Tomb of Dreams (IC)

[Gareth3]

Suddenly, a tall woman in a blue robe appears a few yards West of the Solars. She carries a fishing spear and her hair resembles the spray of a waterfall. Already facing the group, she bows deeply and addresses them. "Welcome, Princes of the Earth. May I ask what your purpose is here?"

[HalfTangible]

"Treasure hunting and showing off! Also a date with Mercury if I can get it but I assume I'm not gonna find that here."

[Bowerbird]

Black Dog, who up until recently appeared to have been intently staring at nothing, is looking right at the spirit when it appears. "Treasure hunting is accurate enough. What's your purpose here, spirit?"

Spoiler

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Lol, you were a couple of hours faster than me, Gareth. Came on to finally post and tell it to materialise

[Gareth3]

The spirit winces slightly at the mention of treasure but makes no comment about it. She replies to Black Dog's question. "I am the warden of this prison."

[HalfTangible]

Kievan blinked at that. "Waiwaiwait. Prison?" He pointed to himself. "I had a dream about this place, and a cool artifact of power. Are you telling me that I was invited to throw myself into prison?"

[Bansheexero]

"Prison for who? Or what?" Swallow grips his spear firmly, unsure of the situation.

[Gareth3]

The spirit shakes her head. "No, it's not a prison for you, you're free to leave. You know Malfeas is imprisoned in his own body?" She gestures around at the sky, the ocean, and the island. "This is a similar prison for a less powerful demon."

[Bowerbird]

Black Dog raises an eyebrow, "Certainly puts those dreams in a different light. Bait." She looks around, visibly agitated, "I'll never understand people's desire to imprison such things. Why not simply kill this demon and be done with it?"

[Gareth3]

The spirit smiles. "That's an excellent question. I can't explain why the Solars imprisoned the demon, and I'm certainly not powerful enough to kill it myself. But if you all want to kill it, I'm happy to assist you."

[Bansheexero]

"Who are you? How are we to know you are not working for said demon, or aren't the demon herself?"

[Gareth3]

The spirit sighs. "I'm Suma, formerly a river god, now warden of this prison. I'm not working for the demon and I'm not a demon myself. She indicates the Solars in front of her with a wave. "I'm sure that between all of you, you have the magic powers to verify all of that. I can repeat it if you want."

[Gareth3]

Suma walks over to Swallow and makes a strange gesture at him. "There. Now you can breathe underwater, and the water won't slow down your movement or damage your equipment. You'll need that to kill the demon." She points to the crashing surf. "It's easy to test."

Spoiler: OOC

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She's lying, because being able to breathe underwater and not be hindered is a characteristic of this dimension, and she hasn't done anything. A successful Occult roll will show that she hasn't performed any magic. A Read Intentions roll with a difficulty of 3 will show she's lying.

[Bowerbird]

Two sets of eyes watch the spirit as she makes her gesture towards Swallow, Black Dog's hand is on the hilt of her sword the moment it starts to move and the hackles of the hound beside her rise simultaneously. Gods and monsters lie, and nothing in this realm of sorcery should be taken at face value. As Suma makes her proclamation, Black Dog's eyes narrow in suspicion, watching the spirit for signs of deceit.

Spoiler

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Gonna try for Read Intentions, no Socialize so only really Perception + Stunt, plus I'll spend a Willpower for an automatic success:
Perception: (3d10)[9][4][8](21) (With the WP, 3 successes)
Stunt: (2d10)[7][10](17) (3 more)

Rolling Occult as well, spending 4m for 4 extra dice. Still not doing anything to raise her anima to the point of identification.
Intelligence + Occult + 4: (11d10)[9][10][1][2][9][10][10][7][10][4][5](77) (11 successes... good lord.)
Stunt: (2d10)[4][7](11) (1 more, you know because that's needed )

[Bowerbird]

Suma's final proclamation is punctuated by the rasping sound of Black Dog's blade leaving it's sheathe, as her voice almost cuts the former-god off, "That's at least once you have lied to us, spirit. Do so again and you will regret it. Briefly." The audible hissing sound of the blade returns, despite the reduction in rain, faint voices barely audible in the low white noise. "You won't be the first. You certainly won't be the last."

Spoiler

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Charisma + Presence to Instill a Minor Intimacy of fear towards Black Dog, another 4m for 4 extra dice:
Charisma + Presence + 4: (9d10)[7][7][3][10][7][1][2][4][6](47) (5 successes, could have been better but social actions aren't her strong suit)
Stunt: (2d10)[2][1](3) (No extra)

[Gareth3]

Suma points to the East. "Your treasure is in a ocean trench just off the coast that way. You can all breathe and move normally under the water, but there's an emanation of the demon that will defend it. I no longer care whether you believe me or not." She instantly vanishes.

