Endgame

Aaaaaaand I should've realized that would've happened. Hopefully that'll be the last of the week's distractions... Fire. I got hit by fire. So hauntingly similar to the same one that took my life before... ...

My finale is not going to be so innocuously presented. One of the bosses on one of my old quests was based off of a major Dream Team bout! Extra points for those who guess who was the expy of whom, in terms of strategy. (Also, DT's gyroscope controls were pretty great... Until they suddenly stop working at the very last section of a 60 minute long boss rush, killing you nigh instantly. Hnnrgh.)

Round One of the Spider Scuffle! >Hoang VS Northern Spider B (front): Hit (3+1=4 damage) >??? VS Spider Thread A (front): Damage (0 damage) >Darksten VS Northern Spider A (back): Critical Hit (3x2=6+1=7 damage) The spiders hiss out in pain as the party has a mostly succesful barrage, the mysterious man stumbling slightly as he tries to attack the high-hanging thread. "Skittlecrrkcrcrkcrkcrkrrkrkkhiss!" <Gahhh! Who are you people?!> ------------------------------------------------- Spider Thread A, Level 0 Ice HP: 5/5 Specials: Entangled: The hero who rolls special damage finds themselves stuck in the spider's web, Binding them for 1 round. Drops: Grand Potion Northern Spider A, Level 4 Vermin HP: 7/14 Specials: Frosty Fangs: The Northen Spider bites the hero who rolled Special damage for 6 damage. NOTE: When Spider Thread A is cut, this spider tumbles to the floor, halving its current health. Drops: 20 gold Spider Thread B, Level 0 Ice HP: 5/5 Specials: Entangled: The hero who rolls special damage finds themselves stuck in the spider's web, Binding them for 1 round. Drops: Grand Potion Northern Spider B, Level 4 Vermin HP: 10/14 Specials: Frosty Fangs: The Northen Spider bites the hero who rolled Special damage for 6 damage. NOTE: When Spider Thread B is cut, this spider tumbles to the floor, halving its current health. Drops: 20 gold The Party: Darksten (Comrade Commander) 35 year old Male Human Ranger Level 1 Power: 4 Health: 6/6 Gold: 5 Equipment: Crossbow (WP: 3) Inventory: Potion x3, Remedy x1, Smoke bomb, Bedroll Hoang Anh (hoanganhbeo) 20 years old Male Human Knight Level 1 Power: 4 Defense: 2 Health: 10/10 Gold: 5 Equipment: Sword (WP: 3); Shield (SP: 2) Inventory: Potion x2, Remedy x2 Bedroll "To battle!" ???, Level 1 Cleric HP: 8/8 Ether: 5/5 Gold: 10 Equipment: Storch (WP: 2 staff, fire elemental.) Inventory: Water Bomb, Remedy

Hoang searches behind the couch, and sure enough, finds a box of matches. Dragging them across the rugged surface of his shield, he lights the match and holds it to the web. With a hardly audible sizzle, the web begins to burn away, freeing the captiv eman inside. he drops to the ground, landing on his feet, and snuffs out the last sparks of fire dancing around on his suit. "Many thanks for that, you two. Now, if I may have my matches back..." The white masked man practically snatches back his matches, removing an odd hybrid between a torch and a stave from his back. He lights the top of it on fire, readying his weapon. The fire flickers with an odd white glow. The remains of the web smolder away, billwoing smoke... That vents right up the chimney. A faint skittering can be heard. "Looks like the smoke will be driving those eight-legged cretins out; Or atleast alerting them. Ready yourselves!" Before long, two large lumps emerge from the chimney... They were unlike any bug the party had ever seen! Prepare for Battle! Spider Thread A, Level 0 Ice HP: 5/5 Specials: Entangled: The hero who rolls special damage finds themselves stuck in the spider's web, Binding them for 1 round. Drops: Grand Potion Northern Spider A, Level 4 Vermin HP: 14/14 Specials: Frosty Fangs: The Northen Spider bites the hero who rolled Special damage for 6 damage. NOTE: When Spider Thread A is cut, this spider tumbles to the floor, halving its current health. Drops: 20 gold Spider Thread B, Level 0 Ice HP: 5/5 Specials: Entangled: The hero who rolls special damage finds themselves stuck in the spider's web, Binding them for 1 round. Drops: Grand Potion Northern Spider B, Level 4 Vermin HP: 14/14 Specials: Frosty Fangs: The Northen Spider bites the hero who rolled Special damage for 6 damage. NOTE: When Spider Thread B is cut, this spider tumbles to the floor, halving its current health. Drops: 20 gold The Party: Darksten (Comrade Commander) 35 year old Male Human Ranger Level 1 Power: 4 Health: 6/6 Gold: 5 Equipment: Crossbow (WP: 3) Inventory: Potion x3, Remedy x1, Smoke bomb, Bedroll Hoang Anh (hoanganhbeo) 20 years old Male Human Knight Level 1 Power: 4 Defense: 2 Health: 10/10 Gold: 5 Equipment: Sword (WP: 3); Shield (SP: 2) Inventory: Potion x2, Remedy x2 Bedroll "To battle!" ???, Level 1 Cleric HP: 8/8 Ether: 5/5 Gold: 10 Equipment: Storch (WP: 2 staff, fire elemental.) Inventory: Water Bomb, Remedy QM Note: Welcome to your first clash in your Heroica career! As a bit of help, I've compiled something of a handbook for this battle, containing releveant information. If you have any questions about how battles work, do not be afraid to ask! Battle Handbook: (This is for players' use only, the heroes don't actually have a physical copy.)

