Deathtrap Dungeon: Infernal Affairs (IC)

[WhiteFox]

Welcome back to the RP. I'm your new GM WhiteFox, and I'll be taking over for Mechanisto.

This is the continuation of the Deathtrap Dungeon RP. The original topic can be found here.

Please note that I will be posting a new OOC topic for the RP, and will be accepting new character submissions there and then.

When we last left our intrepid adventurers dastardly vilains enterprising hopefuls, everyone had been infected with a poorly understood contagious magical curse, at a recruiting event for a dungeon being newly formed. The only exit to the dungeon, a series of portal archways, had been sealed off in order to quarantine the area.

All that's left is to cure the infection, hunt down the parties responsible, and impress the administration enough to land a managerial position. Straighten your ties, sharpen your swords, and make sure your application forms are signed in blood. There's work to be done.



Portal Chamber, Xephelon

   Whoever designed the portals had done a very impressive job. Each archway was a combination of portal enchantments, which altered space to create wormholes of sorts, teleportation enchantments, which transported a subject from one location to another, and summoning enchantments, which didn't actually move a subject so much as recreate them metaphysically at another location.
   The first loophole to consider in any summoning spell was that there was no way to banish something from its native realm. Anything born on this plane, such as a multiplying disease, would be native to it. The portals did indeed have methods for dealing with such things, however, and extensive definitions and criteria for contagions.
   If the contagion hadn't been detected or dealt with when it arrived, or when it began infecting others, the most obvious answer was that the portal enchantments hadn't identified it as a contagion, and that it couldn't be banished because it was native to this plane. Given the depth and detail that had gone into that aspect of the enchantment, however, the infection must have been extremely out of the ordinary... not only a new disease, but a new kind of disease. If the contagion did indeed defy the criteria used by the portals, Xephelon would need to learn more about the contagion itself before he could determine why.
   One other thing stood out: If one person were to spread the infection to another person, the portal enchantments would interpret it as a hostile action. Even if the enchantments didn't recognize the attack as a contagion, it would still recognize it as an attack of some kind. Evidently, this hadn't happened.
   Not only had the contagion foiled the portal enchantments... so had the person responsible for spreading it.

tech, if you have any specific questions as to what Xeph might find, feel free to ask me in IRC or over PM.



Commons, Kittrick

   Before the feline could respond to Kittrick, or Baseels back, a gryphon with the colours of a blue and yellow macaw sidled up to Kittrick.
   "Miss Kittrick? Gaelan." He said, gesturing to himself, making as brief an introduction as possible. "Kiprin wanted you to know that he's found the... 'friend' you were looking out for. She's over in one of the seating areas, enjoying the sound of her own voice."



Briefing room, Zyaris:

   Thessaly herself had surprisingly little magic on her. Whatever made an Undead keep moving, it was an inherent aspect of them. It may have been magical, but it wasn't a spell or an enchantment.
   She had a few vials and bottles in pouches on her belt that were enchanted to preserve their contents, most likely for alchemical materials. The tome she was now scribbling in had a simple locking enchantment on it as well.
   There were three active spells on her;
   The first was a rather powerful and elaborate Oath spell. Given that she was a servant to Nethalzar, it was likely a binding contract between the two of them. An Oath had to be willingly accepted by the subject, which meant that she hadn't been forced into service, or bound against her will.
   The second spell was white magic: Fortify Spirit. Most likely, it was meant to bolster the reserves of energy being drained by the infection.
   The Protection From Self spell was also present... and it was heavily reducing the effects of the fortification.

Note: If I've misintepreted anything about how the Analyze Dweomer spell works, do let me know.



Briefing Room

   Nethalzar contemplated situation for a moment.
   "Alright then..." He said. "As I see it, we have the following priorities:"
   "Whoever is responsible for all this has yet to be positively identified. If anyone has any leads, now would be the time to speak of them. If nothing is yet known, we'll need to start looking. Mnogo, Zyaris... I imagine your skills would be useful in that respect." He said.
   "Barnabus... There is something of a rather sensitive nature that must be dealt with. It may be dangerous, but you and your people may be the only ones capable of performing this task. If I could discuss it with you, aside, in the portal chamber, I would appreciate it."
   "Lastly, Roxanne must be examined further. My field of expertise in the arcane is rather specific, so anyone capable of analyzing magic, of any sort, would be of great help." He said. "Glup, I think your talents would be useful there. Winston, any medical knowledge you might have would likely be of great use as well. Thessaly can take you to her." he said, gesturing to his shrouded apprentice.
   Then he froze, perplexed. "Winston... are you aware that only half of you is infected?" He said.
   His surprise was interrupted when Baseel entered the briefing room. Nethalzar shook his head to clear his thoughts, somewhat comically given the length of the giraffes neck. "Ah, Baseel. Excellent. I was hoping to have a word with you. I was about to depart for the Portal Chamber... might we discuss something en-route?"
   He turned to the rest of the room. "Ah-ahm... Unless, of course, anyone has anything to discuss before we adjourn. These are, after all, only suggestions on my part."

