SCARED<\/pre>\n
rocco is downed immediately, the life being sucked out of him. talmage enters the room and attempts to throw a dagger at one of them but misses.<\/p>\n
talmage<\/strong>: COIN, USE YOUR COIN<\/pre>\n
raja brandishes her glowing coin.<\/p>\n
raja<\/strong>: i am a servant of alodia, we are not trespassers here!<\/pre>\n
the shadows ignore her. luci throws a dagger, but also misses. bishop rushes to rocco. he reaches through the shadow, touching rocco on his chest, hurriedly using [lay on hands].<\/p>\n
rocco rolls a d100. he rolls a 100. everyone loses their shit. everyone has to leave the table so the dm, ashley, can have a one-on-one with rocco.<\/p>\n
rocco has a vision.<\/p>\n
[spoilers?]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
he wakes up screaming.<\/p>\n
bishop<\/strong>: are you okay?!\r\nrocco<\/strong>: ahh!! where am i?!<\/pre>\n
both his fists are glowing bright gold. he immediately starts wailing on the shadows around him, totally destroying all of them with blinding, holy energy. he’s making panicked, screaming noises.<\/p>\n
rocco collapses.<\/p>\n
talmage<\/strong>: woah woah woah\r\nraja<\/strong>: what did you do-- to him?! what was that??\r\nbishop<\/strong>: i have done the same thing that i've done to talmage--\r\nluci<\/strong>: bullshit<\/em><\/pre>\n
rocco lays down on his side, curled up.<\/p>\n
bishop<\/strong>: are you okay?? are you-- do you need--\r\nraja<\/strong>: was that the first time you've healed ... him?\r\nbishop<\/strong>: i don't think i've healed rocco before? are you okay?? are you okay. do you want me to carry you right now, are you tired?\r\nrocco<\/strong>: you know when you have lots of cookies and then you fall asleep really fast?\r\nluci<\/strong>: yeah. me too\r\nrocco<\/strong>: i feel like that<\/pre>\n
raja realizes this is similar to what it was like when she was given her power for the first time. she asks if rocco saw anything or talked to anyone.<\/p>\n
rocco explains that he saw a dark-skinned elf with red hair pulling a knife out of him, and then felt as though he were falling before he woke up. the elf had been wearing the 7-pointed sun symbol: the symbol alodia also uses.<\/p>\n