Previously...
Bujilli and Leeja used the Synchronocitor* to go to the aid of their friends Hedrard** and Lemuel. Now they stand high atop one of the tallest towers of New Chillon, the ruins of the Fifth City, one of the Nine Known Adjacent Worlds that connect directly into the heart of Wermspittle...
Cold wind shrieked past them. Ominous clouds boiled in rage overhead. Lightning splintered the night as thunder rolled across the darkness. They were at the top-most point of a vast tower, a huge ruined pile that was a jumbled and sloppily-stacked mess of architectural layers and levels that stretched down below them for what could only be miles and miles.
"You came. Saints look away. You damn fool kids came after us." Hedrard hung her head. Passed out. Her chains held her upright. Blood crusted her lank, matted hair.
"Release us." Lemuel moaned, barely audible over the wind. Bujilli was surprised that the gelatinous boy-form could actually speak, would ever speak again, after his transformational trauma due to White Powder poisoning. His wermhide sheath looked mostly intact, though some of the stitches were frayed and his gel-flesh was oozing or bulging out from a few weakened seams.
Bujilli attempted to activate the Synchronocitor. It remained cold, inert in his hands. It seemed to be recharging itself for another transition. It might take minutes, maybe hours, possibly longer before it was ready to go again.
A round hatch began to rotate as it rose from the bare, stone floor.
A flash of lightning blasted the night.
In the thunderous after-glow Bujilli could see that this space was essentially a flattened trapezoid with five crude menhirs set at the points. Lemuel and Hedrard were chained to two of the menhirs. Other shapes were slumped or suspended from the remaining stones. They might or might not be humanoid...one had a deformed head, or perhaps it was some sort of mask or helmet.
A delicate tracery of soft blue lights danced about the hatch and skittered off into the darkness towards one of the other prisoners; the one in the helmet. Some sort of warning-spell?
Leeja looked to Bujilli; "Now what?"
He considered using a spell. The wind would make arrows useless and he still hadn't had a chance to re-load his pistol. His hand brushed against the Fighting Wand*** in its sheath on his belt. The one Mistress Eberhard had given him...touching the wand reminded him of something. No. It gave him a fleeting impression. The wand was tied to one of the 20 Deadly Planes.+ Bujilli gripped the handle tightly. A hot, acrid scent struck his nostrils. He could see a blurry, amorphous blob of smoldering whiteness, burned around the edges, and jostling about in undulating waves of unmitigated unpleasantness. Selinoth Yr. The wand was able to draw upon the harmful, hurtful energies and essence of Selinoth Yr--smothering, hot acid--it could be a devastating weapon under the right circumstances.
Leeja gripped his arm; "I can use a spell to help us hide from whoever is coming up from below..."
Heavy red light spilled forth from the opening hatch-way. The hatch locked into place with a heavy Clunk!
Bujilli accessed his Counsel and tried to learn what he could about whomever it was that was coming up through the hatch. Three figures. Humanoid, for the most part. One a hunchback, possibly a Grood. The other two were twisted things. Products of the Comprachicos' art. He thought it might be worth trying to negotiate with them. Maybe he could convince them to look the other way, let him and his friends leave in peace. It was worth making the attempt.
"I want to try to negotiate with these people. Maybe we can get out of here without making a mess of everything for once."
Leeja pouted. She had serious reservations about this approach. Her extrasensory perceptions told her that these things were not likely to negotiate with anyone; they were too far gone, too twisted to do anything except follow the custodians' orders. She knew from previous experience that the Grood-folk were not like most others...they were more than a little peculiar in the way their brains operated...
The red light grew in intensity. It came from glimmering galvanic torches shaped like ornate batons nearly the length of fighting staves, each one wreathed in flickering red light. The two twisted mantis-like guards emerged from the hatch and took up position on either side of the hunchbacked custodian. The guards held the galvanic torches in a set of stunted, lower-limbs. Their fore-limbs were elongated, bent back and merged with cruelly serrated blades only good for killing. The custodian carried no weapons. He didn't need any.
"Who the Hell--"
"Hello. We're with the Board of Prison Inspections and we're here to investigate allegations of inappropriate prisoner abuse." Bujilli hoped the custodian wouldn't notice him wincing as he improvised.
"All our prisoners are abused appropriately. Strictly according to code and by the book."
"What book?" Bujilli blurted incredulously.
"The Red Book dumb ass--say..." The hunchbacked custodian stepped back toward the hatch.
Bujilli knew he'd ruined his chances, as slight as they might have been. He drew out his hand-axe and the fighting wand then charged forward.
The hunchback squealed, nearly fell over backwards and down the spiral staircase leading down into the tower.
The mantis-like guards clashed their kill-blades and stalked forward.