   Thessaly tugged on Winstons sleeve. "Since Master Nethalzar will be occupied for some time yet, I can take a look at that half-non-infection for you." She said.

Just to be clear: Nethalzar isn't giving orders here, nor would he have the authority to do so. I'm kind of kick-starting things with a sledgehammer, so this is more direct then I'd normally be as a GM.

As far as I am aware, I've given a little nudge to every PC. If I skipped you or I'm mistaken as to where your characters situation, or I've made some gaping mistake, let me know.

[Meany]

Barbarus gave the five Weres under his command another look over.  Potan was still clutching his neck and glaring daggers at the elderly gentlemen.  He pointed at the nameless rabbit.  "Panama,"  then the mongoose boy,  "Belize.  Panama is in charge, Belize see to Potan.  Try not to kill each other while I'm gone, or there will be consequences."  Barbarus left them with a smile, walking off toward Nethalazer.  Seeing the demon's return, the elderly Were offered another bow; politeness is in consistency.  The oddity of the weasel being only half infected, while interesting, was not Barbarus' focus right now.  Part of being a good conversationalist was to pay complete attention to the others conversing.

"Shall we continue on to the portal chamber, gentlemen?"

[Kafzeil]

Only half infected?! But how-

It really only took a moment, but Winston figured it had something to do with his...unique body. Of course he actually knew very little about his new body. science was hard to do whilst in a coma. He stroked his chin, murmuring a slight "Intriguing" to himself.

The plant-being hybrid only snapped out of his trance like thought when he felt a tug at his sleeve. It was one of Nethalzar's aides, subordinates, Minions...whatever the Hell he called them. So long as they weren't slaves of any kind. the relationship between minion and master should be one of mutual trust and not coercion or mind control, after all.

He grinned a toothy grin at Thessaly's suggestion."Yes! Why, right away!" be put his arm around Thessaly and pulled her closely grinning as he pointed skyward."There is is science to done, and not a moment to spare, my necrotic accomplice!" Thessaly would soon notice once Winston was excited or pleased, his voice would raise several decibels.

Winston suddenly frowned then looked at Thessaly."This won't involve vivisection, will it?" he asked, sounding a bit nervous.

[VAE]

As he heard the instructions, Glup froze.
Dealing with magic wasn't in his field of competence, in fact it didn't even trespass on the surrounding land parcels, like "working knowledge", or "familiarity". On the other hand, complaining about orders in a critical situation wasn't exactly a clever thing to do, and the alternative however more attractive, would involve him being grouped with both of his current enemies, each of which looked to be enough of a problem on his own.

Maybe he won't try magics since it apparently failed them already.... And i can't sort out the feathery lizardman and the mudman at the same time....  It might be for the better

Glup let out a disillusioned gargly noise, shaken himself off and approached Winston and Thessaly.

"Allglighth! Whegle do we have to go?"

[techmaster-glitch]

Portal Chamber

  The documents Xephelon read through confirmed what the kobold had told him. As absurdly complex as it was, the portal's banishment did have means for dealing with pathogens and other things spread from a person who came through them.
  Which made the current predicament all the more worrying.
  Xephelon considered what else he knew, namely, that he and everyone else who had come through the portals were not really "here", but they were 'summoned", which is why the banishment has any effect in the first place. Unfortunately, Xephelon was confounded. The magic seemed to account for everything, and yet, the contagion was still spreading. Either the magic was outright defeated, or it was simply something -not- covered by the portal magic or...whoever had brought "it" here in the first place did not come through the portals. Any of these or more could have happened.
  The exoshell seemed to "look" at the kobold as Xephelon's voice emitted from it. One of the four arms held up the breifcase after he put all the documents back in. "Do you mind if I hold onto this? I should go report the information I've been able to glean from these documents to Lady Nadihya and the others. In the meantime, the quarantine should be maintained as Lady Nadihya ordered. Is there a way to shut down these portals temporarily, or must you use your cadre of guards to police it manually?"