I gulp down a Smelling Salts, and then a Nostrum. "Next round, I will try to assasinate the flames."

"I'm storing my equipment on my back, but my hands and feet are all stuck... My entire body is, really. I fumbled my matches when the spiders came, they should be in this room..." The fireplace is unlit, a single measly log sitting inside.

"No! Don't cut the web! This thread is like guitar strings or something... Snap it and the twang will send the spiders running over. I used some matches to burn through another web in this hellhole, and that was the one way I could get in here quietly. Not quietly enough, though, because I stepped on a creaky plank. A minute later, I'm pasted to the wall. Hmph."

The masked man utters a few words. "Shhh! They'll hear you!" The party would have to speak quietly, it seems...

The pair of heroes throws open the door and steps into the next room, finding themsleves into a den. Their abnormally large foes had not shown their faces yet, but there was definitely evidence of their presence: A man clad in white, his face covered in an elaborate mask, was pasted to the wall. His back was pressed onto the sticky silk, thick wads of the spider's string holding him aloft. Because of the black mesh that covered his eyes and the tendrils of silk obscuring his torso, it was impossible to see whether the man was awake, unconscious... or even alive. What will the party do?

I use a Grand Potion on Apparition D.

Darksten (Comrade Commander) 35 year old Male Human Ranger Level 1 Power: 4 Health: 6/6 Gold: 5 Equipment: Crossbow (WP: 3) Inventory: Potion x3, Remedy x1, Smoke bomb, Bedroll Hoang Anh (hoanganhbeo) 20 years old Male Human Knight Level 1 Power: 4 Defense: 2 Health: 10/10 Gold: 5 Equipment: Sword (WP: 3); Shield (SP: 2) Inventory: Potion x2, Remedy x2 Bedroll Darksten interrogates the skittering roaches. <Hah! Foolish giant! This shelter's new, huge, residents have formed a truce with the roaches! Our allies - just through that door right there -> The roaches seem to refer to the door right next to the trash can. < - will end you!> Hoang crushes the bugs under his foot, adding a few extra stomps to flatten their thick exoskeletons. After about a half dozen stomps, the bugs are no more. 2/13 Bug Hordes dead! The party now had some valuable information... A horde of large insects laid just behind this door...

"Poor girl looks possesed to me... Can't we just hit them with some posion, and watch them drop? Also, Drucilla, any thoughts on our captive here?"

Darksten rifles through the boxes, tearing off their lids and sifting through the contents. Amidst packaged food and other spoils Isaac told them to stay put, the ranger finds some things that'd be quite useful to the heroes: Potion (Restores 10 health to the target.) x3 Remedy (Removes all negative effects from the target.) x3 How will the spoils be divided? Hoang stomps up the rickety stairs, and approaches the trashcan. He tips it over, spilling its little contents into its battered lid: []and sure enough, roaches oor out into the mechanical disk. They wriggle and squirm. Will Hoang crush them, or will he allow Darksten to interrogate them?[/b]

"Also, another thought... Can the Ruby Slippers somehow cross dimensions? Could we send Drucilla back and forth without consequence?"

"Not fully senile yet! Only issue is... What if Drucilla can't bring it down alone? We may hurt the children if we shoot over them..."

"Since Drucilla has likely toured this entire school several times, perhaps she could just use her slippers to warp directly behind the demon?"

The pair of heroes trudge into the room over, finding another dirty mess of a room. This place atleast seemed livable, with some stools and boxes to sit on...

Just don't be surprised if that's the news that sends Sorrow to the grave.

The poor man already has PTSD, waking up next to a werewolf where his wife was probably isn't going to do him much good. What does that mean for Sorrow, then?

If it is genetic, I don't think the marriage is so inevtiable anymore.

Yikes, that's a long time! Well, atleast now any battle description involving Arthur will be 10x more amusing. "The Archfiend's hammer hit Arthur in a sharp uppercut, disloding the skirmisher's face. The hero scrambles about, trying to retach the severed plasm in the gaping crater that was his head."

Out of curiosity, Flipz, how long have you been planning this twist? You've mentioned Arthur "bleeding like an Oculoid" in the past, but now he is near being an Oculoid.

QM Note: I'm going to give Hoanganhbeo a few more hours to respond before moving this along.

I'd like to think that the groom himself would provide the checks. "Hello there, I'm so glad that you've - Sir, why do you have 7 Military Grade bombs stuffed down your jacket?!"