Walk on the Wild Side (under construction)
Our heroes are summoned to Alabastar Swan’s (the guild master) office. They find him buried in paperwork, apparently taking on several of the scribe and messenger duties after a series of staff cuts. He gives Upgraydd a letter from an old war buddy from his time in the Gnomish Special Forces.
His name is Bertrum and after his time in the military, he got involved in the criminal underground. Nothing major, just little odd jobs that float at the edges of legality. He has contacted Upgraydd because he owes him his life once or twice over and has scored a big job. The group is going to smuggle weapons away from their original recipients (the city watch) and sell them to Betrum’s buyer in the city.
The tower reaches up 100 feet above the city. It gracefully reaches up and from the base you can see electricity crackling with blue green light over large power conduits that are tucked under the cylindrical peak. You can see a similar crackling inside the tall vertical windows. Having entered the courtyard you approach the large metal double doors at the top of a staircase.
The door in unlocked and can be opened or if the players knock, will open of it’s own power.
The chamber is vast, taking up the entire base of the tower. Besides additional tubes and cables that all reach upward, there are strange nodules that hang from the far up reaches of the ceiling with catwalks weaving through them. Tiny indications of power flicker from each nodule and the cables that attach to them, but no other light sources exist. On the floor just slightly off center of the chamber is an upright ring that a large creature could pass through.
After you have a chance to observe the chamber, the ring snaps to life, emitting a bright blue light and filling the interior with a bright film. It shimmers for a moment before a humanoid creature steps through. He is dressed smartly and walks with a sharp clip-clop up to you with a smile.
Whatever he is, he’s completely unfamiliar to you. If forced to describe him, you’d have to say that he was an elf, but his skin was a deep blue, like that of a lobster (look it up). His eyes are completely black, but he doesn’t strike you as evil, just intelligent. His face extends into a short pantheran muzzle. He has a high forehead and his long black hair is worn loosely down over his shoulders. On his neck you think you see indications of gills.
“My lady Lilandra greets and welcomes you to her tower! She is delighted to have guests! What my I say is the reason for your visit?”
“I am Camden, the majordomo of this tower.”
“Hmm, I am unaware of anything like that. Are you sure you have the correct tower?”
“Very well, I shall grant your audience. If you’ll step through here. I will let the lady know your are on your way.”
He beckons to the portal.
“This is the only way to the upper levels,” he says with a gesture upward, “I assure you it will not harm you.”
The portal is a strange experience, similar to walking into an over air conditioned store, but not a temperature thing. Upon exiting you are very aware that something has changed. Each player roll a d20.
Chicken 5. Rat 9. Goat 13. Emu 17. Raven
Dog 6. Cat 10. Cow 14. Pony 18. Squirrel
Beaver 7. Snake 11. Pig 15. Penguin 19. Spider
Bat 8. Owl 12. Parrot 16. Monkey 20. Moose
You look back at your companions to see they’ve been transformed into the following animals. Your physical attributes have changed to those of your new forms but you retain your INT, WIS, and CHA. Additionally, your equipment, weapons, and armor have either disappeared or fused with your new forms. Depending on how challenging you guys would like, you can either speak or only make the animal sounds of your new form.
The greeter also steps through the portal, his form remaining unchanged.
“Oh, I’m sorry! My lady is a busy woman, so it falsl to me to weed out meetings that are potential wastes of her precise time. You’ll notice that you've been transformed into animals, including your equipment. Now I am to run you through a few challenges to prove you are worthy. Have we acclimated to our new quadrapedity or feathers? Excellent.”
He walks to the center of the room as blue green sconces light up around the diameter. At the center of the room is a circle of 4 portal rings. The room also has an assortment of seemingly random objects.
“I’m sure the representatives of Guild Palentine are up to a challenge, good luck getting out of this room!”
He walks back through the portal and it disappears with a flash.
Claws 6. Bat Wings 11. Fangs
Size Increase 7. Natural Armor 12. Extra Limbs
Poison Stinger 8. Darkvision 13.
Burrow 10. Water Breathing
The feeling of walking into over air conditioned returns as you step through the portal. As the portal snaps shut your eyes adjust to the new lighting of this level. Blue green sconces adorn the walls every few yards and the floor here is metal grating over pipes and conduit.