Spoiler: Black Dog

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You still feel Suma's presence, but it steadily becomes fainter as if she's walking away.

[HalfTangible]

Kievan tilted his head. "Huh. Well she was in a fine mood. To the trench, then?"

[Bansheexero]

"Well, Black Dog seems to understand what is going on more than myself and quite possibly the rest of us. I suppose I'll follow his lead."

[Gareth3]

A cliff blocks the East edge of the beach, but there's an obvious path Northeast through the jungle. Trees have been felled to clear it, but the forest canopy has closed in above, blocking all of the rain and wind. Vines are draped through the trees, bearing flowers every colour of the rainbow with thick, sweet scents. Aside from the faint sound of the wind, the jungle is silent and there is no sign of animal life, not even insects.

Spoiler: Black Dog

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You don't sense Suma's presence any more.

[HalfTangible]

A cliff blocks the East edge of the beach, but there's an obvious path Northeast through the jungle. Trees have been felled to clear it, but the forest canopy has closed in above, blocking all of the rain and wind. Vines are draped through the trees, bearing flowers every colour of the rainbow with thick, sweet scents. Aside from the faint sound of the wind, the jungle is silent and there is no sign of animal life, not even insects.

Spoiler: Black Dog

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You don't sense Suma's presence any more.

Kievan looked over the trail, tapping one arm. He ran his eyes over the jungle, seeing no animal life. This place was dangerous.

He grinned back at the others. "Race ya."

Then he took off, running down the trail with speed like the wind.

[Bowerbird]

Black Dog continues to glare at the spot where the spirit vanishes, her eyes track something unseen down the coast as it's presence fades. The slender, eerie blade stays out but is moved from an actively readied position. "Interesting. I don't trust it." She looks back over the others, eyes narrowed particularly at Swallow when he speaks, "Some. My experience is mostly with ghosts, but there are similarities." Black Dog watches Kievan run off, an annoyed look on her face she points after him and the great hound that had settled down on his haunches behind her rises and starts following, "I don't think she acted much like a warden." With a shake of her head, she shrugs and starts stalking down the path after Kievan and Grim, "Still, might as well check it out."

[Gareth3]

There are vines running across the path and even dangling at head height, but Kievan perfectly dodges all of them as he runs through the jungle. The path turns to the East, and the jungle opens out into bushes and then jagged black rocks draped in scarlet and violet seaweed and dotted with pools of seawater. The sea is calmer now, and it's easier to see the strange, fragile-looking creatures that fill it. Further along the coast, a plume of smoke rises from a black volcano, matched by a plume of steam where a red-orange lava flow meets the sea.

[Bowerbird]

Black Dog makes her way along Kievan and Grim's trail slowly, occasionally slashing low-hanging vines out of the way with her sword. Seemingly in no rush to win any kind of race. Her eyes focused somewhere in the middle distance as she walks, watching for danger in the jungle in her peripheral vision.

[Gareth3]

The jungle remains still and silent as Black Dog walks through it. Eventually she joins Kievan at the rocky shore.

[Bansheexero]

Darting Swallow follows closely behind Black Dog, spear at the ready.

[Gareth3]

Swallow, Kievan, and Black Dog are all standing at the shore, looking out at the ocean.

Spoiler: OOC

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Everyone roll Perception+Survival or Sail, whichever is highest.

[HalfTangible]

Kievan whistled as he looked out across the ocean, admiring the crest of the waves and the spray of the foam. "Now that's pretty, ain't it?"

Spoiler

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Perception 3 + Stunt 2 (survival and sail are both 0)
(5d10)[10][2][3][9][6](30)

[Bowerbird]

"It would be, if I didn't know that we're supposed to be in a desert right now." Black Dog retorts, in an almost bored tone of voice. Blade idly tapping on her shoulder as she looks warily out at the sea. From beside her, Grim snorts and settles down to a seated position, tongue lolling in the jungle heat.

Spoiler

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Perception (3) + Survival (5) + Excellency (4m for 4 dice):
(12d10)[5][9][6][6][7][5][3][1][8][5][10][7](72) 6 Successes
Stunt: (2d10)[7][4](11) +1 Success

[Gareth3]

Spoiler: Black Dog

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By carefully studying the pattern of the waves, you can see there's a sudden drop in the seabed to the Northeast. This could be the trench Suma claimed was there, although it's impossible to tell how deep it is. It would be about an hour's walk away if you could walk normally on the seabed. And according to Suma, you can.

[Bowerbird]

Black Dog indicates the area where the trench should be, "Looks like she was telling the truth about the trench at least. Should be over there. We going for it now, or looking around first?"

[Bansheexero]

"I say we move forward. The sooner we get this over with, the better. Unless, of course, you feel there is a reason to persist."