Domain Game Quest

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You all cautiously make your way down among the rocks to the edge of the river itself. Armand looks at the water distrustfully at the water.

"I hate rivers. My power doesn't do me much good if people can see me coming. Water and sand and mud..." he says, taking a step into the clear water. It's deep, but not so deep that it can't be forded. It is, however, ice cold, and when your up to you waist in it you feel chilled all the way through.

"You know, this really can't be called a river either. More of a stream." You pipe up, hoping to distract yourself from the cold.

"This isn't the river," Amanda snaps, "The river is bigger , and runs through the temple. This is just the back door."

Back on dry land, Armand hold everyone up while he scouts ahead. You don't know what he's doing, being invisible, but you presume checking for enemies and traps. He appears again swiftly, giving a thumbs up.

"Alright, there are three ways in, and all of them look clear. Which one?"

>BOATHOUSE?
>MAIN SHRINE?
>LIVING QUARTERS?
>OTHER IDEAS?

[Celadon's Penultimate]

>LIVING QUARTERS

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"We could try through the Living quarters." You say. "It would be easier than trying to make it onto that dock, and bad thins happen in main temples."

This is faultless logic, and you all make you way silently up the stairs of the brown building. You open the door, and make your way inside. Instantly, any positive feelings slip away.

The room looks like a kitchen. Various cooking utensils are strewn about, many of them rusted to near uselessness. Even through the badly thatched, unmaintained roof can's seem to let light into this room, and shadows seem to morph and change in the gloom. The worst part is the smell, a deep, iron like aroma indicating that nice things do not happen in this place.

Armand and Amanda seem strangely nonplussed.

At the other end of the kitchen you can see a door, though you would have to walk between the long cooking counters to reach it.

>PROCEED?
>RETREAT?
>SEARCH ROOM?
>OTHER?

[Celadon's Penultimate]

>PROCEED...WITH CAUTION

[Philote]

>MAKE SURE NO BEING IS HIDDEN

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Armand holds up his finger, and zips into the room, fading completely in two steps. The only indication that he's there are a few groans of the floorboards. After a few moments he's back, and beckons you forward, giving a thumbs up.

You move past the tables as thieves in the night, quietly and quickly towards the door. You pass a few of the pots on the way over. Something foul bubbles in them despite the lack of fire, and the knives appear to be adorned with a old coat of blood.

Finally, you make your way to the door at the far end. Armand opens it, slowly.

It's the smell that hits you first, a hateful odor of fish scales and unwashed clothes that almost forces it's way up your nose and Burns a place for itself. You start to gag, but Armand puts his hand quickly on your mouth and points into the room.

It appears to be a communal sleeping hall, as if for monks. But what is breathing silently away on the dozen floor mats wasn't holy men. More the type of things you called holy men in to get rid of. each was black, as if cooked for far to long. Their arms were long and bent at strange angles, and it takes you all of a second to realize that they have two sets of elbows. The charred, flecking skin was pulled tight on their bodies. Nowhere near as much as their faces though, where they had no lips to speak of, and their milky white eyes were forced open by lack of coverage. Their teeth were pointed little daggers. Their were rows of them.

They did, however, appear to be sleeping.

>RETREAT
>TRY TO SNEAK THROUGH
>WAKE THEM UP
>SURPRISE ATTACK
>OTHER

[Celadon's Penultimate]

>TRY TO SNEAK THROUGH

[Philote]

>Inquire to the wind user's ability to fly us over the mobs.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Can you fly us over, Amanda?" You ask, as quietly as you can.

"No." she whispers back, "that would wake them up. Besides, I don't even know how that would work."

Words flare up in your mind. Marion's words, from the computer.

Control, without understanding.

"Then we should probably just sneak through."

You try, timing your footsteps with the rhythmic, ragged breathing of the creeps. As you pass, you see that they are dressed in shabby old robes, like those of a starving monk. You try not to lock eyes with them.