[Lisky]

Briefing Room

Baseel's exit was probably a good thing.  He had an excellent ability to control his anger... most of the time.  However, there were several things he absolutely despised, the weaker races, attempting to force their will upon a superior race ranked very near the top of his list of irksome things, especially weedy beings with supposedly keen intellects.  One should know better than to try and legal-speak their way around a creature who could kill them while blind-folded, both arms tied behind their back with anti-magic bracers, and several tranquilizers introduced into their system.  Suffice to say, Baseel knew his superiority, and the fact the being was still fighting made it very difficult to not crush his skull, then get banished.  He made the best of the situation at hand,  he left.

The canine demon found his way to the briefing room a few short minutes later, and, upon entrance, was greeted by the former-member of his race.  He bowed his head in polite acknowledgment, "Of course, whatever you need of me" he replied.

Clasping his hands behind his back, he waited to see if there was any questions while preparing to follow Neth to where-ever he happened to be needed.

[Inumo]

Storage Room Somewhere

The... creature... in charge of locking the door had his eye inside until the last moment. Jio sprinted as soon as he Turned to try and get it before it locked, but the storage room they'd dumped him in was long, and he'd been put close to the far wall. Even with his supernatural speed, he heard the locking mechanisms click into place as he put his hand on the handle. No! He thought. He battered on the door as hard as he could, but it yielded no response. Dejected, he sat down slumped against the door. Damn it... Jio sighed heavily. "I should be in bed, sleeping right now. Bah, why did I go out for that nighttime walk?" He knew full well why: nighttime was a lot more peaceful than the daytime. Tired, he let his head hang and tried to fall asleep.



Another of the same type of creature opened up the door Jio was resting on. As he pulled on the handle, Jio woke. What the--? He Turned, and the creature leaped back in alarm at the sight of the feline statue. Made out of a dark granite, it had been detailed to the point that, when the creature touched it, he half expected to feel fur instead of stone. A red blindfold had been tied over the statue's eyes. Realizing it wasn't alive, the creature shouted back at his friends without looking, "Oh har har, guys. Really funny." Nonetheless, he still stepped cautiously around the statue. It had been set up such that it looked almost like it had been sleeping against the door. The statue wore a loose shirt with short sleeves and a pair of long, baggy pants that reached to the top of its sandals, all carved out of apparently the same block of stone. "What the heck were we planning on using this for, even?" The creature murmured to himself. Turning back to the interior of the storage room, Jio Turned to flesh once more, scrambling up onto his feet and bolting out of the room. When the kobold finally came back to the door with the carpet he'd been asked to retrieve, the statue was gone.

Thank all that's holy for the ability to see around corners, Jio thought as he ran through the halls, avoiding whatever people he saw. Now, how can I get out of this place?

[Drayco84]

   Zyrais watched Winston and later Glup come closer to Thessaly, however, his main concern what that the Protection From Self spell was on her as well, along with a Fortify Spirit that was failing to hold back it's effects...
   "My apologies, Nethalzar, but as you already know this affliction is magical in nature. While curses aren't my specialty, dispelling magic is a lot closer to my forte. I'll have to join you on your hunt for the perpetrator later. In the meantime, Dee has already found something, and the gryphon Kittrick is tracking a lead right now, I believe." He turned towards the professor's underling and sighed before speaking to her...
  "Well, let's see what I can do to try and slow down or stop this thing. Please, lead the way."

[Liatai]

"Gaelan? Ah, thank you." Kittrick turned her head to glance at the newcomer, nodding. "Would you care to point me in that direction? I am afraid I am not yet as familiar with the compound as I would like to -- pardon me for a moment."

With that, she twisted her head so that she could see the pseudodragon out of the corner of her eye, picking her words carefully. "Miss Death-Venom, a thought just occurred to me. You had said that you could communicate with people... non-verbally. How far away can you send a message? Could you perhaps tell your master about the current situation? If this... friend is not particularly inclined to be cooperative, we may require some assistance."

[Drayco84]

   Dee stared back at Kittrick as if she was an idiot. Which, in her mind, everyone else was...
   "First off, he's not my 'master', he's a business associate." She began, still feeling spiteful because her ride didn't listen to her the first time. "Second, the range is limited, and I have no way of knowing if he even heard, much less paid attention to me." She lied, knowing full well that he responded to her. "If you had listened to me and made your report regardless of your appearance, you wouldn't be stuck between a rock and a hard place now, would you? So, your only viable option is to track down the suspect on your own, and observe them until you have a chance to take them down on your own." She replied, sounding a bit perturbed. "I'll help where I can, but I can't make any guarantees."