Directly into the upthrust of the fighting wand. A gout of sizzling white blubbery-stuff gurgled, sloshed and enveloped the guards' mid-section.
Bujilli missed with the hand-axe.
Leeja did not miss. She breathed forth a noxious black cloud of Charnel Breath directly into the face of the other guard. The wind carried off most of the stuff, but not before it immobilized the twisted mantis-man.
Bujilli followed-up with a heavy blow to the thing's head that split it down to the sternum.
Leeja had the custodian caught by the ankle in her tendril-hair.
"Fine. We tried it your way. We talked first. You're a terrible liar, by the way." She pulled the custodian back from the hatchway, rolled him over, pinned his hands and feet to the floor.
Bujilli slipped the fighting wand back in its sheath. Already the smoldering white globule of nastiness drawn from Selinoth Yr was evaporating into oblivion. All that was left of the mantis-guard was a few sections of their limbs and part of their head, none of them connected.
"I tried my best. Lying takes skill. Maybe I'll get better with practice. So now we have a prisoner of our own--"
"No. You. Do. Not." A woman's voice echoed from within the heavy iron helm of a man clad in tattered finery.
"Who--"
"My name is unimportant, my lineage and pedigree even less so, under the circumstances. Let us leave this place, if you have the means to do so, before more guards come pouring out of the hatch-way and hack us all into little pieces."
"Fine." Bujilli struck the chains from Hedrard. Dragged her over to where Leeja was standing. He then went over ans struck off the chains from Lemuel and helped him over toward Leeja. Then he used Counsel to help him determine who the other three prisoners were. One was a battered and bruised Eloi, only an adolescent, probably a roof-runner by the way their boots were fitted with iron spikes. The second prisoner was a cavalry officer of some sort. She had heavy, black hair and wore what was left of her uniform with some dignity. The third prisoner was indeed fitted with a heavy iron mask that encased their head like a great helm. One arm was heavily bandaged, the other one was warped into a deliberately mangled claw-like thing. Counsel noted that they were blue-blooded, an Ignoble, one of those born to the numerous bastards, deposed nobles, and inconvenient heirs and the like that were sent to New Chillon as prisoners, often for the rest of their lives.
He released the prisoners, including the Ignoble and led them over toward where Leeja kept the custodian immobilized.
"Do. You. Have. A. Plan?" Demanded the Ignoble.
Bujilli laughed, nodded once, then cast Zone of Normality around the group. He adjusted gravity within a ten foot radius to make it easier to carry to assist the various prisoners and to drag along the custodian.
"What are you doing?" asked the cavalry officer.
"We're going for a little walk. Down the side of this tower. Those of you who are able to, give the others some help. I don't want to leave anyone behind. Unless you insist."
No one argued. Everyone did what they could to help one another along. Bujilli concentrated on maintaining the spell and moving it along to accommodate their collective pace, which was thankfully not too fast for him to keep up with.
The prisoners hesitated at the edge of the platform. Bujilli shoved the custodian over the edge then followed. they both reoriented instantly, their feet firmly in place on the outer wall facing downwards. Bujilli began to walk, dragging the spell's area of effect with him. Leeja stifled a laugh and busied herself helping the prisoners to keep up. She released the custodian, after binding his arms and hands behind his back with a Web spell.
They were nearly to the second mile down the side of the tower when a group of guards and a second custodian thought to look over the edge.
Bujilli kept everyone moving forward and downward. He tried to pick out the best route down the side of the tower, avoiding obvious hazards and looking for some sort of balcony or landing or something to use to gain access to the tower. He had no illusions about maintaining his spell long enough to make it all the way to the ground level.
Thunder shook the tower. The rain began to fall in earnest. The storm was upon them.
Leeja slipped on the tower surface. Then one of the prisoners nearly slid outside the area of effect for the spell. they needed to get out of the rain before they all slipped and fell to their deaths.
Just ahead, below their current position, was an arch that connected to a smaller, secondary tower that flanked the one they were walking down. Not far below that bridge-like arch was a series of balconies. Most of the balconies were empty. Two of the closest ones were overgrown; one with Red Weeds, the other with dense green vines and ferns.
Bujilli...
What should Bujill do next?
You Decide!
*The Synchronocitor was first mentioned in Episode One. It is a mechanism allowing the wielder to travel between worlds, planes and dimensions. Bujilli entered the dungeons below Zormur's Palace in search of a Synchronocitor he was led to believe could be found down there by the Gem of Muktra. The Gem of Muktra was with Bujilli from Episode One until he left it behind in the underworld below Zormur's Palace in Episode Fifteen. The Gem has since found a new companion...
** We learned that Lemuel and Hedrard were being held prisoner in Episode 93.
***Bujilli received the Fighting Wand in Episode 70, along with the Manticore Pistol and a few other things.
+ Thanks to Leicester's roll of 14 in the comments for last episode, the fighting wand is now tied to Selinoth Yr, from the 20 Deadly Planes table.