Then, about 3/4 of the way through, you here the ringing of a bell, load and obnoxious, coming from the main building. There is no mad scramble, no sudden motion, but the creeps around you indeed begin to activate. Yes, "activate" was definitely the right word for it. They did not start to stand, but began what looked like a process of unfolding themselves.

They do not appear to have noticed you, however.

>FIGHT IT OUT
>CHEESE IT
>OTHER

[Philote]

(Cheese it?)
>HIDE

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(Run away.)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

( *sigh* )

>RETREAT

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You don't even have to speak, because something makes the decision for you. You all sprint toward the door as quietly as you can manage, and burst out into the bright sunlight. In front of you the river flows and behind you things are making sounds that, if you really listen, and inquisitive.

You rush down the stairs and around the side of the building just as the first dry head pokes it's way out the door. Looking around, and apparently seeing no one, it comes out, it's arms held like those of a prying-mantis. Others follow it out, muttering things to themselves, gibberish pryers. One by one they go down to the rushing river and unfurl their arms, taking a handful of water and throwing it over themselves. Then they curl back up, and head inside the main temple.

You let out a breath that you didn't even know you had been holding, and look to your companions.

"What are they?"

"Feral Creeps." Armand explains that when the creeps commander was killed, the creeps go feral and attack any player or creep that they see. They seem to gravitate toward places where chests spawned, and started spawning with them, taking up routines. So that as more players died, the game only got harder.

You hadn't seen any chest in the living quarters. At least, not like the ornate one you had come out of. From this side you could see the true entrances to the temple and boathouse. A dock extends into the river on this side to, the rope tied to it suggesting that the boat attached there had long ago sunk. The temple entrance is ornate, if dirty. You can here strange chanting coming from inside.

>SEARCH: BOATHOUSE
>SEARCH: TEMPLE
>SEARCH: OUTSIDE
>RETURN TO: LIVING QUARTERS
>OTHER

[Philote]

>SEARCH: OUTSIDE
then
>SEARCH: BOATHOUSE

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

There doesn't appear to be anything outside, but the sound of the water does sooth you frazzled nerves. It's startlingly relaxing, even with the chanting from the temple. You take a handful and splash it on your face, like they did. No apparent effects, but you do feel more steady.

Inside the Boathouse is a different story. It seems to be less of a strict boathouse, and more a general storage shed. Various tools line the walls that, while not in perfect condition, are still useable. Several rowboats are stacked off to the side. In the corner are some boxes filled with moth-bitten cloth. They look like they used to be clothing, once upon a time.

"You know," Amanda says, ideas forming in her head, "We could carry some of this stuff out of here. Put all that cloth in a boat, take it back to the cave, ya know?"

"You were complaining about the walk," Says Armand, aghast, "But you want to carry a whole boat back? What are we going to do with a boat?"

"We could fill it with cloth and Arthur could use it as a bed. That way, we don't have to give up our sleeping bags."

She notices the looks both of you are giving her, crosses her arms, and says defensively, "It was just an idea. Anyway, it's better to save the looting until after we get done."

She was right, you did only have one last place to search. You can here the chanting growing loader and more frantic. Maybe you could come up with a plan.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>Search for Crowbar

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You dig through the tools and find yourself a slightly rusted Crowbar.

>COMMAND?

[Philote]

>SNEAK INTO TEMPLE

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You twirl the crowbar a bit, and slip it into your pants, turning to the others. You all know the one place the chest could be.

You stealth up to the temple and climb up the stairs to the large ornate door. You crack it slightly, and peek inside. It is dark, lit only by the light of a fire-pit set into the floor. Around it are the six monks, wild with prayer, writing and chanting in pure religious ecstasy. At the back, on a raised stage, is...something else.

It's larger than the monks. Significantly so. Dressed in the tattered robes and beads of some sort of hellish high priest, with the same shrunken grey skin and tarnished whit eyes, it swings a large hammer in some sort of ritual dance. behind the creature is a golden bell and, sitting beneath it, a treasure chest.

You make your way inside, unnoticed amid the flickering light and ecstatic chanting, and begin using the roof supports pillars to move closer.

>COMMAND?

[Zaleramancer]

>Ask what the creature is.