[WhiteFox]

   Breifing Room, Thessaly

   Winston caught Thessaly off guard, and she froze for a moment at his grasp. The jostling upset her hood, and Winston was close enough that, for a moment, he could see Thessalys face underneath it.
   Or rather, the lack of one. Under her hood was a blackened skull.
   She shuffled out from under his arm, and quickly adjusted her hood. Then her softly glowing eyes opened again. She clutched her journal tightly, Crossing her arms over her chest.
   After a tense pause, she spoke. "We can maintain a professional decorum, can we not?" She said, addressing Zyaris, Glup, and Winston, but didn't take her eyes off the latter.
   She turned and led them out of the briefing room. "Roxanne is resting in another room, which was set aside for laboratory work. It's right this way."
   As she walked through the hallway, she wove another Aura Sight spell and looked Winston over. "Well, that's... interesting. You don't seem to be entirely plant material. The infection is only taking root on your animal tissues. I'd hypothesize that since plants don't have souls in the same manner that sentient creatures do, the infection can't spread to it. This corroborates our theory that the contagion feeds on the hosts soul." She said.
   She squinted. "I've never seen a living hybrid such as yourself. Master Nethalzar routinely grafts unliving tissues together, but living tissues tend to reject each other. Even regrowth healing magic and tailored immuno-suppressent spells can't sustain a graft for long. Druids can temporarily..."
   She cut off, having arrived at the room where Roxanne was resting. It was a small hall, two of it's walls lined with alcoves and columns, and myriads of alchemical and magical equipment were set up on stone slab tables. Off to the side, Roxanne was resting on a dias. Her abdomen was an open cavity, and her fur was a pale blue-gray.
   "Gentlemen." Roxanne croaked as they entered. "Can I help you?"



   Breifing Room, Nethalzar

   Nethalzar walked at a brisk march as he led Barbarous and Baseel out of the briefing room, and Barbarous' recruits trailed behind them.
   "My greatest immediate concern at this time is the possibility of an outright riot." Nethalzar said to Baseel. "Particularly considering the relatively small confines of the area, and such unconfinable guests. Speaking from experience, stampedes with nowhere to go typically resemble meat grinders."
   Nethalzar remained silent as they passed through the main hall, where guests continued to circulate. A great red curtain had been drawn across the towering archway that lead to the portal chamber, and two diminutive kobolds stood guard in front of it. They glanced over Nethalzar and his party, but didn't interrupt their passing.
   A dozen kobolds stood at the ready behind the curtain. The portal chamber itself was nearly empty, apart from Xephelon and a few kobold staff.
   Nethalzar continued. "In order to lower the risk of such a catastrophic event, Nadihya has suggested that we form a security force from the more violent guests in order to dissuade them from just such activity. This would have to be done discreetly, so as not to weaken Nadihya's perceived control over the situation."
   "Would you be capable of gathering such a group, and keeping them in check? If so, Nadihya has extended the offer of a trial period of employment, which may be terminated at any time by either parties without incurring penalties, in which you would be granted authority on behalf of the administration." He hefted the tome that was chained to his belt, flipped it open in one hand, and drew out a sheef of papers. "I have an agreement already prepared. You may note that I've observed all the due formalities of a demonic contract."

   While Nethalzar spoke with Baseel, a faint glimmer formed next to Barbarous, and hovered an inch or two from his ear.
   A very quiet female voice came from it: "Hello! My name is Fade. Please don't look at me, or do anything to acknowledge my presence. In order to maintain discretion, Master Nethalzar has asked me to inform you of his request."
   "There was an incident earlier in which a hyena was banished from the dungeon for unruly conduct, just before the quarantine was put in effect. He  may have been infected at the time: this individual will have to be located and examined. As the one race proven imprevious to the contagion, the weres are the only ones capable of carrying this out. If the nature of this task is made public, the dungeon administration will have to deny any involvement with it."
   "There is one other person who has been found to be unaffected by the contagion. This individual is capable of determining whether or not the hyena has been infected, shall accompany you for this purpose. It is to be pointed out that if this information is made public it will damage Nadihyas standing, and is being shared with you now as a show of trust and support."
   "If you accept this task you may discuss the details with Master Nethalzar here in the portal chamber, which has been fully secured."