What should Bujilli, Leeja and the group of partly-rescued prisoners do next?
Well, first we need to roll for Initiative: Roll 1d6 each for (1) Bujilli, (2) Leeja, (3) The prisnoers as a group (includes Hedrard and Lemuel), 4) The Custodian looking down on them, 5) for whomever/whatever shows up next.
Then you, the readers can start making suggestions as to the best next course of action in the comments below and we'll see where that leads us...
We'll need a few D20 rolls, 7 would be good.
We could also use a few 2d6 Reaction Rolls (as per P. 52 of the Labyrinth Lord rules), for the three prisoners (-2 each). Remember that Labyrinth Lord uses a scheme where the lower the number, the better the reaction!
As always, if you have questions or suggestions let me know in the comments, or via email.
What happens next is up to you, the readers.
You Decide!
Series Indexes
Starting Page | Central Index
About Bujilli (What is This?) | Who is Bujilli? | How to Play
Bujilli's Character Sheet | Leeja's Character Sheet | Cast of Characters
Bujilli's Spells | Little Brown Journals | Loot Tally | House Rules
Series Two (Episode 20-36)
Series Three (Episodes 37-49)
Series Four (Episodes 50-68)
Series Five (Episodes 69-99)
Series Six(Episodes 100-ongoing)
Labyrinth Lord | Advanced Edition Companion
Series Six(Episodes 100-ongoing)
Labyrinth Lord | Advanced Edition Companion
4, 6, 1, 5, 4 (the prisoners can't get a break! I'd be surprised if they all made it to safety...)
ReplyDeletehurm... The arch looks like the safest option - especially if our party starts to get a bit slippy. From what little I've read of the flora in your little world, the Red Weeds have likely choked up the room they're in, possible infesting adjoining corridors - and someone let them set root... and the vines may be a bit... hungry...
If they take the 'safe' route to the arched bridge, the Custodian can ID the location and sound the alarm - other balconies less so - however, do our heroes have light or other means of being easily spotted? On the other hand - they are quite a distance from the 2nd Custodian - is his vision REALLY that good, especially with the storm and all?
Not a lot of suggestions I'm afraid - more questions.
Just typing out loud...
Ouch. With those numbers, you're right--it is going to be a challenge to get everyone down the tower safely.
DeleteThe arch has the advantage of providing a flat surface to walk on, so if the spell fails or the rain gets really torrential (extremely likely), then they might not get washed away.
The Red Weeds can be problematic. I just checked and the '20 Types of Red Weeds' didn't get posted, so it's stuck in the queue somewhere. I'll go dig that out and get it posted once I find it. Just in case. As to the vines...they are from one of the Greenhells, so they are definitely quite hungry, carnivorous things.
As to the custodian, he saw something, but isn't sure what he saw and now he needs to decide whether or no to report 'something' or to forget it. This is causing him some distress. All the paperwork involved could get to be a real chore...but the punishment for not reporting something that turns out to be important is worse.
Thanks for the questions; you've been a big help to get things sorted out for the next episode.
Thanks,
DeleteTrue - things are getting (?) dicey.
After all, there is where the may WANT to land, vs where they HAVE to land, depending on conditions, spell duration, and incoming threats.
I'm seeing Leeja being very aware of threats and changing conditions, Buj less so, as he is trying to keep the Zone together. Prisoners weakened, disoriented and generally out of their element ... my personal initiative roll in a similar circumstance would be crap, too.
paperwork, punishment - tough call.
"All our prisoners are abused appropriately..."
ReplyDeleteThat line almost made me laugh out loud.
I'll try harder next time...
DeleteThis is a tough old situation. Do we know how long till the Synchronocitor finishes recharging? At a mile down there may be just an outside chance it's ready, or will be ready in time. Beyond that, would Counsel be able to suggest any way the spell could be boosted or optimised while in use?
ReplyDeletePretty much par for the course. The Synchronocitor can Plane Shift again in 1d4 days, but we need a d4 roll to determine how long it will take this time. Bujilli needs to focus on studying the mechanism for 1d4 hours before he can unlock the other abilities such as 2 random Detection Powers, 1d4 random Spell-like Power(s), 3 Special Abilities*, and 1d6 languages selected at random, as per the post detailing the Synchronocitor. All the basic options are available in the section of the Labyrinth lord rules that deal with magic/sapient swords. I have more elaborate rules here for handling this sort of thing and once I dig them out, I'll either post them or put them into a pdf, depending on whether there is any interest in such things.