Mutant Incubation Chamber-
Looking around this room you observe a room with several large tubes around the perimeter. A catwalk with three of the blue men arcs overhead watching the area and another platform sits slightly higher with pipes connecting to the tubes. Another blue elf is working the controls there. The blue green crackling energy you saw from the outside arcs over coils at the top of each tube and up wires connected to the ceiling.
If you look in a tube you can see an elf who’s a much lighter shade of blue suspended in some kind of pale green fluid. He gently bobs as the energy gently pulses from the bottom of the tube.
The hallway is lined with more tubes of mutants. These ones look further along, their hair is all uniform black, their muzzles are more pronounced. Most notable here is a large bipedal creature. It walks on pachyderm feet and it’s beady black eyes glance about under two large horns that go straight out from it’s head. The creature has a kind of cobbled together look to it, smoothed and refined but still unnatural.
You make your way through two sets of doors into what appears to be a workshop. There are several workbenchs and tables with an assortment of small animal parts. Some look real, others look animatronic and others look like doll parts. Here you see the first female versions of the blue elves. Dressed in white with masks over their noses and mouths they seem to be constructing little monsters and then disassembling them, seemingly trying to get the animals to a “feel” that they enjoy. As you watch one of them carries her creature over to a ring of power, touches her chest and the ring and summons that same blue green light. It increases in intensity then flashes and the creature at the center spasms in panic as it is suddenly alive. She collects it lovingly, carries it to a pipe that stretches upward and lets the creature scamper up it.
Rygor Incubation Chamber-
This room is similar to the first chamber with tubes and pipes, but the tubes are much larger and the creatures within are very big. This room has a catwalk as well, with a single sentry. The only other thing of note is a control panel with a large red button.
Around the corner is a small control panel that seems to activate the pair of portals at the end.
The now familiar feeling of portal travel washes over your skin and you exit with a sigh. You’ve increased in size and the heft of your limbs takes a moment to get used to. The room you’re in now is the same size as the first and now is surrounded with a large moat that’s lit from underneath. As you stand in your new form you hear another portal at the other end of the platform snap open and an owlbear exits in a fury.
Once the owlbear is defeated the portals with fold down and the metal ring at the center of the room will brighten with portal energy. You slowly sink into the energy, this time the feeling is as if you were coming into a warm house from a frozen day. You see nothing but feel your feet gently make contact with the ground, notably your feet as you’ve returned to your original forms. The light fades and your eyes adjust to see a grand room that sweeps out from the floor of the chamber up to dark rafters. The huge open windows you saw from the ground let a cross breeze through and the view of Baline is spectacular. Before you is a raised throne with a woman seated comfortably. Her head is hidden in shadow but you can see she wears white lab coat robes.
Perception checks will reveal several things. First a horrifying creature climbs down from the rafters, it’s one alien eye flicks from one of you to the next. It reaches the woman’s side and whispers something to her.
Higher perception checks will reveal the large green frog creature hiding behind the throne. It seems to be observing you, but keeping its distance at the behest of the woman.
“Welcome to my tower, I do appreciate your help with my experiments, the input has been most illuminating thank you. The owlbear is such an inspired creation, I feel it is the real pinnacle of creative formation.’
She stands and begins to walk toward you, revealing her head for the first time. She is beautiful but more striking is the mass of writhing tentacles that form her hair. They move like an anomony, flowing with her movement but clearly alive. You note she is also blindfolded but seems to have no problem navigating the room.
“Yes, I am afraid I have taken the guns and I won’t be returning them. My Kuuthi warriors need the proper armament to make full use of their abilities, they’re practically made for each other, the fine craftsmanship means the muskets can get wet temporarily and won’t spoil the shot. The Kuuti are natural marines now and bows are so beneath them.”
“My homunculi tell me you’ve already been paid for the arms, I don’t see why this is your problem.”
“You could say I need the guns because of you, don’t think the city hasn’t noticed the escalation of your guilds’ hostilities. Why poor Greyhawk was brought to me at the brink of death! His poor face! Don’t worry though, he’s even better now thanks to me. Although his imputent troops thought they could walk away after without proper tribute, but they made excellent base material for the Kuuti, don’t you think? Anyway, with a coming conflict I had to be sure that what’s mine was secure. With these I can continue my research without worry of interruption.”
romaincrisis
gamechangershow
2087
pixelskylines