   Portal Chamber, Xephelon

   techmaster-gltch: It would be an implausible feat of intuition for Xephelon to guess that the pathogen was intangible, since he doesn't know anything about it at this point, nor is he a pathologist. While a minor issue that doesn't complicate matters much, Xephelons first conclusion constitutes meta-gaming (character possessing OOC knowledge). Please be mindful of such things in the future.

   The Kobold fidgeted. "These documents are meant to be kept secure..." he started, but trailed off as he contemplated the heavily armoured Mythos. "Just... don't let anyone else look at them." He said, and handed the satchel with the guards seal.
   "The portals themselves have been sealed due to the quarantine. While the enchantments are still in place, they are no longer physically associated with the archways. The external gate termini have been deactivated entirely. The guards runes are still in force, however, so we can still banish troublemakers."
   Then the kobold froze as comprehension dawned on him. He spoke in a harsh whisper: "Except that banishing people would break quarantine, so we can't do that any more."

It can be assumed that Xeph can readily see Nethalzar and his group entering the chamber.


   Backstage Rooms, Jio

   The halls seemed to go on endlessly, and the only people Jio encountered were other kobolds. Most were transporting food or raw materials, but a few were equipped as guards.   
   After only a few minutes of dashing through the halls, making the occasional acrobatic contortions to avoid being sighted, Jio abruptly found the main hall filled with guests of all sorts. Only sheer reflex let him dart back from the archway before someone caught sight of him... If he'd been sighted in front of a crowd, the sheer number of eyes would have kept him pinned in stone-form.
   At that point, Jio was oddly tired. It couldn't have been lack of sleep, since he'd just gotten a few hours of that. Considering that he could normally have kept this pace up for hours, it probably wasn't physical exhaustion either. Just... a nebulous sense of fatigue.
   Shortly after the fatigue started to set in, a perculiar sensation started building. It was almost like a fever, but it wasn't heat... it was magical energy. Jio was absorbing mana from somewhere, and it was starting to overcharge him.

[Inumo]

Where could so much magic be coming from? Jio thought to himself. He remembered this feeling from one of his college trips to the local crystal mines. Even a small chunk of the crystals could keep a Moloi alive, if not comfortable. Come on, what was the professor's advice... Right! He murmured under his breath, "Krish-naga," the key words of a minor self-drain spell. The overload started to subside as the excess energy dissipated back into the environment. Glad that's over with... He backed away from the mass of creatures and started to work his way around the central chamber. As he checked around a corner, he saw a pair of creatures approaching the intersection. Unwilling to backtrack, he ducked into an alcove, instinctively shifting his weight from foot to foot.



The kobold gestured with an empty tray as he complained to his companion. "Ugh. So many people. Why are they here, even?"
The other kobold shifted his burden, a separate tray filled with double the standard amount of glasses to be passed through the crowd. "Nadihya needs people. They're here for that." He shifted again. "Are you going to grab your drinks off of here?"
The first kobold sighed. "Right, right." He put his tray right-side up, moving some of the glasses over.
"Hey! You didn't take your fair share!" The second kobold cried.
"Did too! See? You've got fifteen, I've got thirteen!"
"Fifteen and thirteen aren't the same!"
"Yeah they are!"
"No they're not!"
The two kobolds continued to bicker until they hit the crowd.



A recruitment meeting? Jio thought. Murmuring under his breath, he said, "I'm going to need to find this Nadihya..."

[Drayco84]

   Zyrais took a quick look around the room, noting the various pieces of magical and alchemical equipment and suddenly remembering that he hadn't used some of the stuff since... Well, it HAD been a long time ago...
  ...A few hundred YEARS ago...
  Regardless, there was work to be done, especially if he wanted the place to last long enough to move in the remainder of his clan...
  "Yes, you actually can, my dear..." Zyrais began, reaching up and pulling off the large silver gem that covered his middle eye. When it opened, all three of his eyes became pupil-less, silver orbs and his vision changed. His ability to discern textures and colors decreased until all he saw was black, white, and about a billion shades of gray. Any and all "color" represented and and all forms of magic, including life essence, souls, and enchantments. Thanks to the Analyze Deweomer spells, he could easily "pick out" the "Protection from Self" spell. As an added bonus, he couldn't make out the full details of her open abdomen and the contents within... "Just hold still, try to relax, and let me see what I can find out..." Zyrais cast yet another Analyze Deweomer spell, this time trying to glean any and all details about it that he could. Including the species that made it, how it was put together, how it functioned, and ANYTHING that could possibly be used to disrupt it or stop it.

  Spellcraft check! Major spellcraft check! And may I remind the GM that Zyrais has seen a crap-ton of angelic, and horrific, spells in action.