DeleteCounsel can scan the device and advise Bujilli in some aspects of its operation and overall functioning, but he will need to invest the time to unlock its secrets for himself. As to boosting the Zone of Normality spell...that might be an option, but it does run the risk of disrupting the currently-cast version of the spell if counsel were to intervene or interfere. As to refining the already cast spell, that will require a level of concentration that might interfere with the spell, possibly leading to a break-down or interruption that might be less than optimal in the current situation. If Bujilli were to find himself in a place where he could relax a bit and really focus on just the spell, then he could certainly begin to revise and rework it, as he did when modifying other spells in the past...but under the current circumstances, he's trying to do too much other stuff to be able to effectively modify or revise the spell.
Let's hope the spell lasts to the arch.
DeleteAs the seeds of a last gasp back-up plan of growing desperation: Leeja and Bujilli seem the most likely to manage a drop, and could try keeping the others up in a fairly motley way, maybe one with an axe driven into a crevice and hung on to, another one or two by use of Levitate and maybe even another pinned with Hold Person, and Leeja could see how much material boosting Web might produce, for holding or scaling.
It will be a challenge with the rolls made by Leicester above...but we'll see...
DeleteYour back-up plan makes the most of the resources at-hand; it sounds like something Bujilli would definitely consider as he looks down at the miles and miles of wall before them...
First, the rolls.
ReplyDelete7d20s = 14, 15, 12, 17, 18, 11, and 20.
Reaction Rolls including -2 adjustment (please fix if I didn't do the adjustment correctly):
Prisoner 1 = 1 (2 + 1 - 2)
Prisoner 2 = 5 (1 + 6 - 2)
Prisoner 3 = 2 (2 + 2 - 2)
Synchronocitor Plane Shift Recharge (1d4) = 2
I think their best bet is to head for the arch, being the closest surface that will allow Bujilli to release Zone of Normality. Hedrard or one of the prisoners may have some ability / insight in dealing with the Red Weeds, but he needs to be able to speak with them all without having to maintain a spell as well. They may also know more about where exactly they are than Bujilli or Leeja.
To add to Porky's last-gasp back-up I think Bujilli, Leeja, Hedrard, and Lemuel take precedence over the prisoners and custodian if we need to prioritize who gets caught and who potentially falls. Ideally everyone makes it, but just in case.
First off, thanks for the d20 rolls. They will come in handy as we find out whether the group can make it to the arch or have to try something else out.
DeleteThe Synchronocitor needs 2 hours to reset.
Seems like the Arch is the consensus opinion, so we'll go with that.
Good idea to talk with Hedrard and the others to get their bearings and to consider options like getting past the Red Weeds or the other stuff. These ruined towers are part of Wermspittle, but on an Adjacent World, one of those accessed through the Inner Ramparts, so there are a few things that they might want to know before blundering into land-mines or worse...
Okay, so now we know who falls and who gets grabbed...which makes sense, as things rarely go ideally...
Oh and the Reaction Rolls are Favorable for Prisoners 1 & 3, and Indifferent/Uninterested for Prisoner 2. So at least two of them are going to make an effort to lend a hand if they can be useful...
DeleteBelated congratulations on reaching 100 episodes - I do hope your proud of the feat - also belated best birthday wishes. I love the image of Bujili and the rest, out in the storm, on a slow march down the side of a great tower. My only thought to add, Bujili ought to ask the Groot a couple of questions about the second tower, who or what the group is likely to find? He may be more amenable facing that long drop down.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm also glad to have survived this long and hope to keep going for a long while yet. I've learned a lot in doing this serial and want to do more...a Lot More.
DeleteI agree--the image of Bujilli and his group on a long march down the side of a Gormenghast-like mega-tower in a thunderstorm is one my favorites, and it shows off the spell nicely.
Your Groot reference threw me at first, but the vines and ferns overgrowing the other balcony could be something like that--my notes were more influenced by 'Seedling of Mars' by Clark Ashton Smith, Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors, Mr. Wyndham's Triffids, Henneburg's Green Gods, The Heap, Mr. Burroughs' Plant Men of Barsoom, and Mr. Wells' Orchids, with a touch of Green Mansions and Hodgson's classic 'Boats of the Glen Carrig,' among others--but I thoroughly enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, so a Groot reference seems like a perfect fit. Hedrard might be the best choice to attempt to communicate with the Greenlords...though the eloi roof-runner may have a bit of success in that regard as well...if they are of the proper caste, of course.
Once they reach the Arch, this can all get worked out...unless...
First belated congratulations, now belated apologies. While I also enjoyed the Guardians movie, my "Groot" reference was a typo. I'd meant "Grood." The custodian who's head just popped in your latest nasty surprise. (Love it.) I didn't even know I'd wanted to see our party parlay with the Greenlords, but now I do.
DeleteThanks. No need to apologize. The Groot connection is a good thing. Too bad about poor Grood losing his head, though. We could be seeing more of the Greenlords in the future...depending on what the players decide...
Delete